you guys were all so early All right good afternoon everybody My name is Michael Houston I'm a senior project manager in the Martin County Environmental Resource Division here for our first meeting of the Environmental Lands Oversight Committee So I thought we would start by just going around and
having everyone introduce yourself and say what organization that you represent And I'd like to call the meeting to order as well So I'm Dan Brady with the the pointy group and with the realtor
[Music] Good afternoon I'm Vicky Davis supervisor of elections and I'm representing Florida Farm Bureau Uh I'm John Keller with the Everglades Foundation organization uh committed and
mission to restore water going back into the Everglades Uh they have 50 full-time employees headquartered in Miami and I'm a board member and have been for 15 years Good afternoon everyone I'm Merritt Mat
and I'm here on behalf of a board member of Rivers Coalition Hello I'm Beth Kavinsky Um I'm retired but I spent about 20 years managing SER projects for the water management district and I am here representing
um Ottabon Kim Snaker Martin County Forever Tom Campenny Martin County Taxpayers Association Scott Turnbull on behalf of Economic Council of Martin County Okay So our first order of business
today is actually going to be to elect a board chair So do we have any nominations for anyone who would like to uh chair the committee i move that we elect Jim Sneder A second the motion Second the motion Any other nominations i wanted to move it but he was too fast
for me I've been doing this a while All right All those in favor i I All right Jim Uh the the floor is now yours Thank you Uh with that I'm honored to be in this position I look forward to working with
all of you Uh and with that I'll turn it back to Mike Well our you need to elect the vice chair Okay I move that we elect Merritt Mat as vice chair Second Second the motion Second
All in All those in favor i I I Great Welcome Merritt Well look Merritt and I have worked together for the past three years along with John Keller very closely So very much look forward to taking this forward Great Thank you Well I would just as an introduction like to
thank everyone for coming down here today and participating on this committee Uh we have a huge task ahead of us Um we the sales tax that was passed in 2024 we're estimating that it's going to generate $220 million over
a 10-year period So we have a chance to be a real difference maker here in Martin County not only for our environment but for our community that has put us in this place to uh to help uh move more lands into
conservation in Martin County So um next up uh we are going to have some trainings that we have to do So uh I'm going to turn this over to Sarah Woods who who is going to talk about ethics I don't know how to turn this Oh uh it
should be on right is it on okay And over there sorry you have to turn yours on manually Oh okay Okay Um I'll just reintroduce myself My name is Sarah Woods I'm the Martin County Attorney Um I am just thrilled about this I worked
with many of you for this And just on a personal note this is a just a really big win I love Martin County but particularly this is a long time coming We've tried several times before and so um I'm excited for you all and all
you're going to contribute Um so I'm going to start out with Florida's um government in the sunshine training And I'm looking around and I'm thinking a lot of you have had this training so I'm not going to be too long- winded about it But um you all know that this is one
of the poll stars of the state of Florida We've had this requirement of government in the sunshine no making laws and decisions in the so-called smoke pills So it's not only in our required by our
Florida Constitution but also is uh incorporated in Florida statute And there's still two three basic elements that Sunshine requires Meetings of public boards and commissions have to be held um open to the public in an ADA
accessible uh facility No going through gates or anything It's got to be in a public building There has to be reasonable notice and minutes of the bore of the of the um meetings must be taken and recorded Um you all don't have
to worry about that That's county staff's uh job to make sure that the meetings are held in accordance with those requirements Um however that covers all of the
discussions amongst you all of anything that might foreseeably come before the board It has to be done in a public meeting that meets all of the previous requirements And when I say that when I first started practicing over 40 years
ago it was pretty easy It was no talking back and forth no using the phone um no using an intermediator to intermedi um communicate what one of your fellow members would uh are thinking about a matter that might come before you
Nowadays it includes of why I'm going to have to use my notes for this Email no email discussions It covers telephone conversation internet text messages Um and I'm going to say that also means
during the meeting It also means during a recess It also means um while the meeting's going on it it's all of those things It also includes not communicating through social media So if you're making a Facebook post or an
Instagram post or something else that I don't use that if it's a communication between two board members or more then and it's about a matter that might come before you that's a violation of sunshine law After all these years of my
doing this my recommendation is don't use social media for anything that has to do with this That's my conservative approach It's how you don't get sideways It's not a good idea because you It's the communication with each other Now
does that mean that you can't attend a social gathering or uh a public gathering or a public meeting no You're just not going to cross talk You're not going to discuss about a matter that could come before you So if there's a um
rivers coalition meeting and the members of this board want to come and listen to each other or even make a public statement what I would recommend and I passed you all uh my card as well as the deputy county attorney Elise Elder reach
out if you've got any questions You just want to make sure you're not cross-talking about something that you'd have to make a decision on So that's just my recommendation In Martin County as you all well know we take public
records sunshine and ethics really seriously Um and Sunshine's in my opinion the beginning of it where you're where you're complying with that And again have any questions have any issues
Um there's also part of sunshine just so you know is uh the right of the public to participate That doesn't mean they get to hold up the meeting You just have to provide them with an opportunity to be heard for them to make comments at
some point dur during the the meeting They don't get to interrupt you They don't get to choose when We have public comment for this meeting I believe um at the close of the meeting Um so that complies and again as to that aspect of it your staff will make sure that we
comply with that and we we keep you um in accordance with with the sunshine and I'm trying to think if I'm missing anything else Uh the next issue which I think is really common sense are is the uh Florida code of ethics It's governed
by the um Florida Commission on Ethics and there's a couple of prongs to those to those uh to the ethics code First of all is standard of conduct conuct And again I think for most of us
this is just common sense and what we do but I'll go over it just for the sake of it Um Florida law uh prohibits soliciting or accepting compensation uh or anything of value that would that is predicated on getting a particular
vote from the official Um that includes to members of your family uh which is spouse child uh you know your business It's pretty broad and it's pretty simple and I unless anybody's got
any questions I think we all understand it Um there also is a prohibition for uh board members from doing business with the county in a private capacity Um occasionally that happens here Again that's what we're here for We'll be
happy to talk it through beforehand Um it's there are some exceptions to this but I don't know that it's helpful for me to go over it with you Um but again if you happen to be have a business that or employed by a business that might put
a bid in under under the county procurement system um my recommendation and it's worked so far is to give us a call We'll you've got my cell phone I believe Miss Elder's cell phone's on there We'll answer the phone whenever it's an issue That's what we're here for
And I want you to know that Um you know those of you who have served on other committees know that the county attorney's office is there to address your questions whenever you have them Truly it don't don't lose a nights of sleep on a weekend because you're
wrestling with an issue We we'll be there to to give you an answer to your to your question Um the next uh major issue with ethics is a voting conflict of interest Um and broadly the statute
prohibits voting on a measure which would enure to your special benefit or loss It's not it goes both ways or to the special benefit or loss of your family member or uh your employer or a
business uh for which you have an interest It's very very broad and again um I'm kind of giving this a broad sweep because it really turns on the facts and again I I recommend the once you've identified having a conflict of interest
then there's certain statutory things that must not may but must follow which is hopefully as soon as you see something on the agenda I think in this case my example would be um it's a family member's property
for for the sake of it you would And again in in the category of voting conflict of interest it's not just wife or spouse excuse me It's not just spouse or child It's also um it goes pretty far
down Aunt uncle parents Um and again driven by the facts And so if you see something like that on the agenda please ahead of time reach out I I see that as being the most you're really just dealing with ranking real property but
that's what you'd want to look for Um or or an employer or by someone It doesn't mean somebody you know but it has to be again for for that for their financial gain or loss Um we're happy to go through it If we've identified a
conflict of interest you have to file a statutory form I recommend um again conservative approach you do it ahead of time It's there's a way to do it after the meeting but really that's why I urge people to read the agenda and identify any conflicts of interests and then you
get in touch with us We'll make sure that the form is filed ahead of time once the meeting uh occurs If you've got to if you've got a conflict of interest and you'll get a a script for this but you would announce your conflict of
interest when the matter comes before um you announce that you filed your form We'll guide you through that and then you abstain from voting Um and while there's a little gray area about participation I'm going to tell you consistently
um my office and my predecessors advice has been I wouldn't participate at all You know Florida law requires you to vote unless you've got a conflict of interest But I'm telling you don't participate in the discussion because the line over advocating and not is very
fine And I don't really anticipate that occurring But again it's based on a fact-to-fact basis And the county attorney's office will walk you through should you have a a conflict of interest Um every every bit of that
Um I think I went through solicitation and gifts and the conflict of of interest And again I'm just going to say again if you have any doubt uh there are no incorrect questions or dumb questions
There's they're all good questions Um and those of you who have served on other county uh boards or maybe municipal boards know that it's far better to ask the question because I've even had elected veteran veteran county commissioners suddenly look at something
