##VIDEO ID:i6rCfRoqfZk## good morning good morning if we can have everyone take their seats to please welcome to the putham County Board of County Commissioners regular um meeting today is Tuesday January 14th and it's 9:00 a.m. we'll ask Ricky Bobby to give our invocation and our Pledge of Allegiance will be by commissioner Harvey please rise if you're able to do so Madam commissioner or Madam uh chair and uh Board of Commissioners newly elected congratulations and thank you for allowing us to to do this here today to be here as we start a new year happy New Year congratulations again in uh the book of Timothy chapter 2 verse 2 it says of it says that uh therefore I exhort first first of all that all supplications prayers intercessions giving of thanks are made for all men for kings and all who all who are in Authority that we may lead quiet and peaceful lives and godliness and reverence for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God and I thank you for allowing us to do this will you join me in prayer Our most gracious and Heavenly fathers we do come to you today Father we do submit petitions to you of thanks and gratitude as we launch into a new year in this County Commission I ask father that you have your hand upon them upon their families I ask father that uh that each and every person here that submits a petition I ask they I ask that they do so in grace that we continue to exhibit mercy and goodness to each other that we exhibit the fruit of the spirit that we do so in godliness and reverence father thank you for those elected here that are that are stepping out in service to others and I ask that you continue to guide them throughout the year for it's in your holy precious name that I pray amen amen join me in the pledge Al to flag of the United States of America and to the nation indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you at this time we'll recess the bocc meeting and convene the Port Authority meeting oh I'm sorry let me back up uh we need approval for the minutes of the regularly Board of County Commission meeting chair I move approval of the minutes stated in our packet for the commission regular meeting November 26 2024 second I have a a motion in a second all in favor say I I I motion passes um Port Authority um minutes have a Port Authority minutes for the regular meeting November 12th and November 26th Madam chair I move approval on the Port Authority minutes November 12th and November 26th as stated in our agenda second second have a motion and second all in favor say I I I motion passes do we have any public comment on Port Authority items only Port Authority items only seeing none we'll close that um General discussion I believe we have Sam Sullivan uh is going to discuss has a has a presentation for us real quick you have something good morning Sam suvan Port manager grants projects legislative affairs coordinator I'm here before you and my capacity as Port manager okay uh wanted to bring up a present discuss item that uh Port staff has been working on for 12 months now and that is the uh creation of a port logo uh any port any business requires a logo if you do see a something like a Chevrolet you know what kind of car it is uh you see a shell up up on the S big stand you know that's a gas station we are going to be developing something inhouse well in County I should say uh to uh represent our Port uh we are going to have a uh Port logo uh contest open to all students grades 7 through 12 from putham County whether they're in the school board homeschooled or in a private school like panal uh we have been in discussions with uh members from the school board and of panal academy uh we still have a few little miny details to iron out but those will be iron out in the next couple of days um we know that the school board is meeting with the principals uh next week and we will have that information all for them by that time uh but just to give you a quick glimpse of what we're looking for um besides the age range that we already mentioned uh we're looking for them to develop a memorable Timeless unique distinctive simple scalable and adaptable logo that we can use for our Port um some of the uh I won't spare you all the logistics artistic Logistics and all that but it would have to be handdrawn or digitally created no AI submissions will be aced accepted uh we but uh one of the things that uh to motivate our students to uh enter the contest is there will be monetary prizes uh first these prizes will be split 5050 between the student and their school of attendance so if it's homeschool I guess the parents get the money uh first prize will be, 1500 750 each second price 1,500 each and third place will be uh five um 250 uh 500 250 each sorry my math is not good I'm so working on my coffee um and uh thanks to efforts by uh Miss Laura pavis from the chamber uh we were able to secure this money which was being generously donated by our former state representative The Honorable Bobby Payne thank you Mr Payne uh the uh submissions will need be required to be submitted electronically by April 28th uh we will be providing some um I guess you'd call it technical assistance until the end of March so that if they have questions so that we can help them with uh their foundations and that's about it unless you want me to get into the electronic and technical details of it no sir I think that's great I'm excited for that is there any comments from the board all right very good thank you for your presentation is there any discussion from the board regarding Port Authority items all right hearing none we'll move into our regularly convened meeting recess the port authority and reconvene the BCC first up we have the rezoning Pud 23-7 well he's get getting ready for those in the audience who wish to speak today please um fill out a speaker card it's a blue card in the back and turn it into our clerks please good morning for the record Jennifer gasel planning and development services case number is PUD 23-00 00007 Rob and Margaret Mara are resting are requesting a zoning map Amendment from commercial neighborhood C1 to planned unit development PUD on a 2.8 acre parcel located at 130 Smith Lane in Crescent City to reestablish the Fish Camp historically located on site historically this parcel was a fish camp on Crescent Lake dating back to 1975 putam County property tax appraiser shows an existing 21 total metered pads with private water and private septic connections one res resents in one retail store the property owners intend to develop 15 of the existing pads build a new owner's residence and Retail Store while adding additional accessory structures such as a bath house snack bar laundry room storage shed cover Pavilion and a storage area for trucks and boats their proposed use is a decrease in intensity from what previously occupied the lands your aerial view zoning future land use this is the original site plan from 1975 and the proposed site plan the property does not meet the requirements set forth by the comprehensive plan to remain as commercial neighborhood C1 however the rural residential future land use category would allow a fish camp minus an owner residence the private RightWay does not mean meet the locational requirement for an overnight Recreational Park in an effort to address this fact the applicant included a roadway maintenance and Improvement claws to the accompanying development agreement which states 130 Smith Lane owners are currently maintaining Smith Lane from roadway n to the pave connector roadway at Paradise Shores Road the property owners of 130 Smith Lane Mara will agree to maintain the roadway with the approval of the Pud and paay Smith Lane within five years of the approval this agreement will be contingent on the individual acceptance of each property owner who owns the roadway Center Line with a 15t rightaway allowance due to the nature of the request and the fact that the commercial developments are traditionally located on a on paved local roadways or Highway roadway classifications staff suggest that the applicant provides some guarantee that Smith will be maintained and improved in a manner that would ensure other property owners would not be negatively impacted by the development if approved this roadway maintenance and Improvement will requirement will be part of the ordinance and enforceable Mr Mara has received 15 of the 20 property owners that currently own property on Smith Lane including himself based on these findings staff has to recommend denial of the request to amend the zoning map from commercial neighborhood C1 to plan unit development PUD because the proposed use is accessed by a private unpaved local Road and fails to meet the acreage requirement for the overnight recreation parks despite the fact that the applicant proposes to pave the road within 5 years of approval and LDC section 45- 223c permits waivers from the Land Development code the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the zoning application at the scheduled public hearing on December 133 2023 questions are there any questions from the board commissioner Harvey thank you madam chair Jennifer could you go back to the to the map that shows the um Ingress and egress the road the private road I remember a year ago when this started um when we had this meeting we can't we can't allow something on something we don't know and and that was the big deal there was we don't own the road and my understanding is some of the neighbors don't want that to happen 15 out of 20 said yes but there's still five one of the worst experiences my career was of the commissioner was trying to take a private road to public when the people that started it did not want it to be well they wanted it to be public until they found out they couldn't ride their four-wheeler on and then they ripped up the paperwork and went home so tell me how would the this partial where it says the orange partial line how would they get to this piece of property how would the RVs access it yes through Down Smith Road through Smith Road which he is proposing to pave and he's got 75% of the signatures required the question I have for you and and you might not be able to answer this legal might have to do it we're talking about the Shaded in area to the north of that cuat correct correct and they come off of there's two c South the south of that cite I believe it's the orange it's the orange the orange the orange outline the orange encircled yes it's the larger piece with the Cove in it okay M Madam chair may you may I have a little leverage a little latitude here yeah Mr newble do you know more about this area than I do I I am pretty familiar with it it was when I was a younger it was an active Fish Camp um so did they drive down that paved road that unpaved road and turn into their property no there there are two red lines one to the south of the the the area that's denoted in Orange okay and then one that is almost bisects that property runs dead ends into it um there are homes on either side of that private road okay um it's currently I think it's Lime Rock capped a little pitted it's a generally lowish area um my only concern with it is is storm water and and how how that will be um addressed in the scheme of things well I guess my big concern is we don't own it it's private and now we're going to have a and I I realize in 1975 it was a fish camp I get that um but a lot of things have changed and people have moved in and they're maintaining their own road we don't own it and now that road is going to get a lot more usage on there if we continue this so I'm torn I really am as a commissioner wanting Economic Development but also private property rights of people who sometimes don't want that road turned over to the county they want to keep them private and they don't want a Speedway and they don't want things done and that's the end of my comments thank you madam chair commissioner newold um it's my understanding it would remain a private road we wouldn't take it into our maintenance um but it it it would be I guess some people might look at it as an improvement Maybe 75% of them and the other 25% might look at it as a nuisance um anyway but I I think it would remain private if I'm not mistaken thank you um commissioner paler just for clarification the gray shaded area further I guess that'd be to the north what's the significance of that maybe it's something wrong on the map I don't know but mine is yeah you see what I'm talking I do that's what I was it may be an easement I think that is a um easement for a Land Conservancy that particular piece of property I know one of those two north of it were okay so we're definitely talking about the stuff that's within the orange circle yes or orange Square what rectangle is that um Mr Grimes is that the Conservancy piece in the gray that shaded there you and I discussed that yesterday which page of your pack you looking at we're actually looking at the screen that's dis I thought that was visible to you guys okay I believe that's the one you told me was in a Conservancy or maybe it's just north of that piece but that was why it was shaded yes sir that is correct that's the piece that's owned by the Florida nature conserv okay thank you so there's no other significance significance of it than that um uh well is that the one that the zoom give me just one second let me let me not sure that's the exact parcel find that's Mr R um commissioner P were you're done yes while they're looking at that yeah um commissioner Alexander you're up thank you um just from my experience um finding campgrounds for myself and my kids and uh an actual Marina they're getting fewer and fewer to find throughout the State of Florida a lot of in St John's County flagor County they're all being bought up by developers and condos are being put in and it's limiting the access to the common folk where you can't take a camper they you know if you don't own a multi-million dollar condo you can't get in there and access these properties and they're all being bought up so it it would be nice to have other options if you go to try and find a campsite you know anywhere in Florida you're looking at a six-month window or six-month reservation um so I don't know it sounds like you've got 75% of the voters on the street um I guess the property owner is here I'd like to find out kind of where he's at in the negotiations and the permission from the other uh five Property Owners if they're on the fence he hasn't been able to communicate with them um and what their thoughts were yes sir we're we're in the question um with the staff right now is there any other questions from go ahead commissioner Harvey thank you madam chair Mr attorney Rich Commando I have a question for you um a private road even though we have an easement the people own out to the center of that road or they own something of that road correct yes so I understand the 7525 I I get that fully but our job is also look at the 25% of the people that did not sign for this to take place and I'm concerned that the fact that we're going if we move forward with a yay on this that we're going to hurt those people's enjoyment of life so my question to you is can we even do that on a private road that the county really doesn't have any any dog in the hunt per se there's criteria that you have to make findings for as to whether or not you should allow what the applicants requesting and the change in resoning there's many factors that I would imagine you're going to consider considering that decision so but can you yes I mean you can make the zoning decision but we make a zoning decision it's going to put um burden on a road that we don't own that that's part of what you would consider thank you sir thank you madam chair any more questions for staff all right this is a public hearing if anybody would like to speak on this subject um please come to the podium for or against do we have any cards thank you Andy Andy bruette welcome to the 25% good good morning sir good morning um please say your name and address for the record uh I'm Andy bruat this is my wife Rosalie hi we're 123 125 and 129 Smith Lane okay thank you um here we go again uh during the last public hearing for the same proposal Mr Mara referred to me as an ongoing problem and that I was confused about what my rights were when I asked about my opposition to Paving the road he said he would pave around me and when the building and Planning Commission told him that the 20 land owners that have deed access to the boat ramp should be given a key to his illegal gate his response was it's my own land I've been told by put County that this is a civil matter and that they wouldn't get involved the same people that have now tolerated the 396 ft of the shared ement and the shared boat ramp to be blocked for three years now making a mockery of the deeds in the lawsuit that protects them and I'm referring to Putman County court records book 399 Pages 1743 through 47 in 1981 Bill and Rita Stanley the owners of the Fish Camp took the residence of Smith Lane to court in an attempt to overthrow the deeds and seize control of who uses the outh the ramp and when they claim that the residents of Smith Lane impeded their business but not allowing trucks trailers and boats to be parked on the edge of their properties the judge not only ruled in favor of the 20 Deeds which clearly State free access to boat ramp located at the end of the road edge of Lake Crescent but went on to say the entire EAS which spans from Paradise Shores road to the Waterfront was there for the residents of Smith Lane present future heirs and guests to benefit and enjoy he concluded by saying that anyone without a valid reason for violating this core order would be subject to face a judge and Mark me that is soon to happen Mr Mara has very little regard for the residents of Smith Lane and he'll have even less if he's given these permits furthermore 130 Smith Lane does not meet the minimum zoning requirements to go from a Class C to a PUD and asking to do so is just plain juvenile it doesn't have the 5 acre minimum and it's is completely landlocked meaning that a business cannot turn a profit on a road that is not privately owned is not is shared or not you know or is is privately owned shared or not funded using taxpayer money and the idea of letting imp pay the road may sound good to 75% of the residents but I learned from past experience that once you give an individual control of something they start telling you what you can and cannot do with it in conclusion I've lived on Smith Lane for more than six years now and own three properties along at shared easement and shared boat ramp I'm tired of being pushed around by a newbie who thinks he can bend the rules or just ignore them all together if putam County will not uphold the laws and regulations on this I'll go as high as my congressman as well as the judge thank you thank you for your comments is there anybody else who would like to speak against this project all right is the applicant here and would like to speak good morning Madame chair my name is Robert marra um as the uh owner of 130 Smith Lane obviously I'm here to maybe rebut some of that um well I'm just going to go right back to the beginning um starting with the with the property before I even proposed anything uh we put up a a construction fence so I could do some repairs to the property given the the the magnitude of overgrowth and everything that was being done on the property uh state law my insurance company determined that I put up a fence it was from that time on that Mr Boule and his wife had aggressively you may put it I like how he turned how uh I'm the guy who's who's making a mockery of all of the all of this excuse me for my cold the the fence around the property is temporary