It is 2 o'clock and we will open up our meeting. This is the first meeting of the state road safety task force in Putnham County. If I could remind you all to please silent your phones so that we don't have any interruption. I'll do that myself. Um, just real quick, we
were going to have this meeting in a in a uh conference room and we moved it to this room bec for two reasons. We didn't know what to expect for public people, you know, for people coming in because we had a lot of people reaching out and saying that they wanted to show up and speak. Um, and then also because we
wanted to make sure that it was um videoed. So remember that as you're speaking that everything's going to be videoed and it can be reviewed at a later time. Um, so at that at this time we call the meeting to order and I'm going to give an opening statement, but
I'd like to address you from the podium. Thank you all for being here today. I like to look at people when I'm speaking. So, um I know I can't do that during the whole meeting, but I wanted to um welcome you to the first state road safety task force meeting in Putham County. Thank you for your willingness
to serve the Putnham County community. When I was thinking about our mission, I was reminded of the poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, and I thought it was very fitting for this task force. I'm sure you have all heard this poem, so I will only read the last
line. Two roads diverged in a wood and I I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference. While the roads that we are discussing today and in the future are traveled by many in
our community, for the first time we as Putnham County officials and citizens are taking a stand to work collectively together to embark on a journey on what I will call the road less traveled. This road will be difficult as
we will have serious and sometimes perhaps emotional discussions. We will hear from our community about their transportation safety concerns and it will take your time, dedication, empathy, and talent to create both
reasonable and obtainable recommendations to the state and county. However, I am very positive that your willingness to serve on Putnham County's first state road safety task force will have made all the difference. I look forward to the future of our community
and serving with each of you. So, please, if you will, join me in giving our volunteers a round of applause. With that, Mr. Suggs, I'll have you go over the Florida Sunshine Law. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh as the committee was put together and appointed
by the board of county commissioners, it was noticed uh by our county attorney that we all all of us that are serving on the committee fall under the sunshine. So what I handed out earlier was just a packet that we give to our committee members. The majority of information contained with the packet
will not apply to each of you folks, but the sunshine does on page six. So, if I could, I'd just like uh to ask you to to kind of look at that, read over that. Uh when we leave here today, the one thing that needs to be stressed is that under the
sunshine, no two committee members can talk about anything in as far as business committee outside of these publicly advertised meetings. If you have any questions or you need to get some information, you're welcome to reach out to any one of our staff members and they can help you. uh but
anyone that sits on this committee uh you you need to be mindful of that and just make sure that you don't reach out to those folks directly to have any conversations directly related to the business at hand. That's really all that's really the main focus of it and I know you won't do that. So if you have any questions feel free to reach out to
Mr. Mr. Grimes, Miss Young as far as deputy county administrators and they can help you through that. Thank you. Are there any questions for Mr. Suggs? All right. Thank you. Um, I wanted to talk a few minutes about the creation of this safety committee. Um, the idea of having a state road safety
task force came out of the BOCC meeting on March 11th where chair Phil Liry for the Putham County School District spoke along with Miss Marlene Ryan who is an atlarge member. Um, due to the the she's the
meeting discussed. I wanted to also give you a little bit of an update. myself. I know. Thank you. And just for housekeeping purposes, um if you want right here, you'll see it like like
this. You'll push it and um let me know that you want to speak. And then also your um mic. It is very um live. So if you say something, you want to um turn it off when you're not speaking. Thank you, sir.
Okay. Okay. So, the document that you have in front of you is actually a breakdown of uh enforcement action um between County Road 309 and County Road 315 on State Road 100 uh for a time period of 120 days between February 1st
and uh current date. And if you'll draw your attention to this first page, I'll go over this with you and kind of break it down for you so you have a little better understanding of what this looks like. Um, so if we go over to the far top right and you'll see that line out
to a uh W with a number out by it. That is actually uh indicative of the number of um verbal warnings that we've issued at 54. So if you want to make some notes, feel free to. Um the P directly underneath that that just indicates
miscellaneous police services. That could have been a disabled vehicle or something like that. Um the O down below that is actually criminal citations that were issued. Uh that could range from uh driving while license suspended or revoked, which is
probably what the majority of those are, to um some other criminal infraction that was uh witnessed by deputy sheriffs. And then if you come on down to the bottom where you see the N and the number 125 by it, that is actually
written warnings that were issued. And if we come on around clockwise up to the M in the blue section there, uh that 95 represents the number of traffic citations uh issued in that 120day period.
And the just above that uh the I where you see uh eight, that's actually the number of report calls that were generated from some type of traffic stop. And that could range from anything to a traffic crash or it could
potentially be a drug case or likely associated with uh a number of these criminal citations that were issued that we talked about just a few moments ago. Uh so that totals uh 288 traffic stops in that time
period that the sheriff's office has conducted. Um I've reached out to Captain Stevens with the highway patrol as well and he's actually compiling some data for us that we'll have available at the next meeting. Uh the highlight FHP's enforcement operations as well. Um and
then if you flip over to the next page um this is pretty self-explanatory. It's uh again the same um stops that we were referencing on page one, but this actually breaks it down by day of the week. Um we've got some additional data
that we'll present at the next meeting that will have it uh that will drill down a little further and look by time of day um and the type of enforcement action that was taken. But this is uh this is what we were able to kind of throw together on short notice.
Um, and then flipping over to the very last page. This is a little bit of a work in progress. Um, somewhat self-explanatory, but this is done by geographic area. And you'll
see um over on the bottom right where it says Pala, Florida, 188. Uh I'll highlight that number because um madame chair if you recall at our very first organizational meeting we had already identified that the section but of State
Road 100 between Bon Road and Robert's Lane was by far the most dangerous and we'd had the most fatalities there. Um totaling I believe 13 with Jessica's death over a 10 to 12 year period. Um
so that section there indicates the number of intimate actions uh that were taken by sheriff's deputies in that particular section of road uh from Bon Road West all the way to Robert's Lane. Um these other areas we'll have some
better data and hopefully a map that we'll be able to generate for the next meeting. Um, but that greater PLA area that's highlighted in green there is uh is representative of that particular area of concern. Very good. Are there any questions for
the sheriff from the board from committee members? Well, I know we certainly appreciate the activity that's gone on out there. Um, you guys even posted and said, "Hey, we're going to be out here." And they still kept coming, didn't they? Unfortunately, they didn't heed those warnings and they're having to pay the
price for it now. Right. Right. Um lastly, um as far as what else have we been able to do, we have certainly caught the attention of the media. Um the formation in this meeting has been on four different news channels along with several articles in our local newspaper, the Placa Daily News. And so
we appreciate the media helping us bring awareness regarding our public road and safety concerns. I think if we've we're already off to a good start with what we have seen so far between um traffic infractions along with um public
awareness. See with that we will go into um introduction of committee meetings I committee members and we'll start with u Mr. County Administrator Suggs and then we'll just come along the dis. Thank you madam chair. Uh good afternoon. I'm Terry Suggs. I'm the
Putnham County Administrator. Um, as far as a background, I've been doing public service now for over 30 years. Uh, the last, uh, four years have been in the city county management position. Uh, so, you know, we we bring a lot to the table as far as things that
we we deal with every day. Uh, public safety is our is one of our main focuses. Uh, we work, you know, as you know, we got the PM County Fire Rescue. Uh and so we work very closely not only with them but also with the sheriff's office and in my previous role city manager I have both the uh city police
department as well as fire rescue under my umbrella as well. So uh you know we're we're we're ready and and willing to do whatever it takes to provide a service to our citizens that provides safety on all of our county highways. So thank you Madam Chair. Thank you Mr.
Kibru Kibru. Um, I'm just am a resident Putnham County. Been here all my life. I'm sixth generation Putnham County. Um, my area of expertise is I'm just a concerned citizen. Um, I want to help, you know, things get better in our
county. Um, we we travel that road every day. My wife and I do. My grandsons that road to QI every day. Um, you know, and and just whatever we can do 100. That's right. Um, that's what I want to do. Thank you, Miss Ryan.
