Today is Tuesday, January 27th. It is 900 a.m. Welcome to the Putham County Board of County Commissioners meeting. Um, we'll call the meeting to order. Invocation will be led by U. M. uh Pastor Prietto from uh Panal Baptist
Church and the pledge of allegiance from J.R. Newold. Please stand if you're able to do so. >> Thank you for being here. >> Let's pray. Our father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your blessing upon our lives and we thank you for this
opportunity to serve you as we serve our community. Our prayer today is for wisdom and guidance. May your spirit lead us to do what is right. Help us, Father, to minister to those in this community in a way that you've called us and led us to do. We pray, Father, for
your blessing today and all that occurs here. And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. >> Amen. United States of America and to the stands nation. >> Thank you, pastor. >> All right. Before you gentlemen, we have
the approval of the minutes. >> Madam Chair, I move approval of the minutes stated in our packet for November 18th, 2025. Second. >> Have a motion second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. Moving into presentations. People one,
do we have them here for a presentation? >> All right, y'all come on up. >> Morning, sir. >> Morning. How are you? >> Good. >> Little chilly here this morning. >> Yeah, a little bit. >> Coming from Boise, Idaho, it's uh was expecting a little warmer weather. >> Oh, I hear you.
>> Just hang on a few hours. It'll Not like I might need help because I don't see Oh, there it is. All right. We ready to go? >> Yes, sir. You might need to pull that mic to you a little bit. Yes, sir. >> Is that better? >> Yep. Thank you.
>> Okay. All right. So plan today is I'm going to walk you through um the results that we've had and prior to that I'm going to spend maybe five minutes just running through the model real quick just to give everybody uh an overview refresh of everything that we do. Okay, >> good.
So, um, I'm going to start out by saying this is kind of how we always talk to everybody we we go with is imagine a world that's I say full of unicorns and rainbows where we could just kind of do anything and everything that we want and the world was perfect. If you could bring a plan to your members that saves
them money, bring something to the county that saves the health plan, the self-funded health plan money, um has the best rated member experience in the US and also has a performance guarantee that says we're going to come in and save you money guaranteed. Worst case scenario, you'll spend exactly what
you're spending today, but you'll give better experience to your members. Is that a world we'd all like to live in? Right? Obviously, yes, of course we would. Right? So, I'm going to show you how we get there, and we're going to talk about that today. Ultimately, the problem that we're trying to help organizations like the county solve over
the last 10 years, cost of health insurance has gone through the roof. Um, you know, average increase over the last 10 years has been 53%. It's actually going up even more. When you think about primary care, when you go in to see a primary care physician, they see so many patients a day that on average, you
spend less than eight minutes in front of them. So, it's really kind of get in, get your medications, get out. You don't get heard. you don't have the ability to actually be listened to and try to understand what you're facing. Um the average cost of benefits for per family out of pocket is about $9,000, a little
less, 8,500. And because of that, half the population avoids care, right? They they they have to make a decision on do I provide services for myself and go get the medical care that I need or do I go buy groceries and get my kids involved in what they need to be involved in, right? So, they kick the can down the road, they avoid care, and then
ultimately they end up in the ER and it's super expensive. So, we want to help avoid that. So, I'm going to kind of tell you what we aren't to explain what we are, right? So, we're not a replacement for health insurance. The Florida Blue Plan that all the members have stays in their pocket. They still have that for when
they need it. What we do is we enhance that by giving better access uh to our providers here in Palaka and giving people the ability to get in same day, next day, get treated for what they have. But if they need to go to the emergency room or they need to have a surgery, that Florida Blue Card still stays there. Um, we don't do anything
from a fee for service perspective. So, when members come and see us, there's no bills, there's no co-pays, there's no deductibles. They get seen, they get heard, and everything is a predictable cost to the county. Nothing uh around that we do is on-site. We do community based centers. So, we've built the
community uh based center today over by um St. John's College. Members have access anytime they want. And we don't replace urgent care or ER. However, by giving people same day, next day access guaranteed, they have the ability to come and see us. So, we reduce urgent
care visits typically by about 85% and ER visits by about 25%, saving a lot of money, right? So, our goal is to build an ecosystem around your members that includes primary care with an integrated care team um and a service partner network that we'll talk about. So
ultimately everything that we do, think about primary care, unlimited utilization, longer appointments, 30 to 60 minutes, one-on-one relationship with your doctors, u better access. We include about 400 generic drugs in our formulary, uh, including vitamins and and supplements.
99% of the lab work that's done is done in our facilities. Um, and because we're not dealing with insurance, our member care team can actually guide and help members with the care that they need to get. Everything has a registered dietitian, a health coach, a licensed clinical social worker. We have clinical
pharmacy to help people that are uh battling chronic conditions and and taking multiple drugs to make sure that they're a getting their prescriptions filled, b they're taking them, and if they're having any adverse reactions, we want to help make sure that we uh fix that and get them in the right uh in the right formularies. Um we have access to
about 75 specialty consults. And what that basically means is when a member comes and sees us, say they come in and get their blood work done and something's irregular and they need help, uh rather than just sending them out to uh some consultant somewhere um and getting specialty care, we can actually deal with that inhouse. We've
got a team that can uh be leveraged to make sure that they get the care that they need and we can keep them from having to go to a specialist about 75% of the time. And then the last thing is we have the technology piece. So if somebody's ill, they're not feeling well, and they need an appointment, they can do things virtually rather than
coming into a health center. Um a lot of times we can treat them that way and take care of it. And then the last piece is um we include behavioral health, physical therapy, all the imaging, so MRI, CT scans, um X-rays, mammograms, things like that. We have cardiology
testing. So if somebody's having a trouble there, we can get that testing done for them. Pulmonology services. So think of like sleep studies. Um people with CPAP maybe need a CPAP machine. They have sleep apnea. The machine and everything is included in our model. So
they don't have to go outside. They don't have to go insurance and pay for all those things. It's much less expensive. Makes it much easier for them and more accessible. All in all, if you total it all up, about 80% of the health claims that somebody would typically see in a current year get disintermediated or pulled out of the self-funded plan.
And so they don't hit the self-funded plan for the county and they get pulled into our model driving savings down and driving a better experience for the members. Ultimately, no co-pays, no deductibles, no co- insurance for the member. Uh there's no paperwork, no bills, no
surprise bills. Um for the county, it's one pre-negotiated rate for every member that joins. So it's stable and uh steady the whole time. And you only pay for those who join. So it's not, hey, we have to pay for this for everybody. It's only the members who join. We have some members. Yesterday I was at the sanitation department. We had a new hire
come in and he was interested in the model, but he said, "I've had a primary care doctor for 25 years. I really don't want to leave him." And I said, "You know what? If you've got something that works and you've been using it, then stay there. That's totally fine, right? But for those who don't have one, it's a great opportunity for them to come in and see us." On the right hand side,
where insurance kicks in is when somebody has a hospital admission. um if they have a brandame drug that they're taking, if they have an emergency room visit or if they have some kind of outpatient surgery performed, that's where the Florida Blue insurance would kick in and they would have their normal co-ay and deductibles and things like
that. Last thing, um from a member experience perspective, we hear this all the time from members, which is fantastic. Um, you know, I don't know if you guys are familiar with NPS, net promoter score, but it's really what any industry uses from a service network or service
perspective to gauge whether something's good or bad. The experience I always use, most of us have have been to either Apple or we've had Starbucks or we use Amazon. And those experiences are are global brand names who have great member experiences when you when you use those services. They s typically are somewhere
around 75 from an NPS score. Our MPS score sits at 95, which in health care is unbelievable, right? Most people um MPS scores for hospitals or primary care is somewhere around 30 or 35. So when members come and see us, they get the attention they need. They they're heard
and they get the medical attention they need from our from our doctors. So they have really high uh member experience and they love what they're getting. So and we hear that constantly from folks from the county. So it's great. The last piece of this is we talked about saving members money. I'm going to
show you how we did that. We talked about saving the plan money. I'm going to show you that as well. The net promoter score is 95. Uh which is phenomenal and consistently uh the same. And then from a savings perspective, um I'm going to dive into that here in a minute, but we did save the county money
um pretty much right on par with what we talked about 18 months ago when we started this journey together. So um pretty good stuff. Before I go there, any questions on the model or anything? Yes, sir. Uh, Commissioner Harvey, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to really want to say thank you um to
people one for coming. Um, there's a lot of models out there that we could have used and and truly u I started this back when I first got here looking at some of the other models, but it was a necessity for us to find a partner to drive down
the cost. And it's hard to define customer service, but you know when you don't get it. That's what I always say to people. Um, we've had some growing pains with your company, no doubt. But I can tell you the overall u health of your plan, if you will. And the customer
service that our people are getting, including myself, is completely off the charts. It's the best I've ever dealt with. And um and we've had some experiences that needed to be I have personally, but we've had a lot of good employees who went there who found
things out that and we kind of knew that that you know people that weren't really active in the plan would find things out that maybe they were had wrong with them. But that's what we wanted. We wanted to keep our employees. We wanted them to be healthy. And uh and I tell
you the partnership we have with People One has been amazing. And again, we started this path because we were self-insured. We're self-insured now. We were fully insured back when I first got here, and you we couldn't afford those prices anymore. But when you're
self-insured, you take on a bigger risk. And finding a partner like people one to come in and help mitigate some of those costs have been just a pleasure for for me and for what I see for our board and for our citizens. So, thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> Thank you. So your current membership when you say total's 571 those are just county right you've taken other people outside of the county. Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think total today I'm going to say we're sitting somewhere close to 900 total members >> and growing. We've got um I don't know
there's a restaurant group 1821. Um we actually had dinner last night. I think it was called the filling station. Um it just opened. But there's a restaurant group. They're open. Three restaurants. Um we're just going through the final process of signing them up. They're will be our newest client. >> Okay. but bringing those folks on. But
yeah, I mean, any of you all know business owners or people that that need the help, we'd love to be introduced and talk to. We're we're up here all the time having those conversations and continuing to try to >> Okay, very good. >> Mr. Newold, you're recognized. >> I've had an excellent experience with
people one. So, if you're taking on private businesses, is this something um local municipalities might be able to participate in if they had felt the desire? >> Anybody? Right. So we we are not um generally marketing to direct to consumer, you know, personto person. Um
but I will tell you anybody that wants to come join the program and they pay for it. It's 150 per per month per person, right? Um we'll take anybody on. Um the local businesses, we had Beck Automotive for a long time and they moved from self-insured back to fully
insured. Um so so they went away, but we had other clients that um continue to use the program and we're continuing to grow. So yeah, anybody any business we've got, you know, businesses that are only four, five, six employees that aren't providing health insurance, but they're providing people one instead,
right? Um so I mean there's a lot of different variations of how we can do it. >> Okay, good to keep going. >> Yes, please. Okay. So, I'm going to transition from what the model looks like to our experience with you all over the last year. Um, and what those
results looked like. Um, so we opened the health center back in um, July of 24. Um, membership has continued to grow steadily. I think you just said it, called it out. There's 571 current members as that was as of this morning. Um, yesterday we met with the sheriff's department. We were at sanitation
department and we were here. we had employees coming in kind of an open house type thing and we signed up probably I don't know 15 or 16 more members um just by having conversations and explaining kind of what the program is. Um we've got about 50% of the total population is enrolled which is
fantastic. Um and we have a over 80% utilization which basically means of that percentage of the population that's signed up we've had over 80% of them utilizing on a regular basis which is really good. It's um Mr. Dr. Harvey speaks to people coming in who maybe
haven't seen a doctor in two, three, four, five years, getting their blood work done, finding things out, and then now working to fix those issues. So, uh, it's been very rewarding from that perspective. Um, so I'm going to go first I'm going to talk a little bit about the financial side of things. So, when we started
partnering with you all, you your team had uh declared over the next year they were expecting about a eight and a half or nine% increase in costs, right? Um so fast forward 12 months implementation of
people one members using the plan. The actual um spend that you saw was a two and a half% decrease. And I can't emphasize this enough. That's um that's total population. That's not just the members who signed up for People One Health and started getting treatment
from us. We actually were able to affect the entire population. And the reason being is we started getting people with multiple chronic conditions that hadn't dealt with those situations or circumstances. We pulled them into the health centers, started giving them the treatment they needed, and it has a
massive effect overall on what the health plan looks like and what it does. Right? So to dig into that a little bit, if you look at this, I want to kind of center you on the bars. So the light blue is before people won, the dark blue is after people won. And when you look
at the population, 50 to 70 is the the population that spent the most, if you will. Um, and those are more than likely people who are dealing with multiple chronic conditions. Um, and we were able to have a massive impact on what um what that experience looked like for those folks.
When you think about the average age, this is just a kind of a population breakdown, but the average age of people that we're seeing compared to um non-people health members is is slightly older, about eight years. Um where the real magic
happens is when you get into those chronic conditions we were talking about, right? So the top four chronic dis diseases or conditions within the county are diabetes, obesity, um depression management and hypertension. Okay. And what these slides basically
show and the next two slides is where all of the kind of power is is that when you compare the non-members, people who didn't come see us versus the people who did, on average they were getting two times the number of services. So, what that says is we're able to remove the barriers financially and the barriers of
like, hey, I can't get in to see my primary care doc for three or four or five or six weeks or I don't have a primary care doc. They're able to come see us and we're able to give them extra services and get them taken care of and get them to start using uh the services the way they needed to. So when you look
at obesity, hypertension, depression, all across the board, members who came and saw us on average had two times, sometimes three more services compared to others. And I think one story that I'll share that I think is really powerful is we had a member who said
before people want health, she was balancing co-pays and drug costs and when they hit at the same time, she had to cancel doctor's appointments because she was dealing with multiple chronic conditions. By coming to see us, all those barriers get removed. Now she can
see us every single month. She can deal with the challenges and issues that she had. And she's got her diabetes under control. She's got her weight management under control. She's working with a health coach. And she's working with a clinical social worker on the mental side of things. Right? All of those things she never had the ability to do before because she couldn't afford it
with co-pays and with drugs and things that she was taking. Right? That's an example of what we can do when we can remove all the financial barriers and give people access to the critical care that they need. right? We can really help work on the population health side and really help make them healthier.
Um before I go on any I want to just kind of be reticent of questions or anything if anybody has any >> good right now. >> Okay. So ultimately what it kind of resulted in when you think about um dealing with all the folks with chronic conditions and helping lower cost um
when you look at uh urgent care and ER visits like I said earlier we don't replace those because they're still services that at in the right time are needed but when you look at urgent care um we reduced urgent care spend by 50% by giving better access and what that entailed is when you look at the ER side
people who actually used the ER that were people one health members used it for the right things, right? They didn't wake up in the morning feeling nauseous and sick and say, "I'm just going to head into the ER." That's it's way too expensive to do that. They ended up using it for what they needed. They woke up, they think they're having a heart
attack. Absolutely. Go to ER, right, for the necessary things. Um, when you think about the cost breakdown, the way we the way we use that methodology is we take all of the medical claims, all the pharmacy claims, add those up, and then we separate them
from a non-member to a member, right? And so, when you think about the savings that I'm about to share with you, non-P people one health members are going to have medical and pharmacy claims. And then we're going to look at those comparisons side by side with a people one health member and we're going to look at those pharmacy medical claims
and compare the two because people one health members when they come see us there's no claim created so there's going to be a much lower cost savings right. So when you look at it from that perspective on the employee side um we had uh and at the time um save we're on
average we're saving about $533 per person but when you look at out-of- pocket costs of non-member versus member of people health um you can see the reduction of total out-of- pocket spend goes from 300 almost 370,000 to about
145,000. Um, so people that are coming and seeing us on average are saving a ton of money in co-pays, um, and pharmacy scripts and things like that. Um, when you think about the savings to the county, and this is strictly on the
claim side, um, there's about a $70,000 reduction in costs for you all. When we started talking to you guys um two years ago about what this cost structure would look like and how much money we thought we would save you in the first year, the number we came up with that we presented
was just under 70,000. It was like 67,450. So when you think about what we said two years ago and what we ended with at the end of the first year, we were right on par with what that was. it was a little bit more um 70,000 but ultimately
altogether um the overall net savings to the county and to the members uh was just over $200,000 and I think more importantly we delivered care that people much needed um we you know we gave them opportunities and the ability to get into a health center and see what
was going on with themselves and if they hadn't been to a doctor they now had the opportunity to get to one right and get taken care of. I think what's next for us um we continue to work with the HR team um doing targeted mail campaigns um coming
out and sitting down with folks and walking them through the model and answering what questions they have making them feel comfortable. What we continually hear all the time and I heard it yesterday I don't know probably 20 times was this is too good to be true. What's the catch? Nothing is free. Um and we continue to reiterate that the
county is reinvesting in you as a member and as an employee to get you the care that you need. um and make sure that you are able to remove the barriers around health care um so that you can you can take care of yourself. Um people very much appreciate that message. Uh they hear it loud and clear. Uh we're doing a
ton of on-site events. Um we're doing new hire welcome kits and working with the team to make sure that we get them what they need. um on the on the community side or on the partnership side, we're continuing to try to be part of local events um and continuing to try to recruit u more
clients uh and more businesses and and more folks in the community. Um we're doing health center open tour uh open houses and tours and things like that um periodically uh and then trying to work with the chamber and and find ways to engage other businesses within within
the organizations. Um, a couple of things that I wanted to just kind of give a high level overview on is we're expanding um, some pharmacy care. So today when a member comes in and they meet with their doctor, they talk to a clinical pharmacist, they can understand like, hey, I'm taking these medications.
