June 24th and it is 9:00 a.m. and this is the Putnham County Board of County Commissioners regular meeting. Call the meeting to order and we will have our invocation by Pastor Ricky Bobby from Trinity Baptist Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Commissioner Newold. Please stand if you're able to
do so. Will you join me in prayer? Father God, we do come before you today with gratitude for the opportunity to serve our community. Thank you for the gift of this new day and for the call to leadership and stewardship over the
people and resources of this community. God, I ask you just to grant wisdom to each commissioner here today. May every decision made reflect justice, compassion in the common good. Give clarity and deliberation, humility and leadership, and unity and purpose. Father, we just ask you for your
guidance over the discussions ahead. Maybe May may may they be marked with integrity, cooperation, and a deep concern for those we represent. Strengthen us to act with courage where it's needed and with patience and understanding where we must grow. We remember those in our county who are in
need, the vulnerable, the struggling, and the unheard. May our work always honor their dignity and strive to make this place flourish. For it's in your holy and precious name that I pray. Amen. Amen. Please join me in the pledgece
to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. As a reminder, please silence your phones. All right, commissioners.
Approval of the minutes. Madam Chair, I move approval of the minutes of the regular meeting May 27th. That's in our packet. Second that. All right, we have a motion, a second. All in favor say I. I. All right, moving into presentations. We'll start with Mr. Gerald Donnelly
from the VFW um regarding Sheriff of the Year. That's been added to our packet. Good morning, gentlemen. Morning. I want to thank you for uh adding us to this morning. Absolutely. We uh we want to
honor uh the sheriff of the year. I want to thank all the sheriffs for the uh outstanding job they do in the community and through the county. I think uh we have a great leadership and uh we're going to do a presentation today to
honor one of their fellow sheriffs. And uh Gerald Schol is going to read the uh comment and who the sheriff is. Morning, Mr. Scher. Uh, good morning, commissioners. It's a pleasure to be
here. Uh, this award is going to go to Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Kalin. Jeffrey Kalin started with the Putham County Sheriff's Office in 2023. He brought with him prior law
enforcement experience, having served part-time and full-time with the Lyon County Sheriff's Office from 2016 to 2023. Last year, he was one of the four deputies to receive a life-saving award for actions above the call of duty and
saving the life of a child who drowned in a residential pool. The child was successfully resuscitated and made a full recovery. Deputy Kalin's supervisors describe him as proactive and a hard worker who loves
serving the community. He was recently accepted as a field training officer where he will be imparting his knowledge and experience on our next generation of deputies. It's going to be our pleasure to present this award to Deputy Sheriff Kalin. Come
on up, sir. [Applause] of this certificate of appreciation and
plaque is awarded to Deputy Jeffrey Kalin in grateful recognition of unyielding adherence to the highest ideals of law enforcement in maintaining, preserving, and protecting the lawful rights of citizens.
Wow. Good job, sir. Good job. Thank you very much. Sheriff, did you want to say anything? Absolutely. I see you're standing there. Thank you, gentlemen, for those kind words. It's a pleasure to be here with you today and to be able to honor Jeff.
He's uh he's certainly an asset to us and is a a bright shining uh young star uh that sets an example daily for all of the rest of our employees to follow. And it's a pleasure to be here today and to be able to honor him. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Y'all want to come up and get a picture? Congratulations. You're taller than me. I got a haircut. I did. Come on. I got I got one more. Congratulations. [Applause]
I know. That's not usually. He got you, Matt. Oh, I know. All of them. You stepped down. I said, "Oh, yeah." All right. Thank you. Next, we have UFAS for the Rural Community Health Activities in Putnham County. Is the
presenter here for that? All right. Yeah. Um, come on up. It looks like it. We had to switch gears. Our rural community health agent is uh in the middle of a summer camp. Oh, my apologies. I just wanted to let
y'all know we have six multi-day summer camps going on and I brought Laney Tilton to share a little bit about our camp last week. It was a success. A tremendous success. Did y'all get to see this? Yes. Front page of the paper.
Yeah. It was awesome, guys. It was really awesome. We are so appreciative to Florida Power and Light who donated $1,000 so that we could get new beekeepers in Putnham County. Who doesn't need more bees? That's right.
Who doesn't need more bees? You do. I wanted to give Laney a chance to just share with you her experience. Um and and what she enjoyed most about the camp and maybe just her reflections. She's uh Laney Tilton. She's 11 years old. She was one of the youngest ones in our
camp. We didn't want to let 11 year olds in, but once we realized we had some maturity at 11 years old, we said, "Let's open that up." It was um a very fun experience. We got to go to Revel's Farms and go collect
pine straw to go light smokers. Um and we got to go pick potatoes. That's right. Because the bees uh pollinate the potato plants. And the second day, we got to go to Tilton Honey
Farms and we got to go get the 4 hives and collect the boxes so that we could extract honey. Um, and then the third day was actually pretty calm. We didn't have any field trips, but we did get to
paint boxes and learn more about bees. It was um a great experience for the kids that um haven't really been around bees much that weren't really interested. They got to learn more about bees and do stuff with them. Yeah, I
agree. We had one we we auctioned off, didn't really auction, we had a lottery at the end because with the thousand dollars we were able to buy bee supplies, but we also bought two full hives like with nukes and queens and everything. And uh and the two kids that
won had never had any exposure to bees until the camp, right? And was Annie. Annie, was it her name? Annie. Annie and Hayden. Annie and Hayden. Yeah. And Annie was just like jumping up and down like she was so excited when she won.
