County Board of County Commissioners meeting um and Port Authority meeting today is July 8th, 2025 and it is 9:02 and we will convene this meeting and call to order with invocation led by Commissioner Larry Harvey. I don't
believe Dennis Childers is here from God's Kitchen. Um and followed by the pledge of allegiance by Commissioner Alexander. Please silence your phones. Please stand if you're able to do so. Let us bow our heads. Gracious heavenly father, we thank you for today, a day we've never experienced before in our
life. Let us make a difference in someone's life today. Let us invest in their life as people as invested in ours. And father, the investment comes directly from you today. Come into our minds today. Father, take control of our meeting today. Give us wisdom directly
from your throne room and let us seek forgiveness and passion to serve our county. Father, we thank you for all the staff that's here today. We thank you for the visitors that are here, our constituents, and Lord, we ask that everything be done decently and in order. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Amen. Good morning. Please join me in the pledge to the flag of our great United States. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may be seated. Um approval of the minutes. Madam Chair, I move we approve the minutes as stated in our packet for the meeting June 10th, 2025. Second. Have a motion and second. Any
discussion? All in favor say I. I. All right. Motion carries. Uh we will recess the VOCC and convene the port authority meeting. We have approval of the minutes. Madam chair, I move approval of the port authority regular minutes uh June 10th,
2025. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. All right. We have extension of a lease. Good morning, Mr. Sam Sullivan.
Good morning, commissioners. Uh before you is an extension to a lease on the southern end of our port annex back in January. Uh the board approved a short-term lease uh to Copper Roads. Um Copper Woods is just asking for two of
their three-month extensions to make it uh up to a one-year to total. Uh we don't know if there's any additional that will be needed, but they cannot uh be on the premises more than a total of two years because eventually that will be dredge material area uh with our
dredging project over at the port. Uh they're just asking for two additional 3 months, six months at this time and uh we bring before you for your consideration. All right, moving back to the board. It's in your agenda packet. Is there any discussion or questions?
Commissioner Pelier, you're recognized. Madam Chair, um this I guess would be more of a question for Mr. Commando. Um on page 16, item two, it says term of the lease shall commence on February 1st, 2025 and shall uh unless it is extended
terminate on July 30th. Upon a mutual agreement of the parties, this lease may be extended to the extending terms and conditions not more than six u additional three-month terms. um terms upon mutual agreement the parties and at least 90 days prior to
the end of the uh current term thereof. U aren't we within that Mr. Commando right now? Are we within the 90 days? No, you're not. I'm sorry. You're not within the 90 days of the expiration. That would be July 30th,
2025, which is a couple weeks. As I understood it, it maybe I'm misunderstanding. It says that should be negotiated 90 days prior is the way I interpreted it. Maybe I'm wrong. No, no, that I think that's correct. It
should be negotiated 90 days prior. If nothing's negotiated, the options are the the lease can terminate July 30th. Um there should have been discussion probably a little bit earlier than now. Um but you have the options to extend for not more than six additional three-month terms.
Okay. Um that's one question I had on the next one. Um as I read down further and uh got down to the security deposit and that uh uh said that the leie sold cost and expense shelf costs to be completed these items particularly described
within exhibit B and uh talks about removing um maintenance items uh parties agreed to sufficient consideration for the waiver of elimination of security deposit. Um,
this $10,800 value I'm assuming is to do some maintenance to the property. Is that right? So, when you look at exhibit B, there's approximately 400 cubic yards of broken concrete that was supposed to be disposed of. Okay. I was out there yesterday and I've
not seen but maybe I don't know, dump truck loaded clay been removed. No concrete whatsoever that I could tell. Uh, Mr. Sullivan, can you respond? Yes. Uh, the the pile we're talking about is a pile that was out on the
grassy area, it is no longer there. It has been removed. The I was under the impression that the what I'm still calling the people that George Georgia Pacific when they had it, the donut where they had the round pile of wood, I thought that was going to be
demolished and taken down. That was my understanding as well. Okay. Doubt that was not in the discussion but if you wish for that to be removed in the short term we can have a conversation with the tenant. Now the the concrete we were talking about there was a pile of broken concrete a
considerable pile that was out by where the railroad is that was to be removed and Mr. uh Lloyd was going to remove it, crush it and utilize it and uh that was the pile that we needed out of the way for future development and that's been taken care of. Yes sir.
Yeah. said the way I understood it was it was the concrete donut mound out there when we originally discussed that. I'm I'm sorry that if I gave that impression though it was not the donut sir. Okay. Well, okay. Commissioner um are you done or you have further questions? All right.
Commissioner Alexander. Yeah. No, that was my impression that that u when this was originally presented that in lie of the $10,000 uh security deposit that the doughut mound and was or was going to be crushed and removed because I mean that's really the the major impingement
out there impediment to the load is that elevated mount. I mean, if it was just a couple of piles of uh concrete debris in the back for $10,000, I I don't think that's equitable for a $10,000 security
deposit, but that wasn't the way I was presented it or understood it. Um I don't know if any of my other commissioners understood it the same way, but it sounds at least one of them did. I apologize if I gave that impression, sir. That was not my intent.
Okay. Well, Commissioner, go ahead. Um, with that being said, uh, this being brought before us, uh, without any discussion within or outside of the 90 days that we were supposed to review it in, um, I have
questions about that, too, because this should have been brought to us to talk about before the lease was thrown in front of us. Well, I'll just say I guess it was an oversight on my part, sir. But, but we are within that I guess I'm a little confused. We are within that
July 30th deadline. was um prior to prior prior to the 90-day it ends on um August the 13th. It was enacted on February the 13th. So 90 days would have been July and June.
So we're within within the time period uh we should have been outside of 90 days when this was discussed because otherwise every six months I mean basically the ink wouldn't be drawing the contract and you'd be discussing extension on the contract because there were renewable six-month
terms. Rich, do you agree with what he's I'm not a little actually that's the way the lease is written is that if we'll just skip some of the legal lease that um upon mutual agreement of the parties and at least 90
days notice and prior to the end of the current term. So, um, because the word and is with that, if there was an intent to continue or extend the lease, the that conversation should have happened halfway there
90 days earlier. Okay. Gen generally speaking, the tenants the one that comes to us to ask to extend the lease and I haven't heard from him either. And that's what happened. No, I reached out to the tenants. Okay. Thank you. Um, Commissioner, I'm sorry, Commissioner Alexander, are you
done for now? Well, I just wanted to point out that we didn't follow the contract properly. Okay. Uh, Commissioner Harvey. Well, thank you, Madam Chair. You know, on page 15, it did say what the pile of concrete looked like, and we we knew
this going in that they were going to do some improvements so we could use that property. I believe we also did that with the other group. We I don't think we made them pay a big security deposit. They fixed the roof on that building if I'm not mistaken. Uh, which groups are you talking about?
uh Victoria Marine or you talking about NIS? NIS NIS. Yes. They did not make a security deposit. They did some uh considerable uh improvements on their really did a good job which we needed done. Yes, sir. So, but this is all economic
developments helping companies do that and we're fixing to have a conversation soon about um some of the benefits that we've seen so far. So, I'm all for extending them. We got it built in that we're going to extend the lease, so I'm
good with it. Thank you, Madam Chair. And there was a an an fence installed as well. Is that correct? That is correct. Mr. Lloyd installed a fence most recently. Okay. All right. So, and I think he had a little bit of a late start. Um, if I remember correctly, because of an issue
regarding the driveway. Uh, that is correct. Yeah. Okay. All right. What's the pleasure that Commissioner um Alexander has the floor? Give me just a second. So you said you reached out to him to renew the lease. That is correct, sir. Okay. So in the document here, it says
Mr. Lloyd has reached out to the county and requested we extend the lease by two additional three-month terms. Well, I reached out to him and asked him, do you want to renew it? He said yes. And he sent a letter out to to me as requested. I requested a letter for him so that we could we could have a formal official
notice from him that he wants to extend the lease. Okay, Madam Chair, I make a motion that we authorize your signature on the documents for the extension of the lease as presented to us today. All right, we have a motion on the floor. I'm going to second that.
