Good morning. >> Morning. >> Okay, we are going to call this joint meeting of the Martin County Board of County Commissioners, the city of Stewart Village of Indiantown, and the Martin County School Board to order. Um, welcome everyone and we'll start with
introductions. Um, Superintendent Maine, do you want to kick us off? >> Yes. Michael Mine, superintendent of schools. Good morning. >> Jen Russell, Martin County School Board. Lee Roberts, Martin County School Board, District 1. >> Good morning. Marcia Powers, Martin
County School Board. >> Dr. Brian Morardi, Martin County School Board, District 5, Vice Chair. >> Amy Pritchette, Martin County School Board, District 4. >> Tony George, school board attorney. [clears throat] >> Good morning. Mram, assistant county
administrator, Martin County Board of County Commissioners. >> Good morning. Eileen Vargas, District 1, Martin County Commission. Blake Caps, Martin County Commission. >> Sarah Herd, Martin County Commissioner. >> Ed Campy, Martin County Commissioner.
>> Stacy Heatherington, Martin County Commission. >> Elise Elder, County Attorney, Martin County, >> village of Indiantown. >> Wade Vos, village attorney. >> Angelina [clears throat] Perez, village council. >> Herman Dealo, mayor of Indiantown.
>> Phyllis Waters Brown, vice mayor of Indiantown. Taran Krisa, manager, Indiantown. >> Lee Bagot, city attorney Stewart. >> Ula Clark, Stewart, City Commission, Group Five. >> Campbell Rich, Commissioner, City of Stewart.
>> Sean Reed, City of Stewart Commissioner. >> Good morning everyone. Laura Gobi, City of Stewart Commissioner. >> Good morning. Mike Jardino, City of Stewart, city manager. >> Thank you all very much and welcome. We would if you all would please rise for
the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Do we have a timekeeper for the Who's going to be? Okay, thank you. All right, we will now start open to the public. If you would like to speak, please fill out a form and bring it to me if you haven't already. Um, our first speaker is Ellen
Pates. >> [snorts] >> Good morning, commissioners, school board members, and neighbors. My name is Ellen Pets and I'm here today to express my absolute and enthusiastic support of the Martin Swims program and their
efforts to place a referendum on the upcoming November ballot to support the Martin County Community Pool Initiative by adding $10 per year to the to fund the swim programs in the county. When my husband Mike and I moved here in
1979 from the north, one of our very first things we did was to take our little 18-month-old Michelle for swimming lessons. We live in paradise, and Martin County is defined by water. From the beautiful Atlantic beaches of
Jensen and Stewart to the St. Lucy River to the thousands of backyard pools across our neighborhoods, water is our way of life. But for our youngest residents, that beautiful water represents a vulnerability we cannot ignore.
The data is clear as it is heartbreaking. Drowning remains a leading cause of accidental death for young children in Florida. Every time we see a headline about a near miss or a tragedy on the Treasure Coast, it's a stark reminder that water safety is not
a luxury. It's a fundamental survival skill. We already have incredible building blocks here. Programs like Splash at the Sailfish Splash Water Park and the YMCA do life-saving work. But we need to ensure that every single child
in Martin County, regardless of their family's income or their zip code, learns how to swim and how to survive an unexpected fall in the water. I firmly believe that Martin Swims can fill the gaps. That's why I'm standing here today
to ask for your combined leadership and explicit support by supporting the ballot referendum. When a child learns to swim, they don't just learn a sport. They gain a layer of protection that stays with them for their life. Let's work together across our county
government and our school system to make Martin County a community where every child is safe around the water. Thank you. >> Thank you. Nancy Jesse is next, followed by Marissa McAuliff. >> Good morning. Can you guys hear me?
>> Okay. Good morning. Thank you for allowing me to share with the Martin County High School Pool how it shaped my life and who the person I I am today. In 1975, I was 9 years old and thrilled to be enrolled in swimming lessons at the
new community pool. Stuart was a much smaller place and swimming lessons were a big deal. During the first lesson, I was approached by Coach Cox, the high school swim coach. He said, "I need to speak to your mother before you leave."
Oh god, what could I have done that warranted a spend [laughter] a talk with my mother on day one? Instead of speaking to my mom about me being too social, which was the normal teacher communication regarding the
nine-year-old me, he said, "Hey, this kid can swim. Can she join my team?" And so it began. That afternoon, I reported back to the pool as instructed and I never really left. I joined the team that day, fell in love with competitive
swimming, and my life was forever changed. I had joined a team, but truly it meant so much more. I had acquired a second family. As a kid, I was the young swimmer that looked up to the older ones and and they
showed me they emulated a a great role model. I'm sure many of the people in the room know competitive swimmers and know that they are dedicated, hard-working individuals. These were my first they were first great role models for me on how to work
hard, have fun, lose with dignity, and win with humility. As I got older, I was the role model. I began lifeguarding and swimming and a swimming instructor. I along with my friends taught a whole generation of Martin County kids to swim. I actually
know a couple of people in here who I taught your children how to swim that [laughter] that I recognize. I still run into people in town that I taught. They're doctors, lawyers, firemen, teachers, and even a veterinarian. I smile when I see these adults knowing that I had a small part in their young
lives. I suspect that the pool provided a family for many of them as well. Even after we went our separate ways to college, the lifeguard and swim instructors were a tight group, returning year after year to work the summer at the pool. We worked hard and
we played hard and along the way forming unbreak unbreakable connections. We kept in touch long before social media. We shared the highs and lows of life. These friends and I have stood with each other through bad grades, relationship
fails, graduations, engagements, weddings, children's, and unfortunately a number of funerals. But we were still this family from 1975. You see, the pool and the pool community not only kept me on the straight and narrow as a child and teenager, it had
followed over into my adult life. Adulthood brought moves. >> Ma'am, time is up. >> Thank you, Marissa McAuliff, followed by Blanch Wells. >> [cough] >> Good morning and thank you all for being
here today and giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Marissa McAuliffe. I'm 32 years old and I've been a Martin County resident for more than half of my life. Many people know me because I have accomplished many great things in open water swimming. I've successfully swam the English Channel 2 years ago and
Catalina Channel last year. I will complete uh the 28 and a half mile swim around Manhattan to earn the triple crown of swimming, something that only 400 people in the world have done. But today, I'm not here as an endurance swimmer. I'm here as a Martin Carney resident, a firefighter paramedic, a
former lifeguard, swim instructor, and someone who has spent her life around the water. For more than 5 years, I worked as both a pool lifeguard and an ocean rescue lifeguard. Today, I teach children, adults, and triathletes how to swim and how to be safe in the water. There are a few things in my life I actually will say I'm great at, but I'm
pretty confident in my teaching ability. Florida continues to have one of the highest drowning rates in the nation, and drowning remains the leading cause of death for children between the ages of 1 and four. That's a heartbreaking statistic considering in so many cases it's completely preventable. In a place nicknamed the Sunshine State that's
completely surrounded by water, lakes, ponds, rivers, canals, swimming pools, and of course the ocean, we should be making swim lessons and water safety more accessible, not less. That's why it's so difficult to understand why Martin County has only one public pool. As someone deeply committed to fitness,
I often have to drive more than 30 minutes to a different county just to find a pool that's open to swim before work. And that raises a bigger question. How are working people supposed to maintain a healthy lifestyle and use swimming for fitness if the only public pool typically open here is from noon to
3 p.m. during the school year? I don't know about you all, but I can't leave work in the middle of the day to go for a swim, and neither can most people. The reality is that access isn't truly access if it's only available during certain hours when the community can't use it. Years ago, people would line up outside the Martin County High School
gates before sunrise just to get a workout in before heading to work. The demand existed then and it definitely still exists today. The opportunities created by reopening the Martin County High School pool are endless. swim lessons that could save lives, fitness programs for working adults, senior wellness classes, camps, adaptive
programs for individuals with special needs, parent and child classes, rehabilitation, and competitive training for young athletes. Perhaps the best part is this. We're not asking the community to build a new facility. The facility already exists and is there. We're not asking you to imagine what's possible. We're asking you to reopen
something that has already proven its value to the community. I swam there 15 years ago, and it has some of my most childhood cherished memories. The pool helped shape my life and today I have the privilege of representing this community around the world because of opportunities that started right here at home. Imagine how many future
lifeguards, firefighters, Olympians, collegiate athletes, or simply confident and water safe children could benefit from having that same opportunity. This isn't just about swimming. It's about public safety and it's about public health. It's about giving our children a life-saving skill, giving working families access to recreation and
fitness, and making use of a resource our community already has. Let's invest in prevention instead of tragedy. Let's make swimming more accessible. >> Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Blanch Wells followed by Neil Coven. >> If the next speaker could could kind of
be on deck when the speaker is done, that would be wonderful. and I'll I'll announce those. >> Members of the school board and county commissioners, thank you for having us. My name is Dr. Glanch Schwells and I was a counselor with the school system for
25 years. But I'm here today as the president of the um Martin swims which is a nonprofit which exists to reestablish um affordable swim programs in community pools in Martin County. and we are
devoted to water safety, wellness, that means wellness for the whole community and for education and recreation. I'd like to start with telling a bit of history. Uh when I married Coach Dick
Wells in 79, he'd already had a legacy which is worldrenown in swimming. He had represented us in uh the Sophia Games in Bulgaria for United States swimming. He had graduated from Florida State as an
all-American and captain of the team. Did his time in the service and received a letter of commenation for creating the first all army swim team which carried on. um he worked around the world, was
invited to Colombia to uh prepare them for the world uh for the uh Panama Games. And when I met him, he had already just created the IRCC
um swimming powerhouse, which is there today. And he was ready to slow down a little bit. and um when he heard about the community pool, that's where he wanted to be. He loves Stewart and he loves water and he knew what to do with
it. So, what you've heard already uh is what he did. He was the second pool manager there, stayed for 20 years, created a robust program in which third graders all passed through the pool for a week and that was for water safety. uh
to teach that to people who many of whom especially from the western part of the county those kids hadn't seen the ocean yet. They went there one day a week um and it was a prize. So this is what we had.
