e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e morning everybody hey y'all that's what I say hey y'all I'm just going to stick with that
um today is Tuesday March 11th 2025 and this is the putham County Board of commissioner meeting and if you'll please stand for the invocation by Pastor Sean Thomas let together oh come up to the podium please I I'm should have told you
that need to move this mic around yes sir all right good morning good morning let us pray together Heavenly Father God we thank you Lord for this day that you have given us God I thank you for breath
for life God for the very opportunity to call upon your name heavenly father I thank you for your son the Lord Jesus Christ who gave his life for us that we might be saved I thank you for the opportunity
Lord that we have God to follow your will and your way this very day so God I pray in this meeting these proceedings God all that'll take place God I pray that you'll be honored that you'll be glorified God that you'll give us the wisdom and the knowledge that we need to
lead and God the courage to follow you and all that we say and all that we do God I pray today that you would be honored in this place let everything that is said and done be pleasing unto you and Lord to that end
we'll give you the praise the honor and the glory for it all in Jesus name amen amen thank you United States America it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you Pastor Thomas all right approval of the minutes for the for the regular meeting February 11th Madam chair I make a motion to approve the minutes as stated in our agenda second we have a motion and a second all in favor say I I I all
opposed like signed motion passes um we will re we will go into the Port Authority meeting approval of the minutes Madam chair I move approval of the Port Port Authority regular meeting February 11th 2025 second we have a motion second all
in favor any oppos like sign all right second item um Court manager Sam Sullivan regarding design and Engineering of the port bulkhead uh good morning members of the Port Authority uh Sam suvin grants legislative projects
and coordinator and Port manager sing before you as support manager uh before you is a proposal from Burns and McDonald uh who is a uh engineering firm under the continuing Services uh program which is also the firm that uh conducted
our Port infrastructure development plan that was funded by marad um this Pro proposal is to uh design and engineer a new bulkhead at our Port uh which is a critical infrastructure element necessary for us
to be able to resume accepting cargo and uh exporting cargo from our Port um the uh company is familiar with our project and our community as they have been working uh on our Port infrastructure development project and
uh we feel that the proposal is in line with uh the market rates out there that for something similar and we'd like to offer it to you as for consideration uh so we can move forward with the project all right are there any question
question for Mr solivan all right Madam chair I like to make a motion that we take staff recommendation to approve the proposed offer by burnam McDonald second have a motion in a second all in favor say I I I any oppos
like sign all right public comment public comment on Port Authority items only is there any public comments on port authority authority items General discussion from the board does anybody have any items they'd like to discuss at the board no all right closing out the Port Authority meeting
and reconvening the putham County Commission meeting uh first presentation commissioner Alexander for meel for the CDs family and Behavioral Health Services if you guys could come forward good morning good
morning hi Melanie svia I am the safe place coordinator at CDs and this is Angela Williams the residential supervisor yes ma'am we're going to um have commissioner Alexander read a pro Proclamation good morning ladies good
morning good morning this is uh the first Proclamation that I've been able to present as a commissioner uh one of the me the driving forces for me running for commission is to serve my community that being family and friends one of the
ladies standing before you and I have been friends since I believe second grade Mrs Sharp's class so we have a history and this these are the people that I'm here to support um your brother played sports with my brother we shared
the Beasley Middle School gym during the summertimes playing basketball together so this is the history of putham County and I'm very proud to present this to you guys uh today's clation number 2025-the
week whereas the Youth of putam County will determine the future strength of our country and be the bearers of our democracy whereas youth need a safe haven from various negative influences such as child abuse substance abuse
depression and crime and youth need readily available resources to assist them when faced with circumstances that compromise their safety whereas the safe place program is committed to protecting the Youth of putham County by offering access to
immediate help and safety for young people seeking assistance and guidance whereas designated locations where youth can get information and immediate help safe place is found at these businesses such as restaurants convenience stores
movie theaters Community buildings such as fire stations libraries and public transportation Vehicles whereas the success of safe place is based on public private collaborations between businesses school systems fire
departments law enforcements and a network of volunteers whereas putham County needs increased numbers of community volunteers serving as mentors and positive influences on young people where the safe place program must meet
performance standards relative to outreach and community relations to receive direct federal assistance as set forth in the runaway and homeless youth act whereas more than 1,700 communities in 39 States administer the safe place
program at more than 20,000 locations whereas more than 4,473 youth have been helped at a safe place location or receive counsel cing by phone as a result of safe place information received at
school whereas since program Inception in 1983 more than 18 million youth have been educated through National safe place Network safe place Outreach efforts familiarizing them with the safe place sign and providing them with
information about how to seek help in order to stay safe whereas increased awareness will encourage more communities to establish safe place locations where youth can readily access the help they
need now therefore be it proclaimed by the putham County Board of Commissioners that the week of March 16th to March 22nd 2025 is National safe place week and encourage citizens and interested
groups to promote awareness of and volunteer involvement in the safe place program and observe the week with appropriate ceremonies and activities thus proclaimed this day 11th of March
2025 Commissioners may I have a motion move approval second all in favor say I I I all right eyes have it thank you present it to take it
[Applause] yes absolutely got it don't move well everybody moved I'm sorry okay all right all right now we can move that was it thank you so much for presenting us
with this safe place is a vital resource for protecting our youth it access a safe haven without the fear of judgment for those who are in already a vulnerable state we currently have 35 safe places in putam county and I would like to see that number climb even
higher I invite the county and all of all of its businesses to think about joining us and becoming a safe place site it's our duty to protect these children as they are our future thank you thank you very much next if we can have uh the volunteers for the revitalized historic
Paca come to the podium good morning Commissioners I wanted to take a few moments of our time this morning to recognize uh the revitalized historic Paca uh volunteer group they um ran the aelia festival that was just recently put on and this is their third
year doing so they are completely volunteer-based they have lots of other things they could be working on and doing they all have families they all have kids grandkids you know jobs and um businesses and they take the time to out
of their day and and actually year I'm sure it takes a year of planning because you got to plan you got you got vendors you got to organize it's a lot of preparation trying to get entertainers in and this group along with some other volunteers that who aren't here today
uh work tirelessly and it it was just such a great event we talked about it at our last board meeting but particularly you know this year it was it coincided with the uh bass Elite uh tournament and when speaking with the chamber they estimated that we had about 18,000
people plus that came through that were new visitors to putam County um not not just our your local residents so we had a lot of uh a lot of activity and the zelia festival wouldn't have happened had it not been for this group of people and so I just want to recognize them we
have with us today Christy Lee um Katie Parish I don't see Julie s oh there she is Julie sucks Bill Curtis Sam Morris Paul Turnage uh Dana Lewis and Kathy um Kathy