and think oh and you know we walk it through Sometimes we have to do it on the fly because it's hard but usually it's ahead of time and we're able to walk you through I know I went really fast Does anybody have questions i'm no Yeah I have a question Just I'm
probably newer than most people these rules For example I think it would be a good idea for this group to meet with Brian Mast our uh US representative Uh he's very interested in clean water
uh it would be okay with me if a subgroup of this instead of the whole group but two or three met with him in order to sort of introduce ourselves and say we're working on the same issue Maybe there are some available federal
funds Uh is that allowed no that's what I thought You can meet and I'll explain this in real terms When the board of county commissioners goes to Tallahassee to meet as a a delegation they meet
individually They you don't have two members of the board of county commissioners going in to meet with our state representatives or committees You have to go one-on-one Um when we go to Washington we had a very thorny issue over a beach nourishment project years
ago with the Army Corps and we had several commissioners who wanted to discuss it with them They had to cycle in The Army Corps did not like it I will tell you but I had to explain to them we have sunshine in Florida And again that's a a really good question because
sunshine isn't just in Martin County or there's a always this urban myth that when you go to Tallahassee you you can meet all together That is not true It's never been true But and there's not a sunshine free zone in Washington DC
either where wherever you all are not more than than uh one of you can meet one-on-one So we could ask representative mass to come here or you could meet individually uh with him or you know and again but the only way you
can as a group um is to have a public meeting if you wanted I wouldn't advise this but if you wanted to form a subcommittee I don't think it's provided for under your rules of procedure um you could but again you'd have to meet in a setting like this with notice with
public advi public to make comment with folks to ask questions So it really kind of defeats the purpose I I know that in probably in your realm you can do that but you can't with a with a uh public body All right So our chairman
Jim Snediger could meet with Brian Mass Absolutely And then invite Brian Mass to uh attend one of our meetings or appear before all of us Sure Absolutely I would think we should do that Miss Woods do you have a lot of when we
delve into some of these properties it's going to be worthwhile for some of us to go and visit them in person individually is there any way that it could be done as a field trip with recorded staff being there recording make sure we're not
communicating at all or is it going to have to be there's an exemption for for factf finding missions but in this case it it's not to make not to lead to a decision so I will tell you there is
that provision in the sunshine manual um in Martin County there was a time when another elected board were on a factf finding mission and a lawsuit ensued and it was found not to be factf finding So I'm going to say no I I I would not
recommend that you could go on individual inspection tours with staff one on-one but not the group of you And also just so you understand you a field trip even with inviting people to come along doesn't meet the requirements of
sunshine It it does You have to be in a building where there's minutes taken where where people can can know where it is and don't so we're not I I don't p perceive this group ever going on a bus
trip So having that in mind we might want to have some onus on staff to kind of give us proper review maybe video of each property you know trying to help us I mean it's either
that or the property owner is going to know that they might have every board member going at individual times with or without staff or there might be a way for staff to give us an environmental breakdown of each property Yeah So uh one of the
things that's included and it's uh um I I I go over it in the uh presentation is that uh we will we're partnering with Florida Natural Areas Inventory They're with Porto State University They work with the state on Florida Forever
program and do all their assessments that inform their efforts and and ranking and where funding goes uh for uh properties in the Florida Forever program So uh they'll be conducting environmental assessments of all
properties that are nominated uh for acquisition as a part of uh as a part of your function So you will have that um you'll have that environmental assessment you'll have nomination forms anything any other kind of supporting documentation that we come up with for
individual projects will be presented to you Um as well uh we'll do a presentation on each of the proposals uh during one of our ranking meetings So uh so so you'll have a lot of
information to chew on as a part of the process Mr Chair I think we're making too much of it at this point I think of course our county attorney is 100% correct as far as I know and I think staff knows what
they're doing So I would put all the problems that everyone is seeing to the side for right now and let's continue and let staff do their job And I'm sure we're going to have questions and maybe we'll want to see a property individually but I think we should do so
when it comes up not try to anticipate every problem that can occur and how we can get around it at this first meeting before we even have a property to look at And and I'll say along those notes you're welcome to talk with county employees and staff as much as you want
The only thing we have to be careful of is that we don't then then don't talk to another board member about an issue that could come that's called daisy chaining So that's one thing you know we can't then talk to other board members and become a go-between
So I I would just note that I think the input from attorney woods is extremely helpful Uh and I would just ask you know Sarah are there any other items that are on your radar screen as it relates to this i I will say I think as Mr Campenni said
staff is has anticipated a lot of your questions but I think that falls into the latter portion of the agenda after we complete um our public records training by county staff which is next after me And with the chair's permission
I'd like to let her begin her training Yeah please proceed Good afternoon My name is Sanangita Mrage I'm the public records well the records administrator for uh the county and I'll be doing public records
training with you this afternoon Sandy pardon me Could you uh spell your last name please it's M A R A G H Got it Thank you Got it So we wanted to do this training Some of
you have probably seen me before If you have I I apologize for that I think I've seen Mr Campiny twice now Uh you could just take this This is our third time together Uh so we wanted to do this training with everyone just so you can be aware that
there has been an uptake of public records request for uh board and committee members uh records as it relates to your duties and responsibilities And what I've heard often is I you know I didn't know that I would have public records I didn't know
that I was supposed to you know keep records or turn them over I I don't know what the procedure is So we decided to give training so that you you you know that the um the public records law does apply to you as a you know appointed border committee member and how we want
you to turn your records over you know if you do create them So what is the public records law the public records law is any record made in connection with a transaction of official county business regardless of physical form characteristic or means of transmission
So this includes but is not limited to papers letters maps books tapes photographs videos recordings voicemails text messages emails and social media posts Uh it is the content of the record that matters and not where it's
kept Uh so this includes anything that you might have on your personal cell phones and your personal computers If someone's sending you an email to your personal email address as long as it has to do with board business that means that it is a public record that would need to be turned over to us Uh is the
public records law applicable to appointed board and committee members and the answer is yes You're custodian of public records that are received or created in connection with board related duties This includes electronic or written communication from constituents related to matters coming before the
board So this means that you are legally responsible for the preservation and transfer of those records to the county in compliance with chapter 119 This legal obligation to transfer public records extend to records that exist on personal devices or in personal
accounts Uh all records should be preserved and maintained until they're transferred to the county Upon resignation or expiration of your term you're required to transfer all public records to the county before exiting or within 10 days after leaving office
pursuant to section 119.021 PN4 PNB of the Florida statutes Upon appointment you'll re receive notification from your county contact which includes whether or not you'll be issued a county um email and the accompanying
information I think you guys did get a county issued email They they did but they they don't know it yet So Oh sorry And I don't need another one I have one from the county Fair enough Okay We we discussed providing it Uh sorry I
thought they did They they did I just Nobody sent it to them So Oh okay So they haven't received it yet Yes You'll be required to take sunshine training and public records training which you are now You'll be given a uh a copy of uh uh the policy and procedure number
246 I have copies here to distribute to everyone And after training is completed you'll be provided an acknowledgement receipt form to complete and return to your county contact I think that will be Mike Excuse me I we did receive I think
from the county attorney some webinar information and we signed a form Is this in addition to that that this is in addition This is just so you to to confirm that you're getting public records training uh specific to Martin County Okay I think you you've done the
general training Uh this form confirms that you've completed the county's public records class and are in receipt of the applicable public records policy and procedure That is the one that I'm going to distribute today Please note that refusing to sign the acknowledgement form does not relieve
you of your obligations pertaining to the public records process If you are issued a county issued email communication uh all county or board communication must be conducted using that county email If an email or text
message or other electronic communication example social media post or comments etc is received on a personal account the following response shall be sent to the sender with a copy sent to your county liaison As a board or committee member I am subject to the
Florida public records law and do not conduct any county business using this private account or number Therefore if your message concerns board or committee business you should redirect or resend it to my Martin County email address at put whatever that email address is that
you got from the county Transfer of records to the county So records may be submitted to the county via mail in person or via email So if you are getting records it's a matter coming before the board and someone submits paperwork to you uh and
uh you have them and you're reviewing them before the meeting Those are records that are related to what is coming before the board and so it is a public record that you would need to turn over to us If you possess records um in paper format you can either put
