--------- You're good morning and welcome to our October 7th board of county commissioner meeting. We are delighted to have you join us this morning. Please uh join us for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. The pledge of allegiance will be led by Deputy Joseph
Desiato and who is a US Marine and then he's going to tell us a little bit about his service as a Marine. Now, let's do the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for having me. I feel very honored to be here. Um said my name is
Joseph Desiato. I've been in the Martin County Sheriff's Office for 11 years. Prior to that, I did serve in the United States Marine Corps 2008 2012. Did boot camp at Paris Island, South Carolina. I was stationed in Camp Ljun, North Carolina. I served with second light
armor reconnaissance battalion and infantry infantry unit. and I deployed to Afghanistan in for most of 2011. Came back 2012, I got out. Shortly after that, I went to the police academy and I've been with the sheriff's
office since 2014. Terrific. Thank you. You [Applause] island. That's for my dad. There are Let's see.
The agenda includes an additional item which is consent 12 which is a request to execute updated cooperation agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers for the Hutchinson Island Shore Protection Project. And there's a request to withdraw department three which was a request to approve proposed changes to
the Martin County Art and Public Places program manual and program update. Is there a motion to I'll move approval of the agenda with additional item uh consent number 12 and withdrawal of departmental number three. Second.
There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously and with uh all motions today the uh we will acknowledge that Commissioner Vargas is absent today. Uh we will begin with uh
proclamations. Uh the first proclamation is a proclamation recognizing the 100th anniversary of the historic Apollo school in Martin County. Good morning commissioners. Upon his
appointment to develop Olympia, famed architect Maurice Fatio spoke of a considerable considerable development including a school. As Olympia School, the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Martin County Local Register of Historic Places. Whether recognized by its most
recent name, the Historic Apollo School, or by any of its earlier names, the building continues to serve the community as a center for cultural, educational, and historical activities and events. October 19th is designated to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the historic Apollo School and the board
extends sincere appreciation to the Apollo School Foundation for their efforts in continuing the building's historic legacy. And here to accept we have Kathy Spurgeon with the Apollo School Foundation along with some other folks with her.
[Applause] Thank you very much. You'll have a picture after that. We will. This is why you all are here. [Applause]
I've timed this so I can't thank you individually. So, I'm going to say thank you all. Thank you for recognizing the historic Apollo School in this significant way. We are proud to share our centennial with Martin County and with other historic buildings in Martin County. Unlike many others of those
buildings though, the Apollo School is privately owned and privately funded. It is not taxpayer funded. We raise all the money and believe me, we spend it all. For those not familiar with the building, it's no longer used as a
schoolhouse. We provide cultural and educational activities in a historical setting. and half the building is sort of a humble museum. It's a repository of tangible memories of Hope Sounders. The Apollo School Foundation is run by a board of directors whose volunteer hours
total in the thousands annually. There are no paid staff. We are supported by a caring and generous community, several of whom are here today. Thank you too for your support of historic preservation. As a board, you have shown that you appreciate the benefits that
come from preserving some of our most precious assets. But the opposite is happening in Hob Sound right now. A historic Camp Murphy building on Bridge Road will be raised, that's with a Z, to make way for a mixeduse three-story building that is an
inongruity in Hope Sound. It's sad that that historic building will never celebrate its centennial. Speaking of centennials, which of course is why we're here, I'd like to invite you to our centennial celebration. Laura mentioned it. Music, memories,
milestones. It's Sunday, October 19th at 4:00 at the Apollo school site. And it's free. Children from the Boys and Girls Clubs, Hobound Elementary School, the Pine School will be represented, as well
as Boy Scout Troop 812. Music will be provided by the Pine Knights of Steel and the Rowdy Mix. And I'm proud to say our speakers include Blake Caps and former State Senate President Joe Negron. To close, I'd like to quote
Richard Mo from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Preservation is simply having the good sense to hold on to the things that are well-designed, that link us to our past in a meaningful way, and that have plenty of good use
left in them. We think the Apollo School fits all these categories. And thank you for this recognition. Can I have it for one more second? Yes. I'd like to call up um our friends and our board members. My long-suffering
husband Jim, uh Russ Overhalt, June Overhalt, Phyllis Parker, Sue Ellen Milroy, Peggy Wagner. Excellent. Thank you very much. Yes, we should. Yes, absolutely. These
are I guess. Do I have to give to you or you? These are invitations. There's one for each of the board and then there's one extra. You can fight over it. Can we hold this or would you hold this or something? Okay. Y
Okay. I might mention that some of these folks here are some of the hope sounds finest. Thank you. Thank you all for bringing the Apollo school back to life. Our next proclamation is a proclamation
declaring fire prevention week in Martin County. Martin County Fire Rescue personnel are dedicated to reducing the occurrence of home fires and home fire injuries through prevention, education, and community risk assessment. The fire prevention week theme this year, charge into fire safety, lithium ion batteries
in your home, educates people on how to safely use these batteries. In recognizing October 5th through the 11th as fire prevention week, the board commends the men and women of Martin County's fire prevention and fire rescue divisions for their efforts to educate the public in fire prevention practices.
And here to accept um we have Josh Jenkins who's community risk reduction specialist with the fire prevention division along with fire marshal Doug Colleen and deputy fire marshal Chris Hansen. Come on up [Applause]
before you chat. Can I throw something right? Of course. Real quick. Good morning. Uh Doug Kane, fire marshall. I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge and show my appreciation to the fire prevention division since we only get to come here once a year. Uh I wanted to call out
deputy fire marshal uh Chris Hansen, Josh Jenkins, community risk reduction. We have three inspectors which don't get seen often. Uh Bo Major, Rick Hennessy, and Marcus Raina. And our support staff back at the office who very rarely get recognized. We have Christina Eperhart.
We have Nancy Auire. We have Danielle Highote, Kelsey Strauss, and L'Oreal Dam. And I think that's everybody. And if I could, um, County Administrator, Fire Chief Chad Chanchuli, and, uh, Deputy Chief Rodney Robinson, uh, have
helped to grow and, uh, allow us to do the job that we're doing right now. So, we're very appreciative. So, I will take a seat and I will let Josh introduce the fire prevention week. Thank you. Sure. Okay. Good morning. Thank you for having us.
It's always an honor to come and be here with you and our audience. So, um I'm Josh Jenkins, community risk reduction specialist. And so this year's fire prevention week theme, charge into fire safety. A little bit about why we're here. First, so since 1922, our
governing body, the NFPA, has sponsored the observance of fire prevention week. In 1925, President Calvin Culage proclaimed that this shall be a national observance, making Fire Prevention Week the longest running public health observance in our country's history. So each year, per
guidance from the National Fire Administration, fire departments conduct public education events to reduce the risk of casualties by fire. Last fiscal year, our department conducted 185 of these events, impacting audiences of all age levels and all ability levels. We
also produce PSA videos like the one that we're going to share today. And also we produce all kinds of media that we share with the public. I actually brought one of NFPA's um safety tip sheets for lithium ion battery safety in the home and I left a big stack of those in the lobby for the
table if anybody from the audience wants to take some of that information home with them. So without further ado, if we are ready, we'll share our latest PSA regarding lithium ion safety with the room. It's
muted. Wind that back. Pause it. Donna, please tell us what you're saying. I can do that. Um, some lessons that we've learned about lithium-ion battery incidents in the county. We've had quite
a few structure fires from lithium-ion battery power tools, hand tools, mobility devices, including bikes, scooters, golf carts, um, and even one structure fire from a lithium-ion battery powered air conditioner that I was not aware existed until I looked at
a fire report. What we're learning and what this the gist of this video is these incidents occur from a from an issue that arises with the charging equipment and practices. So, keep you informed. We made another public safety video. Okay, I guess it's going.
Good job, though. You interrupted yourself. Looking back at the last few years, we have seen structure fires from the use of lithium ion batteries on their chargers, including electric vehicles, mobility devices like scooters and
ebikes, laptops, portable hand tools like drills and flashlights, holiday decorations, and even batterypowered air conditioners. So, we wanted to put together some tips about how to charge safely and some warning signs for things you might encounter with your devices.
Number one, we always want you to charge on a flat, dry surface, away from any kids, away from liquids, and never in direct sunlight because we don't want to introduce any more heat to this device than it generates on its own. We want to make sure there are no flammables
anywhere near what you are charging. We don't want you to charge in a garage, say next to a can of gas, for example. We also want to make sure that you use the charger and the cord for each device from the factory. We never want to use
any aftermarket charging cords or try to make a charger cord from another device work for this device that they did not come with. Anything with wheels, we want to make sure it does not have an opportunity to roll off of a shelf or to fall, potentially damaging or cracking that battery case. Making sure you do
all those things is going to go a long way towards preventing a fire with a lithium ion battery device. Should you encounter a fire with your lithium ion battery device, we want you to be aware your typical household ABC type extinguisher is not going to be capable
of putting that out. If it is on fire, you're definitely going to need to activate 911 as soon as you possibly can. If that charging device or that battery is producing so much heat that it is uncomfortable for you to touch, that is a bad thing. If there is any bulging or cracking in the battery case,
if there are any hissing or popping sounds coming from the charging device or the battery, this is a bad thing and a sign of a fault. We also want you to be aware of any smoke or odors coming out of the battery or the charger. That's an indicator that it is very close to catching on fire. So, all of
these situations mean that battery and that charger need to be disposed of. We want you to know that it's illegal to dispose of a lithium ion battery in the trash. that has to be taken to either our hazardous waste collection facility or if you're out and about in the in the community, you can look up the schedule
for the Hazmobile on our website and you can bring it there. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to give us a call. Thank you. Show your scooters and I'm good. Okay. Yes, ma'am.
Picture time. That girl in the back Martin County Fair says they hit her head on the TV. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. How convenient forage week is on there right when the fair is here. I didn't
even replace that. Our next proclamation is a proclamation declaring 4 week in Martin County. 4 is America's largest youth development organization supporting nearly 6 million youth across the country each year. 4 has helped local youth become confident,
independent, resilient, and compassionate leaders. And national 4 week observed October 5th through 11th this year showcases the incredible experiences that 4 offers young people and highlights the remarkable 4 youth in Martin County who work each day to make a positive impact on those around them.
And here to accept obviously with a bunch of folks is David Hafner, our 4 youth development agent. [Laughter] Good morning. Good morning. Good morning commissioners. My name is Ian and I've been a proud member of the
4 community for two years now. When I first joined 4, I had no I had no idea how much it would shape my life. It has given me incredible opportunities to learn leadership, responsibility, and service. Not just through projects, but
by being part of a great community. 4 encouraged me to step up in my project and my project and work to lead and learn what it means to make a difference. I've also seen how my brother's 4 journey I have two younger brothers has brought our family closer
and taught us to appreciate nature hard work and take pride in all of the projects we work on. I'm truly grateful for everything for has provided and I'm honored to stand here today as we celebrate this proclamation recognizing how 4 continues to grow future leaders
right here in Mount Orange County. Thank you. Thank you. Excellent. Good morning commissioners. My name is Ella More and I've been a part of the Martin County 4 program for going on nine years now. Now, having been in the program since I was 8 years old, it's safe to say that 4 has had a huge impact
on my life. Um, from my first leadership position as the feathers and furs secretary in 2017 to becoming the 2025 2026 Florida 4 state council treasurer, 4 has provided me with so many opportunities to grow, experimenting
with all sorts of art, gardening, and livestock projects. My favorite one has without a doubt been public speaking. This year I was lucky enough to represent Florida 4 in the western national round of public speaking competition in Colorado. After placing first in the state, I flew there to
compete against other state finalists. That day I placed second in the nation. These opportunities to discuss pollinator issues. Thank you. These opportunities to discuss pollinator issues on a larger scale as well as build an impressive resume would
have never been possible without the program. And it goes without saying that I'm incredibly grateful to be here today to celebrate that. Thank you. [Applause] Good morning everyone. I'm Vera How and I've been a part of Martin County 4 for
about 14 years now. Um a little bit about me and my 4 journey is it started off with me very shy. Um I had a chicken. Um I don't remember its name but I was terrified because I had to go show this chicken and I think it flew away. Anyway, but my journey in forage
started off as a little shy girl in the show ring who didn't want to go out and go in front of everyone. And now in 2023, I served as the state historian over Florida. And I've had the opportunity to go to like many many national events. Just last September, I
served as the marketing and promotional over the southern region teen leadership conference for 4. I've had endless opportunities to go to Washington DC and serve for Florida 4 and learn all about public speaking, civic engagement, and how to help our community out locally. 4
has really impacted everyone. And I can say learning all the different livestock abilities in agriculture to music, dancing, art, singing, and leadership is so important to our youth to raise our future generations. And I just want you all to maybe take a look at 4 and learn
more about what impact it has on everyone. Thank you. [Applause] Good luck, David. I was going to say it's hard to go after them. So, I don't have much to add because I know they they're the stars here. Um, as your Martin County 4 youth
development agent, my job is not to stand out. It's just to open the door. And as you can see, the youth in our program have been running through that door. They're they're shining examples. Uh when I first came to this job not quite 3 years ago, um Vera, Miss Vera here, she said that when she goes to
state events, she doesn't want people to say, "Where is Martin County 4?" They she wants them to say, "I wish I was in Martin County 4." And I think through their leadership, we're seeing that we went 40 years without a state officer. Now we've had two in three years. Uh we are known on the county, state, national
level. Martin County 4 is known and it's because of these shining stars behind me. Have one more that we need. [Applause] Anybody else want to address us? Miss agriculture is not going to speak
with her story. Thank you all for representing us. So well, just a quick question. When you show those animals and the chickens, where do you show them? I didn't hear the answer. Oh, there you go.
at the Martin County Fair. Our next proclamation is a proclamation declaring International Day of Air Traffic Controller in Martin County. Air traffic controllers work day and night, including weekends and holidays to keep pilots and their passengers safe. For over 25 years, air traffic air traffic
controllers at Wamfield have played a crucial role in ensuring the safety and effic efficiency of aviation operations, making air traffic controllers a critical component of the Martin County aviation industry. International Day of the Air Traffic Controller takes place October 20th and honors those who ensure
that air travel remains the safest mode of transport. And the board urges residents to recognize the dedicated men and women who perform this important job each and every day, ensuring the safety of the public. And here to accept we have Tim Barrett, air traffic manager. [Applause]
Good morning, commissioners. My name is uh Tim Barrett. I'm the air traffic manager here at the Steuart airport. Um I appreciate the opportunity to come before you today to receive this proclamation. Um it means a lot to us um to the team back at the tower and to the career field. Uh a little bit about myself. Um I've been doing this for a
little over 40 years. spent 20 years in the military, stationed in uh Texas, Germany, Florida, Bosnia, and England. Uh retired out of the Air Force and then uh took on this uh further position of continuing air traffic control. Uh some of you may not know the facility here at
Steuart Womfield is a as a contract um facility. So, we provide air traffic services for the FAA to the users of the airport. Um I've been here as air traffic manager for about 21 years now. Um, I'd also like to thank my team, one of which is here today, Bill Davis. Um,
it's a very prestigious field. I wouldn't change what I've done over the past few years for for anything. U, my father was an air traffic controller, which ironically had no bearing on me becoming one. So, I'm still trying to figure that out. U, but again, thank you for the recognition. Thank you for the proclamation. Um, and thank you for the
recognition of the air traffic control profession. [Applause] That's a serious Tom could do that. I'll say right there.
Nice job. It was like a I neglected to mention that we are joined this morning by our esteemed supervisor of elections, Vicky Davis. Welcome. Miss Davis is one of our uh native
daughters and we're very pleased to see you here this morning. I believe you're here to support the fair and your intern. Yes. Yes. Uh it's now time for uh public comment.
Uh the first request to speak form is from Anmarie Height. followed by David Nickerson. Good morning. Good morning. I'm Amarie Height. I'm from Meadow Run um Property Managers Association. Um I
am the president of the association and we have requested um a change in our PUD to use the rear access to our neighborhood. Um our neighborhood sits on southwest uh Citrus Avenue. Um that's the front gate and the north um end of
the community runs down Leighton Farms Road. So in this we have 91 lots. Of 91 lots we've had unprecedented growth over the last year. Um we actually have nine homes under construction totaling probably about 42 homes under roof by
January, February this year. So we are so excited. We have a lot of new families moving in with young kids. So excited to be able to access Leighton Farms Road with the soccer farm back there. Um to be able to them to ride their bikes instead of having to go out Southwest Citrus, then go down more,
then come across Southwest um Leighton Farms Road. They could go directly out our culde-sac in the back out to Leighton Farms Road, go right to the community center that's across the street or go right up to the um soccer field. So we're so excited. We were just here to um let you know that we have a
lot of neighbors that are really excited to look at this another access um in case there was an emergency. Also just for traffic patterns with Martin uh with Southwest Citrus and just Martin County growing so much. We would love to have a secondary entrance and exit for our
residents, our guests, our vendors. So thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. Thank you. David Nickerson is next, followed by Susan Gibbs Thomas. Susan, would you like to speak on this item at public or on the item itself?
Okay. Good morning. Good morning, Madam Chair, fellow commissioners, county administrator, and county attorney, and our most precious county staff. I was here about a month ago for the
proclamation of October being the native plant month, and we appreciate you for doing that. Uh, as you can tell from my shirt, I'm not here for that purpose today, but it is agriculturally related. Full disclosure, I'm probably the most brand new member of the Martin County
Fair Association board, but I'm not here today to speak for the board. I'm here to speak as a resident fairgoer. The fair provides lots of fun and entertainment. How many been to the fair? All have. Yeah, most of us. But it also provides
education. Education on environment and education as we learned from the 4 folks on agriculture. During the 11 months that the fair is not in operation, the fairgrounds also provides a venue for many many
nonprofits to hold their events. Also, the fair association provides scholarships to deserving high school students here in Martin County. Years and years ago, agriculture was the enterprise ma more than one
enterprise that made the little city on the river called Pottsdam into the county seat of Stewart that we're here today to enjoy. So agriculture has been important and the fair is an opportunity to bring a related plant and animal
information and activities to life. There are two elements on the agenda further down today that you'll address. Two elements to that item. The first one is the current lease extension. The 2026 fair will be the 65th fair that
the fair association has held here on county property. Let's see. 65. That makes the Fair Association eligible for Social Security, right? All kidding aside, unless there's a pressing need for alternate property
use, please approve the lease one-year lease extension. It will facilitate a smooth transition to the new site. Second item, staff preparation of a new lease for 30 plus acres at the new fairground site on Citrus. Please ask staff to make that a long-term lease
based on the track record of 65 years for the fair being the current fairgrounds. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you, but thank you more importantly for your continued support of the Martin County Fair. Let's make Martin County Fair great again for the next 65 years
at the new site. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you. David Hafner is next. David, I see you out in the in seven seconds. David Hafner.
Yeah, she heard. No, he's busy. He's posing for pictures. Would you like to to address us during public comment? Okay. Good morning, commissioners. My name is David Hefner. I'm your Martin County 4H youth development agent. Uh the Martin
County Fair is where Martin County 4 members hard work, dedication, and learning come to life. Throughout the year, 4H youth and volunteers spend countless hours caring for animals, keeping records, learning about animal and plant science, and practicing responsibility.
When fair week arrives, it's their chance to showcase that effort, demonstrate what they've learned, and take pride in the results of their commitment. But the impact of their 4 experiences goes beyond the show ring. Through these projects, youth develop life skills like leadership, communication, and teamwork.
Participating in livestock and horiculture projects also connects our members with the agricultural roots of our community. Reminding everyone farming, animal care, and food production still matter deeply here in Martin County. For many of us, the fair is where we
gain confidence, make lifelong friends, and learn the value of hard work and good sportsmanship. It's where families, volunteers, and local businesses come together to support the next generation of agricultural leaders. The Martin County Fair is a cornerstone of the 4H Youth Development Program, offering a
place for young people to grow into responsible, capable, and community-minded adults. Thank you for your continued support of the Martin County 4 Youth Development Program. Thank you. Jesse Fulton is next. Would you like to speak?