Yes, ma'am. Is okay. Okay. You want You want us to come back to you? No. Okay, I'm good. Okay. I'm Marlene Ryan. Um, the reason I'm here is because my daughter Jessica suffered a fatal accident on Highway
100. And I feel like we really need to come together as a community to try to do something to help with the traffic, with all of the situations um that occur there, the
speeding, the passing. Um it's just terrible. And we live right there on Highway 100 right off of Springside. And every day, I won't say every day, but mostly at least three
times a week, there's ambulances, fire engines, sheriff's cars flying down that road because of something that's happened. And I just pray and hope that um with the help of the county, the commissioners, everyone involved that we
could do something together to help this community. Putnham County has been my home for 65 years and I love it and I know that people are compassionate and they are wanting to help and I really our family appreciates it and I know the
families of the other victims of this road appreciates it and um I just our family thanks all of you. Thank you Miss Ryan Gator Delo. I am humbled and honored to serve as sheriff of Putnham County. Uh
just a little bit of my background. I'll touch just briefly on a few highlights. I've got about 29 years uh total in public service of which 24 and a half is in law enforcement. I began my career at the sheriff's office in early 2001,
January to be specific. And in 2016, um I was elected sheriff and assumed office January 3rd of 2017 and have been serving as sheriff since. Um we all have a very keen interest in uh the work this
committee has uh has undertaken. Um and are committed to seeing it through. Um it's our hope that we can get some uh substantial cooperation with DOT. We have all the empirical data that we need to uh indicate that there is truly a
problem here and it's incumbent upon us to get that information into the right hands with Department of Transportation so that we paint a holistic picture of what's going on here and that they are fully informed about the dangers on this particular section of roadway that we're
addressing here in this meeting today. It's also my hope that once we address some of these issues on State Road 100, this committee rather than disbanding will remain intact and we can actually use this as a vehicle to address some of
the other issues in the county uh particularly on State Road 19 and 100 East as well. Thank you, uh, Sheriff. I appreciate that. My name is Leotaa Wilkinson. I'm chair currently chair of the Putham County Board of County Commissioners. I
have uh been a county commissioner for three years. Before that, I served six years with state representative Bobby Payne's office and before that I served 15 years at St. John's River Water Management District as their land acquisition agent. So, I've been in public service for a while. My husband
and I also own a business in Putham County, an automo automobile repair business. And um I live out in Bon community not far from Mr. Kilibru. And I have driven that road for I don't even want to know how many years, but 49
probably. Um, no, not that long. 40 something. Anyway, um, I can remember as far back as 1989, one of my classmates had died on that road. Her name was uh, Tamara Vance. She had a head-on collision. So that area of
the road um particularly you know what we discovered during this during this process was that there was particular area that was four times more dangerous than the rest of the road. Certainly caught my attention but I can remember all the way back 30 years ago whenever there were accidents out there and
fatalities were happening. So it's not something new. I think it's something that we as a community somewhat got I hate to say it but we got used to it and and then now we're realizing we can't get used to it. we've got to do something about it. And so, um, I'm very passionate about this subject and I
appreciate everybody being here today. Mr. Larry. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Uh, Phil Liry, I'm chairman of the Putnham County School Board. Also a former county planning development director both here in Putham County and Klay
County. Um, I'm a nationally certified land use planner and have worked on transportation plans and traffic circulation elements in in both counties. Um, my I started traveling that road I think when I was when my dad retired from the Navy and my mom moved
back here to her home county. My grandfather owned a farm right uh just west of Putnham Hall and been traveling that road for 60 plus years. hate to tell you that but um long time I do
think it's important um that we as a school district working in conjunction with all the other agencies uh you know focus on safety of our children, our teachers, our support staff and our parents that are going back and forth
and and you know every day morning and night our buses uh in transportation and that um it's unfortunate in it that a tragedy had to be the the offspring of
of this committee, but um I think that uh now's the time and and we can do some great things. So, thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you. Yes, sir. I'm Brent Coats. I've dedicated my entire life to traffic
safety uh through law enforcement. spent 28 years with the highway patrol, 10 years, 10 and a half years as the local captain here with FHP and then have continued on in the traffic safety realm in the transportation industry now uh with trucking company, trucking carriers. Uh the one thing that uh that
we have is we have faltered off uh in the community uh for for what we have done and what we had back in the late 90s early to mid 2000s. uh we had a solid community uh traffic safety team where we had a collaboration with all
agencies with the sheriff's office with Palaka PDA PD uh emergency services uh road department FDOT everybody and we uh we had a tremendous impact on traffic safety in Putnham County. So much so the
county was recognized on the uh the state level with the Florida Police Chiefs Association. It's called the Chief's Challenge and then also too was recognized in the national level at the IACP uh again for the Chief's Challenge as well. And that's through the efforts
of the people in the community, not one agency, not one person. And for whatever reason that has faltered off and we need to to bring that back together, bring that attention back. And uh as was stated a minute ago, it takes unfortunately it takes a tragedy uh to get to spark the emotions and to get
people, you know, fired back up. But uh certainly we have done that and certainly we can move forward and make it a much stronger, much safer uh community. Thank you, Mr. Coats. Mr. Theobel. Principal Theobel. Joe, could you please push your button on there? There you go. There you go. I
thought green was off. Okay, green is on. There we go. My name is Joe Theold. I'm the principal at Qi Roberts. Um, I've been at education for 25 years. I've been the principal out there for uh six years and I was there six years before uh it became a junior senior high
school. Um, I've been driving that road since I could drive as well. I have really close friends that live in in the Careaway area. And, um, to me, I the expertise I bring just is the passion that I have for uh, our students safety and for their family
members safety. Um, and you know, to me, Highway 100 is a perfect representation of what this community, uh, what our challenges are because not only are we talking about, uh, people commuting to work in our community, outside of our community, but we're also talking about log trucks that are always going to be
up and down that road. Um, trucks coming out of uh, Grandon from the Sand Plant. Uh, these these are just the challenges. I drive that road every day. My wife and my child drive that road every day. And so we need to make sure that it's safe for for everyone to go up and down it. Uh and I
hope we also get an opportunity to talk about some other road safety uh concerns um in some other areas that are certainly impacting our students and their families. But uh I am absolutely honored and humbled to be here myself. Thank you. Thank you. You might have to just turn that mic over to Miss Miss
Edwards. Sure. Hey, I'm happy to share. We're not We don't normally have this many people up here. I'm Sandy Edwards. My husband and I retired to East Pltonant in 2019. I my career was with transportation. I worked a very large
trucking company for 47 years and um in the last 20 I was an executive with some safety related function. So I hope I can bring some information that might be helpful or possibly column some resources that
might be able to help us with some ideas. Um, my daughter was 30 seconds behind the accident. My husband died in a motor home accident a year and a half ago. That was pretty terrible. So, for me, road safety is very important. No,
not only was it a big part of my life for the last 50 years, but you know, it really has affected my family. So, thanks for inviting me. Thank you, Chief. Uh Putnham County Fire Chief Richard Back. I've lived here my entire life in
Putnham County. Been in emergency services in one way or another of a volunteer or career for the last 36 years. My goal raising a family here and and always been a worry of my kids driving. And uh the goal of this committee, me serving on this committee,
is just make Putham County a safer place uh with my experience of what I've seen in these tragic accidents and what we can hopefully do to prevent them. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. And um Miss Mammore was not able to make it today.
She actually lives in the floor home um area and she had a scheduled appointment. She had been in an accident on on Highway 100 and she's on her fifth or sixth surgery. um from that accident and so she had a specialist appointment and couldn't be here. But um we wish her
well and uh she will be back at the next meeting. Hopefully we'll get it scheduled. But I just wanted to give you an update as to why Terry missed some more. She was District 5's appointed um person is not here. So today um we can go um you know not sure how we're going to handle
this, but we can go down the DAS and talk about the issues on 100 specifically. Um the goal is today is to discuss 100, but we will also I believe I'd like to see in the future that we talk about other other areas of concern. Um and I'm going to start a little bit
with um Chief because I know you you mentioned you've seen some accidents out there, some some bad things, and like Mr. Grimes has said, if if they got a call and they knew if you if your people got a call and they knew it was on Highway 100, they knew it was going to be bad. And um if you can just talk a
little bit about your experience and then um one you also had told me a story about how difficult it was on that road for some of your um Yes ma'am. responders.
Um I've been to several tragic accidents, but you're right. Anytime a page for our departments go out on Highway 100, we just expect the worst. Um, no matter what the dispatch information is, in our
mind, it's going to be a tragic accident on that road, whether single vehicle, multiple vehicles. Um, just because of the layout in the road, in my opinion. Um, the other difficult task for us is getting to the accident once traffic backs up.