Martin County is well known for our older buildings. We didn't tear down the Lyric. We didn't tear down the post office. We didn't tear down the old old courthouse or the Steuart feed store, but the Martin County pool and the um
the school board, I believe, has done all that they can, but we're bigger now. And this is 2026. It has to change. Martin Swims is asking that we reestablish work together to reestablish
a pool which is already there and the robust programs that can be done. >> Dick didn't do it alone, but he did create the family that we've been talking about. Thank you. >> Neil Kulvin followed by Corey Carter.
[clears throat] I'm Neil Calvin. Uh I guess I'm important because I'm a taxpayer >> and uh >> thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. you know, the uh the I work with Martin
Swims and the idea is that we have an an opportunity in plain sight right now in two ways. We have a a large but older pool at the Martin County High School and we have a school board that is
strapped for funds every year. They work hard. They they cobble together what they can for funds and do the very best job they can in educating our children. We sort of think that we could help them
by taking over the pool at Martin County High School and with a referendum millage referendum. I and I know oh we're going to be cutting taxes and the like so forth. So we don't want to somehow propose a referendum and we need
to have it that would essentially tax all property owners in Martin County 10 bucks with a proviso no increase period none. That money would be used to maintain the existing pool at the high school manage it and at the same time
funds left over would be put in the community foundation of Martin and St. Lucy counties to be maintained, invested, and set a fund up for building more pools, say at South Fork or Jensen Beach High School or close to them.
Uh, I'm also a now retired 45-year trial attorney, and I've had to try a lot of jury trials. And one of the things, I think Tony
George knows this too. You go to the jury and the judge instructs them, do not forget to use your common sense and experience. And that's what all juries are instructed. You do not lose your common sense and experience when you go back in
the jury room. Apply them to the facts and the law I have told you. I think this is a a very good case of common sense and experience telling us that Martin Swims has a program that if supported with a referendum
will provide another community pool for Martin County that people can afford to go to. It's $20 ahead at Martin Swims. I mean at uh Sailfish Splash. That's pretty pricey for the average family today for children.
I thank you and uh solicit your sincere attention to the matter. >> Okay. Thank you. We have next we have Corey Carter followed by Ricky Stein. [clears throat] >> Good morning everyone. Thanks for having
us. My name's Corey Carter. I'm a native Floridaian and grew up on a lake in Winter Park. My first memory is being tossed in Lake Virginia at age two and a half by my swim instructor who was in a rowboat and I was told to swim. I did. I
swam competitively through high school and volunteered at college with the swim team coach. The college I attended in Atlanta required every student to pass a swimming emergency survival test in the pool before graduation. My roommate
senior year grew up in the slums of Tampa. She couldn't swim and was deathly afraid of the water. Coach and I worked with her for hours and she graduated. She gained the confidence and skill acquisition that swimming brings. She still didn't like the water, but she
wasn't afraid. Earth is 75% water. I believe all Florida schools should require swim survival proficiencies before graduation. I started working as a guidance counselor at Martin County High School
in the late 1980s. I swam early mornings at the pool there before work and was joined at times by master swimmers, swim team members, and coach Welts who gave me some pointers to improve my stroke. I solved a lot of work issues while
stroking along. I remember the third graders coming by bus to get swimming survival skills. The pools serve the entire community as well. Currently, I volunteer at the Environmental Studies Center Council. The ESC invites field
trips open to all school children, K through 7th grade, and their summer camps fill up in minutes after they are posted. Environmental Studies Center is great public relations for our school district and a unique treasure to our county. No other public school district
in Florida has a licensed boat captain on their payroll. Another asset Mark County has is the pool. Education remains one of the most powerful tools to support safety skills in the water for all sports and
emergencies. Let's invest in the training and teach preparedness to ensure water related activities are safe for all Martin County residents. Martin swims is a nonprofit nonpartisan group which is can partner with the
school district and county. Martin County is surrounded by water hazards, rivers, lakes, Lake Okachchobee, drainage ditches, Indian River Lagoon, Atlantic Ocean, and many residential pools. Please allow students and residents an alternative to learn
lifesaving skills and such until such time that other pools are built to accommodate the overflow that currently is experienced at Sailfish Splash. It's good public relations. Our county's water related accidents and death by drowning statistics must improve.
>> Ma'am, your time is up. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Uh next up we have Ricky Stein followed by Dick Landram. Good morning. I'm Ricky Stein, Palm City. I'm a retired sports writer, Pennsylvania school teacher, and
lifelong swimmer. When my husband and I moved down here permanently 5 years ago, we thought we'd get our swim workouts in the ocean all the time until we learned what lurks below. We swam at the Steuart Y and now at Sailfish Splash. They are both great
facilities, but stuffed to maximum usage. Cities around the country the size of Martin County with more than 166,000 people have about 10 pools. During peak hours, the 50 meter pool and small pool at Sailfish are overflowing
with age group, high school, and special Olympics team groups. Their swimming laps. There are also synchronized swimmers, water polo players, divers, and scuba divers. Martin County Parks and Recreation could easily manage sailfish and the school pool so that all
groups have time and space to meet their needs. Sailfish Splash is fun for entertaining slides and good for lap swimming, but it has limitations for lessons and free swims. Cost is an issue for many families. Children learn
through play. Families develop safety awareness when they swim together during affordable free swims and during lowcost lessons in a pool such as the one at Martin County High School. At Sailfish, kids who walk over from the slide side are turned away from jumping into the
big pool. Our group Martin Swims Incorporated has been talking to people at many organizations including school board and county commissioners, the Y, the Boys and Girls Club, Stewart and Martin County recreation, community foundations, children and youth
services. Everyone agrees our community can benefit by working together. Florida consistently leads the nation in child drowning deaths. The numbers keep increasing. last week added three more deaths, which puts us at about 51 in the
year 2026. A majority of these incidents occur in residential swimming pools, but the opportunity provided by community pools help families develop a better sense of safety awareness that they can take to other pools, the ocean, and rivers. We
can save lives. Please reopen the MCHS pool to the public for vitalost programs. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Dick Landram, followed by Sandra Thurlo. >> Good morning. I'm Dick Landram from Palm
City, a lifetime swimmer. I started swimming early mornings at the community pool at Martin County High School in 1986. So, I've seen the pool at its best. Martin Swims, Inc. is a new organization intent on bringing back our community pool and reestablishing all
the programs that made it a true community asset. Our goal is to eventually build new pools throughout the county to give everyone easy access to affordable recreational swimming and along with other uh swimming venues in
Martin County, prevent drowning by promoting water safety, wellness, recreation, and education for all residents. The county commissioners and school board members here today are receiving a packet that includes the wording for a referendum that we would like to be on
the November 2026 voting ballot. We need your approval to get the referendum on the ballot. Please add an agenda item to your next scheduled meeting to vote to approve that this referendum can be on the ballot.