Would you like to address us now or during the item? Chris Hamilton, same question. Uh Elliot Mata, same question. Mr. or Miss Corey, same. Thank you. and
Sheree Ramirez. Good morning. Nice to see you all today. Thank you so much for having me. I'm Sheree Ramirez and I am representing Helping People Succeed today. I'm their new director of marketing, communications, and community
engagement. So, we're here today for agenda item 2600095 highlighting National Disabil Disability Employment Awareness Month. So, thank you to the Martin County Board of Comm County Commissioners because we receive
taxpayer dollars to help fund our programs for through successful futures, which Shannon Wilson will be talking on shortly. So, I'm here to talk about helping people succeed as a whole. We have been in the county for over 60
years just right behind the Martin County Fair. So, thank you so much for um that. And we provide everything from comprehensive wraparound services for baby steps, which is early childhood de development, behavioral health for
mental health intervention. We provide case management as well as psychiatric management for children and adults. And we do take insurance as well. So we are a mental health provider in the community. Also, healthy families, it's
a child abuse prevention. We do home visits. So, we are going into the homes of individuals and helping them learn how to be a parent so we can help um those numbers of child abuse go down in our county which has been successful by
um the lead Carolyn Moses who has been the direct uh program director for that. And then also successful futures what I was talking about. It's for disabilities and employment teaching them life skills and how to be successful on their own and independent. We have a wonderful
partnership with the Martin County Fire Rescue. So, as they were here earlier today, Josh Jenkins is coming in and teaching our home health visitors how to teach fire prevention to the families that they're serving in the community. We have wonderful partnerships here in
Martin County. And we're so thankful for that because we're able to serve um close to 8,000 individuals and families in the county. So, we have wonderful events coming up and ways to help support us um in the in the new in the
new year for all the different individuals who we serve. So, thank you so much for your support and I'll let Shannon come up and talk about our successful futures program. Thank you. Thank you. Shannon Wilson is next, [Applause]
followed by Tom Pine. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Shannon Wilson and I'm the director of successful futures at helping people succeed. Um, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support of helping people succeed. Your investment in our programs
truly makes a difference, not just for our organization, but for the people and employers who make Martin County stronger every day. With your help, we're empowering individuals with disabilities through job readiness training, placement, and on the job
support. These efforts are advancing inclusive employment where individuals with disabilities have the opportunity to thrive, contribute, and belong in our community's workforce. This month, as we celebrate the vital contributions of individuals with
disabilities, including those with mental health and non-visible conditions, we're reminded that inclusive employment benefits everyone. When businesses open their doors to all abilities, they gain skilled, loyal employees and foster a workplace root
culture rooted in innovation and compassion. So today, I invite you and the businesses across Martin County to partner with us. Together, we can continue creating meaningful opportunities that change lives and strengthen our local community and
economy. Thank you again for believing in our mission and for helping people succeed. Thank you. Thank you. Tom Pine is next, followed by Daryl McIll. Good morning, commissioners. My name is
Tom Pine. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years. Today in the consent agenda consent agenda, this commission will approve 22,20,16549 which was spent between September 8th and September 21 of 2025 within without
identifying the purpose of the payments or the payee. As our budget for the coming year moves through the process, the real culprit to the raising of our tax dollars is in is the millions of dollars that is spent in the consent agenda without any public
discussion and in many cases having absolutely nothing to do with the operation of government. What can and cannot be in the consent agenda according to Google. The consent agenda is a tool to streamline meeting procedures by collecting routine
non-controversial items into a group whereby all are passed in a single motion and vote. Topics that have not been discussed by the board in the past shall not be in the consent agenda. To a retired construction worker, the
definition of the consent agenda, according to Google, seems pretty simple and straightforward. So why is our local government making up their own definition? I feel this is the real reason our property taxes are going up almost every year for the past two decades.
On November of 2011, the Jensen Beach Community Center opened to a brand new building on Jensen Beach Boulevard in downtown Jensen Beach at a cost to the taxpayers of Martin County of $1.5 million.
Sometime later, the Jensen Beach Community Center sometime later, the Jensen Beach Chamber of Commerce was fundraising to build their very own building right next to our community center. At a Martin County Commission meeting several years ago,
there was a discussion about Palm City Chamber of Commerce renting, as I remember, about 500 square f feet of office space in our Palm City community center for $10 a month with a 10-year lease and two five years extension. At the meeting, it slipped out that
Beach Chamber of Commerce had moved into our still relatively new chamber community center. Of course, not a single single detail was made public. Maybe someone someday will explain to the taxpayers of Martin County, how this
is a good deal for us, the taxpayers. Because by now, if the Chamber of Commerce didn't move into our community center, they would have their very own building up by now, paying property taxes like real members of the community instead of living off the taxpayers as
they always do. Thank you for your time and have a great day. Thank you. Daryl McIll is next and this is the last request to speak form I have for public comment. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Daryl McIll and
just to start uh I come been to the Treasure Coast from the 50s. I've come down here from the 50s and I remember when my family was told they were not welcome at restaurants, gas stations, bathrooms and I remember signs tell telling me to go to different water fountains. In fact, that anger I
remember from being a young child. Anyway, um I told you my name, my past experience. I served for 17 years at entertainment chairperson at the Olter County Fair in New York. Three years as the advertising chairperson, I served on the board for two years. I was also a concert producer for the Orange County
Fair, which is also in New York for three years. And speaking of boards, I served for 17 years on the college boards of the State University of New York. Uh, and also was the uh uh president of the union for administrators at the Olter County Fair. I was chosen one of three people as the
pride of Olter County by my legislature. I received a certificate of special congressional recognition uh in uh from uh my my uh I'm sorry I'm so upset about this uh s for my service in the community and
most recently I was nominated in 2024 as the unsung hero on the entire Treasure Coast uh by uh by a group which I I brought you most of those things Mr. Blake you saw them. Um, so to make a long story short, on January 19th, I was told I was not welcome on the Martin
County Fairgrounds by the then president. Angrily told, I was then told I was I was voted out by the board of the Martin County Fair by the same president. Uh, I was shocked and this was all witnessed by Martin County
Sheriff officer uh, Sergeant Foot. It has been nine months and without no response to letters which from my attorney came to for civil rights because my civil rights were violated and due process was not offered. This is very sad and at this time I must take
legal action. Any questions and I've seen you several times uh Mr. Caps showed you everything of numerous things from Congress. Yes. Yes. Thoroughly investigate Mr. McIll, you're welcome.
Thank you. Dennis Thiago is next, followed by Corey Reamp. Good morning. Morning, commissioners. I represent two different people, I guess, because I'm president of the
Model Train Club and I'm also on on the board of directors for the fairgrounds. And I'm here to read a letter from one of our people that
it says, "I am writing in support of the Martin County Fair and Martin County Model Railroad. I understand you would be voting Tuesday on extending the fair an additional one year. When we moved here in 1998,
Steuart was a small town and the fair was a charming addition to the area. It took me years and the encouragement of Dennis Seattle president to become the only woman member of the club and at
that time now we have had several um young members and we also have four women that belong to the club when Martin County
Railroad depended on the fair and I agreed and fairground space in implement to this mission. The fair attracts people to use and we need them. We do not have
a valid alternative to the space and we possibly close down if the fair does not continue to exist. So, we're asking for the extension for the one-year lease, and we're also asking for the extens
extension for the other lease for the piece of property. So, thank you. Thank you. Corey Recamp is next. This is the last request to speak form I have for public comment. Good morning. Good morning. And good morning people of
Martin County. Um it was Could you get closer to the mic please so we can hear you? This is better Sarah. Yes it is. Thank you. Um I don't know how much time I have. I didn't on coming here today. So, I'll start off by one thing and that is just to give
the 4 a shout out because back in the early 90s I was in 4 and we even had a toast masters speaking club where I had passed out in front of people speaking before. So, of course that was a long
time ago. But um although I'm happy with the job that you do in general, I came up because of my own personal griefs which I will just leave as questions to maybe the board can look into for later that um consistently after delivering
the mail in 34997 for probably 26 years. I have noticed that there's a huge discrepancy between what roads get paved consistently and what roads I think have lasted 26 years without being repaved
but patched and patched and patched. So I would just like to put before the board that if you could please consider and walk those roads yourself, drive them yourself, check it out. I I I think it's a big oversight that's just been
something missed because as somebody who's driven what I just said, I realized after living here for only six years when I didn't live here for 16 that there are roads I haven't been on in a very long time. So, it's
easy sometimes when you get in a routine to miss things. But I have been able to witness while I was delivering and I'd bug me so bad. I'd be like, I'm really glad Willoughby gets repaved at least once, if not twice every 10 years, and
that's fantastic, but at the same time, there's a lot of traffic that provides for that paving for Willoughby that goes on Monroe Street and Commerce and Grand Parkway and um the other road that goes behind that that runs parallel to um I
can't remember the name of it. So, you know what I'm getting at. And also there are roads where these people that work for these companies live in um right across the street from there in um Hibiscus Park and um forget the name of
the other community with all the presidents. There's Washington and um Monroe goes past it and Graham and um so I don't need to say more about that. It's not a huge concern and I'm really
will be happy if you do move the fair because at some point I had gotten grown very tired of going there because it is definitely outgrown its space for many years and I know that Mr. Campy at one point you were pushing for that and the board knocked you down on it and I feel
so bad for you because I was rooting for the same thing. You have some new board members right? So other than that thank you for the progress. I do see it's beautiful what Martin County is becoming. I hope they stay close to the heart of people who do the things for the community that
we forget about like growing our stake. Thank you. Thank you. Have a pleasant day. Marvin Pinder is next and this is the last request to speak form I have. I was going to speak during the
which item sir the fair. and what's that about? Okay, thanks. Okay, it's now time for commissioner comments. Commissioner Caps, good morning. I want to begin by thanking each and every one of you for
being here today. you know, in Martin County, we are very blessed with a very engaged uh citizenry, and that's what public meetings are all about. And I just want to let you know how much I appreciate each and every one of you being here.
Um the last public uh speak or uh public comment uh spoke about paving of roads and I learned about this when I had to take up a neighborhood collection to get my own
personal street paved. What what is interesting about the streets in Martin County is that some of them are public roads and some of them are private roads and the county doesn't have the authority to pave private roads. Uh you
have to do what I did which was bang on doors and get the neighbors to throw in a check which we got it done after a lot of lot of work. Um and so keep that in mind. Um there is a process for for converting
a private road to a public road, but it often involves getting all of the residents on the street to give uh the right of way needed uh because the county has to have rightway as part of that process. So
keep that in mind. And then I wanted to bring attention to a little tour that I had a few days ago at the Salvation Army here in Martin County, which is over by the city of
Stewart Police Station. Um, some of you may know where it is. I had never had the privilege of touring that facility, but recently I did. And my tour guides were Captain Abby Milner and volunteer
coordinator Lordis Storz. And I was really amazed at all that they do for those in need in our community. Their outreach includes a food pantry, an on-site fully operational church, a
compassion house for single mothers and children, rental and utility assistance, red kettle and angel tree campaigns at Christmas time. I'm sure many of you familiar with those. And then there's a
huge store they have over on US1 that has all kinds of uh great products in it, clothing and furniture and all kinds of things. And we toured the store as well. It's a big operation and they do an awesome job. I was very heartened
when they told me that the people of Martin County are very generous uh to all that they do for uh those in need in our community. And then I will end with
mentioning that we got a letter, commissioners got a letter from a thousand friends of Florida about Senate Bill 180, which is a bill that was passed in the last legislative session that greatly limits local government's
abilities to uh strengthen their comprehensive plans. It basically says that anything that is could be deemed more burdensome can't be
implemented until late 2027. There are some parts of the bill that are good, some parts of the bill that are bad, but Thousand Friends of Florida was urging us to
um begin our outreach to legislators now because they're in committee weeks as they're called uh in preparation for the legislative session that will begin in January. So, I would urge us all uh
those in uh residents of Martin County to write your legislators urging them to repeal the bad portions of Senate Bill 180 that limit our ability to strengthen our comprehensive plan. And uh uh and then also
uh as far as what we should do as commissioners, um I'm sure that uh our county administrator and our esteemed chairwoman chairwoman will be working hard to uh put us a letter together
hopefully at the appropriate time um and hopefully pretty soon to uh marshall our arguments um and and get that to our legislative delegation um and to continue with other lobbying
efforts that we can uh do before the session and during the session. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Campy, Madam Chair. Thank you. Um now that the weather has begun to cool, I'd like to begin again my uh music in the park
series that we're having at the patio at Palm City Place on Map Road. Uh if you're not familiar, it's just north of the Palm City Station 21. We started last year by having free concerts in the park with food trucks, ice cream trucks.
Um it's free. It starts this season. We're making it a little bit earlier. The music starts at 6:30 and it'll go till 8:30, but the fun and festivities, we have cornhole air and ping pong and checkers, and you can walk the the lake
around the patio and the park. Uh it's really in an effort to build a sense uh continue to build a sense of community to get uh not just young folks but uh adults away from their TV screens, their laptops, their phones. Come out and do
it like we used to do. Come and meet your neighbors and bring your friends. You can bring takeout, you can picnic, you can use the food trucks that come. Um, it'll be October 18th, which is a Saturday. Uh, 6:30 to 8:30 is the live
music. 5:30 sort of kicks it off. But, uh, that park is open and available every single day. Uh, I was driving past this weekend and kids were fishing. We have a fishing pier there and pulling out big fish. So, if you're interested in that, you can come. Um, it's all part
of what we're trying to do to just enhance Map Road in Palm City. And I'd like to personally invite all of you to come. Uh if you have suggestions of future musical acts or you are a future musical act, uh please contact my office. We're always looking for folks
that are looking for an opportunity to come out and entertain their fellow citizens. So uh with that, I thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Heatherington. Thank you. one I would like to say I only see one 4 member um remaining but and you took time probably off school to
be here so um what a great it exemplifies what a wonderful program that is and how it's raising young leaders so thank you for taking time out of your day to be here and then I'll just uh yesterday the business development board had a really great um
awards ceremony there were so many businesses that I wasn't even familiar with that were recognized and a job well done. A couple of them um stood out. They BDB had a brand new award the first year, the legacy award where Joan
Jefferson, if you know anything about Joan Jefferson, was really at the pinnacle of revitalizing downtown Stewart. We would not be the same community had she not put a lot of time, energy, and effort. Uh she also served
as a city of Stewart commissioner. her and her husband um and another family single-handedly pretty much revitalized downtown Stewart. It was really nice to see her honored yesterday with a legacy award. And also one interesting thing,
Alice's Restaurant across the street, they were honored for their innovative techniques of hiring, training, and engaging those with disabilities throughout the restaurant. It was really a amazing award ceremony, but
congratulations to all the businesses that were recognized. That's all I have. Thank you. And last week, John May and I traveled to Tallahassee in part to uh witness the governor and the cabinet uh making a wonderful uh acquisition of
1,670 acres in Martin County. It's called the Barbie Ranch. Um, it's a beautiful property that's in western Martin County, um, west of 95, east of Alipata, north of 714.
Um, it's the the Troop family has owned the property since 1948. The current owner is Lance Troop and it's a beautiful native uh, habitat piece in Martin County. Um, Mr. troop has been
inundated for the last two decades with offers to purchase the property and most people could not have turned down the offers that were made him. Um but he didn't want the property to be developed. He wanted it to be maintained
in perpetuity. So he agreed uh several months ago to allow the uh land to be put in the conservation easement in perpetuity. So it will remain uh as beautiful and uh as pristine as it is
now uh forever. And he said he he was moved to attend the uh cap the governor and cabinet meeting too. Um he he was it was such an emotional experience for him. Um he said his father would be so proud and that's what we all want to do
is we want to make our fathers and mothers proud. So it's a marvelous piece. Martin County contributed $5 million from our halfsent sales tax. This in addition to this being in in uh uh perpetual easement and conservation,
uh this property will be used as the state's portion of Indian River Lagoon South Natural Lands, which is a marvelous achievement. So, it's it's a it's a terrific thing for for everybody in Martin County. Um, we also uh made
stops with uh senior staff at the Department of Environmental Protection. We all know that the Department of Environmental Protection has been a wonderful partner to Martin County and we're just we every opportunity we can to cement those relationships. Um, we
make those uh efforts and we are assured that we will uh again and again be partnering with the Department of Environmental Protection uh to improve Martin County. And also a a a uh a partnership that we have not uh availed
ourselves of is the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. And we are now going to be partnering actively with the DAX in order to purchase rural uh conservation easements. There are three parcels that
are under consideration. They were extremely receptive. Um and so we are really looking forward to to becoming an active partner with uh the department of agriculture. And so it was a a very
successful, rewarding trip to to Tallahassee, which isn't always the case, Minister Donaldson. Well, thank you and thank you and John Mail for for doing that for us. Good job. I have nothing else. Thank you, Miss Elder. With your permission,
commissioners, since we have a uh chamber full of people who are not here to hear, we have two items this morning that I'm going to take first. Uh the first one is going to be uh agenda item uh DPQJ1
which is the uh request for a revised final site plan approval for Meadow Run at Fox Grove subdivision. We have staff here to take up that item and that will be followed by department
4 which is the discussion on the fair. Is that okay to take things out of order? Absolutely. Good morning, Mr. Elam. Morning. This is Quasi Judicial. Uh, Commissioner Caps, any exparte disclosures?
If I have any, they have been filed. If I have any, they've been filed. Commissioner Campy, I don't have any that I believe. And if they have, they've been filed. You've received emails. Well, yeah, the emails, but they are public records. And Commissioner Heatherington, if any, they've been filed.
Thank you, Mr. Elam, have you filed your necessary paper work? A copy of my work history in the agenda item has been turned in as exhibit one. Is if there's anyone who's going to be providing sworn testimony, please stand up, raise your right hand, and be sworn
in. Anyone from the applicant here, thank you. Raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Thank you, Madam Chair. Morning, commissioners.
Uh, for the record, I'm Brian Brian Elum, the principal planner with Growth Management. Uh this is a request by McKenzie Engineering and Planning Incorporated on behalf of Meadowrun Property Owners Association Incorporated for approval of a revised final site plan to add a rear
entry gate at the culde-sac of Southwest Brierbrook Way for the purpose of accessing Southwest Leighton Farm Avenue. Included with this application is a request for certificate of public facilities reservation. The master site plan for the Fox Grove subdivision was approved on June 8th,
2004 and included a 91 lot subdivision on approximately 543.8 acres with minimum lot sizes of 5 acres consistent with the agricultural ranch at future land use and AR5A zoning district. The Fox Grove subdivision received final
site plan approval on September 14th, 2004 and the plat was uh recorded on April 15, 2005. The property is east of Southwest Citrus Boulevard, north of I95, and west of
Southwest Leighton Farms Avenue at 4350 Southwest Stony Brook Way in Palm City. The current zoning on the property is AR5A, Agricultural Ranchette District. The future land use is Agricultural Ranchet.
Here's a sheet. Here's sheet one of the revised final site plan showing the proposed rear entry gate at the culdesac of southwest Brierbrook Way uh for the purpose of providing access to the community from Southwest Leighton Farm Avenue.
I have slides later here that'll give you a closeup of it. So this is Southwest Leighton Farms. This is shows you the detail. This will be the property boundary and the gate will come around the culdesac. I'm sorry. The fence will come around
the culde-sac like this and it'll be gated back here allowing uh traffic to turn around if need be or to offer a queueing space up to the gated area. And this is just an aerial
of where the gate will be approximately here where the red is. So, development review staff have found the Meterrun Property Owners Association Incorporated application to comply with all applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan is
detailed in the staff report. Uh, review by the local planning agency is not required for this application and staff recommends approval of the Metrun Property Owners Association application. We move that the board receive and file the agenda item and its
attachments, including the staff report is exhibit one, and move that the board adopt the resolution approving the revised final site plan for the metal run at Fox Grove subdivision project. And that concludes the presentation. Be happy to answer any questions.
Questions for staff. Seeing none, applicant, would you like to make a presentation? Good morning. Good morning. Uh my name is Chris. I'm with McKenzie Engineering on behalf of the applicant. Um would like to thank
Brian for the presentation and their assistance on getting this to this point so far. Um and would like to uh answer any questions that you guys may have regarding the project. Thank you. Questions for the applicant?
Commissioner Caps. Leighton Verms Road. Is that a public road? Yes. Yes. County owned. County maintained. County owned and maintained. Yes. Yes. All right. Thanks. Thank you.