I voiced my concerns about how narrow the shoulders are and even citizens being able to pull over to let us buy. Um the one incident you're talking about, we had a wreck that involved one of the small bridges out there with overturned sand truck. Um all my units
came from what we call the west end of the county uh interan aquilla and floor home. So, we had to walk a quarter mile after we climbed over the sand to get our patience because that's how far out the the seam was spread. Um, not knowing that coming into it, we could have maybe
diverted some trucks from a different direction, but we didn't have that information till we got there. So, every accident out there is a challenge for us. It's also a safety concern for us. Even once we roads down, um, there's always a distracted driver that's not paying attention. We have
secondary auto accidents from the primary auto accident. So, that's my big concern on any two-lane state highway. Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I I you know, that road in sections of it, it does have what seems to be a decent looking shoulder, but if you go to pull
off the side of the road and and I'm sure Sheriff can address this. You could get you could get stuck. I think there I've heard that there are safety concerns from some of our law enforcement officers saying that when they go to pull people over that there might not be enough room where they get they could get stuck. there's other areas you've got room but not
consistently throughout. And the things we learned um through our county um um research that we did was that there's plenty the state has plenty of right away along there. It's not that if the state chooses to go forward with
fourlaning or making a passing lane or whatever they can do to widen it or to make bigger shoulders, there's plenty of um area for them to do that. They they wouldn't need to go by acquisition. Um, so that is a a benefit for us. Um, getting on their five-year plan or
10-year work plan, I think is going to be our challenge and something that we're going to push for. Um, with that, is there anybody else who would like to make comments or to have discussion regarding Highway 100? I really would like this to be just an open collaborative meeting. I don't expect everybody to be particularly real
formal. Miss Miss Edwards, did you want to go? And what do you do? Yeah. Oh, there's a button, but hit that button. Hey. So, um, what was the research? I mean, is there compilation of that information that we all could look into? Well, this was just public. This was just looking
at what the state the state owned. So, if you just put pull up Highway 100 and you look at what the state actually owns, you'll see it's is very wide. Our our engineer said that there is is very wide. Were there other focuses of this research that might be good for us to
know about or? Um, yes, ma'am. some of what gave what our what our sheriff shared and then we had just had some numbers on the amount of accidents and fatalities that were that were out there but um I don't have that in front of me right now to specifically talk about but
we what we did discover was that area between Bon Road 309 you narrowed it down yeah and careway well and it's not narrowed what we're looking at the entire length from the county line to what I call George Pacific road or county road 216 so that whole area right
there is is is you know if you look at all the state roads coming into Palaca that's one of the few that's not four-lane you got that one and highway 19 and that's it everything else is four-lane coming into Pala are there any numbers about how it compares to
anywhere else I mean other I don't know what you would compare it to do you I don't really that section of road yeah that section of road has some uh unique features. Um, I think you could roughly compare it to
uh that same section of East State Road 100 that runs from San Mo through to Banell. Uh, just for a a rough baseline comparison. Um, that is perhaps not equally as deadly. Um, but we've had a
number of fatalities on 100 East as well. Um, and I think the a large number of factors that uh that contribute to those fatalities um notwithstand certainly not the least of which is the uh the rural nature of
both of those roads. But there's a number of different factors that I think play a substantial role into uh some of these some of these more uh severe injuries that result in fatalities. And then you have major intersections at 315 and 100 um at uh that's always been
brought up. The community has brought that up several times. When I worked at state representatives, Bobby Payne's office, there was a petition going around and they wanted to to um put a red light there. And the conversation we had at that time with FDOT said it's not safe to put a red light there because you have those sand trucks coming up at
the top of the hill. And when they're coming over the hill, there's not enough room for them. I don't know if you've been out there, but there's not enough room to really come to a good stop if that traffic was backed up. Um they have mentioned a roundabout there. I don't think that that's a viable solution either. I don't know. There is caution
lights there and they have put some additional um you know they've got some flashing lights and some additional signage they've already done but they are looking at that intersection. State road 26 and 100 is always a concern. Um there are plenty of data on accidents in
that at that intersection as well. So, um, those are the things that that we're asking DOT to specifically look at on 100 besides the section that we've t spoken about already. Are there any other comments? Yeah. Are there any improvements that we could
make? Uh, are there any improvements that we could make as a community now? Um, even in that stretch because I'm very familiar with that stretch. That's also the stretch where you're going to get stuck if you pull off to the side of the road. Um that goes through real swampy area and it's passing it right
there. It's pass it's a passing Yeah, it's a passing area. It's extremely straight, but there's a couple of hills and so yeah, it's it's a dangerous spot. Is there any way we can widen the shoulders or or maintain or anything like that? And and that's the one thing we got to remember is we're an advisory board. So, we'll have to go back and
advise and give our recommendations to DOT um for um any changes we want to the road. They are currently in their plan of um um resurfacing their design for resurfacing it. I would actually hope
that they pump the brakes on that a little bit and instead of just going and resurfacing it that they give us an opportunity to give it give them some feedback and um and say hey here's some areas which we've already have but some specific things like one of the things
Miss Mlan reached out to me over you know Betty Mlan on Roberts Roberts Lane and she said you know there's no there's no speed limit sign between Bon and Careway. I said what? There's got to be. Stopped an officer yesterday and asked him. He said, "No, ma'am. You're right. There's not a speed limit sign between
Barton Road and Carowway." And the worst There's not even a speed limit sign there. Now, I don't know where it went or if it was everyone there. I don't know. But that's an easy thing. That's one of those easy things. I think we'll have a mixture of some some easy and and shortterm recommendations and I think
we'll have some long terms such as um a passing lane, uh fourlaning, that kind of stuff. and and um this is all new to me too, y'all. So, I'm I'm I'm learning as we're going, but we I believe we all have the heart and want to do the right thing. And uh but it is an advisory
board and so we'll have to go back with FDOT and and give them a list of what we're looking to do. Mr. Coach, did you have something? Yeah, Madam Chair, can we get uh and uh sheriff, you may be able to tell us that the FHP captain's going to get it for us, but can we get the information on the the fatalities
that we're talking about that have occurred, not recent, but over the the time period? Yeah. You know, what type of fatalities were they? Were they lane departure? Were they single vehicle? Were they multiple vehicle? You know, and break all of that down so that we can develop a plan. Is it uh there's a
thing, and I've actually got a hand out. There's a thing. is called the three E for traffic safety. Uh it's enforcement, engineering, and education. And then use that as a template on these fatalities, on these crashes. You know, which which
of those E does it fall under? Does it fall under enforcement? Does it fall under engineering? Do we have a bad engineering, a bad road like shoulders? Uh or is it education? We need to educate the public or the community, you know, better than uh you know, than than what we've done. We need to step that up
maybe a little bit as a whole and uh you know look at those so that we can uh you know drill down on those on those crashes you know what's the causation what's the root cause so that once we find the root cause then we have a direction to go we may find that they're all scattered you know but we also may
find that they're not that there's a specific common denominator in all of those right uh so that we can uh again dig a little bit deeper with that and I've got if you don't mind I've got some handouts That's about the three E and I'm not going to go over all of it, but it also for everybody is it this is from
the Florida Highway actually Florida Highway Safety. It has all the crashes uh for uh Putinham County from 21 to 23. 24 is not available yet and I'm not going to go over all of them. I'll just pass it out for everybody's information. But thank you. That way that way
everybody has them. Yeah, this is I mean we're learning as we're going, but at the same time I think we're going to have some um some good recommendations. Um you know, one of the in our letter when that we sent up to Tallahassee, we said four lanes or um the creation of
passing lanes and center or center lane barriers, centerline barriers. I spoke with a couple deputies. They didn't think having barriers in the center and I think Gator, if you'll address that. What are your thoughts on those recommendations? you know, I'm somewhat hesitant to
appine on that um without having all the data in front of us to uh you know, to be able to really dig down a little deeper into, as Brent was saying just a few moments ago, um what the primary uh cause of these accidents was, whether
it's a lane departure or whatever the case may be. Um, so I think that it's important for us to get that data and that's something that uh, Captain Stevens has agreed to supply us with as well. Um, so once we have that, I think we'll have a better idea on uh, where we
really need to drill down and focus our efforts. And this is strictly anecdotal just from my own observations. Um, as Brent was talking about earlier, the three E which I'm familiar with as well. I think one of the uh the biggest issues
that we see here is uh is an engineering um flaw or perhaps a series of them that probably was never contemplated when that road was engineered uh to accommodate the volume of traffic that it does now as uh as the traffic on that
road has grown exponentially over the last several years. Um there is a significant issue with uh with enforcement activity on State Road 100 West in particular that section from Bon Road to
Robert's Lane that we're uh really kind of laser focused on at the moment with uh with this committee. Um there's really no improved shoulder to speak of. And I can tell you from personal experience, I uh I'm not too proud to say that I actually got stuck out there a couple of weeks ago on a traffic stop
as I was trying to turn around. So that makes uh that makes enforcement very difficult. Um but just from a ingress and egress point uh for traffic as they're transiting that that particular section of roadway, it creates an additional hazard as well
because if there's oncoming traffic or someone's passing um and they get too close, there's no egress to get off of the roadway and onto an improved shoulder um which creates a a hazard rather than mitigate one, right? Um, so
I think those are all things that we need to take a a good hard look at. One of the things I think I would like to see, um, well, I know I would like to see is a turning lane going eastbound into Bon Road. We have one going westbound, but we don't have one going eastbound. And I, uh, because what happens is you pull up to turn into Bon
Road, and you're like hoping you don't get hit. Sure. And, um, sometimes people take the grassy lane to go around you, but um, it's it's dangerous. And so, um, I I would like us to recommend that, of course, after we get the data. Um, that's that would be one of my
recommendations on that. Um, thank you. That's what I need. Thank you, Mr. Killer. I just wanted to um commend the sheriff on the enforcement acts that's happening out there um along with the highway
patrol. the U chief. I mean, I you could probably speak to this too, but it seems as if the accidents have kind of gone down. Um there's not as much there's not as many um lights and ambulances and
stuff like that running and um you know the I mean what you call I guess a wolf pack with the highway patrol. I was under the understanding that that had been put out there and um you know I just if y'all could speak to that just you know I mean because we're starting
we're trying to start somewhere and and and I know you know this but the enforcement part of it I think is I just wanted to draw attention to that that it's been very helpful. Sure. So you know enforcement is uh is certainly a key component as well as education. Um,
so, you know, we've kind of taken a two-prong approach with enforcement and education coupled together along with the highway patrol. Um, anyone who has traversed that road over the last couple of months has seen a significant
increase in uh not only presence but enforcement. Um, you know, one of the frustrating things for us, and Mr. coach can attest to this as well. Uh the moment you get some blue lights out there or a mark patrol car, everyone is on their best behavior for at least the next 30 to 45 minutes until they think
the coast is clear. Um so we've had to revert to some um very creative tactics. Um and it's not about catching people in that aha moment. It's more about um bringing
their attention to it to to increase their awareness about what they're doing. Um, frankly, I think that uh that cell phones are one of the greatest and perhaps most detrimental inventions to uh modern civilization, particularly with uh
regard to traffic safety and the impacts that uh personal devices have on uh on our safety as we drive on our roadways in Florida. Um, you know, it's uh difficult, if not impossible, to
observe someone on a cell phone or a device whenever you're traveling at 60 m an hour going the opposite direction. Um but there are instances where uh you know we've been able to um catch someone
in the act so to speak um whether they're texting and driving or perusing their Facebook news feed as they travel or commute to work in the mornings and the afternoons. Um which is a a travesty in my opinion. Um, I personally would be
in favor of installing technology in vehicles that uh precludes you from using those particular types of services while you're driving. Um, I think it's one thing it's bad enough to be distracted by a phone call even if it's
in hands-free mode. Um, but I certainly understand the necessity of that in uh in today's climate with um everything moving at such a fast pace of life. Yeah. Mr. Larry. Madam Chairman, thank you.