griffi I you don't have your name on the Griffin you don't have your name on the list but not here today who also volunteered was Shane and Nikki John's Christina lad Josie Curtis Brandon Lee Lexi Lee Claudia Thompson Jane Hafner
and Jody Lee and so as you can see a lot of times when you volunteer your whole family gets volunt and so that's what happens so today um we want to recognize and present your organization with a certificate of appreciation in recognition of your outstanding dedication and efforts in organizing and
enhancing the aelia festival your commitment to preserving and celebrating the rich history of Palaca has made lasting impact on our community through your hard work and vision the festival continues to bring joy to Residents and visitors alike fostering a sense of Pride and connection to our Historic
downtown Paca with gratitude we commend your contributions and celebrate your role and making this cherished Event Event a success thank you for everything you guys did thank you you get this whether you like it or not uh I just want to say thank you to the
Commissioners for this and I also want to say thank you to all of our volunteers and the Chamber for allowing us to partner with them thank you will yall come on up we'll get a picture okay we don't we can move now please please
Madam chair point of privilege if you don't mind this group right here before y'all leave hello before yall leave I even heard on ESPN when I was watching the bass tournament they mentioned the Isaiah festival going on I mean you
can't buy that kind of advertisement and I do appreciate I remember being with the Isaiah festival When I Was A Boy Scout okay and we used to escort the young ladies and um as a young boy that was a very highlighted Moment In My Life
um but I tell you it just goes back a long way and I'm an old man now but I can think back to those days when the isas were blooming everything with spring was in the air it was just really nice so uh I thank you all very much but
again when ESPN announces that you cannot buy that kind of advertising so thank you from the bottom of my heart thank you madam all right next up we have our 4 um agent and a presentation from for 4
twice good morning so this morning um sorry it's okay okay um we see a lot of Youth all the time on the soccer field on the football field on the softball field but
there are some of our youth that we see one time a year and that is our youth who work TIR tirelessly throughout that year on the animal projects that they have at the fair and so today um we want
to recognize those youth because those are the kids who are getting up at 5:30 and 6 o'l in the morning to go out and feed their heers and their steers and their pigs and then they're coming home from practices sometimes and walking their animals and making sure that they're prepared to walk into the fair
and they're not going to embarrass themselves and then they feeding those animals at night and when the F fence breaks or the pen tears up they're taking care of that and so we just want to recognize those youth and today we have Delena Bryant she's a member of the Paca Rock and Boots 4 club and she is a
senior at Paca high school and she's just going to share a few words with you good morning good morning as I prepared to graduate high school and take my next steps in life I can't help but reflect on the experiences that have shaped me into who I am today one of the
most most influential has been my time showing swine and beef at the putam county fair and being part of 4 what started as a fun project quickly became something much bigger they taught me responsibility resilience and most importantly a deep love for agriculture
through 4 and showing livestock I've learned the value of hard work waking up early to feed cleaning pins training animals and preparing for the fair takes dedication there were challenges animals that didn't cooperate unexpected setbacks and tough competition but but each challenge taught me patience
problem solving and perseverance I've learned that success isn't just about the final outcome it's about the effort put in along the way as many Liv out judges will tell you the show is one at home more than just the hard work these projects has helped me discover my
passion for agriculture working with my animals learning about nutrition and understanding the importance of livestock in our world made me realize that agriculture is more than a hobby it's a future that I want to be a part of that's why I am excited to continue my journey at Abraham Baldwin
agricultural College where I will further my education and continue pursuing my passion for this industry 4 has also helped me develop leadership and confidence whether in speaking in front of a judge or County council meeting mentoring young members or working alongside my peers these skills
will be just as valuable in college and Beyond as I continue to grow and learn perhaps most importantly being involved in 4 in the fair has given me a strong sense of community the friendships mentors and support I've had along the way have meant so much and I know that
wherever life takes me the values I've gained here such as dedication responsibility and passion will guide me as I graduate and head to ABAC I am grateful for the foundation that 4 and Sh and livestock have given me these experiences have shaped inspired and prepared me for what's next thanks to my
family mentors like Mrs Heather and Lacy Wilson and friends who have supported me I will always carry these lessons with me I invite you all to come out to the putham county fair to see the results of the hard work and dedication of Youth like myself through our projects this
year thank you thank [Applause] you next we have um Kimberly Morgan and Laura from the Chamber of um
Commerce welcome ladies good morning morning morning have you seen how buff some of those pigs are yeah getting ready for the fair you of the putam County Chamber of Commerce I'm joined here with our new vice president of Tourism Kimberly
Morgan um we're on here today just to say thank you to you all for your support of the bass m master elite fishing tournament and uh continue with all the the the the excitement and enthusiasm that we've been experiencing
this morning um we uh the bassm tournament took place February 20th to the 23rd this year as you know Bill Logan from Brook Brookville Indiana won the tournament with a 4-day total of 43 pounds 14 ooun and he won by a whopping
four ounces um and of course we're excited about all of the collaboration with the aelia festival and we are so grateful for the vendors and all the businesses and everybody coming together to to work together and to collaborate over this um
great time that we had so our we estimated about 20,000 people oh good I just knew 18 more I like 20 okay not you know uh we'll take it um Out of Water remember and and Larry took all of my speaking points so it's fine but uh so
3/4 of a million live stream the event totaling 21 million minutes of streaming is that for real okay um 681 th000 daily users to bassmaster.com
uh 21 million impressions 8 million video views and more than 1.3 million engagements on social media platforms I feel like that's like a woo moment okay yeah definitely um so really we just wanted to express
our heartfelt um appreciation to everybody in the community for just being so kind and gracious and all the volunteers of course were absolutely phenomenal um leadership and the way everybody pulled together uh with our little little bit of a crisis um the the
city of pakka's leadership you all's leadership the the police department I see gator thank you for your guys they were amazing city of Paca guys were amazing um so we just really wanted to express our heartfelt appreciation to everybody in the community for all the
hard work and the dedication to make such a collaborative successful time so very good now do we anticipate that next year they might come or we we don't know yet this is what I'm told I'm a novice right so I'm I'm told that the the after
the elite we might get the non Elite like a qualifier kind of thing will probably be the next that comes back around but but we'll see we did a really good job so yeah and the and the and the on national TV to see the commercials for plam County was they were great was
that everybody's phone I'm sure was blowing up and just people texting like I saw this commercial and I saw this commercial and stuff so it was really fun time so we had a great time and uh we just are just so grateful so so grateful so thank you thank you thank
you very much thank you next we have property appraiser Kay Davis I think this is first time that microphone Madam chair it is thank you good morning Madam chair and Commissioners thank you for giving me a couple minutes to recognize a couple of
very deserving employees that we have uh first I'd like to recognize Mark holder Mark if you'd please come up y Mark so many of you may know Mark he was a very successful businessman here in putam County before he came to work with us 10 years ago Mark is our senior
appraiser and he makes a positive influence in all those in the department in which he serves uh Mark has a unique ability to understand complex appraisal problems and theories and he has the ability to share those with those who um
