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[Music]
They're [Music] like curtain cats. Everybody would make their way to a seat, please. Good morning. It isn't it fantastic to have all these
young folks with us this morning. We we are so thrilled to have you all here this morning and and the parents and the coaches and so forth. Uh, I also want to recognize Mayor Pat Bates is here from the city of Alamont Springs and city manager Frank Martz are also with us today. So, thank you all for
joining and supporting your little league. Fantastic stuff. We're to start today's meeting which is September 23, 2025 by having our cell phones silenced and any other electronic devices you may have. If you take a moment, check those
make sure they're in silent mode. We'd appreciate that very much. Our invocation this morning be done by Pastor Bob Melhorn from Integrity Church. So if you would all stand please and I would ask Commissioner Lockheart to lead us in the pledge. Good morning everyone. Let's pray.
Creator God, on this day when um our Jewish brothers and sisters move into their high holy days, uh we accept this as a as a gift. All of us do. the gift of precious time. Another day to enjoy your creation. Another day to grow and
become the people you made us to be. Another day to to serve our neighbor. We thank you deeply. We thank you for the energy in this room for all these young athletes. And we thank you for raising up uh coaches and leaders to guide them. Uh we ask your blessing upon all these
families. Um Father, we would pray that um the time we spend today would produce results that are pleasing to you. We ask your blessing upon our commissioners, upon our our county manager, our county attorney, upon all who work for um for
Seino County. We ask your protection for um all those who keep us safe and um we pray for all who make Simino County their home. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the
flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Commissioner Lockard. Thank you, Pastor Melhorn.
All right. Well, we're going to move to our proclamations this morning, uh, and our resolutions. This will be for uh several of our youth uh sports teams here in the county with Alamont Baseball, Lake Mary Little League, and
Sanford Babe Ruth League. I've asked each district commissioner that uh is the district commissioner for those individual districts and those cities belong and to read those proclamations. So, we'll start with Altoont baseball Commissioner Constantine.
Thank you very much, Commissioner Zimbau. And um I just wanted to um say that uh I am so very proud of each and every one of the the youth baseball
programs that are here today. Um this is not um a new phenomenon as you all know. Uh you all have had a a series of successes over the last number of years. But just if I can speak to you about a
little bit of history, this all started back in the mid 80s when Alto Springs went to the uh Little League World Series and played for the first time for any team from Central Florida. So um we
in Semino County from each and every one of you, you have made this the epicenter of youth baseball in the United States and the world. And I am very very proud of all of you but more but just as proud
of your coaches and your parents who have sacrificed so much to ensure that you all would be successes. So, I am very honored to today propose this resolution and mot and motion of this resolution by the board of county
commissioners recognizing the Alamont Baseball Academy 8 under and nine under all-star teams and district champions and the 12 under all-star team as the 2025 Cal Ripken
12 and under National World Series champions. Whereas [Applause] whereas the city of Altoont Springs has always had a long-standing tradition of providing baseball opportunities to
children throughout Semino County. And whereas Alimont Springs joined the Babe Ruth Baseball Association in 1994 and then established the Altoont Baseball Academy in 2015 to provide greater opportunities for children to focus on
the core principles of baseball fundamentals and player development and currently provides baseball programs to over 1,500 kids each year. And whereas the Altoont Baseball Academy 8 under boys all-star baseball team proudly
represented the city of Altoont Springs, Semino County, and District 11 at the district championships, and won the district championship. The team won all four games, scored 63 runs, gave up only 17 for a plus 30 run differential. And
whereas the Altoont Baseball Academy 9 under all-star baseball team proudly represented the city of Altoont Springs, Semino County, and District 11 at the district championships and won the district championship. The team won all four games, scored 40 runs, and gave up
only 10 runs for a 46% differential. And whereas the Altoont Baseball Academy 12 under all-star team proudly represented the city of Altoont Springs, Semino County and District 11 at the 2025 Cal Ripen World Series. And
whereas Altoont Babe Ruth 12 under all-star team went all the way to become the national champions of the United States. This is the fourth consecutive World Series this team has participated in, winning the two out the winning two
out of the last four years. The team has an incredible run with six wins, one loss, 56 runs scored, only 19 runs allowed for a 37 run differential and earned the crown of the 2025 Cal Ripman
World Series US Champions and was the best team in the United States and the second best team in the world. And whereas the youth athlete a athletes and coaches of the Altoont Baseball Academy, eight under boys, nine under, and 12
under all-star team through their unwavering dedication, exceptional teamwork and relentless perseverance have become hometown heroes for the city of Altoont Springs and Semino County, setting an inspiring example of commitment and passion for the entire
community. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the board of county commissioners of Semino County, Florida, do hereby congratulate the Alimont Baseball Academy, eight under, nine under, and 12 under all-star teams for their historic accomplishment and
tremendous achievement this past season. Second. Thank you, Commissioner Constantine. And what we're going to do, folks, as we finish these proclamations or resolutions, we'll get a photograph opportunity soon as the last one's read.
So, be patient with us. Next one up is going to be Did I get a second? You did. You did. Okay. All those in favor? I posted like signs, seeing none, carries unanimous. Thank you. Next. It was hard to hear over all the clowns. Commissioner Lockard
for the Lake Mary Little League. That's right. Thank you, commissioners. Um, I'd like to move the following resolution of the Seminal County Board of County Commissioners recognizing the Lake Mary Little League 2025 12U all-star softball team and the 12U
all-star baseball team. Whereas Lake Mary Little League, which was established in 1992, has been providing baseball and softball opportunities to children throughout Seminal County. Whereas the Lake Mary Little League 12U softball team with an impressive 16-3
record proudly represented the city of Lake Mary, Semino County, and District 19 and competed in and won the district championship, the state championship, and the southeast regional championship. And whereas the Lake Mary Little League 12U softball team made history with its
first ever appearance in the first Florida team in 30 years to reach the Little League softball world series where they showed exceptional performance and finished in third place after a 3 to1 loss to the eventual champion Tulsa Oklahoma in the quarterfinals. And whereas the Lake Mary
little league 12U baseball team with a 12-1 record proudly represented the city of Lake Mary Seol County and District 19 and competed in and won the district championship and the state championship. And whereas the Little League 12U baseball team proudly represented the
city of Lake Mary, Semino County, and the North Florida district at the 2025 Little League Southeast Regional Tournament where they finished in second place. And whereas the young athletes and coaches of the Lake Mary Little League softball and baseball all-star teams through their unwavering
dedication, exceptional teamwork, and relentless perseverance, have become hometown heroes for the city of Lake Mary and Semino County, setting an inspiring example of commitment and passion for the entire community. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the board of county commissioners of Semino
County, Florida, do hereby congratulate Lake Mary Little League and the 12U all-star softball and baseball teams for their historic accomplishment and tremendous achievement this past season. Adopted this 23rd day of September, 2025. Second.
Motion second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I like sign carries unanimously. [Music] Next up as we work our way around the county will be Sanford's Bape Ruth League and this will be read by District
Commissioner Her. We couldn't be prouder of all of you representing our community well. Commissioners, I offer the following resolution of the Semino County Board of County Commissioners recognizing the Sanford Babe Ruth League 2025 8 and
under all-star team and the 12 and under Allstar team. Whereas the city of Sanford and the Sanford Babe Ruth League have always had a long-standing tradition of providing baseball opportunities to approximately 900 kids each year throughout Semino County. And
whereas the Babe Ruth Allstars 8U baseball team proudly represented the city of Sanford, Semino County, and District 4 at the state championship tournament held in Lake City, Florida, and competed in and won the Northern Florida District 4 tournament at New
Smyrna Beach, Florida, going four and zero during the tournament. And whereas the Sanford Babe Ruth 8 and under Allstars received an invitation to play in the World Series in Ocala, Florida, where they showed exceptional performance in pool play and made it to
the tournament finals where they lost in a close game six to four to the champions from Aruba. Whereas the Sanford Babe Ruth Allstars 12 and under baseball team competed in and won the Northern Florida District 4 Tournament, sending them to the state
championship held in Jacksonville, Florida, where the team won their first Babe Ruth state championship and finished the season eight with an 8-4 record. And whereas the Sanford Baseball All-Stars 12 and under team proudly represented Sanford, Semino County, and
North Florida district at the Babe Ruth Southeast Regional Tournament, where they finished in third place in the Souththeast region with wins against teams from South Carolina and North Carolina and finished the season with an 11-3 final record. And whereas the young
athletes and coaches of the Sanford Babe Ruth 8U and 12U all-star teams through their unwavering dedication, exceptional teamwork, and relentless perseverance, have become hometown heroes for the city of Sanford and Semino County, setting an
inspiring example of commitment and passion for the entire community. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the board of county commissioners of Semino County, Florida, do hereby congratulate the Samford Babe Ruth leagues 8 and
under, 12 and under allstar teams and their parents for their historic accomplishments and tremendous achievement this past season. 2025 Babe Ruth 8 andunder allstar team Babe Ruth World Series runnerup and the 2025
Sanford Babe Ruth 12 and under allstar team Babe Ruth state champions adopted this 23rd day of September 2025 second motion second any further discussion all those in favor I like
sign carries unanimous congratulations [Applause] She's going to ask Mr. Danny Troset to come down and we'll get organized photos ready for everybody to take. Um, so we're going to take a short photo op outbreak to get everybody's photos with their parents, coaches, and commission
and those that want to be in the photos. Mr. Tet. All right. Thank you, commissioners. And again, thank you to all the teams, parents, coaches for being here today. We really, really appreciate it. Uh the first photo will have the 8U uh B team
from Alimont Baseball Academy. the AU team. If you can come down for a photo, [Applause] [Music]
around. [Music] You know, [Music]
All right, thank you guys so much. Let's get another round of applause. Bay team. Okay. Next, can we have the 9U all-star team from Alamont? The 9U team. Come on down for a picture. [Applause]
[Music]
[Music] All right, thank you 90 team. Let's give a big round of applause. And next we could have the 12U National World Series champions team come on down. Hallelujah.
[Music] [Applause] [Music]
[Applause] All right, let's give another big round of applause for the National World Series head. [Applause] Okay, if I can have uh the 12U Allstar softball team from Lake Mary come on down.