And there's a second. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Like sign? I I All right. Motion carries three to two. Thank you. All right. Is there any public comment
on port authority items? Port authority items. Public comment. Right. Any general discussion on port authority items. All right. Hearing none, we'll close the port authority meeting and move into reconvene the BOCC meeting and move into
presentations. Uh first we have Commissioner Alexander recognizing a hometown hero. I'd like to ask I'd like to ask Kase Bradford to come forward. Folks, yes. Yep. That's a great place,
Kase. So, if those of you who do not know, um, what you have in front of you is a local hometown hero. And I've got that light skin like you do and that red hair. So, I know you're going to get red and embarrassed because I would be the same way when But
um Kase was at his house and heard the screams and cries of a neighbor's child a couple of doors over and instead of calling 911 or, you know, waiting on an adult to
take action, Kase did what we wish all of our children would do well young men would do. He took action. He took the initiative to go over and see what the problem was
and he saved a child's life. This is this is something we all wish our children could do and had the foresight to do. I know at 17 18 years old maybe I would have taken that initiative, maybe I wouldn't. But I
would like to say thank you um from deep in my heart as well as the rest of the commissioners here to say that we're proud of you and any of us would be proud to have you as our son and I just want to say thank you and we have an award to present to you today in
recognition of your heroic act. Thank you very much. Jason, please come forward. Leota has your So, this award goes to uh it's a hometown hero award presented to Kase and Bradford in recognition of your
heroic efforts on June 2nd, 2025 in which you jumped into action to help a child who was found unresponsive after falling into the family pool. Your actions were instrumental in preventing a tragedy. Presented this day, July 8th, 2020 2025 by your Putham County Board of
County Commissioners. Congratulations, sir. Thank you. All right. Three. One, two, three. And again. One more. All right, congratulations.
Have I got the mic again? Yes, sir. All right. All right. So, we had heroism for today's first presentation. Our second presentation is entrepreneurship. I would like to introduce Oceford from the Pla Housing Authority. He's our new
director and he has some children, excuse me, young adults that he would like to introduce and present to you what they did with their summer vacation instead of going out and doing some of the things that we may have done. These guys are headed in the right direction.
I'm very proud of you guys and I would let like to turn it over to OJ so he can present. Thank you to the commissioners for having us. Uh we are very thankful for this opportunity to talk about some of the great things uh that our youth are involved in. And uh rather than say a
whole lot, I'd like to just go ahead and play a video if everyone's ready. Yeah. The Global Entrepreneurship Congress is an event like over 200 countries are represented. This is the second time it's been in the United States and it
just going to be in my hometown. So, all of that made it a slim up opportunity to bring our youth on a lifeanging trip. They get to see a world that they're not a world that they don't know, they're not familiar with at all. Um, I love the
fact that they get to network, you know, they get to come out of the shell. Johnson 14 and I play basketball. My name is United States. My name is
15. We've had opportunities to do with local influential business people who are successful in their own right but have taken the to invest in making sure that they're exposing uh the young people to
ideas that they may just may not experience on a dayto-day basis. My name is Tyson 17. I just graduated to study psychology. I want to be a neuroscychologist.
I like to read. My name is Le. I'm 17 from Florida. One interesting fact is I used to play basketball in middle school.
I had the opportunity to reach out to business leaders and entrepreneurs. They were ecatic about the opportunity just to sit with our youth and share some of their experience. And what we
don't realize often times is that if you ask someone They're more than willing and more than ready to help you to achieve your mission. If your mission is a worthy cause, You want to have your own business
actually doing it and building up on the table. Real dedication things up. The students are having a good time. I'm hearing a lot of laughter, a lot of conversation. So, everyone is enjoying themselves. I would say that they want to pursue
some of the things that others are pursuing. And we really hope that the minds of our youth and their hearts really never go back to where they were because they've grown so much from this experience. Learning is a skill that never. So, um, it was my honor and, uh, my
great pleasure to take this amazing group of young people on a once in a-lifetime trip, uh, to the global entrepreneurship conference. And it's my pleasure and my honor to present them to you. So, thank you for allowing us to share this time and just to share what
we're doing in Palka Housing Authority and investing in our residents first, starting with our youth. Thank you. So, um, before you step away, we've got some comments to make. Commissioner Harvey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want you to
look at me. I came through Putnham County Schools, the Catholic School. You don't know where that's at, but was right over here. Mosley Elementary Middle School, Pala Central High, and Palaka High School in 1979. So, we were the second graduating class out of what
we called the new high school. U, it's really old now. I worked here at Pantry Pride Grocery Store in the same plaza that we're in here today at 15 years old thinking Lord is this what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I went off and had a great insurance career out in
Interlockan for over 25 years own my own business with 13 employees which is a lot for a small business and then came back as a county commissioner. Okay. I've been able to stand in the oval office of the president of the United
States from a poor kid from Francis, Florida that no one thought I would ever make anything of myself. We're all products of Putinham County School up here. And I can tell you, don't limit yourself. The sky's is the limit for
you. Whatever you dream, you can do. And I'm a perfect example of doing that. And I've been blessed by God Almighty for doing that. So, thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Alexander. Thank you, Commissioner Harvey. He truly
is an example of what you can become from humble roots. I want to thank you guys for coming in, but uh I did uh I would like to take a second uh for Oce to introduce himself. I should have done a better job and allowed him a second to speak, but Oce
is a new director of the Palaca Housing Authority. um can you give them a brief overview of who you are, where you come from, and what your expectations are for Putinham's Black Housing Authority? Thank you. I really appreciate it. So, once again, my name is Oceford. I am a
product of public housing. So, I also came from uh uh a place where when I was 10 years old, I was interviewed for a summer program and they asked me, "Where do you see yourself at 25?" And what my answer was is dead.
I saw myself as not living to be 25. Not because I wasn't involved in gang activity. I wasn't involved in selling drugs or or or anything illegal or anything immoral. It was just the environment that I lived in. But I was given a lot of opportunities and
investment in me as a young person, as a young leader. And here I am as the executive director of the Palaca Housing Authority. And so with the Palaca Housing Authority, we are starting with the people first before we get to bricks and sticks. We're investing in the lives
in the minds and the hearts of our residents and then expanding that into building new buildings and redeveloping old buildings. So we look forward to the partnership from the commission uh as well as other partners in the community to help us do this work. but we wanted
to make it very clear that we're starting with the people. So, we're very happy to have this opportunity to speak with you and we're very thankful. Thank you. And thank you for your leadership and the opportunity you've given these youth. It seems like um something they won't ever forget, I'm
sure. And it's been a make a make a lasting impression on their lives forever. And certainly your circumstances never define you. And I think uh uh that you've just shared your story with us a little bit and I appreciate your leadership at the PLA housing authority. So, thank you for bringing your youth forward and
investing in the people in the community. Thank you. We would love to get a picture with you guys. We would love to get a picture with you guys. One more. Thank you. We uh so appreciate um people in our community that are working
tirelessly to make our community better and this is a prime example of that and um certainly with our previous recognition of Mr. Bradford and uh we just are so thankful for that. Um next up we have Kimberly Morgan from the uh
Chamber of Commerce for the uh tourism quarterly update. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning, Miss Morgan. Where we need to go. So, here we are.
Here we are. So, um I'm gonna present to y'all a little bit an overview of kind of like a two quarter update um because we didn't give a formal update um last quarter because I was so new. So um thank you for letting us tell the good
news because that's what we've gotten from the tourism department. Um I wanted to talk to you a little bit about some of the things that we're working on. the the group sales effort is is something that um may it's exciting because we've
got events coming to Putnham County that you may or may not know about yet. Um the Southeast Wood Producers Association is having their annual meeting in um at the Putham County Fairgrounds in September. So, we're helping them get
all the things that they need to have a great event, whether that's um food trucks, um whether that's, you know, inflatables, whatever it is to, you know, caterers, um local vendors, all of those things to make sure that their event is everything that they want it to
be. Um the same is happening with um the Nissan Zcar. Um they are um having a U Florida regional meeting and they expect to bring 200 VC car owners to Putnham County in February of 2026. And then
we're having conversations with a crappie tournament um that is wanting to to start a new event um and they want to bring it here. So we're having initial conversations with them to try to bring a new event, a new fishing event here.