I have a number of uh requests for to address us on this. First is Chris Hamilton, followed by Jesse Fulton. Thank you, Mr. Gon. My name is Jesse F. I'm going to go ahead and address commissioners first. Good morning, county commissioners,
staff, and guests. My name is Jesse Fulton, and I represent Jacob Community Center LLC, the neighboring property owner located east of Meadow Rum. Thank you for allowing my colleague, Mr. Hamilton, myself, and some of the families involved to speak this morning on behalf of our organization and
supporting the community. Now, in 2004, this very board approved Meto Run's master site plan, which could not be clear. All access to and from Meto Run must come from Southwest 48th Avenue, now known Citrus Boulevard, and Leighton
Farms Road is to be used only for emergency access. For more than two decades, Meadow Run operated consistent with this requirement. Now, things changed after JCC, which owns approximately 400 acres east of
Meto Run, invested its own resources to improve and pave Leighton Farms Road a few years ago. Once that road was extended and improved, Meadow Run unilaterally installed an unpermitted and unsafe Southgate connecting its subdivision to Slaton
Farms Road. indirect violation of the master site plan this board approved. Since then, Meadow Run has used that gate for daily residential traffic, guest, and large construction vehicles causing increased noise, congestion, and
safety risk on a rural road that was never designed for such use. This is a narrow road. It's not striped. It's got deep ditches on the side, no whip barriers. When JCC discovered this violation, we reached out to Meadow Run directly. respectfully and in good faith, asking
them to comply voluntarily. They refused. We then reported the issue to Martin County Code Enforcement in January. The county investigated, confirmed non-compliance, and issued a formal notice of violation. However, rather than correct the problem, Meto
Run appeared compliant by slightly moving the gate I'm sorry, rather than uh correct the problem, Meto Run appeared compliant by slightly moving the gate inward. then reinstalling it to appease code enforcement. Within two weeks, the gate was reopened and the
violations resumed. A second violation followed and the matter proceeded before the ma special magistrate in April. Unfortunately, the special magistrate exceeded his authority in effectively granting Meadow Run an exception, something only this board can do.
That temporary allowance for construction bills has only compounded the very issues we're here to discuss today. Today, Meadow Run continues to use the Southgate illegally, exposing neighboring land owners, employees, and families, especially
those attending the Palm City soccer farm, some of which are here today, to ongoing risk from speeding traffic and oversized trucks. Just two weeks ago, Meadowrun residents again use the gate in violation of this magistrate's order and that limited exception. When reported, the county declined to impose
meaningful penalties, effectively signaling that this non-compliance carries no consequence. Sir, your time is up. Thank you. In closing, our request is simple. Please enforce the rules already in place and restore the protections built into the original master site plan. Sir, your time is up. Compliance. Thank
you all very much. Appreciate Chris Hamilton is next, followed by Miss Corey. All right. Good morning, commissioners. Just real quick before my time starts, I'd like to ask for just a quick matter of legal housekeeping. There was some letters submitted, I believe, to the
commission. We have them county. I just want to make sure they're in the record. That's all. Okay. Thank you. All right. Good morning, uh, Madam Chair, commissioners, uh, county administrator, county attorney, staff, guests. My name is Chris Hamilton. I represent Jacob Community Center as well
as Mr. Fulton. As my colleague referenced, Meadow Run's proposed application for installing the Southgate along Southwesten Farms Road creates a dangerous condition for JCC and other local residents, plus and particularly families attending this the Palm City soccer farm. Some of those families are
here today and you'll hear from them shortly. Also have 118 signed declarations opposing uh the south gate that we will enter into the record with the clerk. Three simple points I raised for consideration. First, Meadow Run designed and built its own main entrance which was not mandated the design by any
site plan, county, uh code, or anyone or anything else. Meet Run's attempting to justify these new gates by relying on their own created problem or harm. Rather than remedying its own design flaws to the main entryway through a simple construction permit and slight modification to the entry, Meto Run now
seeks to shift the burden onto its neighbors, exposing the public uh and other land owners outside Meadow Run to safety risks. Southwest Leaden Farms Road was never designed nor constructed uh for the substantial number of heavy trucks and speeding cars that have been cutting through and creating congestion.
It's a non-divided, non-striped, and less than 20 ft wide dead-end road uh with large culverts on both sides, making it not only difficult to pass and manage two-way traffic, but it's simply unsafe for the contemplated increase in traffic. Number two, as of May 2025, we
estimate that Meadowrun homeowners have built on close to half of the 91 lots already there. Uh these homes were largely, if not solely, built using the main entrance for large vehicles. As such, Meadow Run can and does use the front entrance for construction and larger vehicles along with everyday
traffic for close to 20 years. Otherwise, those homes would not have been built to date. The idea that the main entrance is somehow insufficient or limiting now is a self-s serving falsehood. Number three, there is a clear alternative. Meet Run has uh already has access on the northern end
of Leighton Farms Road. As of now, that northern gate is to be used solely for emergency access. That means per Martin Countyy's own growth management department that the gates culvert and paved access road must have been built and currently maintained to accommodate a large fire truck given that it is more
than sufficient to hold large vehicles and the construction, maintenance, and lawn trucks that we see going and coming from the south gate currently. Using the north gate would also eliminate most, if not all of the concerns of these large construction, delivery, and maintenance vehicles and regular resident and visitor traffic passing the Palm City
soccer farm at high speeds, endangering parents and children alike attending the farm. So, in closing, we're simply asking that the county uphold the original master site plan in order to ensure the southern end of Leighton Farm Road remains what it was always meant to be, a dead-end road with limited access, not a public thoroughare for a wealthy
subdivision wanting to make its own rules to the detriment and increased hazard of others and children. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Corey is next, followed by Elliot Mata. These are for the clerk. Good morning, commissioners and um uh
public u members of the community. My name is Nel Corey and I'm I'm mother of two boys, James and Bryce, uh who attend the uh soccer facility on Leighton Farms Avenue. Um and I'm here to speak on behalf of our community members who
attend um the soccer facility. Every morning around 9:00 a.m. about 50 kids gets dropped off um at academy and um um by 3 p.m. are picked up and um at 4:30 the soccer practice starts and about 300
families bring their kids every day uh on that road and um I believe this this road is very narrow and there is no um side um sidewalks there is no lines and on both sides
there are very deep ditches and there is already imposs it's already impossible to drive even regular car back and forth and When large trucks are involved, they take the entire space of the road. And earlier this year when the gate was
open, my dog Max was hit by a car and had to spend by by a large um construction truck that was speeding and he had to spend two nights at emergency hospital and it was devastating for our for our family.
And I can't even imagine if a child who were in similar sim similar similar circumstances was on that road and like the construction truck wouldn't just notice him and hit hit the hit the
child. And um we as as community of our soccer parents totally opposed to using this gate for um any traffic other than emergency use. um because the as as it was say the road is too narrow and uh we
just don't want to put our children at risk and we ask you to please do not amend the site plan. Thank you. Elliot Mata is next followed by Marvin Pinder. Uh good morning. My name is Elliot Ma.
I'm the vice president of the Walton and Hersam football club which occupies the soccer facility on Leighton Farms Avenue. I am opposed to the proposed gate plan by McKenzie Engineering on behalf of Meadow Run along with the hundreds of families who have signed
petitions expressing their opposition. I have personally been bringing my daughters to the soccer facility for over 13 years. So, I'm very familiar with Leighton Farms Avenue, including how narrow the road is and the deep ditches on each side of the road.
The club oversees an educational program at the facility with families arriving as early as 7:30 in the morning to drop off their kids and coupled with a soccer program that has families picking up kids as late as 10:00 p.m. So, in other words, a very active area with children
and families on Leighton Farms Avenue. The condition at Leighton Farm Avenue creates a significant safety concern for our families and students. We have already have incidents as previously mentioned, including the club's owner's dog being hit and children and families
having close calls. Adding a gate at this location would only increase traffic, inherently increasing the risk of children, family, and club members traveling to and from the facility. My wish is that the amendment to this site plan not be approved due to the safety
risk and potential harm it poses to our community. And I hope I have successfully described the risk that this poses to children's and families. Thank you. Thank you. Marvin Pinder is next and Mr. Pinder is the last request to speak form that I
have on this item. Hi everyone. Good morning. I've been a resident for on Martin County for 50 years and I live on Leighton the corner of Leighton and Moore Street for 41 years. Um I with
this entrance they're posing I think it's it's going to put way too much traffic into our neighborhood. Um it's the roads aren't designed to take that much traffic and I really just oppose um
this amendment to this uh project. Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else like to address us back to the board? Commissioner Campy. Thank you. Um, based on some of the public comment, I have some questions.
Um, Mr. Elum, there was a comment about a north gate. Can you give us an aerial of what they're speaking of? Yes. The original master site plan approval um had a emergency access
as part of its uh approval right up here. Uh so at the northern end of Southwest Leighton Farms um as as they had described um I could show you an aerial of it but that would be more helpful. This looks like it goes into a lake.
Um So that would be basically I think right here. Mhm. Would be the uh emergency access. So um what condition is that road in currently? Is it farms?
No, the access the emergency access. I believe that it's intact. Um I personally have not in inspected it. I believe that we have had people that have looked at it recently uh due to this particular
application. I can't speak of it to my myself. I guess I'm asking our staff and maybe the engineering firm representing the neighborhood if that was uh considered as a viable option. Is there a reason it wasn't an option? I'm just
trying to flesh out if there was two different considerations. was that the uh that emergency access is a 20 foot wide uh grass current um path uh with a stabilized base underneath. Um I
we haven't considered that as a feasible option um due to the rightway concerns um being 20 ft wide. We don't think that there is enough room to put in a gate with uh the proper facilities there.
Does our staff agree with that part of the approved for the record on Michael Grisco, the county engineer? U yeah, and we did go out and look at that facility. The the culverts are fine. The access is still um adequate for the fire rescue
department because that's what it was primarily designed for. Um but we never took any more additional look at it, but it is only a 20 foot wide easement that cuts across those properties for emergency access only. Okay. Another question. Thank you very
much. Um, I've been down that road many times. Leighton Farms, uh, I've been actually driven it recently to see what this was like. I know of the soccer club back there. Yeah, there's I think this is the soccer club here. Correct. And the other facility that's
there is the JCC. Um the interesting point about this um first off in my opinion something that was approved 20 years ago uh now with the hindsight of decades uh I don't personally think that
since it was written that way in 2004 it would have to be locked in that way. So that that part for me at least and I wasn't here then but I could understand that things change and and can progress. the comment about the
additional traffic that Leighton Farms would have to take on. We just heard from some of the public comments that nearly 300 kids are dropped off at this club potentially daily. That's a tremendous amount of car traffic going up and down Leighton
Farms. Hundreds of families. I heard one of the comments was that there are hundreds of families that are involved going back and forth to the soccer club as early as 7:30 in the morning and as late as 10:00 at night dark road. So I think there's already a potential concern. Um these
are how many homes are in this? 90 91 lots and about half of them are developed at this point. That's correct. I know that for quite a long time the the development similar to the Pentalago development that's next
door had set had set uh unused for many many many years and it just seems to have recently started to be done again. I'm torn in this particular area. I think that it's not an it's not a builder in there.
It's not an it's not a culter or a py. It's an it's a individual kind of situation in there. Correct. H homes are not being built 50 or 20 30 40 at a time. They're just building them. I believe it's each individual uh lot owner
I think is uh having their house built. I think that's how it's working. Correct. Yes. Okay. Individual. So based on a calendar of when people are building or not building. Um, I can see the concern of construction vehicles, but I think if half the
neighborhood of 92 homes is already built and they're building them, you know, sort of sporadically, I don't know if it would be a parade of trucks that we have seen in other portions of the county. Um, I'm wondering if since staff has I I've
read the application and the agenda item very carefully to see staff's recommendation is approval. They comply with all the codes. So, yes, there's nothing that would but they don't there are violations against them.
Uh, they had a violation recently that was that was brought up. Um, I talked with Jerry, our compliance uh officer, and he said they paid the $500 fine. I don't know all of the uh citations they've had. There have been a few, I believe, and we've dealt with them each
time. Our code compliance, Jerry has deal dealt with it. But part of correcting of violations would be what's happening today. Correct. That's correct. You know, it's interesting because these are residents that live here. uh
purchased homes and property here and would use that as a potential option out of their neighborhood. And uh with all due respect to the folks that are visiting and participating at the soccer club, they in the last several
years, I know the club's been there for a long time, but it's really become much more active in the last several years. Um, if the neighbors had come to complain about a soccer club with hundreds of cars approximate potential hundreds of cars
going the full length of Leighton Farms Road, I mean, we'd have to take that into consideration as well. So, for me, these are residents asking for an opportunity. They're going through the process and staff has said that it's met. All of the individual departments
have reviewed this and feel that it is an appropriate potential use of even if all the neighborhood was built out. It's 92 homes. I don't know if it would generate the type of traffic that the soccer club does. So, I mean, in my
mind, it's it seems like a reasonable request at this time. Commissioner Heatherington. So, you're I'm concerned about the traffic on Leighton Farms Road. I'm concerned about the violations that I I'm reading, and I'm concerned
um about pushing traffic away that wasn't necessarily studied originally when the PUD was approved. So, what you're asking for is something temporary in nature until the project is completed
or is this a permanent? Permanent. So is there I asked the staff is there a mechanism that allows for temporary and not a permanent change or is that the back the north gate is that the um
provision for that? Madam chair may I uh Paul Schilling growth management director for the record. So there there was a um order finding violation that was by the magistrate that was April 16th. One of the reasons we are here today is to um
review and potentially approve the removal of note 19 which was on the previous approval which prohibited access to Leighton Farm. U so that's that component. So um part of the review has un um um these other potential
matters that have been mentioned I'm not aware of. Um, I would point out that this project being reviewed from a traffic perspective, meaning meadow meadow run, uh, was determined to be dimminimous because of, as you said,
there are, u 91 total total lots, 45 of which have been built. Um, but to circle back around to your question, they are operating under the magistrate order, which allowed for limited construction traffic. um and the association is
required to manage that. I believe they were uh tractor trailers measuring 53 in length or greater. So concrete pumps, things of that nature and some other matters um roof trusses, cement pump trucks, things of that matter. So, um,
as part of that hearing, which I testified in, um, the review of this application has it actually started before then, but we're here today to hopefully um, try to
address the access permanently. So, if this if this matter is approved today, that would allow the limited access for guests. It's a controlled access um and limited construction traffic or what there there's no real provision to limit
the construction after today in my mind. No, note note 23 uh spells it out and I believe it mimics the magistrates's ruling, although I I wasn't there. And it says uh Southwest Leighton Farm
Avenue shall be a residence, contractors, vendors, and emergency access. That is one of the few changes from the original site plan was the uh modification of that particular note
which I believe used to just read that uh Southwest Citrus Boulevard shall be the access for residents and guests something something that that's correct. Yes. So that portion has been added to this note as part of this revised final site plan.
Madam Chair, um, microphone. I was not sworn in, so I can't speak to the facts, but I I do believe staff could confirm that Leighton Farms was not open to this location when it was originally approved. I believe the when
the project was approved, it was u was an unopen road to the point that the the access is being requested to, and it has since been improved um and open to uh to use by the public. I you would need staff to confirm that or
I'd have to be sworn in. I did a a reszoning for the property that has that has the soccer field on it. And uh I believe when I looked at it then the road stopped basically at their
gate. They had it they had a gate across here. So it wasn't paved from this portion down. Miss Elder. Yes. Sully Selder, acting cap county attorney. I just had information about the code enforcement proceeding, but Mr. uh Shelling covered some of that. So I
have if you have any questions, I can answer them, but um I'm happy to answer those. There was a comment oh that someone made that the magistrate did not have the authority to make the determination. Could you explain?
So there was that provision on the site plan that said there shall be no access off Leighton Avenue. Um, in his ruling, the magistrate ruled that, uh, Meadow Run could actually use Leighton Avenue for larger tractor trailers. Um, so the
neighboring residents said that that the magistrate doesn't have authority to make that ruling. We're currently in a lawsuit on that right now. So, we're um, so addressing that in court. Doesn't mean like if a magistrate would not necessarily have that authority to do that, that would only be this body.
So, it's questionable right now and we're in litigation right now. So, it's hard to comment on that. Magistrate, I would think. Yes. So, um but the magistrate only granted that access until this court this board ruled on the site plan. Once
the site plan is ruled on, that that access goes away whether it's approved or not. So, it's only a very limited time that they could use that entrance. Is the lawsuit that we're involved in right now over this matter? Yes. year.
It's part of the part of the code enforcement um order was for Meto Run to come before the board to see if they can get a permanent access. So, that's that was done first and then the I believe the lawsuits came second.
So, we're here because of the amended uh u order from the special magistrate. It's just the original order, but yes, that's that's part of it. also are questioning whether or not he had the ability to implement this change.
Madam chair, may I uh Paul showing for the record. So the note 19 as referenced which prohibited the access to Leighton Farm was a board imposed condition. There are requirements in the land development regulations which require the removal of that note potential uh to
to be uh the board of county commissioners is a decision maker on that. Hence the hearing today. I would also like to state that this application came in I believe a couple years ago this request. Uh but the
applicant today um was was not part of the board. He stepped down or something of that nature. And so now that he has come back on the board, he's put in the application again. This wasn't something that happened 6 months ago. This was something they had desired
uh a couple years ago. But two years ago, they knew that they that they were not allowed to access it from this access that they're now using because the two years ago they came in for a preapp and we evaluated this exact proposal. Uh
but they never turned in an application to go forward and I I believe it's because the applicant today was stepped down off the board or or something of that nature. So now that he's back on the board, he has resumed
um resumed this proposal. But according to the approved plan, they are not allowed access here. They're only allowed access at the other entrance. That's correct. The except for by way of the magistrate's ruling, uh the approved
site plan um does not allow access there only. Yes, Commissioner Caps. Yes. I wanted to get a little more clarification about this north gate. There were a lot of things said and perhaps you've already settled the
matter, but what I would like to know is can the could the north gate be modified so that it's usable for the same purposes if it's just a matter of time and money? Um I would there be like
rightway issues, drainage issues, that kind of thing. But is it is it feasible that it it could be done? Yes, maybe and not sure. Um all of the above. So u I'll try to articulate it to
some extent. The area in question is a 20 foot easement that traverses parallel to lot lines. I if Brian could Mr. could zoom down in there. Um, right. So, we have residences that have
been at least one constructed adjacent to the north there, the driveway, and then at the south, there will be a residence on that lot at some point in the future. But to to get back to the answer, um, potentially modifications to the rightway, potentially modifications
to this plats, which are minimum lot size. Um what was it Peter? 5 acres. 5 acres. So most of these lots could not uh lose any square footage and still meet the agricultural ranch at land use designation.
So that's I'm sorry. I think that's it. So for to really get a final determination on that, we would probably need to pause this thing and and do some research and further study if or we're
pretty clear now that it's not feasible. I mean, I'm not pressing you to uh make fast decisions that need more time. I would say the likelihood of that happening in this location similar to the south end that's proposed today is
extremely unlikely. Okay. In my opinion, I don't know if the county engineer has another opinion. Would you repeat that please? I me the likelihood of uh a gate and full culde-sac and all the pertinances
necessary to gate this access between these two lots for uh with a call box and the queueing um and all the intricacies that come with establishing that gate on the driveway uh would be could be problematic. Even though there
is an approved final site plan on which this is noted. Yes, ma'am. There is that as we noted before that is uh specifically for emergency access. So if the access to the front on Citrus was shut down by way
of an accident or god forbid something more serious, um the emergency traffic could get into the subdivision by way of this uh access point. It's not designed for guest guest access. It's solely designed for to hold a firet truck and any emergency vehicles.
So, there is an approved final site plan on this subdivision. And are we required to modify it? No. No, you're not required to modify it. This is a this is a request. It's the
board's decision to make a change uh to allow this change. And I I think um um in terms of the modification to this other entrance, I I I think um the most significant item would be dealing with the zoning issue on the minimum lot
size. All other engineering aspects could be overcome. It would be incumbent upon them to acquire rightaway or other things to meet the standards. But if there was a if that relocated entryway required uh um acquiring properties and
rendering the existing properties less than the size that's your most critical issue. So the question is is there a clever way to do that? We don't that we could not be determined um today at all. Commissioner Heatherington Light,
Commissioner Caps, do you do you have to have a culde-sac? Is is the construction of the culdeac the big problem as far as the the the need for more land? The possibly needing land and on other people's lots. Could
you could you have an access without a culde-sac? Um, you would have to have queuing space and I I forget the exact number. you would have to accommodate vehicles that pull up to that gate and cannot ingress without a call box or other matter. Um
so potentially you'd be acquiring more right away um into the subject property and maybe you can talk about that Michael. Again for the record I'm Michael Gresulka the county engineer. Yeah. In order to to make that a full access it
would have to be built to county standards. And in order to build a road to county standards, we would need a 60 ft rideway out there, which there's not a rideway currently. There would also be the need for a turnaround at a gate so that anybody who gets up there that
can't gain access has the ability to make the U-turn and exit and exit the facility. So, that's all part of it. I mean, like you said, that takes a lot of the property away. I don't know what those two lot sizes are, but this property was all designed for five for
minimum five acres. So, if we took no action, the final site plan that was approved in 2004 remains in in good standing and there's just the matter of the uh special magistrates's
amended order that we have to [Music] does that stand. The order from the magistrate only goes until the time that this board makes a decision. If the board says no today, they would not be able to use that access at all. Okay. The original site plan would stand.