So, it was really great to see the passion of these kids. And you know, as the extension agent here, all I hear from my farmers is you've got to invest in the next generation. If you are not investing in the next generation, we are not going to have farmers. Right, J.R.?
That's all I hear from all my farmers. So, I call Larry Corn. I'm like, we got to go dig potatoes. He says, "Well, I got one field left." So, all the kids were out there digging potatoes by hand and going home to eat potatoes. I assume
y'all did. and and uh I said, "How are potatoes related to bees?" And uh of course they came up with a good answer. So anyway, we're excited about the camps. We're excited that Ephas has the opportunity to do that. We're we love Trisha Murphy. She came every single day and put this on the paper for us. And
just to let you know, Ann Atkins, our beekeeping club, she was really the the heart of the camp because she's the one with all the knowledge. She called the Florida State Bee Association, sent them this article, and they said, "Next
year's camp, we will support five hives." All right. Not just two. And then Ann said, "Well, we think the local bee club will match that." So, all 10 kids will get their own hives next year. So, anyway, we just wanted to share that good news and thank you guys for your
support and uh thought that that might put a smile on your face. Wendy, such a great program. You guys are doing such an awesome job over there and the with the 4H camps. I know one time one of my granddaughters went, she learned how to sew. They had a sewing camp and uh so many life skills that can be taught. You
guys are teaching to our next generation. So, thank you for doing that. Thank you, Leo. Madam Chair. Yes, sir. If I may add a little bit, I happen to be at the a center on I think the Wednesday or whatever that they were doing the the B Friday. I think you came. We were painting boxes. They took
me to be school. Okay. I uh I learned um that Wendy is the queen bee and uh I watched them how they they taught me how they extracted the honey from the cones and that and they were decorating their new hives. It was very interesting and very educational. I I commend them and I
think that was the kids were having a great time too. They were really having fun painting and and doing the boxes. But um it's an interesting process. Um I commend those that can do it because I'm allergic not allergic to the honey but I'm allergic to the bee. It was a very interesting process and and I applaud
you and I, you know, want you to see that go on successful and congratulations on your uh money for next year. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Laney, for coming up and speaking. You did a great job. [Applause]
Next, we have Mark Linton from the Putnham County Chamber of Commerce giving us our economic development report for quarter two of 2025. Welcome, Mark. Thank you, Commissioner Wilkinson. Good morning, everybody. Clerk Reynolds and Commissioner staff.
Uh it's a pleasure to be here um to give you a report for April through June of 2025 or quarter 2. Uh we're currently working with 18 clients or projects that are interested in either uh bringing a a
new facility here or an existing local company who's looking to expand their operations. of the 18 uh eight came through the confidential uh lead system via Florida Commerce, Jax USA, FPL, all of our
partners, NFDP, um Ador organic, and two are local existing companies. When you add up all those projects, if they come to fruition, that would each and every one of them, which probably
won't happen, but there over 4,000 jobs and over $2.3 billion of new capital investment that would come to Putham County. There was also uh I reviewed six other requests for information that came from Florida Commerce and and the other
partners, but we were ineligible and couldn't um accommodate those projects either. no available existing buildings in the square footage size they want or lack of infrastructure. Uh we continue to do our um local
retention expansion visits and meetings with local businesses to to at least gauge their pulse and see what they're thinking. Are there any barriers that we can uh break down to help them grow, hire new people, invest new money? Uh things we'd like to see.
Um we did have an announced project this quarter and on April 29th um George Pacific the paper mill out here in Palatka uh will invest $83 million to construct a new 400,000 square foot
automated warehouse distribution center on site and that will result in 20 to 25 new uh jobs that are not here today. some other activities. Uh you've heard me say this before at some of the U PCEDC lunchons. Uh the Florida scorecard
named Putnham County as a number one county for job growth. In 2024, we had a 4.1% growth rate last year, which was no other county in the state was over 4%. To give you some comparison, St. John's
County was at 1.2%, Clay was 1.1, Bradford was 0.2, 2 and Elatcha was 1.1 and we were at 4.1. So, a lot of new jobs and I think a lot of that has to do with the momentum we created through the Elevate Putham County program. People were on the map. People are looking to
invest money into Putinham County. Um we hosted our second quarterly PCEDC lunchon uh June 12th. I believe we had 70 folks attend. Um we also um hosted two Elevate Putnham investor advisory
council meetings in April and June. Uh we continue to meet with the city of Palaka in support of waste water and water infrastructure solutions. Um we had a meeting I forget it was earlier this month um to talk about those those
issues. Um, and then we've continued to host the Putnham Chamber Workforce Development Task Force Committee, uh, which brings together all local educational training providers, the college, the school district, Career Source, um, Jax USA, and then all of our
major employers in the county. They're all in one room talking about ways to find talent, attract talent, and and fill jobs that they have available. So that is um my report for the quarter. Um
I just want to say it's my last report that I'll be giving you. Um it's been a pleasure to get to know each and every one of you and become friends as well as professional colleagues. And um the good part is I I won't be moving in anytime
soon. So you'll still see me around. And if there's anything I can ever do for any of you, please cell phone will stay the same. Just give me a call. Thank Are there are there any questions for the presenter? Mark, thank you for your um leadership in the economic development world for Putnham County. It certainly has
improved since you've been here and uh we greatly appreciate all your efforts that you put in and you will you will be missed. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Lori Parker from human resources for employee of the month.