If I switch to people one health, I can now get these medications for free. One of the services that we actually provide is we have a um we have the ability to look at at pharmacy overall from a total perspective to see what uh prescriptions people are taking and if it's something
that we can pull into our pharmacy to lower cost and give them access to other drugs that are generic rather than name brand we can start doing that. So, we're actually bringing that into the county as well, hoping to drive not only savings, but giving people the ability to look at what prescriptions they're
taking and pull those in so we can pull them off of the name brand and get them into a generic setting. Um, and then the the last piece is from a cardiac perspective, I'm not a doctor, so I don't know a ton about this, but there's uh halter tests, which in the past when somebody's having um cardiac issues, we
have to send them out immediately to a cardiologist. Uh but we've actually uh invested in these devices that we'll have in our health centers where we can do a lot of that testing inhouse right now saving them from having to go to a separate appointment or separate visit.
So those are some of the things that we're working on right now. Um more to come, but we're thrilled with our partnership. Um the team at the county has been amazing to work with. Um we've had a a great time getting to know them and work closely with them. So, um,
again, I'll say to you if you know any business owners or know people that want to expand and look at healthcare in a different way, um, Grant is with me, our VP of sales, he's here all the time. Um, we would love to talk to people and continue spreading the word and delivering great care to people. >> All right. Thank you. Um, I've got
Commissioner Harvey. You're recognized. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. On another note, when you talk about pharmacy, um, I take a breathing thing for asthma and I get it from Canada actually pretty cheap. Um, so would that be something that people one would look at if there was a
need that you know my breathing disc thing? >> Yeah, I mean look, we're willing to look at anything. The more we can get in the formulary, the better. Um, so I mean we're we're willing to look at anything and everything to see if it's something that we can take care of. So I'll follow up with you and
>> Good. Thank you. >> Get our chief medical officer involved. Yeah. >> All right, Miss Young. >> Thank you, commissioners. I just want to echo um a year and a half ago when we started this journey it was a little bit scary. It was a model that not many um had had incorporated um but we as an
insurance committee saw the writing on the wall and that was what we were doing wasn't sustainable um and and most of us that have been here a long time um it took us about three years to find this particular solution. Um but I am telling you that from the feedback from
employees not not the ones that he spoke to spoke about it's making real true meaningful impacts um in our employees lives to bridge that access to care uh for those of us who have lived in Putnham our whole life. We know we've had some really amazing physicians but
the the capacity for them to care or to provide care has been very limited by the number of physicians that we have. Um, so when we started doing member polls, what we found out in our insurance group was people simply didn't have a primary care doctor. They felt relatively healthy. Um, but they weren't
going to fight and wait for six months to get in to see a primary care physician just to establish care. Uh, this has taken all of that off. And what we saw in the first six months is a number of individuals who had no known health conditions come back and say, "Hey, I met with people one, they told
me, I need to do this quick test because it's time to do it." And they found something that could have been catastrophic had it not been found now. And so we're reaping the benefits not just of tangible savings, but of the intangible big claim haven't hit. um and
and the intangible of having employees who are healthy and confident in what they're doing. So, I just want to add um from an administrative standpoint as we meet bi-weekly with people one about what we can do next, how can we make it better, what's the next step in this goal, where where are we still having a
gap in our coverage or our care for our employees? Um they've been very receptive and and the results are speaking for themselves. >> Thank you. Um Mr. S, you're recognized. Uh thank you madam chair. You know one of the things that we do every year we go to our conferences throughout the
state and this is one of the things that we bring up every year when we have our managers meetings but the things that we have done here in Pton County look at doing cost savings and providing health care benefits to our staff because as you know that's one of the rising costs that all counties and municipalities
have to deal with. So this is one of those things that we get to tal when we go to those classes. uh you know it's a it's a an amazing opportunity for our staff to get healthier and that's one thing that we pushed. You know we always look at the bottom line as far as a cost savings because insurance costs go up
every year know that. But the the more important factor here is what it's done for our staff here at the county giving them the opportunity and the access to a great group like people want you know so that's one of the things that we get to tout every year and I'm I'm most proud of that. That is that's a great thing
you know and the message is loud and clear. I just got a text message from uh from full disclosure from my wife who serves on a nonprofit board asking me to set up a conference call with their group next week. So uh thank you for what you're doing in this community because you're making our community so
much more healthier. And so uh and thank you to the board for allowing us to do this three years ago. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um Commissioner Harvey. >> I think it's important and Julianne and Mr. S kind of said it. Our community is getting better. you're partnering with some of our local people anyway. So,
it's not like you're replacing them. You're just enhancing that for us. And I think that's the important part. You know, years ago when we s served on the insurance committee, again, we couldn't sustain what we were what we were dealing with, but the unknown cost, the
like you said, people going to the ER just because they feel sick. Well, that cost was enormous. and if we can avoid that and the prescription costs were getting out of hand. So, we we've been able to attack those two things. Uh but again, our biggest asset is our
employees and keeping them healthy and keeping them fit and their families healthy. That's a good thing for us. So, we've avoided costs, but we've enhanced our our community with people like you and we've enhanced our employees to have
a better health plan. And like you said, some some people didn't even know. They went to the doctor, they found out, but they're managed now instead of all of a sudden a big blow up, ER visit, life, a hospital visit. All that was avoided in
some cases because of that. So, we appreciate that. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Commissioner Alexander. You're recognized. >> I just want to thank you for coming in and presenting. Um it it it's kind of opened my eyes and I understand a little bit better now. Um my background is not
in healthcare. My wife's maybe she gets all this but uh I come from a mechanical background and um basically what I've gleaned from the presentation that you have, it's no different than what I've done for my entire life. If you do the maintenance, you're going to your motor's going to last longer. You change
the oil, you do the simple things. And what you guys have have done is open that door to allow our employees and our group the opportunity to do that without it being an issue. And it's it's detected those problems and it's going to you're going to live longer and it's
going to cost you less money in the long run. So I get it now. Thank you guys. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, sir, for your presentation. We appreciate it. You're >> welcome. Thank you guys for the opportunity. Appreciate it. >> Yes, sir. Next up, we have Lori Parker from human resources. Good morning.
>> Good morning. >> Um, we're doing this presentation for employee of the month and it's for December and the employee of the month is Miesa. Miesa John's from the library. Some of you know Miesa. She is always always happy to help. I have not seen
her with a frown on her face ever. She is um a very hard worker. Um the library would um they really have and I just lost my train of thought.
>> We'll get Stella up here to speak some more because I'm saying so much about Misha she's not gonna be able to say anything. Come on up. But it' be a great loss if she were to leave us. There you go. Thank you. >> Good morning, Miss Stella. >> Good morning to each of you in your respectable places. I would like to
present this award to Misha John's. Misha is one of when Misha came, she was partially equipped, but now Misha is completely equipped. Misha has recently graduated with her MLIS. So, she now has a master's in library and information
science. >> Very good. >> So, we would like to present this to her, but I'll finish what Lori forgot. Misha is one of the people who actually assists me in multiple ways. She's sort of like the person I was to Steve. Whatever you need, she's right there to
help make it happen. She's also a team player, team worker. She goes the extra mile to do whatever needs to be done, whether it's staff, patrons, or whomever. When you call Misha, she doesn't know Misha's coming to my office. We're going to come up with a solution, and we're going to try to get you whatever information or whatever
services you're looking for. So, like I told Misha when she came, I'm an encourager. So, I told her day one, you should go to school and get your masters because I don't plan to be here forever. A lot of people say I already have been here forever.
But I do I really don't plan to be here forever. I got that grand. I think that kind of did it. But I do want to applaud her for her services and her customer service skills are great. She's the person that steps up whenever I'm absent. She and one other employee, they
work very well together to make make sure things are continuing to happen whether I'm in the place, out of the workplace. Thank you all very much for this presentation. >> Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. All right. All right.
Congratulations again to Misha John's, our employee of the month, going into um countywide project update. by Miss Young, Deputy County Administrator. >> Good morning, chair. Thank you very much. Just a reminder, this is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of every project or initiative underway by
county departments, but those that are of most important to our citizens, our administration, andor the commission. We'll begin with a portum update. The port infrastructure development plan has been completed. Design and engineering for the new bulkhead are approaching 90% completion. The burning process is
underway. The antique crane that long adorned the riverfront has recently removed with the assistance of local companies. Additionally, Port Putnham recently facilitated a waterborne transport of the bridge components from Veritas Steel Palaca facility to the Shans Bridge spanning the St. John's
River in Green Cove Springs. Progress toward the resumption of commercial cargo service at Port Putnham continues on a daily basis. The Department of Health has an update with their mobile dental unit. The mobile dental unit that provides school-based sealants will be out in schools over the next couple of months. Dental sealants are the most
effective way of preventing tooth decay and cavities and prevent permanent mers where more than 80% of decay occurs in the permanent teeth of children. The deep grooves and the fissurers of the mullers allow decay to occur deep within the tooth structure where fluoride is less effective. Sealants are a thin
coating applied to the tooth surface which can help stop the decay from happening. This year they are addressing first grade, second grade, as well as fifth grade and sixth graders. Parks and recreation, the basketball courts, thanks to Commissioner Harvey, have been
resurfaced. New goals and nets have been completed. The West Putnham Sports Complex, the new roof and awning are going to be installed on the concession stand and the bathroom. The existing metal awnings will be put onto the dugouts on fields one and two. Francis Sports Complex. The field renovations by
St. John's Turf Care are complete. Babe Ruth will be starting to play on them in February next week. Registration for Babe Ruth softball and baseball just closed. They have over 300 kids registered and still taking kids on a wait list. Bid documents for the multi-purpose building to house the new restroom and concession stand were
issued yesterday. Project uh play the splash pad, the sprayers, and the buckets were resurfaced, refinished and powder coated. I'm currently waiting on the solenoids and the timing system to be checked out. It's also scheduled for new flooring. uh thanks to Commissioner Wilkinson's and is expected to be
complete by the end of March and ready for summer play. Flag football flag football season is kicking off in February. Practices have already begun. We have a total of 11 teams with 16 kids for a total of 176 participants in the
Putnham area. Uh parks and recreation first aid, we had AED pads and battery replacements have been ordered. Um and they will be installed. The AED boxes, the first portion of them have been installed. the second are in order and that was thanks to multiple commissioners discretionary funding
ensuring our parks have the safety equipment. Been park thanks to commissioner Alexander had a pickle ball court uh constructed. It is complete. We are waiting the grand opening as the dog park is still under construction. The Dun Creek boat ramp southside
design and civil plans I'm sorry north side design and civil plans were completed. A bid to engage the contractor was solicited and is scheduled to close this week and we expect the intent to award to be brought to the February board accounting commissioner meeting. The southside, the
design is currently underway with Hansen Professional Services Planning and Development's traffic count. The 2025 traffic count program is complete. The results are under analysis. Dirt to pave 2023 public works. The project is complete and is in final closeout. Dirt to pave 2024 construction is underway.
Dirt to pave 2025. The design is 90% complete and will go out to bid in February of 2026. County Road 315 South resurfacing project from State Road 20 South to the Marian County line. Construction will begin in February 2026. East Paka septic to sewer project
phase 4. The contract has been executed and construction is underway. The San Mateo water extension project 380 meters have been installed. 133 of those. The plumber has completed the install and the customers are being built and fully on our system. Another 29 are contracted
with the plumber and an additional 16 have just gone out for bid. Northern Putinham drainage project bids for 2604 were received on January 14th, 2026. They are currently under review. County ride resurfacing fiscal year 25. Construction is underway. Guard rail
repairs 2025. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of this month. Curry road lift station generator project. The design is complete and the bid package is being compiled. The Gilbert wastewater treatment facility efficiency grant. The construction bids are due February 9th. The mobile
generators for the lift station. The grant request is under review at this time. The Barden bridge repair. Hansen professional services is currently incorporating FDOT comments to complete the design. Road restriping fiscal year 2025. It is substantially complete. Final punch list items are being
addressed. The HMGP Putnham County lift station generator project. The project is substantially complete and final closeout stage is happening. The Gilbert West wastewater treatment expansion. The design proposals are in review. The
Palmetto Bluff Road project design awarded to Tcoy Engineering and Baxter Woodman. That concludes our project updates. >> Right. Are there any questions? So, um, the Francis Field, uh, we're put I know we're putting in some infrastructure out
there. How is the water and sewer line going? >> Um, well, Mr. Nolles is designing the uh water and sewer that will extend it from the city lines and run into ours. Um, and then we will proceed with the city
uh we we have had some initial meetings with them and are making progress. They've agreed to use our design, that type of stuff. >> Okay. So, as long as it's moving forward. >> Yeah. So, the survey is complete. It's being put on paper now and then Mr. Nos will finish sealing it and signing it so we put it on the street. So that it is in progress. The survey is done it was
done a couple weeks back. So it probably getting real close to being ready to hit the street. >> So we feel confident or have some level of confidence that the city's going to allow us to tap into their that line. >> I would think because it it lies inside the city limits of PLA. It's not like we're taking it outside. So only thing
we were doing is I asked them if they would allow us to. They said yes. Only thing we had to do is hire a contractor and they would accept our design. So okay, we have not had >> they provided us a formal letter as to the action steps to to move forward. All right. Very good. Are there any questions for the presenter?
Commissioner Harvey, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Julian, will you explain the Georgia's Lake Boat ramp situation? >> Yes, sir. I will. Um the Georgia's Lake Boat ramp, the board of county commissioners approved the purchase. Contingent upon that sale is the seller
is doing the lot split um in accordance with the um the diagram as to what has to be split to the county. the seller that that parent parcel is a much larger parcel. So, the seller um has requested to do his lot split, multiple lot splits all at one time so that he can go
through planning at one time. So, um I got an update this morning from Mr. Michael. The seller has provided us a survey. We now will vet that with our county surveyor to make sure everybody's in agreement and then we will be able to move forward. Um the closing was originally scheduled for this week.
We've already been in contact with the seller. Everybody's mutually agreed that we can extend that timeline in order to get everything through planning and zoning. >> So, so am I understanding that he's wanting to to uh carve out multiple other parcels besides the boat ramp parcel as part of this process. Is that what you're saying?
>> I haven't seen the survey personally, but I do know he wants multiple. So, he wants to take that parent parcel and kind of divide it at one time rather than having to go through that division process multiple times. Well, I can appreciate that, but I don't want our our purchase contingent upon his him
getting some kind of a multi- subdivision or whatever it is he's trying to do. I >> I don't think it's that extensive. Michael, you go ahead. >> Uh uh Michael Graves, Planning and Development Services for the record. Uh when it comes to the project at hand, uh
he is first doing the split for the sale of the boat ramp after which he is doing a uh combination of but potentially type two and type four subdivisions in order to uh sell the remaining land to other developers. >> Okay. That wasn't what I understood. So I thank you. I'm glad. Thank you.
>> Anybody else? All right. Commissioner New Bulger recognized. Will that water extension project at Francis Field be completed in time for the the summer invitational or or will Francis Field be a part of that program? Fr. >> So Francis Field is definitely already
been awarded uh the hosting tournament for the Babe Ruth baseball district tournament. Um we are going to push but I make no promises. We will have a contingency plan for um you know
essentially those FEMA type trailers for additional restroom facilities should we get to a point where we we know we're not going to quite make that tournament date. >> It is not contingent upon that. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Commissioner Paliser,
>> um I had a caller, actually a couple of them want to know the the purchase price and and did we pay more than the appraised value and I didn't think that was the case. We have to pay what it appra >> You're referring to Georgia's Lake. >> Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. >> We brought both to you, but I believe we
were right in line with the appraisal. >> I thought that be I just want it for the record. >> I believe the record I believe the sale price is 400 and I believe the appraisal I I believe it to be just a bit over that honestly, but I I can reforward you both if it would.
>> That's fine. I just want it for the record for Okay. >> those couple calls that I received. Thank you. >> All right, Commissioner Alexander. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just wanted a quick update. Where are we at on the um wastewater treatment plant expansion purchase on Gilbert Road for that
property? >> The purchase has been um completed. Um everything has gone through on that. We've recorded our side of of the documents so that we own that 175 acres for that expansion at this time. >> Okay. Thank you very much.