Okay, cool. One more. Commissioner Caps, one more question. Um, if if we said no and you had to remain just on Citrus as your access, um, that would require the
modification of a little building in the front. the is it the uh guard station or because I believe that big trucks have been hitting the edges of the roof and you've had a lot of problems with that
being in the way of the road. Yes, sir. Uh the applicant can speak more to this, but I did testify in the code enforcement hearing that the building could be modified the guard shack to accommodate whatever vehicles they'd like. it's been designed and in compliance with all the rules and
regulations in effect at in 2004, but I understand some of the larger vehicles uh may be constricted due to the the the pertinances and and gate access within the interior of the site. Uh that could be accommodated by way of building
permits presumably. One one more question. Um, is is there a I suppose it would be an enforcement problem to allow the south gate, but with a limited permanent limited use just for big
trucks. That would that would require someone sitting there all the time monitoring who's using who's going in and out. Uh, that would probably be a hard thing to enforce, I suppose. Yes sir. It would be very difficult to
enforce and um Yes, definitely. There is an approved final site plan and it appears to be in in compliance. We need a motion. I do need a motion. We need a motion,
Miss Elder. Yes, we do need a motion on the hearing though. We can't take no action. I just want to say since it is a quasi judicial um proceeding, Mr. Caps. So if uh what are the
consequences if we said we would like you just to fully exhaust the issue of whether the north gate is possible? I mean I I sense that you're pretty sure but not absolutely sure. Is there some
creative solution where the north access could we pause this and uh what would be the consequences of that? I suppose there have been fees paid um for this hearing and and the application and all that and uh would
that mean a denial and have to pay all that stuff all over again and wait like a year to hear this again? What are the consequences of that? Yes, sir. uh a denial would would would um on a future application
we we haven't had the opportunity to I would just let the applicant like to if they'd like to address that their willingness to move it to the north end. Uh but throughout as Brian said the last two or three years um that has not been part of the equation. So if if
so presumably the application would start over and there would be some issues with the um and even traveling further in time there would probably need to be some more um Miss Elder can talk about it but the magistrate order may need to be amended. I would
I I would suggest that given the amount of time to accomplish that, I think you a denial without prejudice for them to return for a future application would perhaps be more appropriate that take act final action today. Um and then if
board thinks that uh they can provide advice that uh they could come back with a future application. But I think the amount of real estate and all the other transactions that would need to be painted is essentially a new application. But that's just my
recommendation. Commissioner Campy, I think we're getting into the weeds a little bit now. Uh I think if you've anyone listening has heard sort of the opinion of of the board. I think the most especially if if you can zoom in on
that north bring it down a little more. No, I want to see this house that's to the north. This house? Yeah. If that's my house, I'm not having an entrance put, you know, it would literally come out next to my driveway.
So I don't think that's going to make sense. you're just opening up a different can of worms. Um, based on what I'm hearing from my colleagues, I would say that the most logical step for Meadow Run would be to somehow re um design and configure your main entrance
off of Citrus. Uh, it'll be much less expensive because there's only I know these are big lots, but there's only 92 potential homeowners in there. the cost of coming back, the time of coming back, uh the political will to come back, uh
would be way more expensive than trying to create a north entrance point, uh versus, you know, potentially bringing contractors in to uh reconfigure and redesign your guard house and your front entrance. So, I think I'm not interested
in in having them go or our staff go through a process. They got so much work to do. Your your neighborhood would have to pay professionals to do this work. If the board is not interested in giving you that secondary entrance off of Leighton Farms Avenue, I would say you
need to reconfigure your original entrance, which is where every lot owner in Meadow Run understood was their access to the neighborhood. Uh eventually you'll stop building homes. Um, and then the only real heavy truck traffic would be, you know, furniture
deliveries or tractor trailers that are bringing appliances, that kind of thing, versus creating this whole new problem that would be probably more complicated than the original southern back entrance in my opinion for denial.
No, I'm just giving you my opinion. I hear my colleagues are more passionate about this. I gave you my point. All right, I'll make a motion for denial. Is there a second? I'll pass the gavvel and second the motion. Look at me with
the g. It's nice. Any other comments from my colleagues? Seeing none, we have a motion for denial of this agenda item by Commissioner Heatherington, seconded by Commissioner Herd. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? That motion
carries four to zero with Commissioner Vargas absent. Thanks. Thank you. Um, unfortunately, we have to take a break now. So, we will take a 10-minute break and uh take up the fair You're on.
We are back. We're taking up department four and following department four, we will take up the consent agenda. So department 4 is a discussion on Martin County Fairgrounds update and requests. Good morning, madam chair. George Stokus, assistant county administrator.
uh here before you today with the fair uh two requests from the fair association. Uh I think the easiest way to go through this is if I show you a map. Uh the first question before you is uh the Martin County Fair Association has asked for has requested for a one-year extension in their current
location off of uh Southeast Dixie Highway and between Monterey and Indian Street. The second request is the fair association is asking that uh you direct staff to uh draft a performance lease for approximately 30 acres that is
located along Southwest Citrus Boulevard. Um and hopefully if to do this so we would uh come back uh probably in November uh if negotiations go well. But the red box is the proposed future fairgrounds. It is approximately
30.9 acres. The green line is the road that was built off of Citrus Boulevard. The reasons for the selection of the red box is number one uh the further back parcel allows for a longer road queue or lineup uh for when the fair does have
traffic associated with the fair as well as the red box allows for future expansion uh with South Florida Water Management approval as well as yours for future recreational activities that may be incurred in in sometime in the future. And with that um albeit a very
short and brief presentation. Uh there is the seven points that are related to the fair extension which would be a lease amendment. And then um to just refresh the board's memory, the a performance lease is basically where staff will go back. We will negotiate um
certain items that will need to be accomplished in order for a longerterm lease to automatically kick in. Um and typically we give a grace period of about full final construction within three years after final site plan uh if it is approved and but that would come back before this body uh once it's
pretty much negotiated. But I am open for any questions or comments as it relates to any of these things that I provide with you as well as Mr. Michael Robbins and their legal representation for the fair is behind me and is more than happy to take any questions or comments as well.
Questions for Mr. Stokus? Questions for the fair association. I do h I do have some two request to speak forms. The first is Susan Gibbs Thomas followed by Vera How. Good morning. Are we on? Yes.
Good. Good morning, Chair Herd and Vice Chair Campy and commissioners. Um, my name for the record is Susan Gibbs Thomas. I'm a resident of Martin County and I live in Indian Town and I am here today to speak on the matter of the fair
and to actually thank the county. I know the county, the commission and staff have through six de decades um been willing to collaborate with the Martin County Fair Association and been able to
produce for residents of Martin County, a wonderful experience, great memory maker. And we've already seen today with the 4 group here and what they've had to speak to how it it actually um molds our
young people. They have the opportunity through the fair to um to do a lot more than what they would have without it. So I I had had all sorts of stuff that I was going to speak to. However, it's already been spoke to. You've already
heard from the kids and how it impacts them. You've heard from the ones that use the fairgrounds, our our muchloved railroad association and and their use of it along with what it also um enables the community to have as
far as you know swap meets or concieras and just different programs and that's the good times but also in bad times. your your fairgrounds is also utilized during a disaster, a natural disaster by
the county or by FEMA or by Florida Power and Light can be used as a distribution center. So, we um we are grateful for the opportunity to stand before this commission today and let you know that the board that you see behind
me is not the same board that we have been striving with. And I say we because in a former life, I was in some of those meetings under the um whenever I was sat on the village Indiantown Village Council and as mayor, some of those other meetings trying to come to a an
agreement to move forward. In the recent past, it just didn't happen. Well, you have a brand new board and this board is laser focused in moving forward and doing what it takes to to provide for the county a wonderful event venue and a
wonderful event. And I just want to once again thank the commission, thank the staff for all that you do and for uh being willing to listen to us and to continue forward with us another six decades.
Thank you. Vera How is next and Miss How is the last request to speak form I have. Welcome back. Good morning and welcome. Thank you for having me back. Um, as you heard me guys
before, I came and spoke with the Florida 4, um, Martin County 4ers that we got our proclamation. And I just wanted to talk a little bit on the fair and how it's been a grounds for the development of not our generation now, but the many generations that have gone
through it and the personal experiences that we've been able to have at the fair. to not only have a fair once a year and just the week, but to have it as a resource to the whole entire county throughout the year. And over the years,
the fair has become the classroom. It's taught me responsibility that getting up before sunrise to feed animals that depend on me. Um, it's taught me resilience, falling again and again until I got up and taught me confidence standing in front of a crowd and realizing that my voices mattered. And
the most important, it's taught me about connection. The friendships I've made here are the ones I'll carry on for life at the fair. Some of my closest people I've met in the barns, the late nights after showing, sharing stories, and laughter through the barns. We've grown
up here together through wins, loses, and lessons. When I walk through these gates now, seeing the exhibits and the rides, I see more than that. I see the mentors who shaped me, friends and family, and the younger exhibitors who
remind me of where I started at this fairgrounds. This fair isn't just an event once a year. It's a community that believes in each other. The Martin County Fair doesn't just raise livestock or showcase projects or have rides once a year. It raises leaders, it raises
dreamers, and it raises the people of Martin County. Thank you. I have three nieces who are really enthusiastic uh livestock showers and let me tell you there's not much more impressive than watching a 90 lb little girl um leading
around an 1100B steer and and they do and they do it with a plum. Commissioner Campy. Thank you. Mr. Stokus, you mentioned we have two items. What are we discussing first?
Whatever you would like, but the first one that I presented in the board item was the fair's request for a one-year extension at its current location on the Southeast Dixie Highway. Okay. Um, let me start by saying this. From maybe at least for the last 10
years, I've been involved in this negotiation of bringing the fair further west. uh not so much that we were looking to necessarily bring it further west. We were looking for a larger piece of property for the fair. Uh through its success, it had outgrown the nearly 11
acres that it was on in town. Um through, as Miss Gibbs Thomas had mentioned, the everchanging board, even though some of the members of the board are decades long, but there's new faces, new ideas,
new direction, new focus. Uh I'm a huge supporter and fan of the fair uh for a multitude of reasons. One uh as our excellent public speaker just mentioned um and I think there's no one will debate the value that agriculture and
the fair and 4 has brought to our community. Most people if you think of Martin County they would say it's an agricultural county. Well, how do we not have a county fair? What I have seen through my own experiences with my children is that the fair in town
uh had started to become more of a carnival than a fair. the kids, as we just heard, that would spend years preparing to show uh the Miss Miss Martin County Fair pageant, the singing,
all the agricultural side of it was starting to be lost to the folks that were coming purely for the midway, the rides and and the food and beverages. Uh, as the airport started to progress,
more and more of the overflow parking was disappearing, making it much more difficult. And as you heard some folks say, if you went one year and it was very hard to find a place to park and it got difficult, then maybe you think, I'm not going to go. So, we've been working for a long time. We had located
originally 110 acres out in in western Martin County. And then it's through its scaled back. um sometimes positive, sometimes negative. One of the speakers earlier had said that I had really been beating the drum. It's in my district, but
really my passion for the fair is this. I've said it in the past and I think it's important when we think about like we're we're negotiating a lease basically with ourselves. We are the fair and the fair is us. I
think in the past we started to get into this kind of adversarial negotiation that it was like us verse them and I never thought of it that way. These are our residents. These are our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, business
owners. So I I never understood like the kind of the debate that was the push and the pull of of what was happening. I didn't like it and and we started to lose direction on specifically what was supposed to happen. I remember speaking
with with Jay Spicer and thinking that we would have the fair out there like in I don't know like 2018, you know, like and I and I the same concept that I hope can work now and I believe it will is we just got to get
the fair out there. We just have to get past the well, you know, and and then look, a lot of it was not even the previous administration at the fair. I mean, Chester Edwards and others had really put their heart and soul into it.
So, no uh critique of them whatsoever. The board's the administration's bar was very high in terms of fundraising. We had a lot of expectations of raising millions of dollars that would have to be raised
ahead of time and there was a lot of scrambling with state grants and things like that. I was part of it. I sat in meetings um with potential donors. I introduced the fair group to donors on Jupiter Island. We did everything that we could, but then there was a pandemic.
And so I I don't see that as any kind of a misstep on behalf of the folks that were now and then working on the fair's behalf. That being said, I think that an extension and I have shared this opinion, my opinion with the fair,
individual members of the fair. I think waiting an additional year is a disservice to the fair. uh more and more of the parking is being uh taken away. Whether it's the FAA is saying it has to go or not, I think we
could work around that. But just logistically, there's just not as much there as there was. I think that if we change the mindset of kicking the can down the road an additional year, um, we're sitting here a year from now and
having a similar conversation versus, and I'll make my own personal commitment as the district commissioner and one of the five, uh, a lot of our staff has said to me, parks and wreck and members of engineering, growth management, public works, they're all in, they all have, a lot of them are locals that were
raised here and have beautiful memories of their childhoods at the fair as well. Let's go full steam ahead on getting the fair out there. Let's not say, well, you know, we got another 365 days to sort of figure out what we should and should not be doing. No, have this year's fair. I
remember a couple years ago there was the farewell fair and then they had to paint that off. Uh, I drive by and see that the original mural on the side of the building is gone to two smaller murals. And I don't know why that happened, but I mourn the old mural because it really spoke to us. Now, from
a personal point of view, I certainly don't want to be sitting up here as a commissioner for the demise of the fire of the 65year-old fair. I want to be part of and I've been trying for a long time now to be part of as Susan Gibbs
Thomas said the next 60 years. 30 acres is good. I wish it was more. But what Mr. Stokus said I had sat in on a meeting with the South Florida Water Management District. They own hundreds and hundreds of acres past there. This used to be, if I'm not mistaken, South
Florida Water Management property. I was a new commissioner when they donated it back to us, the 110. They're not going to use the the the perimeter of it as well. But I think the only thing that I
would say and I know why Jay was doing it because he was looking to build stakeholders. He was looking to create the largest community of people that could push the fair in the right direction. But I think what happened is the vision got too big. and if you're
looking to get this, you get nothing. And if you're looking to get this, then you can really do it. Um, and he did bring in he I remember and I still want these things. Archery, soapbox derbies, BMX, you guys. I don't have to tell you there's a million things that can go on. The other misconception that I think a
lot of people think about when we think about the fair is that it's 10 days. It's two weeks. It's not. Um, as some of the speakers had mentioned, the association programs events and activities on that property year round.
I don't think most residents realize that. I think they think that the fair association handles the fair and when the fair is over it somehow reverts back to the county and all of those other events are magically handled by some elves, I guess, not understanding that
it's you all. And they're not all money makers. It's not all ringing the register. I know that tremendous amounts of the activities that you supervise, maintain, clean up after are events that are completely put on for the community
for free. Free for them, not free for you. There's still plenty of money that's expended to create these events. So, I would um humbly suggest and we could hear from the representatives. I
think they might have already come to this determination that the 2026 fair should be the last fair and that the 2027 fair should absolutely be on this new piece of property and I will commit all
of my abilities to make that happen for you all. I think if you wait too long the the circling above the fair association that could be happening. Uh there are you know look and I don't have to tell you there are groups that are
working towards a different set of outcomes that might not be as beneficial for you all. Uh and you're only stewards of the fair except for my friend who's been there nearly 30 years. Most people come and go from the association. If you think about it, it's handed down the
line groups before you did it in the 60s,7s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010, 2010s, and to you. And so I want to make sure that you as the dedicated volunteers can pass it to the next group, to that young
lady sitting right over there. Eventually, you'll be up here. Well, you know, we need to renew our 40-year lease, you know, uh, into 2050. So that being said, I think the suggestion would be to not renew. Uh and that's not meant as a zing or as a kick
to the association. I think it's the right, in my opinion, and I've had the chance to speak to you, it's the right strategy for moving forward. Let's go. Let's commit that we're going out there. Let's get these leases signed by the county. Let everyone understand there's a sense of urgency that I know you have
it, but we have to make sure that everyone else has it. and I will stand with you every time you need me to at meetings with uh donors, at meetings with the South Florida Water Management District, at meetings in this building to make sure we get the fair uh healthy
and ready for its move. Even if the first year has to be more of a rural kind of, you know, like when the circus came to town, if you have to do that for the first year, even though I think it'll be more than that, the county, we did commit to a couple of things back when we did that negotiation. Some of
them have taken place, but the other ones that we haven't necessarily uh executed, I still expect the county that we agreed to those things in the past, we would continue to be on the hook for them now. Thank you.
Commissioner Caps, we received a lot of engagement and a lot of emails and I appreciate all of those. uh they they do make a difference. And a whole bunch of them came from a group called the model railroad
uh group. And um I would I would I would be interested in knowing what they in particular feel about the extension and whether an extension would be helpful to them. Uh will that be
coming? is uh are we going to have some public comment about that a little later? I'll look forward to hearing that. Commissioner Heatherington, that was one of my question is um I I support a oneyear extension. Uh I
support the fair in its entirety. I was one of those 4 kids that grew up and learned leadership skills and I thought Vera's words were really um very impactful. The fair association raises leaders, raises dreamers and raises the
community. I thought that was um very nicely put. I would also like to hear from the model train to see if you got a rural fair, which I think is absolutely doable out in Indiantown in 2026, would that meet the needs
2027? In 2027, would that meet the needs of the train association? Because I think there might be a little more than just having barns and bathrooms to accommodate that particular organization. And I would I'd love to
hear from them if that would if I might just put two cents in for that. Sure. Five cents. Uh and then we I'd like to also hear from our friends at the at the railroad club. My point about moving is the county is not going to immediately come in there
and wipe away the property. So in terms of the railroad, in my mind, my suggestion would be the railroad club would continue to operate on the property until the last moment that they could not operate on the property. I had a meeting with them. It's probably two years ago. They came to see me and we
had a conversation. They do have a beautiful plan. They were these guys are, you know, and women and children now. We got the letters. I think it's terrific. They were prepared and we can hear from them. They have a a I'm assuming they still have it a plan to
move and I had originally even suggested that I would use some district funds to help sort of kickstart that effort for them. But obviously they're currently not in my district, but if they move out to the fair, they would be. So yes, I'd
like to hear from them, but I wasn't leaving them in the lurch. If the fair continued to move, the railroad club could stay there until we didn't need them to to be there, until they were comfortable for moving. In answer to, I think, everybody's questions,
we are going to do everything possible to try and build a new building while they're building the site for the fair. We've got a fullblown
drawing that I've been to the building department with that they have literally approved and I've talked to the fire marshal so I think we've got all the uh everything as far as that goes and
our intent is that yes we appreciate we need to stay here till 27 and while we're prepping the ground and everything else. Our intent is to try and build another building and working
with the fair uh board, which I'm also part of uh in order to raise some money and some grants because needless to say, this kind of building would be
would needs to be done. We can't move a4 million dollar layout to sit inside a a tent out there at the fairgrounds. So, um we we've talked among us. Uh I've
presented an idea that I think we could build two buildings at the same time if we could get the funds and the grants. So we could build an office building and an auditorium and we could build our
museum and the train building both at the same time on this on this uh piece of property. It it might be kind of a stretch and it would take the work of everybody and
the train club has been very fortunate to work with the board that is there now and in their um in their help with us and everything else. And I think that
this is the only way that this might get off the ground. So, we're anticipating being here in 27 and we'd like to have a new building by the time 27 rolls around. So, the extension would be helpful to your
It's a must. It's a must. And Mr. Campy was when I met with him two years ago, um, and and and the other commissioners that were present then, Sarah, I met with Sarah. So, all the commissioners
have been very, very helpful to this club, but without this extension, we, you know, we've had people talk about taking everything down and storing it. We couldn't afford to start spending $12,000 a year just to store layouts and
half of them would get destroyed. you know, when you go to move them three times and and this latest edition we got was a quarter million dollar layout from a gentleman down there in West Palm. And these aren't the kind of layouts that
you can just put in somebody's garage or something like this. And when you dissemble them, you know, they would be destroyed. So, and the amount of people that go through this club and through the fair, we deal
with children with autism. We deal with um people coming from the schools, senior groups coming out of nursing homes. Um, we had a case of here's six months ago. We had a gentleman who was
in a wheelchair, 66 years old, and all he wanted to do was have his birthday at the train club. So, we accommodated him on a Saturday, but these are part of what we're doing
right now in works with the with with the fair association. But as as together we want to make this thing move ahead and and I'm the kind of person that I believe in doing today what not waiting
till kicking the can down the road. So thank you. Thank you for your time and your questions. Thank you. I'm also uh very uh supportive of the fairground moving and
I certainly understand the the uh uh notion that and and their their lease in order to provide incentive but I also know that things take a long time in government.