So, from the standpoint of if you look at this road in in comparison to uh some other roads in Northeast Florida, I know uh US7 was set was fourlaneed years ago. Um when I was commuting up there, um I
was part of the the group that approved the development of regional impact on Fleming Island for the two DRIs there and the six laning of that. But even now with that road six lane and eight lane in some places, the traffic count's so high, you know, that there are there are
still a number of accidents. But if you break it down into, you know, three different categories and these are, you know, similar to what um Major Coats handed out, but you know, awareness and, you know, our drivers in that road have not seen enforcement from the highway
patrol since the highway patrol station was moved or eliminated in Putinham County. and um and and I blame some of that on a lot of it on the legislature and and them not providing the funding to um hire enough highway patrolman to
to really do the enforcement and the uh safety u you know work on on our highways in Putham County and and then of course what they're paying them they they all get paid more if they work in counties that have interstate highways.
Um and then you know the the paradigm that people have in driving and um you know one of the things when we we were talking with DOT a few weeks back um you know we can put larger signs up. You don't you can have larger speed limit
signs and you can do some you know they don't have to be as big as they are on the interstate but you can certainly make them bigger than what they are and have more of them. um they they agreed that you know some of that area needed to be restriped and so those fall under
both engineering under under these three uh categories that u on this this paper that Mr. coat handed out. Then, you know, cameras in school zones. Um the board, the district board has not really
had just minimal conversation on that. We were waiting to hear back from um some of our staff that were doing research on it, but um I'm not overly enthusiastic about cameras and and you know, generally and you know, red light
cameras and that type of thing, but in school zones, I think it's a different situation. and on state highways where you have that the speed and the traffic counts. I think it's something that that you know this committee should look at and and maybe make a recommendation on.
Um and then you know just the key is through enforcement and communication and social media people now know that when you're driving that road you better pay attention. When I was commuting, I
commuted to Tallahassee back and forth for 25 years. And um I can tell you that from Palaca to Lake City, I was very aware of, you know, the speed limit and the fact the enforcement from the highway patrol during, you know, the
80s, 90s, 2000s, and you know, up until probably the last 10 years. So, we we um we need to reverse that that whole driving paradigm as this pertains to, you know, they're being aware that if you're not driving and meeting the laws
that are posted, the speed limits and, you know, other traffic signals and things that you're going to face consequences and and they're going to be serious. So, um but but you know, I haven't talked with Mr. Theobo about this the cameras, but I have had several
people call me and say that they'd like to see larger flashing signs flashing um at the school zone. You know that that they're small, smaller. Um you know, I thought they were the standard size, but you know, what can it hurt to to put
bigger flashing signs up there? The only people that's going to bother or the only thing that's going to bother the bears crossing the highway. Um but it may help in slowing people down going through that school zone. The same thing with the other school zones that we have, you know, 17 and Crescent City and
um State Road 20 with Kelly Kelly Smith Elementary and the new the new elementary school coming online on Horseman's Club Road and then us, you know, starting construction probably by the end of the year on the U replacement school at Kelly Smith. So I have a
couple questions. Um, do you the city of Palaca took this up? I believe they did. They have they have already or the schools that are in the city. Correct. And and what's been the result of that? I I I haven't I haven't heard. Okay. I
also think that um you know and it's this is kind of this is specifically related to school buses and and our students and and the drivers is that you know I personally not and I'm not speaking for the board um but am in favor of cameras on the school buses um
that are now you know if you run around a school bus I think that currently under the the the state legislation that it's a $200 fine. Um, and I know that there there's there's concerns with some of the implementation and the process
with that and the appeals and who's driving and that type of thing. But, you know, irregardless, it all comes back to student safety and and you know, we've just been blessed because I have seen vehicles blow around school buses, I think, as we all have. And uh you know
unfortunately it seems like you know as the sheriff said with people on their cell phones and just you know reckless and careless driving that that you know it's it's not a matter of if but when that we have a situation with an
accident with one of our school buses. Yeah. I would be interested to see what happened with the city how that was out. Yeah. How that was um you know are they where are they at in their process? Um, I believe they would have to use some kind of an outlet agency to push that
through and to third party vendor. Correct. Yeah, a third party vendor. So, I'd be interested to see what they do. And then I I don't know that you could I think if you take it up and and maybe um administrator Suggs can help me if the if the county were to take that up and
say, "Hey, we want um we want flashing, you know, um um enforcement in school for cameras." If we were to take that up, and I'm just throwing this out there, you can't just pick an area. You It has to be like throughout the whole county or or could
it be just one or do we even know the answer to that? I don't know right off the top of my head, but we can certainly look into that. That's an easy question for for an answer to Yeah, because I mean, it's one thing to put it out on Kelly Smith. I mean, out in Qi Roberts, it's another thing to put it at Kelly Smith when Kelly Smith school zone is not even in the right spot. So, how are
you going to make people stop in the school zone when it's not even in the right area? And and that's not a reflection of anybody. I'm just saying it because that's the truth. So the truth is when you go out to Kelly Smith and you know it, you take your grandkids out there. I've seen you out there myself. It's just not in the right area.
It's not the right place. So it would be hard to enforce something on that state road whenever it's not even in the right area. Um, one of the things though we we we are looking at and probably will happen is that we will move the parent pickup and drop off down to the next to
Kelly Smith Road and then but and then on to Round Lake Road will just be buses. So, we're going to reverse it. So instead of them since the DOT's refused to move the you know the the school zone, we'll just put the parent pickup
and drop off in the school zone that's currently there and with the property that we've acquired, we'll be able to do um you know a lot of staging on on site of vehicles. I gotcha. Okay. Um Mr. Coats.
Yeah. to follow up with um talking about Qi Roberts. I think everybody will agree that Qi Roberts is our diamond school as far as the curriculum as far as the the product, the teachers, the staff, our principal who is here as well. Uh I don't think anybody can argue that
point. But the thing we need to think about is it's not the building, it's not brick and mortar that makes that school great. It's the curriculum, it's the staff, it's the students. We have two and I believe three vacant middle
schools. We have Price Middle School which is vacant that could accommodate Qi Roberts students. We have Jenkins school which is vacant which could accommodate Qi Roberts students. And I believe we have CL Overur School as well. They may not be up to par, but I
believe between now and August the 11th they could do it. And I would volunteer to go paint some rooms to to again to manage that risk that we're not putting our students at risk. We're not putting our faculty at risk. We're not putting those extra school buses at risk out there going to and from Qi Roberts.