[Applause] Good night.
[Music]
Let's give a big round of applause for the Lake Mary Allstar softball team. Congratulations, ladies. And if we can have the 12U Lake Mary Allstar baseball team come on down for a picture.
[Music]
All right, congratulations again, Lake Mary Baseball Team 12. All right, if we could have the Sanford AU Allstar team, Sanford AU Allstar team come on down.
[Music]
All right, let's give a big round of applause to the Sanford AU Allstar team. Congratulations, guys. And if we could have the Stanford 12U Allstar team, 12U Allstar team [Music]
[Applause] Congratulations again to all of our incredible teams on your outstanding accomplishment. Thank you all so much again for coming this morning. [Applause] [Music]
[Music]
Folks, somebody's left a set of keys to a Chrysler Dodge Plymouth product. Set of keys were found. They'll be back. They'll be back. That was fun. Did not go too far. They're not going too far. That's right.
Listen, the kids are going to be as slow as they can to get back to school. I was going to invite them to stay the rest of the meeting. Wait to come back. Correct. Well, while they're
leaving the chambers, Mhm. I think we all would agree that it's great to see our young people, you know, achieving these great accomplishments here in our community. And that's really something
we all are very proud of. and and it's these human interest stories that uh that we so relish here in Semino County and supporting our our youth through our school systems and each and every city out there that have these programs that to help our young folks and of course
the parents um and the coaches that you know they they have to uproot their entire lives a lot of times for these baseball teams and travel teams that they spend a lot of their own money. they have to raise their own money uh to get these children to go to these out of town meets and so forth. It speaks
volumes of our community. So, thank thank you all again for being here to help us celebrate that. Next up, we're going to go to our investment advisor report. Mr. McIntyre, welcome. Hey, Grant. Good morning. Good to see everybody.
Morning. Okay. Where are we? Seinal County. Besides that, got that. There's as much noise in your industry right now as there was just a minute ago in here. It goes without saying it's uh continues
to be turbulent, continues to be uncertain. Uh the labor market continues to weaken. Not sure if that's going to necessarily continue into next month. Sort of looking at uh the fact that third quarter is not slowing. Of course, we've talked about a slowdown coming for a long time. Um, talked about recession
coming for a long time. It doesn't look like it's on the horizon. Third quarter seems to be stronger than than the second quarter was. Inflation continues to trend gradually higher, and that's sort of the key. It's not moving nearly in in the leaps and bounds that people anticipated. Some feel like when we move
into the fourth quarter, we'll see goods inflation, which uh would be related to all the purchasing we do in the quarter. Um, the Fed ended its pause. They've been on pause since December. They ra I'm sorry. They lowered rates uh last week by a quarter. The question is how
much more do they do it? They expect they're going to lower it twice more this year. Um, that's really a coin flip to be honest with you. Of the 19 members that are on the FOMC, you had six of them that don't believe that there
should be any more cuts this year. There were uh a handful. only eight of the 19 thought there would be two. So, it's very very spread out. And I think that a lot of that has to do with what the the numbers are actually going to do, how things are going to come in. This is uh
it's amazing how quickly these things get dated. This September survey doesn't come out until this week. So, this is August. Take it with a grain of salt. Uh you know, I think there's always a little bit of pessimism with the economists. So, they expected that third quarter growth was going to be at 1.1%.
It's trending above two. Um that generally means more hiring in the fourth quarter ahead. So we'll see if that happens. Um I would expect that going into the season there typically is more seasonal hiring. So um these economists believe that the Fed will
also cut twice this year. I think the only one that's really baked in is the just before Halloween rate cut. Um we expect that'll be another quarter and then December really will depend on what the numbers look like. Um, a little delay there. Sorry about
that. Okay, that is I try to show you the 2-year Treasury note yield over the course of the last year. So, um, you can sort of see if you look on the right hand side that we're nearly the lowest that we've been in in quite some time
for the 2-year. The other day it got below 350. Um, fortunately, and I've I've said this before, um, but most of the purchases that are out on the deeper in the portfolio with longer maturities were
made in in January and December. So, at a fortuitous time and yields have moved down since then. This might need new batteries or stronger thumb. Oh, thank you very much. this as as has been the case. I've tried to show you going back four meetings
what yields have done. I think the thing to focus on is treasuries in like the 24 to 36-month range. Um and and I can't see that all that well, but I I think that left hand side is above 4% and now we're closer to 355. Kind of been a long
time in coming, I think. Uh, but I I do believe that the the idea of of rates moving lower is not as concrete as it was as we roll forward, but certainly they'll they'll gradually move lower as the Fed cuts.
Okay. So, upcoming maturities, there are a couple more this month and and those are the ones that we we've talked to the clerk's office quite a bit about cash flows. You're in a drain period. You're still in a drain period. monies are positioned to to pay your expenses. For the most part, those
expenses have been paid. You've got ample liquidity at this point as we roll forward. According to cash flows, um the clerk's office feels like we can reinvest both of those maturities at the end of this month. The best spot to to um position those is
going to be in next summer. Uh so not going out quite as far, but but there the expenses this summer were a little bit higher than I had thought they would be. So we're positioning more monies in the the summer months next year to be
able to account for that. So it's fairly basic. There's been a long period of time where there's been some reinvestments, but mostly uh the monies that have maturing proceeds have been used to pay expenses. This is going to um end for the most part and there's
going to be some opportunities to reinvest and and that's essentially what we're asking for here. Um things to look at, of course, the 2-year at 355. Sort of keep that in mind. The portfolio was yielding at the end of August a 433. With the reinvestments and the
maturities, we expect that that we will still be right at 430 by the end of September. And um you know for the most part the portfolio because there's so much that is that is locked in the portfolio is as the Fed cuts
should perform well relatively speaking um for what that's worth. And there's your uh I think that's going to wind up the portfolio yield should separate itself from those treasury benchmarks as as we roll forward. So,
and I was asking for a motion because I trip over it, but are there any questions? Yes. Any any inquiries to the investment advisor? Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion to invest a recommendation implement the recommendations of our financial adviser based on a report submitted today and recommend the clerk implement said
board's recommendations. Motion second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I opposed like sign. Hearing none carries unanimous. Thank you, Mr. McIntyre and and good luck on your adventure on the daily tracking all this. You're earning your keep now.
Feels like it. I'm in front of a lot of uh governing bodies more so than before. Oh, sure. I appreciate it. Thank you all. Thank you. All right. Next up is going to be our consent agenda. I'm going to ask the county attorney, Miss Kate Lour, to read the rules of public participation.
Miss Ltor. Thank you, chairman. Good morning. Florida law provides that members of the public shall be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard on propositions before the board of county commissioners except when the board is acting on emergency or ministerial matters or conducting a meeting exempt from the
requirements of the sunshine law. Individuals shall be permitted 3 minutes each for public comment or 6 minutes when the individual is an official representative of a formal association or group. The chairman may modify the maximum time for public comment and sole discretion when appropriate. Public
comments on quasi judicial or other public hearing items, including the second budget public hearing scheduled for later this afternoon, will occur during the board's consideration of those items. Public comments on pending procurement matters or on non-aggenda items shall not be permitted at this
time. Members of the public desiring to make public comment must fill out a speaker form and present the form to staff and forms are available in the lobby. Mr. Chairman, thank you, Mr. Lour. And we're going anybody here to speak on items 3 through 18, you'll need a speaker form which you
can get in the lobby, bring it up front, hand it to the clerk right here, and we'll make sure that you get your moment to speak to us about those items. I will go to the county manager. Do you have any updates, deletions, additions to the consent agenda? Thank you, Mr. Chairman and commissioners. Uh, no changes to the
consent agenda this morning. Very good. Any commissioner desire to pull a separate item for consideration? Seeing none, then I will look for motions for three through 18, including three and four, which constitutional officers.
Mr. Chairman, I I will move the consent items three and four from the constitutional officers and items 5 through 18, which are the county manager consent agenda items. Second. Motion a second. We have anybody here
from the public wants to speak on this? No, sir. So, make sure we get the record. We'll close the public input. All those in favor? I oppose like sign. Seeing none, carries unanimously. We're going to take a short break because we have a photo request um the
consent agenda. So, we're going to take a quick break and then we'll come back to our regular agenda. Commissioners, if you'll join me on the floor.
[Music]
Heat. Heat. [Music]
So quiet in here. Don't have 100 kids. I remember back to those days when we had so much energy like that. I'm sure my parents are glad I'm out of that space. All right. Next up, we are going to go
to our regular agenda. Um, we are going to have reduction of lean request, consideration of applicant. This will be presented by John Martin, code enforcement division manager. Mr. Martin.
Good morning. How is everyone this morning? Wonderful. Wonderful. Got a lot going on this morning, but we're ready to proceed forward if you are. Please. This floor is yours. All right. Development services regular
agenda item. Do you clip these or do I? Up to me. Okay. Property in question is 1208 Helen Street located in the unincorporated Seminal County section of Apaka. This is a request for reconsideration or reduction of leans. There were two code
enforcement violations on this property of uncultivated vegetation and rubbish. Two county code enforcement leans totaling $195,14.40. [Music] The applicant has made a request to reduce the leans to $2,500 or the
administrative cost of 120440. The previous owners had brought the property into compliance for one of the violations and the applicant is further continuing to work on this property to avoid any further violations. Lean number one summary is for case
number 19-112-EB. The violation was originally cited from the cultivated education on January 2019. On July 25th, 2019, the CB issued, and that's code enforcement board, I apologize, issued the findings and facts, conclusions of law and order
requiring compliance by August 9th, 2019 over daily fine of $50 per day may be imposed on October 24th, 2019. At the compliance hearing, the CB issued an order finding compliance and imposing a fine ordering proposing a fine lean ordering of the fine amount of $3,700
for a total of 74 days of non-compliance be reduced to the administrative cost of $389.64 if paid for by November 23rd, 2019. Or the original lean amount would revert back to $3,700 as the reduced fine was not paid. Lean number one now totals
436457. Case number two, lean number two summary for case number 19113- CEB. The violation was for rubbish on January 2019. On July 25th, 2019, the code enforcement board issued a findings
and facts concluding of law and order requiring compliance by August 9th, 2019 or a daily fine of $100 per day may be imposed. On October 24/19 compliance hearing, the code enforcement board issued an order finding non-compliance imposing a fine or lean
of $7,600 for a total of 76 days of non-compliance, which will continue to acrew at $100 per day until brought to compliance. The affidavit of compliance states of the violation was rectified as of October 24, 2024. Lean number two
totals $190,739.83. The property uh financial summary here you can see is for 1208 Helen Street. It was sold to Ocala LLC via quick claim deed. The assessed value of the property is noted as 165212. Lean numbers one and lean numbers two
together combined is 19510440. The review criteria the deputy county manager determined that this request did not fail the threshold of the SEC criteria. Uh the following was evaluated. The amount of the lean compared to the value of the property.