he comes in contact with in a way that is understandable Mark is a man of faith and he has a servant heart and I'm glad that he is serving the citizens of putham County so Mark has been with us 10 years all right
con to anything anything no okay picture yes can we get a picture congratulations Le SC thank you Mark our next employee that I'd like to recognize is Justin Edwards
many of you may know Justin he serves the community very well so Justin has been with our office for 20 years uh he began as a uh field appraiser then he was promoted to office operations supervisor and most recently
he was promoted to Chief Deputy so we're excited that he accepted that responsibility uh for many years as the office operation specialist Justin was in charge of submitting and having the tax rooll certified and I don't know if
you know anything about that process but it's a very arduous process and if your doctor ever says hey you need a stress test tell him forgo the whole treadmill and come down and help Justin certify the tax roll is it's the the submittal
form is 86 pages so it's a it's a pretty daunting task so Justin is has a lot of skill sets he's got a lot of Education he's got a lot of experience he can work anywhere in the State of Florida he
chooses to but he chooses to work here with us and for that I'm grateful thank you [Applause] jce congratulations stay right good
job congratulations thank you commissioner thank you next we have Stephan turnup seed chief of Emergency Operations and preparedness good morning Commissioners good morning thank you for giving us a couple minutes
today I just wanted to recognize Miss Danielle Rich for hard her hard work and effort in obtaining her uh Florida prepar professional emergency manager certification this is a long arduous process it's probably one of the toughest in the country as far as em
certifications go it's at least four years of emergency management experience disaster experience 150 hours of training and courses and at least seven professional contributions so uh in January she completed that process it's a long
peerreview application process and was finally awarded a certification so I wanted to recognize her hard work and dedication to both the county and Emergency Management as a whole very good thank [Applause]
you Danel um thank you Commissioners for your time this morning I'd like to say how proud I am of Danny um whenever I came to work for puam County in 2020 um the whole Emergency Operations and um em staff had a
turnover U Miss Danny worked for the IT department she came in for an interview and I'm like oh here we go somebody from it that wants to come in Emergency Management this lady loves hurricanes and weather events like nobody I've ever met in my life um so as I was sitting in the interview and I'll never forget it
it was one of the highlights of my career as we're sitting there I said where do you see yourself in 5 years it's a generic question to interview she told me not to get comfortable uh she wanted my job I'm like sweet I said I love the confidence and and Danny's very confident very proud of
her um her and Stephan both um when these guys get busy um it's a very small Department uh but with a lot of Outreach and a lot of responsibility and time of disaster um they do a phenomenal job um getting our paperwork turned in on time to the State of Florida and also to FEMA
they're working steady um as we've been overwhelmed the last few years with storms and multitudes of two and three times a year they're very cognizant getting a reimbursement for the county which is very very important um so as far as the deployments go um every time I look
around Dixie County got hit real hard with I think it was Adelia kind of looked around and they said we'll go so her and Stefan both went for 10 days 12 days whatever it was helped our fellow residents out in other counties are always willing to go U
matter of fact when they first started I told both of them I said I only want to see you during Hurricane Season because both of these came to the office with very little to time in the field but I said go get your education go learn um and this is a product this morning of somebody that took me for my word and said hey I'm going to go do it and Danny has done a phenomenal job super proud of
her and Stefan both uh because Inland county is not the destination for most emergency managers um it's a coastal County and very proud to have both of them um whenever the legislation came out last year was a little worried um went spoke in front of the um committee
committee in Tallahasse um but you know the good thing is is putam County had two of them that were qualified uh to sit in those seats and are here today so super proud of them um they deserve all the all the praise and glory they can get now for a small department they they really shine so thank you very much
congratulations yes she a little camera sh congratulations congratulations not shy well you know you're kind of no you're fine I'll just move congratulations Miss
Danny Madam chair may I have a few moments sure Danny before you leave Danny I did talk to the head of the National Oceanic Administration Aviation trying to get you on that plane that you so desperately want so um they're working
on that I know Julianne's going to kill me for saying that to you publicly but truly I know that's what your passion is and and I've seen you in action and some of us that I know Miss Wilkinson our chair has seen do a phenomenal job about
getting information out as quickly as possible and as safely as possible for the citizens of putam County so you and Stefan I appreciate all you do thank you listen her just responding to is the bridge going to be shut down how many times do he have to do that like a
gazillion times a day yeah yeah thank you and we hope we don't see you this year okay yes Lori Parker for employee of the month that would be a good thing if Danny could ride on that but I hope she uses
annually for that not County time we'll lay her all we'll lay her off just before okay yeah we'll give that to her um this presentation is for employee of the month and this goes to a nine-year employee she's been with us for nine years and it's Brook schwart yay Brook
here Brook good morning Madam chair Commissioners and I want to thank you for the opportunity first to introduce one of uh one of it outstanding employees they're all outstanding we love them all uh but this has often said I think Mr Harvey and uh commissioner Turner has said this before it's one of the best parts of our
job is to recognize uh real talent recognize accomplishments and all that with our employees and I couldn't agree more I was thinking about what I would say this morning uh about Brooke but uh her reputation does proceder and when thinking about what to say about Brook uh kind of got up this morning and sat
at my computer and like what what what could I say and I don't think there's anything that I could say I'm going to let her work speak for so here I I wrote some things down that happen six things matter of fact that we have uh we have she's accomplished uh nit in the gis department number one she has rebuilt
our entire GIS Enterprise infrastructure when she got promoted to GIS manager we was running on a very old um GIS system and and uh so she uh uh with the help of a of a vendor and all that she led the charge in rebuilding all of our INF
infrastructure for GIS she has developed our open data site for putam County meaning that uh many and any entity can go and look at all of the putam county data that's accessible and pull that into their maps and uh and and use it for analysis uh one of the most current
projects she's working on is the mapbook project or the the street Atlas for putham County we we should I've been looking at draft after draft and her and her team has uh developed a very very um uh unique and up to-date for sure uh Street Atlas for putam County and that
should be hopefully next couple of months we'll get those printed and uh and out so you'll be uh sure to see that two things uh in uh reference to the EOC which you for Miss Danny and uh Chief
ter seed uh was the damage assessment dashboards uh for years when I was a programmer here for the county for years uh we had to do everything on paper and uh when uh Brooke came on board and she she has redone the damage assessment
dashboards and has constantly every year refining those and it's instrumental in uh in that data collection for sure we can see what happens in the field as they're collecting the the damage uh one thing that I know that I'm particularly proud of is the uh is the hurricane
debris collector and dashboard applications as well uh I wrote two things down I thought it was very interesting uh the State of Florida Chief turnup seed uh said to us told me after he got off a meeting of last hurricane season uh the state of
Florida's having issues uh determining what because we had two hurricanes back to back and uh what debris went with what storm and and how to differentiate the two and uh Miss Brook had uh taken her skill set and GIS and and formed two