Bring it back into town. Bring it back to Interlock into Price. Bring it back to Jenkins in Palaca. Bring it back to CL in Palaca. And again too, the infrastructures there as far as the streets, as far as the roads, far as emergency services, all of that is
already in place. And again, they have just been, you know, shuttered for what, less than two years, a year and a half, whatever, whatever it's been, but I think very quickly they could be brought up. We're not changing the curriculum. We're just changing the structure. And as far as the name, I know that there's
some some attachment to the name. Bring the name with the students. You know, change Price Middle to Qi Roberts. change uh Jenkins to Qi Roberts, you know, whatever we need to do. But again, shutter that school out there on 100 until the the traffic issues have been
resolved, whether it's 5 years or 10 years. But again, risk management, reduce that risk, and it's available. It's out there that that we can do that. Okay. Thank you for your input, um, Mr. Theob. Oh, I I I've got something to say
about that, but um I figured you might. I I'll start by saying that if we did close the school, part of the um part of the donation was that the Roberts family would uh take over ownership of that donation. So, it wouldn't be quite as simple as that. Um and honestly, I I
think you bring up something else, which is um so I know the history of that school um because I was one of the first teachers out there uh when they first opened it. And um Quint Roberts is the oldest of their sons. He's very close friend of mine. I've been out there my
whole life. Um, pretty much literally. Um, that school was built because we thought we were going to see an expansion of Keystone. Um, this was 25 years ago and um, and then the 2003 recession hit and then the 2008
recession hit and uh, got to the point where we needed to do something in order to maintain a school out there um that was thriving. and it is a school that is thriving and the um the infrastructure itself is um it'd be difficult to make that switch. Not saying that it's it's
closed. We're we're here to spitball great ideas and and come up with what works best. In the meantime, um something that has been brought up by folks that that I've also spoken with is to widen our school zone. Um especially in the westbound um because there is a
hill uh coming out of Florida home. you dip uh dip down a little bit and then come up a hill and if you're at the top of that hill coming pretty quickly, you might not realize that you're going to have to slam on brakes because you're in a school zone. So, if we could move that a few hundred yards down a road, that
might help. Um and lengthening our eastbound um uh I said westbound, it's actually eastbound um range where the hill is and lengthening our eastbound turn lane. So on the right hand side of the road um could also be helpful um and
I don't know if that's something that we can do in a short term as well because what we have found is and it the same thing will happen if you have a a turn lane at Bon Road uh is you create a tunnel of death there where you have people in the right turn lane and then people in the left turn lane but you
can't see who's coming um eastbound from Flor home um that's going to clip you if you try to turn turn left or turn All right. Um, so actually that is what we see coming out of Bard Road and if you turn left and so the discussion with DOT and I'm sorry to interrupt you. Um, but
the discussion with DOT is to lengthen that and and make that a clearer visibility. Yes. Yeah. And that's that's something similar that we need to do is kind of lengthen that uh eastbound turn lane just so we can get more and more people off of the road. Um, but we we
have fixed that in the afternoons. Uh, and in the mornings our families are they're pretty with it and so they know how to stagger. Um, so we don't have huge problems and in the afternoon we we get out pretty safely. Um, but yeah, widening that school zone just so that
people can get down, you know, slower to slower speeds more quickly is just a matter of um I'm sure that's more than this, but it seems like just running some wire and digging that thing up and moving it. So if if we're able to do something along those lines, I think it could be helpful right there at the
school. Um, and I will also piggyback off of what people were saying as far as the enforcement because having uh been being driving up and down that road. It has been uh everpresent and very um very um useful and we appreciate the the
deputies that are running up and down and also officer Vega was right out there at um parent pickup yesterday afternoon. And so personal, you know, having a somebody right there in the vehicle at that time of day is hugely helpful to get everybody slowed down and doing what they need to do. What is your
take on the um on the red light or not really what are they called? School zone cameras. Yes. Um so I I was afraid to say it out loud for years, but since somebody else said it out loud, I'll jump on that bandwagon. Uh I know in I want to say it's Flaggler County, it's one of the counties close by, they have
them. Um, and one of the ways that they have um softened the blows to the community as far as having the the light uh the camera enforcement is that the the county and the school district split the proceeds, whatever those might be. And so it's kind of like, well, you're
helping kids as you're blowing through the the uh the school zone and getting your ticket at least, you know, some of your funds are going to help some of our students in whatever way possible. Um, not saying that I'm looking for a generator of funds. Um, but as soon as I
heard that they were doing something along those lines and people were respecting the the school zones better in those communities, I thought, well, that's that's a positive thing. I'm not a big fan of red light cameras myself. Yeah, me either. Um, but and I think there and and uh Chair Liry had given
that to us, I think, about there was some there's actually some specific statutes that says how it has to be how that has to be dealt with. Um, Miss Larry, did I mean Miss Larry, you're Mr. Larry. Miss Miss Ryan. Um, I really appreciate the three E and
the first one is the education and we don't do we offer driver's education at the high schools. We do in the summer. In fact, we just approved yesterday there'll be um several classes throughout the summer at Palaka High
School and I believe Crescent City, too. and just in the summer, but not not during the regular school year. Uh they do have some in the the regular school year, but the emphasis on the summer program because it's it's it's a pretty intensive program. It's important
because a lot of people don't act like they know how to drive and they don't follow the the rules. And I I'm old so I when I when I'm picking up my granddaughter at PLA High School, junior senior high school and and the seniors leaving to get out
the parking lot. I'm I'm thinking I wonder if those guys took uh you know driver's ed. Well, I appreciated driver's ed and I I think it's important and I think it should be maybe in a requirement because people it's somebody's life and some
people get out there and they just don't know the rules or what to follow or what lane to pull in when they pull out and it's it's important. We all our classes are are generally full in the summertime, you know, during the school year it's a little more difficult, you
know, and Anyway, we're the board has approved that yes or Tuesday at our meeting. Good. Sheriff Delo, please don't anyone throw anything at me for saying this. Not allowed to. I forgot to give the rules, but we're not allowed to throw anything. We have to be
civil and have decorum. My comments are not intended to uh necessarily take the shine off anything that anyone has said previously. Um, but I think it's worth mentioning that we've spent a significant amount of time talking about
the school zone, but in reality, what the data suggest is that we have very few incidents in that school zone itself. Um, I think where we really need to focus our efforts, specifically um, at least early on is that area between
Ban Road and Robert's Lane. Um, and since it was brought up in conversation, I uh I want to take a moment just to offer my position on school zone speed enforcement cameras. Um, you heard it here first. I'm adamantly opposed to
them. Uh, they are red light cameras uh in another form, and I am never going to be in favor of them. I don't think there is any substitute for uh quality in-person enforcement by a law enforcement officer. Um, the fact of the
matter is they've uh they've put these cameras up in other areas and in other states and particularly here in Florida, it's uh it sparked some considerable debate regarding their evidence and implications for individual rights. Um,
for those of you who are unfamiliar with how these work, you contract with a third-party vendor who manages the uh the issuance of a notice of appearance in lie of a uniform traffic citation or
a ticket as we all um affectionately refer to them. Um, these notice of traffic violations actually take away your um your rights and by doing so it creates an
inducement to pay this notice of violation at a reduced rate uh substantially reduced from the uh uniform traffic citation. Um, so when and the the problem that I have with it is is you have a third
party vendor who is uh getting rich um dipping into citizens pockets. Um whereas with traffic enforcement and uniform traffic citations, um there's some statutory language that actually spells out where that money goes. But uh
there is a substantial portion of these funds that go right back into the pockets of the vendor um who actually manages this. Uh there's there is a substantial uh argument to be made with regard to uh due process. Um, not only
does it burden the drivers financially, um, but as I alluded to earlier, there's an inducement to pay for the, um, notice of violation, um, and thereby the driver waves their right to due process in exchange for a reduced fine and a possibility of points
added to their license if a UTC is actually as opposed to a UTC being issued rather. um there's no mechanism for them to contest that citation like there is or that notice of violation rather like there is a a true uniform traffic
citation. Uh I could go on for hours about this, but those are just a few of the key highlights why I will personally never be in favor of any type of camera enforcement in in school zones or in anywhere in that matter. Thank you.
Thank you, Sheriff. Uh Mr. Suggs. Uh yes, ma'am, Madam Chair. And uh response to your question earlier about the school zones, according to the FDOT website, no, you're not required to put them in all zones. Uh it will be up to municipality or or county to make that
decision which ones they want to. But I will also verify that through the county attorney. Okay. Uh and if I can while I have a second, uh Mr. Coats, we'll get that information uh that you've requested as far as the accidents and the types and we will forward that out to the committee. I believe we already
had some access to some of that information as well. So, I'll try to get that out in the next day or to all committee members. So, it looks like we we've talked about several items here. Um, one of the at our next meeting, we definitely need to have some uh data.
You had mentioned uh that Captain Stevens will reach out to him and see he's from the Florida Highway Patrol. Make sure he can attend our next meeting along with some staff from DOT and I think that will be most helpful. Um we do have some citizens that are here that
want to speak at add a boy. Um one of the things that the the reason that the highway patrol had you know immediately um as we were coming back from our Tallahassee trip um the sheriff contacted his friend and and and longtime friend of mine Dave Kernan that
director of highway safety motor vehicles and he committed to the sheriff that that things would be done and believe me the next day they were they were done. So, thank you, Sheriff, for reaching out to him and and getting that ball rolling. Thank you, Mr. Coats.