them on a CD on a thumb drive or you can actually just take the paper records into us and submit it to your county contact um in person or you can mail those records into us If it's an email uh please forward that email to your county contact
uh yeah to his email address and and he'll be able to save that Once you forwarded that email you should be deleting it from your personal account We do don't want you keeping any uh county emails in your personal accounts If it is a text message take a
screenshot of the conversation forward it to your county contact via email and delete the conversation the screenshot and the sent email from your device Videos you can download the video forward it to your county contact via email then delete the video after it's
been sent to us You can also place it on a thumb drive or a CD and turn it over to the county Social media post same thing Take a screenshot or a screen capture of the post along with all the comments etc and forward to your county contact Delete the post once it's been forwarded Email should be forwarded to
your county contact and delete it from your account If you choose to keep these records after they are forwarded you will still be in possession of county records which will need to be produced when asked for The one thing I wanted to touch on related to texting or uh the social media post just to show you the
prevalence of the public records law uh is uh there are two cases that I' I'd like to talk about The first one is the bearer versus Escambia County So this involved a county commissioner who was making posts on his social media pages
about a constituent and he was making allegations of undue political influence and just a range of things And this guy made a public records request for those things that he was posting about that constituent And he replied that it was
not a public record and uh Bear sued and the courts actually ruled that the stuff that he posted about that constituent is a public record and he needed to turn over I think over 2,000 pages of records
to this guy Uh and the county was dropped from that lawsuit However uh they were still trying to decide whether or not they wanted to go forward and pay for his legal representation at that time Uh the other case is uh God versus
the city of Sunny Isle And basically there was a commissioner that was seen texting during a meeting and the constituent did not know the content of the text message that was being sent but they made a public records request for the text and they
were told by the commissioner that it was not a public record and a lawsuit was filed subsequent and it turned out that the courts did rule that she sent two text messages She sent one to her husband and one to a constituent and they were similar in
nature in subject matter Uh they were disparaging She was making disparaging remarks about another member on the DS and the court did rule that that was a public record that she had to turn over at least the one that she sent to the constituents So that just shows you the
farreaching hands of the public records law So we want to be careful you know of what we're texting or posting on social media Are there records that are related to county business that are not considered a public record and the answer is yes Notes and rough rough
drafts So notes taken to jog your memory are not a public record and do not need to be turned over They can be destroyed when no longer needed However if you share those notes they become a public record and should be submitted to the county Personal notes should be kept
where they're not accessible to anyone So an example of this is let's say you get a copy of an agenda that's sent to you for the the meeting coming up and you're just jotting down notes to remember what you want to talk about at the meeting That is not considered a public record It's just little rough notes to to jog your memory about things
you want to mention uh that you know after you come and uh you you know you use it to jog your memory you can toss those notes no need to keep it However let's say you make notes and you write a whole paragraph and you come to the meeting and you read from that paragraph
um then that is actually a public record that you would need to turn over That is no longer a personal note So it's just little things that are jotted down to to jog your memory That's not considered a public record The other thing is rough drafts If you're making a draft of a document and
you just make you know again rough notes just to to create a draft and those rough notes are not considered a public record Are there public records that do not need to be forwarded and preserved and the answer is yes And these are transitory messages And those messages
are created primarily to communicate information of short-term value and is not intended to formalize or perpetuate knowledge set policy establish guidelines or procedures certify transaction or become a receipt So examples of these are like um meeting
reminder emails If you get a meeting reminder email you don't need to transfer that over to the county You can delete that once you've attended the meeting announcement of office events like holiday lunches messages sent as an FYI you don't need to keep those Uh they uh transitory messages should be
retained until they're obsolete superseded or administrative value is lost and they should be deleted once the event they're referring to has passed they do not need to be forwarded to us once again Um however if you don't forward them and you don't delete those transitory messages they are still
considered public records So if they are requested and they are responsive they do need to be turned over if they were not disposed of Public records requests So a public records request can be made in numerous ways They can be
made in person Someone can come up and ask for a copy of a record They can be made via phone uh via a phone call Uh they can send a letter in asking for records any request for a record is considered a public record if it's not
made pursuant to another law Uh once a public records request if if someone comes to you and and and submits a public records request uh please direct them to your county um contact so that they can send that request through to us Uh once a public records request is
received your county contact will reach out to you via email with a PEC form attached if we have to check with you for records So the PC form is actually a personal electronic communication form and they will direct you to search your files including your electronic devices
and accounts Gather any responsive records that have not yet been turned over to the county Complete the PC form and return it along with whatever records you have found Um if you have no records you've been turning them over then you can just complete the form confirming that you this and just you
know return it to to your county contact Upon resignation or expiration of your term you'll receive an email from your county contact with the exit public records form attached with instructions to check your files devices and accounts Gather any records not yet
submitted to the county complete the applicable sections of the form and return it along with any records found that have not yet been turned over All public records should be turned over to the county within 10 days of leaving office This is pursuant to section
119.021 PN4 PNB and there uh criminal consequences can result from failure to turn over your records to the county What are those criminal consequences or what can happen if you you fail to turn your records over um
purposefully knowingly or maliciously Uh failure to comply with the public records law may result in the county having a judgment entered against it for violating public records law in a civil action and order to pay attorney's fees of the petitioner And there is no cap on
attorney's fees Uh your arrest for a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a year in prison $1,000 fine or both Issuance of a citation to you for a noncriminal infraction and made to pay $500 if you're found guilty You could be removed from the board or committee and
you could also be held individually liable in civil court That completes public records training unless you have any questions Do you have your phone number is it listed somewhere uh it's not listed on
this but I can certainly give it to you uh now if you like I have a I didn't bring any of my cards down I will say that you we work closely with St Gam and so you could call the county attorney's office as well and we'll
coordinate She's Thank you We're all on the same team Thank you Okay Uh just to hand these out if you guys can sign them whenever you get a chance and just return them to uh Mr Houston back tonight Yes It's just an
acknowledgement Okay Oh yes Thank you I believe it I got him No that's okay Okay Thank you Just the
one I got aside Thank you Yeah create a chill Yeah it's a little scary you know like one of my Thank you [Applause] so email address is
easier Nobody will communicate with me other email address on this business and you can send out That's a good idea Uh now with the committee uh chair's permission I'd like to give a presentation on the uh manual and the uh
board program the please proceed Mike Okay So I just wanted I put together this presentation to just give you a little introduction to this committee uh the process that we're going to be using to evaluate lands um and then at the end
answer any questions that you might have relative to the uh the manual that uh has been provided to you So and I said this earlier that uh in 2024 a a sales tax was passed by the uh
by the citizens of Martin County that's expected to generate 2,200 million over 10 years And the uh referendum was specific to acquiring environmentally sensitive lands within the county And you are this oversight committee that
has been appointed to evaluate and make recommendations that will go in front of the board for approval in terms of what lands that we want to acquire So one of the big parts of this ordinance and the referendum was we limited the acquisitions to certain
areas of the county And what we essentially did is we kind of looked back at the history of the program and we looked at lands that have been acquired in the past and other lands moving forward that would be important to acquire and protect So uh and and
based on that we came up with four acquisition zones And I I will say that these maps and you have copies of those maps aren't meant to be all-incclusive So if there's something that's not located within one of these polygons but is uh important to that program it can
be considered by that group but it has to have in some way a connection to either the Indian River Lagoon South Palmar the area known as Lockal Lucy or our Blue Ways program
They're based on areas of highest conservation value due to a series of metrics Sometimes these could be uh something that another agency uh ranks and values So it could be something that the state of Florida uh is high on their
priority list for acquisition Uh could be in the for uh Florida forever program a Florida wildlife quarter Uh could be important to a SER project So there's some value to the project that could either be for Martin County itself or
from another agency that might partner with us And through the history of this program we've actually acquired close to 71,000 acres of land in these four different acquisition footprints But we identified about 45,000 acres that could
be acquired in those zones to help to complete those projects And we estimated that you know and this is probably not that accurate you know that it would be over half a billion dollars to acquire all the lands that we thought would be important to our conservation efforts
here in the county So now I'm just going to talk through each of the individual zones and why they're significant in particular And the first would be IRL South And uh one thing to mention about IRL South is there are areas in the IRL South is
