So, we're working with John. >> Bang. It's the city, right? All right, everybody. I know how much we all love to talk and catch up, >> but I'm going to call this joint meeting to order
of the Martin County School Board, County Commissioner, Steuart City Commission, Village of Indian Town, and Martin County School Board. So, if we'll all take our seats. Any
anybody trickling in? Look like we got everybody. So, we will um perform the pledge of allegiance if everybody's ready. >> 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. >> [clears throat] >> Let's go through introductions maybe starting with the county and working our way clockwise. >> Elise Elder, [clears throat] county
attorney. >> Sarah Herd, Martin County Chair. >> Blake Caps, Martin County Commissioner. >> Eileen Vargas, District 1 Martin County Commissioner. >> Don Donaldson, County Administrator. >> Wade Vos, Indiantown Village Attorney.
>> Carmine Defalo, Indiantown Village Mayor. Karen Krisa, village manager. >> Roz Johnson Strong, City of Stewart, interimm city manager. Laura Gio, city of Stewart commissioner. >> Sean Reed, city commissioner. >> Christopher Collins, mayor of the city
of Stewart. >> Campbell Rich, City of Stewart. Lee Bagot, city attorney. >> Tony George, school board attorney. >> Lee Roberts, school board, District 1. >> Dr. Brian Morardi, vice chair, Martin County School Board. Marshia Powers,
chair, Martin County School Board. Jen Russell, Martin County School Board member. Amy Pritchette, District 4, Martin County School Board. >> Now we'll move on to public comments. I have two. And we'll say ladies first.
How about Kelly Rabado? You're not going to ask for opening comments. Okay, good morning. My name is Kelly Robboto. I'm here to today as a parent and advocate for student safety in Martin County. The Martin County is
growing rapidly with population now exceeding 165,000 residents. We are seeking more. We are seeing more development, more vehicles, and increased congestion in our roadways. Over the past five years, our county has recorded more than 26,000 reported crashes, resulting in hundreds of
serious injuries and multiple fatalities. In just the first three months of 2025 alone, there are already 12 traffic deaths. These numbers are not abstract statistics. They are represent they represent real risk to our community. As
growth continues, safety planning must be kept at pace, especially around our schools. Growth without infrastructure planning puts our most vulnerable residents at risk, our children. I want to specifically address Citrus Grove Elementary. At Citrus Grove, we
have students as young as four years old crossing streets to get to school. Many of these children walk with siblings who are even younger. These are preschool age children navigating busy morning traffic that should give us all pause. Multiple requests have been made to
establish a designated school zone in this area. families has raised concerns. Parents have asked for signage and traffic calming measures. Yet, this issue remains unresolved. School zones are not decorative. They are critical safety tools. They signal to drivers
that children are uh are present and speed and awareness must change immediately. Without clear signage, flashing lights, reduced speed enforcement, and proper crossing protections, we rely on chance instead of planning. Statewide data shows Florida continues to struggle with
speeding and unsafe driving in school zones. That reality makes proactive local action even more important. We should not wait for tragedy to force change. I respectfully urge you to prioritize the installation and maintenance of effective, clear, visible
school zone signage, warning systems at Citrus Grove Elementary and other highwalk areas. Enhanced traffic calming measures and enforcement around school entrances and pedestrian crossings. datadriven collaboration with the school district board, traffic engineers, and law enforcement to identify and address
high-risisk areas before incidents occur. It is imperative that the county leadership work collaboratively with our district school board to ensure that every school in Martin County can be reached safely whether a child walks, bikes, rides a scooter, or is dropped
off. Four-year-olds should not be responsible for navigating traffic risks because adults fail to plan appropriately. Safety, access to education should not depend on luck. Our children deserve infrastructure that reflects their value to this community.
Let's act before we react. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Kelly. >> Frank Mcrist. Good morning. Time goes by. Some things never change, though. Drive with me now on Monterey Boulevard. Cross the tracks
and to your right you see the end of runway 1230. And then you see on your right hand side 23 acres of mature, very mature pines and palms and native vegetation. that is part of the buffer
between the airport disaster and let's just say East 10th Street and the neighborhoods there and St. Joseph's and Parker 2300 ft from St. Joe's and all those neighborhoods to the
north. So I'm here and it's so pathetic that I have to be here to to beg you to throw us a bone. Previous Martin County commissions have stated that those 23 acres of buffer
would never be on the table. And now just like that, it's on the table. Okay? And I'm asking you to throw us a bone because I'll go into my tie raids you've heard a 100 times before.
1230 was illegally extended in 1998. The uprising occurred and the noise contour study sent to the FAA in 2003 which was mechanically done with microphones at the edge of the airport was also faultily done. I was there at
the golf course and all weekend long Thanksgiving weekend instead of those jets taking off in their normal balls to the walls angle of ascent they took off like rocket ships. They call it a short field takeoff and then they limped out of town. So the original noise contour
studies are probably 40% wrong. Okay. [clears throat] And when I call an illegal extension, you don't have to believe me. In 2011, the FAA decided, uhoh, hey, those runway protection zones do go into existing
neighborhoods and we're going to make you install EMAs. So there you go. So, please, please take those 23 acres of buffer off the table for airport development.
Thank you. >> Thank you, Frank. Moving on to comments from commissioners and council members. Maybe we'll start from the county and work clockwise. >> I'm set. >> You're good, Mr. Caps.
>> I'm good. Thank you. >> All right, Miss Vargas. I'm just delighted to be here to meet everybody again and hopefully we can work together constructively and respectfully. >> Don, I mean, you got a microphone? No. Okay. >> Not for me today, sir. Thank you.
>> All right. Indian town. >> I don't have anything. >> Okay. >> We're good. >> How about us? How are we feeling over here? Ula Clark for the record. Stu, city of Stewart, it's always great to be here. I did look at the calendar, I mean the agenda and
it was just reports from the um various agencies uh from the city and the county, but I I just want to say that there's so many things um that we still can work on city and countywide and um we just need to continue to consider
those things, the airport being one of them. And of course there's always traffic and there's corridors in the city that belong uh with within the county and of course you know within the DOT's jurisdiction. But um just let us continue to consider and think of things
that we can work together and and do together um as a community so we can always try to bring those up when the time is right. I know that the city has a lot of considerations and we're thinking of sending some ideas to the um MO to try
to look into as well as I know that I serve on the airport advisory board and I'll be bringing up some things but it is a great opportunity to have this joint um city county school board and village of Indiantown meeting
Campbell. Nope. school board has nothing. >> Mr. Reid. >> Yeah. I just wanted to say to my constituents, I truly love this position and I hope you guys are proud of what I'm doing for the city of Stewart and Martin County residents on the NO. Thanks
>> school board. >> Uh I'd like to echo the comments of the uh the first speaker there about a school zone at Citrus Grove Elementary. I've been out there and cars come whizzing down from Port St. Lucy through
that school. There's a crosswalk there. There's kids walking to school and it's entirely too fast. And I think she has an excellent point. And um I'd like to see some action taken here. Um it's been suggested, but it doesn't seem like
anything's happening. Um, I've been out there on site, talked to the SRO and they're aware and they feel it's also a big problem. So much so that the SRO out there has parked their car out by the street with the flashers on to
try to get cars to slow down. So, this is a big problem and I'm hoping that maybe in this joint setting we can have a constructive discussion and and get some action so that some disaster doesn't happen in outside of Citrus
Grove Elementary. Thank you. >> So, I just really quickly I wanted to mention um the superintendent sends his regrets today that he's not able to attend. He's um gave me permission to share. He's with his wife Colleen who's having surgery today. So please um keep
her and their her team of doctors and their family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you. >> I too want to mirror what uh Miss Robboto said. I spend a lot of time out there because I have family there and it is treacherous at times and it really
doesn't matter what time of day. Uh but particularly during the school setting, the school hours, we really need we really need to look at all of the schools and all of the traffic and make sure that our kids are safe because
that's our primary concern. Thank you. >> This would be the time for discussion about that item. Is there a particular question for >> Yes, sir. >> Yes, Mr. Chair. Um, I would suggest uh I I wish I could have
conferred with our county administrator first, but I'll do that now. Uh, Mr. County Administrator, do you do you think this would be best handled before the MO or before the county commission as an potential agenda item?