Um event success, there's been a lot of that over the last six months. uh Baselite and and the the 76th annual um Aelia Festival um was held in February and the Mug Race in May, the Wolfson
Children's Hospital fishing bass fishing tournament in May as well. And then the Bay Ruth District 3 All-Star softball tournament was in June. And all of those events um not only brought people here, but they spent those people spent money
in our community and invested in our community, but more more importantly than that, they made memories here. And those those memories are going to what are hopefully what will drive them to come back again and again. Um the um other things that we're doing is we are
talking with um media, social media influencers. Um, we're working with Visit Visit Florida actually showcased the Palaca Trail Town video that they've that we've co-produced with them. St. uh the St. John's River Keeper highlighted
um Earth Kinship Sunset Bat Tours. Um, you can go kayaking in the St. John's River and um right at sunset the bats come out from under the bridge and it's a cool experience that you can't get every everywhere. Um, so that's something unique and different about our
community. Also, um WEDUP PBS um did a spot on Angel's Diner that they showcased on their social media. And then we have Misty Wells, who is an influencer, um who produces the show Let's Get Outside, that airs on the Discovery Channel. She'll be filming um
in our community in September and going to a few places here to kind of highlight what what we have here to see and do. Um we've done a lot of community engagement over the last um six months.
Uh tourism industrywise. We've um hosted an adventure travel network webinar that Visit Florida put on. We invited everyone to the chamber office that's involved in adventure travel. Whether that's a fish camp, um a kayak
outfitter, hunting club, anybody was invited. And um we had some people show up. They didn't know each other. And so we that's the goal of this is to try to bring people together so that we can start to build itineraries and we can start to build experiences
um together. We also had a a quarterly we're starting to host quarterly overnight accommodations meetings which is where we get the vacation rentals, the um fish camps, the RV parks, and the hotels all together in one place to talk
about group events um what they need as a business as well as what we can provide them and how we can connect them better and all work together because the the goal is to keep the business in Putnham County. if a hotel is sold out, we've got to find another place in
Putnham County to serve those visitors. Um, and so trying to to, you know, just encourage that that teamwork and that collaboration. And also, um, we have a monthly call with the Florida Adventure Travel Network. That's just a a new
thing that Visit Florida is doing that we are trying to become more active in um and is continuously inviting those adventure um businesses to. We also um I know it's down today, but
our digital sign is is back up. Um we've just had some technical issues with it the last couple of days. Um but this um we've also been um at public meetings to discuss um Riverfront Park um the the parks um you know we've been to the
parks committee or the the trails committee um the blue crab festival just different discussions throughout the the community visit palaca we're partnering and collaborating with as well and then um we had the the privilege of
presenting at the kuanos club um the value of branding and just making sure that um that's something that everyone in the community understands the value of. Um we have um had several TDC meetings and have some planned. Um so you'll see the dates there. We have a
special meeting coming up um next week to talk about marketing efforts um and um where where the future's headed. Um, and then these are just some of the projects that we have we that we've accomplished. And we've got a new business card design. We've done the
visit Putinham rack card. Um, we've um also are in the process of reprinting the Palaca Trail Town pocket map. Um, we've got some postcards. Um we're we're awaiting delivery for our coasters um
that we we'll be working um as this will be something that we give to um to visitors and to to groups but also work with local restaurants to highlight not only the visit Putinham app but some of our local um signature sites um pop
we'll have tabletop um popup banners and um the big thing that we're working on right now we have where we have an intern from the University of Florida that's helping us build um actual tour experiences on our app. Um we want to do a dock and dine um have all the cycling
trails together in one place, have all the hiking trails together in one place and um we we're graciously working with the county's GIS team to make that happen. So um it's definitely a team effort. Um and that's the quarterly
update for y'all. All right, Commissioner Nebul, you're recognized. That was for our our last president. Oh, that's okay. I'll throw a little something in the commissioner comments. I can comment here if you want to. Um, I do applaud these marketing
efforts. Um, you know, young people like the folks sitting behind you are going to get inspired by things like this. um they'll look at things and ways that can contribute and and put in ideas to help our community be a better place. So, we're we'll wrap it all all up here.
We're fortunate to have that set of young people um representing us outside the community. They're going to get inspired there. They're going to come back here and they're going to make us, you know, even better than we are. So, thank you and thank you guys out there for representing us so well. We're very proud of you.
Thank you. Are there any questions for the presenter? Commissioner Harvey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to say thank you for all the work that you're doing. Um the Visit Putnham app is always amazing to me. When we're in Tallahassee at rural days, I show people
that app. I actually throw the phone at them. It's a squishy phone. It's not a real phone, but anything you can get their attention. And then I'm I was reminded last week when we were at convention, I had three different people from state agencies say, "You threw a fish at me in the Capitol Courtyard."
So, you know, whatever we can do to promote Putnham County, we need to be about doing it. And young people, I would ask, look at that app. And if there's any suggestions y'all can make, u let us know. I mean, we're here to serve. So, we want that app to be interactive and we want it to be right.
And it's, um, I think it's really great. So, I want to applaud y'all for everything you're doing. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Morgan. All right. Um, was there a video you wanted to share or for the FAC or you want to wait on that another time?
All right. We can wait on that. Are we do it? Are we queued up for that? Yeah. All right. We have one other thing uh we're adding real quickly to the um You want to wait? No, no, that's fine. I just didn't Okay.
valves. Well, when you turn to local parks and greens to life. These are the quiet counties
because counties make them work. When Washington breaks down and Tallahassee overreaches, it's easy to forget how much our counties deliver because we run
fire and EMS don't stop politics and you're drinking wateries with balanced budgets and low taxes. The real Florida dream quietb's 67 counties here when it matters most counties deliver.
Madam chair, may I make a comment? Yes. You know, um I think this was a very good video put together by the Florida Association of County. And when we're talking property tax relief, um we need to be mindful of the things that we do deliver. And I had a lady in my
church this morning, vacation Bible school is happening. And she said, "I want property tax relief. I want lower property taxes." I said, "So, what do you want to give up? You want to give up law enforcement? Do you want to give up emergency response? Do you want to give up? What do you want to give up? Well, I
don't want to give up. I want to actually enhance things. Well, you can't do that if you're not paying into the system. And and I don't mean that smuggly. It's just the fact of doing business. We don't create, we don't have money. We don't go out and make money. We have certain amount of money that is
produced. And that money, that pie is one pie. And if you want a bigger piece of pie at the table, somebody's getting a smaller piece of pie at the table. just works that way and um so we have to be mindful of that. Our citizens constantly demand more and more on less
and less and we want to be able to provide that but it's a challenge but I I think that we don't tell our story properly. I don't think we understand what the the constituent understands and uh we got to do a better job. So that
video really helps that it all it's all back to local government. You know, it's all back to when you're like I mentioned the other day when I was in church and had my hands up praising God and somebody puts a note in my hand, my road needs to be graded. That's reality. Go
to the grocery store and walk around and somebody talks to you about this or that. I mean, there's issues that we can't get away from and we don't need to get away from, but we want to be able to help. So, I think this tells the story, right? I think it tells it precise and I
think we need to continue using that. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. All right. Are there any other comments from the board? All right. Moving into planning and development public hearing LDC text amendment. Good morning, commissioners. For the record, Zachary Baker, planning and
development services. Uh this is LDC25-0000001. It's a county initiated text amendment. Um, I can go over a little bit of a summary if you wish or we can just kind of dive right into any questions you may have. What's the pleasure of the board?
Anybody have any questions? I do not. All right. So, this has been before us before. I guess the my only concern is um which is still my concern is the section 45-131. I am um okay with all of the proposed
changes in here except for that section. Um and madame chair, I do just want to remind the board this is technically still the first hearing in front of the commission where we get some direction. So, if if it's the pleasure of the board, just let us know what you'd like
to keep, retain, all of it, some of it, none of it, and I can modify the ordinance for the next public hearing. And I'm not saying that I'm wouldn't be willing to have the discussion on section 45-131,
which regarding RVs. Um, however, what I would like to do is probably can I just workshop that section and we can move forward with the remaining portion of the LGC? Uh, yes, ma'am. I do believe that that is possible. I think we can um adopt
part or um all of the text. If if the commission wants to wait on any certain, you know, legislative change, uh we can pull that from what the adopted ordinance would be. and um kind of
circle back on it. Yeah, that's that's my concern is uh 45-131. I'm okay with the rest of the changes um as presented. Um Commissioner Alexander, did you say 45-131 is your con the section that's concerning you?