The amount of the leans recorded on the 2024 assessed value of the property. the actions taken or not taken by the property owners in attempt to abate the violation. For case number 19112, the violation of uncultivated vegetation was corrected by the prior owner on the day
of the lean hearing. The property was in violation for 2.5 months. For case number 19113 CB, the violation of rubbish continued for 5 years. The violation was removed from the property by the prior owners as of October 24, 2024. the amount of time it spended on
this project. The non-compliance period spanned an approximate 5 years with a collective 29.75 hours of staff time. Request for reduced amount. The applicant request that the board make an exception to its established guidelines and reduce the total amount secured by
the leans of 195,10440 to $2,500 or to the total administrative cost of 120440. The applicant requested the board additionally consider the following that the community improvement. The applicant stated that when he purchased the property, it was in
extremely poor hazardous conditions, reporting conditions of the property poses serious threat and risk to the surrounding community. He states that he has fully remedied the property interior and removed all animal waste. The administrative cost, he is not requesting a reduction of this waiver of
administrative cost. applicant states that given a substantial cleanup and repair cost he's personally undertaking that they would like the board's consideration for removing the acred fees. The application's request is to reduce the final determination of the
applicant's request of a reduction to the code enforcement leans a total administrative cost of 120440 and should the leans be reduced authorize the chairman to execute a satisfaction of lean upon payment of the approved amounts if any. That concludes this presentation. Is there any questions?
Thank you, John. Uh, Commissioner Lockhart, I know there was a minor typo in the summary that kind of caused me a little confusion having to do with whether or not the property was brought into compliance by the previous or the
current property owner. But now I I so I checked that box in my brain. But now I'm curious if if the property was brought into compliance prior to this property owner purchasing it, what additional uh substantial cleanup and repair costs
have they personally undertaken if it was already brought into compliance? So the statement may be a little misleading in of the fact that at the time that the compliance was being obtained though the applicant was working on the property and he was in the process of taking possession of it. He had also been
submitting to have the fines uh reduced. He wasn't the legal owner at the time. The legal owner was Miguel Leon. Um the Ocala LLC property did not have proper title. Therefore was not allowed to make the request and they continued to work
towards gaining compliance. Once they gained in compliance and we got their legal paperwork straightened out, he then applied. The applicant applied. So, okay. To say at the time that the owner gained compliance is is uh referring to this owner, Elcala LLC, not the prior owner,
Miguel Leon. Mr. Leyon is hospitalized. He's not able to do this work. Okay, understood. Thank you for that clarification. Absolutely. Any other inquiries? Okay. Is the applicant here and desire to make any presentation to the board? And if so, please come forward.
I'm here, but no need to add. Okay. And is there anyone here from the public that desires to speak on this? No, sir. Okay. We'll close any public input. This is Commissioner Constantine's district. We'll go to the district commissioner. Well, as much as I appreciate the fact
that um the current owner has continued to help put this in compliance, this is a piece of property that uh my office had been getting calls on for at least three years and uh has been a bone of contention in that entire neighborhood
for quite a while. Um, I do appreciate, like I said, that um they have they have made um attempts to abate the violations and and put them back into code. But I still believe that
we should have some sort of fine since this was five years. So, my recommendation and my motion is going to be that we um reduce the fine to the $2500 a as a fine and the administrative cost
of $1,240 making it a grand total of $3,740. And that is my motion. Second. Motion second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I oppose like sign.
Carries unanimous. Thank you very much. Commission. All right, we are going to work into our work sessions. Our next item is going to be the code enforcement chapters 40, 95, 120, and
168 work session. Miss Trisha Johnson and Mike Rhodess, our compliance coordinator, will give us a presentation. I would uh ask that we refrain from any questions until the presentation of each
section. So after 40, we'll go to the board for any inquiries. Likewise, after 95 again, 120 and 168. I think that'll help us streamline that if everybody's okay with that. [Music] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. May I proceed,
please? Okay. Thank you. Trisha Johnson, deputy county manager. And Mike, if you don't mind driving the remote, I'd appreciate it. So, I know uh this commission has become very familiar with the opening slides of this presentation. I won't spend a lot of time on them, but of
course, our agenda. I'll cover a little background and key transition items, and then Mr. Rhodess will talk to you today about abatements, the proposed changes to various code sections, recommendations, and next steps. I do want to mention one thing uh for
clarification. Today, we will not be talking about chapter 40. It was our original attempt intent to talk about 40. However, there are a number of items related to the building division that need to be updated that are not related to code enforcement. So, we're going to give our building team some time to take a look at that and then we will be
bringing that chapter back to the board. There's only um a few minor things related to code enforcement in chapter 40. You know our background very well. We started this process in April 2024. And uh just a couple of highlights. In May of this year, the commission adopted the International Property Maintenance
Code. That was our first step into this journey of updating the code. And then in September of this year, the commission adopted the chapter 53 ordinance. Today, we are here to talk about chapters 95, 120, 168, and changes to the administrative code. You can also
see all the other action items that the team has taken on over the past year and uh move through the process. and our new code enforcement team actually started yesterday. So, we are fully staffed and Mr. Martin is working to get them acclimated. I think he even had a couple
out in the field yesterday. So, hit the ground running for sure. Our next slide, we are of course in the process of our interim IT program setup. We will develop develop and deploy an easier to use public portal which also your offices will certainly be able to
use. We are ongoing internal case management process is being overhauled and the new division officially launches on October 1st. And with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Rhodess. All right. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, commissioners. Um, we're
going to go over uh a number of changes today. And again, Trisha mentioned that we're not talking about chapter 40. Uh the chapter 40 stuff from our perspective in the code enforcement space is fairly minor but um again just in the spirit of trying to kind of keep all the the chapter stuff together we
opted to go ahead and and hold off until uh the appropriate time. So we want to talk today about uh changes to the administrative code uh chapter 95, chapter 120 and chapter 168. Um and all of those chapters kind of circle around
things that we abate and how we handle that process. And so that's what we're going to talk about uh primarily today. Um and the things we abate uh and you know especially kind of in light perhaps of the the last uh reconsideration reduction case that you heard. Um things
that we abate include things like overgrown yards, uh rubbish, structural remains, junk cars, dilapidated houses, unsecure and unsafe uh pools. And you have elements in your code of of u all of those things and abatement processes
for all of those things. But regrettably, those things have by and large uh been having to come through you all through a sometimes inefficient process that again our intention today with some of these amendments that we're talking about is to to make a little bit
more efficient. Uh the idea of abatements in the county code actually goes back quite some time. uh you all adopted uh in 1980 chapter 168 which established procedures for abatements and the assessment of related costs and in those days uh things are a little bit
simpler and it probably made made a lot of sense to have all of those abatements come through the board of county commissioners. Um, but in 2017, the board of county commissioners actually adopted changes to chapter 95 that in theory was going to have a lot
of that abatement process go through your magistrate and your code enforcement board. Uh, unfortunately, the execution hasn't quite been there. And so, um, we are proposing changes today that again are going to hopefully realign that and make that mo move a
little bit more quickly. Um, again, just reflecting on those changes and those those code sections in chapter 95 and chapter 168, one of the other important things to talk about is again who you're putting that authority in the hands of. You know, you all have you're the
ultimate decision makers no matter what. Um, but when you made those changes to chapter 95, you actually authorized the development services director to be able to execute those abatements when it was appropriate and execute those as as an emergency matter. And so there were
cases here and there of pools and other things that were were being taken care of, but there were a lot of other cases as you all will will recall that were still coming back before you and still taking in my view anyway an inordinate amount of time in order to get get to a
place where they could be resolved uh under your authority and decision-m. Um, at the same time, even in chapter 168, you contemplate emergency powers that would would authorize you to take action to abate hazards uh within Semino
County. Um, want to take a quick detour and talk about the administrative code changes that we're proposing. Um, and again, some of these changes are kind of lining us up and realigning us with changes that have previously been made to
chapter 95 and chapter 53. Um the first ones deal with uh again clarifying that lean reductions and lean waiverss are to be handled by the special magistrate uh and code enforcement board. And then the and that's chap uh section 3.20 and
3.21. Then the other change I want to talk about uh briefly and I know there'll probably be some discussion about it uh is the fine reduction costs that you you all have. you you impose a uh a $500 fee
for an application to reduce a fine and an additional $200 in the event the county manager uh denies it and the property owner or the applicant wants to appeal it to the board of county commissioners. So, you have a $700 barrier. Uh, and I'm going to call it that. And I understand that there's
again some reasonable discussion to be had about that. But you have a pretty significant barrier particularly for owner occupied properties. And owner occupied properties, you know, homestead properties, um, are are a pretty good number of your code enforcement cases
overall. And so while I'm not suggesting that the county's cost shouldn't be recovered, what I will suggest to you is that the application fee again represents a barrier. And in the event the the board or the magistrate decide to reduce those fines, they can recover
some of those county costs as you as you currently do now and in in some respects as you as you did today in in the case that you just heard. So my proposal to you is that you eliminate that fee. I understand there's going to be some discussion about that and I uh I completely understand it. So, we'll
leave it there and come back to it at the appropriate time. Um the changes that we're proposing to chapter 95 involve again just kind of clean up stuff, deleting references to obsolete code, putting the county manager again in um in his role as the
the the the manager, the staff and designated code enforcement officers. It also goes to um specifying the process for abatements for overgrown and trashy yards. Um and we set forth a process whereby we we do that. We establish the
notice provisions. We establish the the time frame from correction uh the opportunity for appeal of those decisions and then finally the abatement and ultimately invoicing and leans and collection of of the county's costs. uh
recovering the cost for for doing those abayments. Um, chapter 120 deals with uh it's actually title junk and junk dealers. We're proposing, I think, to change the title of that to junk cars or or junk vehicles. Um, and we've had an opportunity to discuss it with you, but
at the end of the day, um, you have a lot of junk cars around Seminal County and we have a lot of cases involving junk cars, but we do not abate junk cars. And so the the uh amendments that we're proposing to chapter 120 would set
forth a process again whereby we post notice on on the junk cars. We give property owners uh car owners the opportunity to remove the junk cars or put them into an operable condition. Uh and in the event they fail to do that, then we're proposing to go ahead and remove those those junk cars through a
towing contract. again with the towing contractor uh recovering the cost from the property owner andor the vehicle owner in the event they want the vehicle back. But the more important thing is here we feel it's important to get these cars out of here, get them abated, get them off the property. They represent a
blighting influence. In a lot of cases, there's criminal activity associated with those those junk vehicles that we don't need to get into the the gory details on right now, but um we want to have an opportunity and and a mechanism whereby those things can be removed.