>> It would be the county commission. So, we could request our county engineer and traffic engineer to make a presentation. And I know there's a lot of work going on Citrus with the development and putting in some roundabouts and other ex uh facilities, but um that would be my
suggestion as we have a presentation from our county engineer who will be the one making the ultimate um uh uh be responsible for its design and construction. Would a would a county commissioner need to make that motion at the next county commission meeting or
could we discuss that right now with the with the chair of our commission and maybe give some assurances to people here today that that we'll have that on a an agenda in the near future. >> I I think the county administrator can
take that as direction if so included by >> if madam chair is okay with that. >> All right. Great. >> Okay. So, we will add this on the agenda coming up for this meeting. >> I don't know that it's going to make it to this coming meeting, but we will let everybody know when it'll be scheduled.
>> I don't think you can ask for more from a joint meeting than that. Good job, guys. Um, Commissioner Clark. >> Yeah, I know that we're we're saying that we're not discussing it now and I'm asking this question and we don't have to have an answer. I'm just putting it out there. I know that the school board
does their own planning and building and development and I'm not sure how much traffic work is done when a school is put in like when we have that port that St. Lucy Port St. Lucy Boulevard that comes down to Citrus Boulevard. I'm not sure what you have to produce in order
to show around the school where you have different zones for crossing or entrances into the school. This is not for this meeting now, but I was just want because I don't know how much a county sees when you do your building plans and then the offsite if you just
like any other developer if you get all your ingress and egress looked at carefully by the county at the time when a school is being developed. But since we the county may be looking into it, it would be good for the traffic engineers to know what standards a school have
when they create a school. What are their standards for creating various um ingress and egress for students within like say within the two-mile radius when they're crossing major highways to enter into the school and how that pathway to
the school is made and that's a good point to make sure we have safe pathways to our schools. So yeah, um just you know somebody we're going to be looking at it. So it's important >> Miss Roberts.
>> Thank you. Um yes, tagging on that, I'd like to suggest that the county contact both Mr. Serest from our facilities and Frank Frangelico who's with our safety department because they can give you more of that information of exactly what that looks like and maybe we can look at
more than just that one school at the same time and maybe do a comprehensive look at all of them. That would be appreciated. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, uh to um um the commissioner's point about traffic, um it when Citrus Grove was
built, there wasn't really any traffic on that extension. Um there was not anticipated uh new field and also the amount of people that would utilize that extension into Port St. Lucy and I would
say that the majority of the traffic is coming from Port St. Lucy into and through Martin County. And I know it's going to become traffic is also going to become an issue. Um because there's a 10,000
home development in Port St. Lucy that is happening off of 609 which is right at the four-way just I don't know what direction that is. Um, but it's the back
entrance of that 10,000 home development is going to be off of 609, which they'll come to the four-way stop where Martin Grade is, the Canopy Road, and they're going to be headed right to 95 through
Martin County or the Turnpike. So, it's really concerning that's going to be an issue. Although, I don't anticipate we'll have walkers. Um, but we do have a lot of constituents that will be navigating those roads and it's going to become a real issue more
so than it is already now in Palm City. >> Thank you, Miss >> Burchett. >> I was wondering if there's something we can do temporarily while it's getting on the agenda because it's a safety concern. So, I don't know how that happens, but
maybe an extra um traffic director, someone out there to make it permanent, temporary, if that makes sense, until we get something permanent in place. >> Okay. Are there any other comments from
commissioners or council members? Okay. Seeing none, we'll move on to presentations from the county public works. >> All right. Uh good morning everybody. Um I'm here. My name is Jamie Paldora. I'm
the senior project engineer for the capital projects division. I'm here with John Mail and we're going to present today about what's going on in our public works department. So, the first project we're going to give an update on is Charlie Leighton
Park Improvements in Palm City. Um, this project is to increase the boat ramp capacity, and it is, uh, 40% complete. Along with the boat ramps, we're going to reconfigure the parking lot and provide additional docking, um, open
green space, and the expected completion of this is summer of this year. As you can see in the photos on the left hand side, that's showing the Coffford Dam, which is where the boat ramps themselves are going to go. Um, and on the right, we have the south observation pier
pilings that are being constructed. Next, we have uh how patio park resurfacing project. This is about um 90% 95% complete for construction. This includes the path, which is the photo on
the right. So that is the path that goes um to the back side of the park. We're also paving the entire parking lot and doing some drainage upgrades in the um park itself. We also have county line uh bridge
replacement project. For this we have external utility coordination ongoing that is with the Lockxah hack sorry Lockahhatchee River District as well as the village of Tquesta. Um once they are done we are going we are also currently
working with Florida Power and Light for future utility relocation that will have to be completed prior to construction of the bridge tenative construction for that right now we have at summer of this year 2026. Uh throughout this we've also been coordinating with emergency
services and that plan will be in place when the further duration of construction when the detour is in place. Here are some photos for the Southeast Avalon Drive sidewalk project. For this, we're
adding a sidewalk along the west side of the road, and that will include the drainage improvements. So, you can see on the top right and the bottom right photos, we have the drainage structures being installed and the pipes. And then on the left side is the newly poured
sidewalk. We also have Southwest Fox Brown Road resurfacing project which is under construction. Uh that one we are just milling and resurfacing the roadway. You can see the two photos there showing the um the new pavement and the milled
pavement. And in terms of upcoming projects that we have, on the left we have the Rocky Point neighborhood restoration project, which is uh drainage drainage upgrades. And on the right we have the Southeast Dixie Highway multimodal path. And
that's from Airport Road to Southeast Monterey Road. And there we're putting in a multimodal path along where it shows the red lines. and then I'll pass it over to John. >> Could I borrow the mouse?
>> Good morning. John mail uh the environmental resource administrator. I've got a few updates on activities in the environmental resource division. The first is uh the ongoing work at Indian Riverside Park. It's a living shoreline and a breakwater project. They're continuing progress uh with those rock
revetment breakwaters that uh will will help attenuate those waves and then create um um an opportunity for us to do some shoreline stabilization with tow rock and and mangrove plantings along the park. And then lastly, we'll do some seaggrass plantings between those two
and where we expect to have some natural sand recruitment. You'll see that continue through this entire year really. We we just moved to um kind of the south end uh next to the pier by the um by the um
um >> Langford Center. >> The Langford Center. Thank you. Can I always count on the county administrator to know your stuff better than you do? Um we're trying to get those done before spring break and we start to have more u activities in the water along that
beach. Next update is East Fork Creek, which uh we expect to have substantial completion today. Um and we're going to finish up with some lural zone planting for nutrient uptake and some uh buffer plantings um for the area. And then this
will help to provide nutrient removal and and clean water in the East Fork Creek Basin uh starting this this wet season. Um it's it's kind of a difficult one to see because it's got a fairly narrow footprint that touches US1 uh near Mariner Sands.
And then an update on the activities of Martin County Forever. Uh we are um we've finished up a couple more agreements that we expect to take to closing for 90 parcels in Point Sienna Gardens, which was a uh a long u platted
uh neighborhood that never had open roads or utilities. And the county has been working on acquiring lots there for a long long time. Um, I remember in I think 2018, the last time we made a substantial purchase there, Commissioner Herd used some MSTU funds to help uh
pick up a few and this will be far and away our largest um progress on that. And then we're going to closing on a 1.2 acre uh parcel on the beach just north of um Gilbert's House of Refuge on the south side adjoining the public land
that makes up Clifton Perry Beach. and that that stretches over to the river too. So, kind of creates both preserves both habitats. Um, and then my last update is probably uh the most fun one. Um, this is uh an update on a uh a story
of redemption for broken places and broken people. So, in November, we sunk a ship, a 227 foot cargo ship that spent its life um hauling illegal drugs. Um, and we sunk it uh 9 milesi offshore on
on one of Martin County's artificial reef sites in 150 ft of water in honor in memory of John McCulli who has a similar story of redemption that he had actually spent time in prison for um drug smuggling, found redemption and
then spent the rest of his life bringing life to the ocean. So, this is a really cool story that'll serve the ocean and the people for a long long time. Do >> you have any questions for Jamie or myself? >> Miss Bridget? >> Yes. Good morning again. Um, several
residents in Rocky Point reached out to me regarding Maggie's hammock. Uh, they were told that they needed enough emails in order for Maggie's to be looked at. And I'm just advocating for those
residents. Uh, Maggie's is a beautiful gem in Rocky Point. Families go there, their dogs go there. Uh, people just go there to relax. Um, I was wondering if you had anything to provide regarding
any type of revitalization for Maggie's hammock. >> Can Can I get with you offline? I guess I'm not totally sure what type of revitalization. Is it exotic removal or >> um clean up uh repair of swings and
things of that nature make it more inviting, safer obviously and just the fact that it's kind of gone into a little bit of a sad state as of late. I'm there pretty much every day and I and I pick up the garbage and I put it
in the in the can. I don't think much of it, but it would be nice to walk in and and just see that it's kind of uplifted and I think that's what the residents want for their kids and their families. But I will reach out to you offline. Thank you. >> Thank you.