Uh it's going to take a while to if we approve the uh negotiations for the new contract. it's going to take a while to to negotiate that contract. Um, so it's I can certainly understand that they uh
their need to extend the uh lease till 2027 and then to begin negotiations for the new location. Mr. Campy, thank you. Just uh is anyone from the
fair association interested in the comments that I made sharing their opinions? Um waiting has its advantages but it has its disadvantages as well of course.
Thank you commissioners. Michael Robbins, executive director of the Martin County Fair. Um and I actually as a board we've actually uh discussed the comments that Mr. can't be made and we are ready to get moving on this. Uh we work very closely with the train club if
they have the ability to stay for the per perpetuity until they can stay. We don't have a contract for this. Okay. Well, we if we could work that is our one of our concerns as far as us being able to get to a fair in 2027. We're committed to doing that. We have
the resources in place right now uh financially to at least get to that point, if not even get down the road on the the physical components that we will need eventually, which would be our offices. Uh we do need ample space for agricultural and other exhibition space
right there and of course storing all of our things. Um but as far as the larger uh needs, our first priority is our livestock, our livestock kids, creating that environment. We can do that with temporary structures. They're actually very very nice. Um and then building out
all the other components that we need hardened services for our uh midway parking etc. But those are types of things that we've even with a new site we are prepared to work through. Um so we certainly take Mr. Campy's uh suggestions to heart. It's something
that we are motivated to do and if it's given us the challenge to be out there in 2027, we will accomplish that if we work that together. Uh, but we also want to make sure that our friends at the train club are taken care of and we look forward to working with them and hopefully have a new home right with us at the fairgrounds.
Thank you, Madam Chair. May I make a suggestion? Um, as I said, I think that the fair that the train club is using a relatively small footprint there, but there I agree. You can't disassemble it, put it somewhere else,
reassemble it. It's a lot of work. It would take you you'd have to have a separate club just to do that. Um I don't see us necessarily um even if the fair were to the association were to vacate uh and head to their new home in in western Martin County that anyone
would be coming necessarily um to put a sticker on the door at the railroad club. I think that they could stay there even if a majority of the property uh and the association started their move. Remember, I'm not saying that after the fair is
over in 2026 that you have to vacate the property. I'm just saying that you'd set a goal for yourselves to not be out there setting up the fair for the spring of 2027. If it took you eight, nine months to move off the property as an outside,
I believe if you have a sense of um urgency is the wrong word, but if if the donors and the folks that uh write grants or or pay grants understood that you need to move along and the concept of how long it would take to renegotiate
the contract lease, we've been renegotiating that contract lease for about six years. I mean, I believe and we can ask Miss Elder that I don't think it would take, you know, especially if she understands that she doesn't have a year, she and her team doesn't have a
year to wait and to to to handle it. If she knew it had to be done, she'll get it done. I know Terry McCarthy sitting in the front row. He'll get it done. He's he doesn't want to retire until he sees the train station uh the train station, the train club and the fair
association uh in their rightful home. He wants to hand it to his next his protege uh in good steep. Police is not my concern. It's Stokus be long and drawn. George Stokus gets things done. He's a superstar here.
Say you're only kidding. It sounds like that's on the record. Commissioner Caps. Yes. Uh, I'd like to begin by acknowledging uh Susan Gibbs Thomas as Indian Town's first mayor. I don't know, most of you probably know that, but
we're glad to have her here and uh and for your public comments also. She's on their board. Yes. Yes. And uh um I think it's a new day with new leadership at at the uh fair board. Um
you know there's been a history there of delays and problems. Uh but it's a new day and uh in my conversations with the key players, I've had confidence that they know what they're
doing. They have a good reasonable plan. I think it's also very important for any new effort to get the proper start uh for momentum purposes and to get it right and it's only one more year. I I
don't think that's a big burden to any of us. Um and also uh it seems to me that the railroad model metal railroad uh group or club is a key part of the fair and
they have expressed that uh they really need another year to to put things in place. Um in light of all of that uh I would move approval of the extension. Commissioner Heatherington. I concur with that and I would second
it. Is there any further further uh discussion? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. And second matter and the second madam chair is really just need a board direction to move
forward with a public purpose lease for the fair association. Um the performance lease would b the components really are a site plan, a fair office, a fair midway, handicap parking. And the reason we distinguish that is that's typically paved. Uh general parking which is
typically not paved or is stabilized soil and then storm water uh stormwater associated facilities as well as utility connections. And those would be the things that the staff right now we've thought of to start negotiate on. But I'm open to any more further comments or if that's a good start, we can go from
there. Commissioner Campy, I'm all revved up about the fair. Um I'm very happy to support that. There was a comment about uh term. Do you have a suggestion for term? I I don't have a suggestion. I think
typically I look at 40. Um but we're open to what the county administrator is about to say. No, I think the No, Mike, excuse me. The the issue is uh to the the length of the lease. Um but the performance piece would be that you were
expecting that the uh um the initial rustic fair um may have tents or those other things. I think the direction really is on the performance of expecting some of these physical features which are much smaller in scale than we did before. Is it a 5 years to
actually get you know buildings in place something like that. So, they have a long-term lease, but it um has a performance measure that we're expecting to uh occur within a shorter period of time. So, I think the idea is you'd have a long-term lease that they can use, but
there is a performance piece that all right, you have 5 years, let's say, um and um uh your feedback on that would be helpful. uh or certainly individual feedback following this meeting would be helpful when we work with the fair board to bring back uh hopefully a mutually
agreeable long-term lease with a shorter term performance criteria on the most critical elements what we consider for um the basic fair knowing that long-term they're going to have additional items added to it but that would be not um
performance-based. Okay. I make a motion that uh Martin County enters into negotiations for an extended lease. What did you call it? What kind of lease? Performance-based. Performance-based lease uh for a term of
40 years um with a five-year uh performance on construction that is negotiated mutually between the association and the county that the of items that Mr. Stokus had mentioned that
would have to be handled right off the bat, but also with the opportunity that the fair have the ability at any time during the term of their lease to negotiate with any outside entity for additional space as needed in
the future. Uh specifically with the uh South Florida Water Management District, that that would be a party with the county, the outside entity. I'm assuming it's South Florida Water Management District, but potentially it's somebody else uh and the association. So that that is something that they can as they
ne see fit would have the ability to negotiate a larger footprint. What is that? North or west? Both. North and west andor west. Am I missing anything? I I don't understand the this the last
part of your proposal. They're going originally the negotiation that we had entered into several years ago were was giving the association 110 acres. Now it's down to 30. Um and part of
their vision that you know they're this group is going to incrementally build the fair as they as it's appropriate. But I don't want if we disappear and there's new people sitting up here that they have to come hatinand again through a multi-year process to get additional
footage. If you see this red box to to the top of your screen and to the left of your screen, I sat with the last group and the South Florida Water Management District to get additional property. Now 30 acres sounds terrific except it is
relatively small. The county is reserving 17.8 for themselves. This whole purple shape used to be the fair and now they have a the upper left portion of it. So all I'm saying is that if it's appropriate in the future when when it's
different faces here that the my comments are uh remembered that the association could have additional space at least have the ability to negotiate versus having to start all over.
It's just a thing that protects us into the future beyond 30 acres because I believe this will be successful. Some of the items that were going to get moved out to the Agroplex uh are terrific items that Martin County should have. Let's say it's off-road
vehicles or BMX or archery or soapbox derby or equestrian facility. Why wouldn't we give them the opportunity to at least negotiate? I just want it written into the into the documents that 15 or 20 years from now, someone says, "Well, why would we do that? You got 30
and you got your 30." No. At the time on October 7th, 2025, we discussed that they do have the ability to have more if they need it. I I I disagree. I think that this ties our hands. Okay. I'll make it a separate motion
then. So, I want to have uni unanimity. Uh I want us all to agree. Okay. Um, I mean this is this that's effectively giving them 100 acres and no one else no one else can can uh
petition us too. Well, let's do them in separate. I'll make a take that portion out of my original motion. Mr. Donaldson, you have a comment. I was going to weigh in on your last conversation, but I think I'll withdraw my comments. Uh, you're only going to annoy one of us.
Yes. The the or all of you. So, uh, I'll wait. Thank you. Okay. So, your motion is without the basically what Mr. Stokus laid out in the staff and my comments that I made except for the additional space.
I would second that. Any further discussion? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Terrific. I'd like to make a motion that the fair association have the opportunity in the future to uh be a
party of a negotiation that they could uh begin with outside entities, specifically in this case the South Florida Water Management District and the county if additional uh acreage is needed for future expansion.
We can't we can't represent the water management district. No, they would be fair county water management district. So you're just asking for authority for the said that they have a right to to have that negotiation
to if they wanted to institute it. They we started to do it a couple of years ago and it was good. That's when there was there was way more than 30 acres and we were negotiating with them to get some extra. I just want to give them the ability.
This is a 65year-old organization. I'm trying to look deep into the future to give them some uh foresight to know that what we did today gave them some flexibility. 30 acres is terrific over 11, but it's
not a lot. Commissioner Caps, with regard to additional land and and expansion, I would prefer to uh cross that bridge when we get there and um take one thing at a time.
So, I would be for a tie is a no and there's four of us. I can count at least. Yeah. Yeah, I can. Then we are finished here. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Now, we'll take up the consent agenda. Just you two. I'm glad I came. Thank you, George. Thanks, Ed. I'm glad I came. Hi, Cara. Thank you.
Okay. Wonder if Terry works pretty long. Meter's running. Okay. Next, we will take up uh consent agenda number eight. Um, I pulled this. It's a request to adopt a resolution revising the development review and
inspection fee schedules for growth management, fire prevention, and engineering services. And these have not been evaluated for nine years. And certainly, there have been uh there's been inflation. There have been increased costs over the last nine
years. And so, I was encouraged that we were uh re-evaluating our fees. But I was disheartened to understand that we are not that the ma that the major fees are remaining the same even though
surely our expenses have uh skyrocketed in the last 9 or 10 years. So why wasn't a a a an effective uh re-evaluation done of our fees that reflect current costs?
Because if development review, if the developers aren't paying for the fees, then our taxpayers are. So why are all these major fees remaining the same as they were in 2016?
U Good morning, commissioners. Paul Schilling, growth management director for the record. So to answer your question commissioner to some extent uh this endeavor was undertaken by a few departments um we have analyzed the fees
and tried to come up with fees that uh more accurately reflect our operation. I could remove a couple a couple of them. U for example the removal of the resubmitt fee for DRIs and DRI applications in general. Um, we changed
some minor changes to the master and site plans for consistencies during the review process and uh, a building permit review along the lines of what you just mentioned. We have by way of this ordinance, should it be successful this this afternoon, uh,
be implementing a $45 zoning review fee on building permits. As you know, uh, we have several individuals that are devoted to that full-time. We review thousands of permits a year and those can be resubmitts or firsttime submittals. So that's in an effort to
capture some of that available funding. We have added uh with respect to development review, we have added a landscaping um compliance inspection fee, which is $560 that was added for minor developments and the $1,100 was
added for major developments. And as you know, um, a lot of these projects have landscaping, of course, but they also have environmental. So, we've we've found a need to add, uh, to separate those fees, for lack of a better term.
And that the landscaping also has a, uh, resources involved with that and its own criteria, bonding, and staff staff review, of course. Um, the preserve area signage fee that is based on the cost. that's going to be a pass through to the
to the owner. Uh before those were $3 and $5, we've added a um permit fee for shoreline stabilization which is new. Uh so backing up to some extent, we have taken an opportunity to
look at these fees. However, uh we felt that the changes necessary um today would not trigger a full-scale analysis of all the development re review fees which you just indicated. Um I would suggest if the if the board's
direction is to to to travel in that direction, we could certainly do that. Um the last time it was done, it was quite an endeavor from what I gather. I just know that when you do a you major master and final site plan, a a PUD
development, all these major things are huge undertakings for our staff. And yet the fees remain the same as they were established 9 years ago. And I know that our costs have gone up dramatically. Why don't the fees reflect that?
They could in the future perhaps. U I agree wholeheartedly with you. These applications u involve dozens of people with many many hours involved and depending on the length of review we can be talking about 2 to three years of review time. Um
and we get $12,000 for that. Yes. I I would point out that probably a little bit of the conrnation was just the the wholesale review of all these fees and what what the what the end result could be. Uh but we haven't entertained that. I think the the the
genesis of this was to just simply add some fees that were as far as growth management um that were necessary to make some clarifications that did not trigger a full analysis of all the all the fees. So,
all right. All right. Well, I'm just looking through this and it looks like a fee that's being added is a scanning fee. And no, that's not even being added. an environmental waiver,
uh, shoreline regrading, you know, five or so really, really minor fe changes and everything else remains the same. I mean, why bother?
There w just from a from a practical standpoint and uh to avoid confusion, there was a fee um for the major and minor developments with respect to the inspection package that was $3,600 for a minor final site plan and $2,900 for a
major development. As we know, there's much more involved with a major development. the thresholds are are higher than than uh than of course the minor trip trip capture uh and all those other entities. So we just basically reversed that to
accurately reflect. We removed some code citations and added the new code citations with respect to the minor technical changes to um correct inconsistencies with master plans and plats. As you know, uh fairly frequently
we bring those applications to this board. Um although now they're going to be the plats will be administratively handled. So my suggestion is um uh is that if the board is interested in looking at all of our fees more comprehensively, we could
do that in terms of doing some cost uh analysis of what it's costing us. Um, there's also been a desire to try to um to to keep the fees to a minimum for like the single family property owner and small businesses trying to apply and
and and so there would be some policy decisions that I think we need some feedback if you want us to look at the entirety of the fees. I do know that our building department is coming forward with actually some fee reductions. you know, they've been challenged with competing with the private sector under
the state law for private providers on threshold inspectors and other those those items. And Jeff has actually been um um generating sufficient revenue through some of their larger projects um to potentially lower some of their
fees and that'll be coming to you um in the future. though there have been some efficiencies at least in the building department area for inspections and using drones and other things for roofing and things to try to make it cost more cost benefit plus they have to compete with the private sector um uh to
do to do their building permit fees but I think on terms of um growth management and the engineering department and looking at uh major site plan developments you're you're correct we have not looked at a detailed analysis of what we're actually spending
on staff half the number of hours typically spent on the different types of applications. Uh and we'd be happy to put something together to to look at that if that's the direction of the board. Yeah, I'm certainly in favor of making things affordable for our residents, but
um people routinely accuse our development review of being developer friendly, and this looks pretty developer friendly to me. Commissioner Campy, thank you. Uh to piggyback off of what
Mr. Donaldson said, I I can see his point and Commissioner Heerd, yes, I understand we want to make sure that the de developers and folks that are doing business with the county pay their fair share. However, in most cases, if to Mr. Donaldson's point, if it's a family
looking to build a single family home, I have had people reach out to me that say it's nearly impossible to do that. And if we're talking about housing prices and not everyone buys an existing house and not everybody buys a house that was built by a national home builder. Some people purchase a lot and try to build
with their single family a home. And so if the folks that are tasked with doing the work and evaluating the value of that work reviewed all the numbers, made the corrections where there was no fee
on certain things that maybe are newer than they were in the past. it wasn't wasn't relevant in the past. Uh or to do some corrections. So like a minor review of what you know major minor we just did a minor review of the fee schedule. And
I I when I read the agenda item, I thought that the changes that you made were appropriate, especially given the fact and I appreciate your your ability to be to regulate to say, well, you know, we have a a free opportunity here to make these whatever we want and we
can push them through and we'll probably get a yes and we can bring in this additional money. But you were reasonable uh and I appreciate that. Even if it's a larger builder and you say instead of being 12,000 or $18,000,
which it's not just 18 or 12, you put them all together with the other expenses, it can be much more than that. Most likely, even if it's a small, like a medium-siz builder, not a national builder, they just push those into the cost of the units. So, if you're looking
to try to create reasonable housing, new uh affordable housing opportunities, and when I say affordable, I don't mean program housing. I'm talking about a house that a regular family could afford. That's what I mean by
affordable. Um, then you have to keep that in mind because all of these things add up. I did have a conversation with our friends from fire rescue and fire prevention inspection services. I thought what they had laid out about because we're not
just talking residential, we're also talking commercial. Um they had laid out a strategy that the smaller projects were going to be uh evaluated and charged at a at a reasonable rate so that if if a family or a couple or
partners wanted to enter into a business, they don't look at the the cost expense sheet of opening the business, especially with the fees from the government and say we can't do it. uh they did review their numbers and
increase them and and make them fairer for larger scale projects and we went back and forth quite a bit in that conversation to make sure that the smallcale stuff was reasonable and that the larger scale stuff was fair and I think the goal here needs to be
reasonable and fair. So, if our staff has reviewed it and felt that this was comfortable, short of doing a full-blown major review, which maybe you want to do, but I would at least um make a motion, and I will to accept what we're seeing today. And if your suggestion,
Commissioner Herd, is that as the time is appropriate, um our staff does a much more thorough review. But I would have to see how does that compare with Indian River County and and other counties. Not necessarily St. Lucy and Port St. Lucy because it's,
you know, there's scale that needs to be taken into consideration, but with similar organizations such as ours here, I'm not opposed to that, but with what you asked to do today, I make a motion to accept.
Second it. Commissioner Caps, are there any state regulations that come to uh bear on this subject? Um, seems like I've heard that with regard to the building department that there are some parameters that are put on us
by the state. Um, like there have been problems in some places with building department fees being exorbitant and being like a profit center for a a town or a city or something. and that the state
legislature uh brought that down within certain parameters. Does that apply to growth management as well? Uh no, sir. The the those fees are are regulated by the the building uh code as
well as uh the building official, Mr. Jeff Doerty. Um so those fees are set mo for the most part as you said, I believe by state statute. One of the nuances with them is there's a percentage of the value of the construction and also that
is used I believe for uh calculating the review fees on a permit. So it's a $8950 permit I believe just generally speaking and then the percentage of the value of construction is added into that and then there's a there's a calculation done
that um the ultimate value of the permit comes out or the cost Just keep in mind, commissioner, that in any fee supported structure, we can't make a profit. So, we would have to make sure that the the work out effort
doesn't um uh or the fees don't generate more funds than we spend. Okay. Now, this this uh agenda item is also about the fire prevention and engineering services.
And so I suppose we'll be hearing from uh the fire department too perhaps or not necessarily. Your wish answer any questions you may have. Okay. I don't have any in particular. I just
uh wondered if you were going to be talking. There's a motion in a second. All those in favor? I opposed. Opposed. That motion passes 3 to one with Commissioner Herd descenting. Thank you. Uh
that's right. So now that that uh the uh consent pull has been um reviewed, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Move approval. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those
in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. We will now break for lunch. Commissioners, we have a a preset of two. You want to just come back at 2? You want to hear this quickie item? I think it's a mandatory nothing. I watched the LPA meeting.
What's this? Green something. Green farms. I watched the LPA meeting. It lasted four minutes. Sure, we can take it up. Just so they don't have to come back after lunch. Thank you.
