as better than themselves and Father they don't look on their own interests but Father they look on the interests of the the people of this county as they lead and make decisions and Father I declare that the best is yet to come for Putham County bless this meeting and all the business
that happens in Jesus name amen thank you pastor well before our pledge I'd like to wish happy birthday to our chair join me in the pledge please i pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all madam Chair Commissioner Nubel almost threw me off my game and almost started singing happy birthday instead of doing a pledge please
don't i appreciate the thought though um we have approval of the minutes madam Chair I move approval of the board of county commission regular meeting minutes March 11th as stated in our packet i second that motion and second all in favor say I i any oppose like
sign motion passes all right we'll recess our regular meeting and convene our port authority meeting um approval of minutes from a meeting March 11th 2025 madam Chair I move approval of the Port Authority regular meeting minutes of March 11th 2025 as stated in our
packet second have a motion and second any discussion all in favor say I i i any opposed like sign motion passes all right do we have any public comment on port authority items only port authority items all right seeing none do we have any general discussion from the board on
port authority items all right we'll adjourn our port authority meeting and reconvene our regular board of county commission meeting uh Mr mark Landers are you going to be introducing our new director of Putham County Health Department welcome
good morning Madam Chair and commissioners how are we all doing this morning good fantastic um it's a great honor for me to be here today to introduce um the candidate for the new health officer for um Putnham County uh Miss Duncan I think a lifelong resident um has worked with me um in my second
role in um in Marian County for the past seven years been really running Marian County uh she's been a fantastic individual to work with so I don't want to steal very much of her thunder so I'm just going to turn her over to y'all if you have any questions for her but um yeah she's already been through the
interview process with our surgeon general our chief of staff um and I can say with flying colors she's uh she was picked for this position so very good good deal hi good morning good morning Miss Duncan thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself so my name is Sheri
Duncan i am the proud um proud to be a wife and a mother of two um I have over 20 years of public health experience um specifically in finance and accounting and administration um and I've kind of dedicated my career to um improving the
lives of others um so when I started um in public health at a young age I was just looking for a job little did I know that I would find a career a fulfilling career uh with a chance to serve and support my community uh for the past 10 years um at the Marian County Health
Department um I have taken um advantage of numerous opportunities for professional growth um which have led me to um the person that I am today um so I am truly excited u to bring my experience home to Putnham County um
together I think we can do great things and strive to improve um health outcomes uh for all of our residents very good well welcome aboard um do the commissioners have any comments or questions i do here go ahead hey Sherry
i'm I'm a little slow but I finally realized exactly who you are now um but uh I would like to invite you to join me for the upcoming Putnham Behavioral Health Consortium meeting this week uh so we'll hit the ground running on that and uh here's my card with my number on
it so you can reach out to me after the meeting if you don't mind yes ma'am yeah yeah so what Commissioner Alexander is talking about we have um there's a a um a meeting every month that's held and a lot of that is providing resources and sharing resources and things that are
going on in the community as far as public health as far as mental health um and all kind of things so that that's a great great idea good job yes sir thank you Madam Chair well thank you for being here and congratulations on your new job thank you and it's great to have someone
from West Putnham you know it's near and dear to my heart is the dental trailer and the county bought a truck to be able to pull that thing around uh dental need dental is very needed in our community throughout Putham County from the south
all the way to the west north south so uh get that thing up and running i'll be glad to help you my daughter comes over from St augustine occasionally and volunteers in there so whatever we can do to make that thing better um that was a really labor of love from a bunch of
Rotary clubs and I think the Kuanas Club put some money into it also but that's very important to me so thank you i have some thoughts on that too so we will definitely um connect i gave you my card i I did it first if you remember
thank you thank you M thank you Commissioner Harvey west Putnham doesn't get all the resources first no we we as you know we have some needs in Putnham County so it's exciting that um you're here and that you're from here and obviously that you have a heart for
Putinham and we really truly appreciate that and welcome aboard um we'd love to get a picture with you if you'd like your husband can come up and we'll get a picture thank you i'll tell you your public shirt i love it you're
welcome all right thank you say something [Applause] i thought he was six feet tall all right we're in rare form this morning apparently um so uh before you
leave I guess uh we need to ratify um your position so is there a motion from the board madam chair I make a motion to ratify position of Sherry Duncan director of Putham County Health Department i'll second that first and a second any discussion all right
all in favor i motion passes congratulations all right next we have emergency services recognizing the employees that have completed the apprenticeship and public safety training program wow we're excited for
this lots of great things happening in our community and this is one of them good morning Chief they all have good morning condition stop i just want to take a few minutes of time and I appreciate the time to uh bring these young men in front of you i
want to give you a little history on the program um about a year ago Putnham County Fire Rescue noticed that the young men and women uh that were wanting to go into the fire service didn't have an opportunity
to experience um what the fire service was like so we were able to create a 10-hour a week apprentice program that gave young men and women in from the age of 16 up to um
ride with our trucks 10 hours a week to see if this was a career they were interested in before they went to school um these gentlemen behind me um decided to go into fire school from our apprentice program and we recognized at
that time that some of them were struggling some of them were talking about dropping out of school because they just couldn't afford it um so we were able fortunately to create a 40-hour paid trainee position
um so we could send our these students could still uh go to school um and also what that did is it showed them that we were vested in them and it prevented other counties from recruiting them and our local talent from under us
so to me it's a great program that we started to try to retain and recruit employees um at this time I'd like to introduce Boomer Davis Elijah
Hernandez Gavin Barnes Justin Smith and this young man is the last one in school it's Jordan Campbell he just finished his EMT last week and he will be enrolling in fire school he's already enrolled but we'll be starting fire school in two weeks we also have 10
apprentices um with Putham County and we'll be doing interviews for the public safety training position in June once high school graduation's over so I just wanted to recognize them i know a lot of other counties have tried this um but not quite as much success as Putnham
County's had with it so I think it's a great program thank you very good absolutely i know i know Mr grimes has something to say jr i always do because this is one program um honestly that I'm proud of um we
started uh with a vision from the Putnham County School District um along when I was at the city of a CTE program inside the schools um and as Pastor Stiff said this morning the best is yet to come because we've got our first class coming out of high school um
that's going to do what these guys behind me have done so we've got them waiting um there's some restrictions they can't do anything before they have a high school diploma um so those students will filter in soon and this was a way for us to reach into the community and find the kids that didn't necessarily have a path right so these
kids behind us I call them kids young men behind us to have a path um of a career because this isn't just a job i mean this is a pretty good career i mean if they'll look at it I mean they're doing very well um they've all spent many many hours in class school um I'm glad they chose Putinham County
um as a place where they wanted to work um I think they got a unique look that a lot of people don't get that we hire because they got to spend 40 hours a week at EOC fixing and repairing trucks delivering supplies going and picking things up the things that keep the wheels turning that a lot of people
don't get an exposure to and as that trainee job when school wasn't in they got to assist fleet they got to assist logistics so they got an exposure to a lot of things that the normal new hire doesn't get so um I think it instills into them that there's other things that
happen inside this organization other than answering 911 calls so um I'm I'm extremely proud of him um there's one here that I mean I'm extremely proud of because he grew up partially at my house um he's one of my extended kids um so it's just a great day for me i'm excited
for him um so that I think it's a great day for Putinham County and our fire rescue department so um I'm extremely proud and thank you for your time thank you uh Administrator Suggs you're recognized thank you Madam Chair uh just a couple words to follow up on uh Chief
Grimes's I'm sorry uh Dep Administrator Grimes and Chief Spack's comments you know we've done quite a few things around here a lot of positive things around here but I'm going to tell you that this is one of those things that that we can all take a lot of pride in because of the situation that we found
ourselves in a few years ago you know with with the turnover and the staff and the things that we've been dealing with uh but this is one of those homegrown programs you know we saw this morning we brought the Department of Health director back home that's one of the things that that we take a lot of pride
in and I am extremely proud of where we are with our fire rescue folks it's a a great organization it's in great hands with Deputy Administrator Grimes and Chief Back and and the rest of those folks over there it's just uh it's it's just doing tremendous things and I I as
county minister I'm just extremely proud of these guys and and what they're doing over there and so uh another one of those moments that I think you five can be very proud of you know that's right on the heels of the parame medicine program and the things that we're doing there so uh congratulations to all of
you guys chief Hitchcock you know Chief Wright thank you guys for all that you do and uh to the young men there thank you guys for what you do and uh that's it this mound chair i appreciate and thank you for the amount of time and if I could I mean it takes a lot of wheels to keep this program running and there's
a few ladies that are sitting there in the back that are going to come up here in just a second but they we couldn't do this program without them and that's Miss Sabrina Miss Gee Miss Katie because they're the ones that keep these guys in line keep them on track keep them in school making sure they have all the resources they need so uh even though
they're not standing up here yet they'll be here next but I just would like to tell them thank you publicly that they keep all of us really in line um and make sure we're doing what we need to do so we couldn't do it without them so thank you very much well Miss G is pretty serious so she keeps a lot of people in line that's very true that is
very true right that's very true but um thank you for the vision on this and making this happen the whole entire team um this is exactly the kind of things that we should be doing in Putham County and like you said if there's a gap and we have young people that are growing up in this community and they don't know exactly what their future is this is a
wonderful way to to to fill that gap and and kudos to everybody involved because because this is very much needed it's a win-win for Putnham so thank you it is and I mean some of this I mean I don't keep meaning to take up your time but we noticed as we started interviewing
employees is they would come in here we'd hire them and they would come to work for six months and go oo this isn't what I signed up for because I mean they went to all that school so they never had an exposure to it so I think the early beginning where they get their exposure is really important because it may not be what they need to do uh but
the program has grown uh like Chief back said it's got over 10 in it now they're going to do more interviews so that's going to be our next that's our future of our department growing right here locally um and we have some kids that are coming in from um it is it's a great feeling when you have parents that work
here that bring their children into an environment where they work and able to go through the apprentice program too so that's that's always a great feeling too when you have employees that are willing to let their children come here to work so we have several of those that are engaged or into the program as well so if we can get them at this stage I think
we got a lot better chance of keeping them so we're extremely proud of them very good we're excited to have you guys um on board so thank you very much y'all can if y'all want to come up and get a picture you're welcome to invite your family or whoever you have with you today miss I know you're out there come
on Miss come on Sabrina y'all come on don't be shy i'm here all right good [Applause] boy uh Lori Parker human resources employee
of the month good morning everyone's coming up again um I'm Lori Parker with human resources and we receive nominations for employee of the month and the nominations are received by supervisors and peers that
work with the county and the employee of the month is awarded to Katie Parish with Fire EMS [Applause] congratulations go first i just want to let y'all know that Katie is truly a
blessing to the county and she is one of the best employees that the county has and we are thankful to have her working in our department and being a part of our team yes ma'am thank you all right Mr grimes I know you're up
yeah um I'd like to thank you guys again for the opportunity uh Miss Katie um it's a very unique situation we have out there um with Miss Gee and Miss Sabrina um but they you got to go through an extensive interview process and when they come to me and go "We got the one."