there is a gate put up um we did do work to the bulkheads Ander the peers and a lot of cleaning of the property overgrowth uh removal of trailer loads of debris that have been dumped down there over time so that now has been cleaned up well but with the fence going up um it was very aggressive in his nature that I could not put up a fence I could not block my roadway I could not secure my property and which I thought rather odd and I did tell him I said send me a letter and we'll address it I have never received a letter to address and at such time he has been you know around the neighborhood doing whatever he thinks he has to do to to you know deny the project uh at this point I have no zoning at all for the property so my goal was to obviously put up a few campers have my residence on site you know maintain the roadway for the neighborhood do everything that was very proactive um I have out of the um the requests that I did go around town with or up and down the street the few people that didn't sign were one either never responded to the letter sent or just didn't understand they understood they had no problem with the project they had no problem with the road maintenance they just didn't want to sign which I understand so that being said uh I never confronted The Bays with my goal and I said I would pave around him because he he's um very to talk to okay so I just left him as listed as I call with prejudice I'm not going to argue with him I'm not going to get into it with him it's not what I'm all about you know my goal was to was to you know maintain the road do something nice bring it back to what it used to be all the neighbors used to talk about going down to the Fish Camp hanging out going fishing simple it's all I want to do everything's temporary gates are temporary fence are temporary so so I got a question with that so your gate and and fence has been up for 3 years yes but it's temporary H it's temporary well it's it's it's deemed right now under construction it's I don't have a zoning I gotcha okay now the other thing with the RightWay is that if anybody can come down onto the property to use the said RightWay or launch a boat at a boat ramp that's probably about 70 years old not really in good condition anything larger than a 17 18t boat probably going to have a tough time you'll be in the mud so is that language truly in their deed that it says that they have access to the to to the boat ramp they do have access to the boat ramp okay and from what I understood from the original document that it was do the boat ramp you you don't have tie up services you don't you can't leave your truck and trailer on the property everything has to be returned to your residence Okay so I have no problem with that somebody wants to bring a kayak down small boat never had a problem I've had neighbors use the boat ramp but small boat is your your your limitations okay so I also you know um you know what's to say that I have to maintain a boat ramp what if I don't want a boat ramp on the property anymore I mean I'm not your deed expert I'm just asking the questions yes and the gate is locked all my equipment my valuables are on the property that is to secure what I have okay understood um commissioner uh Alexander you recognized thank you madam chair my question to you um is who's been maintaining the boat ramp same boat ramp that's been there for as long as I can remember so I don't I don't maintain it I don't what I'm asking is is do the other residents have any skin in the game do they use the bootramp no one's used the boat ramp since I've been there like I said except for so have you few people have requested to use it to launch small boats okay and is there a way to cordon off the boat ramp specifically from your property by extending your fence to appease the neighbors goes right down the middle so my roadway on my land which is paved dead ends at the boat ramp which is right in the middle of the property I think I see that that's the dirt road that goes to The Cove there I was just trying to see if there was a solution so that the the the 5 or the 25% there might be some way to satisfy them where they have unimpeded access to the boat ramp if that's what the true issue is so yes yes that's and again everything that's there now their their form Gates and their wire fencing it's temporary but um you know they uh they had words with me on one occasion which was rather uncomfortable um that told me that I could not put up a fence I could not put up a gate and I did explain to them that it's still private property with as he explained it to me we have rights too I said you don't have rights too there is a right away you know so they do not own it and if people are going to use it everybody is also going to have to be duly we're going to have to be duly insured I can't have people coming down falling on the boat ramp and yeah and that's kind of where I'm going with it you know you you everybody wants to be good neighbors and get along so we what I would like to see is some type of solution to help where the the neighbors that feel like they are entitled and they are entitled by deed to have access to that during the construction to make that more palatable to them so you're not faced with the push back so I've I've been on site for yeah I understand but we're still we're still here working on this three years later so I would like to see if we can find some type of resolution so you a can move forward and B your neighbors can be satisfied absolutely that's the master plan so um I don't know can we schedule a meeting where they could get together and see what the goal is of the neighbors if there's some solution or do we need to make a decision on this today well this has been um come before us before so okay well it's my third meeting so yes sir I understand this is actually four four years you know I don't want to to put the county at at risk of litigation because you know we're allowing something that's not legally viable so I guess that would be a question for Mr Commando as far as the points that Mr Harvey brought up I would love to see the project move forward but again I'm not going to put the county in danger so that so do you have a question for Mr Commando which what are your thoughts on this you have to balance as policy makers a number of different kind of competing information that's provided to you the staff recommendation is for denial because it doesn't meet your code I don't know what was um heard before the uh planning and zoning committee as far as kind of what findings they made but then you take that information and then you have to make a decision as to whether or not you believe it meets the your code as far as an application to change the re an application to change the zoning or a resoning application so um it it could expose the county to liability if you make it decision that is contrary to your code okay thank you commissioner Harvey thank you Madame chair Mr Mara thank you again for coming today and this is the second time we've you've heard my concerns about the 25% of the people who didn't um I was in the insurance business for a long time and believe me I understand that we want a fence in a gate what concerns me is where this property is located and where this boat ramp is down the center of your property that requirement from an insurance company if we approve this is going to get more stringent not less stringent let me assure you of that I have major concerns that yeah maybe they didn't spell out that you could you couldn't stand on the shore and hold the boat but I think that's implied when you launch a boat I don't mean that ugly I just think that's implied that you can't expect the boat to go off out into the to the lake or the river and then call itself back home that's that's ludicrous to my opinion um and I don't think you meant it that way but again I have to fall down on the fact that this is a private road this is not owned by the county correct we can't enforce things to happen on a private road that we don't have ownership on be like me coming on your property and saying I want you to do this this and that and you go no I've got property rights you just said that standing there this commissioner is going to fall down on the fact that it doesn't not remet it does not meet our comprehensive plan and our development plan review and staff recommended denial so I'm going to fall down on that today but I would encourage you to find a solution in the future and I don't know what that solution could be but this is an odd piece of property only heard heard about this one time in my career sitting up here and it's the same piece that's come before me now twice doesn't happen all over the county like that it doesn't but maybe it was intended for it to be two different Lots on the north and south side of that access I don't know that answer but it sure is a mess down there and but us creating more traffic and more and it would be beautiful I mean I would I would tell you having a place down there on the lake with RV lots would be beautiful but we have no amenities down there we don't have sewer we don't have water we have certain we have lots of limitations and you have a piece of property cut in half with people who now we can't enforce deeded access we can't afford Deeds we can't enforce Deeds we can't do anything in that nature but I think we'd just be exasperating the situation if we added more to it thank you Mr Mar thank you madam chair um thank you I got a question for staff and I'll recognize you Mr commissioner palace here um so just for clarity what if if this is denied today what can they do with their property he has a few options um it would be allowed under the comprehensive plan the future land use to be a fish camp minus the owner's residence okay um he could reone residential to BU build his residence and get rid of the Fish Camp okay um I don't know what responsibil that puts on him to maintain the boat ramp for everybody else I know that that would be his issue or not um so he's got a few different avenues that he could go but as of right now something's got to happen with it it can't remain C1 okay all right commissioner palis you recognized yes I had a couple questions um and maybe I misunderstood something there when the five uh residents or five Property Owners um when I heard the gentleman up here and I can't remember his name I'm sorry um he named off three property um is that he owns okay is that three of the five that he does not have the signature on is that how that's were is there he I did not acquire a signature he's saying if there's five people who didn't who did not sign that it did not sign I did not approach him just is three of those five yes okay there's technically just well I'm sorry he'd be one I didn't I didn't count all three proper only count others okay go ahead I guess I do you know the answer to that Jennifer is it different than I assumed that he was three of the five okay um but he's saying he's one of the four I assume there was 20 property owner individual Property Owners on that road he's saying one of trying to remember how we broke it down but I think it was I don't know if I considered that one or three I know there was two non- returns we we can go into that a little later my other question was um if I understood you're right that everybody along that road has an access to that ramp that that they can come in and launch their boat and just about everybody correct okay and then I heard you say it's behind a locked gate yes that's not working well under Florida state law it is under construction okay the when we did the bulkhead repairs okay and um you know the new electrical services and Florida Power and Light will be down there they're going to be changing the poles down there too so um that's on them but it was as I deemed it to be a construction site until until I had a direction of where to go so when the construction site this locked gate is going to be done away with when the construction is completed yes okay that's correct and my other question or concern was you talked about Paving the road is that correct that is correct the displacement of that water coming off that road how's that going to affect the neighbors and those people up and down it well most of these swes um I have been maintaining we've been digging them out we've been helping the other neighbors get the the grading proper um some of the houses are extremely low in comparison to the the road height so we've been cutting down the swes for the road to properly drain now the road does need of course another another cap put on it to get it level again so I've been you know backing off until I can get a direction on which way we're going here but um all the the road maintenance the road grer I have that I usually make passes up and down the street to to keep it level but it's it's in definite need of uh additional uh you know sand clay mix to elevate it some more but those swells um all the way down through my property all the piping everything is in perfect running condition the water flows extremely well it sheds off the roadway properly or as fast as it can so most of that's been addressed I've taken care of most of that on the roadway I would think there need to be some engineering um done uh to evaluate that you know when it hits that hard surface there's a lot more water it doesn't have a chance to percolate it's got to go somewhere and into the the swes North and South right okay but can it process it in a heavy rainstorm that we have here um oh yes and it has been yeah and and be done with I'd like to see some you know so my my all of that water comes down to the uh end of the street right through the middle of my property so that drainage ditch uh and the 22-in pipes are installed under the roadway and that water will flow that pipe will be 80% and running continuously right to the lake uh we've taken to one section down towards the lake and actually um cut out a a reservoir area to actually slow the water flow down a little bit let pool up a little bit so the water naturally wants to flow toward the river yes okay yes and what overflows on the roadway goes right down the boat ramp and what doesn't go down the boat ramp is into the my main Swale to the lake y thank you U commissioner Alexander do you have a question for the applicant actually there can you hear me now yes quick question for staff um if he doesn't move forward with the um or if it doesn't pass as an RV park can this be sold off and reson for condos anything's possible I mean um just asking the the restriction on the road being unpaved is kind of RV park specific I mean there's something saying that that it couldn't that that case couldn't be presented by somebody else and commissioner that any type of change like that would have to come back before you it couldn't happen just by right right okay I don't know that condos would necessarily because there's not public water or sewer so I mean there would be that restriction on the density that could be allowed out there but thank you Mr Mah thank you thank you very much all right it's back to the board what's your pleasure Madam chair I moved that we uphold the staff recommendation and deny this application we have a motion on the floor there a second I believe I'm going to Second That seconded by commissioner palir all in favor say I I I all opposed n n n we have three to two vote motion to deny passes type one subdivision I'm going on to Beverly's Crossing resolution 2025 002 thank you madam chair uh this is as you mentioned PSA 400002 for MD Smith and Suns the Beverly Crossing type 1 subdivision uh as mentioned before the location is at uh the intersection of East pineal Road and pineal Church Road in Paca uh the 911 addresses will be assigned to each of the proposed Lots uh once the final plat is approved pan pan sorry thank you uh the subject parcel is approximately 14.4 ACR in size with a future land use of urban Reserve uh the residential density requirement is two units per acre due to the lack of centralized water Andor sanitary sewer uh this is met by as the proposed density is 1.1 units per acre uh the property was rezoned to residential one via 202-31 all the proposed Lots will be of sufficient size to meet the zoning density requirements uh here you can see the aerial of the property the zoning the future land use and of course finally the plat all its many pages the lands affected by the plat are within the urban Reserve future land use category are adjacent to and accessed by a paved Road and are not within the military restriction operation Zone the plat aderes to all regulations for its current zoning District as well as regulations for the future land use category uh the request is consistent with the goals objectives and policies of putam County comprehensive plan is compatible with the surrounding zoning and uses and is consistent with the requirements of the putham County Land Development code staff recommends approval for the requests for the preliminary and final plat approval for the plat of the Beverly's Crossing subdivision resulting in a 16 lot uh subdivision in their December 11th 2024 meeting the putam county uh Planning Commission voted unanimous approval for the request fore preliminary and final plat approval for the Beverly Crossing subdivision resulting in a 16 lot residential subdivision any questions are there any questions for staff commissioner Harvey thank you madam chair um I do have a question can you go back to the slide didn't you say that one house per acre uh yes sir it is one house per parcel the total density would be 1.1 units per acre just because it isn't uh it's 16 houses but it's 14 at 16 Parcels but it's approximately 14 acres okay so basically what you're asking for today is Lot 1 through 15 is going to be 75 Acres so 3/4 of an acre correct correct and lot 16 will be 1.52 so will be one lot out of 16 will be big and the rest of them will be small uh correct okay but that kind of flies in the face of our our ordinance correct because we're talking about one per acre the ordinance uh was for residential one zoning which has a minimum which has a zoning requirement of 1 half acre per parcel okay so it's a little bit better than our ordinance correct thank you that's all I have Madam chair all right any other Commissioners have comments commissioner U palis do you have questions um will access to all these homes be off of the penal Church Road yes sir every one of them yes sir commissioner Harvey thank you madam chair long following up on commissioner palace's just question will they all have individual uh driveways that are mandated off of that so we're going to have covers for 16 Lots going down there uh yes sir going to be a lot of coverts packing that road I mean I and the water that we just saw out there in that area okay thank you thank you madam chair okay all right this is a public hearing is there anybody who would like to speak for or against this item thank you Clerk I'm sorry I'm going to butcher your name is it FY fousy aaga Dr asaga yes please I just have questions about the layout large I'm sorry Dr I'm sorry I'm Dr FY El Saga and your address address is 248 penile Church Road thank you so I just have questions about the large Creek and the the pond that's on the lot is there uh I mean is that going to be filled in or is that I'm just I haven't actually seen the layout staff can you pull up the layout please I will have to defer to the applicant on this one uh they did not me make mention of it yet you don't have a layout uh I have the an aerial view would be fine I think that's the that's the uh I don't see a the uh can you zoom in a little bit or no that's not the way it works huh I don't see it I don't see a pond oh so where are you