We would like the citizens of Martin County, the citizens of Martin County to decide if the an average increase in their property taxes of less than $8 per property per year would be acceptable for reestablishing the idea of having
true community pools eventually throughout the county for easy access at very affordable fees. In closing, I'd like to suggest to the school board members that as a matter of goodwill to the community, you open the community pool at Martin County High
School for the month of July in the same format and affordability of the 1980s and 1990s. Um [clears throat] with the support um of our efforts to provide drown preventive classes and promote health and wellness through
swimming with daily open swim times, time for age group swim teams, time for other programs like scuba, synchronized swimming, lifeguard training, certification, water polo, many things that Martin Swims, Inc. is e eager to reintroduce.
Our community pool has been sitting idle now for over one and a half years out of the last two years. It's in pretty it's in great shape. There's no reason it can't be used every day in that whole period of time. So, we've lost all those programs for a
year and a half's worth of time. And these programs serve the community so well. Community pools are not money makers. They are created by communities to serve the public well. Let's work together to restore it to its best use
and relieve the school district for having to maintain it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sandra Thurlo, followed by Patricia Beyond. Oh goodness, I thought I was the last one. I'm sorry for all of this long
talking and a bit of repetition, but since I'm probably lived here the longest uh practically of anyone in this room and my husband was in the Quanas, the outgoing president when they dedicated the pool and maybe you don't
know that the Quanas had the fundraising to establish the community pool in partnership with Martin County and the school board. Okay, I just have a little bit to read. You won't have to ring the buzzer, I don't think. Martin County is
extremely fortunate to be blessed with numerous waterways and the proximity to the ocean. The St. Lucy River and the Indian River flow around it and it is crisscrossed by canals. It's dotted with lakes and ponds and many private
swimming pools. See how repetitious this is? This is what we started with the first speaker. The water that blesses is also a danger to all who cannot swim. The first, and I'm the self-appointed
local historian, you know, the first white child that was born in this community that is now Martin County, Aldwina Steppman slipped into the river at the age of four and drowned. That's quite a beginning. We're in an affluent
county and we can afford to waterproof every child by providing free swimming lessons. Maybe that's a bit extreme. I hear that the plan is for affordable ones. We have uh loca we have a a
well-located community pool that is well uh it has been abandoned. The swimming lessons for needy children funded by the children's services council at selfish splash are a drop in the bucket. If a child is eligible for such things as
free lunches, they probably don't have a parent or guardian available to accompany them to the swimming lesson. There has to be a way for adult to send in for the resp and be responsible for children perhaps. And see, I have
educated myself today just listening to the other speakers and what the plan is. Perhaps this can be arranged to the Boys and Girls Club. A special guard, lifeguard would be on duty at the community pool. I will be ashamed of the county
commission and school board if you cannot figure out how to provide our children and protect them from the water we so cherish. Thank you, Patricia Beyond, followed by David Wester.
>> Hello, my name is Patty Beandi and I thank you for the opportunity to speak this morning about something that really contributes to our community. As a retired teacher at Martin County High School for 32 years, a frequent swimmer at Martin County Community Pool, and an
active member of the Martin County community, I'm very concerned with the recurring discussions regarding the possibility of closing the Martin County Community Pool. While I was teaching many, many times just came before the board and we had to defend this
wonderful, wonderful asset that we have in our community. This community is surrounded by water and therefore learning how to swim here is not just for recreation. It's a necessity. Already this summer, there have been drowning deaths in our community. Rather
than talking about getting rid of a pool, we should be talking about ways to open the facility to even more swimmers. Many residents here don't have accessible, economical places to cool down during our hot summers. Martin
County needs more pools, not fewer. Swimming is a lifetime skill that promotes lifetime health and safety. My own brother drowned at age 30 because he did not have the opportunity to learn
all the safety skills and all the swimming skills as he was growing up. I don't know how many other families will say that and feel it the way I feel it. I don't want other families in Martin County to have to say, "I lost a child.
I lost a son. I lost a daughter. I lost a brother or a sister." We can help prevent that. The Martin County Community Pool has always provided a venue for swimmers of all ages. Both my daughters learned how to swim at the community pool. One went on to compete
with Martin County Aquatics. Continuing to offer this venue to our school-aged children and families in the community is not in competition with Selfie Splash in any way. Rather, they serve different purposes. These facilities complement
each other and help to make our community a wonderful place to live. The pool is presently in good repair and should continue to be utilized for all the above reasons. I hope it can continue as an economical and safe place
for children and families to swim and that you will support the referendum of Martin swims. Thank you. >> Thank you David Wester followed by Bill Gillan. >> Good morning everybody. First off I want
to say hi and thank you guys for all doing what you do. I know it's a thankless job and anytime you do something good or bad, you get lots of thanks I'm sure. So, I appreciate everything that you guys do and I know it's a tough job. Um, I coach Jupiter Water Polo right now. I get to drive two
hours a day to coach uh some kids down there because we don't have a water polo high school program here. Uh, last year I had the valadictorian, the number three kid and the number seven kid in the school. They all ended up going to Florida. Um, you know, these are this is
a sport. Water swimming and water polies are a sport that, you know, kids that don't get to play basketball or football are playing these sports. We have a basketball gym in every high school and middle school and we have one little
rinky pool at a high school. Every every high school should probably have a pool at this in this county. Um you you had an example where somebody came up and and spoke that it shaped her career and it shapes a lot of careers. We have beach guards. We need beach guards. We
need pool guards. We need firefighters. This is something that shapes all of these careers and we need it. We should be looking at this pool thinking how can we maximize the programs? Why don't we have the elementary school kids going to this pool? Why don't we have the middle
school kids going to this pool? Why aren't there Why isn't there a middle school swim team? These are all little things that we should be looking at to maximize the pool. I play at Sailfish Splat. I have a water polo club at Sailfish Splash. We play there Tuesday,
Thursday, and Friday. It is full. We should have about eight lanes to play water polo. We're in three and we've got about 20 30 adults that that play and it Sailfish Splash is full. Uh we need more pools. We need to look at maximizing.
You have the pool already. Let's use it. Find a way to use it. We're happy to help. Obviously, you've got people that are happy to help. I'm happy to help. I'm happy to sit with the attorney and make sure that they're happy that uh with what the programs going in there. Find a way to make it work, please. Thank you guys. And thank you all for
your hard work. >> Thank you. Bill Gillan, followed by Alberta Gillan. Uh, good morning and thank you. Uh, my name is Bill Gillan. My daughter is Christina, the owner of Swim with Gill
Swim School and Lifeguarding Services. And I want to say that we are all in with opening up the Martin County pool. Uh, my daughter uh couldn't be here, but let me tell you a little bit about her.
Uh she has been teaching swim lessons to children for many many years and has helped save countless lives. She was awarded accolades by Palm Beach County and President Barack Obama for saving the
lives of two children on Mother's Day several years back. She is a she certifies lifeguards. She certifies swim instructors. Um, and whatever she can do to help with this
pool, she's willing to do. She sent me last night bullet points. [laughter] So, I'll go through some of them. Um, for water safety and drowning prevention, provides access to life-saving swim
lessons for children and adults. Helps reduce drowning risk in a county surrounded by water. creates opportunity for water safety education for families. Allows more children to become confident and safer around pools, beaches, lakes, and canals. Supports Florida Florida's
ongoing efforts to reduce childhood drowning incidents. I I've got to stop here and say one of the biggest problems is facilities. Christina uh provides swim lessons at community pools and
private at private pools. We lack the um we we lack facilities like Martin County Pool would provide. And um [clears throat] years back I worked with a Boys and Girls Club at Martin County Pool precoid
and it was it was great. These kids were reluctant to get in the water. I remember one particular guy who was taller than I was. He didn't bring his bathing suit day after day. finally brought his bathing suit, got in the water, he was reluctant because he couldn't swim. He didn't know how to
swim. Um, and I'm sure everybody's experienced that with children. They they're embarrassed. Uh, we provided you you provided the opportunity for the Boys and Girls Club at Martin County Pool to experience
water and to learn some water safety. I think every kid that was there learned how to swim across the pool by the end of the week. And it was it was remarkable. Uh everything else you've I have on here
you've probably heard already, but I just want to say Swim with Gills is all in with providing whatever services Swim with Gills can provide to the Martin County pool. Um and one of the problems is >> Thank you. Um
Alberta Gillan followed by Kristen Repetti. [clears throat] No matter what you do, >> good morning. My husband has told you mostly about our daughter Christina Gil
and Ty who is the owner and founder of Swim with Gills Lifeguard services and swimming swim lessons so I won't go into that. I'm proud to re represent her
as we serve southern Morton County and northern Palm Beach County. We need to expand. We need to expand into this area. At Swim with Gills, our mission is
simple as yours is. To teach every child possible how to sa swim safe, confident, and capable and in and around the water. We believe swimming is not just a sport or a recreational service. It is a
life-saving skill. And may I add that it's not just children who we should serve. It should be adults. We have children attending our lessons and their adults have no clue what's going on.