Um chapter 168 changes again, we have some conforming amendments uh that that kind of fit with chapter 53 and chapter 95. We kind of more clearly establish what the the changes are proposing in chapter 168. We clearly established that
the board andor the magistrate um will handle the appeals for nuisance determinations. Technically in in a lot of cases that has been that has been before you all and we just don't feel like that's a good use of your time and um and it's not as timely as as we we
think we would like for it to be. And then finally and and probably most importantly, we authorize the code enforcement manager to be responsible for abating those um nuisance conditions. And so, you know, the the
the line of authority is clear here and the person that you want to look at uh when those abatements aren't getting done is going to be clear. Uh and and that's really the the purpose behind those 168 changes. uh the recommendations and next steps.
Again, we know there's uh probably going to be some discussion on some of these these items and so we want to give you an opportunity to to ask whatever questions you might have and and have the appropriate discussion um and then bring back for you um ordinances that we
can uh again appropriately advertise uh and then bring to the board of county commissioners ideally on October 28th. Uh we do have some additional work to do on the abatements. We need to get contracts in place to be able to handle securing property, mowing property,
towing cars, and all those things. And so that's work that um you know, John has already already undertaken and and beginning to move forward on. Um we have our additional changes to to chapter 40 that we discussed. And uh and again,
we're looking forward to kind of getting getting the vision off to a a running start October 1st. I can't tell you, I'm told, I haven't had a chance to look at, but I'm told the website is kind of up and running and ready to take your complaints and your constituents complaints. Uh, we don't have the
sophisticated um back-end database that we we want yet, but that is underway with uh with the the contract with Excel that you all have have authorized, and we hope to have that up and running in the spring along with a lot of the other reporting capabilities that we know that
you expect uh to come out of that process. So, with that, I'll stop and take your questions. Very good. Uh, thank you, Mr. Rhodess. Uh, let's start with, uh, chapter 95. Anybody have any inquiries from the board on 95?
Well, I don't have the numbers memorized, so tell me which what that's tell me which part that compromises. Health, property, maintenance. Okay. Yeah, that's health, property, maintenance, and sanitation. So, I would I I think we ought to go
ahead and have the conversation about the application uh for abatements. I think um you know, there's probably a sweet spot between nothing and $700. I don't know what that is, but I I have had constituents that have been able to
bring their property into compliance, not because of work that they have done, but because of work that volunteers have done, and then they don't have the money to apply, and then they're collecting money from church and neighbors and family members to try to cobble together the funds. So, I think there's something
to be said for there being some flexibility there if possible. I don't I don't know legally how much flexibility there can be among applicants. Um the idea of a refund is lovely if you had the money to begin
with, but if you don't have the money to pay, then it really doesn't matter if it can be refunded to you. Um so that I I don't have a fixed thought on this other than I see very much the need to reduce it. I don't know if it should be zero. That's where I'm at right now. Chairman,
Commissioner Herur, I think we need to reverse engineer it. I don't want it to be zero for the folks that are coming in um and doing battle over property that's not been brought up to code, and we've seen that over and
over again. And at the same time, I don't want somebody to be harmed because they can't bring it in and then it rolls up to be a problem. So I think the reverse engineering is that the fee gets attached at the end of the hearing and if the hearing is to clear
the book and say yes it's brought up to code and there's no fee to be here then that's great. If it was not then there's a fee associated with the time spent for that event. Um, so I don't want to start my briefing. I was adamant about the
fact that I don't want to be hiring magistrates for frivolous hearings because this will become an activity for some folks. Um, and the only way to do that is to attach some skin in the game for the folks that are appearing. But I think if we reverse engineer it, we've
we've accomplished the goal. So, um, my I also am not a zero sum proponent. Uh what I would like to to see and I don't know if I I'll ask the county attorneys this question if this
is where such an idea should go is in the admin code or somewhere else which is to the point that we have individuals that have fallen apart in hard times where they've lost a spouse or they're
incapable financially maybe they've lost their job. I mean, the reality is we're not in the penalty business, but we do have a duty to make sure our communities are safe, kept clean, and so forth. Uh, I would like to
see some kind of fee schedule that's reinvested into a fund that then could be used to help some of these people that have fallen upon hard times to mow their grass or do something to help them
along. whether it's through a a nonprofit that we would uh work with or some other uh vehicle would would be what I would like to see. Um again, we're not looking to to penalize people
unnecessarily, but we do have to get compliance. We're not in the business of taking their property and leaning it for 20 years like it's been in the past. Um, and so if we really truly want to help the community, in my opinion, we should
develop some kind of fund that's funded by the fees that would allow us to help those people that have fallen upon hard times or or found themselves in a in a bad situation. Um, that's my two cents worth as far as that goes. So, I'm not sure where that would go. It's the admin
code or somewhere else. I would imagine it would go in the admin code. It can go in the code. It can go in the admin code. It would be a policy decision for the board. And I've already heard more than one good idea on how to structure a program like that. Um the legal limitation is that we don't want to impose a fee that's arbitrary or that
gives staff any sort of discretion to charge one person one fee and another person another fee, but you know, a sliding scale based on income or the amount of the lean. I don't know. You know, there's a lot of different ways that we could structure it. So, you know, I think it would be a good exercise for staff to brainstorm
something and bring something back if that's the direction of the board. Sure. No, I'm okay with that. Anyone else? Commissioner Constantine. Well, for you're not wanting to bring another idea into it since we've already had three.
Um, but I I I don't I think that the the reverse engineering has merit. I I think that what you've said, Commissioner Zimbau, has merit. Also, I do believe that there needs to be a minimum charge from the beginning, though. I don't
think that we need to I mean, we can evaluated in the end. we can see how much of whatever needs to go to whatever you know community trust if you want to call it that um based upon the person's
um hardship but I don't want it to become and I think one of you said it and I don't remember which this become a game in which every single time or or you know okay let's see how we can play
this out and we'll just let it go on and on and on and then we'll ask for a reduction in the end and we don't have to pay for that so we can just you know do it and and I don't want to use what we just did today because I think that they honestly tried to fix up the home
and I believe that the uh other gentlemen sir you're the brother of the individual that um originally owned the home if I'm not mistaken but um you I mean that took five years and we need to we need to make sure that
there that we don't have a a you know a a a lingering if you will of not having to um you know come into compliance. So having an early fee, doing some sort of,
you know, it does sound like an exercise for the staff, but having a fee, doing some, you know, reverse engineering and also looking into the possibility of a I'll call community trust. I think all of them are viable ideas that need to be considered.
Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Delari, thank you. I would agree with all the statements that I made here today. uh there needs to be a minor fee for that applicant. Uh so there is a little bit of skin in the game and if it gets forgiven at the end or it gets repaid at the end, it's a
totally different issue and I think uh asking staff to bring us back some ideas are all worth sound ideas and I'm looking forward to hearing what staff has to say when they bring it back. Mr. Chairman, one last thing, Commissioner, but I don't want to
I I want to reiterate what a wonderful idea it is to get it off of this dis and into the hands of the staff. I don't nothing that I'm saying today or hopefully anybody else is saying, you know, wants us to have it unless it's absolutely necessary.