>> All right. Thank you. Going into planning and development public hearing. This is a public hearing. A reszone ree, excuse me, 25-000015. Craig. Thank you, Madam Chair. Once again, for the record, Michael Graves, Planning and
Development Services. This is REZ2500000015. Uh, the applicant, James Rex Craig, through his agent, uh, Brendell A. Havland is requesting a zoning map amendment from commercial retail C2 to commercial general C3 on 1.77 acres
located at Phil 147 Philips Derry Road in Palaca to allow the development of a trade worker office and outdoor storage. Surrounding zonings include intensive and retail commercial C4 and C2 respectively. The subject site has a future land use designation of
commercial. The parcel has approximately 350 ft of access from Philips Derry Road and according to the National Wetlands Index wetlands layer and the FEMA flood zone layer on the GIS reference map, the lands do not appear to contain wetlands or be in and they are in FEMA flood zone X which is not a special flood hazard
area. Uh should the applicant's request be approved, the applicant will then be subject to review by the development review committee DRC before obtaining any permits for development on this property compatible with the C3 zoning district. Here you can see an aerial overview of the property.
And here you can see a zoomed out aerial overview as requested by the planning commission. Here you can see the future land use. And once more a zoomed out view, the zoning and the zoomed out view again. Uh going
back to the zoning, if I can zoom in real quick. The property immediately to the left of it on this map uh was recently reszoned from C2 to C4 by the board of county commissioners last year. Uh staff recommends approval of the request to amend the zoning map from
commercial retail C2 to commercial general C3. Staff finds that the proposed resoning is consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of the adopted comprehensive plan and meets the location requirements of the C3 zoning district in the land development code.
uh at their previous meeting on December, the Putham County Planning Commission recommended unanimous approval as well. >> Thank you, Michael. Are there any questions from the board to the presenter? Is there anyone here wishing to speak regarding this reszone? This is
a public hearing. Is there anybody wishing to speak regarding this reszone? Do you have any speaker cards on this subject? All right. Back to the board for discussion and recommendation. Madame Chair, I move approval of ordinance number 2026-00004
amending ordinance number 24-12, an ordinance of the county of Putnham, state of Florida, amending the official zoning map for Putnham County incorporated into article two of the Putnham County Land Development Code ordinance number 2024-12,
reszoning 1.77 plus or minus acres, commercial retail C2 to commercial general C3, providing for severability and effective debate case number REZ25-000015 James Rice Craig. >> All right, we have a motion on the floor. Is there a second?
>> Second. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion carries. And why Commissioner uh Harvey has to read all that is because he has to. So we don't have a choice. Otherwise, trust me, we would move it a lot.
>> Or the attorney has to. >> Yeah. Um Rez25- 0000167S Ventures and DLE Consulting. >> Thank you again, Madam Chair. Once again, for the record, Michael Graves, Planning and Development Services. You're going to be sick of hearing that
by the end of the day. Uh this is ReZ250016. Uh the applicant 7S Ventures LLC and DLE Consulting, Inc. are requesting a zoning map amendment from commercial 2C2 and residential estate RE to commercial
retail C2 on a 1.85 acre parcel located at 147 South Highway 17 in East Paca to allow the development of indoor storage. Surrounding zonings include intensive and retail commercial C4 and C2 as well as residential estate. Uh the subject
site has a future land use designation of commercial and urban service US. The parcel has approximately 150 ft of access from South Highway 17. And according to the National Wetlands Lair and FEMA flood zone layer on the GIS reference map, lands do not appear to
contain wetlands and is located within FEMA flood zone X, which is not a special flood hazard area. Should the applicant's request be approved, the applicant will then be subject to review by the development review committee, DRC, before obtaining any permits for development on this property compatible with the C2 zoning
district. Here you can see an aerial overview of the property and once more the zoomed out aerial overview of the property, the future land use. You will note the division near the southern end of the property.
Here you can see the zoomed out view. And you will notice on the zoning that the split between the future land use is the same as the split between the zoning. They are simply wanting to make it commercial all the way through. Here you can see the zoomed out view one more time.
Staff recommends approval of the request to amend the zoning map from commercial retail C2 to resident uh and residential estate re to commercial retail C2. Staff finds that the proposed resoning is consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of the adopted comprehensive plan and meets the
location requirements of the C2 zoning district provided in the land development code. At their December meeting, the Putnham County Planning Commission recommended unanimous approval as well. Any questions? >> Are there any questions for the presenter? All right, this is a public hearing. Is there anybody who wishes to speak on this subject?
Do you have any cards? All right, back to the board. >> Madam Chair, I move approval for ordinance number 2026-005, amending ordinance number 24-12, an ordinance of the county of Putnham, state of Florida, amending the official
zoning map for Putham County, Incorporated into article 2 of the Putnham County Land Development Code. Ordinance number 24 2024-12 reszoning 1.85 plus or minus acres from commercial retail C2 and residential estates to commercial retail C2
providing for severability and an effective date case number REZ25-000016 7S Ventures and DLE Consulting. >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Other than I'll say that this I'm glad this is getting
cleaned up. >> Um all in favor say I. >> I. All oppose like sign. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. >> Good morning commissioners. Uh, for the record, Ethan Thompson, Planning and Development Services, presenting REZ25-000017.
Michael Smith is requesting a zoning map amendment from commercial professional office to residential 1A on 1.13 acres located at 216 Davis Lake Road in Palaca to allow for the renovation of a single family residence. The surrounding zonings include commercial, professional, office, and residential
1A. The subject site has a future land use designation of urban reserve. The parcel has approximately 286 feet of access on Davis Lake Road. According to the NWI wetlands and FEMA flood zone layers on our GIS reference map, the parcel does not appear to contain either jurisdictional wetlands uh and is
located within FEMA flood zone X, which is not special hazard. Should the applicant's request be approved, the applicant will be eligible to obtain any applicable permits for residential development allowed within the R1A district. Uh it was brought up at the planning commission meeting. So
it's worth noting here that the applicant was already given a building permit to improve the doors and windows of the structure. Uh that's where we caught the um out of compliance zoning. Uh and the reszone will be necessary for him to be eligible for any building permits in the future.
Here is an aerial of the property. We've got the zoning the future land use and the flood zone. Staff recommends approval of the request to amend the zoning map amendment from commercial professional office to residential 1A.
Uh staff finds that the proposed reszone is consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of the adopted of of the adopted comprehensive plan and meets the locational requirements of the residential 1A zoning district provided in the land development code and the comprehensive plan. In their December
10th, 2025 uh meeting, the planning commission voted unanimously of the same. Are there any questions for staff? >> Commissioner Harvey, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um so my understanding is we're really just trying to clean up. There's a h house
already on the property. Correct. >> Yes, sir. >> We caught it in a commercial zoning. So, for us to clean this up, we need to go back to residential. >> Uh yes, sir. Uh long story short is it was all one parcel at one time. They the house has been there for longer than
we've had zoning. Uh he did a lot split in 2022 to separate one from the other to have a commercial area and a residential area and we're just now getting to the reszone aspect of that. >> Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, have we confirmed that there's no commercial activities going on on this property?
>> We have. >> This will be this this half of the parcel is strictly residential. >> Okay. Are there any other questions? All right. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who wishes to speak on this item? Re-000017
Michael Smith. All right. Seeing none, go back to the board. Madam Chair, I think it's my day. >> I think it is. I'd like to make a motion that we pass ordinance number 2026- 0006 amending ordinance number 24-12 an
ordinance of Putnham ordinance of the county of Putnham state of Florida amending the official zoning map for Putham County incorporated into article two of the Putnham County Land Development Code ordinance number 2024-12 reszoning 1.3 1.13
plus or minus acres from commercial pro professional office CPO to Residential 1A R-1A providing for severability and an effective date case number REZ25-000017 Michael Smith. >> All right, there's a motion on the
floor. >> Second. >> Have a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Like sign. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. >> Excuse me. >> All right, final one. Uh this is once again for the record, Michael Graves,
Planning and Development Services. This is ReZ2500000018. Uh the applicant CR2A Real Estate Holdings LLC are requesting a zoning map amendment from Plan Unit Development PUB to Agriculture Estate AE on 356.08
acres located at 960 CR2A in Hawthorne to allow the development of agriculture. Uh the surrounding zoning districts include agriculture AG. Uh the subject site has a feature land use designation of rural residential RR. The parcel has
approximately 3,100 ft of access from CR2A. And according to the National Wetlands layer and FEMA flood zone layer on the GIS reference map, lands do appear to contain wetlands and is located within FEMA flood zone X and FEMA flood zone A. FEMA flood zone A is
a special flood hazard area. Should the applicant's request be approved, the applicant will then be eligible for any development rights in the agriculture estate zoning district as outlined in land development code section 45-73. Intensive agriculture will not be permitted.
Here you can see an aerial overview of the property. There is not a more zoomed out view just because of how massive the property already is. Uh here you can see the future land use how it kind of has this almost enclave of rural residential going for it.
And here you can see the zoning. Here you can see the wetlands. Note how most of them are on the southern end of the property with the exception of the body of water at the north end and the FEMA flood zone where the purple at the bottom is the FEMA flood zone A
which pretty much lines up with the wetlands. Staff recommends approval to the request to amend the zoning map from plania development to agriculture estate. Staff finds that the proposed resoning is consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of the adopted
comprehensive plan and meets the location requirements of the agriculture state zoning district as provided in the land development code and comprehensive plan at their December 10th, 2025 meeting. The Putham County Plan Commission recommended unanimous approval as well. >> Are there any questions?
>> Commissioner Harvey, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, fellow board members, um, this one particularly worries me. And not worries me, I'm glad for what took place, but we have a lot of PUDS out there, PUDS that haven't
been inactive. And I was talking to you this morning, Michael, about this. Uh, it's kind of always been a sore subject for me. But here we have a PUD and we have a land owner who's taken it out of a PUD back to agricultural and we charged a fee for that to make that do
that where we could have had a reversion clause or maybe there's one in here and we haven't found it where if the PUD isn't isn't enacted it would go back to the original property uh zone at that point. I think we need to look at that
going forward because we do have some inactive PUDS and Michael you were telling me that you're going to be start you're going to be starting where did I learn to talk you're going to start making a list of PUDs active and inactive in the county. Um, I think
that's important because what we see or what I've seen in my tender sitting here is we have people that come before us wanting a PUD. They get it with no intention of really doing anything to the property or maybe selling it to a developer down the the road. Um, I would
almost like to be force them to do something sooner than later. But this is one of those cases where we're getting rid of planned unit development and we're going back to a which is a good thing. It's great for our density and and we charged a fee for that where a
reversionary clause probably could have took care of that. So those are my comments. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Commissioner Alexander. You're recognized. >> Michael, thank you for presenting this and I echo Mr. Harvey's comments. So
this I guess would be the educational section for me as a new commissioner still. I know I'm in moving into my second year but there's there's quite a bit I'm learning. So when a PUD is put into place, it will conform to the the regulations at that point in time. But
as they change throughout as the regulations may change throughout time and it doesn't conform, what are what are our options as putting for lack of a better term an expiration date on a PUD that you have to do something by then or it reverts back to
its initial um initial >> purpose. So, a plan unit development is essentially you're creating your own zoning district. Uh, when you create that development agreement and it gets approved by the board, it is essentially frozen to that development agreement. We
have uh puds out there that most often are RV parks, which will be an RV park forever. Uh there's one uh semi-infamous one down in Crescent City, which can only ever be a tire store until they get a reszone out of that PUB. uh they could
never have say a barber shop or a restaurant or a house on that same property because it only allows for a tire store in their development agreement. Uh anything that isn't specified in the development agreement falls onto uh the land development code. So if they would want say a buffer that
is a fence and a row of trees and they would normally have to give us a row of trees and a concrete wall. Uh if they say in the development agreement that they just want the fence, then the development agreement would let them bypass the wall and just have the fence. Uh and that lasts essentially as long as
the development is made. The development is the plan unit development is good. Most plan unit developments, not all of them, but most of them especially after we started implementing this have a time limit to develop where if they don't have a certain criteria met within a
certain time period, they stop. no more permits will be issued and they would have to come back for either a new plan unit development, a time extension or an amendment to their existing plan unit development. Some of those also have a reversion clause where if they aren't
met within say 10 years, let's say that's their deadline, they can revert back to their original zoning district uh because the developers, you know, they run out of money or something. This was a popular uh idea in the early days of plan unit developments to have the
reversion clause. It fell out of favor with developers however because a lot of them learned hey if I don't have a reversion clause and it stays that PUD and then suddenly I have a slightly easier path to restart it or reboot it uh without having to go back to the
original zoning. uh which for from a developer standpoint makes a lot of sense because it's trying to fight up less of a hill almost. Uh however, this does create a lot of issues with essentially undevelopable lands. Uh we have this one here which is completely
undevelopable for 300 acres until we change the zoning. Uh last year we had one that was on 16 acres at the north end of the county uh where a small piece of that was a PUD, but because that PUD was there and it was all one parcel,
none of that land could be developed until that PUD was removed, which thankfully the commission did. Um we have other plan unit developments throughout the county that uh many would argue probably no longer need to exist. Uh there is Beegan Landing out on Drayton Island, of course, which that
one's a story for another day. We have the uh tire shop that I mentioned before, and we have countless others that are either inactive or never developed. Uh a famous one is of course the uh East River uh I want to say
Estates or something like that. Uh no, Riverbend Estates. That's the one. uh the massive uh development that was going to be multif family residential out on East River Road that never took off because of the housing crisis. >> Thank you very Yes. Thank you very much.
I appreciate you explaining that for not just for me but for those in cyber world too. It's it's educational. Thank you. >> All right. This is a public hearing. This is meeting one of two. Um this is re 25-000018. Is there anyone wishing to speak on this
item? All right. I've been asked to read this into the record and then you can come on up. Uh this is dated January 16th, 2026. Um written to Michael Graves of Planning and Development that this letter is divi to advise you of our support for the
zoning change on the above reference property. We live acre across the street from it and we are pleased that this land will be preserved as an agricultural estate and not developed as a PUD. Please submit this letter to the hearing scheduled for January se 27th 2026 showing our support as we are
unable to attend. How and Joanne Lawler 117 Flora Dandy Road Hawthorne. >> All right. Yes, sir. >> Uh good morning commissioners. I'm Clay Swagger. I'm a certified land planner. I work with EDA consultants and the
property owner had asked me to put this resoning application together and there was some um citizen interest and this is sort of a unique one. So I did want to make a couple brief comments and of course you have any questions for me. Um it's a relatively new property owner of this land um last year um and upon
taking ownership that this uh individual does want to use the land for agricultural purposes, cattle and and um horses. um and communicating with county staff, it was um discovered that it was an old PUD zoning from I think back in 2011 that it was a large master plan
with a um 200 plus residential units um envisioned that PD has zoning has expired. So we are before you with the request to go back to AE zoning. Um there is no reverter clause in there. So that's why I'm here.
um otherwise you it would have just reverted back to the previous zoning. The AE zoning is compatible with that area. It's also I think a positive because it's um it does not allow the um what the code defines as intensive agricultural uses. So some of the things
that the code defines as less um or that are um have a higher likelihood of having adverse impacts like um feed lots, dairies, sawmills, slaughter operation, none of those are allowed in AE. So his stated intent is to use the
land to, you know, improve it and have it for agricultural uses. Um, horses and cattle. He'd like to have some equestrian components, allow people to come out and buy the land. Um, so if any if anything were proposed in the future
related to those stated uses, we would work with the county for any permits that are required. But um that's why we're here today to respectfully request um your approval of the reason. >> All right. Any questions? All right. Thank you.
>> May I say one further thing? I'm sorry. Just um there was a citizen um comment at the planning commission um concern about some wetlands. There are some wetlands on the property, but the um FDAX does have best management practices for cattle and um agricultural
operations would protect those areas and the property owner has no desire to impact those sensitive areas on the record as well. >> All right. Thank you. Is there anybody else wishing to speak on this item? All right. Coming back to the board.
Madam Chair, I move that we set the next meeting for February 10th at 9:00 on the reszone RC25-000018. >> Uh, real quick, sorry. Uh, we may not be able to meet February 10th and meet all the uh, notification requirements. Uh,
would it be all right if we could move it to the second uh, next meeting? >> Fine with me. What's the date on the second meeting? >> Uh, that would be February 24th. >> Thank you. 24th. Madam Chair, I amend my motion that we go to the second meeting in February at 9:00.
>> Second. >> All right, we have a motion to second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Like? Motion carries unanimously. >> We're going to take a quick uh three minute and then we'll be right back.
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 your
time to three minutes. Public comment cards are conveniently placed at the meeting room entrance and should be submitted prior to the meeting to the deputy clerk who sits to the right of the podium. Right now, we're going to go into consent agenda items. If you've got the um if you've got your um agenda,
it's on the back wall. If you don't have it, we'll go into consent, new business, um code enforcement, and then anything after that. And we'll call on code enforcement individually for public comment. And then after that, we'll have all the miscellaneous comment that's not on the agenda. So, at this time, do we
have any um any items for the agenda items? Okay. No public comments on agenda items. Uh consent. Uh is there any commissioner wishing to pull? Commissioner Harvey Pelier, >> I have none. >> Alexander
consent agenda. >> Yes, ma'am. No, I have none. I just want to make a note that each one of these items that you see on the cons consent agenda with an asterric I wanted to point it out to the public. These are pre-approved budgetary items. So it's not something we just pulled out of the air. So that's all
>> Commissioner Newell. >> Nothing to pull. >> All right. We have only have two today A and B. >> Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion that we approve consent agendums. It's a long list today. Item A and B. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I.