Adults have the ability to save lives, too. They don't just have to look at their cell phones when their kids are in the water talking to their friends. They don't know what is going on.
with lessons they will learn and they too will be able to save lives. Not only the lives of their children but the lives of other children. [snorts] We've had we've had women who have been at during at during our
lifeguard parties. Oh, don't worry. Our child knows how to swim. She knows what to do. She's going through lessons. yada yada yada. And guess what? The child went under the water. Our lifeguards are trained. They're American Red Cross
certified. Of course, they dove in and they got this one child. It's not the only one. I can't tell you how many lives our lifeguards have saved. at pool parties given by parents who are really
neat people but who have no idea what swimming is and how and how kids have to be safe with parents as their guides. [snorts]
Oh, good lord. [laughter] At Swim with Gills, our our mission is simple. It's the same as yours. Saving lives because swimming is not just a sport or
a recreational activity. It's a life-saving skill that every child and adult deserves to learn. >> Thank you. Um Kristen Repeti followed by Karen Hall. Yoast Raj,
>> good morning. Thank you for uh being here today, each and every one of you, and hearing our comments and our considerations, all of which I echo um here today. Every single one of you uh had mentioned. Um born and raised in Miami in the 70s, I was one of those
third graders that learned to swim for that week. um that um Dr. Wells was talking about. I remember being on the side of the pool and blowing those bubbles and pushing off the bottom and having the original Yeti, a frozen can of Coke wrapped up in aluminum foil with
our lunch. That was very exciting. Um so I was not a member of the Martin County High School swim team, but my children were. Um, and I remember being there on that swim deck and all the u amazing uh experiences and activities that they
had and the discipline that they um that they learned from the sport of swim and they did that year round. I do have a daughter-in-law who was also a state champion um and got a scholarship to Drexel University for nursing for those four years. So, swimming does also provide amazing opportunities for
students um for college scholarships. Um, I'm also a proud mom of an Eagle Scout and swimming is a required merit badge to earn Eagle. So, one of those, you know, um, that we want to target and
talk about is, um, as our scouters that are in the area. Um, statistics, we talk about children drownings, but I I also looked into adult drownings are three times the amount of children. So we talk about the importance of teaching
children how to swim because they all turn into adults, right? So we have more adults that are that are drowning, probably trying to save the children. So we need to think about those those adults as well. So and not just classes in swim and how to survive swim, but
also to be able to boast in Martin County to say that all of our graduates know how to swim. How about CPR? How about life saving basic basic life skills? So if we teach our graduates not only to learn how to swim but to also
save lives. So um and also rip currents. We we are surrounded by water and we also I al have seen that our Martin County Fire Rescue is exposing children on how to recognize rip currents and how to avoid those. Um so thank you so very
much. I echo so many of the comments that were made previously. So, thank you again for all of your time and consideration. >> Thank you, Karen Hall. Yoast Rudge, and our final speaker will be after that, Frank Mcrist.
Good luck following me. Oh, good morning. Um, my name is Karen Hallost Rudge. I've been voting here in Martin County since 1992. And my minutes today are going to be what do we teach our children? I have four points. That's what we teach our
children. Number one, we teach our children if you see something wrong, say something. In 2009, during the developing loving Krakop commission after our attorney, Kenny Sunhyde, died unexpectedly, the city attorney Nicolletian Kilbride obtained an exarty
injunction with police powers to raise our entire 1.4 acre property with armed force and by Judge Meer. and they did it by perjuring themselves to the court in their complaint. At the very same time, the Martin County Property Appraiser
decided to drop our homestead while we are occupying our homestead and then the city removed us um under the threat of armed force. We saw something and we said something and we're still saying something. Okay, it is our duty.
All right. Number two, we tell our children, don't cheat, don't steal, don't lie. But if you do lie, just tell the truth. If you did something wrong, take accountability. Own it. Lying always makes everything worse. Okay? The
city has prevailed in this litigation because they are continually lying to the court, defrauding the court. Okay? Um Mr. Bagot has never done anything perjurious. So this is not Mr. Bagot. He has not filed anything. Only Michael
Mortell, Kari Lenninger from Williams, Leninger and Cosby tell the truth. Let's see. Three, bad things happen to good people and good people do bad things. Okay, I have here two documents. They
are already filed in January DD and these are altered documents. This is Sher White and Mary Kindle. And the things that they did are thirdderee felonies, but I'm not a judge. Okay, we have uh this just is corrections for the
Supreme Court that just went in. We have Nicoleti and Mortell involved. And let's see what else. Oh, emails from uh when we had mayors, Mayor Clark and Mayor uh
Mat and all the mayors that just ignored me. And not only that, like uh Tom Cam Pennney ignored me. Campbell Rich ignored me. Most of the commissioners just ignored me. And that's okay. It just is really not what they were supposed to be doing. But it's all good.
Um what else? I haven't blistered the Collins or uh Reed because they already got a full plate already from all the nonsense that we have to uh that we have to uh do after people like Ula Clark and all these things. But thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Our final speaker is Frank Mcrist. [clears throat] >> Jesus spared you. Good morning all. [cough] I can see the aura of intelligence rising in here like a like a cloud. A
lot of brain power in here this morning. Part of spiritual development is to recognize the satanic tendencies that characterize you and to fully wrestle with them and to integrate them. It's not so much to cast them away. is to use
them and transform them for good. You can see the difference between people who've done that and people who haven't at least to some degree because people who haven't integrated the shadow at all are naive. And because they're naive, they're often resentful as well as
because they get taken advantage of. And someone who's integrated the shadow more is dangerous in the martial arts sort of way. They're dangerous, but they don't have to be. They don't have to use it because their presence radiates
implicit potential for havoc. And that's really necessary. If you're harmless, you're not virtuous. You're just harmless. You're like a rabbit. A rabbit isn't virtuous. It just gets eaten.
You have to be a monster who doesn't act monstrously. That's virtuous. It's a very common mythological notion. The hero has to be a monster who knows when to break the rules, a controlled monster seeking truth.
So why not adopt the responsibility for your own well-being and to put your family together and serve your community and seek eternal truth. That's the thing that grounds you enough in your life so you can withstand the difficulty of
life. Why not be a monster for good who stands up to the political winds of change at the FAA? Why would you want to double the amount of jet fumes dumped on the innocent children at St. Joe's and Parker?
[clears throat] Why would you not stand up to Trump and his AI tech bro buddies whose atheist views envision a planet with way less humans? Why not stand up and fight those who would turn Stewart into one of their
futuristic 15-minute cities complete with a central public transportation hub surrounded by sevenstory towers where the worker bees get to live and work without the need for the evil car and
the freedom it represents. Thank you Lord for this day and a special thanks to all those who have served and sacrificed so that I might have freedom of speech and a very special thanks to the new movers and shakers who inspire me daily.
Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, that uh wraps up public comment and we'll move on to our first agenda item with the county public's public works projects. Hello. Good morning. Uh my name is Jamie
Paldora. I'm with uh Capital Projects at Martin County and I'm the senior project engineer. So today I'm just going to go over some of the projects. Um first we have Southwest Caner Highway Improvements and the Southwest Wateride Way Signalization
Project. Um, this is anticipated to have construction completion in fall of this year. And this includes a new eastbound left turn lane and westbound right turn lane. Also, new traffic signal at the intersection of Caner Highway and
Wateride Way. So, here's a photo showing um getting it down to grade. Um, on the left we have them bringing in the fill and the photo on the right is the installation of the master arm. Uh, could you speak into the mic? >> Put the mic towards you.