I think we all agree on that. [Applause] So, I do believe that we do need to recover the taxpayers costs. Um, we we have that obligation to our taxpayers and our constituents to recover the fees that
are being expended uh to go through the whole process. Um, but likewise, and I think what Commissioner Constine is saying is correct, we want to make sure everyone is treated equally under the law. Uh, and if that ends up being
some sliding scale based on the ability or financial status, then I will look to the county attorneys to tell us what that is. Um, so it sounds like if there's no one else, looks like we've got pretty good direction. The last
thing that I would add, uh, chairman, is that, uh, thank goodness for the abatement process on junk cars, and I would only expect that to grow over time as we figure out there are other things we're not abating because it's not just cars. So, I did leave that open, the door open of we need to be thinking
about this on a grander scale. Yeah, exactly. I I want to take a moment and thank staff, thank our attorney's office. I know you all have been working very diligently and hard on this and this has been a topic that many of us
have struggled with for multiple years and for some time. So it's it's very nice to know that you you guys have got us to a place where we're headed in the right direction and I would suspect that we may have to revisit some of this in a year or two if we see some speed bumps
or some issues and uh we'll deal with it, you know, as those come up. So, thank you all very much for for bringing this to us and spending the time that was necessary and welcome all the new staff um and code enforcement. We we hope that you find Semino County a great
place to uh have employment. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Did we cover all the things that they needed feedback on? I think so. I think that's the only thing we really have a concern about making sure it sounds the precursor was like we know you guys are going to have to talk talk this through just seems to go too
smoothly. Well, it sounds like we all had good briefings. Keep it moving. H Thank you very much. Okay. Thanks. And and you all do believe you got direction, correct? Problems today, I hope. Great. Thank you. All right. Next up, we are going to hear
for the state of animal services, Mr. Alan Harris. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners. Uh for the record, Alan Harris, director of emergency management today. Real excited to talk to you about the animal services
division. Brought some lovely people with me today. I'd like to introduce Chris Stanco, our new division manager, has already done some amazing things at animal services. Uh Brie Berquette, our shelter manager. She'll be talking to a
little bit about some shelter operations today. uh Lauren Watt, our field services uh manager, which oversees the animal control portion of uh of Semino County Animal Services. And I also have Albert Adams with us. Uh he does our
special projects. He's a manager of our special projects. So all the exciting things that you see on social media and SGTV and things like that, most all of it, uh he is managing and coordinating. Today we're going to go over uh some of
the uh items that we have here at animal services, adoptions, volunteerism, uh our partnerships that we have, um animal control field operations, uh and other various programs. Uh at the very end, I'm going to come back up and talk about some future opportunities,
also some capital improvement plans uh that we have over the next three to five years. I'm super excited about Look at that. Look at that smile. uh uh we were the first uh department so I'm excited about that and thanks to Joe
and his team at IT for doing that but we were the first uh public-f facing dashboard uh I know here in Simino County we believe in transparency we're so transparent I won't continue that because I know what we said about transparency the last time but we're
very transparent at animal services we do have clothes on but we are transparent uh so uh you can uh log on to our website uh get all types of statistics. You can click on those statistics and even get more data. So,
this is one of our hottest hit web pages other than adopting cats and dogs, which is really cool. It's really been wonderful for our residents to see what's going on in a snapshot at animal services. We wouldn't be able to do what we do without our wonderful partners. I
can't call out all of them. We have public and private partners. certainly our residents uh as our partners as well. But I do want to call out a couple if I can. Uh tears up in the upper right hand corner. Tears is our like our friends of the library. Uh so they do a
lot of uh services for us. Specialized uh medication, specialized uh surgeries in some cases. Uh there are outreach to Petco and and those types of facilities. So they actually manage the cats that are in those locations. So, they do a
lot of great work for us. Underneath them, Pet Alliance, of course, we all know Pet Alliance. They're across the street from us. They pull a lot of uh animals from us. They are a wonderful resource for us. Uh they've helped us in the past when we didn't have a vet doing some of our spays and neuters uh which
has been wonderful. And then I know it's very odd uh for private uh you would of course notice the Chewy and the the Petco and the Pets Smart things like that, but Stanley Steamer, what is Stanley Steamer? Therefore, Stanley Steamer provides a lot of funding for our paws and claws, which you're going
to hear about in a little bit. They also do our pet of the week, uh, on TV. So, they fund that for us, and those pets, of course, uh, get a lot of notoriety, a lot of TV, uh, viewing, and many of those get adopted. So, we certainly
thank Stanley Steamer. Our shelter operations, of course, is 24-hour, 7 day a week operation. Holidays, weekends. All dogs and cats and and ferrets and rabbits and pigs and all the other animals that we get. Birds uh are fed twice a day, cleaned their
crates, their cat cages, their runs. Uh we have a new in uh dog enrichment program which has been really helpful in helping us adopt animals called dogs playing for life where dogs are put into playgroups and they go out and they they interact with each other which is very
helpful when you're trying to adopt a dog and there's other dogs in that individual's home. We can say yes this dog interacts very well and also socializes the animal and also calms them down in the shelter. If you can imagine, some of our our occupants have
been with us for months and months, and being in a run without that kind of stimulation can be quite challenging. I turn it over to Mr. Strono. Hello everybody. Morning. Special events. We're averaging
14 special events a month, which is a significant increase from last year. Uh they range from everything from our monthly vaccine clinics to our signature event uh being pause and claws in December and our public safety event in February to signature events.
Oh boy, the right button. Sorry. Um our veterary operations uh range from everything from spay and neuter uh all the way to forensic reports for animal cruelty investigations. Just a note, those are those are definitely on the increase uh
right now uh through our law enforcement partners. Um we we treat sick animals, rabby vaccinations, and even offer end of life services to the uh the general public. Finally, that uh brings me to our TNBR
uh program started in 2022. It has um created a significant decrease in the feral cat population in Simol County and continues to decrease that. Um all the facets of it as you can see on the screen. But uh another interesting note,
we've started a uh a barn cat uh warehouse cat type program which kind of fills a gap between TNVR and adoptable cats. Uh, so if anybody has a barn or warehouse that needs a uh a cat to control the situation, uh, please let us
know, I'll turn it over. Right. And of course, one of our main goals at the shelter is, of course, adoptions. We have strived to be a no kill shelter since 2016, not having to euthanize for space, breed, capacity, or length of stay. We uh strive to find
placement for them through our pathway planning. So those are animals that come in over the counter as owner surreners, strays, protective custody cases, whether they have an owner in the hospital or unfortunately incarcerated, they do come in that way as well. Um so we uh have meetings where we plan their
outcomes, whether we seek rescues, their adoption candidates, um things of that nature. As well as our special programs, we have quite a few programs um for our senior citizens where senior citizens in the community can adopt senior animals six years older um for a heavily discounted fee.
as well as pets for patriots where we strive to find animals for veterans and we work with another organization where they have quite a few benefits whether it's discounted veterary fees um medications things of that nature excuse
me we also have service animals where upon request we can help place service animals with new owners as well as trying to find uh excuse me as well as trying to find um trainers to help train them for service
animal needs. And of course, our partnerships with rescues such as TEI, Pet Alliance, they help find us placement with those animals. Volunteer management. We have a great volunteer uh program which we are constantly growing. These are volunteers that can help in and out of the shelter, whether it's
specifically with animals or just off-site stuff such as foster homes. We rely greatly upon our foster homes, so we are always uh looking for new ones if anyone is interested. Uh we also have our bright futures program where high school students aed 16 and 18 can foster
uh animals in their homes with their parental consent where they gain um 100red community service hours for the and of course donations. Donations is a huge part of our shelter. We greatly appreciate and uh use them for quite a few things. We get gently used items um
or new items from community members. Uh we where we place them back out into our boutique where we can get monetary donations that help fund quite a few projects at the shelter which is our free roam patio area which is a huge project we've done. Cats have great space outside where they can uh get some
fresh air. Our livestock barn and of course dog enrichment equipment as well as our adoption trailer which has made off-site adoptions much easier. um our dog playyards where we've gained more shelters, play equipment, meet yards where we've gotten astroturf and great seating areas for customers. And of
course, those donations helped uh fund specialized surgeries and um medical equipment such as our X-ray machine. I'll pass this over to Lauren. Good morning. Morning. Um so when it comes to field services, um as you can see, not all of chapter 20
is listed up there. Um, but ordinances such as our anti-hoarding ordinance, our puppy bill ordinance, and our aggressive dog ordinance um are extremely instrumental in keeping our public safe and um animal welfare are priority. I'm I speak for animal services when I say thank you to the commissioners for
passing those. Um in particular, we also have our standards of care ordinance um which we inspect commercial type boarding facilities to make sure they meet the county guidelines. Um these ordinance that ordinance also includes the citizens who are over the animal limit here in Simol County. And then we
have um our animal cruelty and bite investigations as well. Field services. Um as a brief description, we're a 247 operation. Um we handle about 13-,400 calls for service um in a month. Um and we do that with about eight animal control officers. Um those calls for
service can be a variety of things from stray domestic animals to lost livestock or exotics um sick or injured wildlife and then obviously our criminal investigations that we work in partnership with law enforcement. Aren't they lovely? Yes,
I am blessed. I am really blessed with the leadership team over at animal services. Uh so in field operations uh of course we always respond to injured animals that is a priority call for us um for and and your offices often get
calls for deceased animals. So I want to talk a little bit about deceased animals now because those uh do come in uh for protected animals that are deceased on roadways and things like that. That is the uh jurisdiction of the Florida Wildlife Commission. So, unless there's a reason that the Florida Wildlife
Commission contacts us and says, "We can't make it. Please go help that." Uh, then that's the only time that we would respond to a deceased bear, bald eagle, things like that. Of of course, again, injured animals. I think I've responded, we've responded to just about every one
of your houses uh for an injured animal as well as most houses in Simol County. So, it happens all the time. Unfortunately, somewhere in our neighborhoods, we find an animal, right, that is injured. Uh for deceased domestic animals, uh we go out and of
course pick up any cat, dog. We scan it for a microchip and then we make notification next of kin, if you will, a notification to the family if we find an animal that is deceased, this domestic animal, uh deceased livestock, equin and and those types, llamas, other types of
exotic type animals. Yes, we have those here in Semino County. Uh we work with the Semino County Sheriff's Office Range and Water uh to collect those animals and then work with our solid waste department landfill uh as well as the owner of those particular uh or equin
livestock etc. Uh for deceased medium and large animals, we do respond to those. Those are bears, panthers, uh coyotes, boores, things like that to pick them up. Uh, one staff recommendation is a change and that is for smaller animals. We get
calls about dead squirrels uh, often uh, to pick them up on roadways and we do respond to that. Uh, our recommendation is that we stop doing that and explain how they can get rid of those themselves. Uh, so that is a change that uh, is a recommendation. Um
it it takes a lot uh to respond to a dead squirrel or a dead rat or a dead duck. And if you can imagine, of course, with 500,000 plus people now conversing Semino County on a given day, uh there are a lot of squirrels that run in front
of cars uh that we have to pick up. Uh we've been looking at uh of course capital improvement for a while. This is our uh one to fiveyear capital improvement uh project. We wanted to put this of course on your radar. Uh our
shelter operates at 130% capacity. I think there's no uh surprise there. I think you all know that that that occurs regularly. It's also on our dashboard uh that I just showed you. Uh we are in need of some renovations of surgical equipment uh at around about 100K on our
capital improvement plan. So that's about 2 to three years out. Uh some of these uh have been deferred a couple times. So uh but in about next 2 to 3 years we would be looking at that. Another item is kennel gates. Uh so we are looking to replace all of our kennel
gates. Uh those are the run gates that are in uh our facility as you can imagine uh after years of water and cleaning solutions and things like that. Those start to to get hard to move and the locking mechanisms start to mess up.