[clears throat] >> Any other questions, >> Mr. Reed? >> With the boat ramp, what were the before parking spaces for the boat ramp versus after? How many were added? >> I don't know the exact amounts. We can get back to you on that. >> Okay. Thanks.
Seeing did you have another? Okay, seeing no other questions, we'll move on to the city. Thank you guys. [clears throat] >> Peter, thank you. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. Everybody. My name is Peter Kunan, director of
utilities and engineering for the city of Stewart. It's very nice seeing all of you this morning. I have a presentation for you that I'll bring up right now. Apologize for the technical delay. Uh so I have a variety of projects uh
that are uh the city's utilities and engineering and public works projects that I'd like to share with you this morning and give you an update on those that are in construction. The first projects are transportation projects
and uh we have uh as we do every year we have uh plans for doing additional uh pavement restoration within the city of Stewart. Uh this year we're going to focus on uh within zone 3.
And uh a few of the a few of the the streets that we're going to be doing this year are uh Southeast Georgia Avenue, Delaware Avenue, uh Lake Street, Apache Avenue. Uh the project is currently in
design and we're anticipating the uh construction to start this summer and these projects usually take place during the the summer months just to uh minimize uh impacts to uh to the traffic
after the uh winter season. The next project is the uh city of Stewart's uh courtesy dock and wave attenuator project. Uh the project involves the demolition of the existing dock and uh replacement with a a new
fixed dock approximately 75 100 square ft in size and uh with pilings and associated um um uh there'll be a a wave attenuator as
well and a a floating dock portion. The uh floating dock portion is not part of this particular project. Uh it will be constructed at a later time. The fixed dock portion will be constructed and the project is currently out for
bids with the bid opening in March of this year. The anticipated date of construction most likely will be uh the summer during the summer of uh this year. Next project that is in the closeout
phase of construction is the uh it's at the city of Stewart's fire station number three and it's a signalization project. As you can see uh from the the photos the the mast arm and the the signal is is in place. It's operational
and uh we're planning on closing out the project most likely uh in uh either the before the end of this month or or in March. So on to our utility projects. So we have a currently under construction a
lift station that's uh we refer to as our concisador lift station project that uh involved a total rehabilitation of an existing uh sewer pump station uh with uh new piping and valves and their
uh recoting of the wet well. There's also part of the project an auxiliary pump for for bypass purposes. And these are these are current photos of the project. And uh
that this project is also anticipated to be completed in March of this year. The next project is also a sewer lift station project. It's uh for the city of Stewart's north uh lift station which is north of the uh Roosevelt bridge. Uh
also involving the rehabilitation of existing inf in um equipment and uh putting in new pumps, control panels, recoding the wet well, also adding an
auxiliary bypass pump to the station. uh these auxiliary pumps add redundancy to uh to these uh facility type projects, these lift stations. Should there be a loss of power, we have the means of of pumping the wastewater and continuing
with that until power is restored. The project is currently out for bids with the bid opening in March of this year and anticipating the construction start of this project this summer. >> [clears throat] >> on to another utility project. It's uh
the installation of fire hydrants on St. Lucy Boulevard. This pro project is currently in construction and we have five of the six fire hydrants installed in place and operational. One more fire fire hydrant to go. And uh
we're anticipating the completion of this project uh this uh this spring or early summer. On to our facilities projects. We have currently underway at our water reclamation facility the construction of the or re rehabilitation of the existing
headwork structure at our wastewater or water reclamation facility. The uh project involves total uh rehabilitation of the existing headworks which is the the main entry of of wastewater into our water reclamation facility.
And there's also uh new equipment to be in installed as part of the construction of the project. Uh repairs to existing flumes. Uh installation of new gates and valves within the headwork structure itself. Uh the anticipation anticipated
completion of the project is this fall. And last but not least, we have our Veterans Memorial Park amphitheater project that is just about completed. As you can see with the uh the photos,
it's a beautiful project. No, no question about it. Um it has uh just beautiful features incorporated within the project and uh we are very proud of this this project.
The um we'll be able to stage outdoor events and um we have a covered stage, a green room, there'll be lawn seating. Uh it's just uh a fantastic project that we're very proud of. With that, the
project is uh in the closeout phase and uh the anticipated completion of the project's construction is March of this year. And in addition to that, we have scheduled the grand opening of the
project slated for Saturday, March 14th. And all of you are are invited uh please come out uh to the grand opening of this amphitheater project. uh very terrific project and uh with that
I'm open for any questions that any of you may have for me at this time. >> I know everybody at the courthouse is looking forward to the Leonard Skard cover band that's going to be there during the daytime. [laughter] Are there any questions for Mr. Cunan? >> Mr. Reid,
>> thanks for everything you do, Peter. My first question was on those fire hydrants on St. Lucy Boulevard. Are they new or replacements? They're new fire hydrants. >> Did we ever have fire hydrants on St. Lucy Boulevard? >> We did not. So, these are these are new fire hydrants uh that uh will add to
fire protection on on St. Lucy Boulevard. >> Gotcha. Okay, Miss Powers. >> Um good morning. I just as a resident of the city of Stewart, I just wondered if you have an update on Palm City Road.
Obviously, um we are seeing a lot more traffic on Palm City roads, especially this time of year, but also due to the backups at Caner and US1. So, a lot of people are now cutting through and taking Palm City either to get to Palm
City or to get to Port St. Lucy or north. So, I wondered if you had an update on what's happening. Well, I know at a recent NO meeting the uh the focus has been the intersection of Palm City Road and US1. Uh that project or one of the
alternatives or an alter alternative for that intersection is is in design right now. Uh I don't have an exact date for for the letting of the project. You know, the project going out for bids, but but it is currently in design. Uh,
with respect to the Palm City Road itself, I know that's a it's also a a project that's slated for design. However, I'm not aware of the project actually being in design at this stage. That's from uh the
US1 to uh is that Caner Highway? Um, Monterey Road, I'm sorry. >> Thank you. >> You're very welcome. >> Bit of a process. It had gone through the no, there were alternatives, and then FDOT came back and recommended a whole new alternative. So, it's taken a
little bit longer than than normal. Um, did you have another comment? >> Okay, seeing no other comments. Thank you, Peter. >> Thank you very much. >> Move on to village capital projects, Mr. Nolan. Thank you, sir. Very welcome, Patrick.
[clears throat and cough] >> Good morning. Back that up a little bit. Pat Nolan, uh, director of public works and utilities for the village of Indiantown. First on, uh, the presentation is, uh, some of our public works projects.
First one is Seminal Drive project. Uh that project is actually ready to commence. We've been talking about this project for a while and we were winding through the grant process. We actually just had the project approved at our last village board meeting. So we'll be
getting on that very shortly. Uh the next project is a Southwest Lincoln Street roadway and drainage project. Also a grant grant funded project. We're working with DOT to get that out and uh get it uh designed and get that project done.