separate dashboards two separate uh forms that uh that uh contractors and the community can put in for debris pickup and uh it was recognized that the state level which I thought uh was uh was excellent but also here recently we
got a email from the global GIS uh vendor esri or what we call ezri uh and asking her about her uh her efforts and what she did and and so somehow or another it got up all the way to them and uh I think it's worth uh uh worth an Accolade for for sure and then
personally for me she has been extremely helpful in the addressing uh and Street naming uh for putam County uh she has taken that part and has really uh spearheaded that has streamlined that process more and more every single day
uh and and if you don't know what putam county is growing we now have the data to show that uh for sure in addressing alone uh Brooke is a dedicated and a very hardworking professional uh who does doesn't only Excel in her work but also deeply care about her her
colleagues as well and it's an honor to have her on our team she's a valuable asset and she's truly deserving of this recognition so thank you Brook wow thank you you didn't tell them about the new project
Y come over here no there you go there you go all right everybody get scene congratulations all right moving into public works public hearing um we have a public hearing to vacate a portion of the
unnamed Street in in on Koka good morning Commissioners uh this is just a uh vacate that needs to occur that runs through the property uh it's an undeveloped Road it has no bearing on anybody and it's just something that the property owners need to take care of to
include into their property yeah Public Works has no objection to it okay thank you since this is a public hearing is there anybody in the audience who wants to speak for or against this item all right hearing none it comes back to the board Madame chair I like to move approval of the uh staff
recommendation to vacate portion of the unnamed Street in k Uka resolution number 2025 d016 second second okay I have a motion in a second any discussion from the board all in favor say I I I any opposed
like sign motion has it right moving on to consent agenda items public comments on consent 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 3 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 Madam clerk do you have any cards all right uh consent agenda items is there anybody in the public who wants to speak on consent agenda items only all right back to the board is there anybody who wishes to
pull a consent agenda item commissioner Alexander none commissioner newold I have none commissioner Harvey none commissioner piser I I have none I always want to just say Walton I'm sorry Walton I'm sorry commissioner I'll get
better that it's okay all right I have none either Madam chair like to make a motion that we approve the consent agenda items a b CDE E F G H and I second we have a motion of second any discussion all in favor say I I I motion
passes um code enforcement good morning M good morning good morning is is there anybody in the audience who wants to speak in uh for the code enforcement is there anybody in the audience for code
enforcement okay Madam chair seeing no one in the audience for codes enforcement uh codes case number 2020 2012- z612 I recommend that we take staff recommendation of paying $
4,921 if pay within 90 days second we have a motion second any discussion all in favor say I I I Madame chair on codes case 20 2014- z735 no one in the audience for that
case I'm sorry did you stand up okay I recommend that we take staff recommendation of $1,746 if pay within 90 days second any discussion Motion in second all in favor I I all right Madam chair
no one in the audience for codes case number 28-181 I re recommend that we take staff recommendation of $1,046 if paid within 90 days you want to speak on that item sorry I'll withdraw my motion from it's
okay motion yeah yeah this is um I never received anything until the day that the date that I paid actually paid the the water bill it was like $3,000
I paid it up and um it was on a on Wednesday when I paid it and on a Friday this this letter was sent out I hadn't received it yet but I received it from rebild
Florida they're the ones who let me know that um about everything that was going on here so with the um 1,4 um 1 for
$46 um who would I need to go pay that to Mr Mo can you help address this issue thisfor Cas has absolutely to doation because you were cut off the county water system and you connect it to a wh so they put this is a code case
all you have to do is come next door to pay so just pay next yes sir 1,46 yes sir that's the recommendation yes sir Madam chair I move that we uh take staff recommendation on codes
case 2018 00181 codes case of $1,046 if pay within 90 days second all in favor say I thank motion passes new business administration for
the Florida voting Improvement Grant resolution good morning Commissioners again uh Sam suvan grants projects legislative fair coordinat port manager is in front of you part of my grants activities um staff is on the process of
applying for a uh Florida boting Improvement uh Grant uh from the state of Florida from the FWC and one of the requirements in the to submit the application is a resolution from this board stting that you support us
pursuing that act and that is what this request is for all right very good um do anybody want to speak for in favor or against this item any public comment all right any uh board members want to discuss this i' move for approval move for
approval all right second do we have a second second discussion all in favor say I I I any oppose like sign all right thank you we'll go on to public comment on miscellaneous items so these are items that are not on our
agenda again this portion of the agenda is designed excuse me to allow citizens an opportunity to bring matters to the attention of the board it is not reasonable to expect this 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 to to the meeting prior to the meeting to the deputy clerk who sits on the right of the podium you have any cards or do we have any people in the audience who
wants to speak on miscellaneous items Mr Larry I see you're here is this this is would be your time you're not speaking on anything I see you're here Pro are you this is would be the time this is public comment time I don't mean to point you out but I
know that you and I had some discussion thank you madam chairman good morning board I I'm just here on on behalf of the school board to discuss the highway 100 issues and um the lack of uh Dot's response to years to what they
promised two years too to do in the school zone and hope hoping that we can work together to uh come up with a solution not only for the school zone but for Highway 100 and and the safety issues so um I'll answer any questions I
I spoke with the superintendent we met yesterday and um I told him I'd be here this morning in case there were other people people hear about it thank you thank you commissioner Harvey thank you madam chair um thank you for coming up today I mean the tragedy happened and it
was awful again a lot of tragedies happen on that road but not only on that road a lot of roads in putam county and um just last week I was in Tallahassee talking to some of our legislators on the rural Renaissance Bill and allowing local governments to have a little B
more say so in do funded projects um you know striping has been an issue we raised that up with do even I sat here from my seat and said we don't need Landscaping on State Road 20 we need Road on 100 you
know we just need I go on the radio station every Tuesday before the meeting at the Christian radio station and I tell people you know your area better than I know your area you know where the water runs better than I know you know where everything is we know what's best for putam County and we need to have a
little more sayfe so so I'm hoping in the rural Renaissance Bill that'll give us the opportunity to be able to move some of those silos of money around to help our community be better and address these problems more quickly so thank you for bringing that to our attention today
thank you madam chair thank you so uh chair Larry what is your vision as far as working together with the county are you wanting us to join together in a in a letter or what are your thoughts well a couple couple different things and uh commissioner Harvey brought up a very good point you know several years ago uh
my friend at the nursery growers association um got put into the state statute that all DOT construction projects regardless uh a minimum of 3% of the cost will go to Landscaping um
you know I'm a fan of landscaping Mr newo especially when it ferns um but uh that's ridiculous I mean when we've got the situation we have so um I think that there are multiple uh
options available um all of them are going to cost money all of them I think do are going to resist um do and I'll just be quite Frank with you is a dinosaur agency um I've dealt with them for my entire career they're they just
it's their way or the highway so um you know I'm hoping that maybe you would appoint a task force for us to look at this and not just Highway 100 as it pertains to speeds but in tool zones but also the other um State Road 17 Crescent