I'm like "Sweet." Uh because I mean a lot of times you have the right people or you had a lot of applications and sometimes it it takes people and Miss Ge told me one week and she said "I got to go home and pray about this one." I said "Well go home and pray about it." So she came home the next week or Monday and she says "I've got clarity." I was like
"Good let's hire her." And um ever since then Sabrina came down the hallway and she goes "You got to put Katie in for employee of the month." said "No you do." So she as a peer uh wrote um Katie up for employee of the month she does a phenomenal job she takes care of all of
our EMS supplies she makes sure that the guys on the guys and ladies on the street have everything they need she also does uh part of the new hire program because it is an extensive background extensive hiring process that we have to put everybody through to get on the fire rescue so these ladies behind me here they they make that wheel
turn um so I'm extremely proud of them and thank you Miss Katie for joining the team um and um thank you guys for all you do thank you [Applause]
absolutely come on up one more congratulations [Applause] before we go into um countywide project updates I wanted to welcome Samantha Wernett from who is the district aid to Representative Judson Sap we appreciate
you being here and you're welcome to come every other the second and fourth Tuesday of every month thank you we're going to take a threem minute recess i also want to recognize Miss Shane West from the city of Palaca thank you for being here
um all right Miss Young if you want to go into countywide project updates good morning cheerleading um I'm bringing you the quarterly update just as a reminder this is not intended to be an all-encompassing list of every project or initiative underway by county departments it's intended to be a
snapshot of those most important to administration the departments andor the citizens with that we'll begin with Port Putnham the port infrastructure development plan is complete the bulkhead design engineering and permitting are underway the advanced port security system is to be completed in the near future port Putinham is
moving forward ahead of schedule the animal control facility the main building and the kennel buildings are currently under construction and moving along towards completion the John Theold Sports Complex the parking lot was resealed and relined the Batten Cage Pavilion is installed the volleyball
shade structure has been installed and the pickle ball shade structure is in permitting the Barden Community Park the shade structure is in permitting and is ready to be installed san Mato Community Park the new playground set is tenatively scheduled to begin installation in May the Boston Park the
shade structure is in the permitting stage we will coordinate installation around the Boston Blueberry Festival coming up April 26 the Putham Aquatic Center officially open for the season as of yesterday the impact fee study the draft report has been received county staff and the consultant are reviewing
the data the consultant is tentatively scheduled to present the final findings to the BOCC at the next commission meeting fort Gates Fairy Landing funding sources for the required repairs needed to open the West Landing are being explored through grant opportunities st john's Avenue resurfacing Palm Avenue to
CSX crossing at the Palaca Fire Department the construction project is complete dirt to pave 2022 the project is complete dirt to pave 2023 the construction is ongoing dirt to pay 2024 the final design work is underway the bid documents are under development and
we anticipate going out to bid by in May st john's Avenue drainage improvement State Road 19 to County Road 309C the project is complete and the closeout paperwork for the grant is in progress county Road 315 resurfacing project from State Road 20 to State Road 100 the
construction is complete county Road resurfacing project design from State Road 20 to the county line the design is complete the RFQ for CAI Construction Engineering Inspection Services will be issued this week ci is required by FDOT to be retained prior to issuing the bid
for construction paradise Point Sewer Hardening and Generator Installation Project staff is collaborating with D to make the modifications to the scope of work east Blaka septic to sewer project phase 4 bids for construction are due April 29th
2025 sonteo water extension project the water man is complete and conversion is underway we've put about 20% of the meters in the ground and are beginning to work to complete the hookups from the meter to the homes north Putinham drainage project surveying is complete preliminary design basins will be
presented to determine the best method to proceed south Putinham drainage project phase one of the project is complete we are waiting on final surveys to make sure the outfall has the correct elevation for movement of the water to close out phase one phase two bids were due this week
east Blacka water main expansion ARPA funded the project is complete putnham County water infrastructure project the US Army Corps of Engineers funding documents have been received and properly executed the project start date is pending federal concurrency and release of federal funds
hmgp Count Putham County Boulevard lift station generator the project has been awarded and the generator has been ordered hmgp Paradise Point Retention Pond the executed funding agreement has been obtained and a proposal for design services is under review by county the county engineer county road resurfacing
fiscal year 23 the project is complete county road resurfacing fiscal year 24 the design is in progress guardrail repairs fiscal year 25 the bid has been awarded and is expected to start work in the middle of April curry road lift station generator we have an HMGP grant
for 75% of the funding we are awaiting the HMGP match for the other 25 this project will be fully grant funded the sanitation office building the office is being finished the final interior items are being checked off and the project
should be complete by May of 2025 i have one question and if you said it I missed it st john's Harbor Water Plant do we have an update on that other than I know it's operational and working but do we have a plan on what we're actually doing to the future for the future i can
answer some of that yes some of them the the repairs have been made uh they they've worked on some pumps they've repaired some fence work out there mr nolles is working with FD on the what needs to happen with the retention pond area um so may if Mr nolles is here he may have some a little bit more insight
but I know that he's been working with FD trying to get all the permitting and all that squared away with that particular plant so it's on it's on the move it's just a matter of getting the design of the of the retention area that's the biggest thing okay all right that's that was one of my questions are there any questions from the board uh Commissioner Alexander yes ma'am thank
you for your report Miss Holmes can you give me an update on where we're at uh as far as our impact fee study yes sir the consultant sent over a um final draft report that they are um scheduled to review with staff to make sure everything is in order and then we
anticipate the consultant being here to present that report and to discuss with you your options at the next meeting the April 22nd april 22nd yes sir thank you very much all right one other question um boat ramps so Dun Creek and
Georgetown were were both they're both funded and they're both what in the review for allocated to them um they have both uh been we've awarded the design and permitting uh part scope of the works um for the initial Dun Creek
boat ramp and the Georgetown to CRG architects the board of county commissioners did that in previous years so we're just waiting on all of those documents to come back so that we will have the design um specifications that we need to issue and uh bid for construction if we can just check on
that it seems like and I know that CRG has a lot going on i don't dis disagree but if we can just check on that because it seem we there's you haven't noticed there's a lot of discussion about it right now not a problem and for those two projects permitting is the um time consuming process for both of those boat
ramp permitting takes a little bit longer than um just traditional boat ramp because that goes through D because Yes and Yes okay and but we don't have any dredging at either one of those places is that correct that's not anticipated not anticipated and then
parking I can't remember but there was a pretty good parking for both uh ramps has been allocated or has been designed in the conceptual design and both bid documents include initial parking and there and then can you remember how many um spots I remember I thought I did
different at each location so I think there are roughly 70 in um Dun Creek and um there is a kind of a parking area for boats and stuff close to the river and then one up at the street level for Georgetown so I can get you an exact
count okay all right very good um Commissioner Harvey thank you Madam Chair um Julianne thank you for your report and and I tell you honestly we did started this a few years back and there's a lot going on in Putnham County
and uh we're constantly like I said opening the doors and trying to throw more balls in the air for y'all to keep up with but uh animal control when do we have any idea when we're going to get the keys to that building because it's been promised a long time it's nobody's
fault it's just you know delayed delayed but I do understand um in lie of not promising something we can't deliver we are hopeful for a summer grand opening great thank you very much thank you Madam Chair commissioner Alexander you recognized yes ma'am madam Chair I just
wanted to provide you and uh the public with an update sam Sullivan our grant writer has submitted for uh engineering uh funding for a study at the additional boat ramp on the south side of Dun Creek as well okay so that's looking very
promising as well all right very good and uh Julianne this as usual this report gets uploaded onto the county's website so it's viewable for anybody to see and we appreciate that we're trying to um put everything that we know that the public would want to see out on our
website for transparency purposes are there any other questions from the board all right moving on into planning and development county initiated a text amendment this is meeting one out of two
good morning Mr baker good morning good morning commissioners madame Chair happy birthday thank you uh for the record Zachary Baker Planning and Development Services this is LDC25-0000001 i do have a PowerPoint
prepared um that summarizes kind of the changes um so I'll go through that real quick all right so this would be an amendment to articles 2 3 6 7 9 11 12 and 13 of the Putnham County Land Development Code
um and really it's just a a consistency effort um to make sure that all of the language provided in that document is easily digestible and also easily enforceable for county staff um so this blurb here essentially
says why we have to have two public hearings on this item um at the end of today's initial hearing um we're asking that the board of county commissioners identify a date and time for the the second hearing um and it it needs to be
at least 10 days after the first hearing and we need 5 days to advertise to summarize uh so within article 2 division 3 we've got the inclusion of emergency services as a use allowed by right in the commercial commercial
professional office and commercial neighborhood zoning district we have an inclusion of accessory dwelling units with an approved special use permit for existing commercial uses in all the commercial zoning districts in article 2 division 4 we've got the inclusion of