Uh roadway repair and maintenance. That is what it sounds like. Uh we started uh working on the potholes last year. So we had a lot of potholes through the village. So we tried to do the worst first. So this second year is more of the same. But hopefully next year we'll
be doing an actual project where we combine utilities and road work. water projects. Water plant. We've actually got two water plant projects. One is in the works. We're going to rehab the existing water plant with SRF
funding. Uh I actually have a meeting with the engineer this afternoon. So hopefully we are going out to bid with the first part of that project very soon. The next part is a reverse osmosis treatment plant that is also in the works. Uh we just received another
bucket of funding from the Department of Commerce for that project. Railroad Avenue Water Main. Uh you've heard me talk about this every meeting since I've been coming to these meetings. That is a 100-year-old cast iron man. And I'm happy to say that we got funding for that project in the last
round from the Department of Commerce. Thankfully, that project is already designed. So, we just have to work it out with the funding agency and then we'll be able to go out to bid. So, that one is uh personally uh very exciting to be finally doing this project because we've been talking
about this project since I got to the village of Indiantown. So, it'll be nice to actually do it. Florida and aquifer wells as part of the reverse osmosis project. We're going to need wells to uh supply water to that reverse osmosis treatment plant. So, timing has worked
out. We were able to bring a contractor in and actually start the flan wells. So, we have a need for we thought three initially, but once we saw the data from the first well, we're going to have to drill four wells, but again, fortunately, the uh drilling contractor
has been on site. We've got two of the four drilled and we're working on the third with uh planning on the fourth 151st and Oyola street water made project that is uh we're seeking funding with that through Congressman Mass's
office. So, same story as some of the other ones. We're working with the granting agency to get to the point where we can put that out to bid. Special water projects as part of the reverse osmosis treatment plant project.
We need to drill a deep ejection well for the concentrate from the reverse osmosis project. Uh part of this was just pure timing. We had the funding to start the project and there are very few rigs in the state that actually drill deep injection wells and the contractor
that we were working with had one available. So we have been working on this project a little over a year already and it should be completed sometime midsummer. We'll have to do some testing and hopefully it'll be online by the end of the year.
Wastewater projects. We are also building a new wastewater treatment plant. We are much uh farther ahead on that than the water plant. If you look at some of the pictures, you know, we've actually got tanks coming out of the ground. We're rehabbing the uh reuse plant as well, so that we'll be
able to provide reuse plant to the uh village in the future. And that one picture, that spaghetti is all of the conduit for the controls for the administration building for the wastewater treatment plant. There's actually 109 pieces of conduit in that
building, which is a a weird number, but I just thought I'd point it out because it it took a lot from the contractor to do that and do it right. Hopefully, we'll be pouring the floor soon and actually building a building and getting close to having this treatment plant operating, which the scheduled
completion is summertime. And that is it for my presentation. Do you have any questions, >> Mr. Caps? >> Yes, Mr. Nolan. Um, [clears throat] my question is about the water plant project and the RORO plant that you're
putting in, reverse osmosis. [cough] [clears throat] I was curious about what creates the need for an RORO plant and how expensive is it to construct them and to maintain them? Um, I know that
SMRU has one for to service uh the water needs of the southern part of the county. I'm not sure if there are any other RORO plants in Martin County, but uh what about those issues? Uh what creates the need and how expensive to
construct and maintain? >> Uh RORO is reverse osmosis. Presently we have surficial wells in the village of Indiantown. uh surficial walls are more apt to be contaminated or can be contaminated because they're what it is what it sounds like surficial.
They're only about 130 ft deep. It uh looking at future planning, it is much safer for the water system to go to Florida wells which are much deeper. So the chance of them being contaminated is much less. You actually do have a reverse osmosis plant in the city of
Stewart. uh there's a lot going on there because of POS contamination. So when you're building a you know the next water treatment plant that was a thought is future contamination it also they called it it's an
alternative water source if you talk to the South Florida Water Management District. So again it's less chance of contamination. So to build these Florida wells you need to treat it. That would be the reverse osmosis treatment process because the Florida water is brackish. So, it's a different treatment process.
Our estimates right now are about $60 million to build that plant. We haven't figured out what it's going to cost to operate it yet. That is part of our planning so that we have an on andm schedule and a staffing plan. It's definitely going to be more than what it costs to run this official plant that we
presently have. So, that is part of our our planning process is exactly that. Figure out what it's going to take to build it, which we're pretty close. We're still seeking funding. It was every topic that we talk about and this is not just our municipality. We're
always looking for funding. We're almost there with the reverse osmosis treatment plant and uh you know the next step will be definitely O andM because it one thing I do know is it's going to be a lot more expensive than the plant that we're operating today. It's going to take more staff and it's just a more
advanced process. >> Thank you. To his point in the city as we found that wells were contaminated. you do have that level of redundancy. You are pulling from from Flidian. And if you need to turn off wells, you can pull from Roro. And in terms of cost
savings, as long as you're not pulling exclusively from RORO, you can do some sort of blend where it helps with cost savings for maintenance, but it does add that level of redundancy. God forbid there's new contaminants that pop up. You're pulling from what should be clean water other than it being brackish.
Um, other questions? Okay, we'll move on to development updates. We'll start with Martin County, move on to the city, and then the village of Indiantown. Miss Love Lady. >> Good morning everyone. Samantha Love Lady with Martin County Growth
Management. I have yours pulled up for you. >> [snorts] >> Okay. So, I want to go over population first because we don't normally go into it, but um in the last update that I gave
you, the estimate for the county for 2020, the projection for the county for 2025 was 166400. And the Bureau of Economic and Business Research
um provides um estimates and projections to the Florida legislature. Well, their new estimate for 2025 is a little bit lower. It's 166 281.
So, that's a drop from what they projected. And that means we had 0.87% 87% growth in for 2025. And for the calendar year January
through December of 2025, we had 666 residential units approved. And we had almost 1.5 million square ft of non-residential. And here's a look at what we've got in review. If anybody has any questions,
let me know. We have a lot of non-residential that is under review. And with that, for 2025, we issued 601 residential permits.
Does anyone have any questions? questions from Miss Love Lady. Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to the city, [clears throat] >> Miss Cougler. >> Morning. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. My name is Jody Cougler. I'm the development director with the
city of Stewart. Just go over a few projects that we do have in house. U last month we did approve a coffee rush restaurant located right by the Walmart uh next to the mattress firm. Uh it's actually 470 square ft. Um we have
in review is a Baker Road storage which is an outdoor boat storage area. and the uh Martin County Supervisor of Elections is doing an addition to their uh existing building. And then also we did receive an application for a multifamily
located at 15 Southeast Seminal Street. Um it's consist consist of eight units uh at three-story town homes and we did have uh 13 pre-application meetings within the last time that we did have uh meet with you. And this ends Stuart's uh
update. If you have any questions, please let me know. >> Questions for Miss Cougler. Okay, moving on to the village. Miss Freeman >> Indian right here.
>> Thank you teamwork. >> Good morning everybody. Dina Freeman with the Village of Indian Town Community Economic Development Director. Uh this is the February update uh for development activity of a short presentation. The non-residential projects are listed
with the ones in blue being the ones that have had changes since the last meeting. Dollar Tree was approved for a 10,000 foot commercial building. It's actually open for business as of now in the last couple of weeks. Uh Storeway, which is outdoor storage, has been completed and um had a ribbon cutting.
So they're open for business for their expansion. The other projects are what has been approved and is under um construction building permit stage which includes performance boats in uh the venture park industrial um subdivision. TA estates
which is office and warehouse grindard which is the manufacturing building facility which is um close to opening. I believe they have a a ribbon cutting in is it March or April? >> April 16. >> April April 16th. Uh RCC construction is in Venture Park.
Uh that's an approved site plan. Um they've not submitted any building permits as of yet for the 22,500 square feet. Um IT Town um Commerce Park, which is the former juice plan, has an approved site plan that is p uh pending building permit submission. Um they
received site plan approval. Um this is the Sedron Technologies for anybody that's aware of that. um in the uh proposed processing facility plan. Um we also have um I have that twice. It's only being built
once. Um Yellow Pine Trust Company is approved and um site plan under construction very close to uh CO for their building permit for uh 86,165 square ft of manufacturing of roof trusses. P3 Technologies had their
ribbon cutting a couple of weeks ago for the pump testing facility. Uh 155 1500 square feet and then the uh approved um construction of all of the ancillary equipment to test um for their business venture. Um Indian Town go-kart um
facility was still pending resubmission, but we did have a recent meeting for a private go-kart facility, shop, and office. Sky leasing is pending resubmission. That's for um truck parking and storage at Venture Park. US advanced transportation is Venture Park as well.