Good morning. Good morning. We received nominations and the employee of the month is awarded to Lee Duran. All of you know Lee and she's been here for quite some time. Oh, here comes our family. Here we go. Yay, Lee.
[Applause] Commissioners, thank you again for this opportunity for us to highlight some of our wonderful staff. Most of you know Miss Lee, so this one is not unbeknownst to you. Um, but what you all can agree with me on is Miss Lee is the one in the office that does anything and
everything. Um, she's the problem solver, the one with the smile on her face, the one we can fix it, we'll figure it out. Um, she's always willing to go above and beyond for all of our divisions and all of our people and for you guys and staff citizens, it doesn't matter. Miss Lee's one of those all-around people that we just all know
we can go to and she's always willing to help and um we appreciate that greatly. So, thank you. With her today is Miss Ruby and her husband Doug. Um the boys were not here today, but we hope that they are watching and seeing pictures for sure. Do you want to say anything? I
just want to say thank you and thank you for those kind words and being in procurement, I get to work with all of our departments and we really make a great team and we have really something special here at the county and I really appreciate this. Very good. Well, you're part of that.
Congratulations. We're good. They are standing up here. We'll be good. Congratulations. We really do. She really is. Go to her any
I ain't never f I got that. She does. All right. Moving into our planning and development public hearing meeting. Reszone of Putnham Habitat for Humanity Ordinance number 2025-016 Computer's not responding. Just one
moment, please. It's okay. All right. Uh, for the record, Michael Graves, Planning and Development Services. This is, as you mentioned, reszone 25-0000005, uh, for the Putinham Habitat for Humanity. Uh the Putham County Habitat for
Humanity is requesting a zoning map amendment from commercial neighborhood C1 to resident and residential 1A to commercial retail C2 on a 1.21 acre property located at 210 South Palm Avenue in Palaca to allow for the
development of a secondhand store and office. Uh surrounding zonings include residential and retail commercial. Uh the subject site has a future land use designation of urban service and has approximately 200 feet of access on South Palm Avenue. According to the
National Wetlands Lair and the FEMA flood zone layer, the GIS reference map, lands do not appear to contain any wetlands and is located in FEMA flood zone X, which is not a special flood hazard area. Uh should the applicant's request be approved, the applicant will then be subject to review by the development
review committee before obtaining any permits for development on this property compatible with the C2 zoning district. Here you can see the aerial of the property. Uh if you notice the uh grayish packet, sir, uh if you notice the grayish area, that
is actually the city of Palaca as this is right against the B boundary. Uh here is the future land use. Again, the light gray is the city of Palaca. The zoning, you can see the split running down the side of it.
Uh staff makes the recommendation for approval of the res of the request to the zoning map from commercial neighborhood and residential 1A to commercial retail. uh staff finds that the proposed resoning is consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of
the adopted comprehensive plan and meets the location requirements of the commercial two uh zoning district provided in the land development code and comprehensive plan. At their planning commission meeting, the planning commission recommended unanimous approval of the same. Any
questions? Are there any questions from the board? All right, none at this time. Is the applicant here would like to speak? Hey Reikica. Okay. Is there anyone else who wants to speak in favor or against um this um
resoning? All right. Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing. Madam Chair, I'd like to move make a motion to reszone ReZ25-0000005 Putnham Habitat for Humanity Ordinance 2025-016. I'll second Mr. Harvey's motion. All
right, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Like sign. All right, motion carries unanimously. Thank you. There it is. All right. Uh, going into the consent
agenda items. Public comment on agenda items. This portion of the of the agenda is designed to allow citizens an opportunity to bring matters to the attention of the board. It is not reasonable to expect that the board will engage in debate or deliberation about matters on which the board has received no prior information as part of the
agenda. Please limit your time to three minutes. Public comment cards are conveniently placed at the meeting room entrance and should be submitted prior to the meeting to the deputy clerk who sits to the right of the p podium. This is regarding consent agenda items and new business. Um is there are there any
cards? All right. Is there anybody who wants to speak regarding consent agenda items and new business? All right. Hearing none come seeing none. Come back to the board. Madam chair, I'd like to move the consent agenda for approval items A, B, C, D, and E. I apologize. Is there any commissioner who'd like to
pull? Sorry, Commissioner um Peliser. I have nothing. Nothing to pull. I have none. All right. Thank you. All right. We have a motion on the floor. Second. All right. And we have a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. Right. New business.