>> Okay, thank you. >> Next, we have the Rocky Point neighborhood restoration project. This project is anticipated for construction completion in fall of this year as well. Um, this includes sidewalk repair, drainage improvements, as well as safety
improvements. Um, the photo on the right shows during construction and some additional photos. Here we have of an inlet drainage structure on the left and on the right a regraded swale. >> Next we have the Southeast Eleanor
Street reconstruction project. This was completed uh construction in February of this year and this was a full depth reconstruction of Southeast Eleanor Street which was a project converting an existing Shell Road into a paved
roadway. So the photo on the right is the end condition and then here's a little before and after. So the photo on the left is the Shell Road and then the photo on the right is after when the road was paved. Uh we also have Charlie Leighton Park
Improvements which is under construction. Uh these photos show construction of the boat ramp and this project is in Palm City with anticipated completion of this summer. And in addition to the boat ramps, it
includes reconstructing uh the parking lot area as well as drainage and safety improvements. And a little bit on the design update. So we have a few projects at 60% plans and 90% plans. We have Southwest Bulldog
Way sidewalk project. Uh the Suntrail multimmoal path project and the Bascu Bridge Scour Protection all at 90% plans. And then at 60% plans we have the another uh dirt road paving project which is the Saggav Drive and Hasslam
Street. And then another scour protection for a rund bridge. And now I'm going to hand it over. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jamie. John Male, uh, the Martin Countyy's Environmental Resource Administrator. Um, how many people have
met or heard of um, Miss Louise Yaiser, who we call Whezzy, and and have heard about what she's done for our community. Um so so this is a a really special um accomplishment and uh improvement for the uh community that
I'm going to talk about first. Um in I'm going to give you a little bit of the backstory here because it's kind of cool. In 1865, a young Hungarian [clears throat] gentleman named Charles taped a packet of dry yeast to his chest and rode a boat over the United States
of America. [snorts] And that kicked off 150 years of successful business producing Fleshman yeast and associated with that uh incredibly generous philanthropy in all the communities where where they lived and worked. Um and that came to us this year. Uh Louise
is the great granddaughter of Charles Fleshman and she uh felt the conviction that Martin County had a lot of special places and we weren't making any more and she wanted to um be a part of preserving those special places for the
community. And so she spent uh $8.5 million from her own pocket to preserve properties in Martin County that we didn't have funding programs to to um to provide for and to um and they were properties that were either adjacent to
existing areas or provided some protection of a valuable ecosystem. So, the first one that you can see on the the slide there, it's a little bit challenging to see, but the the um I'm going to call it the blue shading is the existing Hope Sound Scrub Preserve that
was recently added to the county preserve system. Um, and on the right side of that slide, you can see some green shading. uh it's not the best color, but she acquired about 15% larger footprint to Hope Soundscrapar
Preserve all around the entrance to that to that preserve and has donated that to the county for preservation. Um couple of those areas were already entitled to um multifamily housing and were imminently uh to be purchased and and
built out by a developer. Um the the property on the right by the entrance there um on the kind of the center top of that slide was um about an hour and a half from being put under contract by a developer when she acquired it. Jamie, could you move to the next slide?
There's two other areas where she invested in her community on the left side. That's in North River Shores um just west of US1. There was u there's three parcels there that had by right um multifamily. I think there could have been 30 units on that one acre. Um, she
acquired that, donated it, and our intention there is to um to relieve some storm water problems with a a pond or man-made wetland um and picnic benches and um some signage and just kind of create a community park that also serves a storm water function. And on the right
side, um, the blue area, the bluish green area is an existing county property where the Environmental Resource Division just completed a storm water retrofit to treat water from Pointsiana Gardens and Heritage Ridge. And it it actually looks like a really
cool pond, but there's no way to access it. There's there's no parking. It's right off of US1. And there's a lot of interest in being able to to uh walk around that. It's got lots of wildlife. It's got a great cadre of native plants.
Um, but there's just no way to do that. And to the north of it, there's a 4 acre property that was um had had a couple of different development proposals for storage that uh did not come to fruition and she put it under contract, gave it to the county. And that's going to be a
new park uh that will add to the uh storm water treatment area and it'll provide a way for people to to park to to uh read some interpretive signage and then some trails that will connect to the STA so you can navigate that area. So huge improvements. Um that's one that
one is in a really high-profile area right on US1. It's hard to miss if you drive to Hope Sound and be on your left. super exciting and and she's just a wonderful person to work with besides and she's out challenging all of her friends and neighbors to follow suit and and to to get in the game of of
preserving land. Now, we had another uh landmark achievement you've probably all heard about. I've been talking about it at Nauseium. Um, this was about a 7-year effort to preserve a an absolutely critical ranch in um in Barbie Ranch,
which is just north and east of the C44 reservoir. It's um out towards Indian Town. And it's a it was a 2,000 acre ranch that was owned by generations of families that placed more value on the land than they
did on the wealth that it could provide. and it has been maintained in such a spectacular way. You could open it up as a state park today. It's in such it's such great condition. It's been so well cared for. Um and that family chose to put a conservation easement on that so that forever it will be what it is
today. Um they sold the development rights to Florida Forever and the county was a participating funding partner um in in that acquisition. It was a $17 million easement. the county through Martin County forever contributed five
million of that and Florida Forever um contributed 12 million. So that will forever be um what it is today and provide uh incredible habitat uh particularly now that the C44 reservoir and storm water treatment area are directly adjacent to it. Um that habitat
became even more important. It's also part of this the uh comprehensive Everglades restoration plan natural lands component. So eventually the state will get credit on the 50/50 cost share ledger for Everglades restoration. So the $17 million that was spent on that
easement will count towards $17 million of federal spending on things like the EAA reservoir or the C2324 North Reservoir. And then lastly, I was uh going to talk about the recently completed Hutchinson Island shore protection project, which
was a huge success. We just completed that um two months ago, which just before turtle season. Uh it was just under 400,000 cubic yards of sand placement on the four mile beach section that um that uh goes to up to Jensen Beach. And it it
has been a hugely successful project. We've been working on this for 30 years. There's been five renourishments. Um, and progressively since 2005, we've been having to place less and less land because the uh the technology employed in modeling those reourishment projects
has improved. We continue to tweak that to and we have incredible monitoring data, the survey data um is second to none to track, you know, how this beach responds to the ocean and to storms. And uh that the um things like the the the
burm toe has moved 70 ft out. we have way more vegetation than we used to that helps to hold it. So, this provides uh a protection of that recreation resource, the economic uh impact of that. It protects the infrastructure. Um and it was such a good project that the uh if
you want to move to the next slide, the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association named this their 2026 project of the year. So, so that was really cool. That's my update. Happy to take any questions. I'm sure Jamie would too.
Are there any questions? Okay, thank you very much. Great work. Thank you. Okay, next up we have thei city utilities and engineering projects. Good morning everyone. Peter Cunan, utilities and engineering director with
the city of Stewart. I have a few updates for you this morning. All right. So, uh, with respect to the city of Stewart's ongoing pavement maintenance program, we have, uh, starting this summer the continuation
of, uh, just pavement restoration, milling, and overlay, and also, uh, a, um, uh, pavement rejuvenation located in the zone 3 area of the city of Stewart. Uh the work is scheduled to
start in July and uh be concluded uh sometime in October of this year. A few of the streets that are going to be covered with respect to the uh pavement work are Stman Boulevard, Decker Avenue,
Forest Park Drive, Lake Street, and Indian Groves Drive. We also have about to begin the work at the city's uh courtesy dock. And uh the um project involves the
demolition and replacement of the uh existing fixed or floating concrete dock. And also uh it will include a new fixed dock also a
portion of floating dock and a floating vessel platform. It's going to be in the same approximate location of where the existing dock is located. And as you can see in the in the photograph, uh we're looking at
closing the the dock on July 6th to begin the construction. and the construction is anticipated to be completed in March of 2027. So with respect to some of the city's utility projects that are going to be uh
starting or currently under construction, uh the first one is the city of Stewart North lift station project. It's a rehab rehabilitation of an existing lift station and uh the work is going to involve replacement of pumps
and electrical control panels uh piping work and also uh the uh construction of an auxiliary pump uh to be utilized in the event of a power outage. the uh will give this
sewer pump station the ability to to function with a diesel engine operated auxiliary pump. The project is about ready to start construction uh within the next month
and it's uh about a year-long project. The anticipated completion of the project's construction is is going to be in June of 2027. onto a project that has recently been completed. It's the St. Lucy Boulevard
fire hydrant installation project which consisted of the installation of six fire hydrants along uh St. Lucy Boulevard and uh it's uh it has been completed. uh that area previously did not have fire
hydrants. So the project was was much much needed and and uh as I mentioned uh the fire hydrant are installed and and active as we speak onto a facility project at our water
reclamation facility. It's the headworks project. The phase one project which uh the first phase of the project in involved uh basically uh assessing the condition of the existing headwork structure uh removing
uh a deteriorated roof portion of the headworks and replacing it. Um also modifications to the existing odor control uh system have been have been worked on as well.