That's actually in for submission as of since this um this slide was prepared. And so that's under review with the development review colleagues. Uh Silverf Fox is a data processing center. We have a request in uh to reszone from heavy industrial to PUD. Um that's for
2.2 2 million square ft of industrial um which is specifically for a data processing center facility. Uh we also have venture park lot 24 outdoor storage um which is uh just had a staff report issued. We have a development review colleagues meeting
tomorrow on that with the the applicant team. This is all the residential development terago. Uh the overall master site plan was reported in previous meetings for 2488 units of that phase 1 A and 1B are under construction of site plan approval
and are under construction with building permits and the rest of that is all the different phases. River Oak uh site plan is under construction for 131 units. um they're they're actively submitting and getting approval for individual dwellings uh in
association with that rental community. Seinal crossing is approved and and again under the active building permits and constructing those single family homes. Indianwood Landing um is adjacent to Indianwood Drive and the Indianwood mobile home of community. A
pre-application has been held for 57 town homes. They've not yet submitted of their formal application. Oyola Pines's PUD was approved and limited to 40 units due to water capacity issues. They have 158 um that has been approved, but
they're at 40 able to construct 40 at this stage. Heritage Park is a change from the last joint workshop. There was an approval on the 8th of January for 71 single family homes. That is the former FEMA site uh within the village of Indiantown offered Charleston Street, um
Farm Street, and MLK. We have a plat that's in for review and we're due to issue another round of review staff report for the applicant team in the next couple of days for the plat. Um they intend to sell the lots, individual lots. JPI Indiantown is an
approved um development of 40 units. Um it's it's pending building permit submission, but development order has been issued. And we have um other applications which include Park View Apartments um that have not submitted building. Henry Ridge was a
pre-application um so no change there in terms of formal submission. And River Oak there's a phase two for 800 units that has not been submitted for site plan review and approval. And Citrus Grove is a comprehensive plan amendment uh to change the land use to um from
rural residential to suburban residential. So that go from a 2unit to 5 unit per acre. It's um we have a staff report that's been issued and pending resubmission and this is just the maps um just to provide some geographical context. The
Silver Fox data center is number one um that's shown on this map. Number two is the project parro that we're going to get into into a moment in terms of annexation and large scale comp plan amendment. It's it it's either side of the canal and southwest Canada highway. We have another annexation which is uh
called Bescar um which is 1100 and something acres annexation and a con concurrent uh land use amendment to light industrial. Uh we show you in context teraga is number four. Uh number five is the river oak residential
community and number six is that um comp plan amendment which is called citrus grove. And these are just some of the um other uh areas we list. Um Heritage Park, Indiantown Commerce Park as number two. There's number one is Teralago. Uh
we also show some of the like four is Grindhard. And as you can read, Oiola Pines number seven, eight JPI over here. And this is a zoomed in um plan that shows the Cedron Itown. Um this is the Sedron that's just been recently
approved. and the yellow pine uh which are all effective reuse of that old juice plant. Um that's a very much a heavy industrial active industrial activities in there with at least 16 plus businesses operating from there as
well as these two new site site plans approved. And this is the application for annexation comp plan amendment and resoning. We have an active application in for Bescar Investments LLC which is a voluntary annexation um that is under review and staff
reports are going to be issued in the next couple of weeks and concurrent with that we have a large scale comprehensive plan amendment uh to amend the land use uh from agricultural to light industrial and there's the location um map in relation to the existing village of
Indiantown boundary to the west is the venture park industrial site and across the street is the juice plant um we were just talking about and this is a summary of um project parrot which is a voluntary annexation for 5722.30 30 acres and this was actually approved
at village council second reading on the 12th of February. Um and that's uh to increase the boundary and add uh property owned by Florida par and light into the village of Indian town. Concurrent with that is a large scale comprehensive plan amendment when you uh
do a voluntary annexation. There is a requirement that there is a land use change to go from village of Indiantown um to sorry to go from Martin County to village of Indiantown. Um so there's a land use change from agricultural major power generation and institutional
public conservation to light industrial. Um it's actually scheduled to go before village council at the end of this month for second reading. We have received all of the uh consultation responses from third parties including Florida Commerce. Um and we're ready to prepare
that staff report and newspaper advertising is is is being done today. And there's a location map that shows in blue the area that has already been approved as of that um last village council meeting to expand the village count uh village of Indian town boundary
to include the Florida par and light um land. And that's the end of staff presentation. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you. >> Questions. >> Hey >> M clerk. >> Miss Richard, were you first
>> on the trucking? You did the um the numbers. It was like a lot. I don't know if it was 15 and 16 or 16 and 17, but one had like 2,000 and then one was like 120. Is that square footage or is that
number of parking? Go back a little bit. >> Yeah, that is actually square footage. >> 120. >> Yeah, it's just a small office. >> Okay. All right. That's fine. >> Understand? >> Okay. On the annexation and maybe you can put up a
Yeah, maybe a map of the city. And um so I I can't remember where things would be in terms of the Barley Barber swamp, but you mentioned FPL property. Is it is is that included in the city or is it
further further west of the city? >> Sorry, can you just repeat the question? >> A property that we used to have a tour out there with FPL called the Barley Barber Swamp area. that I believe that area is uh still
part of FPNL. The village boundary goes to the north. You can see where you see that large southwest Warfield Boulevard. That red line uh cutting over to the that cooling pond. Those are the village
boundaries. So, FPNL plant is uh in within the boundary of the village and I believe that would include that area. Right. >> Yes. The the barley barber swamp is within the property >> that was >> of the power plant. >> That's what that's
>> in the village. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Bridget. >> Um I've been following the data center uh pretty closely and I know in St. Lucy they're also talking about a data
center. I'm not asking you about that. But through conversations and meetings that I've been to, the concern of water and electricity to power and um support those data centers is is is of a concern
and I'm wondering if it is so in Indian Town as well. Gina, if you want, every conversation we've had with any we've had numerous individuals come in and and mention a data center, we have made it very clear they have to be self-sufficient. The village, I don't
even think Martin County can supply the level of volume that has been communicated to us. So, we make it very clear they have to be self-sufficient. Do not rely on the village. >> Thank you. >> Thank you,
>> Miss Roberts. Thank you. Um I know that the county gave the report for the Bieber um population projections and it appears that for Indian Town they're looking in the next 5 years to go up 327.
But do you guys agree with that based on the residential that you've approved? >> No, >> we never agree with the Bieber. >> No, we never agree with them and we we point that out. In fact, the mayor mentioned it to me when he saw those numbers. I mean, our projections knowing today there's probably a hundred
rooftops completed in Terraago and another maybe 50 in River Oak. Those numbers are I mean I my conversations with the builders that when they get up and running and when their sales start improving, they'll be pushing out 30 units a month.
>> So the um the 6704 for this year, is that a valid number for pop for your population? We struggle with the census, if you will, particularly knowing that there's multifamilies within residences and they're hesitant during the census period to actually get a good uh
headcount, if you will. Um, I mean, we know we know they're flawed, but how we get our arms around the exact number is a challenge. >> The school district, I think probably you would see more of that, you know, reality in the population through the
school numbers. Thank you. >> If I may. >> Yes. >> Also, the um a lot of the what go some of the what goes into the beaver projections factors in electrical accounts. And so I
would expect that once units are um hooked up and ready to go, then they'll start showing up on Beaver's calculations as well. >> Thank you, Commissioner Herd. >> Yeah, M. Clark, >> you've got your card up. You're
recognized, Miss Clark. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Um, >> but you need to have a mic because, um, >> Oh, yes. Forgive me. >> Well, thank you. Thank you. All right. Thanks. Can you hear me now? >> Okay. So um I know you don't have this
prepared but at some point if you could show us the commercial corridor in Indian town and the commercial that you have supporting the um growth like the residential growth in Teraga and so on.