referring to the pond at um there's a kind of a there's a creek that runs behind my property and kind of originates there and there's a pond that drains into to that Creek um it would probably be I could show you on a map if we could pull we're all up here trying to touch the we monitor but it's not doing us any good is it there at the uh the end the bottom end of the property that little um I see a creek when you come off from the red Red Road on red line on the left that looks like a creek I'm not sure I think Mud Lake drains into a pond on the property the pond drains into a creek that's pretty extensive and there's a ravine that goes down behind my property in a decent sized Creek I'm just curious what happens with all that water flow yeah no we had serious issues with uh Mud Lake flooding in this last hurricane okay any other comments or questions we'll ask that to the appli when he comes another question um also pertains to the the drainage of Wastewater and sewage so I'm just curious how that's going to work um they would all be on septic is that correct so septic and well yes septic and well um I don't know if this is the appropriate place for these questions but I'm just curious what kind of septic system they're going to use cuz there's all new codes for you know these nutrient you know these these complicated nutrient systems because there's a pretty important Watershed that's that surrounds us that Big Creek that dumps into a swamp that dumps into the St John's so I'm just Madam chair may I take a second to address that please okay so uh well and septic permitting and regulations are monitored by the Florida Department of Health which has a seat at our development review commit committee table whenever this plat was reviewed prior to bringing it for public hearings um it's also important to note that uh within Florida Statutes it Min it mandates that the uh minimum lot size for New Lots that are serviced by well and septic are half an acre so the plat is adhering to and is in Greater in line with statutes uh because they're going to be a minimum 3/4 acre lots uh those septic systems um I believe are going to be the new ATU systems which are essentially miniature package plants they refine the affluent uh after it comes from the house before it goes into a drain field um to permeate into the ground as all of the other properties around the subdivision would do um I think that that might clarify for the well and septic or the the Wastewater sewer specific question yeah cuz my understanding is anything over 1.01 Acres you can use whatever kind of you know whatever meets code but there's a different code below that so that's that nutrient you know enhanced nutrient reducing system so you're saying that they are going to be using that system there is it's a a a specific septic system that is a private on-site septic system um but it has uh greater nutrient reduction capabilities than your standard um septic systems that were in place prior to I want to say July of 2022 okay well you're saying these these Lots would qualify for that and would have to do that because of their lot size they would have to use the uh the more efficient nutrient breakdown systems okay yeah my goal is not to obstruct the development I just uh I just want to make sure that this this water system that is behind my home is not going to be full of waste water you know yes sir I understand but so the only other question I have is pertaining to that pond and the and the flood and the water I'm just curious where all that water flows okay if that's going to be filled in or is that going to remain all right well we will ask okay thank you y thank you is the applicant available Madam chair just to kind of relieve some of his that that the Water Management District also has a seat at the DRC table um a lot of times they will come through and and if that pondering that was to be filled and that had to be through Water Management District permit that's nothing that County staff or anything would authorize so are there are there delineated Wetlands on this property uh there does appear to be the as mentioned before the Ravine that has the little like River going through it which constitutes uh Wetlands however uh as you can see in the I don't have one here uh they were insignificant enough that they would not be uh interfered with by any development as they are literally just that uh small stream and there is more than enough space on each parcel that it would be uh very easy for any development to happen with the minimum 25 fot buffer away from the uh Stream So the development is not happening where the um correct where this um in the future I'd like to see that overlaid if if you will with um the the actual ual development plan if we can overlay it with some kind of a wetland map or something like that I don't see a wet I see the flood zone the Wetland looks just like the flood zone I mean there you don't I don't see any difference in the mapping unless it's just because of the way it's color coded I don't know okay so we saying that it's they're saying that that there are no homes that will be built within that area okay okay well thank you appreciate it thank you is is there anybody else who'd like to speak before or against for or against not before for or against all right closing the public hearing any um is the applicant here is the applicant here would they like to speak no sir all right coming back to the board we'll close the public hearing what's the pleasure of the board I vot for approval of resolution 20252 we have a motion on the floor to approve resolution 20252 a second second we have a second any discussion all in favor say I I I I any opposed like signed motion passes thank you good morning again for the record general for cell Planning Development Services next Cas is Rez 24- 00000010 Thomas and Lai Leonard with agent Jennifer Wilson are requesting a zoning map Amendment from agriculture estate and R1 to residential 1 R1 on a 6.74 acre parcel located at 126 Lake Kom Point Road in perona park to make the lands consistent have reduced setbacks and uniform requirements the property owners would like to build a new residential single family home utilizing the requirements and regulations of the residential 1 R1 zoning designation according to the NWI Wetlands layer and the FEMA flood zone layer on the gis reference map the lands do appear to contain wetlands and are located within FEMA flood zone a which is a special flood Hazard area the AE zoning District maintains a front setback of 40 ft the sides and rear are 20 ft a required lot width of 150 ft and a lot area requirement of 43,560 ft the R1 zoning District maintains a front setback of 25 ft 10 ft on the sides and the rear I'm sorry 10 ft on the sides and 20 ft in the rear a required lot width of 100 ft and a lot area requirement of 15,000 square ft Waterfront setbacks for either zoning district is 50 ft and the vegetated Wetland buffer for either zoning district is a minimum of 25 ft should the applicant's request be approved the parcel will be eligible for building permits to construct a single family residence adhering to the regulations for the residential 1 R1 zoning District additional considerations may be requested by the property owner for approvals of variances or special use permits as needed your aerial view future land use [Music] zoning blood [Music] Zone [Music] Wetlands staff recommends approval of the request to amend the zoning map from agricultural State and residential 1 R1 to residential 1 R1 as the proposed amendment is consistent with the adopted goals objectives questions questions for staff commissioner Harvey thank you madam chair is there is there a homestead on this property now a homestead a home at all there is a home on there now yes okay will that be torn down and then rebuilt on I believe so but I'm going to defer to the applicant or the applican asan on that the reason I'm saying most of that property appears to be in the lake or in water of somewhat you know so even though it's 6 point something Acres there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of usable land there and that was my question was what was going to happen if there's already a homestead on the property I'm not sure if they would move like build it in the area that isn't affected by the wetlands um either way the whole property is in the flood zone so they would have to take those considerations into account when they do do their building which would be obviously regulated by the building department um as and the setbacks and for the Waterfront and the wetlands would be enforced by zoning when they were to present those thank you and they could also like I said um if they needed to request maybe a variance to get reduced setbacks reduced Waterfront setback mean that would be an Avenue that they could go as well thank you very much thank you madam chair uh Jennifer when we when we look at these um obviously uh to commissioner Harvey's point the majority of this property is underwater um it is while it's deeded that it's 6.74 do we look at what is usable acres is that part of what of our formula or is it simply what is deed it's I mean we we do take into account how much area is there um we're just trying to make the the lands more uniform I mean that's kind of the process it's split down the middle it's completely split zoning because it was two separate Parcels at one point in time okay thank you for saying that the requirements are more closely looked at when they would go through zoning approval for any new construction okay all right any other questions for staff is there anyone who would like to speak in favor this is a public hearing is there anybody who would like to speak in favor or against this project yes ma'am hi okay come on out just to answer a couple of your questions yes there is a home there this is a uh property that the owner has looked at for years he and his family have visited this area he grew up on this lake with his grandparents finally the lot became available and he had to have it there is a home there now his intent is to tear down that home and build a new one that he and his family for Generations will be able to use and enjoy we understand the Wetland he already has a FEMA flood certificate on on the property for the flood zone we're aware of the Wetland setbacks uh we're a civil engineer so we're representing him on that understand the buffers and everything but that's the intent of the rezoning is to make it uniform when he bought it it was two different zonings hopefully now with making it all residential he can we can kind of square up some of those setbacks and things okay are there any questions for the applicant all right thank you appreciate it all right last call for public comment all right closing the public hearing bring it back to the board what's the pleasure Madam chair I move that we approve rez2 24- z0010 Thomas and Lori Leonard U changing the zoning from a Estates to R1 to make it consistent with all the property there all right we have a motion on the floor is our second second second proper proper motion proper second any discussion all in favor say I I motion passes I know we have some people here that have a particular um subject that they want to speak about but we do have these things are time certain and they were advertised for time certain so we have to go through these first so I apologize that you're having to wait uh Public Works public hearing um request to vacate a portion of West Bay Street resolution 2025 d003 who's taking that I'll take that one yes ma'am um the request was put forth to you guys mve this to a public hearing to um approve the or deny the closing of a portion of West Bay Street there's not a active road in there at the current time the the landowner does own both sides of the um undeveloped roadway so uh We've checked with our department no Department had a use for the roadway so of course there's no roadway there it's just an easement it goes through this gentleman's property that owns both sides so we'd recommend approval of the um closure of that portion of East Bay Street and it doesn't look like it impedes anybody's action access in the area no ma'am there's a block on each side of it that they would normally use to access their homes and this is our second time seeing it yes ma'am your last time was just to approve to bring it to you guys as a public hearing and we're here today to do the finalization of it thank you this is a public hearing is there anybody would like to speak for or against this item thank you Miss Sharon Johnson please state your name and address for the record I'm Sharon Johnson I Live 205 Austin Ryan Drive in Kingson Georgia but I'm here to represent uh my father Nathaniel Harris yes he's the owner of the properties okay uh he lives at 121 North Beach Street in Palaca Florida okay okay he owns uh two duplexes that are off of West Bay Street they inter the West Bay Street intersects with Browning Avenue and also Sycamore Avenue which is not really shown on the map right now it's really woodsons um just want to go on the record to say that he needs the area between Browning Avenue and Sycamore Avenue to remain open so that his tenants will have access to their units one side of the units face Browning the other side face West Bay Street so we need to have that portion of West Bay Street to remain open so that the tenants can access their their Apartments uh Florida Power and Light can access the utilities uh the health department can go back and do their water testing at the pump house anything past Sycamore which is part of Mr Lewis's uh we're okay with that but we just want to go on record to say we need the area between brown and Avenue and Sycamore Avenue to remain open it looks like staff's trying to pull that up on a map right now it's actually trees there now it's not really a road there right now okay okay so how does that help with the access if there's if there's not a road there we just want to make sure he doesn't go past camore Avenue okay just go that's just that's a marking point she's not saying that that's usable road so it looks like Browning and Sycamore run at least north south on here yeah and what she's asking to keep open is the East West portion okay all right I'm thoroughly confused I'm way out in my field I'm sorry Sycamore yeah we don't have a sycamore identified I don't see a sycamore on my map all right this here yeah it's not coming up on GIS I'm sorry we have to yeah give us just a second I'll have to bring up to the podium yes yes ma'am 100% we're good I don't think so it doesn't look like based on our map that that's what he's trying he's trying to interfere with we just want to go on record to make sure that part stays open okay yes ma'am thank you thank you so Madam chair may I ask yes um any other question commissioner Harvey so thank you madam chair so you don't mind that this closing happens that piece that's between two properties that he owns so all right because I got thoroughly confused there just a second but I think we're all back on the same page now so you don't mind this being done you just don't want the anything else to be done right correct got okay good thank you thank you Miss Johnson Harry Lewis would you like your map back Mr Lewis thank you for sharing please state your name and address for the record my name is uh Perry Lewis and I um have the properties at 500 Browning Avenue and I have no intentions of um uh closing or disrupting or removing the trees along from Sycamore down to Browning Lane excuse me uh they're actually not even using that part of the 50ft roadway they're actually over on their lawn because there's so many trees there so they do have if they wanted to widen that roadway there they could but I don't want to interfere and I don't want to close that down whatsoever okay all right are there any questions for the applicant all right thank you Mr Lewis any other public comment all right coming back to the board Madame chair I move approval of resolution number 2025-the in Paca accordance in accordance with Section 33609 Florida statute closing and abandonment of Roads Authority in section 33612 Florida statute closing and abandonment of Roads termination of easement conveyance of fee thank you do we have a second you do a second I second by commissioner Palace any discussion all in favor say I I I any opposed like sign motion passes um we're going to be moving into our consent agenda this portion of the agenda is designed to allow citizens an opportunity to bring matters to the attention of the board it is not reasonable to expect that the board will engage in debate or deliberation about matters on which the board has received no prior information as part of the agenda please limit to three minutes public comment cards are conveniently placed in the 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 consent agenda items a through v um commissioner Alexander do you wish to pull any consent agenda items no ma'am I do not Mr paler I have none Mr newold I have none none Mr Harvey I have none ma'am and I have none either Madam chair I move approval for consent agenda items a through V second we have a motion of second is I supposed to call for a public comment before we did that I feel like I'm out of order on consent agenda items traditionally we do agenda but I don't think you had any uh based on the cards that were turned in all right I'll still ask I'll still ask publicly are there any um who would like to to speak on consent agenda items a through b all right hearing none we have a motion on the floor and a second all in favor say I I I any opposed like sign all right um I'm going to take a point of privilege and move the code enforcement down um we have new business to go to um Public Works height Road C repair morning uh Madam chair any questions I can answer for high road cross culbert repair Commissioners we need it yeah yeah I mean M Madam chairman yes thank you um you know been in this area most my life and I will tell you that this area needs to be fixed majorly we'll we'll debate the other ones but I believe this one's got to get fixed U there's only really one way in one way out in some cases so um this is part of our job is to make sure people have access on public roads we were uh we are in on a uh quote from Atlantic pipe services on fixing the culs uh to do a spincast to extend the life of those coverts and then that'll give us an idea what to do and what construction company to go for out to actually we probably have to go out to bid to fix the undermining of the covers as well and reestablish the head walls on that covert so we'll have a future cost when was the last time that was repaired do we know I don't have probably I don't ever remember it being done no but the pipe that feeds that cross cover um from 2 Mile Creek uh the flashing boards have failed and that pipe has dropped four feet which has caused the problem for it to undermine the entire Road and just for public record um if this is not repaired we we'll have citizens who cannot get into property this is a one one way in one way out road right right for commissioner Alexander you recognized thank you madam chair just for those watching at home can you just give them a brief overview of of what has occurred and what we're doing some people aren't aware so coming off of 2 Mile Creek to go towards the river it has to go under height Road there is a pipe that had the flashing boards that made a pond for a gentleman that has cattle out there those flashing boards failed which then caused the 48 in pipe to drop 4 feet the water then uh undermined the spillway that was on each side of the Cross covert and piped itself under uh the the spillway which has then created a void under