>> I. Motion carries unanimously. >> New business administration fiscal year 2526 first quarter budget reports. >> Good morning commissioners. >> Good morning. Grateful to be here today and present this. So uh we have the
first quarter budget report and it covers the period of October 1st through January 1st of 25 to 26. So the first quarter of this fiscal year. So um first off we're going to start with the commissioner projects. So um in district
one we had these are the projects that were completed. Lake Como shuffleboard courts, an arm for rescue uh for South Putinham like we they bought it and then the South Putham Sports Complex mower and the South Putinham sports complex
tractor. Um for district two, the Boston community park shade structure was completed and the public works trailer was uh purchased and then animal services facilities shade trees had expenses in it for that project and the splash pad floorest had expenses this
year. And there are other projects, but they just have incumbrances, so they haven't had actual expenditures at the moment. Um, for district three, the Pico boat ra road pico road boat ramp repairs are completed. The Sanonteo Park playground, the turf mower, uh, the arm
for rescue um, was purchased. The Pico Road boat ramp parking light parking lot striping was completed. And then um there were expenses for Dun's Creek boat ramp and the lightning detector at the old for district four. The West Putnham athletic field was
completed. The Samonteo Park playground was completed. Striping project for the Melrose Library was completed. And another arm for rescue services was purchased. Um the boat ramps at um IDA uh Bulgra and Granon were completed.
the fairgrounds asphalt and milling at Maltby building was completed. Uh and then there were expenditures for the AED boxes. Um and then the Mary wish basketball field and that was district four. And then
district five, the Johnson Community Park was completed. The tractor for Theopold was purchased. Um another armed device, the parks trailer was purchased, and the public works trailer was purchased. Um, any questions on YEL's projects? And those are the commissioner
projects. And each year, each commissioner is allocated $250,000 to put those towards projects or purchases that they deem are necessary for the county. Okay. So, now on to page 231 where we have the general fund. So,
our budget is cyclical. So, it kind of es and flows. There's times where it comes in more and then it trickles in. And that's kind of similar or that's how it is with the taxes for the general fund. So we're at 78%. So 50,712,000 have been received and the budget was
65,278,000 and again we're at 78%. So we're at a good track and the rest will kind of flow in. Um our total revenue source for the general fund is at 73%. Um and then if you go down a little bit for our expenditures, our personnel
services are at 23%. And then um operating is at 15 and then total expenditures percent is at 22%. And then at the bottom we have the reserves. So, we have 2.7 million in the reserves for contingency, 354,000 for
reserves for the clerk, uh 3.96 million for capital out outlay, and then 8 million for restricted cash balance forward, giving you 15,78,569 in the reserves for the general fund. And again, the general fund is looking
good. Uh pretty normal. Okay. Um and then for the transportation fund. So uh this is not as front tax heavy. Uh so it's funded through taxes um and are governmental revenue. So like state and federal funding and then also
transfers from the general fund. Um and right now the taxes are at 27% which is normal and the total revenue source is at 11%. But that should come back. That'll that'll catch all up. That's pretty normal for this fund. Um for
personnel services and expenses we're at 21%. And then um total expense objects is at 17%. And then the reserves for a contingency is 1,174,000. The future projects reserve is 1.5
million. And then the reserves for MSP roads is 47,000 for a total reserves of 2.7 470,000. And this fund is looking normal in comparison to other years.
Uh the fire fund uh is um paid on the adorum tax bill and it's front heavy so it's going to be kind of like the general fund. So we're at 80% so 5.6 million uh of tax revenue has been received and then the total revenue
source is at 74%. Um, personnel services is at 24%. And then the total expenditures are at 18%. And then you have a,582 in the reserves for contingency and then
539,000 in the capital outlay reserves for a total of 1,540,000. And this fund is also looking normal. Okay. Um, I will note that I have a minor error on the bottom, but I'll touch on that in a second. Um the
sanitation fund uh is fee based as well as charges for like um commercial services. So the commercial services help offset the fees but you'll see that uh it looks a little different not different it looks different than the other funds but this is normal for it.
Um permits fees and special assessments is at 55% charges for services is at 30% and then the total revenue source is at 49%. expenditures were at 23% for per personnel services and 16% for
operating. Um, and at the bottom I added an extra nine in the original reserves for contingency. So the reserves in the top chart 41 million is the correct and uh it all adds up. But so the reserves for contingency regular has 3.191
million. The reserves for future projects has 12,827,000 and the reserves for escrow future projects is 25,243,000 for a total of 41,26239 in the reserves. And the reserves for
future projects and escrow are not really like super available funds. Those are for closures and uh future projects. Okay. And then East Putnham Water Fund, we're at um
24% of the charges for services. So this is a userdriven fee. And then there's also um intergovernmental revenue, but that's paid back as major projects are completed. And it kind of lines up similar to the capital down below. So um for personnel services, we're at
25%. But for total expenditures, we're at 2%. And that's because capital outlay um those projects are still being worked on. And then at the bottom uh there's reserve for contingency regular 139,000 reserve for future projects 77,000
reserves for debt 982,000. And then there's also another reserves for contingency account for 381,737. And that adds up to 1.5 million. I missed that last uh reserve account on the bottom. I I apologize, but the top
reserve is correct, the 1.5 million. Um, any questions on those? >> Uh, are there any questions for the presenter? >> Yep, I think you're good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh, going into item B, administration fairground fairgrounds
maltby building project. >> Good morning, commissioners. Um, as you know, we're in the process of building the the new Maltby building at the fairgrounds. Um, and as we've volied this ball back and forth several times, um, we were given a finite pot of money,
um, from the state of Florida. Um, as I've spoke to most of you guys, um, the building was designed to have full construction um, as we thought we would receive funding from point A to point B to get us finished. However, that did not happen. So, what we had to do is go
back and do a redesign and put phasing sections in the plan as we were directed by FDAX um prior to our last trip to Tallahassee was to put a couple phase lines in here to try to make it happen. So, in essence, what happened is when we had to go back and do a redesign of the
building, it cost more money, which took some money out of the construction side. So, what we did is we eliminated some pretty key aspects that I thought needed to be completed in there. So, we could have a not necessarily usable space, but something we could look at as not being quite so incomplete, like a um concrete
slab in the assembly area. Um the rough plumbing to come out of the floor so we know where the bathrooms are going to go. So, we had to have some straight phase lines and to put it all back between the cost of the redesign and the few pieces we need to put into the project that are good stopping points is
going to cost us about $150,000 to put it at a stopping point until we receive additional funding. >> All right. Are there any questions for the presenter? >> Right. >> I did have a quick question. >> Go ahead,
>> Mr. Graham. So when we initially looked at this, our anticipation was completing in a singular phase and since the funding has not um materialized as expected, we've had to modify our development of it. And what we're doing
now is just to basically prevent any deterioration until that funding can be acquired. Correct. So we can modify our plan to a phased approach. >> Yes, that's what we're doing now is putting in a phased approach where we have a good stop line. Right. And that's what we had to do was get is they had to actually go back and dissect the
building is where can we stop? Right? Because it was designed as a fluid from start to finish. So our architects had to go back and put stop lines in it. And these are just a few things that he goes these need to be done to bring it to a stop and these are the additional costs of the there's some things in the mechanical that needed to be completed.
And there was um also when they pulled the concrete out the floor it just from a perspective it just looks incomplete or any phase of completion without the concrete in the assembly area. So, it was just one of those things we felt like we needed to put back in. So, we want to approach you guys today about getting to that point.
>> So, basically what what you're attempting to do is protect our initial investment until the additional refund resources can be acquired. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay, I get it. Thank you. >> Commissioner Harvey, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Grimes, is there anything else that you'd like to do? Um, I know you said the architect
got you to a stopping point, but if it's going to take 200,000 to really accomplish what we should or 250, is there some place that you'd rather go other than what the architect has given you to go to? The the only thing that I would request in this particular phase
was when when they ran the initial water line into the fairgrounds for this building. Um they ran a fire line in for the building I think you guys built back sometime in the early to mid 2010s. Um they didn't put a backflow pre on the
main fire line coming in. So that means each building we build from here on out is going to be required a fire line or a backflow, right? Well, backflows have to be maintained every single year. Um, you can put individual fire department connections at each building with a double check to keep it from
backflowing. That's the only thing that's not in this particular phase is a 6-in backflow pre line coming into the fairgrounds. Um, and that be one other thing that that just called it yesterday as we were kind of walking through the project that is
not in this phase. um the the current Shell building will be fully fire sprinklered at the point, but it doesn't make sense to put one at that building as if you look at future growth where we could just protect the whole fire line. So, I would like to look at that. I asked the architect yesterday to give us
some kind of idea where we would be and and and put a scope of work together for just putting in just that one backflow. So, if you guys added a building in the future, you're not putting another investment into a backflow just to go and backflow the whole line coming in. What would the cost of that be, Mr. Grimes? >> I'd have to pull one out of the air
today, sir. I I really don't know. If you want to put contingency funding in the project, I be happy to take it, but I I don't know what it would be today. Um, it's going to be less than the 50 grand that you just spoke of, but I mean, I just don't know an exact cost today. >> Well, I think it would be prudent for us
if we're talking 150, let's just go to 200, include the back flow, and if that point, if that doesn't get you there, then come back to us at that point. I'm pretty confident that we'll get to that starting point where we are. I mean, we've we've hashed that one out several times, but there's always in these
projects something that didn't foresee or something as we're moving closer. So, I do appreciate that that gesture. Thank you, >> Commissioner Alexander. You're recognized. >> I appreciate it. I think my questions have been answered. Thank you, >> Commissioner Palisier. Um, >> Mr. Grimes, for those that don't know,
what exactly does a backflow device do or take care of for us? it's required to keep back water from flowing back into the city system. So, a lot of times, let's say um you were to use in a small scale uh hose in your
yard and you were using some kind of chemical, they say that it'll keep the water from backing up into the back into the system. So, i.e. a lot of times if a fire truck comes in and they actually have to increase the pressure in the sprinkler system, we don't want the water coming out of the fire truck going
back into the city system. So it it prevents contamination back into the system. >> Thank you. I appreciate that clarification. >> Right. Are there any other questions? Is there a motion? >> Madam Chair, I'd like to move approval of resolution 2026-006 for the amount of $200,000.
>> I'll second that. >> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Motion carries unanimously. Item C, pool construction project. >> Thank you, Commissioner. Uh the board of county commissioners has a 20-year lease of the pool facility with the Ark of
Putinham here right behind us and park re park and recreation have the sole responsibility of operation of that pool. Um, the pool serves as the only public access pool within Putham County from the west end to the south end. And we utilize that for Red Cross swim lessons, community swim, adult and
youth, as well as our competition swim teams that range from ages five um or frankly as soon as they're able to swim from one side of the pool to the other. We'll take we'll take them on the swim team, right? Um all the way up through it is the only venue to allow our high schools to have a competition swim team.
So the pool is very important um as a community asset. The Ark received a legislative appropriation in the amount of $3 million for the purpose of the renovation and expansion of both the Jim Whitaker Center and the pool facility. Um the project is completely managed by the Ark as they're the grant recipient
from the state of Florida. Uh so it is their project, their funding, their scope, their engagement, their procurement, the whole nine yards. However, um as we are nearing completion of that legislative appropriation and the projects uh for that campus, the
pool um project is underfunded or under budget by roughly um to be fair, it was a a much larger amount of money, roughly 400 after meeting with ARC leadership. Um, we did identify some components that can be added later and remove them. And
then the ARC graciously agreed to absorb the majority of the cost of the overruns, leaving us to absorb the 150. And so the proposal before you is uh to get the funding in the amount of 150 in order to partner with that arc um in in
order to get this pool completed. >> Are there any questions? So, so when we say pool completed, what is exactly is going to be at the pool? We're we're resurfacing the pool. We're expanding the footprint. Where what are we doing? >> Yeah, great question. We're expanding
the footprint of the pool, expanding the deck area of the pool and making some renovations to the bath house that services the pool based on the new Florida standards as far as how many showers and toiletries have to be available for a pool of our size. So we
will extend both the lanes um which expands the pool capacity. It will have a um shallow area for ARC clients and or our uh mobility challenged individuals who need therapy type swim opportunities. Um and then of course it
will allow us greater capacity and expanding our swim lessons. As you know, as I've told you many times, uh we are beyond capacity in swim lessons. We we run four sessions for six weeks, meaning four we we run them an hour at a time,
four different times. And every single one of our classes is full and at capacity. Um, and so this is the only area we can teach swim lessons. It will allow us to uh expand that capacity for each Red Cross certified member that we have. >> And tell me again the numbers of students that you saw in last year's
program roughly. So we had roughly 326 in swim lessons and then another um both swim teams had roughly a hundred well between the two swim teams we had roughly a hundred competition swimmers and then we had a host of we do
everything from water aerobics to Zumba to anything that gets our populations active and engaged and then we had just regular community swim for exercise as well. So, we had really great numbers through the pool and we have seen that year-over-year. >> Okay. All right, Commissioner Alexander,
you're recognized. >> That's very exciting. I My mother used to teach swim lessons to the younger kids, so that's great. I can I'm glad to see that somebody's doing that. Um, just real quickly, when we're doing making these uh contributions to the pool, does do we charge any fees for the use of the
pool to recover some of our investment? >> We absolutely do. do not necessarily for this type of envi um expenditure, but as part of our obligation in the lease, we don't pay a a dollar amount per year to have the pool. However, we take on the onus of running the pool. So, chlorine
staffing, lifeguards, operations, all of those things. We do float in movie nights, um staffing that pool facility. So, we do have a fee schedule. Um we do try to keep it very nominal, especially in the swim lessons. And we've had great
partners over the last few years who have actually supplemented those swim lessons so that our families have to commit a very small amount of money. Um because oftentimes we see families with three or four children, none of them have ever been exposed to water. Um and in our community, in our state, that's a very dangerous thing that we can we can
make progress on. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. So the um the school swim teams when they use it are they charged a fee for that or they charge admission for their patrons or their parents. >> So much like we do with some of our other user groups, we don't necessarily
charge the high school a fee. However, when it comes to needing to replace lane lines or audio equipment um to run the buzzers that make the the speeds go um then they are responsible for financing that. And if it's equipment or infrastructure that is only for a
competition speed uh swim team, i.e. the software that keeps track of how fast they swim, they completely purchase it. So they're running that operation um outside of us, outside of the facility. >> Great. All right. Thank you very much. >> Yep. Thank you, Commissioner Harvey. You're recognized. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Julianne, a
question for you along the same lines of Mr. Grimes's question. Um, what's it going to take to if we put the shade sales up, what are we talking there? And and my second question is, and you can we put an investment of 150,000 on a
20-year lease. Is that going to take care of it for 20 years or 10 years or what's it? What are we looking at here? >> I mean, realistically, we always have operational maintenance costs. So, am I telling you this is a one-time investment over 20 years? No, sir. Um,
we we we typically address those operational costs as it comes. I will tell you this will get us with a a great start because all the mechanical equipment will be brand new. So, we're not going to have failures of the chlorinators or the things that keep
us in compliance. Am I going to promise you that in 20 years I won't come back to you and tell you we need some some dollars to to repair something? No, I'm sure I'm not. >> Wouldn't expect that either. >> Um, yes. So, the shade system um to answer that question that we developed or um specked out was something to cover
the majority of the pool deck and it was hard infrastructure i.e. um concrete and anchored into the decking. So, not something that we have to worry about um walking away or umbrellas floating away as we've seen a number of times. I
believe that number, and I can pull it up for you, um, was roughly 130. >> Okay. My question is, shouldn't all that be done if we're going to do a permanent >> 124? I was close. >> Shouldn't all that be done at one time
to make it I mean, in my mind, why bust up the pool deck and start over again and let's just get it done and be done with that? >> I I'd love to do that. I'm I'm the kid asking for lunch money though at this point so I wasn't going to add to my ask
and um but certainly your offer is very gracious. >> Where would we take this money out of >> general fund? >> General and we have enough to cover if we increase if the board chose to increase it 124. We have enough to make that happen. >> We do. Yes, sir.
>> All right. Are there any other questions? Right. Back to the board. What's your pleasure? Well, Madam Chair, I'm going to go out on a limb, but I am going to recommend that we pass resolution 2026-007 to the tune of 275,000
to include the the um shade sales and the construction of all that. >> I think it would Okay. 275. Okay. >> All right. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> All right. There's a second. Is there further discussion? >> All in favor say I. I.