non-residential farm buildings for bonafide farms uh prior to the establishment of a primary use we have a modification to table 2.04A relating to ADUs and commercial districts uh we've added a setback exemption for wellhouses
not exceeding certain area and um volume sizes there's also a clarification added further restricting recreational vehicles on vacant residential and agricultural zone properties uh it should be noted here that that uh
proposed amendment came from our code enforcement department which also came from our magistrate they were having an issue with enforcement of that particular section of the land development code article 3 division two we're adding language for building setback
requirements on lands with artificial ponds uh clarified permit type for artificial ponds made some consistency efforts in the mobile home park uh land development codes section we struck requirements of public work approval for
drainage improvements at mobile home parks as they are reviewed by the development review committee uh and water management district we also struck some language uh requiring emergency storm shelters in mobile home parks because we don't have any regulations
for those specific uses for article 6 division 3 we've included canals to other aquatic features specified as water bodies article 7 division 2 there's a modification to table 7.02A 02A changing
the maximum impervious surface for the residential two zoning district to be consistent with other single family districts article 7 division 10 this was a public works request which was uh suggested removal of the distinction
between major and minor collectors and then also a modification to LDC section 45616 to conform with current covert types and materials um for article 7 division 11 and access management we clarified the use of a an
easement for driveway purposes uh article 9 division two we've proposed some revisions to the minimum rightway width for existing developments which can be approved without petitioning the board of county commissioners we narrowed the rightway
width requirement um in article 9 division four for variances we struck some language that required a property owner and or applicant to provide us with contact information as we do that on our own we also clarified language defining what
the maximum setback reductions could be for the administrative deviation committee to hear and consider go back to that slide please yes ma'am so so let me make sure I understand so proposed revision to minimum rightway
width yes ma'am for existing developments which can be approved with petitioning the board so can you explain that a little bit further yes ma'am so uh within land development code section 45-797 which is previously approved
developments this is going to be related to our antiquated subdivisions um it's in that packet that I put in y'all's boxes yesterday um essentially what it says is the director of public works can
approve the use of a ride ofway that was previously platted at 35 ft in width anything less than 35 ft in width the applicant would have to come to the board of county commissioners to seek approval we simply dropped that number from 35 to 30 we did the same thing in
appendix 9 which shows the crosssection of what a ride ofway standard typical rideway would look like and we just aligned the language to be 30 foot for director of public works approval anything less would still come to the board okay thank you i just wanted
clarity yes ma'am uh moving along under the development review committee section uh we reinstated language identifying who the voting and non- voting members were for the DRC um in article 12 division 8 we added a clarification for
a lot of record and parent track in the definition of section 451032 we also suggested a revision for exempt subdivisions to be called boundary line adjustments in article 12 division 9 the procedure
for obtaining a lot split we added a procedure which would allow any administrative subdivision to be omitted from review by the county surveyor if the applicant provides a third-party approval of the proposed survey map and legal description uh we also added
language defining and detailing how to achieve a de facto subdivision and then finally in article 13 our definitions we added definitions for canal and de facto subdivision as well as made a couple minor changes to some of the other
definitions at the March 12th 2025 planning commission public hearing the planning commission unanimously recommended approval of the proposed text amendment with those certain changes that are listed in the minutes of the agenda packet item staff is recommending the board of
county commissioners identify any changes requested for this proposed text amendment and schedule the adoption hearing for this matter uh at a date and time which adheres to the confines of section 125.665B Florida statutes thank you can
I take questions now yes Commissioner Harvey you're recognized thank you Madam Chair um would this be the right time to kind of go through some of the questions I have thank you thank you Madam Chair um Zach um emergency services it looks like we're trying to put that in all
zoning districts is that correct um that was the original intent yes sir but before we brought the item to the board of county commissioners um based off of the recommendation of the planning commission we decided to strike that from a agriculture a estate residential
estate residential one two three and four and RH so we would only be allowing them if this was adopted in the CPO and C1 zoning districts by right they were previously allowed with a special use permit kind of by right i mean it's
protection of our public citizens out there i think it should be in every zoning district so I appreciate you doing that um Zach if you go to and my pages aren't numbered but section 45-110 when you talk about pump houses
and their height can be no higher than 8 feet what's the reasoning for 8 feet because if somebody had an aiator a tall pump I mean a tall tank they're going to run out of room there i mean are you trying to limit them from building a 20
foot Ephesus or I mean I think 8 feet might just be a little tiny but I mine's not that big let me say but I'm just asking no sir so the the height restriction is to uh simply attempt to mitigate any visibility triangle issues
and have the least amount of obstruction in any sort of uh line of sight on a ride ofway because what what our intention here is is many people with smaller lots have to place their well and septic within the principal building setbacks well now you've got you know a
well by itself who knows how much they cost nowadays $6,000 plus all your water softener equipment mine was $5,000 um we've got that sitting out in the sun and those property owners deserve the right to protect that investment as it provides
potable water for their their home um but with some certain limitations that we don't want a 25 by 25 giant you know twocar garage right there on the front property line um also with the area which is I think 60 square ft is what
we're proposing so 6x10 something similar 8 by 8 you're not going to find a handy house or one of those small prefab sheds that are going to be much taller than the that 8ft structure now that doesn't prevent somebody from building their own but they would just
have to limit it to that 8 foot in height okay and on like again I don't have the page numbers here but section 45-131 where we talk about rec recreational vehicles as temporary
shelters and if you go to the next page where it's highlighted in red um and it basically says on the last sentence RVs in violation of this provision will be subject to removal removal by who well that's a very good question sir um so
the again this was a specific text amendment from our code enforcement department which trickled down from the magistrate so I would presume that that would be removal by the county and it would be one of those situations where we would put a lean on the property or
we would somehow um abate that that cost from the property owner who was subject to that my issue is that we're preempted from the state legislators of driving by and
seeing trailers or travel trailers or motor homes being used as as residents i mean we are unless there the neighbor complains pretty much can't do a whole lot about it you could drive out in my district and spend all day we can spend
a month yeah and and I'm just going to say subject to removal i've never been the commissioner that wanted to impose something that we can't enforce and if we're not going to do that I mean if we have intention of going there and removing them after we
tell them so far I don't have a problem with that i just have a problem by saying we're going to do it and don't have the mechanism to do it when that time comes sure I understand um I wish I could speak more intelligently on that matter
um again this was a code enforcement request um but I can seek some clarification and get more information bring it back to you all at the date of adoption i want I want to have some discussion if you have it so just for
public purposes this is what it states under no circumstances is an RV to be stored left or abandoned on a vacant property vacant is defined as having no dwelling unit on the property rvs in violation of this provision will be subject to removal so your point is good
on who who is that and how do you do that but second of all if somebody owns a piece of vacant property we're going to say you can't leave your camper there i mean I'm sort of having some issue with that because I mean we have people that are snowbirds and they have they
just come down and park their camper and then they're gone the rest of the year and then they might show up and stay for a couple weeks and leave and so we're going to tell them they can't do that well so in short yes ma'am so the the land development code is prescriptive and within our land development code
when you get to commercial general the C3 zoning district you can have a recreational vehicle sales storage and repair right so none of the residential zoning districts allow for the storage
of an RV now that would be um a simple vacant lot nothing there it is just got a single RV on it and nobody lives there nobody's staying there what have you um if you have a property that has been
developed and it has a um like a a a pole barn or some sort of structure to store the RV in then we wouldn't be messing with those we are specifically looking for those units that are just out in the middle of Interlock and Lake Estates or some other residential area
where somebody has parked that RV and they camp there we have plenty of campgrounds in Putnham County for them to to stay at i I'm having I'm struggling with this one to be honest i do understand that that we don't want people living in campers but the reality is people are
doing it every day in Putham County and I don't know that this helps that situation this is more of a you know somebody just parked their camper on a piece of property and then they're there part of the year or for 30 days and which we allow and right we allow 30
days well yes ma'am um in some instances as of right now it would be 14 consecutive days or 60 non-consecutive days in the residential zoning district 90 and 180 consecutive and non-consecutive days in the agricultural
zoning district and keep in mind that the provisions of this code section we're speaking of is recreational vehicles as a temporary shelter so if you're if if someone is bringing their RV out and leaving it on a vacant piece
of property in perpetuity and coming and staying in it when they desire well that's not really the intent of this section of the land development code well it's also under the agriculture zoning district in the paragraph below it is that not the same sentence yes
ma'am that is So it's not just under residential it's also under egg that'd be correct so you know in rural counties people I mean I mean people do this all the time i'm not saying it's it's a great idea but let me ask you a question when if somebody has a piece of property