Yes, it is regarding the RVs. Okay. Um I gotcha, Rich, is that acceptable to pull that section and approve the rest? It is. And I would just say if the rest of the commission has any sort of input for the chair um while she has
conversations with Zach, that would probably be very helpful so that we're not going back back and forth multiple times. So we could schedule a workshop just concerning that section where we could all be involved. Absolutely. Okay. Yeah, that's where that's what I would like to see. I think that that's a bigger discussion, a discussion that
truly affects um a lot of our citizens and and there are some concerns that I have in there that as presented, it's on pages 51 through 53, 54 in your package. Yeah, I think we share some of the same
concerns there, but I would like to see the rest of this uh move down the road. I'm tired of kicking the can on this one. I agree. So, um, that sounded like a motion to me. Well, I I don't One moment. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Yes, sir. Go ahead. Sorry. Can we Can we move that forward today? Because it is one of two meetings. So, all we can do today is is push forward without that section, right? We go to a next meeting. That sounds like the direction of the commission is you you
would essentially um your motion would be to move it forward and remove section 45-131 for further work um by way of work. That's my recommendation. Yeah. But I can't make a motion. Madam Chair, I'll make a motion in the
land development code text amendment LDC 25001 county initiative text amendment. I move that we move this to the next meeting for a vote and remove the section
45131 for future workshop meeting. Is that good, Mr. Commander? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. I would second that. Right. We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? All right. All in favor say I. I.
Any oppose? Like sign. All right. Thank you. Thank you. We'll see you at the next next meeting. Uh, sorry, Madam Chair. Did you want to try to set up a time now for the workshop item or do you want me to just No, we'll get with you on I'll get with you on a date that's good with all the
commissioners on another on the workshop item. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. Public hearing for public works um to vacate undevelopment rightways in Huntington Groves and Huntington unit B subdivisions.
This is the second meeting for it to go into effect. There have been no um problems with any of the vacated. It's completely undeveloped and there's only one land owner around all of it and so public works has no objection. Neither do any of the utilities. All right, back to the board. Are there
any uh questions or comments? Right. Is there a motion? Yes, ma'am. I make a motion that we uh approve the request to vacate the undeveloped rights of way right ofway in Huntington Groves
and Huntington unit B subdivision resolution 2025-043. All right, we have a motion and a second by Commissioner Harvey. Any discussion? And Madam Chair, so we would need to open for public comment. Thank you. Um is there public is there
any public comment on uh this item for vacation of undeveloped rights aways? Yes, sir. Please come forward. Good morning, sir. Yeah. If you'll just state your name and address for the record. Excuse me. If you'll state your name and address
for the record. It's uh Donnie Hall. It's uh I don't have the exact address of the Okay. I know your address. Excuse me. Your address? My address? Yes, sir. That's required.
It's uh 135 Shoreline Road. Thank you. Alka. Yes, sir. Thank you. Go ahead. Yes. I'm with the uh Carter family and uh we have property on the back side of of uh
the uh roads that's going to be vacated. Okay. And we we're not opposed to all of the uh roads being vacated uh between block uh block one and and uh block four
would give us access to the back of our property. Can we pull this map up or so we can have some discussion? So you are on um let's see there's Chapman and Liberty. Are you familiar with this this mapping? Do you
have a map with you? Yes, ma'am. Yeah, I'm looking for a map that shows the roads. Um any of these the base view may be on page 155. Is it in your agenda packet?
Yeah, it's in the agenda packet. We can just pull that up. You're uh 158 157. Mr. Hog, just give us a second. We want to make sure we understand what you're saying. We want to see it. Just stay right there. Okay. We're going to bring up a map to
discuss. As soon as our computer cooperates. What page is that? Chair lady 157. Yeah. 155 are the maps. While we're pulling this up, could I ask
a question of the gentleman? Do you intend to just have that in reserve and keep it undeveloped and just in case or do you intend to develop it anytime soon? Uh, we don't intend to develop it, just
access Sir, if you'll step over to the mic. So, these roads, as I understand them, are currently not developed. They are only recorded on record. Yes, that's correct. All right. And so, so show us um basically you where you're
talking about this. How do I get You're doing good. There's a little cursor there. There you go. Yeah. That that area right there, our property. Yes, sir. backs up to
uh block one and block four. Okay. So, are you asking for none of those to be um vacated or you want just that one right there? That's the one between two and three. One and four. Yeah, the one in the
middle. Yeah, correct. Like would that be Chapman 60 ft wide? Madam Chair. Yes, sir. Mr. Harvey, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Sir, do you access your property using that
undeveloped road now or do you come in from a different way? Uh we have uh on the back side of the property there's 480
acres. We have a a access on State Road 308 and Shoreline Road, but off of uh Paper Mill Road, I mean Palmer Sawmill Road, we have no access if you shut that road down.
Are you currently using that way to get to your property now? Uh, no, sir. But we had planned on doing it. I'm sorry. We had planned on putting an access road in there, a gate. Commissioner Alexander, you're recognized.
So, do you have other deed access to the property elsewhere or is that um Excuse me. Do you have other deed access to Do you have deed and physical access is what he's asking. Yeah. Yes, sir. And the reason why you would
need to come off of Palmer Sawmill Road is just as a backup. Is that what you're stating? Uh that and the the uh wetlands behind it would give us access around uh behind the wetlands
to the uh the main property. So, is your property cut off because of the wetlands? Uh, not entirely. Uhhuh. There's about a 75 foot uh on the uh north side of the uh
the property there that's access to the back of the property. Commissioner Alexander. So, being relatively new to this at this point, we had a request from and I know I'm going to mispronounce this from it's
okay. Yeah. From the land owner the land owner that we're going to vacate these roads. Um, we have a another citizen that has requested a partial change to their request.
Right. So would it be pertinent for us or public works or staff for lack you know to engage Rusica to see if they had any heartburn with that to modify their request? Well I think you could do everything but
it looks like that's Chapman Boulevard. Is that Chapman Boulevard? Correct. So it looks we have the option I believe of doing everything or not doing anything or Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know if we could modifying it to do um approve everything but Chapman
Boulevard. I think we're having that discussion now. Is Commissioner Harvey, have you ran into this before? Yeah, I have. And I have a question for you, sir. Why haven't you used that property before today?
Is it because you didn't know that there was an access back there or? Uh, no, sir. We we always knew there was an access back there. Uh it was in the plans for the future to put a gate there, but with all the other
uh we just haven't got gotten around to doing it yet. Okay. So, if you put a gate there, you still have to make a road there, right? Yes. Because it's not there. So, are you going to spend money to make that road go out to
I guess that's East Commerce Avenue. Is that right? It's Palmer Sawmill Road. Saw Road. Okay. Are you gonna Because I'm not willing. I'm going to be honest with you. It's been this long and it hasn't been opened up yet. I'd rather this land go back to where it was and
get rid of these roads that don't exist. But if you're if your intent is to put a gate up and you're going to clear that clear that out and build it up to county standard, then I'm not going to stand in your way. But I think it's I think it should have been done a long time ago is
what I'm trying to say. Yeah. Well, we were under assumption there was a time limit on doing this. So there isn't a time. Excuse me.
There's not a time limit. He said Commissioner Alexander. Chair. Yes. Can we ask a quick question because public works reviewed this and and we thought there was access. Can you clarify your um parcel number or address?
Maybe Mr. Richie, can you scroll down to the next page? 156. It shows a a little bit further out picture. This one here? Yeah. Yes. Correct. May maybe the speaker can explain his
relationship on that picture. Yes, sir. Can you can you help me understand which parcel is yours? Yeah, this partial right here. The one that says Carter. Yeah, the Carter.
So that is it is it so that parcel shows on our side about a mile of frontage on County Road 308 access. Is that is that correct? Correct. Okay. So you have a mile there of access
to that paved road. County Road 308. You said miles. A mile. One mile. About a mile is what GIS is is roughly showing us. Correct. Okay. And your but your concern is access where?