Acceptance of multiple right-of-way deeds resolution 2025-041. Good morning to all. Uh we're just putting this application in front of you because we have several lot splits coming in front of us on roads that we already maintain that we don't have consistent rideway and we've asked those
new uh on the lot splits to give us the current uh to update the rideway so that we have consistent rideway along these roads and these owners have um agreed to do so. So, we're just asking the board to accept the rideways. All right, Commissioner Harvey, you have a question? I don't I have a comment.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, Mr. Stout, thank you. This is vitally important and I don't recall us doing this in the past, but this needs to be done when we see this happening. So, I I greatly appreciate it. It means a lot to our county and it's going to propel us in
the future when we see this come come to pass. Marie Chase has done a great job on making sure that when these come across her desk to start making these requests. I agree. Great. Great. Are there any comments or questions? Just want to say welcome back, Mr. Stout.
Thanks. Rough road from Puerto Rico. All right. With that, it's back to the board. Madam Chair, I'd like to move approval on the acceptance of the multiple rideaways resolution 2025-041. Second. There's a motion and a second by Commissioner Palisier. Any further
discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. All right. Motion carries unanimously. Public comment on miscellaneous items. This portion of the agenda is designed to allow citizens an opportunity to bring matters to the attention of the board. It is not reasonable expect that the board will engage in debate or deliberation about matters on which the
board has received no prior information as part of the agenda. Please limit your time to three minutes. Public comment cards are conveniently placed at the meeting room entrance. It should be submitted prior to the meeting. the deputy clerk clerk who sits to the right of the podium. All right.
All right. Let's welcome Tom Townson. Good morning, Mr. Townsen. How are you? I'm doing great. Good morning. Nice to see you. Good to see you. Good, too. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Tom Townsen and I serve as vice chair of the Putman Democratic Party. I want to thank you for your continued leadership
and dedication to the people of this community. Today I'm speaking not just as a Democrat, but as a proud member of this community, standing in solidarity with Republicans, independents, and Democrats alike because we all want the same thing, a stronger, more prosperous,
healthier Putin County. That's why I want to echo and support the message recently sent to Representative Randy Fine by the Putin County Chamber of Commerce, which clearly outlined how critical the enhanced premium tax credits have been for our community.
Since 2021, over 8,000 Puth County residents have relied on these credits to afford health insurance, many of them small business owners, gig workers, and working families. The chamber noted that 92% of our businesses have 20 or fewer employees.
and many of them depend on affordable health coverage to keep their workers and their businesses afloat. If these tax credits expire at the end of 2025, as is currently scheduled, Putnham County stands to lose an estimated 20 million in local GDP and
approximately 175 local jobs. These are not just numbers. These are nurses, medical assistants, pharmacy techs, caregivers, home care workers, and the clerks and service workers who keep our local economy running. The
chamber also points out that the average monthly premium would jump from $63 back up to $726, an increase that many simply cannot afford. And that's monthly. We in the local Democratic party are not just concerned. We're committed to
helping. And we extend our hand to the county commissioner and the Chamber of Commerce to stand united and proactive. Here are a few ways we can move forward together. Adopt a bipartisan resolution urging our federal representatives to extend the
enhanced premium tax credits. Convene a countywide economic summit bringing together business owners, community leaders, and residents to share stories and advocate in unity. Create a joint advocacy task force with the chamber, the commission, and
representatives from across the political spectrum to organize and speak with one voice. Launch a community awareness campaign that emphasizes how this issue transcends politics and touches everyone in Putton County.
Putnham County deserves leadership that works together across the aisle and I believe this commission, the Chamber of Commerce, and our broader community are ready to do just that. I want to thank you for your time and for your commitment to the people of Putin County. Please let me know if we can be
of assistance. Very good. Thank you, Mr. Townson. Are there any questions for Mr. Townson from the board? All right. I think um Thank you. You brought up a very good um issue. I think we can probably work on something like that.
Does the chamber want to speak on this? Okay. All right. Are there any other Is there anybody else who wants to speak on public comment? This is now your time. You for three minutes of Anybody else want to speak? All right. Moving on. Oh.
Oh, come on up. Yes, ma'am. You can come on up. Melissa, how are you today? I'm well. How are you? Good. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Melissa Ray. I'm the executive director of the Nehemiah Project. We are a
nonprofit that has proudly served Plunum County since 2013. For over a decade, we've been working alongside individuals and families impacted by addiction, trauma, homelessness, and mental health struggles, helping them rebuild their lives and reconnect with purpose and
community. I am here today to respectfully request $1,000 in support from the county commission to help us maintain our membership and the recovery cafe network. That's a national model of healing centered peerupported recovery.