the roadway and under the covers which you can already see on height Road there's a crack on one side where it has started to uh fail and so we need to do a flowable fill to fix that um and we've talked about a cost estimate until we actually remove one lane and dig down to where the void is it's hard to give you cost estimate because it might take three truck loads it might take 12 okay we just don't know how big that is but we do know that the void that has gone through is now coming out not in the creek on the other side it is coming out of the side of the ditch because it has just found its own way good okay I just I wanted to highlight the fact that our public works department was being proactive and taking action on something that could have been dangerous or detrimental because that could have failed at any time and one of our constituents could have had an accident there we could have lost it and they could have lost access to their home and you guys have taken the initiative through your engineering to take action on it before we had a the catastrophic and I appreciate commissioner pelis here we were just out doing a ride looking at things and we saw it and then he and I both saw it at the same time like uh oh yeah I just want to highlight that thank thank you commissioner p and so you're seeking recommendation for approval to move forward with locating construction companies for the flow fill repair correct all right is there anybody who'd like to speak for or against this item all right back to the board mam chair I propose we move forward and allow them to have the ability to go out and seek the approval for construction companies for flow fill repair second all right we have a motion and second any further discussion all in favor say I I I all right motion passes we're on to Public Works Rody Road Bridge demolition or repair um this is something that's been ongoing um we had to close this down off start sorry um we had to close this down because we receiving complaints from the citizens that it was um it was uh corroding basically and we went out and looked at it and it was and we have some good pictures in here and then that was was it April May of last year and so we took a vote at that time with the prior commission to um close it for about six months and see um whether or not we wanted to go forward or not and what kind of feedback we would get from the citizens I can tell you I I've gotten a few phone calls that of people who want it back open um and I've also received a few emails and comments of people who say that it cuts down uh the traffic and actually drug activity in the in the area um so it's actually in worse condition than it was I see that you added a photo here um on page 446 where yeah in December we went out just to check on things and the road has actually failed um there are two large potholes that have actually exposed the piping that goes underneath the bridge um and I mean I could stand in it almost up to my waist and one of the holes that has failed and eroded the so we made the right call by closing it down for sure um and what we have three options that are in front of you today uh commissioner Harvey thank you madam chair um when we let's just hypothetically say we're going to not fix this um are we going to dig those pipes up and dig the material up and let the creek Run free again that's one option is to remove it completely and reestablish Two Mile Creek um another option is if you want to just wait and leave the concrete barricades up and decide if you want to fix it later on down the road you can do that as well I'm going to be honest with you I think I think we need to make the decision today a permanent decision and um are we going to add a cold aack on both sides of that or just put a dead end or a turnaround or how do we address that or is anybody even because I'm I'm really all we've talked about is putting up uh guard rails instead of the concrete barricades just it's a better eye appeal than the concrete barricades because my my phone is not rung off the hook about this I've had one call since since we shut it down or but prior to shutting it down no one's called since that time and I do believe um I mean not all the roads in that area go across that Creek you know so only two of them if I'm not mistaken go across that Creek so we'll just have one access to cross it but it's a when we talk about a creek it's it's more than a creek I mean it when it's got water in it it's and it goes from there to the one we were just discussing yeah I know I know so it's it's always been you could park a school bus down in there and hardly see it if you wanted to so so the three options we have in front of us are replacement of The Crossing for an estimated cost of 750 slip lining of pipes for an estimated cost of 300,000 or elimination of crossing my question and commissioner um P I'll get to you in just a second um slip lining if we were to go down that how long would the life expectancy be if we slip lined it if we slipline it well if they can get the alignment back on the pipes that's the the question uh it can be slip lined if the if the pipes can be realigned properly when they do it uh if so you could probably get another 30 years out of it depending on what's going on underneath it okay and then reestablish the radway up top okay and so that your estimate you think would include reestablishing the roadway or is it simply for the slip lining no that's reestablish all right commissioner paler you recognized um I've only had one call about the uh Road since it's been shut down but my concern would I would like to have some input from Fire EMS and law enforcement as to does this affect them and they trying transaction of their business in that area I'd like to have some input from them before I think stepped out to um to take care of a citizen that was here however um we have had internal staff conversations and it did not have an impact to Emergency Services response at all okay all right is there are there any other questions for staff all right are there any public comments regarding this item this is the Rody Road Bridge demolition or repair all right hearing none it comes back to the board yes Madam chair I'm real big on saving if it's salvageable I I know it's a big cost right now I personally I think I'd like to leave it alone just not do anything with it for now until um we may see at a later date I know it's a big Financial done I I certainly don't want to sail off into that today but I think we could leave it alone at no cost and it doesn't hurt anything and then maybe at a later date if we see we have the money or that there is a possible need that we need to reestablish it than we could that's my two cents okay um what are what um for regarding water and flooding does is that impeding any kind of flooding because it's deteriorated I know that we had a major some major storm events right now it's not really impeding much but keep in mind the longer it stays there unrepaired that there is a possibility that it it could fail and then it will be impeding to Waterway yeah because all of that all of that um debris would be down in the Waterway correct and it may be harder the longer it sits as well those pipes are becoming more and more misaligned so it may be harder may not even have the option of slip lining if it continues with the settling that's going on okay that's fair um are you done commissioner uh commissioner Harvey thank you madam shair and I think that's one of the concerns I have is you know we we shut it down last year to take a look at this um luckily we haven't had the monsoon rains but that area still had a lot of wet going on um everything trying to get to the river my concern is that the $330,000 cost now to clean it up will be a lot more when we have to clean it up and we found that to be true and we just were thanking you for being proactive um I think we did let it sit for a while but I think now it's time to do something more permanent and be done with this so so right now you're in favor of option three I am okay uh commissioner neble did you have a comment or question yeah I if we let it sit it's just going to be more expensive to to repair later i' say we either fix it now or or Let It Go and it's I would be in favor of option three all right all right gentlemen I need a decision all right I make a motion that we approve option three elimination of the crossing alog together all right we have a motion for option three in a second from commissioner Harvey any more discussion all in favor say I I I any opposed yay okay 4 to one motion passes thank you all right um last on our new business is Public Works U fdot grants scop scrap application recommendations dur in your packet on page 448 they've asked us to prioritize in what order that we have that we would like to see mam chair if I may yes the reason I listed East River Road as the first one uh is we are currently working with the US Army Corps of Engineers we're waiting on their environmental study we were hoping for it to be finished this month but should be finished by the end of February once that's done we'll be able to go out to bid on establishing a waterline on East River Road from putton County Boulevard to County Road 207a um during that construction we would then like to seek um funding through grants Andor through the board County Commissioners to run a sewer line down the same road same distance um to capture that and then US Army Corps of Engineers has approved us for 19.6 miles of water so we're going to come all the way up to a 78 encapsulate that whole area uh the so the reason I bring East River Road first is hopefully we'll have both of those lines installed so that in 2029 if approved by do then we will get East River Road resurfaced we don't want to resurface before we install lines thank you for for your comments and that is something that's very important as we uh see that area grow but additionally as Commissioners we need to remember this we're applying for grant funding for 2029 this is not grant funding for today um because and that's just the way this this program works with fdot so East River Road is your prior priority um is there a reason why you put West River Roads West River Road you're going to see the growth that's coming out there um with some proposals we also have the harbor St John's Harbor that we may be installing more water lines to uh increase that capacity out there uh the other reason that I have Brown's Landing Road on there if you go from the curve right there by the golf course all the way to the um boat ramp you'll see that the road is starting to unravel especially at the crown uh and you've any of us that are on the river know how busy Browns Landing Road is during the warmer months well personally I would like to to see um Lundy Road Browns Landing Road moved ahead of West River Road um West R Road's not in terrible condition and I know we're talking four years out and lots of traffic out there but I would almost like to flipflop um your two and three um commissioner Harvey you're recognized thank you madam chair I do want to say how important these are we have acronyms for everything in our business um and I have one called CAA Commissioners against acronyms but this is Scott the small County outreach program the small County Rural assistance program Sig ped I don't know the all the wording on that and the trip program these are fdot projects if just to give you an idea um these are funds that do helps rural communities out with and right now we are um we don't have a match requirement on that because we are a fiscally constrained County still um so these help us out so what does that mean to the average people in the audience and watching us on TV today well take County Road 315 from 100 to 20 from 20 to 310 310 to Maran County Line total of almost $13 million that did not come from the pocketbook of your tax dollars local period if we had to fix those roads I don't know when we would get to that or I don't know if we'd ever ever pave another road in putam County because you're talking $ 13 million where does that money come from we don't control a lot of that money to begin with so I really applaud do and helping small counties and we really advocate in the halls of of Tallahassee to our legislators that this is important for small rural counties it's again we don't have that kind of funds so I support our chairwoman who wants to move those projects forward and I applaud do for even having the application process open it is a it's a competitive process uh and they do look at it but if we make our case good enough we should be able to get some funding for something here so um I support our chairwoman in her her recommendation thank you madam chair thank you commissioner peliso you recognized uh same thing I I think your your order of uh importance is definitely the way it needs to go doubt all right just wanted to give you a thank you support there any other comments all right are we so everybody it sounds like we're in favor of U moving Lundy Road and then West River Road so one 3 two okay all right everybody waveing support waveing support all right I think that's it uh we're going to take a three minute recess and then we'll Rec e e e e e e e e e e at this point we're going to have public comment on miscellaneous item this portion of the agenda is designed to allow citizens an opportunity to bring matters to the attention of the board if everybody could have their seat 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 uh Mr Tim hellan howdy howdy happy New Year happy New Year Tim hoteling 105 rideway San Matel and I'm here to give you Insight uh an opportunity I know who you are but if you'll give your name and address I didn't hear you give your address did you give your address oh okay sorry go ahead caught you caught me anyhow talking about the hurricane and the hurricane clean up and just uh you know my dogs walk me every day so I have time to think about it pass piles of of hurricane cleanup and trying to be patient trying to understand because the neighbors ask me questions what the standards are uh from my understanding with FEMA you don't have to cut it into the 4 foot stuff so it makes a difference on what kind of piles you can have ver Waste Pro versus hurricane and information sort of important um on the 9th of October hurricane Milton came through there wasn't a lot on the 26th of October uh the county posted a uh uh notation saying we need to know where to go to get the stuff I posted it and uh encouraged everybody else to post it there was no acknowledgement of the posting there was no further information and I just puttered along I called a couple times to uh make inquiries just simple inquiries is are your out of state contractors still out here are they working when can I expect or when can the neighbors expect this to happen um that was a little difficult um and it was one of the problems you new Commissioners may not be aware of but every time somebody calls a commissioner then the commissioner calls these guys and these guys tend to put it on a priority and upset schedules which seem to be my experience cuz I just asked when I didn't say I was it wasn't any complaint I took my own three three wagon loads of of storm to the dump so I wasn't it was neighbors and uh the last one we were down uh end of December mid December same question is it still happening you still guys got out there are they picking it up when can my neighborhood expect it and I called and and got told a few things including that uh it's too difficult to pull out a map and tell the citizens when and where where we're going on and uh when they can expect it Communications are really a wonderful thing especially when it makes a difference as to what you expect the citizens to do in preparation of these piles thank you for your comments question Brenda Copley I brought you some goodies good morning you didn't bring chocolate shaped cookies yeah I was looking for cookies yeah we were looking for cookies oh no no cookies my name is Brenda Copley I live at 756 National Forest Road Fort McCoy actually we're down Salt Springs area more than that on the river and in the interest of time I'm going to read to you I have it included in your little packets yes ma'am um the fort Gates property owners are present today in support of the reopening of the historical Fort Gates Ferry uh we hope that favorable decisions are made for timely repair and enhancement of the Ferry services few things demonstrate the identity of a community like historical landmarks and few things attract others to those communities to visit invest or establish permanent residents than a history that elicits feelings of nostalgia respect and comfort those are reasons why property owners have invested in the fort Gates Community many of us have made that investment for more than 30 years others only recently regardless of the amount of time we have enjoyed the beauty and inspiration of the area we have an appreciation for its colorful and impressive history and hope that the leaders of putham County have those feelings for this historical area as well as consideration is made to reopen the fer Services it is inevitable that travel conditions on Fort Ro on Forest Road 29 are in the Forefront of a successful Venture and investment for putam county road conditions will be crital iCal to safe and frequent use of the ferry for local residents and companies as well as an attraction for visitors seeking enjoyment of historical places the economies of East and West putam County will have the potential to be favorably impacted by the reopening of the ferry the number of property owners has increased exponentially in the fort Gates community in The Last 5 Years Forest Road 29 is traveled Often by residents and by the the public for recreation and hunting enjoyment we have serious concerns regarding safe and efficient access to Residents and visitors for emergency services and law enforcement Services I have shared pictures that reflect as clearly as possible the current conditions of Forest Road 29 which is a shameful example of irresponsibility on behalf of the forestry service to maintain safe travel conditions one must simply Drive the distance to fully appreciate what we are faced with on a daily basis just to get our mail from Salt Springs not to mention daily trips for shopping or other local services and access to our Properties by waste management and other vendors necessary for property maintenance just as important if not more so is the fact that Forest Road is an evacuation route should a forest fire occur the ferry can evacuate most all of the residents of the area in one trip at across without vehicles we never want to happen here what is currently happening in California one of our residents who owns the paletto is an attorney in Orlando and worked with Stacy Manning the putting County attorney he has committed to working with whomever is the designated attorney to achieve an agreeable resolution for our concerns Forest Road 29 has a long and convoluted history for maintenance and safe travel conditions and at one time was reported to be one of the most dangerous and inconvenient roads to travel in putham County as the number of property owners and residents have increased we request that the pieces of the puzzle surrounding the ferry and conditions on Forest Road 29 be re-examined and resolved and that our commissioners fight for the property owners of Fort gates to achieve that resolution and when I talk about fighting I'm talking about the forestry service because they have been most uncooperative and um their attitude towards people who own property there has been very negative they always say we don't care about the property owners we only