To kind of follow what's on the agenda there, I'm a bad person bringing handouts all the time, but I've got some more handout talks about enhancements uh down there for uh that we can do immediately uh at little or no cost, and there's a old thing. It dates back to
the 50s. It's called It looks like it's from the 50s. It it's called the Burma Shave uh road signs and basically they are still used in western states today. The only place in Florida that I know that they are for sure on the Florida Turnpike between Fort Pierce and Yehaw
Junction, but basically it's a series of signs that are spaced apart that you read in their safety messages on them. And so I just kind of like threw this together. Uh but here here's some thoughts is basically we have our signs. The first sign reads high crash area. No
need for speed. Phone down. Buckle up. Arrive alive. Yeah. You know, and we space those out. We can put those out there on the 100 and it catches the driver's attention. And those are as far as cost, minimal cost uh to do and to
put out there. Uh and if uh FDOT won't uh won't put them on their shoulders, I'm sure we could talk to some of the land owners out there that would space them apart. But, uh, you know, it's it's not it's not a fixall, but again, it's an added thing out there to get get drivers attention to to again key things
that are causing some crash out there. So, have you seen FDOT do this? I haven't seen this in other areas of Florida. Only ones I've seen is on the turnpike between Fort Pierce and the CMI exit. Okay. All right. Is there anybody else
that would like to comment before we take some public comment? All right. Um, do we have some cards? First, let me say thank you to the citizens who up today to speak. Um, we have been mostly discussing Highway 100, but this committee will be getting into
and and this is the part of the this is the hard part, right, is we're going to have long discussions. We are. And so, I hate to tell you that because I'm the first one who likes to have a quick meeting and get things done and that kind of thing. So, um, but we are going
to have some, um, um, longer meetings and not everything's going to be 30 minutes or an hour and especially with this one being our first one. Um, so, first I'll hear from David Wade, if you'll come up to the podium, Mr. Wade, and state your name and ask
for the record. And um we are going to try to keep these comments to three three to five minutes at most. But there's no trap door. I promise you. Okay. Unless you go over five minutes, then there's a trap door. Okay. Yes, sir. You can just start speaking. Is
this on? Yes, sir. Okay. I'm David Wade. I've lived in Plaid all 77 years of my life. The last four years we've uh moved to Florida home. My family uh of driving capabilities to and from Paladka to
Flora home is four people and we transfer and go to work and take care of grandchildren and schools and so forth. We travel the road a lot. I'm a victim of a Robert Ranch incident some two
years ago. Not personally. My younger son was driving his vehicle five o'clock in the morning. An incident occurred right at Robert's Road which uh left a little bad taste in
my mouth towards the highway patrol and uh in losing troop F I think it was that we had here in Putnham County for years. We lost a valuable asset to patrol state roads.
uh in that incident that occurred at 5:00 in the morning. It took the uh sheriff's office within five minutes to have a sheriff's deputy out there to the scene of the accident. It took the highway patrol 1 hour and 10 minutes
documented to get from where he was at in St. Augustine on Highway 16 to the scene of the accident. The accident uh uh didn't cause any phys physical damage
to cause some mental damage and some financial damage to both parties. But in talking with the highway patrol and the sheriff's department, uh I found that uh the highway patrol's
only excuse was we didn't have enough people. Well, you used to have enough people when the post Jimmy John's and the other deputies other highway patrol people were stationed here in Putham
County. Now the state road which is supposed to be patrolled by the troopers is not patrolled. Not until maybe recently when numerous accidents started happening and uh so they uh told me they were
short-handed. sorry about your luck, you know, and uh not much we can do about it. We work in league with the in league with the sheriff's department. So, uh we have a vested interest, I think,
here from the highway patrol to do their jobs. whether it re re remains that they have to hire more people to do their jobs and not rely on the sheriff's department which uh they want to pawn
off to the to your deputies which do a good job. So there uh I feel like there's a lot of things out there that are not the road's fault. They come from irritated irritated drivers and impatient drivers
that follow that road. The irritated drivers were ones that are behind a school bus or a log truck or a cement truck can't get around. They do stupid things. They'll pull out and they think
that their little four cylinder turbocharged cars can get up to 80 or 90 miles an hour, which they do. But the oncoming traffic uh is is always seems to be the one that has to go off
the side of the road and hit a tree. Um and I'm sorry about Miss Ryan's incident. I I knew your family well. And uh another problem that has to be
thought about and uh living on living on one of the only bypass roads uh that the area there is to use when there's a uh when there's a uh situation like occurred with a sand
truck. Highway 100. Highway 100 was totally blocked. There's no way to get around that other than going 315, turn it around in the middle of the road, but you can't hardly turn around because it's not wide enough. Gator even says he gets
stuck. Um, the only conclusion is to come down Coral Farms Road and then come out hopefully beyond the wreck on Robert's Ranch Road or uh it's called something
else. Bellamy. Bellamy Road. order to go go straight through Kinsley dirt roads and come out there by the school. If this uh program to widen the road needs to be
done, the irritated drivers might might uh not exist, but still there's a need for people to go fast in today's world. and me owners of race cars and driving fast for years uh understand that that
need but it has to be contained somehow by the drivers and and u and uh qualified. But anyhow, getting back to the bypass on Coral Farms Road, these bypasses need to be fixed prior to any
road construction to be of any magnitude before you jump into it. uh Coral Farms Road is not capable of handling the traffic uh that would be and is coming down there right now. The road's not
wide enough. We've talked about this before in a mining operation that was proposed there on Coral Farms Road. The road is not substantially enough to hold the weight of heavy dump trucks or semi trucks. And uh the road is a country
road. It's only 8' 3 in wide from the outside line to the middle line. My truck adul is 8 foot. Now there's only three inches to negotiate uh in between being in the center of the road. That's an inch and a half on each
side. An oncoming truck will take your mirror off or put you in the dirt. Uh so these uh bypass roads need to be worked on uh prior to getting into a major construction. So, so that people can go
on. Um, Mr. Wade, I've given you about five minutes. Are you about to wrap it up? Yeah, just about to wrap it up. Uh, even this morning coming here, Miss Wilkersonson, uh, I took a right, had to go to my doctor at 11:30 this morning. Uh, went to
Keystone. First, uh, near miss happened at uh, 3:15 in Grandon. Guy pulled out in the road. He just froze there. And uh you know I had to come to almost a stop coming back uh coming up the hill to
Grandon and the caution light there that you can't see until you get the top of the hill. That double line there by the sand pit didn't pay any attention. The Cadillac was going behind me. I was going 60. He was going 80, 90, or even 100. Come around all those double lines
and pass three cars in front of me before he come to the top of the hill in Grand. And uh if id have had a ticket book with me, I guess um you know that would have been one of the ones. The other one was there. But near misses take place every day out there. My wife
is scared to death carrying our grandchildren. She comes home with terrible stories of near misses that happen with people running off the road, running her off the road on a daily instance. Uh Mr. The old I think has got
a plan there to uh take care of his school exit, if you will, going to the east to give him some more space for them trucks and cars that the young people drive and mothers and fathers use as a pickup to get out on
Highway 100 a little more proficient proficiently than just getting out in front of the people that run through that school zone. Thank you, Mr. White. Thank you. Thank you. there. One thing we can all agree on is
that you, every person who, especially if they grew up in this county, has a story about State Road 100. They either know of somebody who passed away. They know of a family that's been hurt. They know of a near miss that they probably have had or one of their close family
members have had. And that's why we're here today. That's one of the reasons why we're here today. Um, next on uh discussion of state road 100 safety is Marilyn and I can never say your name, last name, but I'll let you say it when you get to the
podium. Thank you. Good afternoon to all. My name is Mary Lynn Pantonita. I've been a resident of Putnham County and Flora home for most of my life. And I just want to uh mention that as you all as a committee begin to study and develop
recommendations for improved safety of 100, I ask that you particularly take into consideration the community of Florome. I know as you've looked at this stretch of road between St. John's Water Management to the Klay County line, that's your area of study. But we're the
only town within the study area that is bisected by State Road 100. That means that the highway literally separates or divides our town. Part of our residents are on one side of the road and part are on the other. So for our residents to
enter and exit off of 100, every time we leave home, we've got to safely get on to 100 for work, for school, for shopping, recreation, to go to the post office, for everything that we have to do. Although the speed limit is 45 miles
per hour through Florome, we know that there are many many violations for speeding. Our community has three feeder roads for the town east of east going eastward is Holloway Road at Qi Roberts and that's very dangerous in the morning
and in the evenings when school takes in and lets out. Um then we have Coral Farms Road at the intersection of 100 and there is a flashing light there. However, it has become increasingly difficult to get out onto the road uh
particularly at times of high traffic uh when workers are are going to work and and uh coming back home. And lastly, there's the intersection of 100 and 315. And as all of you all know that is extremely dangerous due to visibility
issues. So those are our those are the ways in which we are able to move from our community to get out on 100 and those uh create quite a number of problems for our community. Over the years I've personally known several people who've
lost their lives on this highway. And I've also known innocent victims who've been involved in terrible crashes that have led to lifelong disability of pain and suffering. We in Florome also have vital fire and rescue services that
serve all of West Putnham and those are essential public services and those folks need to be able to safely move along State Road 100. It's not unusual for the Flora home ballpark to be used as a landing pad for emergency services
that um are coming to assist people that have been hurt severely and need to be moved to regional hospitals. I'm a retired teacher of 38 years. And during that 38-year period, I drove State Road 100 every morning, every
evening to various uh places that I taught within the county. So, the road has not changed, but we know that drivers have changed. There appears to be a disregard for law and there is more distraction with the use of cell phones,
more aggression, speeding, passing and risktaking. I'm not sure what the answer is for that, but it's certainly something that could and should be controlled through ticketing and uh through education. Our area is
experiencing some growth and state road 100 continues to get much busier with commercial traffic because of the growth in our region. So as big trucks are moving things from up north from Lake City all the way
to the coast it things come through Flora home heavy equipment comes through Florome we have logging that comes through Florome we have Vulcan materials that is located uh just uh close to us and in closing I just want to say that I thank you all for taking serious
consideration of this issue I also want to thank law enforcement specifically for their increased presence. It really made a difference. We felt heard in the community and I just uh look forward to what this group comes up with as a plan
uh for greater safety in our community and uh thank you again. Thank you. Um I didn't these cards weren't in any order so if you were here first and you didn't get to go first I apologize. Not it's not marked that way.