uh our building doors, uh jams, all those also are in need replacement. Uh the last time that we did a full or any really large refurbishment of uh the shelter was February of 2007 uh when we
had our fire. Uh so that's it's been a while. Uh some of those uh these things need to be updated. Uh our behavioral areas uh need to be upgraded as well. uh they are old uh over time, you know, with rain and sun and being beat down
for so long. Those are in need of replacement. Our fences and gates have also not been replaced in a long time uh to replace all of those. And I had to phone a friend. So Chad with facilities helped me out. Thank you, Chad. Uh that's at about $23,000 to replace all
the fence and gates and make those right around the the uh shelter. Uh we do not have HVAC. Uh so you know that we put temporary HVAC up for our uh animal shelter. That's of course for the dogs and and cats as well as the employees uh
that have to work in uh those facilities uh uh every day. Uh the fans and the air movement inside of there other than the HVAC system also needs to be replaced. Our in we're we're going to call it building envelope although the renovation of the the roofing area is
something that needs to be done. uh our entire painting of our campus needs to be done as well as uh the update of our adoption and administrative building uh also has to be updated. And if I could just chime in on here
because I told Alan I was like I don't want to miss this opportunity when we discussed this uh uh we talked last night. Yes. Yes. Yes. So people, I I know you all understand this, but animal services is part of our public safety program. And so that is
something that we're really focusing on uh that we will be focusing on a lot over this this next year. What I've asked Allan and his team to do is start working on a five-year capital plan for um okay, we know there's a lot of needs in animal services. I asked him to do
that's why I wanted to do this presentation. We wanted actually to do that over the summer during the budget work sessions just didn't uh work out. So I wanted to ensure and just so you all have the confidence is that we are looking at this and I want to uh okay where are we at right now as an or as
the the state of animal services uh where are we going to go in the in the future as he had mentioned the shelter operates at over capacity of 130%. We actually use another boarding facility because we do not, you know, want to put animals uh down. So that is a cost that
it continues to rise in our budget. Um we have shown you a lot of the the issues o over the the last couple months during our budget work sessions uh that um are increasing the cost over inflation. I know a lot of people like
to talk about inflation. These are costs that are continuing to to to hit us. So, um, we're going to have a couple more, uh, sessions with the board over the next, uh, six months on how we're going to get animal services where they need to be over the next couple years. And,
um, that at the end of October, I'll be coming back to you with a work session on the fourth generation sales tax other than transportation. You know, we're working on a mobility plan now, the 2050 mobility plan. That will be coming to you in the spring. However, there are projects that I need to bring to you
that were uh discussed and on our list for the portgen sales tax that I need direction on from the board. Animal services on is on there as well. So, we are working on this. I wanted Allan just to show you that we are looking at it, but we are actually putting a plan that
will it happen tomorrow? No. But it will happen over the next uh 3 to 5 years. Got it. Yeah. My inquiry was it was interesting how you couch this as future opportunities. Um it looks like to me that it's future
needs and it sounds like it's more immediate than it is future. Uh especially some of those items past, you know, um and so I'm glad we're we're hearing this, but I would have
liked to honestly heard this before we got into our budget season. Um, you know, we we all cherish our animals and and uh for the life of me, I don't know why we could not have air conditioning for not only the volunteers and workers, but the
pets themselves knowing has how hot it gets here in the win or summer. Um, so that's my two cents worth on that. I'll start with Commissioner Her and work our way down. Commissioner, I can't believe anybody called you to pick a squirrel up off the road. Then
what would the middle schoolers put in the mailboxes? Well, thank you. I may or may not have known that to have happened in my neighborhood by kids that I may or may not know. Um, some I I don't know what the right
answer here is. Something that takes a very long time to be absorbed by nature is pro probably needs to be picked up. A squirrel does not need to be picked up. That's gone in two days. Um,
nature planned for that. I I do think one one of my pet peeves is I don't I think there's got to be a better way to deal with the um the situation that I faced with the deer in the yard that was critically injured. We knew we
had to put it down, but you animal control had to come out, look at it, and then call the sheriff to come out. And there ought to be an electronic way to do that. Like, can I take a picture of the deer's bones being sticking out of its body, send it to you, and then just dispatch the sheriff. So, that process,
I think there's an opportunity there. Um, I would ask the question that doesn't have to be answered today is, I thought you were very gracious in giving us credit for the ordinances, but I can't imagine that we nailed it. I bet you
there's opportunity for improvement. She is doing a really good job at trying to keep a poker's face, but you're about you're as good at it as I am. So, there's clearly opportunity there. We need to know about that because we just think it's all wonderful if we're not hearing. And I suspect
given the comment that there's issues that are cropping up and it's growing in terms of animal abuse and neglect, we maybe need to to be looking at that again. So, please feel free to bring that back. Okay. With regard to future opportunities, I think I think you did
mention this during the budget session, just not as detailed as maybe, but we need to figure out how to get this in play and what's the order of operation. We can't have employees in those conditions. We all know that and we're now is the time to address these things. We we need to get it in get the plan,
build it, and actually follow it and not kick the can down the road on renovations for I think the number was 24 years, but I did math. Commissioner Glory. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Allan, I've said this to many times, you and your
staff and the people below your staff do a phenomenal job. We hear about it on a regular basis. So, you have a lot to be complimented about. Uh you said that you're blessed, the community is blessed to have the people that work for you all that take care of these animals on a
day-to-day basis. We've all been in the uh your facilities and yes, things do need to happen, things need to change. Uh I know the county manager talked about a CIP. I look at that as a master plan with a CIP and uh hopefully we can see that come
forward. Uh and I do remember that one night in February 18 years ago. Uh that was horrific and uh not just the county, not just your staff, but the firefighters did a phenomenal job at that point. And uh yeah, there was a
couple animals that were lost uh unfortunately. Uh and that's the reason why I think it's important for us not just to have a CIP, but a true master plan. Uh, I'd also like to see a heat map of where your services are so we can better understand that. And, uh, I look
forward to actually doing something and making some changes, not just in the physical, uh, capital side, but in the code side. If there's changes that need to be done administratively on our side, please let us know. We rely on you and your staff a lot, and so does the citizens, and more importantly, the
animals do. So, thank you, Alan, for all your help and guidance. Thank you, Commissioner Constine. Thank you. Um, congratulations again. Phenomenal changes over the years, man. I remember when we first came here and I said, "So,
where's our puppy mill ordinance and we didn't have one?" And so, you you all have made a great deal of strides in the last number of years. And very impressed. You know, I I didn't read even a word in here, but I get it all the time. Uh
maybe it's in, you know, because it's in urban areas now, but um you have any comments on the proliferation of coyotes? Yeah, we we actually just did a educational campaign related to that
because we did have uh some sightings as well as we had an indivi a few individuals that reported uh loss of uh life of their pet uh because of coyotes. Uh so we did uh educational post uh it's really under the the jurisdiction of the
Florida Wildlife Commission, but working with the Florida Wildlife Commission uh we provided some education. I want to thank the office of communications. I'm not sure if they're here right now, but uh for doing that uh we've been produc producing uh some some uh public outreach, public safety messages for
individuals uh as well as those particular areas. Uh we've uh encouraged yard signs and things like that to better educate uh the neighborhoods. And I've seen those yard signs. Yeah. In in in very densely populated areas. Yes.
So I guess my question is is that the strategy? Is there other strategies that we can use to maybe um reduce the Florida Wildlife Commission strategy is they call it harassment, but uh to scare the coyotes away. Most of the
coyotes will run from you. Uh we already do the bear trash cans in many places. So, we're already doing that particular education. Uh food that is left outside of course is an attraction. Uh so um food that's left out for community cats
and things like that, we're encouraging community cat folks that you need to bring that food in at night because otherwise you're encouraging the coyotes to come towards the community cat colonies. Uh so those are things that people need to to think about. You don't want food outside that encourages them
to come. Uh all this of course is included in the FWC uh website. FWC also has a map and you can actually pull up Simolino County and see where the sightings have been and where the attacks have been. So, uh, it's quite something if you want to take a look at
that map. It's it's very educational and and anybody that has like an empty lot like I do next to me that doesn't get mowed all the time and also has a certain individual that likes to feed stray cats near there. Um, I was sitting
on my deck, just to give an example, the other day, and there was a coyote coyote that just walked by the sand beach and and looked at me, kind of smiled, did her did her business, and then then just jumped over the fence and uh, so, you
know, they are I was like shocked to see them. But that's You don't think she was giving you a message? Uh, that's cuz y'all got city coyotes. We don't have that problem. Yeah, we got we got city coyotes. That's right. We have Okay, this is going to be a strange
question, but we but I I I it's it's done in sincerity since our um urban chicken program has been so popular. Have we ever had chickens brought for adoption or brought to be left? We occasionally get chickens, but not
often. Not often at all. Um Okay. Yeah. And what do we do with them other than, you know, make fried chicken or something? It's it's I love fried chicken. Lee's famous fried chicken.