This membership is not just symbolic. It directly qualifies us to receive a $40,000 grant to sustain our growing to sustain and grow our local recovery cafe of which we are the second recovery cafe
in the state of Florida. Our cafe provides a safe, welcoming space where people in recovery are treated with dignity and compassion. It is a place of belonging where lives are transformed through community support and accountability. We have already seen
powerful outcomes, but to continue, we must maintain our standing with the recovery cafe network. The total cost of our annual membership is $2,500. In addition to asking the county for a,000, I will also be requesting $1,000 from the city, and I am personally
committing $500 out of my own pocket because I believe that deeply in the mission and impact of this work. With your support, we can unlock the $40,000 in grant funding, a 40 to1 return in our investment, and continue providing life-changing services to the people who
need it most. Thank you for your time, for your service to our community, and for considering this request. I'd be happy to provide more details or answer any questions that you may have. Are there any questions for the presenter? All right. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Public comments. Are there any other public comments? All right. Moving into appointments. Commissioner Paliser, do you have any appointments? Uh, no, ma'am. Mr. Alexander. Yes, ma'am. I have two. Okay.
Uh, I have two nominees, excuse me, two nominations for the ZBA and those are at large positions. So, I assume we all have to vote on those. That's correct. The first candidate I would like to uh recommend will be Michael Raburn.
All right. Are there any other commissioners that are going to have atlarge appointments today for the zoning board of adjustment? Okay. What's your second one? That would be Cole Wilkinson. C O L E. Yes, ma'am. All right. We have two. Um we'll just do
them both at the same time. We have two um recommendations for atlarge appointments to the zoning board of adjustment. I'll second that. And we have second. Is there any further discussion? All right. All in favor say I. All right. Motion carries. Thank you,
commissioners. Thank you. Commissioner Newell, do you have any appointments? I do not. All right. Um Commissioner Harvey, I do not. Thank you. And I have one for the fair authority. I will reappoint Scott Tilton to represent district 2.
All right, moving forward um into uh comments. Clerk of court, Matt Reynolds. Good morning, Madam Chair and fellow commissioners. Um just want to take a quick moment now that the uh the budget has been passed by the legislature and sent up to the governor to be signed to uh take a moment to thank Senator Leak
and and Representative Sap. um they were successful in a very very difficult um legislative year to secure the county um several appropriations if they survive the veto pin. One of them being the um enterprise
u resource planning system, the ERP system upgrade. So I'm holding my breath until July 1 that hopefully the governor will uh not decide to uh to veto that. That would be a a huge improvement for the county. But um again, just wanted to take a moment to say thank both of those
gentlemen for their uh extremely hard work on behalf of Putnham County this year. So yes, sir. Thank you, Commissioner. That was all I had. All right. Very good. Um Mr. Mr. Attorney Mr. Attorney Commando. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just enjoy your time at the
Florida Association of Counties Conference. Remember to support our very own who's running for is it second vice president? The vice president. Um, I'm hearing good things about your campaign and hopefully I know you'll represent us well. Uh, last thing is I hope everybody because we won't see each other will
have a good Fourth of July. Thank you, Mr. uh, County Administrator Suggs. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just echo uh, what Mr. Commando said in support of Commissioner Harvey and his endeavor for second vice president of the Florida Association of Counties. Uh we will be
at the conference this week uh down there and also in support of Commissioner Harvey. But uh on a separate note uh I believe I emailed out yesterday or forwarded a letter uh from uh Mr. George Young who was the uh president of Babe Ruth here in Putham
County. Uh the event that happened this past weekend uh Thursday through Sunday out at your uh the park was just absolutely a huge success. Uh you saw the letters that were attached uh the folks that were uh participating in that
event from around uh our our state. I think we had eight different counties represented, 30 plus teams. You got to give credit where credit is due. Uh Mr. Young and his commissioners of that league done a phenomenal job. We were well represented. Everything that
could have went um right for us did. Uh the fields look phenomenal. A lot of good things happened out there. Mother Nature did her best not to cooperate, but then again, you got folks like Crystal Duke and and Parks and Wreck who did a phenomenal job of getting those
fields ready each day to play. Uh, Miss Young, Mr. Grimes, they all deserve a a huge amount of credit for getting those fields in in the shape that they are in and uh we should be proud. Uh, Parks and Rec did a phenomenal job and that's one of the things that we've talked about
here for a long time. You know, it's parks and recck is one of those departments probably touches more folks than anything else that we do here in Putham County and and give those kids an opportunity to participate on on turf and on new fields and new dugouts and and have their representation. I
understand each of you made an attempt if if you weren't out there, it didn't go unrecognized. Those folks are really pleased with the fact that we had as much support as we did. So, uh kudos to Miss Young and her team. Kudos to Mr. Young and his team. and uh kudos to you guys for making it happen. So, thank
y'all so much for that. All right. Thank you. Uh commissioner comments starting to my left. Commissioner Alexander, I just would like to uh wish our elder statesmen the best of luck this week and weekend. Um we're all rooting for you, Larry. We know that politics is your
passion and and this is what you live for and uh if this is the next part of your journey, we're here to support you, my friend. Thank you, sir. All right, that's it. All right. Uh, Commissioner Newold, a couple little quickies. Um, I'll uh follow up Mr.