This is quasi judicial commissioners commissioner caps. Any expparte disclosures? If I have any, they have been filed. I don't have any and they've been filed. I filed the fact that I have none. If I have any, they've been filed. And Mr. Aguilar, have you passed on all
of your pertinent materials to the clerk? Copy. My work history has been turned in. Excellent. Anyone who's going to be providing sworn testimony in this, please stand up, raise your right hand, and be sworn in. Do you swear or affirm the evidence
you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Please proceed, Mr. Agodar. I'm setting the timer. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Luis Aguilar, principal planner
for the growth management department. I'm presenting a resoning application for a property owned by 5000 Southwest Green Farms Lane LLC. 500 uh I'm sorry, 5000 Southwest Green Farms Lane LLC is requesting a zoning
change from A2 Agricultural District to AG2A General Agricultural District. The subject site is located at 5,000 Southwest Green Farms Lane in Palm City, approximately 2 miles south of Southwest
Martin Highway. This is an enlarged aerial of the site. The property is undeveloped. The future land use destination is agricultural. The adjacent properties on Southwest Green Farms Lane are
agricultural as well. The zoning district is A2 agricultural district. A portion of the property is subject to a covenant agreement covenant number 286 to AG. Therefore, this request to resone is considered
mandatory per section 3.401.B. The proposed reason area is approximately 111 acres and there is one standard category A zoning district available to implement the agricultural land use policies of the comprehensive
growth management plan which is the AG20A agricultural um general agricultural district. This is the district that the applicant is requesting and for comparison purposes the existing A2 category C sun
zoning district is provided in detail on pages 2 through six of the staff report. These are the development standards for the AG2A district which is the minimum
lot area 20 acres minimum lot width 300 ft the maximum height is 30 ft and minimum open space is 50%. And these are the corresponding setbacks
which are 50 ft for front rear and side. These are the conditions supporting the requested general agricultural district. The existing future land use destination of agricultural for the property and surrounding areas. The AG2A
district aims to implement the comprehensive growth management plans policies for agricultural density in areas exceeding 20 acres. The AG2A sunning district is compatible with the existing agricultural uses in
the area. This matter was heard before the LPA on October 2nd, 2025. The LPA voted to approve 420 to zero. Development review staff have found 5,000 green farms lane resing
application to comply with all applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan as detailed in the staff report. We recommend move that the board receive and file the agenda item and its
attachments including the staff report as exceeding the one and move that the board adopt a resolution amending the Martin County Soning Atlas to change the zoning district designation on the subject site from A2 agricultural
district to AG2A general agricultural district. This concludes my presentation and the applicant is here to answer any questions. Questions for Mr. Aguilar. I have one. What's proposed on the property that
cannot be accomplished under the A2 zoning? Right now, we haven't received an proper application. Um, right. It is a mandatory reasonzoning um for
the property. A2 is a A2 is a common zoning district in Martin County. Uh I'll try to help the the U Paul showing for the record. So there we have had a pre-application meeting on this
site. Um but we have not received a formal application. The requirement to reszone is is direct is the requirement to reszone to a category A district is because there was a covenant previously
approved I believe in 1996 that um that covenanted to AEG but the to answer your question commissioner I we haven't received a formal application but we understand
that potentially in the future there may be some type of a vegetative facility that can't be uh built on A2. Correct. It will trigger a site plan. If I may, Elise Elder, acting county
attorney, our LDRs require that if there's a covenant that they have to reszone, I believe. So this is a mandatory reszoning based on our LDRs because there is a covenant on the property building in the lake and and the the LDR uh code is section
3.401B Mr. Caps. So, uh, can we for just for the public's benefit, um, can we explain what a covenant is and what its purpose is? So, in the late 90s and early 2000s, for
some reason, the county had covenants where they would enter into this covenant with property owners to assign zoning to the property. I'm not sure the details on how they did it or the legality of it, but we have those that exist throughout the county. So several
years ago, because those are basically similar to contract zoning, there was an LDR change that requires any property owner to reszone their property if a covenant exists. But in the late 90s, that's how they assign zoning um through these covenants.
One more question about mandatory reszonings. Um does that mean if you want to develop the property, you have to do a mandatory reasonzoning or does that mean or is there like a timetable? I mean, if something's mandatory, it seems like you
would need to get it done within a certain time frame. So, it's not a mandatory that it requires each property owner to reszone in a certain time, but if you want to come forward and do a site plan on your property, it becomes mandatory because you have to reszone it if you want to do a site plan, which is the circumstance
now. So, if they want to come forward with a site plan for anything, it requires a reasoning. And they're the prerequisite. It's like step one. Correct. In the process, correct? Okay. Any further questions? He didn't state his name for the record.
George Mamemer with Cotler and Hearing for the Record. This meeting was uh advertised. I'll enter the affidavit in for the record and I have been sworn in. Motion to accept staff's recommendation. Commissioner Heatherington. I agree. That was my light and I would
say I apologize. George did a very nice job at the city of Steuart Se coast too. Thank you. I was there. You spoke too long, but you did a good job. Mr. Fox. Uh, Madam Chair, the as this is a quasi judicial um public hearing, we're required to ask for public.
Thank you very much. Would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none, there is a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Now we will take uh
lunch break and we will return for our 2:00 preset. Okay. Part: 2
You're on. We are back from our lunch break. It's 2:00 in the afternoon and we are ready for department 6 which is a uh agenda item to discuss the Holt Correctional Facility mental health housing pods design update.
Hey, thank you, Commissioner. Uh, this is an informative presentation or for record Sean Donahue, general services director. Uh, this is an informative presentation of the uh efforts uh the design efforts uh for the Holt Correctional Facility mental health housing pods. Uh, if you remember back
in uh 2024, we received a state appropriation of $500,000 to do the design conceptual study of the mental health housing pods. And then in January of 2025, we selected uh Secure Texture LLC to do that design. Uh today's
agenda, we're going to discuss the need for the project. We have Sheriff Budenseek and staff here to discuss the need for the project. And then Joe Morac from Securitexure will go through the project overview, the conceptual design, and the uh the cost estimating. And from here, I'll uh I'll turn it straight over
to Sheriff Budy. Good afternoon, commissioners. Good afternoon. I appreciate you letting me take some of your time. I'm probably going to be a little longer winded than I normally am and and it's not for you all. It's for our audience that's watching this and it's kind of a
refresher of how we got to where we are today. And I've got several pages of notes. So, if you would indulge me. Um, this is in preparation for the Martin County delegation meeting. And in the delegation meeting, I'm my part of it will be to just specifically speak about
the mental health pod. And that's kind of where I'll stay. But today, I'm going to broaden our scope a little bit because it all and you'll see how it all plays in together. Uh, as far as building this new pod and the new bed space, we have two competing pressures that have finally come to a crossroads.
Uh, one is the size of the jail, how many how many beds that we can currently have in the jail. And the other is mental illness. And I'm going to start with the size of our jail. A little bit of history. In 1989, we completed our existing jail. Uh that was 36 years ago.
And that was built with forethought. Our our uh commissioners at the time and the and the uh people that ran that project, one of which just just passed away, unfortunately, they thought ahead and they built a jail that was adequate in size. Our population back then was a
little less than 100,000 people. And we built a jail that could house 700 inmates, more than large enough of a jail for that time. At that time also, uh, classification was different. Let me explain
classification if I may. Uh, classification is how inmates are classified. And I know it's a really simple way to say it, but there are certain inmates that are not allowed to have contact with one another. And back in the 1980s, early 2000s, it was pretty simple. Bad people
were bad people. You put them in jail if they co-mingled. That was just the way that it was. So back then, you had to keep male and female separate. And then uh juveniles had to be kept separate from the both of them. So it was not that hard to house inmates in the jail based on the classification uh system
back then. Since that time, uh, moving forward to where we are currently today, there's 12 different classifications in the jail. There's males and females, juveniles, special status, which that would be like a a uh a violent offender,
a murderer that just can't get along with anybody that comes back from DOC or or a highprofile offender. uh felons and misdemeanors, protective custody, those are normally sex offenders that go in there that we know if they get in general population,
somebody will likely hurt them or kill them. Uh special management, admin confinement, disciplinary confinement, and now we're dealing with ICE, civil immigration holds, both male and female. So there's 12 different categories of individuals that we have to keep
separate in our jail today, which is almost impossible to do. It is impossible to do uh properly. Those standards are are uh passed down to us by Florida legislation under the floor model jail standards act, which is meant
to keep the civil rights of our inmates intact and really to keep them safe. And there, as you know, there's a lot of bad things that happen in jails because there's a lot of bad people that are in the jails. Today, as you know, our population is 165,000 and and based on approved building
projects that we that are already approved. Uh we know that our population is going to go up by several more thousand individuals. It's not just Martin Countyy's growth that applies here. While we're growing, Palm Beach County has grown into us. And I'll have to tell you, Port St. Lucy has
boomed. So, it's a combination of our normal calls for service with Martin County population and then the others that come into Martin County that we end up arresting on a dayto-day basis, which uh keeps our jail at capacity day in and day out. We have had to be over the
years extremely thoughtful about programs that we enact in order to keep our population in check in the jail. And in 2022, we started uh what we call a pre-trial program. I know some of the commissioners worked with us on that and the goal with that was uh for
misdemeanence, people that come in the jail with low-level offenses that don't have a likelihood of reaffending or or being a problem for our citizens of Mark County that just don't have the money to bond out. We created a legal mechanism for them to go see a judge and a judge
could put them on pre-trial uh detention, meaning that they're they're between their initial arrest and getting sentenced. It's essentially a bond without paying a bond that's supervised by us, the Mark County Sheriff's Office, and paid for by you, the county. That
allows us to take 70 individuals today out of the jail. There's 70 individuals that are not in jail as a result of this program. Another thing we did to be thoughtful with the Mark County Sheriff's Office jail was we stopped the weekend program about 10 years ago. And
the reason was is weekends as a whole tend to have more inmates coming in. And then on top of that, we were bringing in sometimes 30 inmates that were sentenced just to do weekend hours. So you had your normal jail population throughout the week. Then you got your influx of
weekend offenders, the drunks, the people that can't get along with their wives. And then you got 30 inmates on top of that. And so we eliminated that program through the through uh the judicial system in order to keep that uh from taking place.
Today our population is running right around 600 people. And I know the number I gave you when I started was 700. So the jail will house technically on paper 696 people, almost 700 individuals. Today we're running 600, but because of
classification, we can't co-mingle these people. So 600 is at capacity. And you've toured the jail. I think all of you have toured the jail. And I appreciate you doing that. And you've seen that we have individuals uh sleeping on the floor on what we call uh uh boats, I believe. and sleeping in
confinement cells. And we just really have people spread out all throughout the jail in order to comply with the Florida Model and uh jail standards act and to uh keep our inmates safe. Moving
on to the issue at hand and and uh the other angle that plays into this is interspersed in there are the mentally ill individuals and Sheriff Snder if you you all knew him know him was forward thinking and he came here to this
commission uh many years ago now before 2020 and explained how when he was driving out of the jail one day he looked at an inmate who was probably mentally ill and said to himself hey I'll see you in a couple days and he would be back. And the recidivism rate has been has been real with with the
mentally ill. They get out of jail, they come back. It's just a back and forth thing that's been going on for years. And we know based on the jail setting, the clanging doors, the lights, the inmates that are all around you that unfortunately the mentally ill come into
the jail, they don't necessarily get better. They deteriorate. They get worse. And I'll give you an example of this. 3 years ago now, we had an inmate come in for a misdemeanor. I believe it was a trespassing case, misdemeanor,
but he was mentally ill. And because he was mentally ill, he reaffended while incarcerated, spit on one of our deputies, got in a fight, so he got a felony. And he has progressively deteriorated while he's been in our jail. We've done our best to give him
the care that he needs. We've sent him out to the state hospital. They've sent him back to us and uh he's continued to deteriorate up until the point where two weeks ago he spit on Judge Roby. If you saw that on the news, he spit on Judge Roby. This is an individual that we believe if we were properly positioned
could have come in our jail on that misdemeanor charge, we could have put him in the right setting, got him the right treatment, and kept him from re reaffending. But here we are three years later. We have an individual that just keeps mounting his legal problems in Martin County. Mental illness is a very
real thing and I have a lot of stats I'm trying to to be brief in what I'm I'm I'm hitting here, but in 2024 we had 447 baker acts. That's people taken against their will and put in a receiving facility, not the jail. This year we're
tracking towards 518. That's a 16% increase from last year. This year to date already, we've had 22 people that have already taken their lives. We weren't able to save them. And then the rest of them end up in, you know, our jail, your jail, the Martin County jail.
And um I'll give you an example of mental illness. Unfortunately, from Saturday, uh we had a 14-year-old autistic young man launch himself off the Roosevelt Bridge. And thank God he didn't pass. Uh most of them do die. He actually walked away with no injuries, but it's every single day we have calls
involving the mentally ill. And every single day we incarcerate them if we can't bay crack them. Today, out of our of of our roughly 600 inmates, 155 of them are on psychotropic medications. That's 26% of our current
population in the jail are on psychotropic medication. And really, that's why um that's why we're here today is to try to address that and cut that down. Uh, as already mentioned, Representative Snyder a couple years ago under Sheriff Snider's
um watch started uh helping get us funding secured to do a site survey study and try to draw up some plans which we're going to go over today to try to um help us start the process of expanding our jail, building a mental health pod. And just to be clear, I know
you're going to see some photos, this is still has to be a jail at the end of the day. So, it's not going to be just uh pads and and flowers in there. It still has to be a jail at some rate. Um, but across the state, and I've talked to our state representatives,
I've talked to our senator across the state, no one is properly handling the mentally ill. There's no real place to put them. They can't stay in a receiving facility for more than 72 hours. If you don't have the insurance money, which most of the individuals we're dealing with are indigent. if you don't have the
insurance money, you can't send them away to a private facility. So, they do get stuck in our jail. And so, Representative Snyder uh came to me a couple months ago and said, "This year, I'm in leadership. I'm positioned well to maybe offset the cost that comes out
of the Martin County taxpayers dollars to build this facility." And I think they'll discuss numbers here in a minute. It's expensive. We're talking about a $60 million project. Now, moving forward, even if the state came forward, and I don't think they will, but even if they came forward to
us and funded the entire project, paid for the whole thing, there's nothing that's free. It won't be free to us. There's recurring costs that will will move on down the road. We're building a a sizable facility. It'll be over 300 beds. Again, that will catch us up to
where we need to be, and then hopefully it'll give us enough leeway to move into the future. But even if the cost is covered down the road in a couple of years, we're looking at from from my angle from being the sheriff 24 new
positions in the jail, which represents about $2.5 million of recurring costs that will take place. So, while we're all about the project, I I think I've made a case that it's a necessary project, not just for the mental ill, but we have to do something with our
jail population as it is. uh it will cost money moving forward. Um I did what I always do. I came with a couple layers of backup. If you want to ask me questions now, I'll try to answer them or I can wait till the end of the presentation and and we can weigh in.
It's up to you. So have any questions or you want to wait? I can wait. We'll wait. Thank you, commissioners. Appreciate it. Uh, for the record, I'm Joseph Morac, the president of Secure Texture, and I would like to start by thanking
the commissioners for allowing Secure Texture the opportunity to be of service to Martin County. Um, as I start, uh, from a schedule standpoint, we began this project back in, uh, early January and, uh, put about eight months of of
effort into this. And throughout that period of time, we exercised a fivestep process, a kind of a triedand-true uh master planning process that we've used uh for several decades. And during that uh 8-month period, we had several
in-person meetings and we had uh regularly scheduled uh teams meetings, virtual meetings uh every two weeks. So, what we are presenting today is the culmination of an eight-month effort and an abbreviation of the full 277page
report, which we'll spare you of that. Let's see. So the the majority of this concept is essentially two housing pods and each of the housing pods actually
takes up the same footprint of space but they're different capacities of inmates and they're slightly different square footages and I'll explain that in a reason in a little while. But uh what we're calling cell pod one or phase one uh consists of six cell blocks. These
are these gold colored cell blocks around the perimeter. And uh the cell blocks are besides being divided horizontally from each other's complete sight and sound separation between one and the next cell block.
They're also divided vertically. So there's a mezzanine level which we'll show a little bit later too that can be subdivided. what we call a subday room can be subdivided from a security standpoint from the lower level day room allowing us 12 different classifications
the sheriff mentioned classifications the more classifications we have the more flexibility we have in the operation of the facility so we have a total of in in housing pod one it's uh an a maximum capacity of 176 beds now
what I'll say is each of these cells is designed to accommodate two people. So, it meets all the standards for two people, square footage, airflow, furniture and equipment, lighting, and so forth. However, due to the type of classifications that certain people will
have, they can't be housed with another person. Some of these will be actually operated as single cells. But what we have done is design all of the cells to allow double bunking for maximum flexibility at a a minimal cost. Then in
addition to the 176 beds of the uh cell pod one, these the salmon colored area is the programming and treatment components that is housed within the cell block. So one thing a couple things that are different with this cell block
is uh that you the inmates will not have to move out of the cell block for any of their programming. So these uh spaces including treat include small classrooms uh treatment and programming rooms uh staff offices that are providing this
programming is there uh a medical room in each uh pod and an indoor and outdoor recreation area within the pod. So the movement is minimized with the special population making it safer for those inmates and safer and much more
efficient for the staff. The second housing pod which we call phase 2 is similar like I said it's similar in footprint but it's uh and it still has six cell blocks that are divided be able to capable of being divided into two but the cell blocks you'll notice are
smaller um if I can go back one I guess okay so the the six cell blocks of the first pod four of these cell blocks are the mental health step down program. So these are the four mental health
units. Then we have disciplinary segregation and administrative segregation in that housing pod. In the second housing pod, there are also uh additional segregation classifications we have to accommodate. There's more disciplinary and
administrative segregation. We also have what's called shelter care. So those that are infirm or elderly for both male and female can be housed uh separated from other inmates that may be more predators. You notice that there's less
capacity of beds in this particular uh cell pod, but there is a greater amount of program space. The classrooms are bigger and another indoor outdoor recreation. So these these two pods side by side will contain all of those special populations that are kind of
staff intensive into one location making it much more efficient. So this is an over aerial view of the uh site uh taken from the south and uh there's a couple things. This phase one uh pod is this orange one here. Then the
gold pod is is the phase two. Then there's a couple other areas in the jail we took a look at as well because we did a you know analysis of the existing facility is the process. There's some uh visitation space that is
being updated uh to improve uh safety and security there. There's a new uh staff entrance and an updated staff entrance in this area of the building. And then there's an overhead walkway connector, a covered walkway connector
between the the BPOD corridor and the minimum security housing uh to connect to continue that uh corridor into the existing minimum security building. So that's the facility in general. So the way these buildings lay out is
again there's two the two pods side by side. The one on the left is the larger uh inmate capacity and this is the first floor. So we have essentially uh a dayroom space with a a the first floor
level of cells. And the dayoom of each of these day rooms is actually sized to accommodate both the lower level capacity cells and the upper level capacity of the cells. Even though we have the ability to separate the day
rooms vertically, it you may choose to operate them as one or lock the upper level down from the lower level and operate them as as separate. As long as the upper level and the lower level are the same gender, we can put different
classifications of people in those two units. So again it goes back to the flexibility of operations and meeting that uh very that that that mission that that constantly evolves. So this is the the first floor and the
lower the pictures on the lower level are kind of photos typical photos of what you might expect of what the day rooms classrooms in the recreation area looks like. The the recreation indoor and outdoor recreation area again is fully enclosed. It has a roof and it has
an operable window as you might see on an outside wall that has a security screen on it that can be opened and fresh air and sunlight uh can come in the space and it that allows that space to meet the requirements of the ACA and the Florida model jail standards.
Then on the mezzanine level you can see that there is another layer of cells up top and then we have these somewhat triangular shaped dayroom spaces on the upper level. So these upper level mezzanines again can be secured off from
the lower level. The square footage of those mezzanines meet all the square footage requirements for all of those cells as if they were double bunked. And you'll note that the el the control room is is on the mezzanine level. So the
first floor is there's a secure vestibule underneath the elevated control room. The elevated control room is about 10 or 11 ft above the the day room floor. So people are moving from the day rooms out the corridor from below the control room.