specific to the Southwater Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers and the comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the parts of it that are specific to Martin County but there could be areas that are in IRL South that are in other program
footprints But this was just an area that was just specifically for Indian River Lagoon South protecting the St Lucy waterway so on and so forth And out of the four zones that we put together this has by far the largest acquisition footprint Uh through past acquisitions
we've uh included acquiring the C44 canal or C44 project the reservoir and SDA and uh the Alapata complex And there's potentially close to 27,000 acres of lands that have been identified
that could help provide shallow storage to protect the St Lucy River So within this acquisition footprint the majority of the lands in are are you being currently used for agriculture but they do include some areas that haven't been impacted and
that have are are just basically uh unimproved lands Uh this area is important because there's a high probability of securing funding due to its uh being a part of a SER project and the cost of the land actually tends to
be relatively low when you compare it against other areas like that might be coastal where you might would you would have a much higher cost per acre The second area was the Palmer area and this is an area near the the county line It extends actually into Palm Beach
County and into Martin County and it goes between I95 and the turnpike on the east and Indian Town and Caner Highway on on the west And the reason why it's being considered is because it has some of the highest quality wetland systems
in all of Martin County It's part of an very very important greenway corridor that extends all the way really from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico So uh so it has value as for like a cross Florida greenway system Uh parts of it
are also in the headwaters to the federally designated wild and scenic northwest fork of the Lockachi River And it has a lot of recreational value in terms of uh providing trail systems that could be used by the public Uh
everything from equestrians bicycles to hiking Uh there's a lot of different ways that the this area could be used by the public So most of the area that we're referring to a Palmar and not all is uh
this area um known as Palm Palm Beach Heights And in actually in the total Palmar footprint we've acquired roughly 2400 acres of land But uh and actually the number is higher than this there's
8,500 remaining in uh private ownership uh within these areas where you see this checkerboard uh pattern So some a good portion of these are are composed of small lot sized a quarter to an acre in size and
there's imminent threats from off-road vehicles poaching and other uses that are incompatible with conservation values The third area is the Lockxaluci area and the significance of this is that it really extends between the Lockxahhatche
River and the South Fork of the St Lucy River So we're talking south of Cove Road north of the county line east of I95 and west of US1 And its conservation and protection are important both to the Lockache River and the St Lucy River It
has uh a potential to provide some trail connections between the city of Stewart and Toquesta and it has a mosaic of high quality pine forest and wetland plant communities So this shows the acquisition boundary and through past
acquisition area efforts and I should have mentioned this before All the areas in green are areas that have already been acquired and what's in yellow is potential acquisitions So we've acquired about 6,500 acres of land but there's still about 10,000 acres that could be
acquired within that footprint Interrupt you for a minute Yes When you say acquired that means Martin County has acquired it Correct That that Yeah Martin County Uh sometimes it doesn't necessarily have to be the county It could be the state Um it is in some sort
of protective state right now Correct Is that what you mean okay Yes So it has and and really what's interesting about this area is it has some of the largest tracks of privately owned undeveloped land near the east coast So you're right next to you know
you're right it goes right up to almost US1 uh right in this area of Hope Sound north to the city of Stewart near the east coast of lands that could be protected and acquired to create a greenway system Uh and it has close
proximity to the urban services area So really this area is a prime target for future developments and it has wildlife and recreational quarter value and the ultimate goal could be to create a super park that extends between Jonathan Dickinson State Park and Atlantic Ridge
State Park And our final area is our Blueways program and these are these are areas that are going to be right along one of our river systems So it could be the Indian River Lagoon it could be the St Lucy River Um it could even be the
Lockxahhatchee River So it basically abuts one of the river systems that's found within Martin County and as such it provides natural buffers Uh it also can provide access you know whether to waterways beaches or other shoreline areas And just as a whole these the
plant communities that are found near the coast tend to have higher levels of rare and endangered species habitat It's also the smallest of our acquisition footprints And this this number that you see in front of us front of you doesn't include all the areas
like Hopetown National Wildlife Refuge is just areas that are being targeted as a part of the uh these acquisition programs So but in the past through these efforts we've acquired 1,900 of land 1900 acres of lands but there's probably about 400 acres still out there
and they do tend to have a high cost per acre being located close to the coast and also providing waterway access So the few areas that we have could provide additional access to waterways Many of them tend to be in flood zones So AC
acquisition can help with coastal resiliency and also these areas would have a high probability of being developed in the near future So the next thing I'm going to disc could you talk about conservation easements Are you going to be doing that later um we don't really discuss
conservation easements that much but it is important to note that we are able to acquire conservation easements as a part of this program So so I might interject So what we negotiated with the commissioners was all of the funds I mean this is not likely but could be
used for conservation easements whereby we would acquire farms from the farmers and they would be preserved in perpetuity and the farmer she or he could continue to farm it Uh and that was done in in perpetuity and irrevocable
So those are highly material uh provisions that we built into the referendum and ordinance with Attorney Wood's input I I and I apologize but I thought I'd break in that as you all know all of these lands
will be acquired with the um local option sales tax And by such they are legally restricted So they're only acquired if you've lived in Martin County for a long time you know we've done this in the past We've had um environmental land acquisition projects
They they are limited by law They stay in the uh as conservation lands in perpetuity They can't be undone And the same would be true excuse me with conservation easements or sometimes we call it an agricultural um easement
where the um land is restricted to conservation or we let them continue to farm but it cannot be developed And I I I hesitate to wait in here but it this is not the same situation as you read about in Palm Beach County where they
had agricultural reserve and they swapped um uh development rights That's not what this is This is legally restricted for the purposes that were in the referendum and are in the ordinance So and that's
why we built in the term irrevocable and in perpetuity Yes And in for the tenth for assurance intent and purpose of this board you know uh we will certainly say if if there is if somebody is approached and wants to submit a property for
conservation easement instead of acquisition you know that will be brought forward and and you'll at least be made aware that uh that this is considered for a conservation easement or there are some properties where it could actually be both Like we won't even know at the time We could just say
that this could be a conservation easement or this could be an acquisition Yep Good Thank you Jim Yep But we were not going to take and give a conservation easement unless it falls within the scope of the referendum Correct Yeah it has to It has to match
the criteria that's been established by the manual the ordinance the referendum all of the above in order for it to be considered So Mr Smith who has a farm if it doesn't fall within our categories and he just wants to unload it we won't be buying it Correct Correct Okay And it
does have to have you know but it does have to have some conservation value And it you know it could be that an area that's being ranched uh would be considered Uh one of the things we're talking about is there's there's a canal and levy that goes between Hungerland
and what's known as the Nine Gems property which is a critical component of the restoration of the Northwest Fork of the Lockach River a SER project So one of the areas we'd like to have evaluated is this particular burm and canal that are critical to that project
So it's not necessarily all going to be you know beaches or preserves It could be something more like that And as long as it has conservation value then it can be evaluated and then it's up to you as a committee to decide how important that
is or not Thank you Mr Chair One more question from Miss Woods or Mike Will the county commission be changing the future land use to conservation if it's acquired fee simple
for each parcel do you want to answer that or will we have to be recommending that on a case-byase basis say it's a land that we acquire right should this board come up with a recommendation if it's fee simple
acquisition for the commission to change the future land use to conservation land or does the ordinance already require that my my sense is so if we acquire in the let me put it from this I don't believe
you all have to make a recommendation for that you're going to make a recommendation for acquisition How the future land use or the zoning is is up to the board of county commissioners and the LPA um if that's where it had to go
but I think it would be based on what the property was used We usually put it in um yeah I wouldn't think like an agricultural land like an active ranch would want to reszone for conservation If it was a conservation we don't that's only for institutional purposes So it
would be on the case to um basis Mr Mat It wouldn't be But again the county regularly I can tell you when we acquire for example our utilities department as part of our septic to sewer program we acquire a piece of property in a
neighborhood for a vacuum station we reszone it to institutional which is the government use So I think yes if we just acquired a piece of conservation land fee simple would we then designate it as conservation probably if that was what
the use was going to be that's our our board policy is anything that's managed as a conservation land within Martin County gets reszoned for institutional conservation I mean anything acquired with this these funds the intent of the
ordinance is that it's for conservation correct so if we were to acquire or agricultural land Correct But if we require an easement no no I'm talking fee simple acquisition but it would be expected by the voters having read the
ordinance that the BOCC would change the future land use to conservation right they would have to I mean wouldn't they they would have to marry that okay under I I mean if you read the ordinance the way the the way the comp plan works it I
mean you depending on what the use is you got to have it consistent so if the county were to own it and it was acquired with conservation then consistency would require that it have that designation I don't disagree with you okay and there'll be other limitations if if uh Florida communities