So, we have gotten ju since I I was asked in 2016 to to help manage uh animal services. I think I've seen just about every animal uh come through. Large turtles, rabbits. Unfortunately,
uh Trisha gets a picture of the crazy ones every time we get one in. uh besides just want her to know it's there. But uh we get goats. Uh Darren gets a lot of pictures too. Sorry. Um everything. So yes, we do get
chickens from time to time. Most of those we can adopt adopt out. There you go. Barretts though, pocket pets, hermit crabs, we get everything. Thank you. Very interesting. Commissioner Lockhart. Well, um, picking
up on the coyote conversation, as someone who lost a cat to a coyote, I will tell you the coyotes aren't looking for the food. They're looking for the cats that are eating the food. Um, right. It requires people behavior change and
quite honestly, not letting your cats be out at night, which a lot of people do. It's kind of like the, you know, the that's, you know, if there's an attractant there, they will they will find them. Um, I live between I4 and the 417, which is pretty urban core of our community, and we have a bunch of
coyotes in our neighborhood. Um, and people post in the neighborhood Facebook group, "My cat is missing." And and you know, the hard-hearted Harriets of the group will say, "Well, probably got a coyote, right?" And so, don't don't be looking for it. The coyote's probably got it. Um, unfortunately, that's just
kind of become the norm. But, um, yeah, FW FWC has done some wonderful work. I want to thank you and your team for sticking out with us the last year or so um prior to new management. I know we
had a blip and um it was it was tough on everybody and so thank you to everyone who endured through that time. I think um we're in a much much better place and and I'm grateful for the leadership of the county manager and the rest of your team for for being able to see through
what we needed to see through there. That was very I'm very very grateful. Um I think that from an ordinance perspective where I think we may have opportunity and I will rely on you all to to tell me if it is or not is to with
the hoarding and the poor treatment of animals. Maybe we are allowing too many strikes. You know instead of a three strikes you're out and I don't know how many it is. It's a lot more than three. maybe within the bounds of the of the
Florida law if we can tighten that up a little bit so that neighbors aren't enduring all of the odors and the barking and the negative impacts of people who just are not good animal owners if we can tighten that up. I think that's something I
would love to look at. Um, as far as the capital needs, you know, it's funny. Um, I stopped looking at social media not long ago, um, for a variety of reasons, but one is because I just get so frustrated reading all of
the comments that are completely uh, examples of of ignorance of the process and things that we provide in in in local government. And so, uh, but I still have friends who feel like I need to see these things. So, they screenshot them and send them to me. And because if I see it, I'm going to want to respond
and then I shouldn't and it becomes a situation. So I so I I stay I tried not to respond. Um but one of the comments was um and I think it was actually based on um it was because of the clerk's open checkbook that people were seeing the expenditures for things like a
veterinarian and why would why in the world are we or were the taxpayers paying for for a veterinarian? This is why we pay for a veterinarian and u without context of course expenses um are sometimes u misinterpreted for
sure. So the nice thing about animal services is people have a heart for animals and um we could get people to donate out of their as we know because you have so many partners already uh for some of
these things where you know it's hard to get people to donate to the jail right the jail has all of these same kinds of needs with doors and equipment and what have you but no one really has has that much of a heart to help donate to the jail I think if we were to talk about um a matching ing grant program of some
sort or something where we could encourage um folks and businesses in the community to help sponsor some of these things. Put their naming rights opportunities. We have that in our code already, that availability. Um that might be an opportunity to help take
some of the burden directly from from our coffers. Um excellent, excellent job. Um thank you. Yeah, let just agree with the chairman. Don't don't wait to tell us. And I'm I'm thrilled that we the three to five year
plan is great, but we have deferred maintenance for your operation and others in this community for many, many, many years. And partially because we have been such an incredibly conservative board, we have said year after year, unless it is absolutely
necessary for the operation of the primary function of local government, we're not spending it. and and that's where we are right now with the place of needing to we're at the we're at the we're beyond the tipping point um for your organization for sure. So thank you
for painting the whole picture for us. Yeah. And if I could just comment on your your veterinarian I saw similar messaging and um we are by statute required to adopt animals that are spayed and neutered. So if we don't do it ourselves then we have to go get a vet to do it. I don't know if anyone's
been to the vet recently, uh, but, uh, our vet is much much cheaper than going to a commercial vet if we were to do that for all 250 plus animals we currently have in the shelter. So, the amount of savings, that's what we should
be talking about, not the cost of a vet. We should be talking about the savings that we have by not going to a private vet and paying an exorbitant cost for that. Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you. I'm not going to echo and mirror what's
already been said. Good work. You all are doing tremendous work obviously with very little. And I think what you're hearing from this board, it is important to us that these things be funded and properly funded and and we need to do
that sooner rather than later in my opinion. Um there's certainly been uh opportunities that maybe have passed us up that we've funded other things that maybe this should have been a little bit ahead of the game on this.
Um as far as picking up dead animals. I am no proponent of picking up dead animals unless they're causing a hazard to the traveling public. Um like I think Commissioner Herr
indicated, it is the cycle of life. Um you know the turkey buzzards which were at one time endangered uh they feed on these carcasses on the side of the road. Um so as far as extended cost to go around pick up all these animals unless
it's a farm animal or or a horse or a cow that's laying in the middle of the intersection. I mean, my my district any given day you can drive around and see half a dozen dead deer on the side of the road or raccoons or what I mean it just it happens. Um, and typically in 24
48 hours there's not much left. Uh, you'll see the buzzards on them for you know a period of time and then we go on. And I realize that that sometimes is difficult for those that don't live in the rural area
may not want to see that. Um, so I think how we strike a happy medium there, but my my belief is if it's not causing a public safety hazard, I don't see any reason why we should go out and have to remove that. Um, so anyway, could Mr. Chair,
anything else? Yes, Commissioner Lockhart. Um there I think you pointed out a very important nuance is that a dead deer on the side of the road in Geneva in the grass where there are no sidewalks is very different than a dead deer on the side of Markham Woods Road where children are walking to Heathrow
Elementary School. Sure. And so there there may be you know some need for flexibility there. I I did have a question about the 30 pounds. Um do you want to are we talking raccoons, possums, armadillos? Like is that 30 pounds? Yes.
Okay. How much does a raccoon weigh? I don't know. There are skinny ones, there are fat ones. Anything under anything under like a raccoon, a possum, uh, armadella, duck, and squirrel is what we're talking about mostly. All right. Deers, of course, we're going to go pick
up a deer. It's large. It's, you know, boores, uh, bobcats, uh, any those are all above 30. Okay. Any domestic animal, it doesn't matter what the size is, we're going to go pick it up. and any livestock or equin, we're going to go pick it up. Okay, fantastic. We're going to locate the owner, too, so
they know that it's there. All right, awesome. Thank you for that clarification. Yeah, my district has trouble sometimes keeping cows and and and horses contained and emus. Yeah. Did Did we ever find the emu? We did find the emu. He's back. Uh she is back with her family
cuz I saw a news feed. There is a Facebook page if you'd like to follow her. I saw I got a news feed that somebody saw an emu running wild in like South Carolina. I'm like, did it make it that far? Wow. Very good. Anything else for animal
services? Well, good work. We sincerely appreciate it. Thank you all very much. Anything else, uh, Mr. County Manager, before we adjourn to the afternoon session? No, sir. Well, just one thing that we do have a scout vehicles out in the parking
lot. those of you who did not uh get to see those and um go inside and you know just peruse through it, they're out here for us. Uh they'll be leaving right after lunch, so if you have an opportunity and for the public, they're out in the parking lot. Great. Thank you very much.
We'll be adjourned till 1:30. Thank you. [Music] Oh, [Music] heat. Part: 2
[Music] Good afternoon everyone. It's 1:30 and
we are resuming the board of county commission meeting here in Semino County. Date is September 23rd, 2025. I want to take a moment and u wish Kate a happy birthday. >> Happy birthday. >> Thank you. >> And Commissioner Her has a birthday this
week. Congratulations. >> Y every year's a gift. My report. >> Uh and today is also, believe it or not, we we saw the animal services earlier. Today is dogs and politics day.
If I'd have known that early in >> dogs in politics. >> Yeah. >> I'm not sure what that means, but >> I thought about bringing my dogs. >> Used to have dogs. >> Anyway, uh I'll look for proofs of publication, please. >> Some moved. >> Second.
>> Motion to second. All those in favor? >> I oppose like sign. Seeing none carries unanimous. Okay. Our first item and only item this afternoon is going to be legislative in nature. It's item 22, comprehensive plan amendment transmitt.
And this will be presented by David German. >> Good afternoon. >> Good afternoon. >> David German, senior planner development services. This afternoon, I'm presenting a proposed text amendment to the Semol
County Comprehensive Plan. It will amend the introduction, transportation, public schools facilities, intergovernmental coordination, and capital improvement elements in the capital improvements exhibit.
This will implement the 2021 school interlocal agreement for public school facility planning and school concurrency, expand options for transportation services, and to provide a definition for microransit. The 2021 school interlocal agreement was
formally adopted on December 9th, 2024 with a deadline to adopt the updated language into the comprehensive plan by October 9th, 2025. These updates include language for definitions, updated level of service and facility standards
and adoption of the seminal school board's 5-year capital improvements plan into the county's capital improvements element. This was done by reference to the school district's budget book which houses their capital improvement plan.
The amendments to the comprehensive plan related to the school ILA are intended to create consistency and be compliant with the agreement. The 2007 interlocal agreement was replaced by the 2021 agreement with an
effective date of December 9th, 2024. The agreement has a date of 2021 in the title, but an effective date of December 2024. Semol County has signed the agreement in collaboration with the school district early on, but the agreement did not
become effective until all municipalities had signed it, which occurred in 2024 as some cities had not signed it until later on. >> Actually, one city. Yeah, we're all Yeah, >> it was one city. >> It was fun. >> That city was Winter Springs.
>> That's correct. >> My district. >> We're just We're just calling them out right now. >> That's right. >> Just be forthright and open. >> Big bus just rolled over. >> The other updates in this amendment are due to the expansion of the
transportation system in Semino County. Scout is a new microtransit system which requires the comprehensive plan to incorporate new language and definitions. This includes a definition of microtransit in the introduction element
and language to specify funding sources in the transportation element. There was also a minor correction to the transportation element deleting a reference to an unadopted plan. These changes are consistent with the plan that the county has voted to implement
for the microtransit system and its funding. On August 11th, 2025 board meeting, the board of county commissioners voted to enact a 5-cent fuel tax which will be incorporated into the comprehensive plan.
Adopting the proposed updates by January 1st, 2026 will make Scout eligible for funding by the fuel tax. The amendment to the comprehensive plan will require transmitt to the state for review
and will need an additional review by the board of county commissioners. Staff requests the board approve transmitt of the proposed ordinance to the state amending the seminal county comprehensive plan by revising the
introduction transportation public schools facilities intergovernmental coordination and capital improvement elements implementing the 2021 school interlocal agreement and expanding options for transit services.