>> Any oppose? like sign. Our motion carries. Mr. Suggs. >> Yes, ma'am. Madam Chair, thank you. I just want to follow up on that. Those are two projects uh in a row there that you guys gave us the assistant financial that we need to bring these projects um
to fruition, especially one next door to the art. Uh as staff, I want to say thank you because every time we can land one of these projects and complete them, we can move on to the next one. So, thank you all very much for that support this morning. >> All right. Moving on to um item D, riff
grant. Who is handling that? >> That's me again, Commissioner. Um thank you very much. I'm bringing before you the um >> Could you pull that mic up a little bit more? >> Thank you. >> I've never been told that you can't hear me, but Okay, I'll
>> now you see what I get every day. And turn down the speed button. >> We'll go for that. Oh yeah. Okay. um both of those things. So, as you know, uh we have been working diligently on a gasification project for which we are partnered with recent technologies. Um
they were able to assist us in securing a riff grant from the Florida Department of Commerce in the amount of $3 million. What we have today is a tenative draft agreement that's been drafted by the Department of Commerce for your review
and approval. the um the it is pending legal review at the Department of Commerce as well as Board of County Commissioners final review. Um but the idea is that the timeline is very tight for the recent technologies to be able
to get it up and running and they we don't want to if there are no material changes, we don't want uh an additional delay of waiting for a February board meeting. If we're able to get that back the end of this week, we can go ahead and execute a final. Um you will notice that I did send out there were two
amendments made. Um the most recent one is in your or was handed to you and also provided to Ashley for the record. Um based on some conversations the page 19 of 32 attachment one scope of work with
a paragraph there is an addition of in accordance with Florida law added uh for some additional protections. And then of course that language in red has already been vetted by the department of commerce and approved to be included in this draft simply allowing that as RES
works with us uh as a consultant basis where we can identify cost savings on materials for the county buying it directly that RES if their vendor would allow us to be the procurer of those of those equipment or services then we
could avoid paying sales tax thereby saving um the grant dollars for to to help it move further. I know that Mr. Jonathan um is here with us today who has been the point person on recent aside and and can take any questions about the actual
operation of the equipment. >> All right. So, uh I guess I'll start phase one. Um do we have engineered drawings at this point or where are we at on on the deliverables on phase one? I know that that we're trying to to move this along, but where are we at with that? It says
grantees shall complete engineering surveying and permitting activities. Obviously, we can't do permitting without um engineered drawings. Are we at that point? >> I'm going to defer to Miss Jonathan. >> Good morning, Jonathan. >> Good morning. Thanks for uh thanks for being thanks for having me here. It's
really great to be back in uh really great to be back in Putham County. Love coming here. Um it's a beautiful drive on I95. Um yes, we do. >> Okay. All right.
And then the permitting uh would be pulled by the the county since it's county's property. How does this work? >> So ultimately we would sign the notice of commencement, but uh again recon is is essentially the um the principal
project manager on this. So they would engage their contractor or contractors who need to hold the the appropriate license in order to obtain the appropriate permits. whether that's local, state, national, um the
compliance is on their shoulders to ensure the permits are pulled. >> Yeah. And I spoke with um Rich Commando, Dr. Commando, tourist doctor, right? And um
and I think he's g given some great guidance and I think uh I'm going to lean very much on Rich on your uh guidance moving forward because uh it was right on and we want to do everything right and I'm all on board with that. >> And this has come this came before us
before we just because we've made some changes. >> Didn't we already have this riff agreement in front of us? >> No ma'am. >> The grant hasn't come before you before. So theou >> theou came before you. Okay. >> But this is the first we've received the uh riff grant agreement. >> All right. So it's um it's since it's in
draft format if there's changes that aren't that are made between now and next week um does it have to come back to the board for ratification? >> No. So that's why I'd be asking the board if it's approved by you uh to make a motion to approve the agreement in
substantially the same format as what has been presented before you today. So, you're saying as long as nothing of substances? I can't say that. >> Yes, madam chair. >> No, no material changes. >> All right. Questions from the board. >> So, looking at this agreement, Rich, um,
did you see anything on here of concern that we need to take a look at? >> Nothing that hasn't already been addressed. >> Okay. All right. You none of us are attorneys up here, so we rely heavily on you. Appreciate that. Yes, sir.
>> All right. Any other questions? All right, Jonathan. Thank you. >> Back to the for board for discussion or or uh a motion. >> Madam Chair, I move approval of resolution 2026-008
uh with the u direction of our legal counsel to make sure that everything is copathetic. >> Is there a second? There it is. >> All right, we have a second on the floor. Uh question, what happens if this project runs over $3 million? >> Recent as the project leader or
principal um takes the burden of not of the overruns. So, um the schedule of deliverables and reimbursement between the county and recon um is is still being worked out. still fluid, but essentially um part of the deliverables
stipulated in this grant agreement for payment reimbursement stipulates an operational system and uh recent has has assured us that we will end with an operational system and the overruns will be borne by them. And just for clarification for the um
public, this this is for construction of the infrastructure at the county land at the county landfill that will then allow the equipment to come on on in to be put in place to be used for a gasification process. >> That's correct.
>> Okay. All right. >> And Reason is responsible for the equipment. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Okay. All right. We have a motion to second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any any oppose like sign? Motion
carries. Thank you. >> All right. Code enforcement. Is there anybody here um wishing to speak on a codes enforcement case? If you are, please raise your hand. We have a couple. Is this codes enforcement? Okay.
Madam Chair, I think the U gentleman would like to talk. >> Okay, let me just figure out which one's his. >> I think he wants to withdraw it his questions. >> Okay. All right. We'll just do them in order then. Um,
case codes 2017- 00569. Madam Chair, in the essence of time, since no one's here to talk about codes at this case, um, case number two, 2017-00569, the total fine is 17,537.
Hard cost of enforcement was $2,52. My motion is for $2,52. It pay within 90 days. >> That's not the gentleman's code case. >> No, he's not. He's not doing it at all. Okay, second.
>> We have a motion to second. >> Any further discussion? All in favor say I. >> Motion carries. >> Madam chair, on case number uh 2020-005860, Melanie and Tony Barnes. The hard cost,
I mean the case uh is $40,462. The hard cost back to the county is $2,384. My motion is for $2,384 to be paid within 90 days to settle this case. >> Second.
>> Have a motion to second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Motion carries. Madame Chair, on case number 22-00002500, Stephen Cullen, the codes, the amount of fines are $28,287. The hard cost back to the county
citizens are n1,9 $1,916. My motion is for916916 to be paid within 90 days. >> Mr. Harvey, we have a surplus on that one. >> That's right. We got a surplus of tax
sale. So it comes out of that. I'm sorry, my screen is going crazy here. Um, so actually we have a tax surplus of 3,350 to be to So that'll send the remainder of 1434 back to the T clerk's
office for distribution at that point. So that fine comes out of the the surplus tax sale. >> We have a motion and a second. Second it. >> Second. >> Second. Commissioner Alexander any discussion all in favor say I. >> I.
>> Motion carries. >> Madam chair just >> on codes case 23-005700 Thomas P. Hayes Living Trust. The codes compliant. The fine is $17,712.
Uh the hard cost back to the citizens of Putnham County is $2,22. My motion is for $2,22 if pay within 90 days. >> Second. >> Have a motion second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. Motion carries.
>> And madame chair and codes case 24-005120 John R. Franklin codes case. The fines are $6,918.50. uh the total back to the citizens of Putham County for the hard cost $1,73
and that's my motion if paid within 90 days. >> Second. >> You have a motion and second. Any further discussion? You're saying, Mr. Franklin, that you wish to speak on your card will be during public comment time. Okay. >> All right. Just for clarification. Um all in favor say I.
>> I. I madam chair if you'd like if I can make just a statement >> for the audience. You saw today that there was codes cases and the amounts of certain amounts um knowing that some of these properties are not worth 17,000. They're not worth sometimes $6,000. Our
compli our goal is to get these properties into compliance. That's the goal. So that's why we take a hardcost approach of getting the citizens money back to the county for these costs. So we've we've decided exactly what the
hard cost would be and that's what we're settling on because we want the hard co the citizens to be made whole and the property being compliance. So just wanted to clarify that, Madam Chair. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving into public comment time on miscellaneous items. If anybody
wishes to speak, please fill out a blue card and give it to Miss Ashley. Uh, 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 that the board will engage in debate or deliberation about matters on which the
board has received. No prior information is part of the agenda. Please limit your time to three minutes. Public comment cards are conveniently placed at the meeting room entrance and should be submitted prior to the meeting to the deputy clerk who sits to the right of the podium. Thank you. Okay, first we'll have up Mr. Franklin.
Um, please state your name and address for the record and then go on with whatever you're here to speak about. >> Hello. Uh, John Franklin. I'm Elatcha County resident, 2611 Southeast County Road 219A. I've been purchasing
properties in your county for the last year or so, and I'm looking forward to growing with the county. I really like your county, better than Elatchua, by the way. But um I really appreciate you guys reducing the fine on the case number 24-h005120. Uh I just want to let the county be
aware of what's happening here uh with this case. My case is just an example of what's happening. Um so the code enforcement put a lean on the property. There was a abandoned RV on the property. Um, and
somewhere along the road, the RV got pushed out into the the ride ofway onto the the the street. So, this was prior to me owning it. And then once I bought it at the tax deed, I got back to the property and now the RV
is on the property. Um, so I'm no attorney, but I think that uh under Florida statute uh 705.103, 103. The sheriff's department is supposed to take these abandoned vehicles and charge the owner of the vehicle for the cost of
either dismember or uh you know disassembling or you know getting rid of the vehicle which will save the public money in the long run because then the sheriff's department can get a hold of the department of uh motor vehicles and actually charge the owner of the vehicle
instead of the property the cost of removal. Um, in this case, I paid for the cost of removal and you guys reduced the fine and I appreciate that, but I just want the county to be aware that I don't know if the um the sheriff's department is actually aware of their
duty to um remove these vehicles. Uh I I sent I gave you a copy of stuff there and and what it is is the call for service there to that date um says that the u the code enforcement is going to have the the vehicle destroyed and
moved. I don't know if that is a a deal that the county has worked out with the sheriff's department. Um, but it seems to me that the fact that they pushed it back over to the the road department, that's implying that the public should have to pay for the
removal of this vehicle when essentially the sheriff should have removed it and then um the owner of the vehicle would have been charged instead of me or the public, whoever is responsible for it. Uh, and with that being said, on that
side of town, there's a lot of vehicles and vessels and stuff that are on the rightway. I talked to Commissioner Harvey. Today's the first day I've met him, and it's the first day being here, and I'll be back again. You guys will see me. Um, I look forward to working with him about giving him the location
of a lot of these vehicles that are on the public roadway that the sheriff could dispose of and and find these uh find these owners of these vessels, boats, vehicles, RVs and and and charge these people for what it costs to remove them instead of the public having to
remove them. And um I think that's it for my time. I appreciate it. If you guys got any questions, you can let me know. Thank you, >> Madam Chair. >> Yeah, go ahead. U Mr. Franklin um the county does do that. We had a case not too terribly long ago where somebody
left something on Hunter Road. Is that right JT? Yep. >> And um they were able to get an identification number, trace it back to the owner and and they assume did have to pay for the disposal. Mr. Stouts were nodding his head. Did you contact the sheriff's office about this?
>> Yeah, that's what's in here. He did. He provided us with that information >> and your response from them. But I think the difference was this this vehicle was on your property. It wasn't sitting in the middle of a road. >> Uh it was sitting in the middle of the road. When I obtained the property, it was on the property. So somewhere
between no or somewhere between September 12th when the call was made to December 11th when I bought the property, the the vehicle was pushed back onto the property. So I don't know whether the county did it, the sheriff's department, or somebody in the neighborhood did it. I don't know who
did it. And again, it's the responsibility of me as a property owner to take care of it. But my problem is I called the sheriff's department to try to find who owned the and they wouldn't they wouldn't tell me obviously because it's private information. >> Mr. >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Uh I'm done. Go ahead,
>> Mr. Commando. Um, and when if if I drove up and left my vehicle in your yard and left it and went away um >> forever, >> and they aren't they going to call the law and get a hold of me and tell me get it off your property? I mean, >> yes, sir. >> I mean, regardless.
>> Yes, sir. >> So, I think you need to follow up with law enforcement. >> I I'm done with it. You guys You guys did what I asked you or I You guys did what was appropriate and I really appreciate the fine reduction. I just want the county to be aware that maybe
talk with the sheriff's department and let them know their responsibility instead of because it wasn't abandoned on private property. It was abandoned on public property and at that point it becomes the sheriff's department to remove it instead of the county's public having to pay for the removal of this stuff. So >> I get what you're saying. >> Thank you very much.
>> And we understand and just so we're clear that's the we go through that process when >> it wasn't done on this one though. >> I I don't know. I don't know if a neighbor pushed it on the property. >> Well, the thing is is under the statute, you guys have five, you not you guys, the sheriff's department has five days to remove it. And in the packet that I
gave her, there's a picture of it uh September 12th in the roadway from code enforcement and then again on September 23rd, which is 11 days later, so it should have been removed before then and it was on county property the whole time. So somehow it got dumped back on
my property regardless of who did it. But thank you. >> Got you. Thank you. >> That's right, >> Mr. Tony from Pomona Park. >> He doesn't need a piece of >> morning. >> Good morning, sir.
>> First off, my name Tony Quavvis, mayor of Bona Park, 117 Park Avenue. >> Thank you. We appreciate you being here. >> Yes. And um want to congratulate you on the great display at the Rural County Showcase Expo. It was beautiful. Thank
you for putting that up. Um I'm here today to talk about a communications initiative with Pomona Park Town council members. What we come up with is um rotating council members to come to your monthly meetings for better awareness and communication
things we can take back to our town. Um so once a month look for one of us hopefully to be here if we can continue doing that. uh maybe we can get some advice and assistance on issues that we are trying to deal with i.e. law
enforcement. We we don't have our own law enforcement like we lack it does. And um lately we've had vagrancy, vandalism, speeding, ATV abuse on streets, highways, and medians. And uh on a bigger term, we're looking at
possibly infrastructure with water and sewer systems. So any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Um, another issue I came up with, we recently got with WACA's mayor and um, chief of police to maybe have some type
of uh, co uh, cooperation agreement, but the county has the jurisdiction on that. We can't do anything on the side, I guess. So, I wonder if there's a way to work with that because they're willing to help us, but the county says they're
in charge with the sheriff's department, but then they don't have the resources so much to help us. So, >> so have you had a have you had conversations with him directly or the under share? >> No. No, we haven't got that far. >> Yeah, we can. >> We wanted to see if the the other town was interested and they are. So, we started with Okay, we got somebody to
help us because honestly, response time for things that we've I've called on 2530 minutes. Yeah, >> from the sheriff's department. And I'm not knocking them. They had an expo here yesterday try to get folks to sign up. I realize they're short-handed. I don't want to knock anybody, but we do have somebody that's very high that's willing
to if we can get a cooperation to the county. Let let that happen, >> right? Like a cooperative agreement. Well, thank you for coming here. We I'm glad to meet you. Um it is hard for all of us to get everywhere to and do things. Um so glad you came. Um, if you
have council members come to our meeting, please make sure they tell us in case we don't recognize them and we'll recognize them. >> Have them sign and you can at least recognize them, but we're hoping to do it every month. >> Yeah. And water sewer system is something that public water and sewer something that the county has been trying to address in multiple areas of
the county. Um, we certainly understand that getting sewers off of the river is very important for as a state initiative, but also for us locally. And uh we have been going to Tallahassee to try to do that in the East Palaca area particularly and down in um we're
working a water system down in Boswick area. So it's there's you realize how big the county is, right? When you start going from one end to the to the other. Um so thank you for coming forward. I'll be glad to sit down with you if you want to one-on-one. Um we could have staff sit down. We can start having some
dialogue. Um glad you're here and thank you for coming forward. >> Thank you very much. >> Yep. Brandon Smiley. >> Good morning, council. Um, my name is Brandon Smiley. Um, I'm a builder. Uh, >> if you give your address real quick, Mr. Smiley,
>> 108 Big Apple Road, East. Um I know when we were implementing or when the county was implementing impact fees, there was discussion about um mitigating or waving for affordable housing. Um I was just uh coming here today to follow up on, you
know, any way we could possibly uh move forward with that. Um I know some of the things that we ran into was a defining affordable housing. Um especially this day and age with the interest rates and the cost of construction. Um, and I also
thought it was important to not only focus on trying to, you know, provide it for the community, but, you know, the numbers need to make sense for the county because the money's got to come from somewhere else in order to pay for them. Um, I did a little bit of research on building permits and I just used a
little uh I used from January 23rd, 2025 back to December 1st, 2024. And I just picked out the new construction houses that weren't from a government program and were under 200,000. That was just my benchmark I was using. And there's 12 of
them. Um, and every time one of those gets built, the property tax bill goes from $88 a year to three to $4,000 a year. When I did that for January 23rd, 2026 back to December 1st, 2025, there
was only three. Um, and there was like a bunch of Rebuild Florida permits and things like that, but just for the, you know, Speck home builder, um, that was a huge decrease. And maybe somewhere um, in the tax revenue is a justification.