and they've got two old trucks that their grandfather left them and they still have them on the property and that's the only thing left on that vacant property do we make them move those trucks we would ask them uh if they were registered but ultimately no they would not be required to remove those trucks
okay so you see what I'm saying i mean you're okay with you're leaving an abandoned vehicle but we're not okay but we're but we're going to say you can't leave it i don't know i'm just sort of like I'm about less rules not more rules so I'm struggling with this one a little bit i know it's is an effort to clean up
but then how we cleaning it up to to Commissioner Harvey's point is how we cleaning it up well I do understand and appreciate that and and that would be something that our code enforcement department I think I'd need to have some more one-on-one conversation to understand the intent of this the full
intent of it um I just struggle when we continue to restrict our citizens and restrict them i don't if somebody owns a property and they just are putting their camper there until they're building their house and what I don't know i'm just struggling with it to be honest because I just feel like that we're
adding more and more restrictions to our citizens and that's always an issue for me yes ma'am and I understand that too um what this is asking about is able to hold people who are not um have a unregistered vehicle have lots of things happening these aren't the people you
were talking about these are the individuals who are living in it have been living in it for years and there's stuff all over the yard there's a lot happening at these sites and so this was given to us from the magistrate and the legal council there to be able to have something concrete to say "This is how
we get the leg the the land cleaned up." And so we do it all the time they needed something more concrete and this is what we brought this is what they brought to us to say this is more concrete where we have it if people are doing what they're supposed to on the property and we have to come out there and say "Hey pick this up." They do it all the time and we look
for compliance we don't look to to make people get off their piece of property we look for compliance and so um in in this this is asked from them to be able to um get people to clean up what they want if you guys don't want that that's that's fine too we'll just take that out i don't I don't mind at all we're here
for what you guys want well we we do your point is well taken i appreciate that we do have we do have a lot of mobile homes that are just sitting around and looking very bad in our community i I don't disagree we can move on go ahead thank you Madam Chair um
Zach one thing you said to our chair lady um basically that if there was a pole barn that might work but clearly it says a dwelling unit on the property so pull barn would not work in this case so I think we do need to look at cleaning
that up a little bit certainly and and I I guess it's worth noting too when when I mentioned the accessory structure we do have within the A zoning district there are certain entitlements that would allow somebody to place a barn on their shed or on their property prior to
a home and so out of sight out of mind right that's that's the name of the game okay moving on to I'm sorry can I go back to Mr alexander i think you had a question on that subject matter go ahead Commissioner no I'm I'm I'm in agreeance with both both you and
um Commissioner Harvey regarding this um I I'm I'm not in favor of placing additional restrictions on people that are you know finding housing is a struggle um and we want to make it easier but we also I the purpose of this correct me if I'm wrong is to add some
teeth so that we can remove the derelict structures so it gives us an option But uh additionally I don't want to limit people that are trying to to better themselves and if they you know if they are planning on building and growing and if we're adding pole barns that's an additional cost that they
could have moved into you know that's another 10 grand that they could have rolled into the house and gotten into the house quicker so um like Brian Mr helm said if there's an option to remove this today and have a workshop or a discussion so maybe we can find
something that we as a group can get behind um I would like to do that i I see the intent i do i see what you're what you're trying to to to do and I and I'm not against that because like you said I know that we have to clean up properties and this is what code enforcement and is saying would help
them but it's just a struggle for me to be honest so um I think we can we just have further conversation about this and yeah I mean so yeah y'all can tell us how to proceed if if you would like to see this during the adoption without any
changes to this section at all we can we can certainly do that um if there's a way that you would like to set up a a workshop and give staff more clarification or direction on how to proceed we can do that too commissioner Alexander yeah I think that'd be a great
idea because I I I think that we've got a lot of knowledge and stuff here i I would like for all of us to get together on something as complex as this and affects as many people as it is to spend more time on it than just a fivem minute discussion of the dis okay all right we'll do that we'll have a workshop on
that issue and there might be something else that comes up go ahead thank you Madam Chair um under section 45616 roadway drainage next page where it says or high performance I'm not going to even try to attempt to read that word um why are we even spelling
out what the drainage pipe needs to be why don't we just if it's suitable for public works it's suitable I mean because what if what if five years from now they have a brand new product that isn't high performance polopropylene polyropylene yeah maybe It's uh
something better than that and then we're back here fixing it up again let's just leave it up to the standards of the day i mean I back in the Egyptian times it was bricks in a in a circle i mean that was I'm just saying I think we just don't need
to cause oursel to come back and back and back so why don't we just leave that out completely and whatever works for the day that day five years from now let it work for that and be done with all this concrete and high performance and let's just approved by the public works
director whatever whatever works for that day so go ahead Zach there uh so my I guess my question here is this the 616 I am illiterate when it comes to covert materials 100% um and I I can see what
you're saying i mean let's not put the name of the material in there let's just say an approved you know FDOT approved material what have you um if it's okay with the board I would like for maybe uh Mr nolles to help engage on this if it's something that we want to address right
now yeah I think so i think we need to if you're looking for direction I think we have to otherwise we'll be having this meeting at every meeting for the next three meetings and and I don't know if I want to go FDOT approved i mean golly sometimes that could be we might come across an item that they haven't
approved yet well I I agree with the not not going with FDOT approved because there's some FDOT materials that I wouldn't suggest putting under our roadways i'm just saying you have to remember they approve putting PVC pipe A2000 pipe on the roads and now they
don't and so but uh I have no problem with with having it as a as approved by the public works director we're just trying to clarify some of the materials that are listed in there are materials that don't exist anymore uh you can't
get buminous coding on pipes anymore it just they don't they don't exist so could we say all cross drain pipes um approved by a public works director it could be uh the The only reason I was spelling it out is because we don't
really have standard details on that we we could lean on standard details for pipe material under roadways and under uh driveways as an alternative to that uh that's I'm I'm fine either way with that you know what Commissioner i'm at
the point that I say we just table this and that and I can't make a motion so um and that we um just put it on the whole entire thing on a workshop and then bring it back for a first and second reading i think we have too many questions at this point madam Chair I'd like to propose that we table this and
come to a workshop meeting and work out these situations second we have a motion a second any discussion commissioner Alexander no ma'am that was my suggestion okay great all right all in favor say I i i thank you Zach i didn't mean to interrupt you but I just feel like that
we've got to get we've got to get there with you and uh with staff and fully understand the whole intention of this so we'll we'll set up a workshop and then we'll come back and present this at a further date all right moving along amending the Putham County Code of Contractor's license qualification is
Leo here hi Leo i'm not sure who's doing this presentation brian is this you or you and Leo i'll talk for a minute and Leo kind of give an explanation okay thank you all right so we um the beginning of this came from uh a citizen that brought this
up with us saying our standards were higher than what state and what other counties are around us we looked into it um we are currently sitting at a 75 um and uh there are other counties around us that are at 70 we brought it to the our contractor and board um they made some recommendations which you have in
front of you here um I'm going to have Leo explain a little more of the test because he has his brain works a little better with all of that um in regards to uh the amount of questions and things of that manner and um then we can have discussion about where you guys want to be or again what we'd like to do all
right thank you Leo thank you Brian good morning commissioners good morning morning so I'm Leo Waitson Planning and Development um on the surface you know when you're comparing apples and apples it's like the state's offering the test
at 70% for a passing score and so why wouldn't we at the local level offer a score of 70% the thing is um the state test is significantly more questions it's a 220 volt I mean 220 question for
uh general contractor it's actually 240 for general contractor it's u 240 for the building contractor and the residential contractor is around 215 questions whereas conversely we're offering the same test at 130 for
general contractor 130 for building contractor and about 110 for a residential contractor so and and then you also have your trades your electrical mechanical plumbing and for the for all of those trades other than electrical they're
they're all um more questions at the state level than they are at the local level and there are more questions on electrical exam than they are at the local level but if the person at the state test was taking and passing at a 70 and the
person at the lo local level was passing at 100 they've still taken less test questions than at the state level so what's really happening is you have a little bit of a reduced standard in testing quality i would I would describe it such as that and they didn't have to
pass a background check here locally they didn't have to pass a um a credit score rating like the state would vet them in that way so the idea is a person could build a business in the local community at a little bit lesser standard and then
develop that business and one day petition to move up to the state license which then would unleash them onto the entire state so really it's just a policy decision on your part um do you feel like we're at the testing standard we need to be or are you willing to
reduce the testing standard to a lower score and that's basically what it boils down to all right thank you Commissioner Harvey you're recognized thank you Madam Chair leo thank you for your testimony here today um question for you though does