Ivette Reyes. Evette Reyes, PO Box 253, Bosway. I just want to say thank you. I don't live on that side. I personally do not drive 100. I go 20 and go all the way around. Um back in the 90s when I lived here, I used to drive 100 to go to church at
Marinette. And yeah, I know you from there. We'll talk later. Um, but I just I I'm overwhelmed and in a happy way that you guys came together and I appreciate you volunteering because it is a really bad road. I
personally live on 19th, so I'm going to wait till that till that comes up. But like I said, I don't drive 100 at all. I will go around whatever I have to go around so that I don't go on that road. So, this is a huge undertaking for our
county and in a positive way. It's unfortunate that what happened happened to Jessica for people to listen because it has been out there, like I said, from the 90s, but it's a step forward. So, thank you all for volunteering to do
this. Thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Robertson. You've been very patient and I appreciate it. Let's see. My name is Lynn Robertson. I live at 410 South 9th
Street. And I'm going to invite you all to please think about another state road. My problem state is state road 20. It's the three mile section be that's
two lanes on state goes around krill down south 9inth at that corner a woman burned alive in a car wreck at my doorstep at that corner people have
accidents on daily basis I've been working on this problem for five years. Ever since I moved here, I spoke to the lovely Madame Chairperson and Mr. Representative
Payne, spoken to Mr. Delo in the grocery store. Um, I called the highway patrol, but nobody ever answered. And I even wrote Governor DeSantis and have several times written, um, Mr. Purdue.
When I asked the DOT to do a traffic survey on that stretch in 2017, they said sure. And it turned out that at that time, five years ago, there were 10,000
vehicles on that stretch of road in a historic neighborhood that is residential. And really, it's very often traveled now by pedestrians because they're poor. They can't afford cars and
they walk along. They're in danger. Um, my front yard is littered with car parts. Uh, I saw a biker get taken out just two weeks ago. I asked the city for some statistics.
What I was able to get was reported accidents from 2019 to 2022. And mind this takes account of the COVID. Everybody stayed home. There
were almost 400 accidents and that's 100 accidents per year that were reported. That doesn't mean the unreported ones. And in Florida when people have accidents, the date, this is dated, but
it's like a minor accident is $6,000. Well, I saw a family of Hispanic folks get smacked by a pickup truck. That was their only vehicle to get to work, to school, and
to the grocery store. So, I'm begging you all to consider this problem. I asked the DOT to come and on my front porch, they saw
the five trucks every five minutes or more. I think the truck ordinance from 2003 that Palaca made should be enforced. It said no through
trucks. Um, nobody's interested in enforcing this. Wouldn't be that hard. You just sit there, grab a truck. They're jostling with school buses, tanker trucks that could overturn
and inflame our neighborhood with noxious and toxic and flammable stuff. Um, oh gosh, am I at three minutes or five? I'll give you a little bit more, Tom. Okay. So, when I moved here, I got a
petition up and since it was just me, I got kind of tired of um hearing people how discuss how much they hated that road. I got 300 signatures and submitted that petition
to the city and the county. Um, well, nothing's happened as you know, except uh signage that doesn't seem to be effective. Now, since our recent
hurricanes, they're convoys of dump trucks, vehicles of every description. When you have an accident, and I've been a first responder because I live right there. I
was an RN. I call 911. I run out. I try to help the person who got squashed. They're in shock. And when rescue and police come at
night, there is a complete jam of insanity. It is so dangerous. The trucks are trying to get by. The rescue is trying to come in. We don't have
shoulders because they're houses. My personal retaining wall has a huge sign that says, "Slow, please, to cover up a large hole someone made." And I didn't feel like fixing it because I'm sick of
construction. So, that's why I'm here today. I am so sorry for your loss, Miss Ryan. I'm so sorry. And I'm glad that we have some truck experts here because maybe you can
do something about it. The last time I spoke to the DOT, their head person of the delegation said that the DOT would never ever interfere with a municipality enforcing
an ordinance on a state road. So, thank you for your patience. Uh, I invite you to think about it. And Mr. Theabold, I knew a little girl, Mr. Miller's daughter that was in a school
bus that in our neighborhood on that road that got squashed by a truck. So y'all have a good weekend and thank you very much for your patience. Thank you, Miss Robertson. So you that is one area that
um we've all are familiar with. Um we did get the um get the the truck um truck what is it called? I forget what it's called. I've already forgot truck truck route. Thank you. We got the truck route and and I did think it was helping and it did help it seemed like
but then now I go down that road on a regular basis and we have just as many as we used to have. So that is an area that will that I think that we should look at as well. I don't disagree with you. Um it and it's it's difficult because it's a it's a state road in a
city and um we've all from law enforcement we've had meetings about it before and I think it's just challenging and um the other problem is just like you have a little bit on 100 is when you pull somebody over where do you pull them over at so there's that part. So,
but I do think that DOT has um that they had mentioned that they had some solutions um on a couple of these items and we will have them come forward um at one of our next meetings and share what they have or what they are already working on. Um and I think they have
worked with the city on something down in that area. Um not from enforcement standpoint, but from maybe changing that road. I don't I don't really know specifics, but um short traffic. Yeah, I think I think that's something that and that is a it
it's just a challenge for that area right there. So, um before we close, I want us to go down um the the podium and uh we and speak and I'll speak last and then um the next meeting date and time we can discuss that as well. I don't
know if we want to set a specific time of the month every month or um I mean I feel like we need to meet as necessary. Um but we we'll just go down and um chief back I'll start with you on the other end since I started on the
other end and if you'll just have any comments you have about today um and then what you want to see in the future and if you have any um I mean we talked about we're going to need some data. We'll have um Captain Stevens come, we'll have FDOT come, and we'll continue
this conversation on 100 and other areas. And as we go forward, I think that each each of us should have um a specific item like like that we want to work on. I think that's just my thought, but but I'll start with you. Thank you.