Suggs appreciation for the the program that was pulled off the Babe Ruth tournament. That was an amazing program. Um, there's been just huge strides there made by public works, the whole county staff, Babe Ruth team. Um, that will that may be the first Babe Ruth
tournament, but it's not going to be the last. And I would love to see one of those letters published somewhere, pushed out to the public. Um, getting more people from the community aware of those would be, you know, a big deal. Um, thank you guys for for all you've
done out there. That's steps us up a notch. Um, Mr. Townsen, thank you for coming and speaking on the enhanced premium tax credit. That's a a a piece that is a little bit under the radar in the greater public. It's hard to understand,
but it's a it's a big issue. There are nonprofits within the community that are um getting letters out to representatives that are they're trying to help in that charge. Um that may not be a big deal to some of the more populous counties, but you know, that
could really hurt us here in Putham County and and we would we'd lose a lot in health care in in our area. So, getting some more awareness in the public's a good thing. Thank you for coming here today. Um, Mr. Alexander, I appreciate your efforts and and uh kind of behind the
scenes pushing on the on the um possible appropriation for that clerk. So, thank you for that. Yes, that's all I have. All right, Commissioner Palisier. Uh, pretty and pink today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, two two things. Um,
one, um, just to add on to congratulations to our United States Army celebrating their 250th anniversary last week. I watched that for several hours and really made me proud to be an American and knowing the force that we have hopefully never
needed, but knowing it's good to know it's there as some neighbors acrossing the Middle East got to find out all about that this last few days. Anyhow, um glad to know we have that kind of backup. I have a I don't know if this is a proper time to bring this up. If not, we'll move to something else. I have a u
a uh I think it's a grade three road that um I have some residents that need to u get that into county maintenance. It'll about 10 families only 310 of a mile. They just want to get it graded. That's all they want. Um anyhow, I'd like to it's over in San area, Ivy Road. Is this
the proper time to bring that forward? I mean, we can have we start the discussion. and he got started at some point. It's uh this road is um kind of straight across from the ice cream factory, the little place there on the right where the train car is uh on the
corner by the Samontia. I think it's Baptist Church maybe or maybe not Baptist, maybe it's Dun Creek B. I'm not sure the name of it, but it's on the corner of 17 and the Baptist church there. And like I said, 3/10en of a mile about 10 residences down there and they just want to get in the grading system. So it's a it's currently a class three.
Yes, ma'am. And that's completely privately owned. Um, need to double check that. Okay. I think I think that's what comes into into question is um the there seem to be a problem with all the calls I've gotten that they want to sign over. So, but I
can follow up with that. So, if I'm following you correctly, what you're proposing is that we start looking at class three roads and bringing them into to particular this if if you can get them ownership. Sure. Sure. I mean, just a grading issue. It's not I don't think it's a huge expense. Well, I think that
I think that um Have you Have you gotten the book that shows all the different roads with the different um grades? Yeah, I don't believe I have that. Okay, Mr. Stout, if you'll make sure he gets that. So, there is a county book that shows all the roads with the different grades of roads. Um I if we were I think
the hard part is we just can't do one road. Like, so if we open that door, we would have to consider all those roads. And I think it's a bigger discussion that we could have, but um and then we'd have to figure out, you know, what that cost would be. Well, my concern, you
know, other strictly the grading part, but then what if they need fire, EMS, law enforcement response, and they can't get there, that type thing. Yeah. I I don't I I don't disagree with you. I think it's just a challenge that we have as commissioners because um that's not
the only road that's like that. Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. Yep. Commissioner Harvey, you have comments? I do. our buttons aren't working. So, if anybody else has comments, please let me know. Commissioner Palisier, in the past, and I think the worst mistake I made as a commissioner was trying to take a class three road into a public system.
Everybody wanted it until they found out they couldn't drive their four-wheeler on it or something, and some people want to live on a private road. So, historically in the past, this commission has said, and correct me if I'm wrong, um, public works, that they have to bring the road up to standard.
That is correct. We have And um and some commissioners in the past have even said form an M MSBU because the county um has a lot of roads that we take care of and adding that into a system kind of overwhelms the system. Maybe 3/10
wouldn't but it would open the door for a lot. So we we need to look at that and that's I think that's good for a future discussion. No doubt about it. Uh, Miss Julianne, you're recognized. Or JR or whoever would like to speak on the subject matter. My comments aren't on
this particular topic, so I'm gonna let you, Mr. Grimes, help you finish this one. I just had a general comment. Okay. I'm sorry. Yep. We'll get back. I went back to my staff after uh we had a conversation regarding Ivy Road and just looking at some other roads um and
found um and I failed to bring it with me today. So, I will forward it to all of you. A a current policy that is in the BOCC for what Mr. Harvey just referenced, bringing it up to standard. The short of it is if they bring it up to county standard, it would uh need to
be 66 feet of rideway, the rideway cleared, the drainage installed, um the whole nine yards before the county would bring it in. And that would be at the landowner's expense that live on that road. Um which means they would need to dig the swailes, remove the trees. is if there's a garage that crosses the
rideway line, building has to be moved, all of that stuff for the 66 feet of rideaway. Something to consider. Um, it is your policy. I mean, if that policy changes, then it changes, but just so that you're aware of what's currently uh in in your policy.