This gives you a direct line of sight almost 360 degrees from the control room which you can see uh photographs of a typical control room. Uh this one actually is probably Okachobee. Um, but you have a direct line of sight
from the control room into the dayroom space. Unlike your existing facility, you're typically looking through multiple layers of glass. So, we've prepared a fly through here. Uh, it's a short two-minute video, so
I'm going to have to talk really fast as we we go through this. But we uh start as an aerial image from the south side and we're going to fly through here and we're going to enter through the roof of the uh cell pod number one. And as you can see there's an elevated portion of
the roof that allows clear story lighting into all the day rooms. So we're introducing a lot more daylight than typical. This is the elevated control room. Again it's a near 360 degree view uh elevated about 10 ft above the day room floors. You have views into all the cell blocks. the
corridor. You're looking now into the indoor and outdoor recreation area. You're looking into two of the cell blocks, and you can see how the mezzanine level has a security screen separating it from the day room. The day rooms, as I mentioned, can accommodate
the full population of that quadrant uh that allows you to provide extra square footage for in inmate programs. So, we're moving along the uh glass cell fronts. There's a lot of glass in these to allow good visibility of these special populations. Then we're going to
move through one of the communicating doors into the adjacent cell block which looks very similar. And you can see the control room there. That glass again is reflective glass. So from the dayroom side is it's effectively a mirror and you're seeing uh from the control room
into the dayoom uh without the mirror. So, we're going to exit now through the corridor underneath the control room. All of the day rooms are accessible from this vestibule below the control room and access to the program spaces such as
the indooroutdoor recreation area which we're going to go into now with its uh shutter open and then go back through the door on the other side of the uh corridor. still underneath the control room, you have access into this first classroom and the
control room actually uh can have direct uh observation in that control room or in that classroom as well. So, moving back into the PowerPoint, uh these are kind of a what again typical uh similar images of what you would have
here. We're uh suggesting the use of modular steel cells. Uh, Secure Texture has been using modular steel cells for about 35 years now. These are pre-fabricated offsite and the way they're delivered to the job site is exactly what you see here. The only
thing not installed when it gets to the job site is that shower curtain. The other thing that's unique about these, we're putting a shower in every cell. And we have proven over time that uh showers in cells actually are safer and it's much more efficient because there's
a toilet in the cell already. We already have hot water, cold water, drain, exhaust, air supplier, and so forth. And we don't have inmates walking across the day room floors with wet feet and falling, hitting their head on the concrete. You take them to the hospital. So, these are the kind of uh cells that
that and these even though they're pre-fabricated, they're fully customizable. They can put whatever kind of furniture you want in there. You can do it whatever color you want. Uh we're showing typical stainless steel fixtures in here. Uh and you notice the lower
right hand photograph, the cell fronts have a lot of glass in it. And again, that's all goes back to safety and security. Because of the design of the direct wall between the control room and the dayroom floors, no inmate is any further than 45 ft from the direct line
of sight uh from the control room. So the visibility in the control room is very strong. Uh these are some uh dayroom side uh photographs. So you'll notice in the upper leftand corner there's uh one of the uh the cane screens that separates the upper level
from the lower level. Uh this bottom area is actually a subday room from another project. And this in this particular concept this was a screen so you have air flow and noise and things like that moving through it. These subday rooms can also be subdivided with
glass if you prefer. Uh these are typical photographs of the recreation area. Again, this is uh the an actual indoor outdoor recreation with the operable wall. Uh and this is a photograph of that shutter when it's in the closed position. And then the
classrooms can take on any any type of character you want. You can put something rather simple in here or you can decorate them with different kinds of furniture and color and things like that to accommodate that mental health or behavioral health kind of environment that we need to create here.
Uh, as I mentioned, we're a strong proponent of modular construction, but it's not just the cells. Um, but we can actually modularize the control room as well. And the advantage of modular construction is one, it'll it'll take easily four to five months out of the
construction schedule. Well, that saves the county a lot of money. It's also a little bit easier to maintain quality control in a factory setting than it is on the construction site. So, there's a lot of advantages to it. And with overlapping construction, we can just get this thing up and running quicker.
So, from a cost standpoint, there's three components to cost. One is the hard construction cost, which is bricks and mortar, and the construction related soft cost. Soft costs are those things that you have to spend money on in order to
achieve the bricks and mortar. That's things like architecture and engineering fees, construction manager fees, surveys and soil borings and things of that nature. And then there's soft costs that we call occupancy related. That's the money you need to spend and actually use your building. Okay. Well, we need to
put new furniture in here. We have it and computers and telephones and other types of equipment that we have to provide and build in into the building before we can actually use it. So these con these construction cost numbers that we're showing you are total project
costs. It's the bricks and mortar and all the soft cost associated with it. And they have also included we've also included a uh some allowances for we know you're not going to start construction today. So we need to build another year or so worth of inflation
into these numbers. And we've put a contingency in here because we've we've been doing this a long time and we know that we need to put money in there to allow the design team allow the county to make decisions on well are we going to just put sealed concrete floors on or
we going to put epoxy floors in? do we want to do this or do we do that? There's a allowance in there to allow you to make decisions on the project yet. I mean there's a lot there's thousands of decisions still to make. So basically in the the center section here we have the the phase project total
phase one we have a low to high on the cell pot of 30 to $35 million. Uh and again we always do this in a range again to give you flexibility. And then those small projects like the canopy, the uh staff entrance, and the attorney visitation, those add up to
about another half a million dollars or so in total project cost to execute those. So total we're looking at 30 to $36 million in project costs for phase one. And then phase two is approximately another 29 to $33 million.
So with that, I will entertain any questions that you may have. questions for Mr. Morack or for the sheriff. Commissioner Campy. Mr. Morac, thank you for your presentation. Um, just a general question. Can you back to the last
slide? Let's see. Okay. So, if I'm looking at this correct, if we did it as a single or phased, it's you don't show unless it's just calculated and after the fact, you don't show additional expense if we stretched
it out. But there would be because it would be a year or so lag. Correct. Yes, there would be some delay. We Yeah. Again, each of these numbers includes one year of of inflation. If it goes two to three years, we would need to add a little more inflation to that.
Correct. But if we did it all at once for 70 million or 65 million versus stretching it out into the two phases, that would you're layering in some time for inflation. But if we stretch it, it would be additional time.
Yes. And if you did it all in one phase, it would probably tend to be closer to the lower of the range as opposed to the higher of the range. Have you built anything your company, have you built anything like this already? Mental health or the pods? Well, the pod concept, what we do inside
doesn't make a difference to you. You've you've designed it that way, but just the nuts and bolts of this. You've done these before. Several of these. The most recent one is in Oak Chobi. Okay. So, uh, we could take a road trip. I'll be there tomorrow. Um, the, uh, we
we designed two of these housing pods in Okchobee. They built one, occupied it. They're, we're finishing the second housing pod. And those housing pods each hold 212 beds with two classrooms and an indoor and outdoor recreation area. Uh,
they use the modular cells. The one difference structurally in Okchobee, we use pre-engineered metal buildings in in Okchobee. And here we're we're suggesting an exterior shell of a tiltup or pre-cast concrete because what we're doing we're
kind of we're we we were able to use an Okachobee pre-engineer buildings because after every building we could separate them by 20 ft and uh comply with fire. we were able to compartmentalize the building to reduce it uh to a building that we don't
have to fire rate. Uh on this project we're we have a little tighter campus to deal with. So we did it out of concrete. So we have uh inherently fire rated shells on this particular option. But this this near a very near uh option or
example of this would be just a few miles up the road. So they obviously did the phased approach and did one and now they're doing the other. Yes. Have you seen a large increase from the first phase to the second? Yes. Okay, makes sense. Yeah, we started the first one in the
midst of COVID and we started the second one kind of toward at the end of COVID. So it was probably about a 3% increase, which we thought was really good considering the the amount of uh inflation we had to endure during the first one. Mhm. Um, not that it's
necessarily your thing, but you must have to factor in where the money comes from. What did Okachobee do in terms of paying for it? Yeah. Well, they had a plan B. Uh when when we started design, we designed because the the the the design was to
take their existing 230 bed jail, tear down all the existing housing components, rebuild all the housing, re replace the kitchen and the laundry, and then renovate the uh sheriff's office and the intake. So that was all designed
as a single project and they missed the opportunity to fund it all at once and so they ended up funding it. That's why they're building it in phases because that gave them the opportunity to fund it one at a time. So, it was a combination of uh of grants and uh money
from the state and uh selling short-term uh they didn't do any bond issues for it. They did short-term loans by recon, you know, reconfiguring some of it. So, each of the housing pods in Okachobee was the construction cost was around 17 million and the total project was about
23. The other thing they did to save a lot of money was they did a lot of uh direct purchase and so like one of the advantages of these modular cells they were able to buy them whole and and take the take the tax savings from that. So
they did a lot of DO uh type of work on it that reduced their construction cost by several million dollars. Excellent. I appreciate that. I'll see if my colleagues have any other questions and then I I do. I have some observations too. Um
the first observation is that we this is not part of our capital improvement plan. We don't have any money saved set aside for this. Um we don't have any money available and we have a legislature that is determined to uh reduce our advorum
uh uh reduce our adorum collections. So right now um 44% of our entire budget is comes from advalorum which the legislature is determined to reduce
and of that 44% 2/3 of that is used for public safety operations and the legislature is not uh planning on replacing any of those lost revenues. So, I'm seeing some impossible
uh budgets in the future. Um I I I recognize that that sheriff, you have a need. I I I certainly understand that, but so does every other county in the state of Florida, and it has to be a
state solution. We are just not equipped to handle the the kind of expenditures that you're proposing for us. not for capital, certainly not for operations. You know, we are looking at shrinking revenues.
Um, and also I I don't we are not uh equipped, we're not trained to be mental health professionals. If this is going to be a mental health hospital, it's going to require mental health professionals
uh in order to treat inmates, in order to treat criminals. So, we're going to have to have doctors, nurses, therapists, all sorts of people like that in order to uh treat our mental health inmates.
It's it's I recognize that it's a problem, but man, I don't have I don't have a financial solution for you and not not not having a clear idea of what the future is going to is going to present me.
I'm I'm unprepared to to uh how I don't know how to proceed. Commissioner Heatherington, I'm I'm really um first of all, you did a very good job of explaining this a very complicated uh topic and even broke
it down to the construction costs, hard, soft, and and phases. So, um, nice presentation and I'm encouraged to hear what you said about Okchobee because, um, talk about a a county that doesn't
have a lot of tax resources. So, I'm encouraged to hear that you say that they were able to find some multifunding sources. And quite frankly, I thought your presentation was going to come in double the numbers. And we we've heard
some massive numbers in the past. So, I'm encouraged by your presentation. I don't think there's a solution today, but we're looking at even public works and some buildings that are rather expensive. I like the fact that there's prefabrication. There's some solutions
to buy down some of these costs. So, um I I think it's an I know it's just a presentation. We have to work together with our legislative delegation and the state to find some funds. But I will have to say that I'm almost relieved and encouraged by what you presented because
I think it could have been much much worse. And I actually had a question probably more for the sheriff um Baker acts and the trends of some of these mental health components. So you said even 400 we had last year and now we
have 500 Baker acts. So that's that seems a high percentage for 160,000 residents. I don't know how that's if you consider if that's how you aortion it but how does that look over to say the last five years if you're looking at
a trend line and what do you see so for the next couple years? Well, I would like to say we're going to go backward, but that has not been the trend. So, this conversation started again under Sheriff Snyder precoid,
pre2020. And I hate even talking about CO, but when we went into CO, the mental health calls for service went up exponentially. And we've stayed on par with that all the way through this year. Every year, and I don't have every number. I brought pages, but it'll take me too long to
data mine that. Every year, it's gone up. It has not gone backward. And is that across the state? And we're not just It's just not in Martin County. It's across the state. It's It's across the board. I I talked to other sheriffs that are dealing with the same problem. The governor has been
tracking with it. They did an article a couple months ago about how there's no real place for these individuals to land. They end up dead. They end up for 72 hours or they end up in jail. And I want to touch Commissioner, you're 100% right. We we don't want to we're we're
not a facility, but they're in there anyway. So, while they're there, we want to make the best of their of their time and try to at least get them stabilized so they don't come back to us. But we don't want to waste their time and our time, too. And again, like I the the uh
individual I pointed out earlier, they keep reoffending and they just stay longer and longer. It does cost us money to keep these people in there for an extended period of time. But commissioner, your your base question is is it getting better? And the answer is it's not for for anyone. It's not just
the state of Florida. It's across the whole country. Thank you. Commissioner Campy, Sheriff, thank you. Um, listen, I don't disagree with what my colleagues have said,
specifically Commissioner Herd. I don't think the sheriff and his team want to be here today. I'm sure you could be still constructing. I'm sure prison construction is booming business from what I hear on TV and stuff. It's not like, you know, America has the highest
rate of inmates in the world. Correct. Uh, pretty much. Yeah. Um, so I don't think you'll go out of business anytime soon. So, it's not like you're scrambling to get another contract from us. If not us, then someone else. And I agree that we haven't necessarily
uh have a CIP sheet for this, but all the way back now to Sheriff Snyder. He sounded the alarm several years ago on this. So, it's not you're not surprising us. At least I'm not surprised. I'm appreciative of the fact that we have
gone through a logical very seems to be methodical process with great thanks from uh the legislature through representative Snyder for $500,000 is a legitimate amount of money that at least now we're starting to figure out instead of
guessing actually what would this cost and like Commissioner Heatherington you could have come in here and said it would be $110 million and we would have said, "All right, well, that's the number." So, not that60 to $70 million is anything to sneeze at,
but I had two questions for the sheriff, if you don't mind, sir. Based on the amount of money that you're spending now to try to, and I've been there, and I remember seeing it. You know, I think most people assume an inmate overpopulation problem is just
all the same inmates. like you had said earlier, you have to differentiate these people. Now, I know that maybe there's not as much compassion for folks that are incarcerated with amongst the general public,
but I was there visiting with your team. And you can imagine if you're in there for a mental health issue, like you said, originally that gentleman had a misdemeanor and if they're mixed and mingled and they're tweaked by the light, the sound, I found it. I was only
there for probably an hour and a half or so and I couldn't wait to leave. I also wonder the effect it has on your staff, the mental health, and what the cost is for the mental health and physical health of your staff. Because when you're in with this volatile population,
imagine this brewing pot of water, you already know it. I stood with your team in that observation pod or whatever the type the control tower and looked down and it's it's it's boiling over.
Have you seen would there be cost efficiencies from creating this new pod in terms of what you're forced to put together now versus had you had the appropriate system. I I hate to to put numbers to it because I don't know that it's quantifiable. I
can just kind of double down on what you just said. Our deputies get hurt all the time. We sent a sergeant out Saturday night that got in a fight with a middle mentally ill individual. He got hurt, ended up with a hand injury down in Martin South. then he's out of work. We're paying overtime to back fill his
position. Like that's a constant thing that's happened in the jail. We've had 130 uses of force fights in our facility just this year so far. That's a lot of lot of interaction fights that culminates in injured deputies, injured inmates, who by the way, if an inmate
goes out of our facility for care because of these fights, then we're stuck with two deputies sitting on a hospital room babysitting them while again we backfill their positions. So, there's a lot of unassociated costs that are really hard to to hammer down on,
but I would like to speculate that it will reduce our cost again because we can keep these individuals separate. I didn't touch on this initially because I was trying to be brief for you, but it's it's mental illness from the complete psychotic individuals all the way to we have elderly inmates in there with
dementia and a lot of them are extremely aggressive. They don't know why they're there. They can't remember who's who and they get in fights with the younger people that don't care about them. So, I think there would be a cost savings. I hate to say that though because I feel like there's always debate and switch going on in these.
I appreciate that. to your point about uh elderly right up the road at the facility on Indian Street you had when that facility was still open at the corner of Caner and Indian one of the residents killed another resident they
were both senior citizens and I just read in the paper that a grandmother killed another grandmother not here. Then my next question for you is there is a cost of us doing nothing beyond what you had mentioned with injury uh
overtime out because someone's hurt time out when an in you know the time when an inmate is in jail excuse me hospitalized we just thanks to again I guess representative Snyder worked on some of those costs for inmate medical costs but
we bear those expenses so we could look at the 50 or $60 million if it ended up being that because as the gentleman said, there were some ways to bring that number down. If we just looked at that number and said, "We can't afford to pay it." Well, what are we paying behind the scenes that we're not really tagging to
this account. Would you see, and I know you're not a lawyer, but we have lawyers, knowing if I was an attorney, which I'm not, but if I were, if someone I knew was in your system and got hurt by a
mentally ill inmate and was severely hurt or, God forbid, killed, lawyers are going to flood in and start suing you, by extension us. The liability, the legal liability of not
doing anything is not just a Martin County problem. That's got to be a a nationwide county problem. There's got to be some value put on the fact that we would do this. I don't think we're necessarily being proactive. I think we're being reactive because the
problem already exists. You didn't come and say 3 years from now, I foresee we're having this problem. You came today to say, and so did Sheriff Snyder years ago, we already have this problem. In my mind, with all deference to Commissioner Herd, I think the bigger
expense, and I'm still only speaking in dollars and cents, is bigger for doing nothing than for us to figure out how we have to pay for this. That being said, there's a human cost. You said that original gentleman,
using him as an example, he was originally a misdemeanor. He's got a family. He might have children, a spouse, parents, siblings, people that care about him. Had he been addressed appropriately, and I'm not saying that it was any fault on our part
because you got a whole revolving door of people in there, the human cost of us doing nothing. uh one for the people that have the mental illness and the other for the people that are either supervising them or being forced to live
in proximity to them. We you can't put a dollar sign on that, but it still needs to be considered. So, I would tell you from my perspective, I'm interested in in the next step of this, with all due respect to Commissioner Herd, that we
can't do nothing. And I know that there's no sheet for it, but as much as we're trying to figure out a way to build a new maintenance facility for the county because it's something that needs to happen for the decades going forward, so does this. And I don't think the
human costs are as dire for our maintenance facility, which I still want, as they are for what you're talking about. And I'm sure you wish you weren't here today discussing this. We certainly wish you weren't. But you are,
if I can double down, Commissioner, I I feel like this is a this is not just a feeling. It's a pay me now or pay me later scenario that we're in. And I actually agree with you, Commissioner Herd. I understand where we're headed. I've been at the governor's meetings. I I get both sides of the equation. The
reason why we're here today and getting prepared for the legislative uh session is there may be the potential for a significant amount of money out of the state of Florida to offset what we don't have in Martin County. So, that's really the push is uh they've provided the money for us to get ready and and the
the ask is that we can go in there and really push hard to get some funding to offset what's happening here in Mark County because I understand where we're headed. It's been pretty clear that we're cutting property taxes. I've talked to uh Blae who our CFO. I've talked to our local state reps and and
it's coming. It's just a matter of time. But thank you for for your comments. Yeah. And I'm not advocating doing nothing. I'm just saying this is a statewide problem and it's going to require a statewide solution. Commissioner Caps,
I think this discussion really underscores the importance of home rule and how every community in Florida is different. You know, think about it. Certain counties, perhaps some of the smaller rural counties, maybe they don't
have a great need for jail expansion. Uh, but we happen to have it now. Maybe maybe another county uh had a jail built 10 years ago, but I think it's been how long? 30 years for us. 36
36 years for us. Somebody else might be 18 years ago. Some other county might be a rapidly growing county like up there around Jacksonville or something where some of those really booming counties, where is it like Deltona and stuff? Is
that one of the areas that's exploding in Florida? Uh what you know, every community is so different and that's why home rule is so important and why it's it's best for local government officials
uh to have a good bit of discretion about what to do with with resources. Um, I had a question about general demand and what do what do counties do
uh when there is a pressing need for more jail space? Um, like say you um were the sheriff in Broward County or some place that was really exploding in growth and and there's there's a need for you don't wish that on you.
Uh what what do they do? You know, they end up putting more people in programs like I mentioned earlier, the pre-trial program, which we run a tight ship with pre-trial here, but again, that's mostly misdemeanent.
We get them out with a judge's order and then we keep tabs on them. We track them. We check in on them. That's the plan. But what ends up happening in these larger jurisdictions is then they start, okay, well, we we're good with 70 misdemeanors out. Now, let's try 70
felons. So, you end up with these revolving door jail mentalities with some real bad people on the street. And that's how they alleviate some of their pressures. Another thing I didn't mention is Martin County, the circuit, the 19th circuit did a good job here by standing up mental health court.
So, that's somewhere where we push these mentally ill people into also and get them into programs outside of the jail. So, we've been thoughtful. It's not just come in here and ask. Uh, the commission's worked with this on every project. The 19th Circuit understands it, but we've been careful to keep our
Martin County residents safe. And you see in these larger counties, the revolving door doesn't work. It just creates more crime. And then uh let's see, I had another um question about perhaps other examples in
the state of Florida where county governments have needed to actually put uh tax dollars into something just in general jail expansion like um how often
is this done? you know, um, do you have any thoughts about that? So, consulting her? Well, go ahead. Well, um, I'll say first of all, I have spent my entire 44 year career
designing jails and courouses. So, there is no shortage of those things to do. I've made a a living on it. The one thing that I will say though is that the mission at the jail is constantly
changing. So a 36-y old facility has difficult from a physical standpoint meeting the mission that you have to serve today. You know, for instance, when you're jail, like for just an
example, in 198 what 88 89 the female population in jail in 1989 was about 1 and a half to 2% of the jail population. Today it's what 25 to 30%. So there's things have changed, you
know, socially and the the buildings need to adapt and the way especially a 36-y old jail has a hard time adapting. But I will say two things about your jail of particular note. This is on the positive side. For a 1989 jail, it was pretty advanced
in its design for its time. Uh, for instance, the idea of the the rear chases and so forth like we're proposing here. I didn't even I've been doing this my whole career. I didn't even see another rear chase design until the early 2000s and I was one of the first
people doing them. And you have that. Secondly, I will say for the jail a jail of its age, it's probably and I've seen hundreds. I've been in and out of hundreds of jails, mostly out, sometimes in visit.