five points really make a difference and that's what I guess that's my I mean I took the insurance test twice at and made 74 and then finally made 76 i mean so They're two different tests you're
understanding that okay i get that but it doesn't on one level um the thing is is is the folks that tend to build uh quite often are dyslexic and they're not test takers right um and they are the most
fantastic builders you've ever met so I'm not even sure a testing is just a metric and it's also a standard that's been established since before I even began a career at Putnham County um when I worked in the real world I also had to
take a test you know and and pass it and uh I found test taking to be quite easy but I have people that I respected that would go up and take the test and they couldn't make it and they I thought they were superior to me as as electricians
and such so two points is not that much of a difference it's really two questions so let me follow up with this is the county test really necessary if somebody comes to us with a state license is the county test necessary no
and are other counties do we have are they all standard let's say that your test in Putnham is the same as St john's and Clay and Marian and a lot i absolutely could not speak to that okay thank you that's all your questions that's it thank you Madam Chair
commissioner Alexander Leo that was the most poignant statement I've heard in a while um the the best carpenter that I've ever met most talented guy that I've ever seen building engineering does it all at his house with a sixth grade
education could he pass any of these tests probably not but is he if he's building something commercially residential is he going to get inspected by the same inspectors that the guy that passed the test with 100 score so he's going to be held to the same standard no
matter what he got on the score correct yes sir okay so that kind of answers my question all right Commissioner New so you looked at the surrounding counties and most of them are at at the 70 score is that correct
um so it's it varies um and so let me go through so we have us I'm sorry Elatchua County and St john's County are at 70 everybody else is at 75 so that I only did Putham Elatchua Baker Clay Flaggler Mary and St john's and Valuchia so only
um in the state also so the state Elatchua and St john's are currently at 70 which is what So is that three out of eight three out of eight yeah okay and I just kind of did what was touching us and then like Baker's similar to us okay okay i'm I'm pretty comfortable moving
it to to 70 you know considering they're going to be they're going to go through the same procedures as everybody else as far as they're still going to have to pull permits we're still going to inspect everything all of that's not changing at all it's just their license thank you commissioner are you are you
okay commissioner um Pelisir keep going i'm I'm going um the state standard I think is is is adequate here and when you said the other counties around us Elatchu and St
john's um if you look at us as far as if we were to um be in the line of fire of a hurricane we're kind of in that same level um and if St john's uh who is right on the front line thinks that that that levels is adequate enough i
certainly have no problem with that and the state standard should be accepted I think u across the board in my opinion okay um so uh let's just clarify so so this policy is in place to protect our citizens from getting bad contractors
that's number one um and so it's our job to make sure that we are doing our best to make sure that they do not have a a problem with a bad contractor so if somebody come in with a state you answered this question somebody comes with in with a state license they
wouldn't have to do any county if could we just make the requirement be you have a state license or by doing that would we be eliminating our local contractors well um yes you could that's to answer your question what the other side of that
coin is it's very difficult to get into the state license and a person could come to Putnham County and develop a business here and then eventually they could work to that state license and then expand that business to all parts of the state um it it it could be very
difficult for some folks to break into the state level of contracting and and um maybe never succeed whereas you could start here at Putnham County or St john's County whatever county it is you choose to work in and you could build a business and then they have the ability
with the counties that cooperate with us to reciprocate that license into the adjoining counties and and maybe a little bit beyond we only looked at the ones that touched us because they're the most likely ones we're going to reciprocate with not to say that we may not reciprocate with others
um the idea here is is that they're it's a little bit lesser standard but they're local so if their reputation is going bad or um there's complaints coming in we're handling it here and the community kind of knows what's going on too whereas if you've got a guy at the state
level he can go 300 miles away and find different people to victimize if that's what he chooses or he or she choose to do um I think there's a benefit to having a local licensing program so the so the fact that it's a different test while
that's factual i mean obviously they have a higher testing number they take what you say 220 for the state test versus 130 general contractor for the local level you don't see that as a problem the testing standard being a little bit lower for the local license i
definitely don't see as a problem um the the idea is you have to start somewhere and if you could build time in a business in Putnham County and and expand that business to the state level more power to you is the way I feel about it i just want to make sure we're protecting our citizens so basically the
new proposal drops the passing score from 75 to 70 and then it adds a proof of financial security um and of course it also includes uh years of experience and going in front of the contractor's review board if it was a state license would they still go in front of the
contractor's review board no ma'am okay all right that's important okay um Commissioner Harvey thank you M thank you Madam Chair leo real quick who does who sets up this test that someone takes locally so uh we rely on Sher Popland to
handle that she supports the board through our staff and a person would appear before the contractor's board be approved to take the test and then they would get a candidate packet from Miss Popplin and and work their test from that point but they still have to meet
state standards when building a home there are standards they have to meet the Florida building code yes sir yes okay thank you thank you Madam Chair mr alexander push the button we keep each other in check around here don't we oh no i echo what you said
regarding protecting our citizens right and the great thing about that is Leo and his group they still they have to inspect every aspect of it and hold them to the state code that Larry just excuse me that Commissioner Harvey just echoed so I think it's a good idea based on
that they're still held to that standard of the Florida State Building Code and we're still using our inspectors to hold them to that standard all right Commissioner Newbold i'd like to move that we adopt the the
proposed change to this ordinance we have a motion on the floor is there a second second all in favor say I i i all right motion passes thank you Leo for your presentation and Mr helms public comment on agenda 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 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 to three minutes public comment cards are
conveniently located um in the meeting room entrance and should be submitted prior to the meeting to the deputy clerk and sits to the right of the podium and we have one card mr woodard Woodward sorry my apologies welcome thank you for
coming in um you have some comments on the LDC text amendment uh yes it seems either a little after the fact or a little before the fact well the good part was we tabled it so we don't we're going to still have two readings so yeah it's I get that i didn't realize this is what your card
said i would have certainly called you up sooner appreciate that my apologies uh the uh amendment package document that was presented to you today has a lot of good things in it okay and I certainly appreciate the initiative of
Mr baker and the effort that he put into it as well as the efforts of the planning commission in in reviewing it and making their recommendation uh the slightly unusual circumstance that brings me here today is that what
was presented to you today includes a change that is directly contrary to the recommendation of the planning commission if you uh turn to pa and and and I'm here to defend the planning commission's recommendation okay okay
just so you know what side I'm on uh if you turn to page 31 in your packet that's the final page of the draft minutes of the planning commission meeting and the motion was to recommend
approval of the amendment package to the BOCC as presented with the exception that emergency services still require a special use permit in AG residential CPO C1 etc
what was presented to you today in the package uh removes the requirement of a special use permit in CPO and C1 and instead makes emergency
services uses a use by right in those districts meaning that there would be no notice to the public no opportunity to be heard it just any type of emergency service facility would automatically be
allowed anywhere in CPO or C1 uh the land development code currently allows emergency services users by right in C2 C3 C4 light industrial heavy industrial and heavy public use they're currently emergency services
uses are currently allowed by special use permit in all agricultural and residential zones and in CPO and C1 the land development code's current requirement for a special use permit in
those zones including CPO and C1 is not an oversight or a glitch it was included in the LDC in acknowledgement of the fact that not every type and size of emergency service facility is always
going to be compatible with every particular location in those zones and so case-bycase determinations need to be made by the zoning board of adjustment or the administrative deviation committee and these case-byase
determinations involve public hearings where residents get notice and where residents and business owners can uh come and present their evidence make their case if they believe that the particular location that's
being proposed is not a compatible one or perhaps needs to be made compatible with the addition of more requirements than what would normally be the case so there's a reason for having the
special use permit requirement and that is understandable when you look at what are emergency services they can include fire departments sheriff substations EMS rescue units and emergency operation
centers what's in CPL offices which can be doctor's offices lawyers offices accountants offices psychiatrists offices cultural facilities hospitals
nursing homes assisted living living facilities child and adult daycare centers some of those things you know might might be fine putting putting emergency services of facility of whatever type next to a hospital might
work but it might not work so well next to a daycare center or an accountant's office uh so there needs to be continue to be a casebycase assessment of whether a particular location in CPO or C1 is
really going to work in that particular place for that particular type of emergency services and the uh the the pastors of the churches remember emer uh religious facilities is one of the things allowed in CPO the
pastors of the churches or the psychologists or or whoever has their businesses there should have notice and the opportunity to be heard if they have a case to make that maybe this particular type of emergency services doesn't really belong in this particular