trust is our partner uh they have a management plan they they they have it's called a uh deed of restrictive covenants which has a lengthy list of all the things that you have to do in order to get grant funding through
Florida Community Trust and you have to write a management plan You have specific actions in terms of restoration of the property's conservation values and and what type of recreational facilities you can build So you know a lot of these other agencies that we
would partner with would also have things that would restrict how the property can be used going forward I do want to add the ordinance does require does highly encourage uh partnerships with other uh nonprofits and governmental entities And I think if you
look at your at your review process that's something that staff would bring to you Um I can tell you um back in the mid 2000s when the the last time the county had these we had a hugely successful acquisition program using the
South Florida Water Management District as our partner and leveraged I lots and I don't want to say millions if that's wrong but I know that we acquired way more land using those sales
tax monies um than we would have without using our funding partners and county staff did a great job tapping into all kinds of federal state funds as well as nonprofits I mean it's not to say that an environmental group couldn't also
acquire with now now one you you know that thought did bring up one point uh and there are two areas uh one is Palmar and one is point sienna gardens where we're looking at these small individual lots where we would be acquiring quarter halfacre 1acre lots we would not be able
by law to like take those little individual lots and put conservation designations on it because of it would be affecting the other property owners in the area and their ability to do anything with their properties So there so I do want to throw that out that that is a limitation
um where we would not be able to reszone unless we were able to get big chunks You know if we get 50 acres then we can we can bound it border it manage it change you know the the land use and zoning but we can't do that just for
individual lots So Mike that's a heads up to potential landmines So as these come along you'll give us you'll Yes Okay Yeah Mr Chairman I have a question on the on the lands where the like recently when the county purchased the developmental rights for the ranch How
is that classified and how is it held the county bought development rights to a ranch like which are is and it's a working ranch They continue to own it You're talking about Bull Ranch Okay Bull Hammock I'm not familiar enough like I'd have to familiarize with
myself with that actual acquisition to know what the limitations are The county was not involved So it would fall under whatever the rural and family lands uh program which is the ones that acquired whatever restrictions they had I would say that one it would prevent
development of the property right uh two for additional funds they can purchase like um I can't remember what the word is like uh environmental services So that could mean you know for
an extra just a million dollars we're going to go remove ditches from your property so that we can restore wetland hydraology and function So so there is a possibility to then acquire uh additional environmental services on
those properties Okay Is that are those lands reflected on the map that you just showed us uh that no because that map was created in um and uh 2021 and that is a pretty recent change Yeah it is But
but certainly I can go back if you want to see that Uh there's an area called Bull Hammock Yeah And uh while he's pulling that up my name is Jim Gorton I'm the public works director Um the Bull Hammock acquisition or or uh conservation easement was done through
the state So the county didn't have involvement with that um acquisition We're happy that they acquired it It is one that didn't really fit into um any of our it is it on the very north end of the IR Oh it it would have been it it
actually came as a surprise We we didn't even know until it happened that it was happening but it was actually listed as being a potential acquisition Uh it's this area in Beige up in the uh northwest corner of the IRL footprint
There there is a long history on that property It was originally in the IRL and we were asked to remove it and and then the landowner um determined that it might be beneficial So you're talking about South Florida Water Management Yes Yes Sorry about that But it wasn't but
it wasn't it was bought by the state through their uh matching funds through through funds that were specific to buying conservation easements on lands that would remain in ranching You know uh and there are other potential
uh acquisitions that will in in in these footprints that will involve the rural land uh family lands program and we'll certainly be communicating with them uh in the future about partnering uh with them on some of their efforts But but
that is an excellent example of a conservation easement on a land and exactly how you would want it to look because it's the propertyy's managed impeccably by the uh folks that ranch it and um that's the kind of partner we'd be hoping to to deal with in the future
That was brilliant Absolutely brilliant Thank you Um and we'll have we'll have a question and answer session at the end of this presentation as well So I had just uh prepared this flowchart uh which just kind of shows the basic process So
I'm just going to review it really briefly Uh everything starts when a nomination form is submitted to our division And these nomination forms can be submitted by anyone So you're welcome to submit if there are properties that you would like to see for consideration
you're welcome to submit them to county staff for review And what we'll then do is we'll look at the different submissions We'll make sure that it one follows the intent of or ordinance 1221 which is basically that it's land that
is important for conservation within the county and that it's within one of the footprints or could be considered something for one of the footprints that um that we had developed and we'll basically then remove non-conforming proposals from consideration Then we
will come before you and provide you with a copy of the nomination form environmental assessments and any other pertinent information so that uh you can then rank them And what we'll have is we'll have ranking committ uh committee meetings where you'll actually we'll
have all the properties listed down and you'll write your different scores on them Uh and I'll talk about the that form here in a little bit Um and based on that you'll come up with recommendations in terms of what uh the board should consider moving forward for acquisition We'll then take the we'll
then take that those recommendations before the BOCC for them to review and vote on whether to proceed with the acquisition If that happens we'll do our due diligence and work with the land owner and do our appraisals and hopefully then we bring it before the
board of county commissioners for final approval And after the fact we'll then come back to you and say you know at at a at at future dates this is one of the lands that was acquired you know that you reviewed So we'll provide updates in terms of the status on some of those
lands that get acquired Uh it's a little blurry on here so you can't see but this is the nomination form Um it does at the bottom it says that these forms should be submitted to land acquisition at
martin.fl fl us Uh and it lists my contact information on there Um and anyone can submit a project as I said but in order for us to bring it in front of you we have to have a willingness to sell We have to have a letter from
whoever the landowner is saying I am willing to potentially sell this property or grant a conservation easement uh for your property Uh so so we can't we won't bring it for your review unless we have that specific piece of information from the land owner
So you know once these nominations start coming in staff will have to do some outreach and try and track down who the people are that we need to talk to so we can get that information so that you can then review the proc project Um and once again we'll review it to ensure it falls
within the acquisition zone and has conservation value and then it's brought in front of you for consideration So the next step once we have um once we have the nomination form once we determine that it it meets with
the intent of the ordinance we will then uh have an environmental assessment completed uh as I said that it will be completed by Florida Natural Areas Inventory FNA Uh they'll review the properties and they'll provide information that's specific to the project ranking forms uh such as rare
enlisted species habitats importance of greenway quarters how easy the properties will be to manage etc And I will say that when I was working on the scoring matrix I was actually communicating with FNA So they actually we were working together to come up with
that information So they're they're going to tailor their responses specific to the information we want to have to provide to you for these environmental assessments So they should answer some of those questions that are specifically on the on your form and we will provide
those uh to you in advance of the ranking and evaluation process So probably what I'll do is I'll just email them to you with all the support information so that you can look at them beforehand Um and then when you come to the meeting I'll give presentations on
each of the proposals and then we'll facilitate the ranking process And this is just to mention a couple of the uh programs that are here in in in Martin County We have the Florida Forever program which really touches uh actually it touches on all four now Palmar Lockal Lucy Blueways and
Indian River Lagoon South There are properties in each of those that are are a part of the Florida Forever program and are eligible through that program for state funding I will also say that there is a possibility that if a a parcel gets nominated it can get added
by Florida Forever to their acquisition list So there was a recent one Barbie Ranch which is one that will come in front of you for consideration that's in the IRL South footprint and that has now become a Florida Forever project and is eligible for Florida Forever funding if
we can uh get the owner to agree on a price And Florida Wildlife Quarter this is a a big buzzword in the state of Florida right now a lot of their focus on land acquisition are to support uh this Florida wildlife quarter that
extends all the way throughout the state Uh the map is a little crazy and it's kind of hard to read but uh basically it shows that uh there's parts of Palmar Locky and Indian River Lagoon South are within that corridor Uh so the Barbie
Ranch property I mentioned is right down in this area right here Uh so it's it's a once again it has a high potential of unlocking state acquisition funding Uh probably a little hard to read on there but this is the project
ranking form that we developed So in essence what you guys are going to do is you're going to fill out the uh the the project score and you're going to rank each of these from one to 100 and then you're going to provide them to us and then we'll take the waiting unit and
we'll multiply that you know so if it's uh if the waiting unit is 15 then we'll multiply that 100 by 0.15 to come up with our weighted score And so all properties will be ranked from zero to 100 and then the highest obviously will
be the ones that would then get recommended to the board for uh funding approval Does that make sense to everyone yeah question though Um so that this form is expected to be filled out by the committee on an individual basis