Um, but, you know, I'm I would encourage you to double check that um, those numbers, but um, I'm just looking for some sort of avenue to where it would make sense for the county as well. So you're you're you have a request that we issue uh or wave impact fees for what
would be considered affordable housing. >> Yes, ma'am. And just for the building itself, not for the utilities. I understand, you know, we still need to pay for our utility infrastructure. I'm not trying to have my cake and eat it too here. >> Right. Right. I understand that. This was a big discussion that we had when and you were here. I remember that.
Thank you. Um when we had the impact fee discussion, um Commissioner Harvey, you're recognized. >> Madam Chair, thank I know we don't usually chime in on public comment, but would that go through our SHIP program, Madam Chair? >> Yeah, it does. And I'm on that I'm on the um A-Hack board, and I mean, we
haven't made that as part of our initiative, right, Julianne? We had some discussion about it. Um but I think um we haven't made it an initiative, but beyond that, it would be where would that fund? It's always comes down to if I give a builder a an impact fee reduction or a waiver, whatever the
right right term is, then where does that money come from? Is that correct? >> So, correct. It's not a waiver. You're buying it down from the general fund. So, you'd have to set aside a budget that would then pay into the impact fee funds for those for which you you attempted to um offset the burden for.
that the um affordable housing committee did take up this topic but did not have a recommendation to move forward with any initiative at this time. Um so that's where it it stayed. >> Madam Chair, may I have a followup? >> Sure. Absolutely. So Julian, could could
down payment assistance through CHIP through the SHIP program, could that pay the impact fees on on on the affordable housing? >> Inadvertently, the down payment assistant fees are going to be down
payment on that home. So where where you give someone dollars, they may um have allocated dollars that were going to go to the bank, they can now take those dollars and pay the impact fee and use the ship dollars to go to the bank or for the closing costs. Right. So right
um >> roundroin. Yes. Essentially you're adding to that individual's ability uh to buy their home or build their home. Well, the the cleanest thing for me as a commissioner could see it would go
through SHIP. That would be the cleanest avenue that I could see for affordable housing. So >> So SHIP has a construction >> u project. It also has a new home buyer >> uh initiative,
>> but um there isn't necessarily a ship initiative approved at Florida Housing that just seeks to pay impact fees. they do. >> Um it's part of a larger strategy. The other thing uh that we have seen as the Florida Housing Committee um is made up
of people in the industry, right? Realators, bankers, those people who are truly working in the housing industry. What we traditionally see in those scenarios um is people who don't incur an impact, i.e. They are a demo and
rebuild or a demo and replacement which is exempt as we stand from an impact fee. They are buying a starter home that's already existing. Um so but it is there the funding is there for the right participant. >> Thank you. >> And in addition if if an if a builder
and Brandon you may know this if a builder is building an affordable housing then you have to have buyers that fit the affordable housing criteria. Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. And you've done have you done this in other counties? >> No, ma'am. Um I've built um in St.
John's, Clay, Duvall, and Putnham. Um but I've only built spec homes in Putinham County. Um it's my first experience with it. And I bought the lots in 2024, so I do understand now I'm looking for, you know, maybe tear downs and rebuilds.
And when I was doing the research on the permits, there was a big uptick in those. And I think that's a really good thing for Putnham County. So, uh, you know, the impact fees are causing people to, you know, migrate towards where, you know, making the county, I guess, prettier, you know. Um, but I guess
where I was uh really concerned was or like what not really concerned but where I thought the value to the county was was the tax bases um uh with three new construction affordable housing permits that we're going to go from 88 to 4,000
to against 12 um that we're going to go from 88 to 4,000 because over a couple years um over three years that's like a $120,000 difference for $20,000 in impact. impact fees, um, you know, versus the 12 with no
impact fees for affordable housing. And again, I use that term a little loosely because it varies, you know, how big the household is and things like that. Um, but I was just trying to find an angle to where it made sense for you guys to not just >> Yeah, I see what you're coming from. In the end, do and back to your buyers of
your homes. Do you are your buyers right now sitting in a low income to very low income to that kind of category or are your I mean do you financially >> Madam Chair just because you mentioned St. John's County. So, their impact fees
are set up in a way where if you're at 50% AMI, >> they will rebate or they will >> consider moderate. >> That's low. They'll consider 50% impact or 50% waiver on the impact fee. >> Okay.
>> I guess um the first two houses I built um when I came, I think it was last summer when we first started talking about this, I mentioned the price point and uh you guys were quick to let me know that 75 was not a a you know the price point for affordable housing in
Putham County. >> Um I've since you know I was in the middle of construction but the ones that I have on the market now are like four bedroomedroom two baths at 239. Um and I'm offering a closing cost credit to you know try to get them in there. I was a little too far into them but the ones
that I'm trying to plan for this year um are going to be a little bit smaller. I'm gonna try to get even lower, maybe around the 220 mark the best I can, but it's uh it's tight, you know, >> and encourage them to if they if you think they qualify, certainly encourage them for down payment assistance, too, because that could be a huge help. Um,
Commissioner Alexander, you're recognized. >> Um, I was just going to ask you, Brandon, since you are building in other counties. Um, but Mr. Commando kind of answered that that there are other counties that have programs to assist with the lowincome housing. So, I was going to see what you had experienced on
those. Um in in the other counties I kind of built for uh owners or investors. So they kind of dealt with the impact fee um situations. You know in St. John's County I had one parcel that they divided into three and got impact fee for one lot. But um the
houses were like $400,000. So I don't think that they had any sort of you know credit for that price point. >> Yeah. And I don't think that we can blame the um the lower number of permits that were pulled solely on the impact
fees because we can all agree that the real estate market isn't was has been in a downward trend due to interest rates um and other other items in the economy. So >> absolutely >> I don't want the public to think that just because we imposed impact fees that we killed the real estate market and that is not the case.
>> No, no, I understand there's other variables. I was just trying to find some sort of >> Yes. No, I get it. I get it. Thank you, Mr. Smiley. >> Yep. Thank you, guys. >> Ed Kellib. Y'all don't look so solemn because I'm walking up here to talk on this
microphone. Ed Kilibru, excuse me. Well, I'm getting old >> right there. >> Ed Kilibru, 146, Pardon, State Circle. Um, I came to talk to y'all this morning
about homelessness. Um, I talked to y'all a couple last night um with the cold and things. And as most of y'all know, that's been my heart for most of my adult life is helping the the less the needy, the less fortunate, stuff
like that. Um, you know, last night we had this morning when I got up and bred and it was 27 degrees. I was trying to help a young man last night at 20 years old to find a place to to just lay his head for the night. I don't know if it was his fault he was out there without a house. I don't know anything like that,
but it's not my place to judge those people and things like that. As far as I know, there was not a shelter anywhere in Putham County to open. I'm not talking about a a homeless camp. That's not what I'm talking about. Well, we give shelter people with hurricanes. Um,
granted, most of those people pay taxes and they're they're the viable people of our community. I understand that. But this young man had no place to go but a shed. Um, he came into my lodge meeting down on Krill Avenue last night. We fed him, tried to find um a place for him to
go stay, couldn't find a place, called the sheriff, called everybody I knew to call. Um went through my rolodex on my phone and nobody could help. Everybody says, "Well, I'm sorry." And that's I'm not getting on to nobody. That's not I mean, I understand that's life. But I
think as people of Putham County, um I know we had had something down by the river that just overflowed and became a housing problem for people. Um but I think as people of Putham County that we need to find a way to open up a a shelter on these nights like this to to
at least be human. Um you know, I'm sorry. Sorry, I I don't I'm not disparaging any of y'all, okay? I'm just making a statement, making it public. Um, finally, we wound up feeding this young man last night. Um, I took him back to the shed he was living in and
um, I bought him a heater to go plug in his shed. Um, not saying who robbed me, that's not what I'm doing, but that's the best I could do. I mean, yeah, I could have probably taken him home, but I didn't know what I was looking at there doing that. You know, I was trying to protect my family. But um I just
wanted to bring that before y'all this morning. Um I just wanted to read y'all a verse out the Bible is Matthew 25 about six verses 34- 40. It says then the king will say to those
on his right come you are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you
welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, feed you, or thirsty, give you drink? And
when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? and when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer him truly I say this to you as you did this to the one of the least of these my
brother you did it to me so thank you very much for your time >> thank you wish to say something >> okay I think that's discussion that we're going to have later on um Robert Matson Thank you, Madam Chairman, members of
the board. U my name is Rob Matson. I reside at 121 Palm Trail in uh East Palatka, East by God Palac. Um, I'm appearing before you as a supporter of the restoration of the Akawaja River by
breaching the Kirkpatre Dam. But just to quickly give you a little background, I'm not a little old lady in blue sneakers like Greg Walker says. Okay, I've got uh 40 years of professional experience working as an environmental scientist in Florida aquatic ecosystems.
35 of those years working river systems across North Florida. Uh from 2005 to 2022, I was employed as a senior environmental scientist with the St. John's River Water Management District. I provided some comments just for your
information I gave to uh the deputy clerk that I um delivered to our local legislators regarding restoration of the Akawa. The Cross Florida Barge Canal was stopped for environmental reasons. And I believe restoration of the Akawa should
be done for environmental reasons while still providing it still provides significant public benefits. From a broader perspective, nationwide there are major projects going on all over the nation removing dams. Dams were constructed for human purposes and some
cases to provide benefits, but they do not make river systems healthier or are of net environmental benefit. So that's why as a scientist I support uh the restoration of the Aquawa River. Thank you. >> Vernon Meyers
Thank you, Chair Leoden, commissioners for the opportunity to speak today. I am Vernon Meyers, resident of 247 Port Comfort Drive, East Palatka, Florida, former city commissioner and mayor of the city of Palatka.
I'd like to address several concerns raised over the last couple of weeks regarding Senate Bill 1066, the Northeast River Springs and Community Investment Act. Some have suggested that outsiders are
pushing awa restoration, but that simply isn't true. I and many former and current Putham County officials and community members have helped shape this legislation and are eager for the opportunities it would bring this
community. We have also worked in good faith with the bill sponsors to engage this commission, Senator Leak, Representative Sap in these discussions. At stake is the choice between four
healthy functioning river ecosystems and one unsustainable artificial reservoir. While some argue that periodic drawdowns are a healthier way to manage toxic weeds, draw downs don't fix the
ecological imbalance caused by the dam. They only briefly expose a landscape trying to return to a natural river. Concerns about wells lakes are using Rodman as a future water supply overlook
the more immediate issue. Putnham County is in a drought with a quarter of Rodman's water evaporating and the St. John's River Water Management District confirming it's poor, costly to treat water quality. It
simply isn't a viable future source. State research shows a restored aka would provide cleaner, more sustainable water source. And this project should not be confused with South Florida's
reservoirs or other unrelated water supply projects, which are designed for and serve entirely different purposes. We've also heard that you can't go back.
Yet sprouting cyprus during drawdowns and Florida's restoration successes prove natural systems rebound when flow is restored. Restoration would protect the landscape from the kind of development Putinham
County doesn't want. The reservoir and surrounding areas will remain protected state lands and lawmakers are already working to strengthen these protections. Finally, state Senate Bill 1066
is about people as much as restoration. Shoreline fishermen, many fishing for subsistence deserve better access, and the bill's recreation and economic benefits would help far more than the
shrinking number who rely on the reservoir. Even the US Navy, >> Mr. Are you almost done? >> I'm done. >> Thank you. >> One sentence. Even the US Navy isn't opposed. They simply asked to join the advisory
council with Putnham and other Riverway communities. I look forward to working with you to support this rare and important bill. Thank you, >> Mr. Travis Roberts. >> You guys should give me this desk. I've s behind it so many times. Travis
Roberts, 1110 Yansancy Circle, Satum, Florida, 32189. Uh, you know, guys, I'm at the end of my rope. I came in here a year ago and you guys told me you would have something done. You were going to do a workshop.
Last meeting it got mentioned that there would be maybe brought up this time about a workshop. They said they would write a letter to the guy. Has the letter been written yet? or to the lady. No, it has not. I talked to her yesterday. You guys asked me to give you six months.
Seven months ago, but eight years ago when I came in here, they asked me to give them 30 days. Okay? I said I would hold off on any litigation for six months because you guys asked me. You could have said a year, you could have said two years. You didn't. Where we at?
I don't know because nobody returns my phone calls except for a couple of you. Thank you, Mr. Walt Peltzer and there's a couple of you but most of no nobody's returned my calls. Nobody's said anything. Said we're going to have another workshop. You said that the landing well the originally when the
landing could have been done it would have cost 48,000 for two of them. Now we're over 60,000 but the taxpayers were going to be stuck. And here's the Fort Gates Fair terminal feasibility study that was done back in 2015. that was
done started in 2013. Still nothing done. The landing was condemned. I was told in here in a meeting that the county has fulfilled their contract. I call BS on it because the county it got condemned and in 2005 and then they kept
dropping it down, dropping it down, dropping it down. Nothing has been done. So what do you guys want me to do? Give another six months. We need another workshop because nobody knows what's going on. One of you made the comment that I talk too much. That's because
nobody's listening and I'm fed up with it. You one of you guys said that they didn't like being threatened with a lawsuit. What would you like me to do after eight years? The community can't even use the thing. They can't use it. Businesses can't use it. The community
can't use it. People with health problems can't use it. It saves an hour and 20 minutes. And now kids are over there building fires on it. Called the sheriff's department. Nothing been done. Called the county. Nothing been done. I'm still owed a bill from where I where
you as the county was going to spend $250,000. $250,000 on a blueprint that I got done for 900 bucks in a meeting. They approved to pay me my 900 bucks plus the $1,000 to pull the thing out of the
landing. You know what? I've gotten to this date. Nothing. My office is still flooded. For five years, I've been coming in here where the county created a problem and has flooded my office for five years. Now, it has black mold, which one person's already been to
hospital documented about it. I still have no office that the state requires that I have at least 100 square feet of office space. I even offer to get it for 15,000. I know my time's up, so no workshop, no nothing. What do you guys
want me to do? If you don't tell me something, I'm walking out here to the attorney's office. Do you need more time? Because it's going to be for eight years of me not getting a paycheck. >> We're not going to debate you at this podium. >> I'm sorry. >> We're not going to debate you. >> You're not.
>> You're welcome to have a seat and we're going to have discussion about the things that were all presented today. >> I'm not going to sit down, ma'am. Another discussion. Eight years, nine years. >> Sir, if you need an attorney, go get one. >> I've got nine of them. >> Good. And you you're you wrote a letter
back in 2025 and I appreciate you doing that to the guy. What has become of that letter? >> Have we have a letter that has gone to the lady? She might not have received it yet. What is the status of the letter? We'll discuss that real briefly. >> I was just waiting and I have full
commission support today. So, >> okay. That was part of the discussion we were having today. But we don't you don't you there's no we don't own the property that you're proposing us to. >> No, I don't. And you still haven't given me a lease. You have kept me from getting a paycheck. Not you particular, but this county.
>> Sir, we can't give you a lease on a piece of property we do not own. The letter has been written. >> The letter has been written >> and it will be sent out to the woman in California that owns the property. We did what we said we were going to do. Give us a chance to get a response from her >> six months ago. And it wasn't sent out
even as of last month. It wasn't sent out. And and you guys know you own the landing because F DOT sent every one of you guys Oh, yes they did. A thing saying that Putnham County owns that structure. The state of Florida sent it
to you. It's on record. It's right here where each one of you were sent a copy saying that Butman County owns that landing. You know, and and when you're saying, "What am I doing about anything?" It's not my landing.
The state says it belongs to you guys. You've even filed for grants. I saved each taxpayer in this county $11,000 by getting involved in this thing in 2015. >> All right. Thank you. Have a nice day. >> All right.
>> Have a good day. appointments. Going into appointments, everybody have any appointments? >> I sure do. Um, let me get my glasses on. So, I spoke with Mr. Jackson Tilton and he would like to remain on the animal services advisory committee.
>> Okay. And I am looking for another appointment for Dana Jones. She has chosen to uh remove herself from the fishing fund and I should have something by the next meeting. >> All right. Thank you. Commissioner Newold.
>> I have no one. >> Commissioner Harvey. >> I have none. Madam Chair, >> Mr. Felicier, >> I have one. Um uh I'm removing Amber Bosley from the fishing fund and replacing her with Bill
Jones. >> All right. And I have none. All right. Clerk of court, do you have any comments? Just want to take a quick moment to thank you all for the support at the uh Arkpool as a member of that board for
many years and I recently stepped up uh volunttold uh stepped up to the president role of that board. Um uh I'm very thankful for the continuing partnership that the county has had uh with the ark on that pool. That is a valuable asset. I grew up swimming in
that pool. Uh so um it's good to see that it's going to continue to be used for the community. So that's all I have. Thank you. >> All right, county attorney, >> as I just mentioned before, so the I do have full support at this point of the commission. I'll send that letter out
looking at probably today. >> All right. And um since you u we'll just go ahead and discuss this real quick there. Um did you do you recall seeing a letter saying that the county owns the landing? He talked about one side of the landing. We don't own both sides of the landing.