location and maybe it could be moved to a different location very good right thank you Mr woodward mr commissioner Harvey thank you thank you Madam Chair i have a different perspective Mr ward than you do on this um section 125
Florida statute public service is our first priority and it says that in the statute you know years ago when we built some things or we built a fire station we built it on property that was convenient but the audit said you really
should have engaged the citizens to find out where it was going to be located at and the need of that we're building a new fire station out here baiten pal at the boy scout because the need is out
there i don't think we should be our hands should be tied in any zoning district when we're providing public safety services to our residents period and I take a different point of that i I think it's ludicrous that if something
happened and they said "Well for example in the CPO district in the daycare was there well you didn't get here fast enough." Well the zoning board didn't allow us to put one there i find that would be very disheartening for me as a
commissioner so I think we should throw the doors wide open on public safety and wherever we can put something that can benefit our citizens we should do that and I feel very strongly about that so thank you thank you Madam Chair all
right Madam Chair yes I apologize i need to ask you if we can go back to item number 5B which was the vote you just took on the contractor licensing issue i didn't know if we open for public hearing and there was somebody that my understanding may have had a comment
okay so if we can open it and then the board can decide the contractor's license is there any public comment oh he waved okay all right thank you thank you
no matter how how many times you do this you can still make mistakes we're all human all right moving on to consent agenda items we have items A through F uh Commissioner Paliser do you have anything to pull i have none commissioner Harvey I have none commissioner Alexander I have none
commissioner Newold none and I have none madam Chair I'd like to move approval of the consent agendums items A B C D E and F second we have a motion and a second is there any discussion all in favor say I i i any oppose like sign motion passes
code enforcement fine reduction app a request i said act codes case number 2007-000014 mr thomas madam chair is the applicant in the room today is doesn't sound look like it okay madam
Chair since the applicant's not in the room and we've gotten this product ahead of time to pay attention I'd like to make a motion on case 2007-000014 to state staff recommendation of 1391 fine red codes I mean fine
reduction if it's pay within 90 days second we have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor say I i all right thank you very much thank you all right going into um before we go into new business um Miss Young if I
could get you on the workshop to set up the workshop with with our staff and to pick a date between staff and um the um commissioners that would be great if you could be the personate that for you thank you um new business appointment of two members to the North Florida
Economic Development uh participation board as shown in your packet we already have um Commissioner Harvey and we have Mark Linton who is the vice president of economic development at the Putnham County Chamber of Commerce and they have both said that they would be willing to
continue to serve um unless there's some other person on this board who'd like to serve i do not want to my schedule is pretty full so um with that motion Yes please i'd like to make a motion that we retain Mr harvey or Commissioner Harvey and Mr linton uh vice president of
economic development to retain their seats on that board i will second that we have a motion and a second any discussion all right all in favor say I i all right that was easy public works panile store road drainage easement um
Mr stout I don't know if you're doing a presentation on this or Mr um I can take it keep him some from some steps so this past this past summer uh you all are aware that we had some uh drainage issues we had on Penile Store Road yep u public works reached out to the land owner in the area um he gave us access
to a small portion of his property um go ahead he's here just to give an update um so we've already gone out with uh Ralph Seance he gave us the the easement um we're just asking you to accept the easement and we've gone out and done 90% of the work
already uh where we've got the swale we've got the drainage we've installed across covert uh where we had the gravel that was in the road um and we've just got a little bit more work to do but and just for clarity that work was done in stuff that we already had right rights to do that so um whenever we had flooding last year in this area off of
Mud Lake we it was there was we had not seen such water in that area in in my lifetime i don't ever remember seeing water about to come across the road on State Road 19 and so what we were seeing is we had multiple issues and I want to commend your your you and your staff for
getting out there um we were in the middle of a transition until we got uh Commissioner Pelisir coming on board but in the middle he wasn't quite official and so we had this transition and I was out there myself and I rode with you and we looked at this particular area along with other things and then we had I know
you've been working in that area and and I appreciate that because it was one of those things we could just we could only do so much and this was one of the areas and I know that there was other discussions to try to get other easements and we weren't successful from some of the neighbors um and I remember
meeting Mr severance on the property and you and us looking and this definitely needs to be done in that area um we appreciate Mr severance he was very uh willing to help the neighbors and yeah it it was bad i mean there was in that in that area um there was literally
water lapping up against people's houses uh or within inches of people's houses and so I don't know that this is the fix all solution i think that it definitely helps and we'll have to continue to work in that area um so thank you for that is there any comments from the board i
would move that we accept the proposed drainage easement all right we have a motion on the floor second second um any further discussion Madam Chair we should probably include the resolution number in the motion I think okay
Mr neble okay where is our resolution number page 176 76 i'm on 74 okay okay or um at the top there we go resolution public resolution number 2525
acceptance of drainage easement located at 122 Panal Store Road we have a motion and a second all in favor say I i i any opposed like sign all right motion passes and we do thank Mr severance for his willingness to help us in that situation all right public comment on
miscellaneous items i did hear uh Commissioner Larry Harvey on the radio this morning inviting people to come and so we're always welcome people to come and share with us their stories good bad or indifferent um 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 to expect the board will engage in de 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 card comment cards are conveniently located
at the meeting room entrance and should be submitted to the meeting prior to the meeting to deputy clerk who sits on the right madam clerk do you have any you do not is there anybody in the public who wishes to speak all right moving on to appointments
um starting with Commissioner Alexander thank you Madam Chair um as most of you guys know um I take my appointments very seriously um I I consider them my face and my representation to each one of these
committees so I sent out ask to the community to find a qualified person to participate in one of our committees that is up and coming that is the transportation safety committee that you chair Commissioner Wilkinson um and
sometimes you can look far and wide and have to look far to find a candidate or sometimes you can look right around the corner in your neighborhood i found a lady that is in my neighborhood with 47 years of experience with Landstar specializing in highway traffic safety
and her name is Sandy Edwards and I would ask that you guys approve her to help with this issue we have all right so that's your appointment yes ma'am all right um do we need to vote on each appointment i think okay that is your appointment okay all right uh
Commissioner Peliser do you have um I have Are we talking about any of the appointment yeah you can go is that all your only appointment yes sir yes sir if you want to go through any of the other ones beforehand yes um I have a question for Mr commando first um my possible one
for the uh oversight committee already serves on the fair board is it possible can he do that or not i don't know enough about the oversight committee i don't know enough about the oversight committee do they have the ability to expend tax dollars and they
don't have ultimate authority everything will come back so yes they can serve on both i'm sorry they can serve on both he can serve on both um my appointment for the better place I have two but one right now is u Kyle Hines
all right and for the state uh road task force safety task force um again like Commissioner Alexander said um thought and looked and thought and wondered and lifelong friend and she was uh
injured in a accident and almost lost her foot there right at floor home on 100 kid pulled out in front of her so I thought she would be an excellent she lives in the area and um I thought that she'd be a really good one perry Kelly Missore okay
she's about to be healed over that I think but she was very close to losing her foot in that thing it was very bad i I appreciate everyone taking the safety task force uh very serious and uh and with your recommendations all right commissioner Newold do you have any
appointments only for the safety task force as well i'm I know I still got a couple standing from my end but um I'd like to nominate Ed Kilibbru he lives in that area travels the road regularly okay all right ed Kilibru for Mr newold
all right and um Commissioner Newold my apologies and then um Commissioner Harvey um thank you Madam Chair i do have one on the safety road task force um had a few people contact me but one really rose up to the top brent Coats a
retired highway patrolman uh who actually helped spearhead some of the F FDOT task force on roads uh so I'll be appointing Brent Coats from in Larkin to do that very good and um I had several
people uh reach out to me i actually had about five or six and two of those were picked by my fellow colleagues and I appreciate that and um with that being said I think that Joe Theobald who is the principal out at Qi Roberts would be a good choice he did reach out to me and
he's willing to serve so Joe Theabold is my appointment and I have no other appointments does anybody else have any other appointments on the list okay with that we'll move on to clerk of court um your comments Mr reynolds clerk Reynolds yes ma'am uh
good morning thank you Madam Chair um real quick as an update on the audit it should be hopefully should be issued um today so um we're a few days past our our goal of March 31st but still um
early enough that I think it should be plenty of time for county staff and um the budget process that'll be coming up in a couple of months so um we're aiming for even earlier next year so hopefully we'll we'll get it even before March
31st next year um but that should be coming out um either today or um I'm hoping today but if not today probably tomorrow so I will be sure to send that over to staff and make sure it gets to budget staff so that they can use that for um um doing the midyear budget true-
up and budget prep for next year um also wanted to let the board know I have put my u line item uh budget detail budget versus actual on my website and um working with uh clear gov it's a company