Yeah. To that to that to that piece of land there, that piece of paral there. He would like to on the backside access Palmer Sawmill Road on the backside. He'd like to reserve that. He doesn't want it vacated as the way I understand
it. So that he could have it for future. Madam Chair. Yes, sir. Push your button. No, your other button. I'm on, I think. Oh, you are m um after looking at this map, I I get a little better picture, but um someone that has the cursor could
show me exactly where we're trying to vacate and where we're what we're doing. This map is much better than what I was looking at, and I' I'd like some clarification. I'm sorry. What's your question? These right here. All this
to go up. Go back up. Go to the next page. Actually, I can't see that. See? So, if you look at this map, he's asking um scroll up. Yep. Everything in blue is asking the um applicant is asking to be vacated. And
this gentleman is asking he's okay with everything except for Chapman. Yeah, for the except Is that correct? Correct. Yes, sir. Well, but Chapman and then this road right here, whatever that name is. Well, yeah. Chapman would have to be
adjacent if you correct. Correct. Chapman ties into Palmer Sawmill. Is that correct? Correct. Correct. Yes. And then Miss Young said he had about a mile of Yes. Property ownership on 308. Is that correct?
Yes. And he stated that he has two access points on 308 as well. He's saying that this would help him get to the back for future reference. It's not developed at this time. Yeah, I'm pretty familiar with this piece of property. There is a long
distance along Highway 308, but a lot of that is wet. Um, you go back to the aerial for me, Jamie. Yep. There's there's quite a bit of wetland that meanders through that property and I I could see where there could be access issues.
Some of the consideration for the commission is also it's not just kind of what is the ability to access now, but thinking through oftentimes there'll be a request to subdivide property that comes to you too. So if the that lot gets subdivided, how would that new
property owner then access the property? Because obviously we we would not recommend taking an action that would landlock a piece of property. But this would not landlock him. Correct. Not the way the law is now. No.
Go ahead, Commissioner Alexander. So again, I go back to the original request. They're requesting to vacate all roads here. Correct.
So we have to approve the request as it's written, all or none. Correct. We don't have the option to peacemail it. I I think you can peacemail it. Can we? Yeah. So do we need to go? Okay.
Um, I wasn't I wasn't certain because it was written as a request to vacate all, not one, not and or but as all. So, that was that was my request. I didn't know if we should go back to them and ask if they were accepting of that or both of those are options. So, you can
you can vacate when you vacate a road, you're vacating particular roads. So, essentially the request that's before you is to vacate five separate roads. Correct. Um, you can decide to vacate four out of the five. Um, you can go back to the applicant and ask kind of what their position is on that fifth road. I mean,
you you do have flexibility in what action you take today. Okay. Mr. Shout, what would you like to do? What's your comments? Do you have comments on this? Uh, public works did not have any objection to it because this piece of land as it lies today was not
landlocked. That's why we didn't have any objections to the vacate, right, when we looked at all adjacent properties. And actually by vacating the roads then does that get rid of the subdivision the ability to the the um platted subdivision
because the platted roads are part of the platted subdivision. So once you get rid of those roads would that the the owner of not this gentleman but the owner of the existing property would not be able to to develop those lots in the way they are written in the subdivision.
They would they would most likely have to replplat because they could not create in theory a buildable lot that was landlocked. That's what I thought. Okay. All right. Um
go ahead. If the commission is considering um identifying a road, if we're attempting to find some sort of middle ground, I believe so. It may be a recommendation to go back to the applicant requesting
the vacation and determine which road may accomplish both goals. Chapman may not accomplish the applicant's goal, but we may be able to accomplish the gentleman's goal through a various path that takes a a border road out instead
of that middle road. So we we may be able to have some conversation about finding a mutually beneficial resolution. Right? So, if you look at the southern portion of what's being requested, that 30 foot unnamed street, right? That may accomplish the same goal for our speaker.
That's it. That's south of block four. And then that that seems to allow the ability of the applicant to consolidate the properties to do something different. All right. Uh, Commissioner Harvey. Thank you, Madam Chair. And also in that conversation, uh, Mr. Mr. Stout, I'd like to know if
we do close close some of these roads, what would be the onus on the um landowner to build that road where people can use it for ingress and egress? Well, if the road is vacated, it's no longer a boat. So,
if we leave a road, if we leave a road, then it would be up to whoever wants to develop the road to front the cost because right now it's it's dedicated to the public. But would it have to be up to county standards for us to accept it into the
maintenance? It would be, but not for a private road. Like if they just wanted to cut it wide enough to get a sidebyside to go through, they can do that. But if they wanted to bring it in front of the board for county maintenance, it would need to be brought up to county standard.
Okay. Thank you. Mhm. Commissioner Alexander, based on our discussion, can I make a motion that we table this and allow public works to reach out to the applicant and see if they might be interested in taking Mrs.
Young's suggestion and leaving the bottom road open to access the property, which would still enable them to have one contiguous piece of property and accommodate your access to the to that portion of your property. We're trying to work with you, sir. So So I think um
it sounds like the pleasure of the board's going to be to table this. I mean, we'll we'll take a vote, but um that's what's being suggested now. Do you have any other comments? No, ma'am. Okay. Commissioner Palisier. Um I think Miss Young and Commissioner Alexander are on to something there that
um maybe go back to the applicant and see if we can come up with some middle ground that works for all parties concerned. Uh, in the meantime, I can look at this map for years, but I'm going to do a site visit now. I just will feel much comfortable uh about
going out there and seeing exactly all your access points exactly getting a feel for what what's going on there to understand it totally. Miss Young, you're recognized. Chair, the only request that we have is we had not had any knowledge of the objection. So, we need some contact information so we can try to work
together. Yeah, it's it's never the goal of the commission to create any animosity amongst the neighbors. I I consider our job to work to find a resolution that will satisfy both the county and the concerned parties. So, if
you would extend us that courtesy, we would like to work and try and find us a solution that will work for everyone. All right, we have a motion on the floor by Commissioner Alexander and there's a second. Um, any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Hi. All right. Thank you. So, if you'll just
get with Mr. Stout or Mr. Stout, get with this gentleman and then we'll hear this at a later date. Thank you, sir, for coming forward. We're going to take a threem minute recess. item county board of commission meeting and move into public comment on agenda
items. This portion of the agenda is designed to allow citizens an opportunity to bring attentions to 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 and 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 um cards at this time? Okay.
So, these look like they're on miscellaneous items. So, we'll go on to our consent agenda items. Um, is there a commissioner who would like to pull any items? Starting with Commissioner Alexander. I have none. Commissioner Newold. I have none to pull. Commissioner
Palisier, I have none. Commissioner Harvey, I have none. And I have none. Madam Chair, I'd like to move the consent agenda approval for items A, B, C, and D. Second. We have a motion to second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I.
I. Motion carries. Consent agenda items. Um, these are miscellaneous items. We'll start with Miss uh Deanna Bros. I hope I said your last name correctly. Rosie. Rosie. Okay, that's okay. Everybody gets it wrong. I'm used to it.
Okay. Um, I'm coming to you again this morning. I came to you several weeks ago on animal control. Um, I have made no progress whatsoever. Uh, I'd like to ask you what I need to do next. I have
contacted Officer Johnson numerous times, who is the officer that is handling my case, and she doesn't respond. Um, she has told me that she has been to the trap and baited it. When
I was told the protocol was when she set up the trap that it had to be in a well-lit area with a camera on it and had to be covered so that if the animal was trapped, it could not be harmed in
any way. And I was not to touch the trap whatsoever. How does animal control expect to catch these dogs that are destroying my property and killing cats by not baiting the trap?
She has reached out to me one time in three weeks and answered one of my text messages and told me that she was there and that she baited the trap. I find that very hard to believe since there's a camera on it and I see I get
alerts every time something's near it. So, I've reached out to Mr. Helms numerous times. Um, I explained the situation to him. He said she should be coming by daily to check the trap. She should be parole uh
patrolling the area to see if the dogs are in the area and she should be checking in with me. So, being prior military, I've decided to follow my chain of command, which was I dealt with the officer. I'm not getting anywhere with Mr. Helms. I've reached out to Miss
Young, which she has not had time to respond to my phone call. I did leave her a message. Um, but what am I supposed to do when nobody returns any phone calls? And you cannot tell me that this young lady is patrolling the area
when I'm patrolling the area. And I know Larry's patrolling the area also. So, what can be done about this situation? That's my question is, you know, yeah, it's just cats. You
know, I get it. I get that animal control has other calls to go on for animal cruelty, for dog bites. Um, I've got two dogs next to me that have never been addressed, that have charged at my employee and my friend. You know, what
is it with West Putnham? What is it with our area? Why can't we get anywhere with this? Okay. Does anybody have any answers? I mean, I appreciate all of Larry's help. Bless his heart. He has reached out to me
every time I've reached out to him. But something has got to be done. And and I'm sorry that I presented you with pictures of dead cats. That was not my intent to, you know, make it look this bad. But I had to get my point across.