>> Correct. And he also doesn't have standing to sue us, but >> Okay. So the other side of the landing, it's hard. So we're being asked as a commission to implement a ferry that we don't own and implement a transportation to a landing that we don't own.
>> Correct. And that's been communicated to Mr. Roberts. >> Okay. So the way it was done before, I'm sorry, whatever happened happened. I can't we can't control that. This board can't. But I don't know how unless this person tells us that they're going to allow and enter into some kind of a
long-term lease, this current land owner, then maybe we can have discussions, but that's as far as it can go. And then if we can work out some kind of terms, then we can have discussions about whether or not the ferry can then be up and running. >> Agree. >> Was there a point in time where the
ferry was being paid to run and it was not running? >> Yes, ma'am. >> And how long was that period? Uh Joanne, you would know the details. It was >> Was it years? Was it months? >> Years. No, no, it was years. >> It was years. So basically, he was getting paid. Who was getting paid? Was it Mr. Roberts? >> Yes. >> His family.
>> His family was getting paid to run a ferry that didn't run for years. That's a true statement or no? >> That's a true statement. >> Okay. All right. Is there any further discussion? Uh, Commissioner Newold, you're recognized. Just as a point of clarification, the landing on the west side of the lake
is owned by a private individual out of California that we are in discussion with, so to speak. The property on the east side in district one, it's my understanding that's owned by D. Is that correct? And there's a lease that
>> Okay. And so if we get cooperation from the land owner on the west side, then we still have to we have to re-engage the state. Is there any jeopardy or >> We don't have the answer to that now.
But the answer is yes. You would have to talk to the state again. I think you'd have to evaluate what the costs are. >> Done. I uh >> He's here. >> Okay. He's here. >> Oh, he's back. Um I called Mr. Commando while we were in Tallahassee last week.
myself and uh ask him to write up something and send it back to me uh via email. Uh I want to be sure it was of a nature that was uh polite and pleasing. Not that he would write a a rude letter, but just I want to put a lot of sugar on
it and uh and uh be very courteous to the lady and which he did and I approved it. I told him to forward it to the other commissioners and when he got their approval it should be mailed in my opinion. Um, so that is and I'm send it certified mail, so someone has to sign for it. Uh, so that is that's that's
been done. We I I don't understand or don't know what you're talking about when you say we own the landing because as I understand it, the Forest Street people on the road, which is, I'm guessing, 33 feet or whatever, and it goes right into the river. She owns to the left, right, and to the left. I
don't know until we get her approval. I don't know where we can build anything because you can't build something on somebody else's property. That's true. >> So that is where we stand as of right now. Thank you. >> All right. Mr. Commander, do you have any other comments? >> No, Madam Chair. Thank you.
>> All right. County Administrator Sug. >> My bad. Uh just wanted to touch base. Uh as you know, last week we spent uh time up in Talis World Days. And I'm not going to talk a lot about that because I'm sure my five commissioners will. Uh it was a great event, well attended on
the courtyard this year. Uh it was uh the weather was really nice this year. So uh it was very well attended. I think uh a lot of our messages um really uh hit home this year with a a lot of the folks that we had our meetings with. Want to thank Sam Soliv
for setting those meetings up. Really enjoyed the meeting with uh ad commissioner Wilton Simpson. What a what an amazing uh opportunity for us to get in there, have conversations about the fairgrounds property. So, thank you Sam for setting that up. But again, I'm not
going to steal you guys' thunder. I think it was a great week up there. We had a lot of good meetings and uh you know, that's that that's the end of my comments, Madam Chair. >> Okay. Commissioner comments starting with um
Commissioner Alexander. >> Well, I really don't know where to start today. Um I heard some testimony today um from a water management district expert. Uh I have questions and I don't know when the appropriate time to ask
those questions would be of him since he is an expert and we as a commission have received nothing. I I can't say nothing but an overwhelming level of support from my constituents who want to maintain the Rodman
Reservoir. Um I feel that we as a as five went there in support of maintaining the reservoir and we had meetings with the senator and the rep that were promoting this bill and
leading the charge on that. Um, and some of the information that they have been presented with, to be honest with you, may have been a a stretch of the truth, maybe a fallacy, and some of it I fully disagree with as the truth,
but I understand lobbying and I'm learning more about politics and how it works. Um, I want to thank my other commissioners, specifically Mr. Harvey, Miss Wilkinson, and Sam Sullivan for helping me navigate the um the process
in Tallahassee. Each of you guys, as as I've spoken to many times before, each of us brings our own skill set uh to this DAS and um I really feel a sense of pride when we can lean on each other to discuss certain issues. Again, today
when people one was here speaking, I look over to Mr. Harvey. You know, that that's his game. Insurance and healthcare. He knows it. So when he speaks, I listen and I listen to the impacts that it's going to have on our community. When Miss Wilkinson speaks regarding certain things, realy um
legislative matters, processes, procedures, she knows it. You know, Mr. Newol, he knows the agricultural side of it. You know, Walt, he knows the side of it. Restaurant owning, he knows the old school history of Putnham County. So, it's great to have these guys when we're
making decisions. And I feel like when we're up here talking about things, we all have a common goal. And based on what I've been presented from my constituents, I I still maintain my present or my position that we support the maintenance or the maintaining of
the dam. Uh I would love to meet with Mr. Matz and I have some questions regarding some of the the items that were brought forth. I don't know if that's a a public discussion we should have or something we should do later, but uh you know, some good things going
on in the community. I hate that it was um kind of ended on a sour note there, but we we have done what we said we were going to do. Uh it may have taken a little time, but but we do follow through and we do what we're asked of our community. Thank you. >> All right,
Mr. New, you're recognized. >> Thank you. I want to jump back real quick to appointments. I think um Oh, Laura stepped out. Um I'll get with her afterwards. I thought I had made an appointment to the green belt board a number of months back and I don't think
that has been followed through with. Um I believe at a previous meeting I had appointed Roger Easterling to the green belt board and I I don't think that's flown through the process. >> Okay, no worries. We'll check the records uh and make sure that we get
those records updated. >> Okay, thank you. >> It is still your intent to uh apply. It is. >> Yeah, not a problem. >> Thank you. Okay. I don't have a a whole heck of a lot. Um I'll I'll echo um Commissioner Alexander's uh compliments of our staff and fellow
commissioners. Um this was our second trip up to rural days in Tallahassee. Um the staff prepares us well, organizes us well, and I think we see the fruits of those labors coming back to us here in Putham County. So, thank you guys for
shephering us along in that process. Um, I think in addition this year we're going to have a Putham Counties Day February is it 12th? February 19th 19th. >> The 19th. So, >> 22nd floor >> the the staff has organized um special meeting with our legislators uh just for
Putham County as opposed to having every county rural county there at one time. So, we expect to further our causes at that point. Thank you. Um just a little side note, um I think next week we're going to have uh last at our last meeting we had a little bit of
conversation about um easement lane down in Waca. Um I was able to meet with one of the land owners adjacent there and uh I suppose that will come up at our next meeting February 2nd or February 10th.
Is that is that when that will come up again? What are you saying? >> At in our last meeting, we had a request to vacate a piece of three in Club Road. >> Oh, yeah. I think that does come scheduled to come back on.
>> Okay. All right. And at that time, we were under the assumption that there was no opposition to that. There's some opposition has come up. I met with um with that opposition. I hope those guys can come to a resolution. It feels like a resolution is available. Um,
anyway, I'm I'm looking forward to tackling that on the next meeting. >> I don't have anything else. Thank you. >> All right, Mr. Harvey, you're recognized. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. And I want to echo the comments of our commissioners. Last week was an amazing week when we
have all five commissioners and our staff up there promoting Putham County to its finest points. Um, and also understanding the process when we have to divide and conquer. We're given an hour to make a meeting that we didn't
even know about. That happens sometimes. When we speak, we speak with unity and I appreciate that. Um, do want to pray for Senator Ben Albrittain, Senate President. He had a blood clot in his heart and he's out for I'm sorry
>> I said, "Oh gosh, >> I know." but he's out for just a few more days, I guess. But he's been a big instrumental person in in the rural renaissance program along with Corey Simon. But rule days was a very big success and I appreciate that. um the
chamber uh everybody who participated and you know what amazes me is how many people come up there to promote Putnham County and again I can't thank our staff enough for sitting on the sideline if you will in a lot of cases looking for
direction from us how you can be beneficial to us and guiding us around at times uh it takes a group effort to to move this train and and it was a very good thing and and chair Chairwoman Wilkinson, you did a remarkable job on that. I'd be remissed if I didn't
mention Lake Oawaha. I get sick and tired of these people who go shopping for out of town legislators to support their bill. They couldn't do it in Putham County when you were elected. You couldn't do it when you worked at water management because water management
doesn't take that opinion. So, I'm just going to say this. 21 billion gallons of fresh water 19 feet above sea level. The lakes in West Putnham are suffering dramatically right now with the draw down and with that with the drought. And let me assure you that an alternative
water supply is a lot better than people begging us on West River Road to provide water because they have saltwater intrusion from that river. So let me assure you once you take the initial flush out, you're going to have a big problem with contamination and
pesticides going into the river more than you've ever had. Rodman Lake Akawa has minimal algae blooms if any. So just be mindful of that and uh protect our environment as we know because this is a water grab. And um Madam Chair, that's
the end of my comments. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Peliser. You're recognized. >> Um yes, I'd go ahead and apologize that this is going to be lengthy. I told you last meeting that I cut it to one because of our time restraints and we'd run very long, but I have quite a few
things I'm going to discuss. I'll go as fast as I can and I'm going to jump around as I see it and come up to it. Um, echo all the comments said up here about our time in Tallahassee. U, staff did a great job organizing us and keeping us on time to where we need to
be and on to meet with various uh, uh, senators and representatives. Um, this rural days was just a fantastic day with great weather. Uh, it just couldn't have been better and food from all over the state. it if you were able to go or ever
are, it's it's a treat. Uh you just meet a lot of nice people from all over and and just you you wouldn't believe the different foods from different parts of the state that they're kind of known for and or things they're known for. So, it's it's a it's a great time. And our uh Chamber of Commerce did a wonderful
job with their tent uh booth they had. Um I I thought it was very good with the big bass jumping. It was pretty pretty nice. Um when we met with uh Senator Dugen, Dugan Dugen, uh
>> Representative, >> he um you know, they were all their minds were made up on how they felt about it, but uh Commissioner Wilkersonson made a very good comment in that she said if you know, if when it's dug out, it's gone. Why not draw it down for a year
and watch completely? Draw it down to nothing. just open the dam, draw it down and and watch what happens and see. It's it's a that's an easy test and at the end of a year, you know, look at the results and if it's not what you think it is, drop the dam comes right back up.
So, it's it's it's easy easy fix in my opinion that way or easy check. Um I've had a minimal minimal handful of people say save the dam save the turn the river reunite the rivers as they call it. Uh, unbelievable. Uh, two phones worth of
uh, leave the dam alone. Leave the dam alone. So, that's that's all I have to say on that. Um, Mr. Suggs, um, anything from the forestry um, folks over there about the satellite garbage pickup location that they were
going to be looking for us to fix, help the people in the forest with that. >> Not as of yet. you know, I sent another letter out or another email out and I'll check again when we get done today to see if they responded, but hadn't seen anything as up to date. >> Okay. Um, any update on the IT and um,
VA expansion and relocation of of those two buildings? How do we sit on that? >> So, at that last conversation, the board of county commissioners uh, directed staff to pause on that project until you have a workshop to consider all of your building projects. Staff is effectively
paused paused >> paused, i.e. we we have everything kind of on our end. Um but until we get direction from the board as to priority, funding, locations, initiatives um on all of your county buildings, I believe you are working together to set up a
workshop. That was the direction or the consensus at that meeting. >> Okay. Um as far as funding goes, I'm going to challenge my uh fellow commissioners, and this was not my idea. came to me from a a staff member who I think is pretty knowledgeable about
things. Uh maybe we uh in our discretionary money uh allocate certain amounts of that to go to funding those two projects. Uh and it would not get into our budgeted money. Um and that'd be a number that we would come up with. Just a thought, not not a not not
obligation. Um, I'm told that we have a u we've contracted or contacted a contractor that is going to uh be giving us a price of uh installing a sprinkler system into the Pantry Pride building and beyond uh all the uninhabited
buildings so that uh we can look into possibly renting that space and that'd be a source of income for the county. Uh but that has to be done first. So I'm I'm excited about getting those numbers. So, and we have no idea if Mick will have any problem renting that myself. Um, >> Commissioner Pal, may I interrupt you for just a second? If we wanted to
discuss a workshop, we can go ahead and do that right now. >> Well, can we come back to that? Let me get comments. I'm good with it. I'm good with That's a great idea. Um part of our and this could be in our workshop is u we prioritize um because
the projects that we see you know that are important and u we could all have the same three let's say that and commissioner Alexander has one at one and I've got it at three and vice versa and flip-flop around. Let's get a a
consensus of what we all want to do and see accomplished and then prioritize one, two, and three of of those things or five how many you want to do. U I think that's a good idea. I also one small portion here. I would like to look into seeing about the uh demolition as
Mr. Grimes recommended to the bank building. Um I don't think that would be a huge cost at all and get that thing out of here. Um it's kind of an eyesore. I drove up by it the other day and it is it's very it's it's in disrepair in a bad way. Um something else I've been
working on on the sidelines. Um I in one of our uh discussions we talked about you know all the industry that we have here in Putham County and that uh various commissioners on this board um have not been and seen some of the things uh that are here and how they
operate and how they work. And when we're out abroad um in the count in the state and we can talk knowledgeably about at Georgia Pacific, I watched a little chip go in one side and paper towels come out the other end. So I think that's that's that's the good thing. Anyhow, I've already arranged
tours with GP uh Marble today which uh they make marble cabinets and ship them all around. They're very very big outfit. Uh Simol Electric U learn a little bit about how they make electricity and L&M Farms. Um, all this certainly be done when we have warmer
climate, but u I have two more on my list that I have not contacted and that's Kamarco Foods and Certainty Gypsum because I think those are just those are big things that Kamarco uh people are the ones that bought our uh site
spec building. Sorry. Thank you. And um they're doing a whale of a job. Commissioner Alexander and I have already been out there, but I would go again. Um Mr. Kamarco is a very nice man and uh just tell you all about it and uh it's an interesting process but uh Hson
Hoverson I'm sorry I don't know where you got the name for Marco. >> So we want to schedule workshop. Can we just do it after next Tuesday's board meeting on the 10th? Is everybody available for that? >> Madam Chair. >> Yes. >> Would that give staff enough time to pull all that together or maybe on the 24th?
>> It's a workshop. >> It's a workshop. It probably may be better to have it and provide them with some more direction as to what they need to pull together. We just need to formulate what we feel is a priority in my opinion. >> Commissioner Paler, >> I'm sorry. I I didn't hear you.
>> So on this workshop, are we wanting to specifically talk about the ITNVA expansion or are you wanting to have >> talk about everything? Just talk about the buildings. I think that was the main >> the buildings. >> Yeah, the buildings we own, any projects that we want to see accomplished. So what is it you would expect staff to
have with them on hand? >> Well, for us to prioritize it, I don't think they have to have anything. We have to decide what we want to see done. M Mr. So raising his hand. >> Okay. >> There is a little information as and I applaud Commissioner Pelis here for
pushing these things forward. But part of our conversation yesterday that we need to have again today, I guess, is when we start talking about having someone come in, look at that facility down there to give us an estimated cost for fire suppression, so to speak, we're going to need to know a little more information. A couple things. One is
intended use and then then uh occupancy. Uh those numbers are going to drive, if I'm not mistaken, our anticipated cost for that that renovation portion of that building. So when we start having those conversations, if we can get a little more direction on that so we can have a
better estimate of cost for those those fire suppression systems for for that. >> You're referring to specifically IT andVA. >> No, ma'am. I'm referring to the old pantry pride. >> Okay. Okay. So we have a couple things. We have the ITVA. >> Yeah, we've already we we we can move forward and have further conversations on ITV.
>> So we're prepared to have a workshop on ITVA. >> Uh if that's the direction the board does, that's fine. But when we start getting quotes on the fire suppression, we do have someone's uh that may be able to meet with us either later this week or next week. We're going to need a
little bit more information so we can narrow that cost down a little bit for fire suppression. >> What I think Mr. Suggs is not understanding me. Let's I I think that building is important. I do. But let's say the rest of the say that's way down the list. Well, we're not going to talk
about it. You know, it's not going to go there. So, I'm saying just prioritize what we want and then move forward with getting information. Just pick come up with the three or five however how many things we want. Put them in an order >> and that'll make a determination on where we proceed as far as the pricing.