Can you can you make sure that we all get copies? I will make I failed to bring it today, but I will make sure that everybody has that in their hands. And Commissioner Paliser, I guess my comments would be if you find a a path and you mean we'll we'll talk about it. There's nothing wrong with having a workshop or having a discussion about it. When I first got elected, I thought
the same thing. There was a lot of um class three roads that that people were calling about and they couldn't really have they didn't have really good access. But um I never really could find the the right path to go forward on resolving the issue. So I don't know how we do it, but I'm willing to listen.
Something to consider if we go down that road is then the extra cost um personnel, trucks, dump trucks, graders because I don't know where that would stop on how many roads that we bring in. Right. I think that's why I mentioned the book because I think what we need to look is really see how many class three
roads we have and how many miles that is because I think that could be a determining factor going moving forward in this policy. Yes, sir. I would have a different look at it if there was two houses on that road and it was half a mile long or something like that, but 3/10en of a
mile and 10 residences a little more congestion served the greater good. That was my concern. Yeah. No, you're not wrong. I mean that I've got the same thing with Bard Estate Circle. I mean, there's a probably 25 houses on that road and it's the class three and it's
very I mean, we've we've called an ambulance before and it's gotten stuck on that road. So, um I I I know where you're coming from. Oh, somebody's buttons working. Yeah. All right. The button started working. Commissioner Alexander, I have a question. You know, being new to this JT, um so if we were
to the burden goes back to the constituents of the res of that road. Now, is that something they would hire out privately or is that something the county would do and we would they would reimburse us for that and give them a cost or how does that work? Uh, I would
have them hire that out privately would be my I would do what I was requested to do. But yeah, we we I mean if depending on did ask Mr. St. I'm not sure if he's run a report yet of how many class 3 roads we have in the amount of miles. I mean it's going to be within
hundreds of miles of class 3 county roadways that are out there. Right. Sure. Um, for instance, my driveway would be considered a class 3 driveway, right? Because it's non-countymaintained. So it would be at the owner's expense. we would never be able to afford the amount of people, the equipment. So, I
mean, it should I mean, the burden should be on the owners to go out get all the rideway dedicated. They should get the swelles cleaned. They should get the roadway base put at the acceptable standard, whether it be a clay base or lime rock base or dirt or whatever we end up putting in there. That should be
at the expense of the homeowner. No, I understand. I understand 100% it's at the owner's expense, but I didn't know if we did that and they reimbursed us. we charged them a fee through MSBU or if they had to pay I got you. Yeah. I don't think I I don't think we have the equipment or the amount of personnel needed to bring these in all the I mean
because when you when we open this gate it's going to become open right and we're going to have to set who gets in who doesn't get in and that's going to be a decision that gets brought up here on a frequent basis of who gets brought who doesn't get brought you know so it's kind of a slippery slope. Yeah. Do we want to help?
Absolutely. Yeah. um is if if our fire rescue EMS tears up the road, we are able to go back in there, fix it because we caused the damage. Um but we tend to go down for fire rescue at any given moment down a lot of these class 3 roads in this county. We buy four-wheel drive
ambulances just for that reason. Uh we didn't buy in the past in 20122. I think we started buying our first four-wheel drive ambulances because these roads became populated, right, without the improvement. Yeah. Um multiple times. I mean, we sat here in the board um for a very similar situation in that St.
John's Riverside Estates. Uh the guy was I think maybe a couple hundred yards off the county maintained portion of the road was a county road, but in order for him to build, he had to bear the expense of moving the road to his to his line. Yeah, that no that that wasn't my question. I understand that the
constituents are responsible for bringing the road up to code. I just didn't know if that was something that we f basically we would finance or if they had to sub it out privately to an individual. That that was my question. Yeah. My recommendation would sub it out to the to the private sector. Okay. Mr.
Palisier, I I don't disagree with the part about the rightway and if it has trees in it and and that type thing and and I'm a little bit familiar, not super familiar with this road, but I don't think that is going to be an issue whatsoever. It's already it has some ditching to it. there are no trees that
are within that round uh bounds that you give. It's a simple grading I think on this on this particular one. I understand that they don't all fall under that criteria. I really do. But this one I think is an easy fix on that situation and that they they've whoever put the road in there for these
residents did a pretty good job. It just has no maintenance to it now. And um you know it just needs grading. But I do understand about trees and rightaways and I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. I'll make sure everybody gets the the I'd appreciate that. Commissioner Neville, is a class
three road a candidate for MSBU? Mhm. Uh yes. Okay. That but they got to come into the county maintenance. They have to they have to come into the county maintenance. Um more than Tony is it 50% of the residents,
huh? 60% of the residents have to agree plus one um on the extra cost which would be a tax on their adorum uh for the maintenance of that road. My caution on MSBUs, just for full transparency, if
we're talking about either a grading or a paving, a paving MSBU is um can be costly to the county and take away our operating dollars because if the county fronts the money for several miles of roads, that's going to add up
very quickly and that's going to cut into either operational dollars or reserves, whatever is out there. We can bond that money. Okay, Commissioner Boulder, are you done? Yes, I'm done. All right, Commissioner Alexander, just so the community knows, uh, Mr. Stout,
can you please let everyone in here know what it costs to pave one mile of road? Currently, one mile of road is averaging on our last contract, I believe it was $566,000 for one mile for dirt to pave. And so we have approximately $16 million in
reserves. So we could pay 32 miles if you wanted to zero your reserve. I just want people to understand how expensive it is. And how much? And that we are we are looking at every option, but I just want to put it in perspective. Yes, sir. Thank you. Yes,
sir. And I have over 300 miles of dirt roads in my mind. I knew you were going to bring that up. Thank you. I'll take it all. Thank you. All right. Are we good? Okay. All right. Um, any other comments? I'm good. Miss Young, you're recognized.