care about the trees and the Animals well someone recently said to me when those animals start paying your salary I'll listen to you but that property has been privately owned for more than 200 years and it has a great history and so we're just kind of getting our foot in the door here to try to get these pieces of the puzzle looked at again and hope that um somehow whether it needs to be done in a private Workshop setting or or whatever that we can we we have had meetings in Okala with Congressman wal's office uh Cynthia Miller there has worked with me to submit our concerns to the USDA in Washington She is expecting a response by the 20th and um you know we're very very in intent on trying to get these things resolved because we have a lot of concerns about things all right thank you thank you Kevin sap Kevin sap 211 National Forest Road 41 Fort McCoy but I live in the forest um we've had trouble with our roads out there for quite some time this ain't my first time here um we can't get nothing nothing done um the trash trucks now are really tearing it up I called uh Daniel Carr over to waste management to see if he could fix them he said he couldn't do nothing about it um we just need a little something done to them uh some little grad maybe some clay something done um if you could do like Maran County that would be a big hell they don't put their dump trucks or nothing no dual wheel trucks over there on their property they got um bins dumpster bins to put all their trash in so they don't collect trash out there to mess up the roads that would be a big help out there keep them dual wheels off of the sand that would be a big big help and I don't see why couldn't be done they do it they don't have to fix the roads because they don't tear them up so so do you think the residents would be okay with without having their trash picked up in front of their house I'm sure they're tearing up the road we got to put it in four-wheel drive to get out I don't know how many people I'll pull out okay does anyone know who handles Maran County's waste what company is that that does that I don't know I don't know that we know that Mr toon do you know okay okay all right Mr sap how many residents are out there that we're talking about there's a there's a list in Miss copley's um package on my road on Cemetery I Road and counted the other day there's 64 houses on my road now that's not counting on 66 and I think that's 88d on the other side I mean we call it the PE patch but there's a pile of people in there off side okay I was just wondering about the logistics of transporting individuals garbage to a certain Central pickup Point yeah you what kind of push back we might receive if we tried to do that I know it sounds like a great idea but we have to base it on what the majority wants to do out there yeah well Maring County roads out there the dirt roads are fine they don't they don't get tore up by the trash truck them dual wheels tear up dirt pretty bad oh I agree commissioner Alexander for and other that don't know that is a a very strange area out there in and not the people are strange clarify that they live in putham County but they have a Fort McCoy Maran County address and if they have a landline phone it has a will like a prefix so figure that one uh it's uh it's kind of crazy how everything lays out there we're Purgatory out there I'm glad that's your District Miss Copley did you do this research this is all the residents in putam county that you found that live in that okay thank you thank you for clarifying I'm not near them okay they're two separate areas okay thank you all right thanks Kevin Richard Blanchett Richard Blanchette 711 National Forest Road 75 gep the 911 address is Pat Florida although we are in Salt Springs right on the area of Salt Springs uh I am probably the newest resident of the fort Gates community and I'm here to ask you to review and uh make recommendations for reinstituting the Fort Gates Ferry uh the points that I would like to make on that is that commercial vehicles providing services to Salt Springs in Fort McCoy need to to travel around patka or Aster state roads 40 or state roads 20 uh adding 90 Mi and two hours of roundtrip service to provide things like plumbing services to my residents uh I have had to pay an additional $85 per trip to obtain quality services only available from the Crescent City area uh the Okala providers refused to deliver to my place because of the roads but we were not here to talk about the roads you can't do very much about the roads it's National Forest Service the ferry would allow commercial providers to plan for a more efficient delivery schedule saving both gasoline and maintenance cost on their vehicles the fery would open up commercial tourist business in the Salt Springs recreational facility and the surrounding Community the ferry would enable me to more readily enjoy the St Augustine City and surrounding beaches uh the shopping trips to Crescent City would be more enjoyable than shopping trips to Okala uh commercial Enterprises related to sport fishing and tourism may be attracted to develop projects inducing tourists to visit the historic site of the black bear Scenic byway which Conn at which connects at the Western juncture of the fort Gates Ferry the ferry would also allow Salt Springs recreational facility to be enjoyed by residents on the Eastern side of the St John's river and become much more then it is now a weekend attraction I personally would love to see a Waffle House or a Denny's in the Salt Springs Square uh and that's not going to happen until you start the ball rolling uh your endorsement of the fort Gates Ferry is critical to the state and federal funding for both the ferry and the eventual asphalt paving of National Forest Road 729 National Forest Road 29 well I was all in one breath you did great in reviewing your agenda for today I am reminded that you the putam County Commission are the basic unit of our Dem democracy I am a 30-year Navy veteran and I have been there and I have done that I was off the coast of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis on board a helicopter assault ship ready to go ashore I was a Vietnamese speaking Hospital Corman uh adviser in Vietnam during the Vietnamese conflict uh I retired as a lieutenant commander Medical service Corps as a healthcare administrator and I am ready to retire and enjoy the good life that my property on the shores of the St John's river can provide me but I'm not getting that full enjoyment principally because the ferry is not operational as the basic unit of our federal government of our United States of America government uh you are what is called as a self-correcting mechanism it is you the board of County Commissioners for putham County to correct mistakes and errors that have occurred in the past and you have done that impressively today this is my first meeting with the putam County Board of Commissioners and I am so delighted to be here and to see the quality of the individuals that we have on this board thank you very much I appreciate that and although this is not an agenda item for this meeting uh let's see what have I got here i' modified these notes several times during the meeting because everything's changed you guys are great uh yes the road the problem that I see with the road is the director that is director of the forest service who has a personal emotional agenda that he is sticking to no matter what even though it is in strong Defiance of the federal government regulations yes sir there are three regulations in different handbooks which makes it complicated to understand uh that Direct that Deputy or that director of the forest service to do his job uh if I could just go over them quite quickly Mr Mr blad I've been very gracious in your time and I I would appreciate it if you could wrap this up I'm sorry Leota I do not get my hearing age until January the 30th Travis don't you try to use the same thing buddy I was just saying if you could wrap it up I've been very gracious with your time okay thank you very much I appreciate and respect your position yes sir thank you thank you for your service all right Travis Roberts you're up next that was good yeah thank you for your service Mr Blanchett I hated to interrupt you at all yeah yeah well it's kind of hard to follow that one TR sir you're right Travis Roberts 110 yany Circle satuma Florida 32189 yes sir um I want to ask you the Commissioners to set up a special Workshop just for Fort Gates the comments been made to me in the past that we only get one call you know that was by other County Commissioners there's over 2,000 emails that I've gotten in the past two weeks we need to open this if a fire happens in Maran County those people are going to fry there's no way to get out to 19 once that road is shut down in the past Dale Jones oh and by the way people have said there's no Captain down at Fort Gates since um Richard Hackett died Richard Hackett was never the captain it's been Dale Jones He is half owner now he is full owner okay just so everybody gets that clear but i' like to ask for a special Workshop so we can get in there and talk I've been asking since September if they're going to renew the contract for the lease for Fort Gates we have with the state till 44 2044 but with Putman County we don't have a contract on the landing there's nothing going on right now Fort Gates this is the first time in 252 years that Fort Gates has been shut down without a contract so I'd like to see if we can get a special Workshop ASAP so we can get the ball rolling because we've gone for seven years now with no answers except we're going to look into it but like a DA we're going to have it open by November every year hasn't happened and and I appreciate everything you guys have done and I know that it's not you guys so I don't want to get into a piston match here for lack of a better term we don't need that we need is Solutions and um we get the special workshop and also if you guys can go ahead and renew the contract for for for Gates it's been down for seven years there's been no business coming through there so and it is a great asset for the county like they say it's going to bring in business from Salt Springs just to the to the the south end of Putman County that's with the Oaks Golf Course the restaurants there that we have it'll bring in tax dollars and it also helps when EMS and them can't get across the river they're going to have to go all the way around and then travel down that road is what 7 n miles long going across the ferry they're there in 9 minutes the same with um the sheriff's department if they have to get there six Sheriff's on duty here in the county if they're in South in of Putman it's an easy jump right across the river but that's why I'd like to ask you guys just to renew the contract let's get on with it and um you know if we've got to raise funds that's the other thing I am perfectly capable with 18.4 million readers and listeners if we need to raise the money we've done it to help get the barg rone I've done it for every year and you know Miss leot you've donated to the kids at Christmas time we raise 50 50,000 toys for the kids in pu County every year we don't ask for nothing but if there's help we can get it these people are willing to do it I'm willing to do it I'll Stand Out for 30 hours and cook ribs Terry Suggs has had my ribs he'll tell you so anyways that's that's about it and you know if you guys can when will we know something that's what I'd like to know all right thank you thank you Mr Roberts um that's all the speaker cards I have for now um oh we keep them coming here we go Bruce Haynes you are recognized to speak my name is Bruce haes I live at 764 75g Salt Springs I'm 77 years old I've been coming to that area hunting since I was 10 so I know a little bit about the area it is developed immensely there used to be two houses I think when I used to hunt there and those were both hunting cabins o might be yours Mr H it must be one of my girlfriends good for you she she'll call right back just one of the girlfriends go ahead all my girlfriends are married that's my problem oh I'm sorry cool you might want not want to say that on TV yeah let's just keep going my girlfriend's are not their boyfriend okay oh okay get let's get back to business yes sir first of all the ferry the ferry was running for years and years and years even back as when I was a kid hunting it was damn fair was running so we need to get that fixed a lot of people I've seen people get on the ferry ride across the river pay money both ways and then ride back just before they have been on the ferry I swear to God that happens um second of all the road got so bad that they even moved our mailboxes now instead of going up the road a mile at the most we got to drive seven miles one way to get our mail on a daily basis if we want our mail that often I don't know who we get to fix that but we need to get that fixed thirdly putam County took care of our road for years years and years years I mean they've done their share I admit that but we also pay taxes then all of a sudden putham County decided wait a minute we are maintaining a road we don't own so forestry here's your damn road fix it they are the worst I mean if you want to call somebody to complain they don't even want to talk to your they don't want to listen or talk I would I don't know the dollars and sense of it but when they grade our road it takes one day for the grader and the same time they roll it that's another thing anyway um so I don't know what that cost for one day of grading and one day of rolling two 3,000 bucks but we get our road graded twice a year come on now and I would like to see that maybe putting them County could re-evaluate their situation on grading our road and split the time with with the forestry both of them do it once once a year both of them that would cut us back to three months every three months that's a hell a lot better than every six months okay and also when the forestry did fix our road they brought in the cheapest slime Rock loaded with Flint that you could buy and let a rip we had over 30 flat tires and within a period of two weeks because they didn't roll the Flint down uh I'm pretty pissed about that it cost me three tires that's all I have to say yes sir thank you thank you Mr H and oh you you didn't said that was all you had to say I got a question okay not a statement when are we going to find out something about all of this okay thank you madam chair yes um as I've explained to those folks out there those are the forestry roads they own them and it doesn't matter if Mr X had millions of dollars and he wants to pay them at no cost to No One it cannot be done without the approval of the for service is it possible that we could send a letter on behalf of the County Commission uh asking for some type of uh help to those folks out there in in maybe more repetitious grading or something like that is it something that we could ask a letter they've got a new um manager out there and might it might be met with you know more Open Arms um some um some help for these folks because they certainly need it back when I was on the board before um this came up about Paving Forest Road 29 which is the Ferry Road which runs from Salt Springs right down to the ferry and they had a lot of animal activist folks that came out and said the scrub J and the black indigo and there was a variety of animals that they claimed that this affected however on Forest Road 77 in the same oala national forest from the Maring county line around to hog Valley to 314 it is purely Black Top Road and it stops at the putton county line so if it's okay over there why wouldn't it be okay over here I AG that's my two cents on that issue so are you proposing a letter or did you want to go and speak to somebody uh like sit down have a meeting with them or you want us to S either you know maybe open it with a letter that you know that we're in support of some sort or could we get some sort of help we you know help these folks somehow another um like I said it's their Road and and we're at their Mercy but you know these people need some help somehow if there's anything we can possibly do and and you know certainly it's always better to go with roses than vegar well one thing I want to say is putham County was not I'm I wasn't a part of this commission then but I did work for state representative Bobby Payne's office at the time and putam County did not make the decision to stop maintaining the roads that was fully on the forestry service the forestry service said we will no longer engage in a maintenance agreement with us that is what happened so um that was not a decision by the county that was a decision by the forestry service and they are in full control of the roads and like Miss Copley said they do I have signed in meetings before previously where they say we don't care about the people we care about the road and we care about the animals and that's exactly the words that they have said now to Mr um to commissioner palace's point there is a new leadership I guess at the um forestry service it sounds like they've been working with um with Miss Cynthia um with Congressman Walt's office I know that office is changing so there might be another opportunity there too but I mean I don't have a problem with the commission sending a letter but I'd like to hear from the other Commissioners commissioner Alexander yes ma'am I I I fully agree with what Mr peler said says and um and what you're saying also the fact of the matter is that we've got retired excuse my language aged vets at the end of this road that uh have provided a service to our country and if the federal government that road is their responsibility I think they're obligated to provide you guys with a means of egress to your property so in our letter perhaps we should address the fact that that we do have former veterans living at the end of this road and they're asking for some some help okay commissioner Harvey uh Madam chair I'm in support of sending a letter too I'm in support of sending the letter commissioner palir said it was very disheartening to see Carl Bowers stand right over there U and basically Point his finger at at all of us this room was Pat I don't care about you I don't care about that these are our Forest Service Roads and that's how it landed and even to our Point Mr Suggs travels to to Washington DC and the Secretary of interior tells him Congress doesn't tell me what to do it's a shame it's a shame what's been done out there and you know my stepmother lives out on Lake Delany if they didn't want y'all there they should have bought yall out and kicked y'all out of the forest but they didn't do that and it's a shame that they allow you to live there and then don't provide services and then blame it on us that we have to do it um and again you heard me earlier in the in the program say we can't maintain something we don't own we just can't do it and um and it's sad it's really sad that that happened and I do support the ferry being open I am one of those guys Mr Haynes I hunted that area I hunted I grew up in the forest my best friend was Kevin Thompson his mama owned the frontier Dance all when I was 17 years old life was good for me out there okay so you understand that but I did drive the fery across and pay the fee to get right back across because I thought it was pretty cool to take my old truck and do that and it was really cool to be out in the middle of the river riding on a barge with your old pickup truck going Ain don't get no better than this right here and I'm going tell you I really do appreciate it so I support commissioner palace's effort and anything any letter we can send that can start another conversation we should be