or will we have dis we won't have discussion well you will have you will have an opportunity to discuss Okay So I what'll happen is I will give the presentations and then and and we'll have to work out this process a little bit like so I'm not you know we're not
100% sure on how this will all play out but you'll have a chance to you know say your piece about each one and what you think and what and and then you can write up your scores and you could write up your scores not hand them in and then have the discussion if you think that
that's a better way for you to do the process So so that's something we still need to work out Yeah So there's going to be a question about timing Mike So let's say a property becomes available Uh we want to be sure that we don't lose that opportunity because of the process
is taking too long So we can work that out Just be sure we do it fairly quickly right uh that is correct And we can schedule you know the meeting schedule and we're going to talk about the schedule it it lists once a quarter but either uh staff or the committee chair
can uh basically ask for another meeting in the meantime So so so we can make it so that we can move a little quickly And I and I will say that if it's one that we think is going to uh be approved by the commission we can start to do
appraisals We we can start the process before it's even been reviewed of of doing what we need to do in order to be able to acquire the property So we can fasttrack this bottom line Yes Okay Yes As we just don't want to lose an opportunity to buy a property because we
got tied up Okay And does Martin County have specific processes in place relative to phase one and phase 2 um environmental assessments for toxic chemicals and that sort of thing on the properties Uh that is that
would have to be part of the due diligence process She's shaking her head She's nodding her hand Yeah Um Sarah Woods for the record we do have a real property division and they'll be following the all of our regular procedures for how we acquire
real real estate Thank you And then Mike you'll be keeping track of be sure we check all those boxes right correct Okay Yeah So it will go it will stay in your department once or does it move into the
property management department at some point it would move into property management which is in actually they're in our department It's a separate division uh after the board uh recommends moving forward with it as a potential
acquisition Jim Gorton's public works department has all of those divisions in one place He'll he'll and they work with legal they'll work with um you know the title issues and all of those things and
they'll be a um an assistant county attorney who's devoted to just that It's rest assured this is a very important priority for the county to move it along Got it Jim you want to say
something yeah the the process will be that um as a pro a project a property is recommended for acquisition Uh Mike's team works directly with the real property division which happens to be located exactly right next to him in our
in our office and they work together to acquire those properties They're they're coll-located next to each other and the intent will be they'll work together to acquire their properties Now I will say that in some instances so in in particular uh SER acquisitions uh with the water
management district there will be a like a partnership agreement between the county and the water management district and in all likelihood they will be the partner that will be pursuing the acquisition and then we'll be reimbursing them through whatever
percentage uh that the county uh contributes to that acquisition position Got it Yep So so partners are good but partners come with rules and we'll have to abide by those rules and we'll certainly communicate that to this uh committee so that you're aware of you
know if we have a a partner with a project and it's going to affect the way it's purchased or or any other things that are tied to it we'll we'll communicate that to you Thank you Thank you Um any other questions
specific to the project ranking form yeah Well not the ranking form but Okay Well you just go ahead So are you going to go out and look for properties yourself or you just going to wait for them to come to you no we'll we'll we
will uh advocate and and and look for uh specific acquisitions ones that we uh and we've already actually started you know uh to do some outreach uh to uh get
some nominations to come in And uh more of a money question but have you the quarter is over right Did we find out how much we put into this fund from the first quarter uh our we we have a
accounting office that could provide that I uh she did let us know that we were up to 2 or 3 million at one point Um but um so I I don't know what we actually have in the bank right now But I will
say that one of the decisions that the board will have to make because of obviously there'll be more recommendations for acquisition in the this first cycle than than money is is how much they want to bond at a time And the ordinance has specific language that
allows for up to 80% of the estimated revenue generated from the program uh to be uh bonded up front So Mike I'd like to see a schedule for the bonding in terms of uh and maybe Sarah if you
could help us with this In terms of the steps and the timing I'd like to see a calendar as to target dates for getting that bonding money available because that's a pretty that's a pretty long drawn out process and the sooner we get
going on that the better Well we first we need board direction that okay that they want to bond So um so at this point in time I couldn't provide a calendar until the board actually but didn't build into the Yeah Sarah So
I I would suggest that what we'll put on the permanent agenda is to have an update from our budget department to provide you um and we can also provide it if you want it more often We can provide you if we're not we're We don't have a eminent meeting Maybe we can
provide um an update as soon as things change I I cannot remember how the do re remits the money I don't think it's monthly It's not monthly It's quarterly I would imagine I think they do it by about the 10th of the following month
but we can commit to giving you that update either through emails or through at your meeting the other I'm just thinking Sarah would be helpful is just I I like to work with time you know targets so in terms of the bonding there they're there definitive steps that need
to go through to get into get into the bond market but we let me just say yeah in order to initiate a a bonding situation we would have to have board direction to start that there is Could you could you tee that up with them
well I don't know that we're at that point that we know if we've got the acquisition but yes as soon as we do I can tell you how long it takes to to do the the bonding but we don't have that authorization at this point I think the board was trying to look at see what
comes what they have before The bonding would be unless I'm missing something you would you have the capability to bond for the full 144 million or whatever the number ends up being It's only 80% of 80% So 80 Okay So but over
the 10-year period so it's 220 the present value of that But bottom line is do you are you saying you bond for each individual acquisition or you not saying that okay So all I'm saying is it would be helpful to have a feel for the
timeline first of all to tee it up with the county commissioners to get them to put the gears in motion If I could just explain we're not going to bond unless we know we have a place to place it because you don't borrow pay interest on we're not going to pay we're not going
to borrow the money unless so I guess the example which we may or may not have before us would be if a very large very expensive hundred million $80 million
parcel was available then at that point and they weren't going to wait then at that point you go forward forward and you do the bonding because you're going to expend the money right away You're you're not going to just bond it and have it sit there Got it But the point that I'm making is that this all takes
time and so just what we don't want to find ourselves in a position where we say "Oh shucks we've got a bond for $50 million." But there's other ways temporarily if the county commission wants decides this is a good piece of
property for them to buy it besides bonding until the bond is set Correct Sarah i would I don't I'm just saying there are other there there are other ways to do it in the short term
perhaps but I'm not going to go go on limb I will tell you though um Mr Sneder that or chairman Snedeker that I will tell you that the county has um bond council that we've had for decades They're they will they are well known
throughout the state of Florida We'll be able to bond in a in a not in a slow pace We'll be able to do that But I don't I don't want to speculate on how we would move money around because all I'm thinking is just I just don't want to get tied up in the process whereby a
property becomes available and we say "Oh shucks it's going to take two months to to float the bond and get it you know rated and all that." Yeah Mr Chair it sounds like what you're concerned is that you don't want us Mr Houston is to be
looking for properties right now knowing that we have $2 million from one quarter He's looking for any property that meets the criteria currently even if that property is $50 million knowing that the county if we can move forward on that
$50 million parcel is prepared to bond and we can move forward We're prepared to bring to the county commission that we have $50 million in acquisition Exactly and then they make the decision as to whether or not that they think those properties are worth bonding for
So yeah you're you're not limiting your potential acquisitions that you're bringing up right now to what we have this court We're going to anything in those zones we're going to bring forward Perfect Thank you And we will get you a a bonding update at the next meeting Yeah that'd be helpful Just so we we understand what
the time frame is and uh Great Thank you Absolutely Uh anything else uh in terms of the project ranking form because I Sorry just for a little more clarity on the project ranking form I would just suggest that um we're going to give you
the information about each property in advance of the meeting it might be appropriate for you to do a preliminary ranking on what you see and then when you meet with the rest of the committee and you hear everyone else's things you may decide that oh I didn't think about that or there is more value in this
property because of things you heard so then your final ranking could be done at the meeting so that we could have um a composite score of all of the board members right that's kind of the intent the process that we talked about and that we've used on other committees is is to have that preliminary ary work
done up front so that um at the meeting we can move quickly and and get a ranking so that we can uh either decide to recommend the property or not for for acquisition otherwise we have to have two meetings and that's kind of what I think your chair that you're you're speaking of is it might work too slow um
well I you know that yes you got to you're looking to have one ranking form from this board given no or you looking toally add all our individual scores them into one Yes that's how we do a preliminary on our own and then
once we get together we then pull it together Yeah Okay Yeah And and you're spot on I mean I'm always aware of timelines and and uh so great Thank you We are too We're we're very Thank you very much Yeah And you can and you know based on the scores I mean you I I saw
another county uh they they did like tiers like they said this is a high priority this is mid this is low So that's something you could you could figure out how you want to organize uh your recommendations Well