Um that something has got to be done about and it's always the same two animals. It's always the same hours of the night. They've got collars on. They've got to be in the area. animal control should have be able to handle
it. How much more of my property is going to get destroyed as well, not only as the cats being killed? Chair, I've been involved in a very brief um start of the conversation here and I do know that we are patrolling the
area. We do not have night patrol. It is only in an emergency situation where we would be called out for um a a very high level emergency, a bite, something of that nature. Um so I am happy to continue to facilitate some
conversation, but in like most cases this sometimes there are problems with roaming animals when we show up. It's the old cartoon, right? It exists for forever. The dog sees the dog catch a truck and the dog runs away. I understand that there's a trap and those
work sometimes and sometimes we catch inadvertent animals. Um I can tell you that multiple officers have been involved in this case and have been in the area. But if you will allow me um to see if I can work towards some
resolution, we can see what we can have done and at least provide you the update. It may help Miss Lynn just to know the number of times we've been out there. Right. Sometimes it's just knowing that we actually have been there even if you haven't seen us. But in order to catch the animal,
Julianne, you have to bait the trap. I was told you cannot touch the trap. Yes, ma'am. I I understand. You know, so if you haven't been there in two weeks, how do you expect to catch the animal? And when it was baited, there was not enough food put in it to
catch a rat. I mean, I've got videos of an armandillaa that would not even go in it. Miss, I'm gonna um have you work directly with Julianne. She'll work with you. Okay. I would appreciate it. Thank you. Not a problem. M Alexander, do you have any comments? I just had a quick question um from Mr.
Commando regarding those animals roaming on her property. whether they have a collar on them or not, if they've killed her animals or she feels threatened by them, what are
her legal rights to protect herself and her property? You know, generally speaking, I can't give her legal advice, but we're all within our rights to protect yourself and your property. Thank you. And Mr. Alexander, I understand. I have all rights, you know, to protect my
property. I can shoot the dogs. I'm an animal lover. Me, too. Whenever you're in my situation to where you don't have a family member alive, period, your animals become your life. I understand. I don't want to hurt
anything. I would just assume catch them myself and bring them to you guys. I don't want to have to shoot them or anything. And I wouldn't do that. I can't even stand to see a dead armadillo in front of my shop. Yeah, man. Get run over on 3:15. You know, I don't want to do that. But I
just want a resolution from animal control to get something done. And baiting the trap may catch the dogs, but there has to be somebody there to bait it. Okay. If you'll just work with Mr. Leanne. Thank you.
Mr. Luzelle. Lewis Lozelle. Morning. Good morning. Please state your name and address for the record. My name is Lewis Loyel. I live at 139 Rivershore Drive in San Monteo.
Okay. Um why I'm coming here today is um regarding the water project that was done where the water lines were installed on San Monteo Road, Sportsman Drive and in that area. I own a several properties in that area and uh the one in particular I have a problem with DPW
with is 710 Sanonteo Road. The length of Sonteo Road from Sportsman Road to Horse Landing Road was tore up quite badly by the excavation as you would expect from such a project. The problem is the condition that was left in when the construction company pulled
out. Uh DPW is supposed to go ahead and do final inspections on all of this. None of this should be the county's problem as that all my complaints should have been caught by a final inspection. Those complaints are and they have been
documented a lot of erosion, ruts, washouts. Um, no final grading was done whatsoever. Um, seeding was not done. Only thing growing there now is weeds and maybe a little bit of grassroot that receat, you know, resp sprouted from the initial excavation.
During the job, my mailbox was destroyed and I spoke with DB Construction regarding that damage and I also spoke with Lisa McKe at public works regarding that damage. Um, the concrete around the culvert pipes,
four out of five of those culvert pipes are missing sections or complete um areas where the concrete once was that was broken in half by the excavator and never repaired. Most of the culvert pipes are you know, 20 to 50% full of sand now
because of the erosion. Um, and there were causes in the contract regarding the erosion. Um, I've made complaints about this right from the bottom from Mrs. McKe up through Mr. Stout all the way up through Mr. Alexander. And at this point, I've
been treated like I'm trying to scam somebody. I've been insulted. At this point, I feel like uh they're they're they're not they just want me to go away. Uh they're not willing to fix it or admit there's a problem. And I think the problem to me is is completely
obvious. I provided a few photographs of the uh damage. Most of the photographs in that packet are fairly recent except for one that shows the mailbox and behind it you see the concrete wall behind um the mailboxes has been dislocated
from its original location. Now, the cinder blocks were put back in place after they got done, but they were no longer affixed to the base. I I could kick them over with my foot. They weren't attached to anything. On the other side of the driveway, half the concrete is actually missing. And again, most of the concrete around those
culberts up through was damaged and never repaired. Um, I went to all of the neighbors in the area with a letter, you know, stating there was damage and they wished that to be repaired and they all signed it. So, I go ahead and that will be in
the packet that I presented. Um, and that's that's my complaint. So, any questions or anything I'd be happy to answer. All right. Thank you for coming forward. Any questions? I don't have anything at this point. We'll look at I'll take the opportunity to look at
this information um talk to staff and roll forward from there. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Moving into appointments. Commissioner Alexander, you have any appointments? Not this morning, ma'am.
All right. Commissioner Peliser, I do not. Commissioner Harvey, I have none. I like to mix it up every once in a while. Commissioner Newol. Yes, I have one for the green belt board. There's a district one opening. Um, I'd like to appoint Roger Easterling
of Crescent City. All right. Green Belt Advisory Board. Green. Yes. And that's the only thing that I have today. All right. All right. Moving on to um comments. Clerk clerk Reynolds. Good morning, chair and commissioners.
Um, just real quick, wanted to take a moment to thank all of you and thank our legislators again um, you know, for the the appropriations that they put in. Unfortunately, it looks like we were u the pro the ERP project or the uh, financial software project was vetoed
out of the budget by the governor. So, um, I just wanted to, um, to bring that up with the commission and and keep it at the forefront of everybody's mind as we go into budget preparation season. I just like to bring that up for discussion at some point during budget prep so we can discuss it. It's a I feel
like it's a a pressing uh, project that we uh, we really need to work on. It's a can that we've kind of kicked down the road for years and years now. And um um again, very appreciative of y'all making it a priority this year. Very appreciative of our legislators getting
it uh to the point where it was in the budget. So, thank you for all of the efforts so far. And just wanted to to keep it at the forefront so we can discuss it some more going forward. Yeah, I think that is something that we'll have to have further discussion on as we get through the budget cycle.
Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Um, County Attorney Commando, just want to bring up um for the people that were able to attend the Florida Association of Counties conference, I'd like to congratulate our very own Commissioner Harvey as the second vice
president-elect. You know, we know how great he is here at home. But to try to spread that message to the rest of the state, it's not always an easy task. And I even mentioned to Commissioner Harvey, I saw Commissioner Parks little palm cards all over the place and made me a little nervous, but I shouldn't have
been just because Commissioner Harvey did such a good job on the interpersonal relationships that it was a landslide vote. So, congratulations. Thank you, sir. All right. Um, Administrator Suggs. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Uh again, I'll echo what uh our county attorney
just said, uh regarding uh Commissioner Harvey was uh it was a great event to be able to stand there and kind of watch the process go through and then uh to be asked to uh officiate over the count was was very much appreciated by myself as
well. So uh that was a a great turnout and as Mr. Commando said, it was an overwhelming uh vote. So again, congratulations, Mr. Vice President, Second Vice President, Commissioner Larry Harvey. Uh and secondly, Madame Chair, I've been approached by Visit
Palaca. Uh they want to uh look at doing a farmers market. Uh they want to do it at the courthouse. They would like to do it on the first and third Saturdays. Uh I've asked them if they would if if it's acceptable by the board to go ahead and continue moving
this process forward. I'd like to have them come down and do a presentation on the 22nd of July to the board itself uh to see uh what it is that they're they're wanting to do. I've seen some of the preliminary drawings and the layouts and they uh you know my preliminary conversations. I think it's going to be
a great event, great opportunity to showcase Pelican downtown. Uh I think it'll bring a lot of visitors from out of town as well, which I think is going to be a good driver. Uh, and from what I understand, they're they're looking at putting all the uh, responsibility on themselves, hiring the market manager,
the whole nine yards. So, uh, I've reached out to Mr. Reynolds originally to make sure that, uh, they had no issues with it. Uh, haven't received any concerns. So, uh, just like a normal event, unfortunately, it' be the first and third Saturday, not
just an individual Saturday. So, uh, I did talk to, uh, Miss West earlier about the potential of them needing to get a special event permit. Uh, they're they're going to reach out and make sure if there is anything required by them, they'll take care of that as well through the city. Not sure if there is or not, but want to make sure every all
the bases are covered. So, uh, so that's that's kind of my report. Uh, like I said, just preliminary discussions, but if it's acceptable by the board, a wave of a consensus or whatever, be more than happy to share that and let them continue moving forward. wouldn't come in and do a presentation.