that does uh transparency type websites um it formats it a little prettier than the way that I have it it's just an Excel sheet with the data in it right now um but again I mentioned that at the last meeting that I wanted to to lead by example so I went ahead and and got that
done and um happy to work with the board i've I've been working with clear gov on on the board's uh bud budget versus actual data too i think I've talked with several commissioners about that so whenever the board is ready to have that detail turned on for the board too I'd be happy to do that and I think it would
be a big um gesture to the state as well as our residents to show that you know we have nothing to hide we're all about full transparency so I know we obviously we have that on our on your count on you you have our audited budgets and our audited I'm sorry financial statements
and then we have our budgets on the county's website so tell me what clear gov would give us that we don't already have out there I guess so the the way that the budget is posted it's it's um it's not necessarily budget versus actual as the year is going on at least
to the line item detail and so this would just show more detail into the county's finances like in the financial statements those figures are rolled up into different categories and they don't exactly give you all the way down into the weeds to show those you know what
was spent in individual lines so Okay i I think you've sent that to me and I took a look at it but um I would like for you um to go ahead and share it with the other commissioners sure and then um before we can make a decision on that and in admin staff as well obviously and and then I think we can revisit that i
did have a conversation with the supervisor of elections and he indicated I don't want to put him on the spot but he did indicate that he would be willing to add his financials to budget stuff to the um county's website so Mr richie if you'll get with um him I believe that um
Mr over turf is willing to do the same so that'd be great we have two constitutionals that are great for doing that and that's great to hear and I appreciate you leading by example do you have any other comments no ma'am are there any questions for clerk Reynolds all right moving on to County Attorney Commando
nothing today thank you all right County Administrator Suggs uh thank you Madam Chair uh I don't have any comments today uh per se for uh for for work other than this one i would
like for us to welcome Miss Freda Brown miss Miss Brown is our new administrative assistant hielcome and I'm sure she's excited to be here but probably not as excited as Laura Bardi is to have her here right but uh you know I just want to also give
a a shout out to to Miss Bardi uh she does a phenomenal job she handles that front desk she handles our commission agenda she sits on our pre-agenda meetings and and gets everything out that that that we're that we need to to have out to be able to discuss and then
the public meeting like this but also um she does a great job with our newsletter uh hope everybody's receiving the newsletter and uh you know so I just want to personally thank her for that because the more information we get out the better we are uh so uh Laura is
doing a great job so just wanted to say thank you personally and publicly to Laura this morning thank you Madam Chair thank you that was actually on my list i'm going to mark through it but I would like to and Lauri thank you for doing the newsletter i think um it's continuing to get um more information out publicly but I also want to tell our
commissioners to please invite your friends on Facebook to sign up and share it on Facebook because we have to get some more people signed up yes sir and I apologize i do have one more comment and I want to thank our county attorney Mr rich Commando who is a Florida State graduate for reminding me here this
morning to say "How about those Florida Gators national champions?" So go Gators i know Harvey was going to talk about that you know he was all right um are you um That ends my
comments Madam Chair thank you deputy Administrator Young or Grimes do you have any comments okay moving on to Commissioner Alexander a for A for first yep i always seem to be at the front of the class um No I am you know it's another
to me another positive meeting uh I know we've got some the safety committee is a big deal that's close to all of our hearts i like to see that moving forward i think we've got some great people in place there um wanted to talk about catfish festival went down there with our South Putham commissioner
representative there and our city county administrator had a good time met some people and then uh our elder statesman handed me the microphone surprise surprise i need you to speak i just want to make note of that caught me off guard but uh we've had a good weekend
um the boat ramps are You've got the updates on those um I'm very happy to welcome Miss Sandy to the committee and um really I'm just I'm excited about the future for Putin County me too
commissioner Peliser are you ready yes um we talk about social media um there's a I hope I'm right when I say this Mr suggs or Mr out might clarify this uh that um our water project on East River
Road has been cancelled that is not true is that has been suspended correct that that is correct we're talking about the Army Corps project so uh everything is completed everything is done hopefully we'll get our final letters from the
Army Corps any day now and hopefully that that funding will uh be uh unsuspended and we can get get that project moving that's the clear word that I want to get out there of this it's been snatched and taken away and that's just not true and um um you hear
me talk about image and how we're perceived and looked upon and having been a lifer here we've sometimes had not just one black eye but two black eyes and um I like to always talk about anything that's positive or uplifting or that is moving in a right direction and
um I understood it took a little bit of an undertaking but I was not involved but I was glad to go by the Putinham Business Park and see that our sign has been clean painted shined and buffed and got a shiny red bow on top i mean it looks good um um the only other
information I have for y'all is that some of you may clap and with joy and some of you may be sad um I will not be at the next meeting i will have some um outpatient surgery done and it's done on Monday before our meeting on Tuesday and I will not be mobile so um but I should
pretend be able to come back to meeting thereafter well you're going to have some homework because you know that's when our um you know our impact fee study comes in so send my daughters by to pick it up yeah you'll have some homework to do i think my wife could help me get down here we have some wheelchairs oh you have some wheelchairs okay all right well we'll make you come
no thank No that's good i'm I'm glad you're being able to get that handled is that it that's it yes ma'am all right Commissioner Newold i don't have a whole heck of a lot i I really appreciate the um Commissioner Alexander and Harvey participating in the Catfish Festival it
was a a beautiful day of weather the Rotary Club of Crescent City and really the Rotary Clubs around Putham County came in and pulled off a great event um a lot of catfish sold a lot of people had a good time larry did a fantastic job at MC and keeping everything rolling
and lighthearted it was much appreciated i want to thank the county IT staff for getting me back going good grief anyway I didn't realize how many emails I I had not received yet so anyway to those of you who haven't received an email from me you'll get one
soon um I think that's really all I have it's feels like we've got good momentum i'll be glad to see the impact fee study we'll get into some meat and and um that'll be a big uh step for Putnham
County anyway thank you guys all right Commissioner Harvey thank you Madam Chair and um the Bible says to be instant in season and out of season Commissioner Alexander so whenever the microphone's on okay commissioner Nubal
didn't have a problem at all doing that so I did I did I did make a point earlier though at the presentation yesterday at the Robert Jenkins Middle School i and don't think this is the wrong way but I don't believe there's a microphone that you can walk by that you
don't love and speak through i I have a comment on that about him and the microphone uh I attended a oh very nice thing in in yesterday um one of our teachers and school uh was awarded $60,000 from
Florida Power and Light they're celebrating their hundth year in service i think um the teachers classroom was given 50,000 for I would think some massive upgrades of of technology or something in this and the uh educational uh foundation I think is getting 10,000
but uh Miss um Abby Anderson Alli Alli Anderson Alli Anderson U and uh she was u she was beaming from ear to ear and uh but the point making throughout the whole deal microphone wouldn't work wouldn't
work and Mr harvey Commissioner Harvey walked up there and he waved his magic wand and the special touch and voila we had we had loud Harvey so he has a way with those things well thank you again and also I want to
thank out give a shout out to our Putinham County Fair Board you know years ago I served on that fair board um when I was a lot younger and and I saw a t-shirt the other day online that says you're you don't know tired to
your fair week tired right Commissioner Newell you understand that comment um so many of our fair board members bring a camper there they stay they're there 247 for the whole week and and not just that
week that that week is pretty easy for them compared to the weeks ahead of time and behind getting over the fair of cleaning things up and getting prepared uh but it's all for the benefit of the youth of Putnham County and um was able
to be at the fair a lot this year and was able to walk around uh that Friday night the buyer dinner and Commissioner Palace here cooking hundreds of cows it looked like back there steaks if you will um but you know it's it's all for
the benefit of our Putham County youth and um it was a great fair and I just want to give a shout out to our fair board for that catfish Festival was a Chamber of Commerce day beautiful day down in Crescent City i think it was a
pretty good crowd a large crowd um I know the food was fantastic former commissioner Pickkins had a his staff down there doing the swamp cabbage and he does an excellent job at that and it's just an honor to go down there and
be a part of that um do want to give a shout out to where credits due and that Julianne if you will i called you Saturday i got I'm on stage at the catfish festival my phone's ringing in my pocket west Putinham U field out
there is having sewer backup julianne would made a few calls and I understood this morning that JR was one of those calls that was made chairman while I appreciate you um I did nothing but be a liaison i was not even
in Putnham County um I called JR um who was home enjoying his Saturday and he u made some phone calls and before you know it you had JR and Chris Leuk and Tim White and Howard Hughes all out there um for hours working on the septic
system to make sure that those kids could play and the patrons had um functioning restrooms and you know we haven't used that field in years because there was no you know I'm not going to put money into something that somebody doesn't use so uh we kind of expected a
few hiccups and we worked but Julianne truly the staff has worked very hard to get those fields back up and running the fences back up from being tore down you know I got a call from St augustine that day you know what's the matter with you
people why aren't you doing this you know we we are doing this we can't help that there's people out there that want to tear our our situations up and our product up but truly J.R thank you for going to back grabbing your team going