City is a is a significant problem there we've tried to when I was in city manager there we tried to get do to put a a a Del Axel Dell Lane there at the turn they refused um State Road 20 with Kelly Smith and and we'll be building a
new school there uh that'll that'll have probably almost a thousand student stations um so there are a lot of areas that that um that we need to discuss there also a couple options um as far as uh you know speeding's concerned is that
you know we have the the schools on cameras now U we also have I say we there's available uh through the private sector uh cameras for school buses too uh for people going around the stop signs when school buses are stopped I
quite frankly support all those um because you know um it's one child's life is significantly more value than all those uh potential uh tickets that would be issued for those people
speeding so um I I think that um in mind talking with the superintendent yesterday um maybe a task force would be the right thing to do and then we could maybe get some attention from dot um when we're up there uh we y'all us the
school board for the rural County days next week um I'm going to try to meet with uh actually got a a requesting to meet with Senate President alitt and it's part of his rule Renaissance initiative to look at some of these things that you know rural counties are
basically ignored um by do and um you know I get it you know they they build in probably one week in Lee and carer County the number of houses we build in a year but that doesn't mean that we don't have needs to so um I would just
encourage you I mean the the county has to take the lead um basically on on the cameras and certainly on any initiatives with you know um measures to address the the traffic fatalities on Highway 100
yes sir yes sir um commissioner Alexander you're recognize if you'll just stay right there while we're doing this thank you madam chair um Mr Larry you referenced some promises that were made by fdot a couple years ago as you know I'm relatively new to this uh this year job
but uh can you elaborate on that for those of us that are new so we were when we are in Tallahassee sure caught off guard him you know to know specifically for the Q Roberts um school zone they were going to move the school zone back further
move the blinking lights um do some restriping and some other things that that I don't have the complete list of but our Travis we were our security officer I I think you give those to both commissioner piser and Wilkinson we can get you copies of those um
so there are still things that they had promised to do U with respect to signage um with respect to uh looking at maybe doing extending the the Turning Lanes the Axel Dale Lanes around the school um
and some of those things that were just never done thank you I appreciate it I um this Rings a especially true with me cuz at one point in time I had three children attending Qi and every day I I
worried I was worried to death about them because at one point I had two of the children in the truck with me and we were run off the road and forced into the median so um my heart breaks for the family and um I'm with you on
it okay commissioner paler um Mr lar I appreciate you coming forward and bringing you know talking more about this and I spoke to Mr sugs earlier in the week and um I encouraged him that we should compose a letter to I think Lake
City is our Lo local D office and to Tallahassee and signed not just by the chair but by all the Commissioners also reached out to the sheriff and he said he was willing to sign on board with us and either a letter from his his office or on board with us anything we can do
to to improve this he and I also discussed at length what we see as the problems on on Highway 100 and my experience has been out there my experience has not really been the speed it's just people not using any sense passing on curves double yellow on the Hills you know out
there how it's hilly from the M microwave tower on out to floor home it's just no common sense for people driving and it's uh I don't know how you enforce that other than it's like the sheriff said he said if he puts a marked vehicle out there he said everybody gets really good driving marks unmarked
vehicle you've got a better shot at catching and and you know teaching some people some lessons but it certainly needs to be addressed by us I absolutely agree um it's it's a tragedy and uh again my my heart breaks for that family also we see the enrollment increasing at
Qi Roberts um and so I expect that Trend to continue um since it's our kind of magnet school so to speak and so uh there will be additional traffic you know a and PM peak hour traffic for for that
school thank you I um I traveled this weekend and uh I I I'm on 100 every day several times a day and I've had uh some serious situations I've had my grandchildren with me had to pull off the side of the road quickly because somebody was passing in the no
non-passing Lane and was heading straight to me and I luckily I saw him enough time and had enough room to to move over or otherwise it would have been bad too so see that Highway 100's a mess it's been that way for years um I do want to thank Tammy still here from
representative Sap's office she's here to listen and take notes and take them back to our state representative as well so thank you Tammy for being here and um uh commissioner Harvey you're recognized thank you madam chair you know again I think the I think the Senate and the
house is open like I said last week when I was up there discussed having more local control on the rural Renaissance bill would be wonderful telling our story and you can't get to Urban Florida unless you go through R and we have
challenges and you know it's it's it is it's not just one road it's many roads here in this County um that people are just taking the fast lane to get wherever they can and for no reason at all and flying through putam County and
putting our citizens at risk and that needs to stop so whatever this board can do whatever you know I will we'll keep singing that song like I did last week in Tallahassee and I'll do it and we'll do it as a group to help solve this problem because we need to be able to
tell our story that we've got problems and they need to listen to us and not just go because I I mean I've offered you you heard me from my seat last year go we don't need $8 million worth of of Landscaping on 20 from 20 to enlar into
Hawthorne I could care less at that road I asked them to move it over they're not going to do it we ask them to stripe you know they're going to do some of that but it's time for us to be able to take the bull by the horns and say this is what we need in our community and have that Latitude
to be able to do that because if you look at 17 and Boswick they need a light we all know that everybody knows that you know it's it's but they don't want to slow down traffic for whatever reason well we need our citizens protected and frankly I'm tired of seeing what's going
on so thank you for being here today thank you chairman we would uh the board would definitely the school board would definitely sign on to a letter and um i' also encourage you to copy the the presiding officers in the senate in the house and and so that we can get um I
mean representative sap can get some support and we're up there next week we can talk to them about you know those issues I do think that there may be an option to in the dot uh Bill to for Rural counties to reduce that percentage
of uh the 3% to maybe one and a half% for landscaping and then one and a half% could go to pedestrian and and traffic safety yeah there's there's several issues along Highway 100 whenever I was coming back um there was somebody in front of us that was going 50 and so you
have the opposite problem then you've got then they start backing up and then you've got a semi and a car and a and a motor home and next thing you know you got the fifth or sixth vehicle that's in the back that's trying to pass all those vehicles at one time and and there's no passing Lanes it's it's the only Road
that's coming into putam County that's a major count that's a major State Road that they're they don't have a work plan at all at dot to do anything with they don't have any widening plans they don't have anything in their work plan and it's just a shame because that road is highly utilized for people coming from
floor home into the county from Keystone it's a connector Road over to Clay County and um it needs to be addressed as I would love to personally I'd love to see it for Lane I think that or have some passing Lanes or have some options there um it's just uh I see so many things all the time I also saw a school
bus there I think I told you this a school bus had stopped and put its put its flashing light out the the arm and a semi drove straight through it and there were two kids sitting on the on the side of the road waiting to cross and thank God those kids were this was just Sunday
I mean Friday and I saw and those two kids were old enough to pay attention and knew not to just run out in the road and I was just so like the idea that we could do cameras that that's maybe that would help with that um the Sheriff's Office can't send a deputy around