able to do that thank you madam chair um commissioner uh while you're speaking can you um speak about what we uh did at the legislative delegation meeting about where we're asking for on Fort Gates Harry right before we move forward if you want to go ahead C brought up that subject have to remind me a little okay okay okay we um so at the legislative delegation meeting on January 9th um this Commission ask for letters of support from both state representative Judson Sapp and from Senator leak and what we asked for was for them to support us in a grant that we've applied for to the state to receive funding to fix the other side of the landing at Fort Gates fairy so we have we have we have um we have asked for that and um that uh Grant application goes in by the end of the month and both the state representative and the state senator said that they would have the Letters To Us by the end of the week um commissioner newer recognized well I I support the whether it's a letter or a meeting with the forest service you know we have unique challenges here I think this is a fight worth fighting um I just pile on with the rest of you with support but it's i' I'd like to see I hope we're not back here you know a year and a half from now beating the same horse it would nice be nice to see some action and hopefully this grant process will go quickly and we can partner to at least get the landing fixed and then push to a creative solution to some roads on the other side so I'm in support as well okay before we I can't you if you already spoke I can't I'm I'm sorry um we if we have anybody else in the audience that wants to speak on public comment that I do not have a card from I see some other people in the audience um so we have to go back to public comment than your name and address for the record Su Holland 15 Creekside Road Paradise Point area um just like in church people ask for prayer but you never get a praise I come back with praises to all of you thank you thank you we have great sews down there the water lines were put in our roads are paved we had a little issue with the water going up or sewer consumption fee went up and I came in and uh they immediately got on it and readjusted the fees and on behalf of 108 homes thank you we're very happy so I just there was a three other gentlemen that were here at the time when it all started four years ago that are not here but I do thank them as well thank you for coming in and saying that I think that was just some mistake but we appreciate you bringing that to our attention all right thank you it's nice to hear y do we have any other public comments to come before the commission all right yes sir my name is George Mosley I reside at 1177 west of Keystone Avenue Keystone Heights yes sir I've uh performed a good bit of work out in uh Salt Springs I've used uh Forest Road 62 many many times I want to set up a gofund me account to get some repairs made on my truck it has beat the hell out of my truck every time I go down that road uh the road needs to be the road needs to be repaired and maintained uh via the Forestry Department and I would recommend strongly whatever force that y'all can bring to bear uh with the Forester Department uh I would urge y'all to do so to get this and it's not only in Ingress and egress for contractors residents uh you also do have to consider emergency vehicles that is law enforcement uh fire rescue and access to the uh to the ferry it in and of itself so it's got to be addressed one way or the other that's all I have to say right now thank you Mr Mosley all right any other any other public comment hi hello Joy berky 709 National Forest Road 75g yes ma'am Paca Florida so two members of my neighborhood have asked me to speak on things that they forgot to mention so I'll mention them but if you need clarification I'm sure they can help you with that uh so the first order of business is Milton Simpson is the secretary of agriculture Milton yes ma'am okay and he controls the funding for the forestry USDA that one that's he he controls um State funding not National okay so but he might be a good contact is what the point was to be part of the solution for this all right and the other point was that Bruce hay said that years ago the State of Florida offered to pay money for the road and that putam County turned it away was the belief so he just wanted to know more information about that if you had any history on it I don't have any history of that wasn't correct and I don't know of that does neither does Administration I I'm not sure what he's talking about I can explain if you want sir I can't I can't have you speaking from this from the seed I apologize so I can't say anything more than what my neighbors have already said today but we do need a solution and we're willing to be part of that whatever that looks like but we do need a solution and we need it soon okay all right very good did you did you have any comments I did go ahead um this is you know the federal government is the federal government and they have many many branches in different areas but it's it's it's a shame that they will give money away to those in our country who are some of them by no fault of their own less fortunate and fall on hard times and and give and give and give and give and then we ship money overseas to everybody else in the Sun and here we have taxpayers in our own country who are doing the right thing and they're just asking for a little help they're not asking for the world just a little help sounds like you have a little bit of a lift commissioner pardon sounds like you have some lift you have some work to do I'm going to do my best yes sir I have no doubt you will I'm done Madam chair Mr Haynes you are right you did hear about a pave Road out there it was about in 201 13 and 14 when I got here um what had happened is do was going to was looking at Florida Department of Transportation was looking at Paving that that that Road 77 down um for the blackbear highway seen it but that was just a thought and then when they found out that we did not have an agreement and we didn't own the road that money went away that project went away so I just want to clarify that with you it wasn't that we returned the money they never got that far in the process right all right we just they just couldn't check the box that we owned anything all right so um we need to move on with our meeting um last call for public comment all right Mr Roberts I haven't let anybody else come back up so please make it quick okay I am I think you guys I think some recognition needs to be made to Mr Reynolds as you guys know I own a newspaper radio station I got a call a while back from a gentleman he was going in the hospice and he was going to be going in the hospital he was dying his last dying wish was that he could get married to had him on life support I called it Mr Reynolds and I said what can you do to do this is there anything can be done Mr Reynolds went out of his way went to the facility took care of the paperwork got them in there made the man's dreams come true his wife called me up last night he did pass away and she wanted me to thank you and Putman County for allowing Mr Reynolds to go over there and make their dreams come true before he passed away very good that's all I want to say thank you Mr Robert all right we're going to move into code enforcements gladly we got the agenda I was uh being gracious and trying to move public comment ahead of several things that we have to cover thank you all for um attending today's meeting man watch fell down take I don't truly need them if she 12 just a second we'll clear out the room thank you good is there anybody here about to find out okay all right moving into codes code enforcement before um our officer speaks do we have anybody here for Code Enforcement cases anybody in the audience for Code Enforcement cases okay sir if you'll come forward and let us know what code enforcement case you are and we can hear you first C could you start with C okay page 420 in your packet page 420 in your packet thank you we're not changing the order nobody's here yes C if you'll start with C we have somebody from um on on uh case 2015- z540 okay this is 116 Water Oak Road property owner's name is I say is Ray it was an unsafe circuit in carea premises property owner has recently purchased the property property is now compliant the owner requesting a fine reduction if the board approves we recommend the fine reduced to be paid within 90 days okay sir do you have anything you would like to say no okay we have a recommendation from the board Madame chair I move approval of Staff recommendation to reduce the fines from the hard cost of $2,532 if paid in 90 days on case number 2015- z540 second we have a motion a second any discussion all in favor say I I I any opposed like sign motion passes all right if you'll start back with um back in order okay this is code case 2004 00424 268 Lake View Court property owner name SEL revocable living trust it was an unsafe structure there is a tax Surplus received original F was $542 the tax Surplus received $63.99 property owner has recently purchased a property property is now compliant and the owner is requesting a fine reduction requesting approval of fine reduction if is reproved to use the tax surplus of $63.95 which would bring the total down to $2,772 3 if the board approves recommend the fine be paid within 90 days Madam chair on case number 2004 00424 I staff recommendation the action is to take 2836 it paid within 90 days and use 6397 Surplus that we have on file second I have a motion in second any discussion all in favor say I I motion passes all right Cod case 2015 3 00370 is one hay Drive owner's name is Gerald D Cullen an unsafe structure and Care premisis the original fine amount was $ 58,60 uh the property has recently been purchased and is now compliant owners requesting a fine reduction the board approves we recommend the fine reduced to be paid within 90 days thank you madam chair I move that we accept staff recommendation of codes case 2015 00370 for $215 of paid in 90 days second all right I have a motion in a second all in uh any discussion all in favor say I I I and and just for the um motion passes and just for record I want everybody listening that when we do these fine reductions the whole purpose purpose is to um bring those properties back into um good condition and um this is one way that we can do that and still have a viable property thank you go ahead code case 20115 d592 112 South Maryland Avenue property owners in Newport holding LLC this violation was car premises the original F amount was $722 2135 we have tax Surplus received of $ 29,9 6168 uh the property owner has recently purchase the property property is now compliant and requesting a fine reduction request approval for the fine reduction and to be use the tax Surplus receiv received for the $29,99 which would pay off the total fine reduction if the board approves recommend the fine redu to be paid with the tax surplus funds received Madame chair I move that we approve codes case number 205 15- 0592 using the tax surplus of 2 29,9 6168 to satisfy our enforcement of $2,514 we have a motion on the floor second we have a second all in favor say I I any opposed like sign motion passes all right code case 2017-3 N4 109 gilad Road property owner's name Hernandez Alber Alberto madrano the violation unsafe structure and care of premises original F amount was $546 U total cost of enforcement action was 1408 the property owners me recently purchased the property is now compliant the owner requesting a fine reduction the board approves recommend reduce fine to be paid within 90 days Madam chair on codes case 2017-3 N4 I move approval of the $148 if pay within 90 days have on the floor second again second all in favor say I I I okay cocas 2019-2220 112 South Maryland Avenue U owner's name Newport holding LLC the violation is unsafe structure original F amount was 39,7 tax cplus received $29,99 68 total enforcement action was $214 the property owner has recently purchased property is now compliant the owner requesting fine reduction we're requesting the approval for the fine reduction and requesting the approval to use tax Surplus received of $29,99 68 which would pay off the total fine reduction the total approves we recommend the fine reduced fine to be paid by the tax for surplus funds received Madam chair I have a question on this in the past haven't we been able to there seems to be two leans on the same property and um sometimes this board is taken under consideration to drop second one only because two lanes that were running simultaneous I'm not advocating a position one way or the other but I'm saying it is it has been some of the position in the past there's no precedent set that we look at the second claim so that's just my question we did them separately because they were two different violations it was just but we're all in compliance now and completely and that's what we're really after and and we are after as commissioner Wilkinson our chair has mentioned we're actually actually actually actually after compliance correct and making the taxpayer whole in this situation so I'm find either way Madam chair I'm go ahead and make a motion um codes case 2019-2220 144 out of the surplus of $29,99 6168 largely because the applicant's not here and representing thems so that's my motion second have a motion in a second any discussion all in favor say I I I motion passes okay the final one is not a code enforcement there is no code enforcement case code there's no code violation on this parcel this is a request for a parceling request because of that partial 051024 4925 00 6340 um Mr Brown with Elite Enterprises LLC contacted staff regarding a partial lean release for this partial number 25924 475 810 0110 he purchased this property in May on May 8th 2024 a tax deed sale property does not have a Cod case against it he has provided the code casee numbers 2010- 0076 and 2020-33 these two cases are for another parcel another parcel which still are owned by the same previous owner Tarpon for LLC case 2020 363 is not compliant fines are still running total fines and fees as of today's date are 3,937 case 2010- 0076 is not compliant and the fines are still running on that parcel as well total fines and fees for that case today is $14,988 7.65 although the tax deed sale disclaimer states that the buyer is responsible for conducting their own research to determine if there are any leans or other incumbrances that will survive the tax AED sale property owner did did not do a lean search before purchasing the property and is now requesting a partial lean release for his partiel only Madam chair um commissioner Harvey thank you madam chair um this kind of concerns me on the partial releases and and for our new Commissioners um this is leverage we hold um whether we like it or not it's properties throughout the county that an owner might have and they come before us with a partial lean release hoping that they could get relief on one partial to sell but they still have codes violations on their other partials um the whole idea is for us to clean up the county and that's been the the compliance and you've heard that mentioned a few times this morning already um so I'm not in favor of a partial lean release just to just for those reasons um we do attach to all properties by the owner but our but our deal is we want it cleaned up right and if the other ones are still being are now if there's no attempt to clean up I have a problem but it appears that the fines are still running on the other partials and nothing's taking place so I'm not in favor of a partial lean relief so in this case it was one of the properties was purchased by another entity who is now asking will ever be done so personal he if we don't give a parcel release this if the buyer would have paid attention and done it his due diligence he would have seen that and made a deal with the owner of the property to do something differently right that's my opinion well this is one of those cases where um at the end of the day you're still going to have a property that's doesn't get back on the T well it it could potentially just go back into taxy because if they can't do anything with it they're just going to not pay their taxes so it's one of those hard situations um what's what's pleasure of the board did you make a motion I have not but I will Madam chair I move that we deny the partial lean lease request for partial number 25- 9-24 d475 D810 d0110 we have a motion on the floor do we have a second for discussion all right motion dies for lack of a second but somebody better make another motion I make a motion that we approve it okay I'll second all right we have a motion in a second partial lean release request for partial 051024 4927 d00 60-34 any further discussion all right a voteing yeah bring it for a vote call the question yes said call the question call the question okay were you requiring roll call vote NOP go ahead um all in favor say I all in favor I I all opposed I right four to one motion passes thank you sorry I had a brain fart getting late in this meeting yeah exactly I'm getting tired um moving on to appointments district one I have none at this time District three I have none at this time District Four I have none at this time District Five I have none at this time neither does District Two all right um Clerk of Court comments yes Madam chair um I'd like to just take a quick moment to thank you and the rest of the board as well as staff for um acknowledging the need of uh to improve the the County's Financial system the Erp system and including that on the legislative priorities I think that that will be a a tremendous step forward for the county and it will make things uh much more efficient so I I just wanted to thank y'all for that and thank y'all for bringing that um to the legislative delegation last week and that's all the comments I have thank you uh Mr sus you have a comment yes ma'am I just wanted to Echo that as well as you know Mr Reynolds and I have been talking about this for a little while so uh uh the only uh the only thing moving forward now would be the opportunity for his staff and our staff to sit down to start looking at the modules of what it is that we were uh the software that we're looking at so we'll know exactly what our uh cost is moving forward and what we'll be looking forward to uh updating our system with so Mr rold whenever you're ready to schedule that meeting let me know sir thank you do you have any other do you want do you is that your all your comments or do you want me to come back to you either way Madam chair but no I do have a few more okay I'll go on to County attorney and then come back thank you madam chair I was just going to as we're talking about legislative priorities remind everyone that legisl session starts March 3rd if you don't already have it on your calendar rural County days will be March 19th and 20th so if you plan on going for the evening reception and staying over make sure that you have a hotel room um other than that I have no other report thank you madam chair and did I read that they're going to potentially have a special session I read that yesterday so January 27th is scheduled for a special session um my understanding is that'll deal with some um immigration policies as it relates to funding some of the incoming president uh Trump's policies and I read that there would also be some condol law issues that were going to be brought to the Forefront right and we and we do have a special election coming up yes all right uh special um special County Administrator well thank you madam chair I appreciate that so much uh first of all uh just a couple real quick things Miss Holland thank