Are you good with the farmers market? Yes. All right. I think you're good with the presentation. I'll pass it along. All right. Thank you. Um I know um we had public comment before. Apparently, we have some more and I will open it back up for public comment. Um Brenda
Copley. Um public comment. Morning, Brenda Copley, 756 National Forest Road 75G. I'm just coming on behalf of the um property owners of Fort Gates if to see if there's an update on scheduling the workshop for the Fort Gates Ferry
repairs on the west side. I don't know that there's a workshop. There's not anything scheduled. I do know that um we were waiting to see if there was funding um for that and I think we've heard recently that they it was not funded through the grant or have we heard that?
I don't believe I've heard that officially yet. Have you heard anything Mr. Sullivan on the grant? Okay. All right. Been announced. We have a request in for federal funding for that and I and I thought you had to clarify whether or not you still had the lease on it or there was some question or doubt whether
or not that was clear. Mr. Peler, do you We do not have any uh lease at this time. I don't believe that's correct. That's correct. There's not a lease in place. You were out last week. Yes, ma'am. I'm going to give a report. Oh, are you? Okay. Okay. Because we just
missed you going out. So, I just wanted to to check on that on our behalf. So, okay. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else who would like to speak in the public before I close out the public hearing? Going once, going twice. All right. Uh back to
county commissioner comments. Um starting with Commissioner Alexander. Thank you, Madam Chair. What a uh what an exciting day uh to have our youth before us. um that that truly warms your heart. Those
are the future leaders of our community. They're vested here. They're wanting to make a difference and they came before us. Um again, congratulations, Mr. Harvey. We all know a celebrity now. I mean, newspaper celebrity, national
celebrity. This is this is great. Um Matt, I'm very disappointed about the enterprise software uh being vetoed. I know that was a a big issue for both you and I. Um, both of us recognize the security issues. They're
readily apparent and the efficiency that it could change the dynamic of your office. Um, we need it. It's not a want, it's a need. So, I think we all need to coales around that. Uh, as Madam Chair said during the budget and, um, one more
quick thing, we had a a cameo today. I have a young gentleman shadowing me today. His name is Jack Salsy. My name is Jack. Jack uh traveled to Tallahassee a couple weeks ago. Uh visited with the parliamentarians up there, the attorney general. And um
don't know if you guys are familiar with uh the Salsy Pig Barbecue over in St. Augustine. He's got some of the best barbecue in the world, but uh that's his dad. So, want to thank you for joining us today, too, Jack. Yes, sir. That's all I've got. All right.
Are Are you taking them to lunch? Well, no. I've got another appointment back there in the back corner. Commissioner Baliser. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Um, first and foremost, remember the uh poor
unfortunate folks of Central Texas in that disaster. Uh, just devastating. Uh, understand the death toll now is in excess of a hundred. um just a terrible tragedy. Um
every now and then the veto pin of the governor can be good and then last week it was in that we saved our Rodman Dam. Um he did not fund the folks that wanted to do a partial um as they call it restoration. I call it a destroying but
anyhow so so it can be good occasionally. In this instance, it was uh hopefully we can write get things on a better track for that next year. Um Mr. Suggs, myself, and um Mr. Stout made a trip out to the forest and met with
the new powers that be out there. And um I must say a much better reception than I've ever had before. Um very nice folk. Um, we spent four hours, five hours I guess, riding around and talking about things that they want to see in the
forest and and um have a pretty good uh working relationship with um the ranger, Miss Terry. Miss Carrie Sakaric. Sakaric. Okay. Um anyhow, she um she and
I and all of us seem to hit it off on a pretty good note. Um we're looking into a couple things. um um to be able to really do any kind of work out there on those roads, we have to have an interlocal agreement and Mr. Suggs is uh working on that to
getting some information. We're working on a possible mutual agreement with Marian County of um um there's an issue where certain roads in there you're in Mary and you're in Putnham. You're in Mary and Putnham. We're going to try to come up with something that works out that we're one month we'll handle it,
one month they'll handle it. so it won't wear us out jumping back and forth um each month out there. Going to reach out to them, see if we can come up with something there. Um uh we talked to her about a uh a transfer station for garbage pickup to
get those garbage trucks off the roads out there. Um she's looking into some locations that possibly that they would uh allow us to do such. um she's uh going to get back to us whenever she can get some some things in front of us to to look at. So we had a very good
meeting. Am I leaving anything out, Mr. Suggs? No, sir. It was a very interesting day to be, you know, frank. And they were very uh very open and receptive to a lot of the conversation. Uh quite frankly, what what Commissioner Peliser and I both
heard was the limitations that are placed on them at the local level. I I was very I don't know let down as to the the very minimal funding that they get for roads and um if they're not taking out timber,
they really just don't have much money to to to comm commit to that. But she did say that uh the president had authorized them to up their timber production by 25% more than they normally do. She said that would increase their money flow some and
possibly allow for some uh improvements on roads out there. But that for the size of 388,000 acres I think is what she said. And wasn't it 140,000 is all she's allocated for road I believe what they said they I believe they said they
had 327 miles of service roads and they they're given like 140,000 a year to manage those. It's just it's pennies. It's absolute pennies. So, I mean, they're doing the best they can, but we did not get the door slammed in our face. Uh, I this is
the third set of Ranger people that I've dealt with out there, and by far this is the the better better group that we've ever encountered. The one thing that was a takeaway was we reached out during our conversation for them to send us some information
regarding potential interlocal agreements with the forest. uh once I receive that information back from the office uh we will look at it. We'll also come back to the to the commission for uh uh for further discussion about the process of if we want to move forward,
how we move forward and what our requirements are at that time. But I have asked them for the uh uh potential uh uh interlocal agreement paperwork so we can see because it has changed from what we were told I believe it was last
Wednesday. So once we received that, Mr. Palisier and I will get together then we'll bring it back to the board and see what our our how we want to uh progress forward. Mr. Suggs, they didn't they also tell us that they had no interlocal agreement with any of the three counties that are in the forest?