Thank you, chair. I just wanted to back up. Um there's been a lot of conversation positive obviously about the softball tournament that was hosted at the John Thea Bold Sports Complex and I just want to take a minute to make sure um that we publicly thank some local businesses um and individuals. Uh
we we were up against some tight timelines and Lmen Fence came to the table after you guys authorized fence replacement and they accomplished that mission. um public works with their inmate crews came out and assisted in that collaborative effort to make sure
the fences were down so that lowman could come back in and replace them. St. John's Turf Care has been working on that turf now for over a year and Riverside Builders within three weeks built all brand new dugouts and so um reaching out to our local vendors and using our local communities. They really
truly came through, not to mention a multitude of internal people. Commissioner Newold was hanging banners Wednesday evening getting everything ready. So, um, Chief Back and, um, Mr. Grimes and I were out there until 9ine Tuesday night making sure that, um,
batting cages were hung. And so, just truly a very community, um, focused, collaborative effort that was able to accomplish everything that that did come to fruition out there that weekend. Very good. Thank you. All right, Commissioner Harvey, you're recognized. Thank you,
Madam Chair. I do want to give accolades to the Babe Ruth and George Young and that whole group. Um I was so moved out there at the weld oil machine that was running and all the people that were working in the heat and um and the kids were just amazing to watch them play and
and you know all the different areas where they came from and they came to Putham County for this and I was so moved I even made a commitment to Francis Field. I mean, I I I it was like a sales job. I What did I just buy? You know, but I bought. So, uh but it's a
good thing for our kids. And I I tell you, you know, you hear about our kids have nothing to do in this county. That's not true. We got plenty of parks, plenty of recreation for them. And it's it's not like when I grew up in Francis um across from Francis Baptist Church,
there was an empty lot and you brought four pie plates and a couple rocks and you know you did it was summertime and hot but mama said go down there and play and get out of the house for a while and that's what you did. But it's really wonderful to see this working out. And
then I want to say thank you for everyone who helped me get ready for this uh endeavor that I'm taking on um for second vice president of over Florida Association of Counties. Um a lot of staff worked hard. The chamber did a excellent job in helping and and I
just I'm not going to name names but you know I just wanted to say thank you so much. We got more work to do when we get down there and I hope you all read towards the night before convention email. Um that was really good. So thanks Chat GPT for that. And uh Madam
Chair, that's all my comments. Thank you. Thank you. Um a couple things I have. We held our uh second safety highway safety task force meeting was uh this past Thursday. Uh great discussion. FDOT did a presentation. If you haven't had a chance, you I believe you can go
back and watch the the video. Um we learned some things. Uh there's many many projects that they're already working on in Putnham County. the FDOT. They also have several um outreach um programs that they want to get out into the community to talk about. Um
particularly uh drinking and driving. Some of the statistics they shared was out of the fatalities that we have in Putham County, more than around 60% was caused by uh DUIs. So by by people driving drunk, not necessarily DUIs, but
drunk driving. Um, so that was staggering um for me because I was um I was just taken back by that. And so one of the things that uh that like I said they have a couple campaigns that we'll work on in cooperation with them, but the the safety task force will come back
with a list of priorities and things that like short-term and long-term priorities that they'll ask this commission to get behind and support them on. So that's coming forward. Um we have another meeting coming up to to come up with our list basically. Um,
second, I wanted to say um we have the we we passed the letter a couple weeks ago regarding uh preservation of the Rodman Reservoir and um I have in front of you today a resolution 2025-042
and I'm asking um basically this mirrors the letter that we wrote except in the form of a resolution and I'm just asking for your authorization to be able to sign this letter and sending up send it up to the Governor's office resolution resolution 2025-042.
We have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. All right. Thank you for that. And with that I think um Oh, I did want to say Mr. Townsen, I appreciate you bringing that to our attention and if you have any information to send us, please do so and we can have further
discussion about what you brought forward today. So that's that's my comments. Is there anything else to come before the good of the board? All right, this meeting's recess. I mean, con convene. Ajourned. Ajourned. Ajourned.