So this is the first phase of the project which uh was recently closed out and uh we're looking to start the second phase of the project which I'll bring up next. The phase two of the headworks project
is a contin continuation of uh structural uh rehabilitation to this uh the headworks and uh also will involve the installation of a new bar screen and grit removal system and uh
reconstruction of the whole upper deck of the headworks as part of the project. Uh the project is uh the the design has been completed. Uh the city is about ready to procure equipment, new equipment for the headwork structure and
uh we are anticipating having this project under construction this year starting in uh November. Most likely the project duration will be one year. We're hopeful we could get the uh project completed sooner than that,
but right now we have a 365day uh calendar day uh schedule for the project. And last but not least, it's the uh Veterans Memorial Park amphitheater project which uh has been completed. We had the grand opening back in in March
of this year and and uh there are photographs in this slide that show just what a beautiful project that it is. Uh the work uh workmanship was first class and uh certainly uh having the having a
a covered u amphitheater in the uh Veterans Memorial Park was much much needed and uh we had a fantastic turnout at the the opening day back in March as well.
So uh with that it's it is completed. We closed out all the construction documents just uh last week and it's there for all of you to enjoy. So with that, this concludes my presentation this morning. Um I'm open for any any
questions that that you may have for me at this time. >> Okay, seeing no questions. Thank you very much. >> Okay, thank you. Okay, next up we have the village of Indiantown capital improvement projects
update. [clears throat] >> Good morning. Pat Nolan, uh, director of public works and utilities for the village of Indiantown. Start with some public works projects. Um, we've got the road roadway repair and
maintenance. Uh, what we're doing there is trying to repair as much of the potholes in the village as we can. We started out last year with the worst. We're getting to uh the not so worst this year, but we've concluded repairing the asphalt in the
village and we hope to continue that next year as well. We've got the Southwest Lincoln roadway and drainage project. Uh we're that close to getting that project started. We've been working with FDOT on the funding and uh we're about to bring a proposal to the board
to start the engineering seminal drive project. also another grant-f funded project. Uh we're ready to start that any day. Just waiting for the contractor to uh to start
water projects, which is a very very scrutinized topic in the village of Indiantown these days. Uh the water plant project for the existing water plant. We were awarded uh state revolving funds quite a few years ago. We're finally starting to take
advantage of that. We recently signed a contract to start rehabbing four of our existing eight wells. So, we're looking forward to uh improving the quality of the water in the village once we get that project finished. And we'll move on to uh working on improvements on the
existing water plant. We've got the Railroad Avenue water man. That is a 100-year-old water man that runs uh parallel to the CSX railroad. We received funding for that project in December. So, we're just waiting through the grant process to be able to take
advantage of that funding and we'll replace that water man and uh increase the size of it and again help improve the quality of the water in the village. 151st Street water main project. Uh that is a project that we are working with uh
Congressman Mass's office to uh we've secured funding. We just again it's a grant so we're working through the grant process to be able to start the project our Florida aquafer wells project we are uh drilling four wells we've drilled
three we have to do the head works on those three wells but we are presently drilling the fourth well in anticipation of the reverse osmosis water treatment project along with the reverse osmosis water treatment project we're working on a
deep injection Well, because once we get that project off the ground, we're going to have to have some place to send the concentrate from the uh reverse osmosis plant. So, we're probably 3/4 of the way through the construction of the deep injection well. Once we get that up and
running, we'll be able to take advantage of the resources that well for both the reverse osmosis water treatment plant as well as the new wastewater plant that we're building. uh wastewater projects. You can see through the on the pictures
here, we've we're building some new stuff. We're actually finally building the administration building, the tankage for the new plant. Uh up in the upper right hand corner, up in the lower leftand corner is the existing reuse plant. We are rehabbing that as well so that we can provide reuse water for
irrigation in the future. And then uh bottom right is just the property in its entirety with the the old wastewater treatment plant operating and all the new construction next to it. That concludes my presentation if
anybody has any questions. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next, sorry. Next up, we have uh the county and village development updates. >> Good morning all. My name is Clyde
Dulan. I'm with the Martin County Growth Management Department. Um I don't have the nice pictures uh that the past slides included, but we'll try to go over the growth and development
report. Um this data on population you've seen before it was in your uh last presentation in February. Uh the numbers haven't changed. We have not well we have received but we have not actually put into the report the new data provided by the Bureau of Economic
and Business Research. So this population these estimates and projections remain as do these um estimates and [snorts] likewise the historic growth hasn't changed. Uh the next page
gives you the residential approvals between January 1 and April 30, a total of 302 multif family units and the non-residential approvals uh between January 1 and April 30 total 387,263
square ft of non-residential development. Uh the balance of the report provides uh the items that are in review both residential and non-residential and I'll be happy to try to answer any
questions that you have. >> Okay. No questions. >> Uh can I [clears throat] >> Commissioner Clark? I I I was going to ask this of the um environmental person
about lakes and so on, but maybe Mr. Dulan in the future uh because I haven't studied it carefully. Uh just an outline, an overview of what new field looks like out there in the county and
you know what the um acreages are with preserve and water and that kind of thing. just a very overview because um uh I'd like to see how that looks in our county [clears throat] out there. I know it's an ongoing
development. >> I I'm May I ask for clarification? Are you looking for the uh outline of preserve areas in developments that are being approved? >> Yeah. In in are there in Newfield? Yes. >> Oh, in Newfield specifically? Okay. New field.
>> Yeah. >> Thank you. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you very much. We'll move on to the village of Indiantown. >> Oh, Mayor Reid. >> Yeah. My question was on your growth and development report for the village of
Indian Town in 2025 it goes from 6,74 to 2050 it goes to 7633. And my question was just for Terra Lago alone, it was 2500 housing units.
So, do they plan on finishing that after 2050? I know it's done in phases, but is that a 25-y year development project to complete 2500 housing units? >> I'm sorry, Commissioner, what page of my report are you referring to? >> I'm looking at the growth and
development report. Um, the chart. >> Page two. >> Page two. Okay. >> So if we look at >> Yeah. scroll back. >> So if we look at the village of Indiantown, if you scroll up,
it goes from 6,74 in 2025 to 7,633 in 2050. But I'm looking at Talago and they have 2500 phased housing units alone. I think that would exceed that number.
This data comes from the Bureau of Economic and Business Research in uh the the University of Florida. The first column is estimated data which is looking backward at 2025 and the the
other columns 2030 through 2050 are their projections looking into the future. Uh basically the total is their are their projections and we've broken it down based upon the historic growth pattern in the areas. As Talago begins
to get do approvals these numbers will change these projections for 2030 35 and 40 will change. >> Okay. >> All right. Thanks. >> Sure. Yep. >> Any other questions? Okay. Thank you.