I know that when I work with with the Marty system as the when transportation and working with the the TD um persons trying to come to Steuart to shop uh on the weekend and I know that you're working with Publix and other things
like that and there's some development coming along but still I'd like to see how um what you have supporting the residential so that there's some ability for people to stay and shop
within Indian Town. And we still want people to come to other parts of Martin County and to go to anywhere they want to shop, but at least to know that there's um something there supporting the the large residential growth. >> Thank you. We do Teralago has commercial
development that's approved as a se separate phase um that will be underway um at some point in the future and and they are looking to accommodate a publics um it's all about rooftops and demand and supply is a lot based a lot of the retail that's going to come into
Indiantown is going to be as those um projects that are approved are implemented um we're very much encouraging um any preapps anybody coming in pre preapp um to identify and show them where the commercial areas are to encourage people. We're getting a lot
more inquiries as we're getting a lot more um of the site plans being built as building permits. So there's a lot more interest in in Indian town and we're really um passionate about trying to encourage commercial so that the population the existing population and
new populations have access to commercial without having to travel 30 to 40 minutes outside of Indian town for some of the basic basic commodities and health care access to health care. So that's something that we're all staff are very much um trying to encourage in
Indian town. >> Thanks. May I have a qu ask a question with regard to transportation? And again, I'm just putting this out there. It doesn't have to be answered today. And I know that the MO does a transportation, but with um Warfield
Boulevard being a major, you know, the whole 710 being a big cross from Palm Beach County to Okchobee County and uh the accident rate, I don't know. Maybe that's one thing, Mr. Nolan Orvis, you can tell us about the accident rate in
Indian Town now. What's going on for the past year? Maybe that'll be helpful. Just let us see what's going on out there. But um I just know that um we've had is issues with the accident rate out in Indian Town in 710 and I'm wondering
what the planning is with the DOT and again it's an MO type issue to have you know to change the roadway to make that somewhat um calmer although we know that it's major truck traffic going through
there but uh some ways to to develop up uh in that whole boulevard area to to create some some I kind of traffic um pattern in in the in the city in the main part of the city where we can avoid
some issues but I don't know what your talks are with with the um DOT and what the MO has been planning with regard to that air but I just know that it's a major major through traffic area with truck accidents within that whole 710 um
corridor. >> Don't know if the mayor wants to answer >> uh two things. Um on your first comment, I meet almost daily with prospective uh business owners [snorts] that want to
come to Indian Town. Our biggest challenge is providing water at this point. Once we get our water volume up and once we get our water plant built, I think you're going to see
great growth in commercial businesses in Indian Town. That's what's holding us back. That's what was holding us back from selling our 5 acre lot on Warfield Boulevard. uh several buyers wanted to buy it, but
nobody wanted to put up $3.5 million and sit on it for two years. So, we've kind of gotten around that and we have an offer and a pending deal on on the lot. So, as as the water plant as our the
repairs that are being done to the water plant now to produce more water happen, we'll be able to allocate more water and maybe start taking in some businesses. But once that reverse osmosis plant is done, it you're going to see everything from dry cleaners to
restaurants. Um, as far as Warfield Boulevard, I do sit on the MO with Sean and Christopher and uh that project is funded. I had a conversation earlier with Mr. Donaldson
and he can probably tell you he spoke to uh DOT and they're going to try and move that project up. Uh, a lot of what's holding the project up is is property purchases. for the right away and I and
the village will be willing to help in that process in any way. So, we need to get that done because it is a death trap and I've said this a thousand times before. I've picked up my shares of bodies off those roads and I don't care to do that and I didn't want to see it. So, uh, that is a big priority for
Indian Town, for the village and from Okachobee to the center of town and and and back to the school board in the traffic. As you all know, I sat on the green line. I was a deputy. I was a sergeant out in Indiantown for many,
many years, 30 years almost. And the best way to slow traffic down and everything that you're doing, everything you spoke about takes time. And that's great. But law enforcement, okay? Writing tickets, getting getting the guy cops out there to write the tickets, getting the
motorcycles out there, getting them hidden. Believe me, when you start writing tickets, not warnings and not, "Okay, slow down." No, here's your ticket. You know what a ticket cost in the school zone? You're not going to do that. People are going to start talking about it and they're going to slow down. And that's
probably the the quickest and the best thing that you can do. And I can talk to you from experience because I've had women get out of the car and jump on the hoods of their cars because they just got an $800 ticket, you know. So, um, that's what that's what I would suggest
that you all think about doing, you know, and we got great law enforcement here in Martin County on the city side and on the county side. And I'm sure if you talk to the chief and the sheriff, they'd be more than willing to help. Okay, that's all I have. >> Mr. Reid, >> good morning, Miss Freeman. Um, what was
the maximum density allowed in Indian Town with board approval >> with village? Sorry. >> Yeah. Or the village of Indian Town. >> 20 units per acre. >> 20 units. Okay. Thanks. >> So, I wanted to express as a Martin County resident. I'll point this this
way more than that way. Um, my concerns about the AI data center. Um I I appreciate your comments on power being, you know, within but there are also concerns about water consumption. >> These types of facilities can put a huge
strain on the aquafer using I don't even know how much water per day. the these types of facilities from my understanding uh can create a lot of background noise and humming that residents might have to be exposed to
and generally for the amount of space that they occupy they don't produce many jobs. So, I as a Martin County resident, you know, I'm not and you know, I don't belong to you guys, but my hope is that we do not
have ultimately data centers in Martin County. I think that this is uh this is not the kind of thing that we should be building here. Again, my opinion for those reasons, you know, power consumption, maybe even indirect strain on the grid.
And again, I haven't looked through your applications, but these are just generally my concerns and my understanding of these things. So, in case I don't make it to that meeting, I just wanted to share as a resident my thoughts. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> All right. Seeing no other development
update questions, we'll move on to the school district update. [clears throat] [cough] Good morning. I'm Mark Cowles, one of the coordinators of the Martin County School District. Alongside me is Kirsty Germaine, another coordinator within the Martin County School District. We both
work with the public information office. I'm letting Kirsty handle the tech side of things. Behind me is Mark Serest. He is the director of facilities for Martin County. It's a pleasure to be here. Want to reiterate or just follow up on something you said, Mr. Reid. You said it was an honor to um serve your constituents and and the reason being is
Martin County is a special place and I think we all should pause at times. I know we may not agree on everything. Um this not a political statement. This is not an endorsement from the Martin County School District or our superintendent or anybody at the table. But I think we do need to pause at times and realize what a great community we live in. It's made up of a lot of
special people. >> All right. And with that, I will take it over. Thank you, Kirsty Germaine. Um, so we wanted to bring a snapshot of the 2025 successes within the Martin County School District. By the numbers,
uh, we served more than 2.4 million meals, helping students stay healthy, focused, and ready to learn. We had a lot more than 60 maintenance projects that were completed, improving campus safety, and protecting public
facilities. Those range from simple paint jobs to roofing to adding fencing or fixing fencing. Um, and then our transportation team logged 1.4 million safe miles, ensuring
reliable daily service for families across the county. And then, of course, we have a lot of student and academic achievement that we would like to highlight as well. Um, I'm sure everyone knows by now that the district has earned its A rating. So, we were able to start off the 2526 school year with our
A rating back. Um, within that rating, we have uh all of our schools are C or higher and notably all our middle schools earned a B or higher. In addition,
uh, our graduation rates were up across all three of our traditional high schools. Jensen Beach High School earned a 98.6%. Martin County High School earned a 96.8%. 8% and South Fork High School
earned a 94.7%. Um, that's just within our seniors. We also saw a lot of gains in our earliest learners, our youngest learners in kindergarten readiness. Uh, we in Martin County District, uh, Martin County as a
whole earned among the top four in Florida. So, we tied for fourth highest statewide. uh the readiness rates increased from 48% to 52% exceeding the state average
of 44% and these gains reflect strong VPK programs across Martin County not just within the Martin County school district. So we have to give a shout out to our early learning partners across the district across the county. National recognition we had several high schools
earn uh recognition from the US News World and Report. Jensen Beach High School ranks number 133 in Florida, top 11% nationally. Martin County High School ranks 230 in Florida, top 16%
nationally. And South Fork High School ranks 314 in Florida, top 24% nationally. Um, some other academic achievements of course are in our sports, but it's not just on the field, it's off the field, in the classroom.