you I really appreciate that because they did they there was an error that was made you brought their attention they jumped on it really quick so thank you for that and to the gentleman here uh my brother served in the Vietnam conflict so thank you so much for what you've done in your 30-year career you know and God bless you so thank you uh the other comments Madam chair is uh as you know we're working with the Army Core uh 19.6 miles of uh pable water lines in the East Baca area uh we had got delayed just a little bit there was an oversight with uh Us in the in the core there was an envirment Al study that needed to be done so instead of doing the environmental study on just like for example phase one of the five phases we went ahead and did the environmental study on all 19.6 miles and it's my understanding with Mr Grimes that Mr Butler with the Army Corps has said that everything is completed everything's been approved we're just waiting on some language to come back from Army Corps uh to get our letter of approval so hopefully real soon those 19.6 miles of putable water lines will start going in the ground in these Paca so I just want to give you an update on that also uh the uh dredging uh and navigational project out of the barge Port received notice from Josh Gabon who is our federal lobbyist in DC who does a phenomenal job for us up there uh we got word and that our project has been included in both the um house and the Senate side uh in their project so now the next step has been signed into uh uh by President Biden into the project is uh start pushing for funding to that project so that's great news as well uh so just want to bring up speed on that and one of the comments that was made here earlier today and I didn't want to address it at the time because they you know there's the right time to do things and I think during comments my comments now it's the appropriate time you know we do a lot of work we hit we got hit by a number of storms this year you know backto back storms you know your staff does a great job prepping get ready for that and then then they do a great job on the followup and yes we've had some debris issues as you know the entire Southeast got hit so a lot of the resources were dedicated elsewhere uh our contractors done as best they could our staff has put together a great um link on our on on our website to be able to call in those those those debris Pils and we've done a good job monitoring but one thing that we can't do and I just want my Commissioners to understand uh is we can't monitor Facebook postings for things like that you know so uh I don't want to hold my account staff accountable for missing something on Facebook uh there's there's multiple avenues for which things are to be reported and I do know that Mr Grim's got some personal phone calls on those issues uh from the gentleman this morning and and took care of a lot of the issues but once again as much as we appreciate social media uh we just can't we can't Monitor and and and formulate our plan on social media so uh again that's that's really all I wanted to say this morning but but you know staff does a great job with doing the things that we do to support this community support you5 and our citizens so um thank you all for for a great meeting today and that's all my comments Val chair thank you um and and also when they're on I had an issue this morning too that I had to reach out to Jay on that I had received a phone call on regarding uh debris pickup when it's on a state road that's a different situation as well because it's not necess necessarily the County's responsibility State Road private roads so um just because you see a a debris out there from the storm or yard debris there are some restrictions that we have and one of them is it's on a state road and like you said on a private road and um if also Facebook is not it's not uh subject to or talk to me a little bit about public records on Facebook um the the issues that we have with that depends on what account the Facebook posting is on if it's your own personal account you you are subject to the same um records retention policies that are put out by the division of Library Ser or Library Sciences the gs1 so whatever happens to somebody else's page or one of the community pages that is not under the purview of the county um you don't have a responsibility there however you do have to be mindful of the fact that be cautious about anything you post there have been some ethics opinions which have said head if an elected or appointed official who is subject to Sunshine has posted something with the intent of getting information out to stimulate a discussion that would be a Sunshine Law violation so I advise all my clients just be very conservative and kind of the information you put out there it's always better to speak to somebody oneon-one right okay thank you I wanted just to clear that up I appreciate that um we H we are going to go into commissioner comments and if you don't mind board we'll start with commissioner Alexander because he has a a discussion and presentation he'd like to make I'm going to move to the podium all right I like always wanted that to happen thank you oh where are my kids when I need them no we're not going to give you the three minute Tim or but now you're going to feel like feel what it what it feels like to be on the other side of the podium well long that's what I got the other day during the legislative delegation and we appreciate you taking the lead on that too Mr chairman um briefly I'm trying to pull up the original uh design palis here um commissioner Alexander had something so I let him go first let's he has a presentation commissioner comments no not yet I like the fact that you're making it from there I do I think that's great yeah really do thank thank you Larry um first off thank you Commissioners for hearing me um staff I really appreciate you guys and I feel like we have a a pretty cohesive team uh we all may have a a different vision of how to get there but I think we all recognize where the end zone is um so with that being said I want to uh thank my predecessor Terry Turner and Bobby Payne as well as our previous Commissioners for spearheading this project down at duns Creek through negotiations with f doot we were able to secure this property it was a former fish camp and we are going to develop that into a park and as you'll see the preliminary actually the these are the finalized drawings that have been approved and I thought it's thought to myself this is a great idea I was on the river the other day and I saw Mr sugs out on his dock spoke to him for a bit and headed on down here to check this out so through the course of my navigation of the canal as you can see at the bottom left hand of your screen um I had some concerns initially that I reached out to Mr Commando on and I went to see it for myself the navigation and erress through the canal should be very nice very easy I think it it is achievable the question I have is here where the canal Narrows and any boats beyond that within that Basin this is going to be very congested and you're going to have a very difficult time with any vessels uh 20 F feet are larger so the majority of the vessels that are sold um today are going to be Bay boats in the 23 to 25 area so if you have an influx of four or five families which I think we have 30 something parking lots currently we're going to have an issue with congestion there and any boats over that it's going to be next to impossible to get them in and out of it so while I was down there we came up I came up with the idea that um here's a few pictur pictures that I took this is the proposed uh Marina here some of the existing slips that will be demolished here is the narrow area that was discussed where we're going to have an issue and what do you so while you're on that photo what do you think that that um width is uh I would say probably 30 feet okay um so if you have agree with that you typical beam on a boat's 8 to 10 feet that's standard so that doesn't give a little a lot of room for an eror or for error for an noice boat driver and your typical um recreational boater may have some trouble there especially with a single engine craft you lack maneuverability without speed so the slower you go the less maneuverability you have so if they're putting in and out they may is have some issues there's the exit to the canal that Mr Commando and I discussed so what I wanted to talk to our commissioners about and hopefully get your backing we have an existing Wayside Park on the south side where we have a a rails to Trail and um we have an fdot Wayside basically a Wayside Park that they have uh maintained this is the area looking down towards the ramp as you you can see there's approximately a half a mile of available parking that we can use it's already maintained by fdot skipping but what I would like to propose is adding an additional ramp here and working with fdot and acquiring a lease for that property at least control of that property we could where we could add a large boat ramp here for larger vessels that can't be accommodated by the area over there on the North side we will be be able to put a floating dock here where you could tie your boat off after launch and you could exit out that way and as you can see all of this would be protected by the fenders that are existing there in duns Creek so it's very safe um very easy and it's the majority of the work's already been done by ft here is a proposed turnaround for the vessels before you deposit them in the water launch them and I guess that would be my final slide so what I'm asking for today is the rest of the Commissioners to get behind me and support this so we can do a preliminary study to see what might be involved with acquiring the property from fdot and also what additional funding we would have to have to develop that area by adding some asphalt and if there are any grants available for a boat ramp so it's my understanding that some of those the majority of these boat ramps are paid for through grants from the state so that would be my ask from you guys to allow staff to provide a preliminary study and set forth on that task all right yes sir I I have a I'm sorry I have commissioner Harvey thank you madam chair for you'll be next and commissioner Alexander I applaud you for two things number one getting to that Podium and speaking I've always wanted us to do that from that area I think it brings a little credibility and they do that in Tallahassee very well so when they present their bills and their projects that's what they do and I appreciate that I appreciate the opportunity also to have the discussion about under the bridge I mean sometimes we have the discussion it's not the right time to have the discussion or it's or a lower level person says no it's not going to happen but no's not always an answer in government business so finding someone that we can sit down so I applaud you I think it's also important um to have two let me let me assure you that we need more boat ramps in the South End of the county that's very evident and we have a lot of need down there we do have unused space there there's no doubt about that so if we could accommodate if do would allow us to accommodate I can see a beautiful boat ramp over here and I can see another boat ramp over there and everybody's happy and we can accommodate and it is you're right it's a safe harbor there cost yeah so I I support your Endeavor I support a letter from us I support us giving you a wave and support to go out and bring something back to us um to do that so thank you commissioner Alexander and thank you madam chair that's my comments Mr Neal I appreciate the direction you're going too I I I like it um I'm assuming this wouldn't change the direction of the existing North Side boat ramp do you see any not at all I am not wanting to abandon that that is a tremendous uh resource for that Community to have somewhere for the children to go and fish and give them something to do other than video games you guys know what a big proponent I am of outdoor activities for our youth so well I'm behind you 100% I I I've always looked at that space and and thought it was just so underutilized I'm surprised it's called A Wayside Park I was down there not too long ago there was a guy putting in a I bet you $80,000 $100,000 boat and right next to it were um a collection of of I don't I don't even think they were homeless but but they were uh I don't how to describe them there was quite a collection of visitors there who were in the morning um your diplomacy is very any anyway it was quite a show um I'm a little uh I think the long-term lease is probably achievable that long stretch of parking it's going to be a bit I hope we can achieve parking there because if you can achieve parking there I think it's a doable deal I I hope that can be done and and thanks for bringing this along I think it's a a great project thank you thank you commissioner uh pelir uh commissioner Alexander from the pictures you shown here I think this is absolutely no-brainer I mean it just it looks like a a great place and and the parking all like as you said all the way down that road on each side if the if dot will sign off on it I think it's a great thing we should move forward absolutely support us thank you I'm I'm I think that all the Commissioners on this board none of us came from money we all earned what we have and we all want to get the most bang for our buck and when we see an opportunity for an under utilized resource such as this if we can capitalize on it and provide something great for our community with a minimal expense I think all of you would agree with it so that's why I move forward with it well said commissioner um I do have a couple questions yes I know I went I went down there um Jr took me down there I got out of the vehicle um poked around a little bit uh the water is definitely deep enough in the on the North side and I do think it's wide enough for the smaller vessels um and I think it's going to be a great asset once we get that finished um but when I go to the other side on the Wayside where you were referring to I noticed there's a lot of flow from the water so when you if you're putting a boat in right there are we concerned about the current that because it move that water moves pretty fast right there is that I mean you're a boater so what is your thoughts on that typically uh the larger vessels um will have twin engines and you can mitigate any current with those you have a lot more directional stability and that will be your target Focus for that boat ramp okay all right very good and then um I also looked at the map and there's some private ownership so the only part that dot really has is that strip of land where the old road is that that's the only unless I've looked at something wrong and then there's private ownership are you proposing that we're completely staying within that do portion correct currently yes ma'am and how wide is that that's not well there's enough for two Park two 8ot parking on one side and 8ot on the other plus the road bed what's the typical width of that road bed there JR 60 say the roadway itself is probably 24 and then you got curving on the North side that's probably 7even or 8 feet and then probably 10 or 12 feet on the other side double that yeah I'm just concerned you might not have a whole lot to work with there on the water side because truly even it's not being utilized by the people that there it is private ownership on it look like on the map on both sides so um what and and whether you enter we can get a lease what we did on the other property was we were lucky enough to secure the actual full fee and purchase that property um I'm not sure what do is going to want but if they if they whatever you can work out I'm I'm supportive of it I think it's a great idea to have um an enhancement to our current uh Park that that we're building and I'm look forward to see what you bring back to us but I'm good with it I just want those are my concerns as the current flow and and the the width of how much room you've got there to work with yeah I ideally you know down the road or if we could purchase the parcel to the east with the abandoned home with it there that would be a huge opportunity too but I I don't know what the current situation is with that property and hopefully through Discovery with staff we can move forward and they can provide a conceptual drawing um for the area and we can also reach out to fdot I've I've made some preliminary phone calls to fdot and I have a pretty good feeling that they're going to allow us to work with them on this okay well it's it sounds like a good plan going forward sounds like you've got uh support from your board thank you do we require a vote on that you know I'm still new to a lot of this how about everybody wave at you that's a call to wave and support so you're good all right well thank you guys I appreciate you taking the time to listen to No very good thank you for your presentation um as you make make your way back to your seat um do you have any other comments that you want to talk about anything else no I'm good for the day I'm ready to go eat okay um commissioner paler do you have any comments I do I do um for those of you who are not aware of it uh I think 20th of February we have the if you will the big boy Bass Tournament coming back to town um bass Elite maybe is that what it's called um bass master elite um I know this because they're going to be using the Shrine Club and I'm going to be cooking 250 Stakes that day or day before so I'll be quite busy but knowing that was coming this Sunday I was scrolling through the channels and um I saw I think it was FS1 Network and it said uh bass fisherman or Bass something I said well let me turn this on just see what's going on here and uh there's a older fell that's been fishing for over 50 years and he's like the uh Dale Earnhart of fishing his name's Rick Clen and he's he's won a tournament here on the river before and he's uh and they kind of did a bio on his life and and um how he started and he would borrow money to be able to get to the next tournament until he started winning and then he got really good but the premise of what all I'm telling you the whole just about 90% And this is a huge plug to our chamber Commerce and the good that they do for us the whole backdrop of all the pictures they were showing Paca Clock Tower Paca Bridge him at the uh down at the waterfront when he hoisted the big trophy up and it was just Palaca Paca Paca so we're people don't realize the advertisement value that the chamber gets us on a national level is just huge it's huge I mean it's it's tremendous and uh I mean you see that clock tower in Paca just playing as day and that that makes you proud you know being a HomeTown uh guy or gal uh that U we're we're we're in the big time and uh we need to keep swinging for the fence and uh doing that kind of thing but um I'm guessing M Mr Clen is almost 80 years old and I was he bounced around that Basset Bo pretty dad G good I was I was impressed I I don't believe I could hang with him but uh anyhow and that's coming again and I hope he's in that tournament I'd like to meet him and go and shake his hand but he's uh he's quite a phenomenon for his age and be out there still hustling it and he he did admit he says I hate that getting up before daylight he said but soon as that sun cracks he said said I'm ready he said so anyhow I wish him and all the fishermen a lot of luck and I'd like to see some big bass come out of that River at that tournament in February I'm done all right all right commissioner Alexander I'll go back to you real quick on that note I would like to talk about the Pico boat ramp