following every school bus and sit in every school zone so we have to find some other options um I appreciate you uh bringing this forward I think there's something we can do I spoke with uh Miss Steele with representative Sap's office and she is going to be working on getting a public meeting set up with FD
and we're going to at least be able to do that here and have that discussion but in the meantime we'll also talk and speak about it when we're in Tallahassee and work on a letter are there any other discussions yeah go ahead Mr Grimes yes ma'am thank you uh Commissioners and
Madam chair thank you Mr lry I think the task force makes a lot of sense um a lot of times in our world as Public Safety a task force bring a lot of weight and power um especially when you can put the right people around the right table and come up with a formalized plan um I
think it's a great idea it's a tragedy to happen on 100 last couple weeks the thing we can't lose sight on is it happens frequently it wasn't just last week that's right um our folks respond out there constantly and all of them aren't fatalities but every one of them are bad if our cat hits on a car crash
on highway 100 West of Paca it Sparks everybody's ear because you know that one's bad um it's same thing this morning Highway 17 south of Crescent City the call sounded a lot worse than it was but there's a stretch down there
south of Crescent City that will mirror Highway 100 um the original CAD information on it this morning eight children okay that puts every first responder at high alert we dumped all of our units coming out of patka requested
assistance from valua County um it happens frequently it happens at least once or twice a week on Highway 100 a task force I believe is the right way to do it I'll volunteer to sit on it in my time off because I think it is super important that you put the right people there I think the represented from the Sheriff's Office maybe the sheriff
himself would sit on it as well because that kind of stuff is going to pull the power we need to pull this task off um I think it's a great idea and thank you for your time thank you um we're going to take a quick three minute recess and then we'll uh go back to thank you
e e e e e e e e we will reconvene this meeting um sounds like uh we
have the ability to start a task force um spoke with um some staff that they would want to be interested in that task force along with um the representative um representative's office Tammy steel and um myself will
sit on it and then we can just start this task force and I'll give uh Julian and and Jr can can start that um Mr Suggs do you have any comments oh no ma'am but I do think it's a great idea to go ahead and get that thing started today and I I applaud you for that I
applaud Mr lry from the school board for coming you know and I I I want to say also how much I appreciate uh Deputy Administrator Grimes um no one understands the the level of institutional knowledge that he brings
to a situation like this as well as the personal experience uh we'd be remiss if Mr grm wasn't part of that and so whoever else you'd like to uh put on that task force we'll go ahead get that thing moving uh today okay thank you um is there anybody in
the audience who would like to come forward and speak for public comments any public comments my name is marleene Ryan and my daughter Jessica was the young woman that was killed by this
accident that has brought this to the attention of this board she leaves behind her husband four children Dave and I and countless people that loved her and I just want to say
thank you so much for taking this into consideration as a lifelong resident of putham County I know that these people pull together and they love each other and any help that we can do to be a part of anything we would do
it I just hate it we have a shop that is located right off 100 and the lines of traffic are just it's just unreal especially during the busy times of the day and yes crazy drivers they they're
just crazy they don't pay attention they they just they don't but that road is dangerous because it is narrow and there's places in it that the pavement is not really well done and um I just want to thank the sheriff's office they
have been phenomenal the people reaching out in the county in the public just just for us and I just really am praying that please something something be done and we don't want it to get
pushed under the the the rug and to die down and we're going to do everything that we can to see that the parents that that send their kids to Qi don't have to worry about their kids they will still worry but not not like
this because it's it you love your kids you love them so much and you never want to have this happen but if Jesse's accident can help change this street this this road for all of
putham County I'm not going to say it would be worth it it wouldn't but it would be it would be a um it would just help oh thank you yes ma'am is there anybody else who would like to come in front and
speak all right thank you for your comments I'm moving on into appointments yeah commissioner is there any appointments starting with commissioner Alexander can we take a break yeah
e e e all right we're reconvene this meeting um if there's anybody who is interested in being on that task force please reach out to Jr or Miss Julianne I'm moving into appointments do we have any appointment
starting with commissioner Alexander yes ma'am um I would like to reappoint Mr Mark lenity uh for the consumer representative on the contract review board okay and reappoint Hunter Winkleman for the zboa please okay so
Hunter Hunter winlan does not need a vote do we need to do a vote for Mark lenity all right you have a mo you're making a motion yes ma'am is there a second second all in favor say I I I all right that that passes commissioner
nuble do you have any appointments none today commissioner paler I have none commissioner Harvey I have none all right closes out the appointments moving into Clerk of Courts good morning Commissioners um
just as an update on the audit we did receive the draft financial statements yesterday um one thing our Auditors are waiting on is a final other post employment benefit report from an Actuarial firm we have to hire an Actuarial firm to do this study every
year um they said that they are hoping that they will get it to us by the end of March so we are calling them multiple times a week to try to encourage them to get it to us as quickly as possible so that we can issue the final financial statements um uh the project at uh
customer service building the tax deeds building um should be moving forward soon we're hoping to get that started in April at least in phase one for the bathrooms so good those are the updates that I have for everybody this morning all right very good thank you all County
attorney Rich Commando nothing to say thank you madam chair County Administrator sugs yes ma'am Madam chair uh just a couple things uh as we saw here this morning uh a community uh resilience uh with the Zoya
festival and in the fishing tournament you know kudos to both the chamber Commerce as well as revitalized Paca for for what was an extraordinary event and uh for putam County and the City of Palanka you know the
um the mood here this morning is is is difficult uh but I think uh good things will come from this I think putting the task force together I think we need to jump on that immediately and I think uh Mr Grimes and Miss Young are uh excellent representatives to get that
thing moving uh that that's that's going to be Paramount now conversation during the break and I don't mean to embarrassing I'm going to say that as County Administrator I made a promise to the Ryan family that we will not under any circumstances let this one
slip I've made a few phone calls and made some offers whatever we need to do is part of my responsibility for puton county is um you know we have uh 350 staff members and we do a lot of work and we do a lot of projects and we do a lot of service and we provide a lot of
service but the one thing that we do and we take very serious is the security of our community we have 75,000 strong strong that we are responsible for you five as well as us on the administrative side my staff will do whatever is required
necessary and we'll go above and beyond to do whatever you five need to do to make this work that's our pledge to you our promise to you thank that's all my comments Madam chair thank you commissioner comments starting with commissioner pelis here
uh yes ma'am um Mr Tilton if you'd make your way to the podium uh he's going to share some good news with us and as he gets here um I have a little bit of good news um um attended the uh as did several other Commissioners the uh Economic Development Council meeting
last week and um you know we get beat up all the time about how bad putam is and putnam's at the bottom of the list of that and everything else and there there's 67 counties in Florida and in 2023 in economic growth of job growth we
were at number 64 not good as of last year we are number one in the state these are not putam county numbers these are come from Tallahassee we had a 4.1 uh% job growth and 113 new