out there and getting that done on a Saturday um that's above and beyond and we appreciate it more than you know and and a credit really truly goes to Tim White Howard Hodgeges Chris Leoot and um Dalton our road supervisor from Mountain
Lock and time I got there they had already had a plan um and they they did a great job phenomenal um that that we had to make a couple trips up to to Ace and got the stuff to get them fixed but I mean they got them running with immediately chris had had some you know portaotties delivered and fix the
situation the best to his availability on that Saturday i I'll give it I mean when Julianne told me there was a or Miss Young told me there was a opening day at Interlock and I'm like this thing can't be that busy well I got out there and there must have been 500 people and no bathroom and I and I'll give it to
the citizens there was nobody out there complaining i mean there truly wasn't i mean they were there having a great time they were with their families i mean we ended up digging up the the septic system right there that day i mean nobody complained it was a beautiful day um you could not have put one more person down there uh on those fields
every one of them had activity on it from the little te-ballers all the way to what appeared to be major league baseball uh quality you know and I and and I told her I said the amazing thing was is I said everybody has to be at Interlockan today well I left there and
went to Melrose and it was packed too so all the teams were not in Interlockan but I mean it was just a beautiful thing to see that much activity at a park that hasn't been used in however long um it was a beautiful day uh hopefully that we can get that field up in shape that can be used by the citizens out there
because it truly was I mean you I mean when I pulled up down there on Twin Lakes Boulevard and the cars were lying down Twin Lakes Boulevard I was like oh lord um so especially with a bathroom problem right but I mean it wasn't 45 minutes after we got there we had portaotties set everything was fine um and we could not have done it if it
wouldn't have been for those folks from parks and recreation um matter of fact Dalton was out there watching his child play and he stepped right in there grabbed a shovel out of his truck everybody started digging and we we it the problem was resolved but we had issues we had to work through but it's back up and running now so we should be in good shape well I think it's notable
to let the public know that you know this was a field that hasn't been used and all of a sudden we sunk a lot of money i put I put personally some of my uh capital improvement money into that to get that field up and running because we made a promise once you decide once
you start we'll help but and they decided to move forward with organized sports again out there and um but you know septics always back up at the wrong time christmas Christmas Eve Easter Sunday graduation at my house with 13
girls in the house i mean always happens that time but you know y'all overcome and I I greatly appreciate it and um so that's the end of that comment and if you didn't stay up till 11:30 last night
or later to watch our Florida Gator win the national championship what an awesome team they were and if you think basketball is a finesse sport you're farly misguided it should be in pads and helmet watching these guys play because it was brutal they were they were
physical but u congratulations to the Florida Gators and my tie and my pen has my Florida Gators and I'm very proud to be a Florida Gator thank you Madam Chair thank you um appreciate all the comments and you guys uh covering for me i wasn't
able to make everything i didn't get out to inter i didn't get to the catfish festival i didn't get out to all the different places but um I appreciate when I look at the pictures and I see them we're all represented you know we all cover for each other so thank you just want to let everybody know that
tomorrow is our A-Hack meeting our affordable housing committee meeting at 10 o'clock it is open to the public um we're going we're doing a little bit different besides just our normal meeting we're also having several presentation uh one of them is the homeless coalition uh we have Habitat for Humanity Catholic Charities and
another one I can't remember that'll be presenting and just sort of telling us what's going on in their organizations and the idea of it is what can we as the affordable housing committee work with them on and so that's a different way of looking at at things than we have in the past and so we're going to bring them up
and let them each have some time and speak to that committee um also I want to um say the fairgrounds of course I know we've talked about that and what a great job they did but I had a thought thought and I wanted to run it by you i'm shooting from the hip a little bit here um can on that exhibit hall where
that asphalt is not even can we take the equipment that we use to fill in you know how we have the asphalt paving machine that we just got last year can we run that down those center rows and fill in that asphalt and the exhibit halls you know how in the
exhibit halls is bumpy i'm talking about inside inside the buildings can you do that can you clearance is there enough i'd like for us to sort of look at it because it'd be nice if if we have the equipment and we it's just a matter and if I have to give you I mean I don't know what we have to do but I I just it
just when I was walking through there I'm like we got this nice new pavement machine could we use it on that in that building can I shoot from the hip and tell you maybe maybe okay yeah yeah we going to look at it i don't want to I don't want to commit to it right here this morning i need to look at exactly the scope of work you're talking about
but if if we can we absolutely will you get where I'm getting coming from i I do yes ma'am i just need to make sure that uh all everything would work if it will that we we'll evaluate it there's some trip hazards in there and and I just think is there something that the county could do to make that easier for walking
and I just thought about that asphalt machine i was like wonder if that thing fits in here and if it does let's use it okay that's my idea we will absolutely look into that thank you and then also of course we know we have the fair building um the new fair building that's
been discussed and we had a presentation here so if I could have Mr grimes if you would be willing to maybe go and to the next fair board meeting if if they will have you um and just give a little bit of an update it shouldn't take long maybe five five or 10 minutes and just give an update of what's going on with
that building i'd like for the fair authority to have an update on that as well most certainly thank you um and then um just wanted to let you know that the Bread of Life is having their Harvest for Hungry event this Saturday at Coventry Oak starts at 5:00 if you're interested in going you can get tickets
from me or Kim Dailyaly um it's a beautiful event what they do is they try to use local it's a farmtotable event and what they try to do is use local vendors and local foods as much as from local honey local meat everything and
then um it's presented it's beautiful it really is and it's their major fundraiser for the year and they do a great job in the community feeding people and um if you want to go let me know and then of course I'm going to give a shout out on April 26 for our Boswe Blueberry Festival um I know most
of us go out there and work and um and if we if we're if we don't Miss Linda Bazar will give us something to do um but anyway uh so I just want to remind y'all and everybody uh on that and then lastly um a couple times I've been I've
been really thinking about a future public meeting with the city and the county and Mr suggs and I have been going over it you know what is it that would work and and we've done a a um meeting in the past like years ago um I want something that would be like I hate
to say it but getting us on first base like we need to have some kind of a meeting I think that would be beneficial to both them and us and I mentioned I think at the last meeting talking about maybe annexation versus non-anexation but extending of water i don't know that
that's the first meeting we have but I just want y'all to tell me if there's anything particular or you can talk to Mr suggs or Mr leanne about ideas that you have would be a great meeting for us to have um I think there's something we really need to come together with the city of Palaca there's a lot of things
you know we've talked about working collaboratively but we really haven't had an we do it on the side but what would be a good public meeting to have commissioner Alexander madam Chair I really appreciate you bringing that up because that has been top of my list as far as collaborating with the city i
attend the majority of the city commission meetings um and I do have um conversation with all the city commission man or city commissioners as well as the new city manager right um it's everything we've had has been
positive but I agree um as they do that we would like to move forward with a more formal meeting and I I would like to volunteer for that yeah and I just don't want us to sit around and and talk i want us to have an agenda a specific agenda an item an action item maybe it's
one from them and one from us i don't know um so I think if you have ideas as to what that action item could be or discussion it doesn't necessarily have to be an action item but one I don't want it to be too long but it needs to be something to for us to get started right and so to that point uh I'm pose
the question to the rest of my commissioners is that something that each of you would like to attend um yeah if we do if we do an open meeting like that it would be their council and our council meeting together our commissions yeah meeting together as a whole it be public advertised but again I'd want it
to be an agenda like what's our agenda what's our specific i just don't want us to sit around and waste time and money okay well I will talk to Mr suggs um I know he's leaving shortly maybe Julianne can help me with that while he's gone and I'll reach out to Marcia
and see what her ideas are their scheduling and what might work for both groups yeah I know there's a couple subjects that are big ask big discussions so I don't know that that's where we start i think if we can start with something Yeah a little low-key introductory and learn each other's
personalities and what our goals are for the community and then kind of transition into I agree and I appreciate that but yeah um any ideas please let's let's have that discussion because it is something I want to see us do going forward okay i will get with Miss Holmes and uh see what we can go yep and if you
have any ideas please share them that's the comment I was going to make is I I think it's a great thing Madam Chair and Commissioner Alexander that we do work together we are a team we are one let's work as one and um find out what their issues are with us and us with them and
see if we can't pull this thing together to make a a better Putnham and a better palaca yeah um but also a tip of the hat to you Madam Chair on your idea about the flooring in the exhibit area because I too as I was walking through there if you're looking at the exhibits and not watching where your feet you can fall
down and it about happened to me twice while I was going through there because it is very un even hopefully that machine would fit in there and that would be a great thing if we could do that yeah that would really dress it up i guess I'll cross our fingers on that one if not then we maybe we'll have to come up with another solution so with that that's all my comments is there
anything else from the board all right thank you and have a good day and um talk to you There