But as long >> Pride building could be not even on the list but one. >> As long as it doesn't exceed 50% of the on or the occupancy of the building, we can move forward with the VA and the IT because it doesn't impact the fire suppression system. Um, one caveat to
that too, I would also like to suggest that previously we had discussed the liquidation of some of our surplus properties to help I I would like to see that help pay for some of this as well. >> Oh, sure. >> So, we we have money there that if we could potentially move some of these items that it wouldn't impact the
general fund and it would help provide us the funding to do these projects with with dormant property and it's also going to return it to the tax roles. >> I I don't think excuse me, Madam Chair. I don't think staff will probably agree with this, but let's uh let's just say the Pantry Pride building does not get a
thumbs up from everybody. It's a dump. It's done. It doesn't leak. We've got a great surplus surplus piece of property with the highway patrol building over there. Mr. Grimes says it's full of all kind of things that he needs. Move it over here. Put that building on the market.
>> I think we're we have a lot of bigger discussions. I think we're I'd like to go ahead and set up our February 10th workshop for the ITVA discussion because we've been discussing that for a long time and I want to go ahead is everybody on this board available after February
10th in the afternoon after our morning meeting for a discussion specific about ITVA expansion and then if it rolls into other things or we have to set a second bud a second workshop we can do so. >> Yes, ma'am. >> That at 2 o'clock. Yes. Two o'clock.
>> Okay. >> All good. Mr. >> All good for me. >> All right. We will we will set a a workshop for the ITVA expansion at 2 o'clock on February 10th. Do you need further direction than that? >> No, ma'am. We're good. Thank you. >> Okay. All right.
Are you done with your comments? >> Yes, ma'am. >> All right. So, we've just had a wonderful day today. Um, a couple things. We've had some hot topic items. Um, first of all, I will say a couple things about the Aqua Waha
restoration. Um, I do have the report of the survey that was done and less than 500 people, less than 500 people from Putnham County responded and out of that there was like a 70% that said that they
were in favor of removing the dam. So, no, I don't consider that survey as a good poll of our populace because less than 500 people um doesn't represent 78,000 people. Um I have received plenty
of calls and stops in the grocery store, stops at the restaurants. I've received a lot of people saying that they want to keep it. I have received some saying they want to take it down. I mean, that's just part of what we do, right? We get both sides of the story. But if
you're going to Tallahassee and you're saying that 70% of the people in Putham County want to remove Rodman, well, that's not true because your number is 70% of less than 500. So that's your your numbers, not mine. Um the second,
the US Navy is going to um take a very soft landing on this and certainly not say that they're opposed because they're the US Navy. However, we do know that once you flood Ronbin out, the helicopter pads that they normally lay
on for their um that they normally land their helicopters on are now underwater. And so I would also question if the water is not going to affect if we could do a complete draw down or we completely empty reservoir the reservoir. I guess I
have a question and if Mr. Matson wants to meet with me or Mr. Myers, that'll be fun to discuss how does that same property that we're worried about flooding not flood. So, if we're saying that if the dam breaches, it's going to have a a failure and that that we're
going to flood out 500 homes, but if we increase the water capacity to where it's always down, then are those same homes not affected? Does the water not rise? Because if you go back and look at aerial photography when the original Aqua Waha was in place
pre prior to the dam, Sportsman Harbor historically was underwater. If you look at that aerial photo, it was wet. There's water standing there. So we did somebody somebody in this process allowed those homes to be built. They probably shouldn't have been built and
they in today's standard they should be all all on stilts, but they're there and now we have to deal with that. But so the question I do have is if the water is restored, if we're restoring the Aqua Waja, how and we're saying it's before the dam,
but yet we have aerial photos that show that that area would be is underwater before the dam. How would they not be underwater today? Um, so that's a couple questions that I do have. But, um, either way, um, it's in the hands of the legislature and that's where it's at.
But I just think that you should be honest in your discussions and say and and provide honest information. Um, for instance, it's there's not a uh it is one of 94 dams that's considered high
risk in the state of Florida, but yet it's the only dam that's being discussed to be removed. Um, as I stated before, there's 12 other dams on the Aqua Waha River. Mossluff do lock and dam was built in 1925 and it's a hundred years old. So,
where's the discussion of taking that out or any of the other dams that are on the river on the Aqua Waha River? So, if we're going to say restoration, taking out one dam out of 13 is not, in my opinion, a full restoration. It's a
partial. And if you're not going to fill in the barge canal, is that what it's called? Green, what's it called? The lock and all of that. If the proposals that I've seen does not include filling that in, then it doesn't create a
restoration either. My son said it to me best. He said, "If you buy an antique car and you slap four brand new tires on it and you call it a restoration, that's not a restoration. If you buy an old car, an antique car,
and you strip it completely down, and you can truly restore it, then that's a restoration. So, um, I see his point on this because I feel like we got an antique car that we're slapping four tires on and we're spending
a lot a lot of money. when in 2021 the an independent engineer and I have the report on my desk um evaluated that dam Rodman dam particularly and it was considered satisfactory
overall condition and um structurally satisfactory and that's the highest rating that it can receive. It wasn't deemed fair. It wasn't deemed poor. It wasn't deemed unsatisfactory. It was deemed satisfactory in 2021. In the 2223
legislature, the state of Florida added $1.6 million to repair it in the FD budget to bring it up and repair it and make necessary adjustments to it, maintenance and that such. So, it's not
really um you know, while people want to say in Tallahassee that it's you know, all of a sudden it's going to implode, it's just not true. Um like I said, Rod the uh um Moscla Flock and Lamb Dam is 100 years old and in 2021 this structure
was deemed satisfactory. So I would find it hard to believe that it's would be anything different today. So I'm going to take on another big subject since we're having this discussion. Cold weather shelter. So hold on to your seats. Here we go. Um
last week or the week of the 16th 18th Uh we did have um the county in with some assistance from the city but mostly a lot of assistance from volunteers was able to open up the SMA building which is owned by the county
but it is not close to the city. Um it's it's a little bit out there. And so what happened was on the first night after being told that there was going to be a shelter open all the way up till 3:00 we finally got word that that was not going to happen for a cold weather shelter. So, we scrambled very quickly as staff
and um was proud to say that we pulled it off and we were able to open a shelter, a cold weather shelter out at the SMA building. And when we talk about this um people people need to understand that it's not just opening up the doors and allowing people to come in. Uh we
had fire EMS uh went and got CS that we have in storage. Um we um got uh some bedding which is uh disposable and sanitary. We also um worked with Bread of Life to provide food and the first
night um it was manned mostly by EMS and um Palaka Police Department did provide transportation and then um I brought the food and I went back at 3:00. We set it up and then I went back at 3:00 in the morning and from 3:00 to 7:00 me and and
Miss Avet Reyes was there to watch the rest the rest of them. You have to have two people on duty the entire time that they're there. So that was the first day. The second day um was completely ran by volunteers and it was completely transportate transportation was
completely done by volunteers. The third day um was a little bit more challenging and we did get um Palica PD stepped up and they provided a uh officer on both on both um watches. So from 700 p.m. to
1:00 a.m. and from 1:00 a.m. to 7 7 a.m. Um but again you have to have two people on staff and then the rest were were volunteers. We had six people the second night, eight people the third night. On the second night, we were able to truly put three people in homes temporarily in
homes so that we took three people off the street. Um, again, we were able I myself made chili. Mr. Suggs one day bought sandwiches. So, um, we did everything we could during that time, but we were pushed to do something in a
quick time frame. The building out at SMA is not available. um that building is going to be turned into the 15 bed facility that's going to be opening up on February 9th. So, the county does not have a building that we can identify
that has the right infrastructure in it to open a cold weather shelter. We um that's close to the city or within the city limits. Everyone that we got was from the city of Palaca. Um and when I say that, that's not meant to be detrimental. It's just the way it is.
Um, we did not get people for instance from San Monteo, East Palaca, you know, Francis, Hollister. Uh, we asked everybody where they were from. We knew where they were from because we were picking them up. So, um, whether they were actually in the city's jurisdictional boundaries or not, you
know, who who knows? But at the end of the day, we pulled it off. So, now we're in a cold weather time. And to Mr. Um, Kilibru's point, I understand where he's coming from and I have the same concern of what do we do with the cold weather shelter, but the county as we sit today
does not have a facility that we know of or identify that that we're going to use. So, before I move on, I think Mr. Suggs, do you have a do you have comments that you'd like to see? I know you've been working with the city manager. >> Wow. I I understand uh that I've been working
with the uh city manager texting back and forth since yesterday at your direction, Madam Chair. Uh so uh the latest the information I received and I just now received it at 11:45 was that the city was looking at opening up a shelter using Jenkins. Uh they're looking at gearing it up for about 20
people. Uh and they're looking at based on the weather pattern right now, they're looking at the possibility of seven days. >> Yes. Uh so uh what they're doing right now is they're they're estimating their cost for for the uh for the shelter. And one of the requests that's going to come
in from the city I'm receiving it as is if we can help them with the uh with the cost of of uh that sheltering for the next seven days. And so I'll get more information as as that comes in. And if you would like uh commission, madam chair, I'll just work if I could through
through you and then we can communicate to do. But right now it does look like the city is going to step up and possibly do something at the Jenkins school. >> That would be wonderful. Um I think it's definitely needed. We can support them in any way. Um if we have to go down and have a meeting with them, we can. Um is
it the board is the board okay with me handling that? Can I get a wave of support? >> Do you need some finances to go along with >> I don't think that we know that yet, but I guess >> there's there's an initial request based on an estimate, but we don't know the final cost yet. And I would rather uh not have that discussion here until I
can get some final uh cost estimates from the city and work directly to chair if that's >> and you have you have the authority for a certain amount as well. Right. >> A threshold. >> Madam chair, I want to applaud you for taking the lead on this. I have to help in the background as much as possible. Um but again, I know this is something
near and dear to your heart. You've been working with Feed the Need for the for years. Um >> Red Life. >> Red Life. I'm sorry. Yes, I know. But that we we've discussed that before. I mean, you you you put money where your mouth is on this. Um I don't I I've
helped where I can, but you you have done a fantastic job. So, I'm glad to hear that the city has >> decided to partner with us. Um it's that's the only way we can accomplish this. We've talked about collaborating with the city and I think this is a great first step
>> in moving forward with these discussions and setting a a permanent plan in place so we're not scrambling like this again. Yeah, I think that long term we'll figure out something going forward hopefully, you know, and it's not and and volunteers are good um if you know who the volunteers are, but you have to
have a little bit of a vetting process, right? You just can't have anybody come in the building to to um to be there. So, there's that part of it. And um but I will say that when we had it the three days there, we had no issues and every person that was there was very thankful
that that we had some place open for them. And um so one guy brought an air mattress and the other guy said, "I I'm used to sleeping on the floor and we talked him into the cot and we had to wake him up the next day. He slept so good." So there's a lot to this than than just again opening the doors. I
know other counties, some of them like Bradford I saw where they had the sheriff's office basically opened up their lobby and said people can come in and sit in a chair and they had a bathroom and that was that was the end of their that was it. But at least they had a place to get out of the cold. And we are definitely seeing temperatures we
haven't seen before. And in my experience in working in with cold weather shelters over the years, usually the, you know, 10 to 15 days in an annual period is most you're going to see to see seven days in a row or five or six days in a row will be we haven't
had that. I think the most I ever remember when I worked at Bread of Life shelters was four days. So this will be a different time. I have been watching the weather, too. But I do think we're going to be in into it. And usually we keep the threshold would have been 32 or below. So you do have to establish when
we're establishing our standards going forward, Mr. Grimes. What does that look like? What are those standards? And so that was one of the discussions that has to be figured out when we come up with a plan. Yes, sir. >> We do have a written plan. Just so you know that I did tell you last week that we would have one. We do have it. Just have not fully vetted it out yet. Be
happy to share it with you after the meeting so that we can get it on an agenda so for you guys to work on. But it is done. It is in my email. I just haven't had a chance to fully but make sure it's what exactly what we want. >> I want to thank you too, J.R. and I would be remiss in saying and not saying thanks to the staff. I know that you
told me that Leo Mat he was a huge part of this and he he pulled things and did some stuff to make sure made this happen on the last one. Obviously you and Mr. Sugs have done so on this one. >> Thank you. >> Yes. So the the cold weather just shout out to emergency management, right? I called Stephan and asked him said, "Hey,
can you get this together?" He's got it together. He's got a formalized plan. Everything is in there from transportation to how many days we've frozen over the last 5year period is all included in that document. Him and Miss Danny did a great job. Um he's even got a list of volunteers, community outreaches, things like that that's in
there. We can subtract them, take them out, but I'd like to sit down with the chair if she's got time soon and let's get it ready and we'll look at it as a just a cold weather shelter and for the board so we enact a policy. Uh that way it's not not up for really a debate every year, every time. It's whenever this thing triggers much like when we
have a hurricane we come to you guys and say hey got we could call weather and it's in a policy it's written knows how it's going to go and that way it just is like a well a little machine just like our EOC runs during a hurricane period >> and the two challenges are first the location um and second um um the you
know how you're going to staff it. So you gota like I said you got to have 12 two people on staff for 12 hours to to oversee it. And so we did them in two shifts six hour shifts um is how we did it. And most of the days if we were able to, we let them stay in and sleep longer than 7:00 a.m. because as we know a lot
of times that's when you're really getting cold is 7 to 8 or like we saw this morning that was 30 degrees or less. So um so yeah, there's a lot to that. Um so I appreciate that conversation and I want to also say thank you to the community parame medicine program. Nikki was there, Cameron was there on different shifts.
Um, we have good people in that program and they have a heart, a good heart for people and I've seen their compassion. They're good people. So, with that, um, I see a couple lights lit. U, Commissioner Alexander, do you have anything else you wanted to add?
>> No, ma'am. I think I've covered it all. Thank you. >> All right. Commissioner Pelier, >> mine is a a happy note. Um, I looked through my notes here. Uh pre please uh excuse the inconvenience of Palm Avenue, but it is being repaved and it is smooth
and I like that. Um that is being done with better place money. Um Mr. Stout, I'd like to see those signs put up on each end of that road somewhere denoting that our citizens know that is done with the BPP money. Thank you so much. That's it for me.
>> Yeah. All right. And then uh Mr. New >> I just wanted to thank you for spearheading this cold weather shelter issue. Um we are going to have temperatures that we haven't durations of cold weather we haven't seen for probably 30 years. Um you often see
these cold weather shelters in big cities and large municipal areas and rural counties and cities have challenges doing this sort of thing. And I it just, you know, we're often lamented that we don't play well with
the city. Well, you know, that is really changing. Um it's very positive. Our staff, their staff, our administrations are are working together on positive projects. Um, I hope that as this
project evolves that outlying areas such as Interlockan and Crescent City will be able to find a way to um effect some help in those areas as well. I don't know if the transportation will work right away. Um, but it's a long-term goal. We'd like to make sure that's incorporated into the plan.
>> And transportation was an issue when we were out of SMA. It really is. It's not a place that some place somebody can just, >> you know, bring all their stuff and walk to. Um, so that was the issue. Um I did know the week that we did it, those three days that we were um doing it out at SMA Interlark and Soup Kitchen had
some people out there. Um Mr. Grimes had shared with me that a few years back, a couple years back, that South Putham Church had opened one, but then they never had anybody show up. So I don't know if they're going to have that discussion. And just so everybody will know, historically this has always been done through um our non uh profits and
through churches coming together and collaborating, not necessarily government because sometimes we tend to to be more um I don't know, we don't always have the compassion sometimes that we need to. And so it what's the word? Institutionalize. And I don't want
to institutionalize this. I want it to be where people feel comfortable to come in. Um and that kind of thing. And you you do set rules obviously if somebody's acting out or having a distress. That's that's a different situation than somebody who's saying, "Hey, I just want to come in the cold." And everybody that
came in again again they came in, washed up, we fed them, they laid down, and they were asleep because they were ready for a good night's sleep. And again, they were very appreciative. So, I'm glad that we can work with the city. I'm glad the city's found a location. And I'll work with um with Mr. Suggs and we'll work with the city to figure out
what that means on the county's end. um of that. So, with that, that's all I have to say. I think we've said a lot. Um and I do want to say thank you to the Boston Street Blueberry Court for once again coming to um Royal County Days. They really shine when they're there in
their beautiful blue dresses and crowns. And those young people um are very talented. They were out in the They were out and shaking hands and giving out flyers and giving out um the blueberry uh muffins or whatever we had this year. And so they did a good job with that. So
>> that one young man would not take no for an answer. >> No, you were getting something. Yeah. >> I don't know his name, but if you could acknowledge him, he was an impressive salesman. He's got a future. >> Yeah, there was lots of >> Jace Moyer. >> Jace Moyer was his name. >> Jace Moyer. Yes. Yes. He was quite
impressive. >> Yeah, he was. He was quite impressive. All right, with that, I'm sorry we ran over a little bit. Is there anything else to come before the board? All right, with that, this meeting's adjourned. >> Thank you.