jobs last year created in putham County per capita that's pretty that's pretty good that's that's that's bragging rights and um I'm extremely proud of that I look to see that number grow um in the coming years and I think
uh with all the growth that it appears is coming U maybe that will uh help do maybe get on our side about Improvement on some of these roads uh not just 100 but 19 100 to East um we they all need
attention for sure um I wish they were all highway 20s right full laned all the way but um we maybe we can work that direction but the job growth is a is a positive sign for putam County and I'm I'm very proud of that and I think our chamber is doing a a fabulous job
working to bring that in more and increase that growth Mr tilt would you take the podium yes sir um commissioner palace here asked me to come up and just uh mention our tire amnesty days that are coming up here pretty quick um I believe the first one uh is the 22nd of
this month and then we'll have another one believe that n of April and the 17th of May um and we allow um citizens can bring in up to 20 um light truck and car tires that day we don't ask where they come from so um it's been something this
is our third year doing this third or fourth year doing this um and uh I'll be honest it backed off a little bit last year the first couple years it felt like that we did a good job of like hey um we took in probably 1,500 tires um last year I don't think we broke a thousand
so uh we hope by having uh these and trying to get the word out that people utilize this service um to bring them in and help clean up putam County a little bit so I was on the radio this morning down uh Town talking about it and it's just a a good time to you know if your
neighbors got four or five tires of are piled up for whatever reason and looks like they're going to definitely be drawing mosquitoes um ask them say hey can I take those for you and wherever you find one beside the road whatever grab it up and go and uh it just it just clean up our County and make it you know
make everything look better and uh we certainly don't want any kind of Haven for mosquitas we've got enough of that but um I think this is a great thing and we' I'd like to see this continue we also have in April we have our household haard waste uh Roundup as well which
y'all are starting to see that on Facebook and different things um and what that is is if you got old fertilizers chemicals paint uh anything like that we uh we have a joint effort with alacha County where they come up and set all their trucks and everything like that up and people can just come
through and and drop it off so uh we we appreciate these opportunities and hope hope people will utilize them thank you Mr to while you're here um would you help help the citizens understand what you do with those tires so we actually we have our own Tire grinder um we grind those tires and we use that material for
alternative daily cover to landfill as long as well as road base um you put it down and then you cap it with lime rock it makes a really good road so we're trying to reutilize those things things here internally very good I just wanted you to share that because I don't know that a lot of people know that um
commissioner sugs um commissioner sus I just made you a commissioner administrator sugs careful because commissioner attorney say if I have power for a day but right scary but no I just also wanted to while Mr Ton's up
there uh just remind everybody also the service that we provide for our citizens as far as the fair is concerned and we always during the week of the fair we always approve a waiver fee for Tippy fees for the fair so I got that phone call yesterday I just want to make sure
everybody knew that we're doing that again this year and want to thank Jay for and his team for their service on that as well okay and the day we we have the inmate crew there and you'll drop your tires off and you'll watch them go right up on the the end of the tire grinder so if you want to watch the tire grinder work you can do it while you're
dropping your tires off all right okay it's kind of ironic that you're here and uh Chamber of Commerce representatives are here too maybe they can help uh publicize the tire amnesty and the chemical pickup they've got quite a network of
communication they can get the word out and pick up your numbers that you had lost in the last couple years would you ladies help us share that all right we got a we got a nod in agreement W in support Mr Mr yeah one more question for Deputy Grimes asked a great question
so uh Mr till where where are the drop off sites that folks can take ADV advantage of for your tire am so they come to Central we come there at Central so we can track this we actually have a grant that helps support some of this it's a mosquito control grant that we get reimbursed for um the different
things that we utilize these for um before we had our tire grinder it actually helped pay for the the recycling costs and everything that come which were about $300 a ton so uh but they right as it this time they bring them to Central would it would it
be possible to put a collection site at your outline areas cuz to be honest with it's a little difficult maybe for somebody from CES City to drive all the way to Central with Fort tires I mean would it be possible to put a potentially put a there something we have to look at the problem is JR is we might get into a
volume issue that we can't we'll be storing tires on the ground okay I don't know it just depends on how how that would go but that's something we can look at and if so um we'll see what we can do okay your neb well you hit the nail on the head that's what I was going to
bring up you know I I bet you don't get two tires from Crescent City up there you might but um yeah seeing as how we're going to have three different days it would be nice if if some of those outlying I think you'd get a greater participation um yeah even if they had
to sit on site until the next amnesty it would uh and then if we had to shut it down because we had too many tires that that'd be a good thing anyway I even a trailer a trailer that we can load I I'd love to see that built into the program commit Commissioners if if you will uh I
think it's a great opportunity uh so Mr till if you'll get with us in the next couple days we we're going to see if we can devise a plan to make something like that work we appreciate it thank you thank you all right going back to commissioner comments
um are you commissioner Alexander all right just wanted to remind everybody about the fair that's upcoming also wanted to share an event that I went to this weekend downtown um went to the uh Gathering artists of
putam they had an opening down there on self-portraits um really great event um probably saw you know just a rough guesstimation of 150 people that came through while I was there uh Shelly Snicker uh that leads that group uh is
doing some great things down there and I encourage everybody to attend if they get the opportunity uh um I talked to shelle a little bit about having some of the businesses that were you know that the event was 4 to six so I talked to her about maybe getting some of those businesses open to present something
similar to a St George Street and St Augustine where they can all interact I thought it would be a boon for them and also the update on Pico boat ramp I don't know if you guys have traveled down there to take a look at the new docks um as a Boer it's something I can
really get behind and I really appreciate so looking forward to some some more things on that and um that's about all I've got today all right speaking of that um that just joged my memory how are we doing on the duns Creek boat ramp on the on the
other side of the side that commissioner Alexander is working on are we making some progress yet the board approved the design contract so it's in design and Engineering so as soon as we get a bid package back we'll be ready to go out to bid on that side okay all right very good all right commissioner newold I
guess I'm going to kind of pile on a little bit on Pico Road um I I applaud the progress we made there those boting boat ramps are going to be a great asset um but it seems to me we're they're not
going to be able to be utilized enough until at some point we address the the level of that parking area I know it's been a sore subject for a long long time but I would I would love to see some at least see some pricing on getting that
level raised to point that instead of those floating docks being almost unaccessible with a rain or a full moon maybe they could be unaccessible that study is due at some point in game anybody have upd so we've
had the draft analysis data um and zoom conference meetings with the consultant the final data is due back to staff on the 31st of this month and then we expect to have uh presentations in April for the board of County Commissioners thank you thank
you um I've had an opportunity to to hit some of our um Parks facilities and the the facility in in South puam is is really improving made great strides there um the county has started a Turf