Thanks, Clay. >> All right. Uh, good morning everyone. I'm in uh doing a presentation that Dana Freeman and her team uh created for the Village of Indian Town. Um, this is just to show we've kind of mirrored Martin
County and their mapping system. So, you can go in on our website and pull up the maps and see what projects are currently in review and what projects have been approved and get some information on those through our map system. Um, this
is a listing of all the new businesses that we've recently have had come to Indiantown. We've been very excited. When they're completely built out, particularly the IT Town Rail and Commerce, that's the old juice plant. They will have over 500 jobs in total
from these uh businesses that are shown here. And I have uh I know you all can read the slides. I'm not going to go over each one, but it's pretty cool some of the um some of the manufacturing that we have going on. And remembering that Indian Town specifically has a lot of
industrial properties already and has a lot of the county's uh industrial inventory. So now we'll look at the non-residential uh projects that we have. Um first one's a church. We have do have data center uh
application that has come in. Um and then the other one's a convenience store. We have the go-kart facility. And then Indianwood Landing, which is a new residential uh that has come in. We also have um these projects that are
non-residential. The first one is the most exciting that's Sedron. Uh they are a bioolid processing facility. They will be located their facility on the uh juice plant and they will be taking uh bioolids and processing them and turning
them into a it's like a Pete moss uh consistency but it gets rid of all the PAS and POS. and they have a contract. Martin County approved a contract with them and Synagro, which is one of the largest haulers of the sludge material
uh throughout the United States. So, you can see the projects that we have going on there. This is all in industrial lands. And then these are also in the industrial area. Um most of them are self-explanatory except for the the last
one, RCC Construction. They do tilt wall small homes. Uh, and so they will be looking to locate their business out there in Venture Park. That's just the floor plan of the bioolid processing plant. They're going to be located on the corner of the juice
plant. And then we will look at residential. And and uh, Mayor Reid, to answer your question, we get as concerned about those population numbers as you are. Um, but as Clyde said, because they come from Bieber, it takes a while for them
to catch up. >> It just doesn't. >> Yeah. So, Talago right now, they've been approved for 825 units. They are coming in um with phase two and three. Um we have actually re development review with them tomorrow but uh right now they're
waiting on our new water plant because we are at capacity uh as far as being able to provide services with our existing water plant. So you can see where those various phases are and you're right at the end they will have 2500 units. They came in recently with a
amendment to increase their commercial space um from 100,000 square ft to 200,000 square ft. And then they also have carved out a section back in the upper right corner back up in here. They're carving out some
acreage for Martin County to have a fire station and an emergency operations center uh located there off of Alipata. and that will help service the western county area as well as the residents within the village. So, this whole site
is where they are uh currently. It's about it's over 800 acres and they have about 30 acres of native wetland and buffers included in that project. That's also the updated their phasing plan that they came in with recently.
And then that shows you where phases two and three will be going. And those are going to represent another 800 homes. So they'll have the possibility of getting at least 1,600. And and timing wise, they're building about their initial plan was to do 30 homes a month, but I
would say that's slowed down quite a bit. They're probably doing about 20. So far, we've had about 140 new hookups. So residents are moving in there. We've got about 140 new residents so far. Then we have other residential projects. River
Oak just came in. Uh there's a slide in here for them. Um and they're again, some of them have been able to be approved, some are under construction, but they're um some of them are only in phases because of our water capacity.
That would be Oyola Pines. Citrus Grove. Uh they're pending. They are coming in with a a comp plan amendment. Um that's over by the airport. That was a project that was approved a while back that has been resurrected. And then you can see the
other projects there as well. This is just a site for the Indianwood Landing that's in front of Indianwood development next to Terra Lago with town homes. And then this is the River Oak. And uh
this is 131 homes over by the marina. And then this is showing you where they're taking two residential lots there in the back and they're creating amenities. Uh the residents would like pool and a clubhouse of some sort. So they are going to be creating those in
the back of that development. And that's a uplose picture of those two. We also have some annexation requests. This is not an this was an annexation request that was recently approved. 57 acres roughly with FPNL.
um and they are coming in with their uh comp plan amendment and it has been approved and through all their uh hearings. Then we have best car. This is a parcel that's not in the village that has asked to annex in. It's pending. And
then Citrus Grove was that project I showed you just previously. They're coming in with their comp plan amendment as well. And they're going to have I think they're planning on about 300 residential units. That's it. I'll answer any questions or
do my best. >> Any question? Uh, Mayor Reid, >> I have a couple and I I might have to email you on them as well just to follow up. >> Sure. >> What was the cost to fund fire rescue there once it's built? Has that been projected at all? >> Well, there's an existing fire station
there now. Uh my understanding is that this station will uh provide uh hazmat as you can imagine with um 710 running through the village. We have quite a few uh major incidents with accidents. So
they wanted to have hazmat and they wanted to move some of the special teams there. But their plan is to move the existing staff and operations that are currently in Indiantown to that site. Um, we've put in an appropriation request for 14 million with the state to
hopefully help us fund that with the county's uh assistance. >> So, was that 14 million to build the station or million every fiscal year to fund it? >> 14 to build it. >> Okay. And then what what was it for the fiscal year to fund it? >> I don't have those numbers. I'd have to >> Yeah, that's fine. I'll email you.
>> Yeah. Yeah, we can. I know they can figure it out based on how many u paramedics and firefighters they have. Yeah. And then uh my next question is how much grant money has the village of Indiantown received since uh becoming a village >> right now? 73 million.
>> And would they have received that money if they were not a village like for the all the capital improvement projects that are happening in the village of Indiantown? Would they still have received that funding regardless if they were a village? >> It would have required someone to put in
those appropriations. we've been putting them in specifically for the village. Uh so it's hard to say. Uh but because the Indian town has been a historically disadvantaged community, they check all those boxes for the state to provide funding. And then we've also gone after
some loans through the SRF program. >> And then as far as the the River Oak, you mentioned a comp plan amendment they were coming in for. Um is that something I should probably email you on to get more information? >> Sure. Yeah, they have acquired property across the street um from where River
Oak currently is. They've acquired I think it's about 400 more acres and they have some under contract. So, their plan is to expand. It's just the water capacity issue is holding them back right now. >> Okay. Thank you. >> No worries.
Any other questions for Miss Krisa? Okay. Seeing none, we're moving on to our final agenda item, which is the school district update. So, good morning everyone. I'm Mark Sris, director of facilities and planning at the Martin County School
District. I'm going to give you um an update on several of our capital projects. It's not every project that we're doing at the district. We have multiple projects going on, but this um presentation has anywhere from small projects to large projects, but they're um kind of important to the community
and they've come up in the past. Um as stated at our last meeting, we finally closed Steuart Middle and South Fork High School project. So, that will be no longer being presented to you. So, those um final pay applications are going on the board meeting tonight. So, that project will be officially closed once
we get through that board meeting. So, I'm going to move straight to the in case anybody wonders, we can back up to this slide if you have a question about any of our school sites or charter schools, but this map actually shows the location of everything in Martin County. So, our first project up is Murray
Middle School. I think everybody's excited about this project. We are moving um on schedule um this month on the 23rd, we will have a town hall meeting. And just so everybody understands, it started out as we were going to have a sack meeting and then it was discussed with the school and staff
that maybe we should enlight enlighten the neighbors and give them an update on where the project's moving. So, it's actually going to be a staff meeting, a sack meeting, and a and a neighborhood meeting. Um, but it'll be on the 23rd and we're going to basically give a project update of where this project is.
We do have some items on the aboard agenda tonight and once those are approved then it it it starts the time frame on our next phase of this project. But essentially what's going to happen Whoops. Essentially what's going to happen with this project um this is kind of a overlapping plan of demolition and
future. So this is the new building number one which is now um located in the green space if you know Murray Middle. Um these three buildings right here 18, 10 and 9 were the ones damaged by Milton. Um so as part of the project,
these buildings will be demolished as part of the project. And then the building you don't see is building number five, which is the current admin building. It would be located underneath the new parking lot. So that building will come down. So now the new administration wing will be on the first floor of this building and on the second
floor it'll be the media center. So, it's going to be very similar to the Steuart Middle School project that you've seen in the past. It's going to be identical building um same functions, but for economy of construction and being fiscally responsible, we actually made it one big building because we had
to replace classrooms. Um we had to replace the art lab, we had to replace music and band. So that's all incorporated under one building which helps with the mechanical system, the roofing and everything because now it's all located under one two-story building. So exciting news, there will
be a big meeting on the 23rd and we're going to enlighten the community and all the staff about that project. And again, it will resemble the Steuart Middle School project as far as the front facade and how it faces the parking lot. And then we're going to redesign the
whole car loop and drop off and pickup area and give them more parking spaces in front of the school. So the next project up is our shared campus project. We did have a town hall meeting at Indian Town. Um it was actually located at Warfield Elementary.