Our athletes are very academically rigorous as well. Um, in 2024 2025 season, Southwork High School took first place in class 5A for the third consecutive year. Jensen Beach High
School earned third place in class 5A and Martin County High School placed in the top 10 in class 6A. Um, also this year we were focusing on systemic improvement and fiscal stewardship. This
is not business as usual. This is intentional leadership within the Martin County School District. We just recently had um our midyear review and it highlights how the district is operating with disciplined intentional systems
focused on improvement across fiscal responsibility, academic successes and just overall operations. Um in that some of the highlights we estab in our ESC department we established a manager of
Medicaid and ESSE related services strengthening coordination across the departments. Um doing so and adding training and oversight we were able to improve billing accuracy, parental consent processes, IEPs and plans of
care. And these steps support stronger compliance and continued progress within the state accountability system. So we were able to um re get reimbursed for 2.9 million or 2.09 million in Medicaid reimbursements.
Um, and then we also in our finance department reinstate gov deal surplus auctions, expanded retrographics with built-in budget controls, and enforce three quote requirements to ensure competitive pricing overall just showing
our fiscal responsibility to our taxpayers. >> You can cough now. [laughter] She Kirsty's been battling the flu. She's a real trooper. Um, she's recovered now. At least I hope she is since we're this close proximity to one another. But she got through that whole thing when she was going you you might have to bail me
out because I might be coughing. I wanted to reiterate because athletics is a huge passion of mine. Um going back to talking about the uh Florida High School Athletic Association academic team champion awards and what a prestigious honor that is for our high schools to to
do that. South Fork three times, three years in a row, number one in the state. And it's just, it's not like they're they're just good in in academics. They're these are programs that are producing district and regional champion. So, they're they're good on and off the field as well. We're off to
a great start here in the fall. We have uh 30 programs that were um eligible. 28 of the 30 were 3.0 or higher. That's the threshold. And of the two that didn't make it, one team just didn't have the required number of participants. They were one short, but they were well above
the 3.0. And the other that fell just short was at 2.93. So it wasn't like they were that far off. We probably should have just cut one more kid with a 2.0 GPA. And then all 30 would have would have done it. And our high schools, uh, Jensen Beach got their A back. Our other two high schools were
less than a point from each from achieving their A. We would have had all three. We think it was the um the French figure skating judges that were involved in the scoring. If you've been watching the Olympics, you know what I'm talking about right there. Um but we uh we appealed and I think it went to them because they denied our appeal, but
we're we're well well on our way. Uh Kirsty mentioned it. We're we're talking about stepping out of the status quo. We talk very much about a shift in the way we operate school sites and our our families are not only our partners, but they're our customers and we have to
listen to their needs. So, there's some operational things that we're doing and making sure we're listening to their choice, their feedback. It's important. It's it's a collaborative effort. We got this A rating back because of the hard work of our teachers, obviously, our
school site administration and staff, our district leadership, schoolboard, superintendent, everybody involved. But we know that it's a it's that's a community grade as well. And we all should be very proud that we're back at that A rating. Stepping out of the status quo means providing our famil family's choice.
It's recruiting from outside of our area, opening up our schools beyond our borders. Uh we have a very aggressive choice program in order to try to get more students into our schools and uh get that FTE funding.
Uh we're not talking about closing or shutting down or or or you know neighborhood schools. We we know the importance of that. It's about expanding the opportunity that we have, maximizing the public education access for all of our today's families. You know, it's about accountability. Um,
again, we hold ourselves to very high standards. We know our community holds ourselves to very high standards as well, and we want to meet those. We talk about being number one, and that should be the goal across the board. Our our graduation rates are incredible, but until we get 100% across the board, we're not quite where we need to be. Uh
we it's great to be top 10, top five, top three, but unless you're number one, um you're falling short of that ultimate goal. And that's I think in everything in life. I come from a huge athletic background. If you're not competing for the state championship, national championship, Super Bowl, or World
Series, if you're not getting there, you can celebrate all of the accomplishments along the way, but you fell short of the ultimate goal. And the ultimate goal is to make us the number one school district in Martin County. Um there was mention at a school board meeting about looking at opportunities of changing up
some of the operational things we do like going to a K8 model. Want to reiterate again we are in the very early stages of just looking at that type of planning and what it involves. It goes back to being um fiscal stewards of taxpayer dollars making sure we're maximizing every cent that we get. Um
you know it's not unlike what we do probably daily, weekly, monthly, annually. You know, every Thursday, I don't want to endorse a certain uh local grocery store, but I go on the app for their BOGO specials. It's exciting. Uh when I see muffins and peanut butter, BOGO. It's a great day in the Cow's
household when that happens. But it's really looking at opportunities and what makes the most sense for us as a school district to one offer what our families are looking for and two using the money wisely. So, I think at um that point we're going
to turn things over to Mr. Serest to talk about some projects. >> Can I ask a question before Mrs. >> Thank you. >> I thought we did such a thorough job there wouldn't be any questions, but go ahead. >> Is this just a long list of things that you can look at? When you referred the
um 2.4 million meals, uh is that the entire meal or is that free and reduced lunch? And if if not, if you could give us the free and reduced lunch um amount at a at another presentation and what is
behind that? What does the face of a family looks like in Martin County that's waiting to see those BOGO special? So, what's the average income? How many um what's the percentage of students who are getting free and
reduced lunch per school? And which schools are getting the highest number of free and reduced lunch? That's a question. The [clears throat] other thing, and I'm putting all these out for the school board, homeless teenagers.
I've had calls from nonprofit organizations who are telling me that there are young men and others who are homeless. I know that the city of Stewart, we've had families, they weren't necessarily homeless. say we're
living on boats in in some of our dock facilities within the city of Stewart, but um we've had people who are homeless, young people, their counselors at the school are asking um nonprofit groups to help them. And so I'm trying
to figure out if the school has anything within that counseling. You're getting reimbursement for um [clears throat] uh ESC reimbursement for those children who are being taught a certain way and whatever that Medicaid reimbursement
comes in. Is there something that the schools can hook into with the state to figure out how they can help these students who may need to live someplace for a few nights or whatever is going on? I know that Martin County in general
doesn't have a homeless shelter and have abilities except for what the sheriff does. Sometime they may allow somebody to stay in a a hotel or something. But it seems like we're having more and more teenagers who are homeless and we need
to look at this as a community. So, I'm just putting that out because these are schoolage children that have been brought up to me and they're needing help and not just with a roof over their head, but also possibly with lunch and other things. And to add to that, I have
a third thing for the school board is that we are going up in our I guess our ranking our ranking and our percentiles of where our different schools stand. But at the same time, I'm
hearing that there's a great deal of issue going on with reading levels and that there's a chronic issue within certain um I guess student populations
that have chronic reading issue problems. And there are more and more uh community groups that are popping up to help with reading levels at the school. And I just want to know how we can work with that and what are the actual
numbers when we can if you could even just provide a report or prospect us that shows what the breakdown is on these reading levels when these students are taking these tests. I would really appreciate that. I I like the fact that
we're, you know, 234 in the state or the national, but I would um very much like to know what's going on at our local schools. And if I know that I used to work with Dr. Tracy Miller and um she would give some
information. So, if we can see that information or at least if you send it to me, I'd appreciate it just so that I can know what's going on with these schools and where the failures are happening and how I can recruit parents and friends to come out and help um at
these schools that need help. >> Thank you. Those are great questions and thank you for your support as well. The the meal question, I'll address that first. That is total number of meals that we have served. Yeah. You think I can see that? I'm like, "Oh, that is like holding it up.