someday not today but there there is a need there's a yes so I'm sure you guys are all well aware of it um but uh one day okay okay and I think we'll get an update too we can ask for an update too um on our next our next meeting from staff and then we can ask questions all right commissioner newold I hate to slow us down but I have a couple of things you're fine that's what they got um being new to the the scene here I I understand we have an impact fee study that's scheduled to come back to us in the near future what is the timing of that uh report I believe March but I'll defer to staff correct and we confirmed this week that they're still on target they're shooting for a March report okay and how does that come to us in advance do we how does that how will that process proceed once that report is tendered much like agendas it'll be issued the report will be issued to you guys at least a week in advance prior to the conversation coming before you there are some milestones and timelines um based on your timing for desired implementation if you so choose to move in that direction um so we don't want to put impose a lot of delays in that process or schedule but during that time period where you receive the report and we've set the meeting for the discussion you'll have full access to staff who can answer questions that you may have about it thank you um I want to thank Tim hotelling for you know he's a a frequent flyer here but I appreciate U where he was trying to go with his storm debris discussion um I have have a little experience with storm debris um issues both in putham county and St John and flyer County and I'd like to say that um we are Believe It or Not putham county is Head and Shoulders above our surrounding counties with with this program um we've done Innovative things we have gotten debris up faster and in a more organized fashion that than our peers and I I'll commend our our staff and everybody for that um nobody knows about it um there's still a little bit of a disconnect between the public nobody there's a great apparatus to use to report to get updates and nobody knows um just one little thing I think one day I hope we have the capacity for a public information officer who could there are so many things that are going on in putam County that are positive so many ways we can get out in front of issues that could um quell a lot of public comment like this if we have a public information officer so I'm just planting a seed there I'll I'll drop that one um I think that's it that'll that'll wrap me up I'll I'll pass pass along the mic all right commissioner Harvey you recognized thank you madam thank you madam chair do want to say thank you um Amen to commissioner nul's request I I love that idea um comments about 3:15 I want to thank Public Works we sat down um with the maps in hand they weren't the the newest newest Maps but they were the maps and we sat down and went over every driveway everywhere that um I was involved some of the commitments not commitments but some of the ideas we had um to fix some of those roads out there with the millings and um I really appreciate that because as as we travel or I travel those road that road quite often um you know we know where the dead pum is at and for us not to be able to share that would just be terrible and I've I recommend this to Commissioners all over the state you know it's not your fault there's a project comes along and things change on us and we don't know that from our level and we think things are still moving forward in that direction but I will tell you that you worked very hard to get those those two projects done at the 90% level and you're moving very fast with do and I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart um because that that road needs to get done we need to get out of the West End and move to other end of the county and it's very important and also we're keeping our word with Dot and we're delivering a good product and uh that that means a lot to me because when you go to them there's no more slide remarks there's no more well you didn't do this you didn't do that you didn't check the box we're are checking the boxes and we're delivering so thank you Mr Stout Mr noes Mr Grimes we appreciate it that we have to call you Mr Grimes now so we appreciate that um Sue Holland thank you for the kind words today that project has been years and years and years in the making and we waited for right away we raed waited for water lines to go down we waited because we didn't want to build a road and tear the road up we waited for the flood to reside many many times um and it's still flooding on that road somewhat but you've got a pave Road and we appreciate that and um that's one of those frustrating times in County government that things seem to drag on and on but um the final result is good Commissioners I do want to wish you a happy New Year 2025 is going to be a great year I do want to make a mention of debris pickup I know how frustrating it is uh last week I gave Mr Grimes some and Mr Tilton some areas that were one one road one road that had eight or nine addresses on it well the debris contractor went out there and picked up three turn left and left and left the other on and when it was pointed back out to them Mr Tilton it was pointed by you and Mr Grimes they went out there again the next day and they finally picked up everything and my phone quit ringing and the remarks stopped um that's not our fault you know we can't handhold a contractor and say be here be we gave them the numbers and we expected them to do the job um but they did finally and the community is all cleaned up so I appreciate that I'm going to ask for a little levity here or a little bit of time a few weeks ago Mr Tom hoverson with karco product sent out an email to us about the condition of karco and the impact that karco products have made in putam County um very important to know that and I'm just going to kind of go over some of my notes that I told them 25 years ago as a chamber member we were advised to build a spec building and that money came out of the county coffers on better place plan money um way before any of us were ever on the board and in hopes that they would come and I said' little did they know that you would be the one that came he didn't pay full price of what it cost the county to build that building and frankly privately I would have given him the building because we needed to get that thing off the county tax of paying nothing back into the private hands and made that very clear to to our administrator even back then that he almost got a building for free U not necessarily for free but I'm just saying but the man went above and beyond what he promised putam County he would do at the time we had a commissioner that wanted to look over his financials and and all that and I went no we just need to take people for their word and this man has a vision and a dream to bring to re relocate from New Jersey and come down here he has put millions of dollars of renovation into that building and if you ever walked into that building prior to that it was a dirt floor it had a little bit of concrete around the edges but that was about it I didn't see any hope for that building frankly but he saw something that he could be proud of not only did he meet his word he exceeded his word and sometimes as a political leader we take a we take heat for every decision we make you you'll leave here today and you'll go that I make the right decision you make the best decision like commissioner John EU Banks told me one time with the information you have available to you at that moment so we made the best decision he bought the building he put millions of dollars into it moved his business down from New Jersey to here and has exceeded it sometimes what I'm trying to say is folks we have to take that chance on people we can't be sitting there going you haven't showed us enough imagine if you'd have been with Walt Disney back years ago when he would have said commissioner palace here I need you to to give me a million I'm going to build a a kingdom about a mouse in the swamps of Central Florida and I would have said to him you lost your mind you know you've been out in the sun way too long you got bit by a mosquito way too many times but the man had a vision and a dream and it came to pass this man had a vision and a dream and it's only excelled in putham County now he's looking to expand his facility here in putham County do more in puam County hire more people in putham County he's got over a 100 employees what that impact is to our economy is tremendous so again sometimes as political leaders we have to take that take a chance on people and and hope that we are proved basically wrong that we don't demand their financials but that we trust people to do the right thing and this man went over and beyond that so Tom hoverson you didn't know I was doing this today but I applaud you I thank you for bringing your business to putam County and I look forward to more people who want to come to putam County and we can take a chance on and Madame chair that is the end of my remarks thank you thank you administrator Suggs you had another comment yes ma'am first I want to follow up on uh uh commissioner Harvey's comments you know the first time I ever met Mr hoverson you know and and listened to him and and heard him and saw his vision he's done everything he's always said he was going to do he is a tremendous asset to this community I think he employ over 100 something people out there they uh uh I think they run seven days a week I believe they might even run two shits but he's done everything he's always said he's going to do he's a man of High character so I'm sure he appreciate your comments today uh commissioner Harvey uh yes yes ma'am I wanted to follow up on commissioner pel's comments about the Bassmaster Elite I apologize for not jumping in sooner uh but we also have another event going on that same weekend uh it's the uh 76th Annual aelia Festival revitalized Pac is putting on downtown as well headed up by Miss Kathy Griffin uh so I just wanted to share that as well I know she's been in contact with both myself as well as Mr Ry Mr rynolds about utilizing the parking lot over the weekend and uh she's partnered with the chamber so there's there should be no issue with the with the tournament at all I just want to make you five aware that there is a second event going in conjunction with it uh and from what understand revitalized faaca as well as the chamber has worked through all any any and all issues to make sure that both events uh come off without any issues so it should be a very very well attended weekend in putam in putam county in city of Paca so just want to share that as well and thank you for letting me make those comments I think she's going to have some uh carnival rides there for the younger population as well thank you um also Commissioners the three of you if you haven't had a chance to go visit karco he'll give you a tour and it's very well um it it's it's very educational and I think it's well worth going um first I want to say thank you you all for your patience today I know I moved the schedule around a little bit um it's important for me to not see our citizens sit here for 4 hours and so I tried to move it as long move them up as quick as I could I know we had some time certains uh that's not how we used to do it but um I it's really important for me to personally to not let people sit here longer than they need to um also um I want to mention that animal services is moving along I've went out there and looked at the building if if you haven't done that please do so um they are moving uh construction along and um We are continuing to hold adoption events every weekend and um during the Christmas holiday I want to give a shout out and thank 386 nutrition they put a tree up in their uh Lobby and put little um cards on it about adoption dogs and between that and some um Paul's perum and other groups joining together I think we're able to get about 12 dogs adopted out just from that event so I appreciate that and um I want to thank staff and my fellow Commissioners for working together on legislative priorities it's always hard because we can't have those discussions one-on-one but I think we were able to uh get a good list off to our state representative and and uh legislators and I think I'm hoping that we have a very successful year um also um we have started our community Paramedic program and so um we haven't started that started it we're in the middle of training um Jr do you want to make any comments on that most certainly and I think it's going to be a wonderful program um Outreach I mean as as far as it could be from the from we got to catch our students early they have pamphlets they need to be in schools and and and back to I mean when I was in school one of the things is the sheriff used to come down and visit the school and told us to stay off the drugs and things like that I think that's going to be an important aspect of our community Paramedic program is entering the classroom which I don't know that gets done but um that's going to be one of our priorities is to put them in a classroom let them talk to our children um and also it's going to give some things out that I think are really important because a lot of times you can relieve your 911 system by being a little bit proactive um because you know if you'll talk to any of the people on the street they go to the some of the same addresses multiple times because people maybe not understand their Healthcare they may not understand instructions but those are where those person them people can intervene um and do things um they're also going to enter we're working on through now through protocols is doing a medically assist uh program where we can do the um different medications that it helps bring people from their drug usage into maybe a um a less trying to word it correctly um less it's okay we got it yeah you know so they don't have the high they get the same feeling but it's able to bring it down through Medicaid and assisted programs so um that that's going to be a cool program I think that that helps the citizens out um the more we can do reduction in that the better we're going to be so we're going to those kind of programs um the the people that are working it are very excited um it was actually we reached out to several people inside the community uh commissioner Wilkinson gave us one from the is it the Life church lady that reached out also uh Reverend Carl flag sat on the hiring committee um so we actually had people just outside of our own agency because we thought it would be really important for them to be interviewed by people from the community so um so that we did do that um the selections came through all three of them were uh really excited about the program um the sky is going to be the limit for them I mean they can get in in all the programs whether through the public safety coordination Council I think that maybe commissioner Alexander is the chair of now uh things like that to where they can start putting the links and pieces together U which I think has always been an issue everybody's trying to do their own thing but the co is pulling the same rope I mean and maybe this is the program where everybody gets on the same page and pushes you know and and makes it better for the community so I think that it's going to be a really interesting program um they're going to travel around we made contact into Clay County so our folks are going to go see how other places are doing it before we get really active because I mean there's notic in Reinventing the wheel when we just need to put a little air in the tire and adapt it to our community so they're working on that kind of stuff and they're doing training and getting ideas done but I mean one of them actually got proactive the other day and went down and visited the cold weather shelter to see if they could extend help so I mean it's those things they're going to have to build relationships in the community um and I think we've got the right people in the place to to do that I think they're going to do a great job thank thank you for that and I think in the future we'll probably get another update maybe have them come do a presentation in a few months I know like you said they're still in their training and trying to figure out what's going to work in putham County but the idea is to reduce um some of the 911 calls reduce some of the repeat off not offenders repeaters um and just people that are utilizing the over over burdening the 911 system so there's going to and it can be anything from helping them with their medicines to um you know maybe they need a walk ER until they get their one from their prescription so there's lots of different options that that sounds like the community paramedicine program will be able to help with AB absolutely it's going to be I mean like I said there's I mean some of the things they did was in clay they noticed a lot of people were slipping and falling so they did a no slip sock thing that they did they collected up and gave the citizens and I mean and it was kind of one of those things I mean we'll run to somebody that slipped and Fa and you may say well why because maybe they have a real slick floor and they just need some grip on their socks so that was just one of the things they did they also did like a drive to get Wheelchairs and and Walkers out cuz sometimes you get released at 8:00 at night maybe it's not possible to get that well these people work 24 hours so if somebody was to get released and they call and said hey they need a wheelchair then may we're going to set up a maybe a pod or conx box there where they can go pick up something and take it out to the community also it's just tying them in I mean sometimes we run diabetics because they don't have food but I mean a lot of times we can coordinate and tell them where the food pantries are where the church is doing giveaway so I mean it's not and I told them I said go pick it up for them and take it to their house right I mean when you build these relationships so there's a lot of things they can do and they can get the folks in rest of fire rescue that's could participate as well I mean I mean it's and it's a lot of times it's just going and checking on somebody right making sure they're still doing good or if they need assistance so that those are a lot of things they can do but they're also fully ALS capable right so if they're in happen to be in the area they can go in and and maybe make life- saving Maneuvers waiting on an ambulance if they just happen to be in the same area um so it does increases our responses I mean for Community success um I think they're set up very well so um I look forward to the program I think it's going to be a great thing for our community good thing is it's funded I think for several years through some um dollars that was from the opioid abatement funds so that so we got several years to get the program up I mean one day it's going to have to come back before the board to see if we want to continue it uh but I think right now it's a it's a great program and I think it's something we can use in the future that can help relieve some stress on the 911 system yeah I agree thank you and I gave um a list of food resources out to uh to uh Richard back today so he can share that with your staff um also lastly I'd like to say that we some of us attended the swearing in at the city commission meeting and of course our constitutional officers um last week and all I can say is we have a lot of great people working in putam county and I'm excited about the future so um with that is there anything else to come before the board all right this meeting's turn