We did had that in May. Um this project here and the next project are actually approved by the board to do a master plan. And what that does is we're going to review each project and we're going to figure out the program for each project and how it actually works with a site plan. So it's kind of a conceptual
plan that will be developed and it will be presented to the board August September. And our goal here is to see um how we can fit a prek through five campus on the Indiantown Middle School campus. And now it would be a shared
campus project between Warfield and Indiantown Middle School. Um the challenges that we had with the um renovation of the old campuses, there's several buildings you can't touch because of their age and then there's a couple buildings you can remove because of their age. So now you're dealing with
a a campus that has additions to it. And then once you renovate those existing buildings, you have to take in account SREF, the current building code. And once you hit a threshold of a certain renovation, now you got to bring it up the current code. So now that project becomes more expensive than the dollars
we could actually use to build a new building at Indiantown Middle School for Warfield. So that project is, like I said, it's not been approved to move forward except for a master plan phase. Once the master plan phase is complete, that information will be presented to the board. And then if they approve it,
the next steps would be similar to Murray Middle School and Steuart Middle School where we do an RFQ for the architect, an RFQ for the CM at risk. And then that starts the whole design phase and construction drawing phase for that project. And then eventually you would hit the construction phase of the
project. The next project is D High School, which was part of the master plan project. What we are looking at here is um adding additional capacity to that high school. We do have um we are showing a need for additional student stations. So, we're
looking at adding classrooms and labs. Currently, we have that under the master plan review because we need to get an understanding of what we can do, whether we can add a building inside the courtyard or we can add a building outside the courtyard because of our constraints to building code in ESREV.
So, that project is is under review now and they're doing a full cold analysis on the existing school. Um but our goal here is to add labs and classrooms. um if the board approves that master plan project and it would go through the same process as an RFQ for the A&E and an RFQ
for the um seem at risk. Our last is where we bring in some small projects but they've been um kind of important. So I'm glad to announce that we are addressing the Jensen Beach High School gym and Martin County High School gym acoustical problems. So these
projects started on June 1st. Um, this is Jensen Beach's gym. That gym had acoustical panels on the walls, but it did not address the ceiling. So, right now, the whole ceiling is being addressed with acoustical panels to enhance the acoustability in there during the graduation event. Um, and
then Martin County High School, they are actually putting acoustical panels on the walls and the ceiling, and that's an that'll enhance the acoustability in those gyms. When we designed Southwork High School, the acoustics were already designed in that new building and we
don't need to do treat it in any way. So by the time we get done, essentially the all three gyms will lock the same during a graduation event. And then also at Martin County High School, we are removing the first 15 portables. So that project has already
been underway. Um we're getting close to the phase where the defender will come in and actually move the portables cuz we had to re we had to remove the electrical. We had to remove um walkway canopies and get everything out of the way so that all these portables could re be removed down this driveway and then
back on the counter highway. And then the third project at Martin County High School is the auditorium. We're doing a a renovation. It's not a full remodel, but it is a renovation to the auditorium seating area, a renovation to the lobby, and a couple of the restrooms.
So, I will take any questions at this time. Are there any questions for Mr. Serest? Okay, seeing none, um are there any comments from um and oh, Commissioner Campy?
Thank you. It seems like a while ago, but the public comments that were made this morning in regards to um [clears throat] not necessarily just the high school pool, but the concept of um aquatics in the county. Uh most of us have heard
lots of public comments in our days in office. But I think that was a series of some of the most articulate and compelling public comments that I've heard. Uh I think they touched on a lot of the very key points. I think all of us would agree with what we heard. Um,
we have been very fortunate to have the Martin County High School and I know that the school board, you all and the boards before you have worked hard to keep it going. Um, several it's it's a long time ago now we built Sailfish Splash and I know at the time it was deemed controversial, but I think it's
worked out. I think a concept of whether it is through the school district if that's your prerogative or community type situation. I think having the opportunity for the public to speak, the universal public would be a good
suggestion and I am uh I can only speak obviously for myself, but I'm not opposed if legally uh and logistically there was a way to have a referendum from the public. I think a majority of our communities nearby do have more uh aquatic facilities that are not
necessarily based through the school district, but I know that the Boys and Girls Club has been considering some opportunities to do that. So, I would be in favor of having a uh referendum vote on what the community thinks overall about our our swimming and aquatics in a
more unified way. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Campy. Miss Roberts. Um, so I'd like to ask maybe if the county can look at their property inventory and see where they would have
possible space, etc. for swimming pools. I mean, I know that when we look when you look at our footprints for our properties, they may look large, but what we actually have on them is um a little bit different. But I think since that's also
government-owned property and maybe the city and Indian town could do the same under their inventory of property and kind of look at what they would have available and maybe we could have that back at our next meeting and kind of see what um that looks like. >> I would agree. I don't think you could
shoehorn a pool at Jensen when I was looking at the Jensen Beach footprint. There's no way to put a pool there. You can't even figure out where to put the buildings. I completely agree with you and I don't think it necessarily has to only be within the current inventory of municipal properties. I think a lot of
our newer uh developers and you know other not forprofits, for instance, the Boys and Girls Club or other people that own land might want to participate. I don't think it could fit into any of your school sites.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Clark. >> Thank you. I'll be brief. I absolutely agree with the ideas Commissioner Campy and uh [snorts] Commissioner um school board member Roberts. We've had the same dilemma at the city. People have asked
for years and years. Can the city have a pool whether it's at 10 Street or whatever? I remember when the YMCA was going in and I know all the I wasn't on the commission then but I was a planner at the county and um all these questions
have come up and it it people will say oh there's duplication but listening to the very very um excellent presentation and how this affects people's lives and their careers and opportunities for scholarships. I think we do need to have
that meeting and we do need to um to look at this as to providing aquatics in Martin County and in all the different venues and locations and it's a good thing to study and to prepare to work with. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you, Commissioner Caps. Yes. Some of the public speakers seem to refer to continuing to have a community pool at Martin County High School. Is there a reluctance to have one there because of
liability concerns, insurance concerns, security concerns, or has that been discussed at this point? Or is that a big discussion for the future of the school board or any comments on that at this point? >> Would you like to take that? Sure, I'll
take that. Thank you. Um, all of the above. There there definitely is an opportunity for the pool is open. So, first and foremost, want everybody to know that the pool is open. Uh, and it can be utilized through a use of facilities request. Uh, and the payment
structure that is board approved for anyone that would like to utilize the pool. Uh, so the pool is not closed. It's actually beautiful. We just had some boat races there not too long ago. It's clean. Uh the board invested over $650,000 into upgrading the pool. Uh the ideas
that we would need to flush out or work on is the timing of when the pool is being requested to be utilized. If it is at 5:30 in the morning to 7:00 in the morning, we do not have staff on site at
those hours. So we do need to work through a fee structure that a custodian or a plan operator would be able to open those facilities uh for it to be to be done. Uh access control and close proximity to the building. It is a pool
that is utilized by the school uh and by the plan operator and the athletic director for students. And so uh there are all security things and all of that has to be to be worked out. Uh but if the pool is uh requested by the
community or any members of the community, they can fill out a use of facilities request, submit it, it goes through the approval process. Uh if they pay the uh adopted fees, the the pool is is open for use. >> Thank you. >> And I'll just I'll just kind of
piggyback on what the superintendent just said, and that goes for all of our facilities. So all of our gymnasiums are open. Um we have not forprofits that are utilizing um running amazing um basketball programs inside our gyms. So
those are all open to the public as well. But of course there is a fee that goes along with that because we have to pay for custodians and all the paper products that are being utilized. So there are fees associated with it. But we're also running those very successful
programs in our gymnasiums as well in fields. Um pretty much everything that we own if it's not being utilized by school or during school hours is available to the public for um with our
uh facilities use agreement. >> Miss Bridgetette. Superintendent, could you address the um person who requested that the pool be open in July for the public? >> Yes. Uh thank you, Mrs. Pette. I I
actually have quite a few notes here. Uh I agree with everybody else. The the speakers were uh very well um articulated their their passion this morning. Uh, I wrote down July opening of the pool, maybe some summer camps, uh, swim survival skills, and and maybe
some programs that we could, uh, begin to discuss or talk about, uh, that would be feasible. Uh, so I would like to, um, set up a time to meet with Martin Swims in their new format, um, and figure out a way that we could, uh, potentially
make that happen if it's, uh, works on both sides. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Any other questions? All right. Thank you all very much. I hope you have a wonderful uh Fourth of July holiday celebrating our 250th
anniversary of our independence. So, thank you all very much. This meeting is adjourned.