let's let's work with this for now Mike and then we can fine-tune it because I'm sure we're going to be fine-tuning stuff as we go along Absolutely So let's go let's go with this One of the questions I had is you know ranking these properties you know seems to be helpful to evaluate them relative to other
properties that may be available for consideration I don't want to rank a property in a vacuum right there may be certain properties that have a higher you know priority like you suggested than other ones Yeah you know buying a quarter acre in Palmar may not be as important as buying some other you know
piece of property that may have more value relative to these criteria So I would assume that we're going to be ranking these properties individually as we rank all of them that are being presented in one meeting Correct Okay So
to be sure I understand so basically we would see comparables Yeah So to be sure we're talk we're paying the right amount of money for a particular parcel Correct Well one of the items on the list is uh is cost per
acre Yep But you know and that's one where and and I kind of explain it a little bit but we're not going to have appraisals you know when we come in front of you but you you just would have to use your judgment in terms of where the property is located Is it in the
urban services boundary is there development all around it you know uh but I think Mike unless I'm missing something it would be helpful to have a quasi appraisal in terms of when I'm talking about comparable properties just
to just so it would seem to me that we have a fiduciary duty to the voters to be sure that we're paying the proper price for a particular parcel And a lot of that is going to be subjective I realize that But at least if we have some basis to say "Hey this parcel is
worth x number of dollars per acre uh you know can can we can you guys come up with something roughly ballpark?" What's what's the reality check uh yeah it doesn't really ask for that asking price Um so that's what I was
asking is if if on the form it said uh here's what we want for the property That's an easy math problem is to but we can when you bring a property you could say this property three doors over sold for this price and this property four
doors over sold for that price and that's what my friend over there would say is a CMA right a very basic one but we know what property sell and we can certainly work with our real property division to just uh to to do that kind
of evaluation Yeah I think Mike if you and I you know I think for us doing our due diligence Yeah just to have a few comparables otherwise we're just shooting in the dark Okay Uh is that unreasonable or you know Sarah pushed back on me on that one
it's not Well no it's not It's not unreasonable I don't think it's unreasonable It is going to be a estimate not a formal appraisal because we have to get through this process to even get to our due diligence Absol absolutely It just gives us some idea
some idea what two other or three other people paid for similar propert The other thing I would just say is some of the properties that I suspect are going to be on our list are unique and it's going to be hard to find a true comp for it because of the special nature of them
from a conservation value and the value of a property um from a conservation standpoint might you know understand Yeah it's not the same value as something to for a developer perhaps Understand there could be rare and area sensitive species of some critter Yeah
No I understand But I just think having a rough feel for that would be would be helpful Correct To the extent that you can provide it Talk to our real property management division and figure out you know what what they could provide Uh it's no more detail what you're asking
than the environmental assessment Yes You know and the information that's provided on that Yeah Well there's a whole another side of this which is there are some individuals that were very much opposed to what we were doing over the past three years And they were determined that we wouldn't be successful in in 10 years being able to
say to our families that were proud of what we accomplished And I just want to be sure that everything we do we don't find ourselves in a position where someone says "Hey you should have done this or you should have done that." And to the extent we can foreseeably anticipate those types of issues is a
good thing Um okay The the last statement I would have is that the conservation easements would be the hardest for us to quantify value Um so we'll give you some information on them How much what sales would be but um because it's a conservation Yeah it's a
great point And the percentage of the market value I understand But I think just having to the extent that we can do our due diligence we want to be able to do that Uh and just a sidebar is it's still in the back of a lot of people's minds what happened with Sailfish Splash Uh as as we
know Tony Edwards that was clearly permitted in the referendum and ordinance It's clearly not permitted in what we're talking about and why it took us two and a half years to negotiate this deal But I just don't want to have those folks who are almost looking for
us to fail uh to have any ammunition to do so And that's the importance of having the acquisition zones Yep Those acquisition zones are very limiting in terms of the properties that we can look look at Yep Pretty much anything out of those zones that comes forward is going
to have value Yep Sorry Go ahead Well proceed with your presentation Mike Thank you Now is any anything else i did just want to say too that the the basis of your question then is if we get four or five or six different properties that
are presented to us at the same time right you're you're thinking rather than have an individual ranking form for each property that we might want to rank those also in order of what we think are most important Well great question I that wasn't even on my wasn't thinking
that If you want we could do a scoring form like this which is kind of easy to digest and then have a spreadsheet with all the properties on there and then all your scores for each category for for would that help that make it more
relative or I'm not sure I I don't know that we want to necessarily rank them if if we get where we are at year one in this is we might be looking for them to pass a threshold of criteria All four properties might be worth pursuing
negotiations They might all be equally valuable for conservation We don't necessarily need to rank them in order They need to pass the threshold So I mis I misunderstood where you were coming from with your questions Yeah I I see
our recommendation possibly being move forward with four or three pass the threshold and one does not and it may not be a ranking That's I guess where this a little bit of taking each one individually might So just as a point of
order the board of county commissioners blessed all of these documents They are all in accordance with the ordinance Um the idea was the board wanted a ranking of everything that was submitted or an evaluation of everything that was
submitted So I want to make that clear They talked about it when they approved this manual That's the idea here was that you know that now again you could have a submission of something that clearly has very little environmental
value but that that evaluation would be you all's and that would be transmitted to the board and I'm sure they would take that seriously but there's there's not a provision for kicking stuff out that's it's to for you all to provide
your expertise in giving an evaluation of each parcel and then the board Then it goes to the board to decide Understood And the public you know it does bring up the you know it's very important to us you know the the public aspect of this you know which I don't
really talk about in this presentation but you know we want to be as transparent as possible And so by having those rankings it shows the public specifically how you know how you guys came up with these different scores and
what your different scores were So I I think that's a very important aspect of this is to make sure that there's as much information as as we can provide to the public Mr Chair I think we just have to go through the process a few times and that it could be changed a little
bit if we see that it's not working But I you're right the county commission has already blessed the documents and if you start to try to change the documents No we're not doing that Mike I mean yes So let's just not get
get all excited rabbit hole Okay proceed Michael Uh so this just talks about the ranking meeting So we'll give you presentations on all the properties to be ranked Uh you'll have c beforehand you'll be provided copies of the nomination forms environmental
assessments and other available information The members of the public will be allowed to come and and comment on all the proposals as a part of the process and at the end you can discuss the pro the proposals and uh do your scoring matrix using the project ranking
form and then they'll be submitted collated coalesed and uh county staff will then bring it you'll make your recommendations and then county staff will move forward to the board of county commissioners for approval and direction on moving forward with acquisition
positions and that's actually it So thank you Michael Yes Good job Anything else um back to the scoring Yes Yeah Is it going to be permissible for us as a dis to speak openly obviously in the public forum I
think this you know component should get a ranking of X Yeah You just can't talk Somebody else can say I disagree I think it should be higher or lower Yes Yes And so we can collectively you know and then we can make our own individual decision right but you know in the process we'll
be able to exchange information Yes Okay But just done in the sunshine And and all these meetings are going to be televised on MCTV So and they'll be available on YouTube and Facebook So any member of the public can go out after
the fact and watch the meeting and see how and why you evaluated the different properties And so all that will be provided for public consumption It's almost like a public auction with you get bids and asks Mike I got a administrative question
Could we be included under the county's insurance policy as named insureds we cannot So so that for No no So in the case that we get sued oh should I keep Martin County Forever LLC in effect for
example i'm not sure You're an advisory You're an advisory committee Okay To be covered under sovereign immunity as a arm of the state of Florida But I I'm trying to understand how you as a body could be
sued You're not Okay So as long as as long as you council don't see that as being possible Well I mean anything's po I will say anybody can sue about anything I'm not I'm not but I don't see liability here with you all if you're
just ranking things and you're it's a judgment thing and that's the point of the referendum and Okay I Yeah So the final decision is with the board and the you know the board would bear the consequences of any decisions
that were made Point well made Okay And provided we abide by the sunshine laws we're we're good Yes Okay So we're not bulletproof be unless we if we stick with the sunshine laws we are in theory
bulletproof but we've got to be sure that we really follow the letter of the law Conflicts of interest Yep Exactly Retention Yep Okay Thank you Yeah That's what we're here for Promise and and so I if I understand the board process then
the board will look at the rankings and determine whether or not staff should move forward with the acquisition and then once they do that they have to come back to the board for the I I do want to
make this clear that all of this even though this is a little different with the acqu with you all's advice we still have to follow all the Florida statutes on the acquisition of real property So uh that we would Jim's division the real