I just want to say when you said earlier that the enforcement had slowed down the auto accidents on 100, we have seen that. Unfortunately, you spend a lot of your efforts on the few officers we have between FHP and and the sheriff's office. Um that could be they're
unmarked cars. I know what he's using out there, but uh we've seen a uptick on 19 and city of Palaca accidents. Uh pretty severe ones here in the last couple days. Um over the last week we've had six between 19 and St. John's
Avenue. Um so we're seeing upticks in other areas. So there's a lot of roads that we need to look at in as a committee. Not 100 has its specific issues that we need to concentrate on first in my opinion. But uh we don't
need to let the rest of the county disappear either. Our children and families ride all the roads. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Edwards. Um, very interesting today to learn some of these facts, but you
know, I think my interest really lays in what's electronically available. You know, maybe stuff we don't know about. I know we talked about the cameras and stuff, which I sort of like cameras because my husband was in that business and I learned a whole whole lot from that. But, um, there I don't know what
else might be out there. So, I thought I'd take that home as a go forward. Okay. Yeah. And I and like I said, we'll get some data um some additional data. The sheriff shared some data with us today. So did Rhett Coats and I appreciate that. And um we'll get that data out electronically and then see
what we can send out. Um and we'll have somebody on staff like Julianne or um administrator Suggs, I think. Are you allowed to send out data or just somebody from staff? So um we would have um we would have it go through Julianne and she could send out anything. So, we
we'll see what we can get up get together and get sent out. Um, yes. Uh, so I I also learned quite a bit today. Um, for moving forward, first off, uh, I'm going to talk with the
folks at other schools and see what they've noticed, uh, not just in their school zones, but also just kind of in their ride. Um, I know driving 17 south to Crescent City for a few years. Um, that's scary spots in there, too. Um, so
I'll try and get some information as far as that goes. And um and I I as far as future meetings, I think we need to meet um certainly as needed, but if part of what we need to do is tap the brakes on DOT's plan to resurface the road and hopefully get some re-engineering
involved, uh I'm ready to meet whenever and as often as as necessary so that we can get as much information gathered quickly um so that we can see something moving forward quickly. Thank you, Mr. Coats. I just want to thank the public for
coming and your input, the opportunity to serve on the committee. I think there's been some good discussion, a good start, and a good direction to move forward. And just uh to let everybody know, it's not uh it's not a sheriff's office problem. It's not FHP problem. It's not EMS problem. It's a community
problem. And we have to work together as a community as a whole, all the different parts, and move forward and establish the goals and objectives. And it's going to take some time. There's not a magic fix to it, but I think if we work together and uh unite, then we'll be able to do that. So, thank you,
M. Mr. Larry. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Um, first I'd like to thank you and your colleagues on the commission for uh voting and and uh your your administrative staff for moving uh this task force forward and and uh allowing
uh us to serve on it and certainly for the uh community members that are serving uh for the p the public that showed up today. I I've I've heard a lot of good comments and have uh some some things that uh that really resonated with me. Uh what I'd like to work on is
uh with uh principal Theobold and seeing if if we can be successful in extending that school zone east and west a couple hundred yards and maybe looking at the size of the yellow flashing signage and and just the signage in general. Um the
speed limit signs um the striping and that type of things. Those are things that we can do right now that uh that I think that could help. But understand we've been pushed back before by DOT on a lot of these things. Hopefully they'll be a little more
um resident to to to work with us on that. So again, I appreciate the opportunity to serve and um you know, it's um it's something I think that's uh that's going to be very very fruitful. Thank you. I want to go down to um Mr.
Suggs. Uh thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, one of the things that I I heard here today was the with the uh step up in enforcement on both the state as well as the county
uh side that we've had a uh a reduction in issues out there as far as uh vehicular accidents. Uh I think that speaks volumes of being able to one of the things that we can actually control uh here at the uh county level. So, what I'd like to see is because of that,
maybe uh reach out to DOT because we've we're fairly confident we have rideway there. And one of the things as county administrator I like to see is for our public safety folks to be able to to do their job in a safe manner as well as
our sheriff's office and and FHP. So maybe one of the things that we might be able to get them to agree to is let's look at some areas where we might be able to add some some widening of the roads there particularly to be able to pull folks over and do the things that we need to do if that's being
successful. Uh so uh maybe that's some of the things that we need to reach out to DOT about. You know of course we know their five year and 10 year plan is what it is and is going to be very difficult to move forward with a major project. However, I think with the focus that our
governor's office has put on public safety in the last couple years, I think maybe we can get some legs there and be able to get some movement to be able to put some areas out there for our folks to be able to do their job and do their job in a safe manner. And at the same time, one of our maybe one of those
unintended consequences will be able to continue the the trend of slowing vehicles down and slowing some of those vehicular accidents down. That would be what I'd hope for. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Keller. Well, I just want to say again, like I said, I appreciate the ELEOs, the law
enforcement officers, um their their determination to work with, you know, getting the work done. They have um I just want to give a a shout out to Chief Blunt out there. He he um I've known him since he was a young man and he lives
out in Bon where we live out pass in Bannerville and u he had he started to drive a while back on his own um stopping people and giving them you know warnings and stuff like that. Matter of fact he he got on to me the other day he
he come up behind me and he he told me he says u what happened to 64 miles an hour Mr. Killer Brew. And I was like, well, you know, I felt like uh you're now doing 42. I was like, well, I felt like if I was going to be the, you know, if I was going to get y'all out here
doing things, I might ought to do what I'm supposed to be doing. That was on Bon Road to be clear. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's that's what I was saying. That was on Bon Road. And you know, some of the enforce the enforcement that the sheriff's office has done on Bon Road, you know, we still have the idiots that are and I call them
idiots because they're idiots doing 90 miles an hour down the road, you know. Um, but when you get to the end of Barden Road right there, we talked about a while ago with the where Bon Road comes into 100 that turning lane. I mean, I' I've watched an accident there
one day and just was mortified um with the a lot of times what happens is the traffic gets backed up behind the slower traffic. And when I say slower traffic, I'm talking about people that are doing the speed limit and then the others behind them are trying to fly. And so
they come that that turn off there on Bon Road and there might be 10 15 cars coming in there and the person that's at the stop sign doesn't see the person that's coming past the cars and they pull out in front of them. So that's,
you know, you have that. But, um, you know, I mean, again, like I said, I just think that the enforcement right now, I'm not saying that that's the answer, but I mean, it is right now. But I think it's slowing people down and um helping
people understand that, you know, you really can't be doing what you what you're doing. I mean, you you start off there at the airport going to Bon Road and next thing you know, you look back behind you and there's two or three cars right up on your bumper. I mean, they're trying to pass you in them double lines and everything like that. So, um I think
there's been a lot of good communication today. I think that um the things that everybody has has said, I mean, you know, is is we can take we can take that and and you know, move forward with things. Um but again, I I think that
uh uh enforcement has done its job and um I think we just need to go from there. Thank you, Miss Ryan. Since Jessica's accident, our family life has of course changed.
Um, this committee, this task force to be formed. Um, we really, I can't say, we really appreciate it. We re appreciate the law enforcement being out there. Um, every day is a challenge. um still
going down 100 to to even want to get on that road. But I know that there's something good going to come out of this. We're going to figure this out. And my I don't have any experience with any of this in
government. And so I feel like my role will only be just to pray and listen and um contribute whatever I can, whatever the Lord puts in front of me. And again, our family is just so grateful. The community has really been so kind and it
has been incredible to hear sadly all of the stories that have come out from Highway 100 and other parts of our community and um I just uh we really appreciate it and thank you. Well, your role is very important so we're we're
glad you're here, Sheriff Delich. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to take an opportunity to extend a a huge debt of gratitude to those of you who are in the audience who took the time out of your day to come here today and to the community members or the
committee members who have agreed to serve on this particular committee with us. Uh it's something of uh significant importance. Um, we are committed to continuing our efforts with the highway patrol and with the county and other enforcement to make not only 100 but all
of the roads in the county as safe as possible. But here's the unfortunate reality. Um, people anymore, and I'm speaking in generalities here, not everyone, um, are just downright flippant about the safety of other
drivers on the highway. And that's incredibly frustrating. Um, you just can't fix stupid. But what I can assure you is that if these fools continue to play stupid games are going to continue to win stupid prizes. Um,
you know, there's been far too many lives that are lost on this particular stretch of road. Uh, the recent tragedy with uh with Dave and Marlene's daughter um really hit close to home for me. Um, my heart continues to go out to them.
But, uh, I I want to just extend another debt of gratitude to Dave and Marlene who have gone and purchased out of their pocket um, two speed measuring trailers that they are donating to the sheriff's office uh, for our use in particular on
State Road 100. Dave actually found them, I believe, at an estate sale and purchased them um, for our use. They're being refurbished at this time and you'll see them in service on 100 in the very near future. Um, but again, I uh I
stand committed to working together with everyone here to find um good common viable solutions to what we've all identified as a problem here. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I just want to say again, thank you uh for your willingness to
serve on this committee and thank you for the um the citizens that are here in the audience today. Like said, everybody's got a story and I imagine that we could fill this room up with people who could share their near accidents or accidents in this
community. Um, you know, when we when we thought about this and we took on this task force at the board and we talked about it, I I didn't know what we were going to do other than we were going to keep moving the ball forward, and that's what we're going to do. We're going to continue to move the ball forward to
improve the roads in Putham County, whether whether we have to um obviously we're going to have conversations with um DOT, Highway Patrol, the sheriff's office, the school board, and um just all of the stakeholders to see what we can do. Um, some of them are going to be
short-term short-term goals and short-term things that we could do pretty quickly like signage and things that were mentioned here today and other ones are going to be long planning like uh for laning or getting um getting some funding from the state level. So, that'll be stuff that we'll have to be
reaching out to our legislators and um a future plan of what we can do on some of the state roads. But again, thank you all for being here. Um thank you Sarah for being here from the newspaper. Once again, I know you get spread thin and um awareness is huge and we like I said
when we started, that's one of the things we've already got and and you've been a help with that. So, thank you. And with that, is there's no anything else to come before this meeting's adjourned.