Yes, most of the time. But I would say that for a 36-y old jail, you probably have one of the best maintained facility I've ever seen. So that, you know, you get credit for taking care of it because it could be a whole lot worse. I mean, the whole thing could be falling down
around your ears like a lot of jails that are 36 years old and you have the opportunity to expand it rather than replace it. So that that's good. But this but paying for these is a common a a common issue. These things are always they're very expensive. I mean we're you
know we're talking about you know 800 or so dollars a square foot for a jail. That's that's that's a big cost but and a lot of the people I mean there's there's all kinds of ways that you know most of the time people are paying for these with with some kind of sales tax.
Uh you know they're doing bond issues of various types. It's a hard thing there. It runs the gamut. Uh I've had one county, I know, you wouldn't qualify for this, but I've had a couple like three or four counties in my career that uh took USDA loans out where they could
extend the uh amortization over 40 years. Well, that's that's still a long time, but you know, it gave them a payment to low enough that they could, you know, meet their needs and shuff shuffle thing
around. There's no, you know, from a financing standpoint, I can't really help you with any brilliant ideas there, but I know it just runs the gamut. And there's I would say most of the counties in this country have either built or expanded their jail in the last 10
years. Uh it's just you know it's it's again it's the the society has changed and the ex the the in the lack of flexibility in the way old jails were designed just
can't meet the mission anymore. uh and you're actually kind of on the fortunate side of that. Um that yours can be adapted with with the and again the idea with with this addition is we're putting all those special populations that didn't used to exist
all in one place in the jail, making it making the rest of the jail work better and safer. So it's it's uh you but you have that opportunity to to make those changes. And and how often does the state contribute uh to jail construction
like like when I think of the state contributing to other things like say land conservation you know where we have this thing going on where we're buying a lot of conservation lands these days and we put up a little bit the state puts in a
bunch and we get the job done. Um, but is that done in jail construction, too, where we put up a little bit and they put up a bunch and we get the job done? Well, uh, and again, here you're actually on the lucky side. Uh, I work in 12 states and Florida is the only
state that I'm aware of that the state actually contributes to uh you through the the uh funding that you have. There's no federal money out there unless you're doing mental health. Now, again, the the mental health is the key. Um, everybody's trying, everybody in the
country is talking about trying to do something with mental health. Very few people actually do it because they can't afford to get it done. I mean, that's like like the catch 22. But, uh, in the state of Florida, I think you tend to have more opportunities for state funding than most states.
Uh, most of the states I work in, there's nothing from the state. Would it would it be unheard of for the state of Florida to pay for half or twothirds of the construction of a new jail? Well, in the case of like Okachobee
recently, um they were able to get some uh state money for about half of what they did. Okay. But they're also constrained. All right. Thanks a lot. They get some state aid for the operational budget. Uh, all the money
I'm aware of is all for capital. Yeah. Commissioner Heatherington, I just two quick comments. when you talked about jail overcrowding and what are some of the um the sheriff mentioned what do some of the other um larger
populated areas do is you start mitigating and letting um basically what I would call criminals um off on this or that or you know you're not prosecuting particular crimes. I feel like as far as
Martin County, our number one value here is public safety. Everybody will tell you they feel safe. Um, this is why people move here. This is why people stay here. This is why businesses locate here. And I believe that there's not only a physical safety with having an
overcrowded jail or um not addressing the mental health of the population. There's a real economic threat to your community if there's jail overcrowding. We can't accommodate that and people are not feeling secure and we
have to let criminals walk because we can't afford to house them or mentally treat them. So, I just noted that. Had not thought about that until Commissioner Caps talked about what do what are some of the overcrowded jails.
I never would want to see us uh at all acques or um give on our public safety is number one. I think hands bar in the state of Florida and we should definitely keep it that way. And then as far as strategically positioning
legislatively to capitalize on any kind of state dollars this year, I flipped over to our presentation that we're having this afternoon and um on the first page of our strategic state priorities is the public safety mental
health initiative. So, um I hope that we are helping you and supporting you in positioning that strategically so that um the legislature knows that the county is there to support you to bring home as
many dollars as you can. As the sheriff said, pay him now, pay him later. Any further discussion, comments? Thank you for your presentation. Thanks, Sheriff. We'll see you all soon. Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Sure. Let's take up department five. Yes, department five. Miss Powers. Hello, Sarah Powers, legislative coordinator. Um, so kind of following um
just wanted to answer um a quick question about funding, state funding. So the year in the budget for 2023 24 when we received our half um a million dollars for an appropriation for the planning and design um seven other
counties also received money for jail pod jail uh expansions or um that year particular Okchobee um county got a million dollars for their their jail renovation um and Union County got almost $7 million. So it's definitely not unheard of. I was trying to look up
all the other budgets really quick, but um that that was just I had that pulled up um from our um the year we we had happened to get funds. Um so we'll go through the state priorities and then the um federal priorities as well.
And as you can see, the first uh priority is that um mental health pod. So this year um the we are seeking $30 million to fund phase one. Um and then next year we would intend to file another appropriation for the remaining
30 million. Um and then in the meantime there's also um some other places we've identified um through grant programs and other things that are available to help offset some of the operational costs, some other programming costs once the um jail is up
and running. Um we are working with the sheriff's office on identifying some of those as well. Um we have uh Ken Puit on our lobbying team and he's kind of taken the lead on that. Um helping us identify so only this is our number one priority
but then having f identifying other state resources where um can help out in the long run. So also Mr. Morac seemed to feel that for mental health issues there are federal dollars available. So we're we're looking into that.
Yes. Um so that's uh using the the sheriff's office language. So technicality since we own the jail, we have to file the we the county file the appropriation in conjunction with the sheriff's office, but it kind of goes the money comes
through us. So that's um so it's our priority. It's the sheriff's office priority. It's also um I think the sheriff mentioned um Representative Snider's priority. um he's up and cominging in leadership and he's um spoken with the incoming speaker, this
current speaker and mental health, the conversation around it um is is definitely one that's going to be highlighted this session and the sessions to come. Um so with his position, he's um really excited about this. So hopefully that will that will
bring us positive outcome. Um our next priority is another local bill. Um this project came about after last year's um local bill. Um Cleveland Clinic has had identified our indigent
um care tax that uh we have not they have not been able to use and it's kind of just been it's been the the tax has been around since the 60s. Um and it hasn't been touched it's been used but not the the statute hasn't been modified since 2011.
So we and once we started looking at it um Sarah Woods had actually helped us kind of identify some things that needed to be changed. So um currently it puts a lean the if you receive care there a lean goes on you as a person and that's
just an outdated practice. We don't use that anymore. We've never collected on it to my knowledge. So, it was just an outdated practice that we um are revisiting and hoping to just make some minor changes to that. Does anyone have any questions on that before I keep
going? Questions? Those are those are our two um main projects and then we go into the rest of the priorities. These are um have remained unchanged. We we have um pretty
long-standing priorities. Um, of course, water, all things environmental. So, our SER program, uh, or the SER projects, uh, IRL South restoration, um, we continue to support dedicated funding for that from the state as
you'll see it in the federal, uh, the same theme in our federal priorities as well. uh long-term funding for all those projects. Uh natural the natural lands component of IRL South and uh restoring the LXahachi flow. It's conservative
land acquisition. Uh we kept that in there of course um especially with our uh new sales tax and advocating for conservation land always with the state. um supporting um bioolid initiatives, uh
septic to sewer conversion, that is still a definitely a state priority as well as a Martin County priority, making sure that all those uh state programs are fully funded. And of course, dedicated uh coral reef
funding and resilient coastline program efforts at the state. Again, making sure uh advocating for those programs to be fully funded. um like the coral reef tract and uh and the effects of rising
sea levels and um all the programs FWC as well as DP offer. Uh this is a big topic I know that has come up. Um we uh supporting and opposing uh home rule uh you know supporting home rule, opposing any
legislation that um that affects home rule and shifts uh any financial burden from from um the state to local level and unfunded mandates as well. Um more water quality and natural resources.
uh our human service and public safety of course um supporting the ship program. Uh the uh district 19 medical examiner facility that's been getting reoccurring state funding. Um again continuing investment in our operation
our emergency operations center and uh efforts for the um mental health treatment programs. Uh our tourism and economic vitality program. Um that's been a big top the tourism tax has been a big part of
conversations at the legislative level. Um I've worked with NOS. We think that's coming back with just the general taxing conversation. Um so oo, you know, we're going to oppose continue to oppose decreasing funding levels to visit
Florida and keep that ability to use that tax in Martin County. Our infrastructure, recreation, and transportation priorities uh pretty much remain the same. Supporting the DOT's 5-year work plan, DOT's target zero
campaign, um our historic buildings pro the state's historic buildings program, um supporting any sort of transportation funding for um the railroad bridge as well as potentially a rail station and
um intercity passenger rail services. So that is our those are our state priorities. Any questions? Who made this brochure? Our communications team did this. This I've been handed I was handed this
document on day one and it's just sort of evolved every year. Um it did get a new look this year. Uh well done. Yes, that's Courtney took the lead on the the design of it. Martha Ann and Laura, they've all been really great to work with the the design and all of
that. But like I said, this this especially this federal document, I can't take credit for all the credit for. It's it's been handed down for quite a while. No, but I mean obviously the information that is from you, but the look and feel is Yeah. I think very appealing
and then we'll go through. Was there any questions on the state priorities? Commissioner Caps has one. Okay. Yes. On tourism and economic vitality and the So that has to do with the bed tax.
tourist development tax. Is that what it's called? TD. Yes. First development tax. TDT. Um, yeah. Like what what has been the trend in Tallahassee? I know it seems like there's been a lot of uh
political battles going on with what to do about tourism in Florida. Like there's this contingent up there that feels like we shouldn't be doing spending any money promoting the state of Florida at all and no tourism. And and I suppose the
effort to control this local tax mh comes from that sentiment that you tourism just a waste of time money. You shouldn't spend any money on it at all. So what what's going on with it up there as far as like what their other plans
would be for that money. The So last year the sentiment of getting rid of that tax would just be to return some of that money to the the taxpayer. It wasn't really a rhyme or reason. It was more so just to provide relief. I think they looked at what were
being taxed and what property owners are being taxed and that was just something that they identified. I think when we looked at it for Martin County, it would have equated to like $50 a person. So, it wasn't it but you know, counties like Orlando, they might have felt it a little bit more. Um but just it was
really just trying to get rid of and and change the way that that could be spent so we could spend it on different um they could the government could spend it on different things versus what it's supposed to be used for t tourism development and tourism as a whole um county by county and we use it for some
of our beach programs as well. So, they were just trying to um basically was just a rebate to to taxpayers and and commissioner, I'm not sure that they're uh it's about um limiting tourism as as much as it's about how
tourist development councils are spending the funds and it's managed different ways around the state. And uh in Martin County, we don't have a lot of big uh hotel destinations. I mean, we do have some excellent hotels here, but the money we generate is is fairly small uh
compared to obviously to like Penllis County where they collect um on the order of or or uh Orange County, you know, where they're collecting close to they're hundreds of millions of dollars being collected where we collect what is it? What? Three and a half. Three and a half million. Yeah. So we're
three and so so I think the the complaint was over the organizational structure of how some of these are managed and then it was uh and of course the hotel years are very concerned that it really is about promotion of tourism and to keep the engine moving uh if you
will that it takes a lot of money to keep keep that to keep the international and the national um um tourism going and I think the legislature was looking at um taking some of those funds that are collected from tourists and
redistributing them back to the the counties in some way. And that and that structure has uh is what's concerning especially a small county like us where we don't really collect that much. Um and um um so anyway, those are some of
the topics we can continue to follow with you on. Mhm. Okay. Please continue on to our um federal priorities. Again, these uh have remained mostly unchanged since I got here, but um still very
important. Uh as you can see, we also have a new senator on in our delegation. So, we've made the efforts to visit um not not just our delegation offices when we go up, but uh the Florida delegation as a whole is that they have time to make sure that they know we're here and
and we we travel to DC to um make a difference. Um so again you'll see uh we support um SER again at the federal level uh passing passage of a word bill every two
years um supporting Indian River Lagoon South phase 2 projects I would add to that the uh muck removal it's part of IRL South it needs to it's it's you know it probably will be a
shared state federal responsibility but needs needs word authorization uh in order to get into the integrated delivery schedule. Mhm. Noted. We will make that. Make sure we add that. I know we've been working on it when we go to DC. So,
with the board's concurrence, we'll add in muck removal as a statement in this document. Uh so, again, just continuing funding of our beach restoration and inlet management programs. Um the National Estuaries Program supporting full
funding of that again the the restoring resilient reefs act um comes up um and we obviously support that water quality and natural resources supporting the uh SRF uh management program
conservation land acquisition again big uh theme in DC but with our half cent sales tax we really um put ourselves kind of at the top of that we have the dollars and And that's really impressive when you go and we go to meet with um legislators from across the country, not
just the state. They're very impressed by Martin County. Most of them know who we are, especially if they serve on a environmental um committee. They they know Martin County. They see what we have and um parts a part all part of our our advocacy.
Um and again um federally federal grants for um a new station um supporting that. and we've gotten positive feedback from our congressmen um on that new um grant program. So, we had to make sure we included that as uh for the station, but
again also for the um the bridge. Um that's not our our grant at this point, but we definitely would be benefiting from that. And that is all I have on the priorities.
Questions from Powers. Okay. So, um going forward next steps. So, we will keep these in draft form um until the delegation meeting. Obviously, our delegation has to approve. They have to say yes that they're going to publicly that they're going to sponsor
um our u appropriation request as well as sponsor and file our local bill. Um of course, we're pretty confident that they're going to do that, but they'll remain in draft form. Um so if anything may if you know for some reason they didn't we had to take it out it would come back to you. But for now with that
minor change and um the ability to come back and just get final approval um we'll keep them in draft form until the delegation meeting. So as long as probably need a a motion to approve them in this state and then and they'll come back probably as a consent item to final
approval. Okay. We need a motion to approve the legislative priorities. We will give you one. So second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I oppose. That motion passes unanimously. And this morning,
Commissioner Caps brought up uh SB 180. Keep us apprised of of uh any glitch bill progress. Absolutely. Sarah Powers, excellent job. Yep. Thank you. Okay, let's return to department one.
Hello. Good afternoon. Afternoon. Stephanie Merley here um director of OM to present four items today. Our first item is a permission to accept the fiscical year 2526 children's services council grant program of the afterchool
out of school program grant. Um this is an annual grant that uh our parks and recreation department gets. Um they are requesting the acceptance of $47,347 to pay for the staff, maintenance, supplies, and programming at um various
camps provided by parks and recreation. Um there is a grant match required of approximately $578,372 which is budgeted in our FY26 parks and recreation operational budget. And speaking of mental health, um we
have a permission to accept the mental health awareness training grant. Um our human services department is requesting the acceptance of a grant award of 120,000 for the third year of the mental health awareness training grant. This enables the county to expand and support
local efforts that provide mental health awareness training. Um more of a preventative grant and there is no cash match required for that. Item number three is a permission to accept the community services block grant for um 2025 2026. Our human
services department is requesting the acceptance of $102,547 in CSBG funding um for operating expenses related to assisting res residents to connect them to resources that are available to assist them. Um, there is no cash match required for this
either. And the very last item is a permission to accept the Edward Burn Memorial Justice Assistance Grant or the JAG grant. Um, we are requesting a grant award of $63,984 to support Martin County's u mental
health court drug testing expenses. Um, it enables the the county to offset drug testing supplies incurred by the mental health court program and there is no cash match required for that either. Mr. Caps.
Yes. Uh, number three block grants. Can you explain what they are and who ad who contributes to them and and I believe there's a separate board that that handles block grants, right? A county board. So, the um community services
block grant is actually federal funding that is passed through St. Lucy County. Um Michelle, if you have more information on that, but it's typically just an operating type grant to connect people, but Michelle can explain. Hi, good afternoon. Michelle Miller, human services director. So, yes, the
community services block grant, we're part of a consortium of four counties that get that money that's funneled through St. Lucy County. we get a percentage of the total funding and that allows us um some operating costs for staff and also provides some money for rental assistance if there's any
leftover. Mhm. Okay. And then why are we like a considered a subcontractor to St. Lucy County? Because it goes to them directly and then we contract through them. So they get the money from the from the federal government, goes directly to them, they
manage it and then they give us a percentage of it. kind of like the host county for four counties. Yes, we're a subreient of that. I gota Yes. Okay. Thank you. Any further questions? Is there a motion
for approval? Move approval. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Department two is contracts that meet the threshold for board approval of $1
million or greater. Um, Commissioner Heatherington, is this when you make an announcement? Yes, there's only one item today. So, I will be abstaining from this um departmental number two. Um I have filed my form 8B with the clerk with a
conflict of um an appointment with Ferrer and I will abstain. Okay, proceed please. Christy Brotherton, your chief procurement officer uh for consideration today. I have one contract and it is a
continuing services agreement for bridge construction and maintenance. This contract has a maximum not to exceed value of $5 million with a maximum not to exceed term of five years. Um, individual projects or work orders do not exceed $300,000 per
Florida statute. Uh, staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, which is Ferrer Construction Company, and move that the board authorize a county administrator or designate to execute all documents related to this request.
And that concludes this item. questions for Miss Brotherton. Commissioner Caps. So this u let's see individual projects shall not exceed $300,000. So it it sounds like this is like smaller work on bridges and things, maintenance things, signs,
maintenance, repairs. Anything that exceeds the $300,000 mark will be um usually it'll be formally bid. Um there's usually CIP sheets. I know public works has a bridge maintenance program that they go by. So you'll see kind of on an as needed basis. Yeah,
these are for the smaller projects, just repairs and maintenance. Okay, thank you. Would you like to add anything? Yeah, Jim Gordon, public works director. The um we all of our bridges are inspected every two years and it we get a list of maintenance items that we need
to address and that that's what this contract would be used for largely was to go in and and do those minor repairs to bridges. Thank you. Any further questions? Is there a motion to approve? Make a motion to accept staff's recommendation.
Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes 30 with Commissioner Heatherington abstaining. Now, unless I'm wrong,
we have completed all of our tasks. Would anyone from the public like to address us? Good timing. How about that gentleman? Yeah, please. Okay, we stopped our meeting so you could speak.
Thank you guys. Um Joe Flanigan for the record. Um I'm here representing project graduation and we're in the midst of getting ready to start our new round of things. And I just happen to have a couple of certificates. Uh several of the commissioners were there uh and
supported us. And I'd like to present you guys with some plaques that uh address that. And the other part is we're in the middle. Actually, I have a meeting today at five o'clock uh because we've got some concerns on the venue. Uh in the past, we've had it at the Boys
and Girls Club and Fletch has done a great job with us. He's worried about some of his funding sources and said he's not sure he could handle three nights in a row. And uh we did the same with the uh YMCA. And I'm not at liberty to disclose where I think we're going to be able to have
it, but I assure you, you will be excited if I can pull this one off. So, train station. That's how did you know? No, actually, um I don't know. I'll go ahead and tell the guy's supposed to call me today and say if it's a yes or a no, but the new No, it's all right. The new
Sears place that's the Elevate Fund. I went to that place. I'm like, this is great. So he's talking to his people and see if we can pull it off. I I location. Yeah. It's kind of one of those things where like the lawyer that slides the number across the table and you look at it and go, "Okay." And you slide it back
and all that one. We're at that stage. Uh so we're there. So I don't know what the decorum is. You can just leave these here. I don't know if you want to do a photo op. You guys tell me. Pass them to the baiff. Therefore, they'll get here safely. I appreciate it. And here's like my official public thing. But thank you
guys for everything that's going on. You never stated your name for the record. I thought I did it again. Joe Flanigan. There you are. Yeah. Retired school administrator meddling in all people's business. So, no, but I I will be in touch with you guys and again, thank you for your support and so many things that you guys
have on your table and appreciate everything that you're doing to make all that happen. Thanks. All right. Take care. Enjoy. Would anyone else like to address us? Commissioner Caps, any further comments? I'm good, too. I'm set. Mr. Campy,
a reminder that on October 18th at 6:30 to 8:30, we'll have music in the park on Map Road. And I'd like to take a moment of personal privilege to wish my wife a happy birthday. Happy birthday, Mr. Heatherington. I'm all set. Thank you, Mr. Donaldson.
All set. Miss Elder. We are adjourned. What does this guy want? That makes me nervous.