maintenance Improvement program and I think that will be expanded across the the county for most of the athletic fields and me we're taking a big step forward going from Bea grass to to improve Turf grasses and I'm a little
concerned that we may not have the I don't want to say technology but the the experience to take care of those fields um for the long run I hate to put in all this money in this nice grass and it revert back with just it takes more
than regular maintenance and I I'd like to look into the idea of of of starting a a athletic field maintenance program and I I don't know I don't think it's going to take new staff but I think it just takes some uh some noodling and some some uh some thought and a little
bit of money yeah a little extra training and anyway and maybe some equipment but commissioner on that note um what's recommended is for that Turf is to contract out the
chemical fertilization um weed bug pesticide treatments on a regular routine basis just like um St jge River State College does who has athletic fields and then actually commissioner Alexander has
agreed to partner with parks and Rex to explore um looking at specific Machinery um that specializes in making sure that grass is cut by the appropriate type Machinery so he's already offered to help a little bit hopefully maybe we're
waiting on quotes to come back to see how much um he can do on his own but certainly commissioner Alexander brought that to the Forefront and and staff has um been singing that song as well simply because as we move each complex forward then it gives us an opportunity to move the next complex forward as long as we
don't go backwards on the complex we just completed um and so that's obviously the request um so we would be happy to look at a contract and bring back to you what it would look like for fertilization and pesticide um weed maintenance type of thing and see if the board would entertain that that makes
sense to me I don't want to recreate the wheel there are people out there that do that every day we'd be money ahead to tap into that and um whatever that takes that you've do you're diving into maintenance wise or Machinery wise I'll
I'll jump in there with you well I mean this just speaks to a point though you made a comment about helping with something in my District you knew nothing you know I knew nothing about that and then you knew nothing about the efforts that were being made to help across the board and I think it's great
a great example of the collaboration of this board that that really gets me excited about the folks that are up here so well a good project is a good project I don't care if it's in district one or in District Five right love it anyway thanks man don't forget two or
two or four I mean you got all the asphalt this year J.R come on that's right are those your comments commissioner Alexander you have your light okay thank you all right commissioner Harvey thank you madam
chair um again you hear me say that last Monday I went up to I'm on the Freeda board um even though we have Commissioners against acronyms it's the Florida rural Economic Development um board that I serve on and went up there
to support the rural Renaissance Bill had a great speech prep preped um I mean it was really a really good speech and then uh senator mlan from Okala asked me if I would just not give it uh they were in a hurry so I gave it to them later in the evening um when when I told them how
disappointed I was with my good speech and not being able to give um so I was there and T like I said talked to a lot of legislators about this rural Renaissance bill it's a big Bill it's a big big Bill but it's going to have great implications for rural Florida and
it's going to have wonderful implications for putham County on some of our metrics that we use so uh let's get behind that let's talk about it let's see what we can massage in there let's see what we can add to it I do believe we can start being the master of
our own domain uh letting them know what we need you saw that in Washington where FEMA's pretty much been dismantled and that money is going to come to the states for Emergency Management um we need that in the county we need to have more oversight here then I was back up
again in Tallahassee Thursday afternoon for the Florida Association of County's trust that I serve on and I got off the interstate and Live Oak because my life was in my hands too um I don't know where these people learn to drive but they sure didn't learn where I learned
at Central High School um they didn't and I mean I was to the point where I just almost either pulled off and sat on the side of the road but I got off and late live vot got out of the car took a big deep breath a few of them and worked my way home the back way cuz I just
could not stand traffic at 80 miles an hour and people hollering at you and giving you the finger and you know and you're going 70 and you're it's it just didn't make sense so um again we got to do something about that and I appreciate
Madam chair U getting this task force up and going um had the honor and privilege of attending commissioner Stillwell's funeral the other day homegoing uh commissioner Stillwell was a commissioner here for um about five
months six months and had some family problems that he could not continue in his his duties but always had a lot of respect for for Tommy Stillwell and uh for what he brought to the table and things that he started looking at for
his district and you know and and it really hurt him to have to say no to certain people have to vote things down but you know that's the business we're in and we look at the whole County as a whole I want to give uh Kudos where they go
um guard rails this board just approved 192,000 those are Road improvements those are things that have been sitting out there for a long time and um I just really applaud y'all for doing the y'all can I say y'all I said hey y'all okay so
I just applaud our commissioners our staff for getting that moving that forward I always said it's easier to govern when there's money involved and we have some money to be able to do that but these guard rails are years years in in neglect and now they're going to get
fixed and that that very well might save somebody's life also so I appreciate that and um Madam chair that is the end of my comments thank you thank you um I want to recognize and Animal Services um
in the month of February they were able to place 74 dogs um into either rescue or adoptions and you know we see things in the community and we can't move Animal Services building fast enough in my opinion but we're almost there we go
out right y'all are all welcome to go out and look at it on a regular basis it is moving forward um the kennels are being put together as we speak and um but you know people don't realize the amount of dogs that come into the Animal
Facility and 74 dogs is pretty much our a like every month we are adopting out or res or sending to rescue somewhere in that range of 70 80 dogs sometimes as much as 100 and and cats and so we are they are constantly working hard to get
um animals adopted and into rescue so I want to just say thank you to Brian Helms and his staff at animal services for what they're doing it's not easy easy to do that job um also I want to mention and thank this board and staff for bringing the softball field fence
replacement up at theobold Park uh we have a eight counties coming in for a softball tournament uh 40 teams for a district championship and um those fences need to be replaced and so thank you for bringing that and thank you all
for approving that um and I want to thank Tam Tammy still for being here from representative Sap's office as we move forward with um this highway 100 and other areas of concern that we have with fdot and thank uh School District chair Phil ly and the
Ryan family for being here today um in addition to the task force like we said we will also hold a public meeting with Dot in the very near future and uh the task force I'm sure will uh we can go ahead and draft a letter now so the one we're in Tallahassee we can be handing
that out and um and in the sheriff's office work with the Sheriff's Office on that as well so um that's all of my comments with that did I get M who yeah Walt first
yeah Madam chair may I take just one moment on behalf of the chamber the chamber uh president Laur pavas gave us gave me this package a little while ago and during all the other stuff going on I failed to get with you but the chamber has came up
with little pill pins I know we're all going to R days in a couple weeks and we are the uh bass capital of the world and the gym of the St John's and just had the uh bass Elite uh so if you don't mind I'd like to pass these out on behalf of our chamber president and uh
to you five Commissioners this morning it's your Lael pin that that she'd like for you to wear with pride every time you get an opportunity to advertise the uh we have a bass and it says putting them on it right very nice all right are there any other comments to come before
this board board thank you chamber and thank you for everyone for being here today um um appreciate everybody thank you have a good day good job this meeting's adjourned
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