Some glasses." Um, and then for as far as like some of our struggling schools on the slide that's currently up there, we've identified working with the state six schools. They just happen to be our C-rated schools at the elementary level. They get um enhanced reading support um through programs and that is one of the
areas that we've addressed as well. And then I think you had regarding the homeless thing um the homeless situation that we have. I do know that our counselors work with a lot of the agencies that you referred to when students are identified and getting some sort of support. And Dr. Miller is here
today. I don't know if she had anything she wanted to add. >> We'll allow the chair. >> Okay. Go ahead. We're going to go over to uh Miss Powers. Is that like I think I broke protocol there. I'm sorry. You probably should call in that. >> Thanks. I wanted to address a couple of things that um Commissioner Clark
brought up. As far as lunches go for for a homeless student or any student, there is never a student that goes hungry because they can't afford a lunch. Um we just had an wonderful presentation by our food and nutrition services. And
there will never be a child that leaves a the lunchroom that wanted a lunch or needed a lunch. Money is never an object. free and reduced. If there's free, >> it's not even if they're not on free and reduced lunch and they don't have lunch money that day, they will receive a
lunch. Um there is never a child that leaves school that doesn't get a lunch provided by the school district regardless of the cost. Um homeless students specifically, I know that our um our counselors work diligently with
the homeless families. um they are provided transportation. So it may be if they are temporarily homeless and they go to a certain school that's outside of their zone, there is transportation involved and there's protocol for us to
support that child and that family. Um reading levels, I think that um the data is readily available on the Florida Department of Education's website for every school in Martin County. Um, but I think specifically to the school
district's credit, um, especially at our lower performing schools, which many times are title one schools because we're dealing with a significant population of English language learners. So, you will see we have a lot of resources in those schools to support
families and our afterchool programming as well. Um, we partner with many not forprofits like uh the Boys and Girls Club. um that really support our students and it's very literacy focused and we will continue that. We have great
partnerships with uh many not forprofits and we're also supported by the children's services council the United Way who are really focused on that literacy piece um and free and reduced lunch. I mean we can provide numbers by
school to you. I would probably ask Dr. Miller to reach out to you individually. Um and you will see that majority of our free and uh the highest number of free and reduced lunches are at our title one schools naturally. So um that's just
based on um uh title one is takes into consideration poverty as well. >> How many of those title one schools do you have? >> Oh gosh, we have um six. >> Six. >> Six elementary. Mhm.
And we have Indian I know we have Indiantown Middle and >> nine total. >> Six elementary, three middle. >> Yeah. >> In addition to the free and reduced lunch. So we have eight schools right now within the Martin County School
District that receive meals at no cost. They're on they're eligible through the um community eligible provision through that's through uh federal I believe that's federal. Yeah, the C. So at those eight sites, every student at those
eight sites receive a meal at no cost and that's breakfast included. So breakfast and lunch and our our overall freeuse percentage rate is in the low 50s across the district.
>> Mr. Reid. >> Yes. So I had a question on the the A rating for the high schools and the appeal process. Uh when it comes to ratings, is it done from the state? And do they come in? Do they base it off just data? Is it opinion based where they're doing assessments by people from
the state coming in and observing things? And why was it appealed? Just I was just curious on the entire process. >> Yeah, a lot of it comes from the assessments that are giving annually as well as learning gains and some other factors. Um how uh certain um
subsections of students how they're performing as well. The state goes in and gives a rating. Our assessment and accountability department goes through and looks at the results and they come up with what they think it should be as well. And if there's a discrepancy, there's an appeal process that takes place. >> So like an assessor from the state would
come in and they have their checklist, I guess. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thanks. >> So I just wanted to say it sounds like you guys really are doing a great job. You've got it going on. So um Mr. Owls. >> Owls.
>> Owls. >> Owls. >> Owls. >> A C. >> Cows. >> Owls. >> Owls. >> This guy's great. Listen, can I can we poach him? We need We're We're interviewing for manager. No. >> Okay. >> Oh, fine.
>> At the risk of rocking the boat, which I tried never to do. Um, >> we'll talk after. No, I'm just I'm kidding. I'm kidding. >> I just want to say it what a difference a conservative thoroughly conservative school board makes. So that's my rock the boat comment, but okay. Are there
any other questions? >> We have uh Mr. Serest to wrap us up here. >> Yes, sir. >> And good morning. Tracy Miller, deputy superintendent, and I have the honor of introducing Mr. Secret, our director of facilities and planning.
So, good morning everyone. Mark Se, director of facilities and planning, Martin Scott, Martin County School District. Um, I bring this plan up because if you haven't been here before, this is our plan of the district and the county where all of our facilities are, where the charter schools are located, and where the district buildings are located. So, you can kind of see where
the um actual buildings are located and the school sites. And it's basically where the population is. So, just so you understand what that map shows. So, some exciting news for you guys. This will be the last time Steuart Middle School is presented. It's at a 99% completion level. We are doing the
final pay application reconciliation and we are going through the closeout process which means we get all the documentation from the contractor. Once all that's submitted to me, then it'll go to a board agenda item for final payup approval. But this also does a dualpurpose slide. If you look at where
my mouse is, this cursor, this building here, you will actually see replicated at the Murray Middle School project, which I'm going to talk about next. Um, the only difference is we did some combination with the building at Murray Middle. So, you will see this part in the front and then Murray Middle actually grows in the back of the
building now. But just to give you a recap of this project since you'll no longer see it, um, we create a new playfield. We create an ice plant storage plant. Just so everybody understands, about 80% of the campus is now running off as ice storage, which means it burns ice during
the day to cool the buildings and it creates um it burns the energy during the night during less peak hours to rebuild the ice for every day. So now we have approximately 80% of the campus on that. And then moving forward as we get some of these older buildings coming
down, we're talking in the 10 to 20 year mark. Um when we replace some of the class classroom buildings, they will will be connected to the new energy plant, but that's fully running now. Um exciting news, the gym's done. So now the gym's connected to this plant. The music building and band building is
connected to this plant. Building 10 is a new cafeteria building with the multi-purpose room and kitchen. And then the new building number one, which has the media center on the second floor and and the admin on the first floor. Um, again, the old building one used to sit
right here in this grass and go clear out in almost to almost to Georgia. So, when we took that building down, we were able to to basically double the car line and double the parking at Steuart Middle School. So, that's it for that project. Unless you have any questions, I'll move to Murray Middle. [clears throat]
>> Seeing no questions. >> So, some exciting news with Murray Middle. I want to kind of clarify what you're looking at. Um because of safety and security, I can't present floor plans at a public meeting because it may give information to people we don't want
to have the information. So essentially what you're seeing that part of the building right there where my mouse is will look similar to Steuart Middle School. And then essentially what we did is we added classroom and labs. And then this this little rectangle here will be the new band and coral room that was
destroyed during Milton. So all that now is one building that is two stories. We're going to have um an art lab on this corner and an egg lab on this corner. And then everything in red is going to be demolished. So the current building, admin building, and media is going to be demolished here. Um and
there's actually a media center, the media center is actually located in building number nine. But so number nine, 10 and 18 will be demolished. And then this whole parking area will be redirected and reconfigured so that we get a longer car line and longer parking. We are currently done with a
schematic design review. um the week of March 4th, we will get the design development uh plans which for you guys means um I will receive 80% construction documents. So at that point you will see a majority of the details for every classroom um what the what the
elevations look like, what all the materials are, what the mechanical systems look like. Um we will do a full review from March to April. Um and then in May we we get we will get the construction documents. So that's currently where we are with Murray Middle. It's moving right on time and
right on schedule. So, I'm open for any questions at this point. >> Questions? >> Uh, just for notation purposes. Um, the sidewalks going to Mar Middle School. I know that's a county issue, but we talked about safety. So, if we
would make sure that when these things are happening that we try to work with the county to see if we can get all the as many sidewalks as we can along those uh 47th Street, 46, whatever um
in there. Thank you. >> Just want to add one thing. It's not on a slide. This Saturday at Steuart Middle, I'm glad you brought that up. At Stewart Middle School, we'll have our 2026 Black History Month celebration. It's going to showcase the talents of our schools and our school sites and students. We invite you all to come. Um,
it starts at 9:00. Doors open at 8:30. Tell them I sent you. You get in for free. Okay. I mean, it's a free event anyway, but it makes me feel important to say that. So, uh, we hope to see you out there because it's gonna be a great event. Thank you. >> Any other questions?
Okay, seeing none, are there any other um non-aggendaed questions from council members, commissioners, board members? All right, seeing none, I'm going to adjourn this meeting.