property division in concert with the county attorney's office would do all of the the real estate contracts and the negotiations and but then once the typically with the county because we would execute a real estate contract
subject to the BOCC approving that That's how we do all of our acquisitions And at that point it's brought back to the board of county commission meeting in the sunshine just like this Anybody and everybody can come and comment on it and then they will vote it up or down So
it's truly our intent is to keep it transparent from submission to the closing on the property so that the taxpayers can see exactly where the sales tax money is flowing Got it Thank you
I was just going to speak on the ranking but it seems like everyone's good I think we're good We didn't you know it's it's it's an advisory committee You know you're making recommendations for the board It's really a guide Um you know
there's I serve on some other committees and there there are priority lists Um but it doesn't necessarily mean that projects are implemented in that particular order Sometimes um just for instance I serve on an LMS committee and
the number one project doesn't necessarily get awarded cuz it might be it's a it's a really costly project where you have another project further down the list that's what we call a shovel ready quick project It's a filler
project and it's immediately awarded So you might have some projects like a Palmar property that might not necessarily rank high but it's ready It's in our zone We know it's a property we want and we just you know it's recommended to take action even though
it might be ranked nine on the list Does that make sense yes Thank you Thank you George Will you be giving us our email uh yeah Um I'm not sure I was told to
provide it at the meeting but I'm not sure how to Um so I guess I could just email the private email address with the with your uh county email address and I'll do that uh tomorrow And and so then all communication would ask with staff
be through that uh county email address Perfect I'll turn that back over to the chair You have the agenda in front of you Uh so we're we just finished with we've covered the comments the public uh committee No Oh okay Sorry Oh pardon me
Okay So the public any comments yes sir Thank Thank you Thomas I think I set up meeting D Did you skip over the schedule my name is John Nelson Come back to that Yeah My name is John Nelson I'm with Ottabon Martin County Beth thank you for
for being here and I hope your trip to New Zealand was was fruitful for you Morocco but yes it was good Um my question is uh you know Beth represents uh Ottabon Martin County What is she going to be allowed to report to our board of directors because she is
actually a board of board of director uh for our our organization uh and in regards to Sunshine Laws you know what kind of communications can she have with us as a full board sunshine she's an individual She can communicate whatever
she wants Sunshine is too Um and again we would welcome that because the goal of this committee is transparency and public involvement Okay I just wanted to make sure of that Sure And also by the way I don't have any of your your contact information Oh So before we
leave tonight if I can get that please Yes Okay Just wanted to make sure of that Thank you very much Do we have cards do you want cards filled out uh maybe at the next meeting we could do that but I think we can get the the heap identified himself Thank you Any more
public comment so Mike what we should do is uh took up the schedule for the ELO Correct Uh what are your thoughts on that you mentioned quarterly That doesn't seem like it's very frequently What well
there can be more frequent meetings Okay Just in in the I guess it was the rules of procedure it it mentioned quarterly there there'll be some periods where there's not a lot of nominations you know so meeting less frequently is probably fine the reason the reason
behind that is so that you're not forced to meet so often and not have anything there we don't really have a way of anticipating so there's a provision as Mike said before for you to meet more often as time needs but we wouldn't so
quarterly is just the minimum so let's do this if we could once you feel there's is enough for us to cover Could you then reach out to all the members identify a common date now we had previously talked about some of the problems with Zoom Uh they've changed
the software It's Zoom is not you cannot meet by Zoom Okay Violation Perfect Okay Uh because that software has really been messed up Um so we'll do a conference call No everything will be in person Okay So but let's say somebody can't
let's say that John Keller for example is in Chicago Um no Zoom meeting He can watch He can watch but he can't participate and can't vote Okay Well I can watch Yes he can watch versus via MCTV Okay
Um so I did want to with the board's permission uh we had mentioned like what day of the month it would be good to set up a particular like the third Wednesday the fourth Wednesday So I wanted to cue
you guys and find out what day tends to work best I have a problem with the third Wednesday I'm a chair of a nonprofit that they're meeting without me now So I I don't think it's good for and I also have a problem with the third Wednesday because my my first board
meeting is at 7:30 in the morning Okay With with Mr Gaza there on the Steuart Martin County Chamber So this is a long day So I think you had it the right idea Mhm Excuse me Mr Chair Let's set it up do a do a poll
through you know one of the polling things and we'll find out the next meeting date instead of trying to do nine of us doing it at the same time Is that okay um Sarah can we do a doodle poll to No you can't do a doodle poll
Yeah that's uh but Mike why can't you as as soon as you've got enough items to discuss why can't you set up has methodology to individually contact folks to set it up my my recommendation just is maybe to set the
first next meeting Uh we had talked as staff about the end of in June the fourth Wednesday work for anyone we we we were looking at a couple different things Um so there's a a particular um
acquisition that's a part of a settlement agreement in the Palmar area Uh and the county is actually legally required to acquire those properties as a part of that settlement Let me know if I say anything that's incorrect Uh but
um it also involves the Southwater Water Management District they've already paid uh $12 million to acquire a certain number of properties So we thought about as a dry run having a me having a first meeting where we just go through that property We'll have the environmental
assessment you can go through the uh you know you can go through the scoring matrix score the property and then we can take it in front of the board of county commissioners Okay So Mike let's jump ahead Just looking at dates Are you looking at say you know Tuesday May 20th or are you looking at a
date in June in order to Well I'm looking at in um Go ahead I was just going to say why do we need to meet at 5:30 in the afternoon why can't we meet at 10:00 in the morning as long as the chamber is free correct I I think that idea is that some some of you might have
day jobs And you do you look Are you looking at us well I I I have a day job Yeah Yeah and another responsibility So I'm fine with an evening meeting from 5:30 to whatever Okay And is 5:30 a good time i mean we
could do 4:30 We could do 5 Is 4:30 okay with you 4:30 is fine About 4:30 It depends on the on what day Okay So Mike let's look at let's look at 4:30 What's the timing on this Palm Mar deal do we need to do that in May or is that a June
deal i would say June We're still working with FNA because of it's two public entities trying to come up with a contract It takes time So I would say uh how about Wednesday June 18th does that work for everybody doesn't work for me Okay How about Thursday doesn't work How
about how about Tuesday the 17th of June uh Tuesdays we tend to stay away from because those are board meeting dates Got it Um are good The 25th The 25th Does 25th work for you folks okay
Merritt is that okay yes Beth is that okay yes that's good So let's do it the 25th Yes And timewise 4:30 and we meet here So and Mike you'll reserve this and all that good stuff correct okay And then and then after
that um so we could potentially be looking at 20 properties is I we could look be looking at 10 we could be looking at 20 we could be looking at 30 We don't have a sense of how many properties we're going to be able to review in this first
cycle So um you know what we were talking about as staff was having a meeting in July which would be three months from now focused on that but we could push that back a little bit if uh if if the board if if you as a committee
thought that that was appropriate you know we're really deferring to you in terms of when the information will be available and the timeline as it relates to doing the deal So if if in your opinion June 25th at 4:30 is is good let's do it Well this is just for that
one property and not reviewing 20 properties Well also I think us understanding the ropes as you know Yes it's very helpful to go through a dry run I'd much prefer to do a dry run with one so we understand how it you better understand uh how it's all going to flow
than doing 20 So and and then going forward our staff will reach out to you individually to schedule the next meeting so we'll know availability in advance Perfect Uh so so we can pick out when the next meeting is and just uh communicate that thing at the time at the next meeting Well actually if we
meet on the 25th that's our next meeting We can talk about it No let's do it daytime Let's do it that way So we're not trying to Yeah Let's cross figure it out in advance That way you can look at your schedules figure out what you have and and make sure it's not a conflict for anyone in advance and and we just
need a quorum So if there are times that everyone has outside lives and and things going on people go to New Zealand and when things like that happen we will um just have to work you know around that absence So to be sure I understand a quorum in some you know situations can
be someone participating remotely What we're saying is that does not work Okay Got it Uh and and once this meeting occurs you know you're welcome to as I said start to submit nominations Um so
if you have any properties in mind you don't you know it'll be us up to us to then try and track down the property owner uh if you don't know that property owner to get willing seller letters or a willingness to enter into a conservation easement Um so so as soon as this
meeting is over we can start a nomination cycle Got it Great Thank you Just a little personal request If you're going to have a June meeting and then a sort of a July meeting and I would like to see the next meeting in November as
opposed to October So I can certainly attend November January April kind of schedule Yeah John if we can do that we will But we if we if we do have a property we've got to jump on it So you'll get some You'll have an additional meeting That's
fine Yeah Yeah Pardon me Chair Yeah Go ahead Our intent will be to schedule the quarterly meetings in advance We'll have those scheduled and then if we need to add meetings in between we'd work with the chair to uh develop those those dates and then reach out individually to the to the members of the committee
Great Thank you So looking at the the agenda we got the public comment committee members staff anything else Mike any members any comments anything great Well thank you very much look
forward to working with all of you And as I mentioned for those of us in Martin County forever we represented to the the citizens that uh when we finished with this in 10 years that we could say to
our families that we're proud of what we've accomplished and to the naysayers we we proved them wrong So uh very much look forward to working with all of you Thank you Thank you meeting Somebody want these forms a
journ Thank you Mr King Sarah