They did say they don't have any current current yeah up to date interlocals. Uh they do have I believe possibly an outdated uh from their terms uh with Marian County. Uh, one of the conversations that uh, they talked about
was the road that we share with Marian County about the possibility of us uh, doing some work for them, them doing some work for us and and my response was and and Mr. Peliser asked me or Commissioner Peliser asked me to make sure I chimed in where necessary was
that that would be a great opportunity. However, we're still back to square one where we don't have permission to be there and uh you know, so that is one of the things that we seriously need to work on if we're going to do anything is we got to get those those those agreements in place and uh you know, but
again, I will say the local folks was very appreciative of the opportunity uh to spend some time with Commissioner Peliser with it being in his district and our staff and explain to us a little bit more of that maybe things that we didn't understand, you know, in the in
and the process that they have to go through and the limitations that's been placed on them. One question that they cleared up for me that I thoroughly didn't understand was why Marian had pavement through part of the forest on on forest roads and we have very sandy dirty dirt roads. Um, if
school bus traffic is on those roads to carry kids, I think it's a safety issue and therefore they get pavement and we don't have that, I guess, happening on the Putinham side with school kids out there because I think everybody out there mostly is retired and and does not have school children um that travel that
way or get to school that way. So, that cleared up a a big thought in my mind of why that was that way. Um, I think that's something too that you can have a good conversation. uh Gina Sims with Congressman Fine's office had reached out just yesterday and said,
"What is it we can do to help?" So, I think that um she there they're new. The whole, you know, he's new, she's new, but I think that they have a desire to help, but they just need to know where they can help at. So, this might be a situation where you keep them in the loop on that and say, "Hey, this is
what's going on." because at some point they could be instrumental in getting any kind of agreements because we all know that it gets bottlenecked as it the further up up the chain it has to go and when you're dealing with the federal government that's the thing I think that's that's challenging for our residents that live out in the in the
forest is we don't have control and so we can't just go out and do something we just can't go out and take control of a piece of property that we don't own regarding um trash pickup regarding roads foods regarding the ferry, all of these things. We have some limitations
because um I remember years ago whenever they were just we had gotten money to to put the gravel down or the road down at at the ferry landing and we could only go so far because federal government said you can't you can't go any further. This is our property. It's not yours. And so that's the challenge that we face
on that. But I think Congressman Fine's office might be very helpful in moving forward if you'll just keep that in mind. Commissioner Alexander. Yes, ma'am. And like you said, I always do it, but there uh you get excited about, you know, the presentations from the youth today. And
there was there was something else that I got pretty excited about yesterday. Um I'd like to to thank Mr. Suggs. He kind of took me on a treasure hunt yesterday regarding our um our vacant properties that are, you know, inclusive of this building. Um you I would I would like to
ask um for some help from you guys. there is plenty of plenty of space and um veteran services seems quite constrained in their current location and um I just I'd like to ask for some
help them and maybe look at relocating them where they've got an opportunity to have their own conference room, you know, handicapped accessible bathrooms, private meeting rooms where they can have those tough discussions with some of our veterans and and more security
honestly because there there there are some issues sometimes with those folks and they need that security and I think that where they're housed currently is is is not acceptable. Um especially for you know our debt to them for for this nation and I think we should provide
them with a a proper space for them to meet and conduct business. So I want to ask for you guys help and u move that along as quickly as we can. Absolutely. Um, I brought that forward meeting or so ago and they are they are very constrained
and we do have the room. That's the beauty of it. We don't have to build anything. We've we've go in and remodel and update and upgrade and and certainly can put them in some much better facility than what they're in now. So, I I agree with Commissioner Alexander 110%. We've got the room, we've got the money, and they deserve it.
Yep. Sounds like um Are one of you taking the lead on that? Is that you? I know you had mentioned it before. Yeah. Okay. Um that's fine. just bring it back and let us know what the request is because there obviously there'll be some financial implications with that. So, we just need to figure out what that is.
Um, all right, moving on to commissioner comments. Um, Commissioner Newold, thank you. Um, I guess I'll run in in reverse order just so I don't forget a few of these. The veteran services is definitely a space we need to to look into. We've we know now that we have one
of the most robust veteran services programs in the state. um they're a big asset to the community and we've got the space within this facility um that does open up maybe a little greater can of worms. We have a lot of space in this facility that I think is being
underutilized and and while veteran services ought to be tackled first, I think we need to to look at the rest of that space as we move forward as well. Um Commissioner Harvey, congratulations again on the second vice president um election win. that Florida Association
of Counties um program that we all were fortunate enough to attend a week or so ago was a great program. My first time there um all I've known for Association of Counties as being as a somebody who fills your mailbox up with uh with with
tons of information, but it was really neat to to meet those folks in person to see what that association does for us. And we're fortunate uh that Larry will be leading that organization in the future. He's he's worked with that group for a long long time and that's going to
be an asset for our county. So So thank you for that, Larry. Um I appreciate the opportunity to move that uh RV component to get a little more focus in that workshop. you know, that one is it's a big can of worms and it's a kind of a balance between, you
know, property rights and and um you know, keeping our community clean and neat and safe and that one's a little tougher to skin. I'm glad we're going to get some more focus. Um Fort Gates Ferry, it's nice to hear maybe a little
bit of progress at least. Um you know, open communication. Um, District One is on the east side of that little, if you call it a corridor. Um, the community on the east side is is behind the the opening up and the restoration of that
ferry. Not just the old Lee, but the community in general there. Um, as a matter of fact, there are some folks that would be willing to, you know, participate financially in a small way. So, there's there's some buy in on on
the east side. and uh hopefully over time we'll restore that to uh something special for Putham County. That is really all I have. Thank you. All right, Commissioner Harvey, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. I do want to
thank our commission here and our staff. I want to thank Senator Leak and Representative Sap for all the work they did on Rodman. um you know it's a local issue, local decision and that's where I stand at it and it's home rule to me and
um it's our water in our environment and we should be a part of that conversation when that comes about. But want to thank everybody for standing tall and standing strong on that issue. Also want to remind you if you look in your packet today you'll see some of the road
prices, dirt to pave. Um, I just want to say thanks to our public works and to our administration, especially our administrator, Mr. Suggs, for putting those pieces together. We are seeing prices come down, which is a good thing.
It's a kind of a double-edged sword. Um, but it makes us um more affordable to start looking at more dirt to pave or other options that we can do. Um, road prices came down very significantly.
100,000 150,000 and um you know we put roads out there and my high group of roads I chose the highest bidder was 1.1 million but they came in right under 400,000 was the lowest bidder the next bidder was about 30,000 higher so you
know you can't you never know till we go out to bid what's going to what we're going to look at there also want to say if you notice the revival tents coming up um the signs are on the road so we're going to have revival out here in the in the grass area. Pastor Ken Elliott
approached us a while back um about doing that. So, the old grass area out front will have that revival tent going on. And also want to say anytime anytime that we can promote Putnham County. Clerk Reynolds, you're vice president of
the clerk's association. So, you'll be representing Putnham County and they'll be asking you where Putham County is and you'll be able to tell them because there's 67 other counties out there. Um, and I'll be able to tell and we'll be able to move Putnham County forward and
it's a great opportunity for us to be in those leadership positions to do that. Um, because like I always said, if you're not telling the story, somebody else is and it might not be the story you want to be told. Commissioner Palier, I want to thank you for the hard work in the forest. You
know, my stepmother lives out there and um the exforest ranger could have cared less what Putnham County said and he stood right over there and said it. I'll never forget that. The sad part is that these forests, what they call, he called
service roads or service access, they're roads and people live there. And if you didn't want them to live there, then buy everybody out and have a closed forest. But they didn't do that. And so we've got to be dealt with the cards that were dealt with. And I appreciate all that
moving forward. And um I just look forward to the to the future of Putnham County and the things that all of us are pushing forward in our own respect and pushing together collaboratively as a commission. So thank you, Madam Chair. That is my remarks.
Thank you. Um, I appreciate everyone today. I appreciate the presenters that we had today. Um, it was nice to see um the recognition that was given to some local young people. Um, always very encouraging to see that we do have a
bright future um in Putnham County with our youth. And so that's exciting. Um, as we move forward, we will have some upcoming budget uh meetings. Julian, have we set those dates yet? As with tradition, your next meeting
will have a 505 where you'll have your maximum millage and your tenative balance budget. And then the first and second meeting both in September, your regularly scheduled Tuesdays, will both have a 505 for your first and second public hearing of the formal budget.
Okay. All right. So, if uh commissioners haven't done so, please make sure you're getting with um our budget officer, Julian Young, to go over numbers and make sure you understand whenever we have our first meeting. Um be prepared for that discussion. I feel like we're going to have a very tight budget year.
Um and we'll have some tough decisions to make, but we'll get through it like we do everything else. And um but just keep that in mind as we go forward. We we're coming into budget season. um want to thank everyone for attending the Florida Association of Counties and
going through your uh ethics training and all the other courses that um helps us become better commissioners as we move forward. And again, congratulations to uh Commissioner Harvey. And um for representing our community and representing the Florida Association of
Counties. We're excited for you. And um I was on vacation last week. I took a trip to Alaska and uh Vice Chair had to set in for me, Commissioner Harvey. and I appreciate that and um all your hard work while I was out that we get to go to on vacation once a year and that was
our annual vacation. So anyway, we had a great trip and I'm glad to be back and getting back into the the work of the people. So with that, that's all I have. This meeting is ajourned.