That concludes my presentation. Thank you. Thank you, David. We sincerely appreciate it very much. Inquiries from the board. >> Commissioner Lockhart, we'll start there and move our way down. >> I only have Well, I have a couple, but I don't want
to go down too many rabbit trails, so I'm just going to keep it very specific here. So, one of the elements uh referred to that the county would support links in its continued efforts. And I'm looking for the page so that I
can get it correct. And now I think I've gone by it. Um page three, uh TR 27, letter G. The county shall continue to
support the efforts of links to improve air quality by converting its fleet to biodiesel, compressed natural gas, and electric vehicles. Did we say that? >> I don't know that. Well, maybe part of this maybe part of this board did at
some juncture, but I don't recall this current board doing that. >> I just thought it was odd that it was in here and I don't remember having that conversation and that we said we would do that. My only recollection I think four or five years ago I heard something
mentioned about but I don't know that we >> this board took it up. >> If you want commissioner sorry chairman you all want to check on that? >> Yeah we can check to see when it was put in the comp plan and maybe that will provide you with some insight.
>> Well it's new it's underlined red. So it's it is a it is a new modification letter G >> that >> what what page I'm sorry >> page three >> uh >> of the handout.
>> Yeah. Uh it's it's under page TRA 27 in the the um block letter G. And Mr. German, I don't expect you to have the answer to that question. I would never do that to you. >> I think we're looking into it here.
>> Okay, >> Mr. Chairman. >> Yes, >> the only way I could assume that this would happen, and you know what happens when you assume things, but the only way that I could do that or think that is that uh there's been at least three of us on the board over the last number of
years. uh it's brought forward too from links that they're buying new this bus that bus electric biodiesel and everything and if we voted on approving that that would be the only way that I would because I don't recall us ever as a
group saying we support it >> sure Mr. Gomez may have an answer. >> Yes. Jose Gomez, development services director, that that was included as part of a recommendation by staff from public works, but uh if this board doesn't support that, we can certainly remove that. >> Well, it's not that we don't support it.
It's just that this is the first time we're talking. >> Sure. >> So, I'm I'm uncomfortable being asked to adopt something as a part of the comprehensive plan that says that the board shall continue to do something that this board hasn't said we shall do. And um and frankly the most recent
conversations about electric vehicles at Lynx have been that they're not working right now very effectively. So I'm not sure that Lynx even thinks it's a good idea right now. So um >> I think we could we could just take take it out. I don't think there's a need to have it in just adding that additional
since it had biodeiesel and >> shall makes me nervous. >> Shall makes me nervous. >> Take it out. >> Yeah. If the board >> Everybody okay with that? >> Commissioner Delari, >> I said I'm fine with that. >> Looks like we're all good with removing that.
>> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Lar. >> Thank you. >> Commissioner Constantine, you're next. >> I received this earlier, but I have looked at the comprehensive plan and these are all unlike what we just found out. one thing the most of these things
we've if not all these things other than that we've approved already I I just you just a comment coming back from the Florida Association of counties meetings I will tell you that all these transmittals going to the department of commerce which is interesting that
department of commerce is in charge of land development but department of commerce uh I think a lot of them are surprised at some of the comments and what they're coming back with um especially when it comes to you know
protection of land use and and homes after emergencies and things of that nature. But you know I mean I'm not presupposing they will say anything to us but I wouldn't be surprised if we don't have comments coming back. That's all I'm going to say.
>> Interesting. Okay. >> Commissioner Dwari >> I have no comments. >> Commissioner her >> no comments. >> Commissioner Zimbau no comments. All right. Chairman, >> I get a motion. Commissioner, >> I move to approve the transmitt of the
proposed ordinance to the state amending the seminal county comprehensive plan by revising the introduction transportation public school facilities intergo intergovernmental coordination and capital improvement elements, implementing the 2021 school interlocal
agreement, and expanding options for transit services. Second. >> Motion to second >> with the modification of removing electric vehicles. >> So move >> for links. >> For links. Yeah. Can I just put the reference on the record? >> Absolutely. >> I found it, please.
>> Okay. So with the my understanding is the motion as it stands amended is that it's being amended um as put forth in the agenda except for the change to policy TRA 2.3.2
to monitor transit services subsection G. >> Agreed. >> That's right. >> Seconder agrees. >> Sure. >> That's a that's a yes. >> Yes. Sure. >> Yes. >> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor? I
>> oppose like sign hearing. None. Passes unanimously. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next up is the county attorney's report. Miss Ltor. >> Thank you, Chairman. My only item is to discuss the draft letter that we
circulated last week and then recirculated earlier today regarding Senate Bill 180. At last meeting, we had a a discussion on Senate Bill 180 and the directions was given to staff to create a letter pointing out some of the concerns with the legislation and
recommending practical solutions or alternative solutions to what the bill currently contains. Um I received feedback from each of you and those recommendations have been incorporated into the letter. Um mostly it was a
verbiage change here and there. Um there was some formatting uh altered to make our recommendations bulleted separately to stand out. Um but all in all it's substantially the same letter that you saw several days ago. Um,
Commissioner Constantine asked that we kind of flush out the recommended process on the bottom of page two regarding pre-suit requirements. That's probably the most substantial change, which really was just to further explain what we envisioned a property owner
would do if they were damaged by a hurricane and wanted to come to the county and asked for a waiver or relief from a new code section that wasn't in place at the time of the storm. Um, so that's probably the only substantive
change and it really was just to further explain our idea. So, I'll just start at the far end to make sure everybody's okay with it. We'll just come down the line. Commissioner. >> Yeah. Uh, I think it was well done. I think you captured what it was that we
had asked you to do. I think the only thing that we need to um probably give direction on is who to whom we would like this letter specifically addressed and um and whether we want to send it to leadership, copy our delegation or what order we want to do that in. I think
that was the only question I had. Commissioner Constain. >> Um, good point. I think that we should send it to the um members of of the legislature that sponsored the bill. Certainly any co-sponsors, certainly the
leadership, certainly the um staff of those committees that it came from, uh the chief of staff of those committees. I think we also should make sure that we send it to um Florida Association of Counties uh so that they have and and I
will tell you that I did uh send the previous one uh that uh um our county attorney gave to us to the Florida Association of Counties because that was besides property tax 180 was the other big issue that was discussed in almost
every one of the committees uh at the Florida Association Counties and I will tell you that they're not looking at um the repeal of this bill either like we were talking about. They want strong modifications and clarifications on 18 and 28 which is
what this letter is doing. So they said that this was in their opinion also a wonderful letter and um that you know the one clarification because they wanted to make sure that you know as as Kate mentioned there was just one clarification that we uh put together so
that everyone would understand what it is. But I think that they um we should also send it to them and I think it's a wonderful letter also. >> Commissioner Lauri, >> the only thing that I would add, we should also send it to our delegates as well.
>> I would agree with that. And I I also would send it to the Florida League of Cities. >> They're all in the same boat. Everybody's got, you know, stuff there to start. >> Well, two things. I thought the whole reason we were doing this was to send it
to the entire legislature. Was that not said the last time? >> Just get said to all of them. Yes. >> But I think that's right. >> I I didn't think so. I I mean >> I think that was that it wasn't just our legislation, our our local legislation
that we needed to send it to that we needed to send it to. That was the comment that was made the last time. >> No, no, no. We No. We were sending it to the majority office and those in leadership and those the chairman of the committees. But I think I think what commissioner const the what commissioner Constantine said was just now I think is what we had said before.
>> I think that's correct. >> Okay. >> And then my only other comment is that I am never a fan of doing anything on a case-byase basis. We are by nature trying to move away from case by case basis. I understand that this is to create a collaboration toward a better
solution and we should let the letter go as is. But just know that what we asked for here is it will be very difficult to manage in in a posttorm environment. Casebyase decisions on how somebody may be eligible to seek relief.
>> And I think that's what we're asking for is that clarification. >> Yeah. Yeah. Maybe that, excerent revision to the letter. Um, you know, if in a perfect world, if we got what we were asking for, I would envision a process with criteria that that
applicants would have to reach in order to get this relief that were as this process that would offer the relief. they would have to meet certain criteria that would be set forth in statute or if they allow the local government to create their own process, we would set
that criteria. So that's what I envisioned and I can take out that phrase and find a better way to state it if if that's the direction. >> If our intention is not to do this on a case-by case basis, which I think would be more palatable to all, then we maybe should rephrase that.
>> I'm open to that. >> I have no issue with that. Let's rephrase it. I'm fine with that. >> Okay. Okay. Anything else, Miss Lator? Anything else from the county attorney's office? >> No, I have my direction and we will finalize it and you will see it soon for
signature. >> Very good. All right. County manager, >> just a couple items as chairman and commissioners. One, um, do have to apologize. I believe the scout vehicles were locked when, uh, we went out there, so I do apologize for that. They got open, uh, shortly afterwards. Uh but we
do have the uh website up and running. It is scoutseiminalfl.com. Uh that is live now. So that's exciting. And it does provide information about the fairs, the surface, the sur uh service zones, the hours, discounts are on there. We've also put a downloadable
how you can download the freebie app, you know, the ride freebie app on there as well. So it gives uh instructions on that. And then as Miss Johnson mentioned this morning with our code enforcement update beginning next week, code enforcement services will be officially transitioned to the board of county
commissioners. So we're excited about that. Um we have the officers in in place. Um we'll be swearing them in soon, right, Jose? And uh so we'll have better direct relationship with our code enforcement team. So we're excited about that. >> Great question on the on the scout. Did
that get disseminated to all the cities and our partners in the community, the school board, seminal state? >> Yes, they're they all were given that. >> Absolutely. Yes. And we've actually spoke with all of them. We're in constant communication with them as well. And even to the fact um actually
uh Commissioner Lockheart and I talked about this when when Lynx was going and doing their public meetings about our underperforming routes about changing them. We had a scout table at all those events as well u to giving them information on how they can obtain the services through our microtransit
system. >> Good. >> Any inquiries for the county attorney or county manager? >> I do have one. Uh, I know this is fairly short notice, but I think it's rather important uh in light of the 5:30 meeting tonight, and I don't mean to
throw any additional work on your staff, but not >> um I would like to see if you are able to and Tim uh provide a savings that the clerk of the court is going to have
since they're no longer providing the financial services to the supervisor of election. uh if that can be quantified or if you can figure out the books. Correct. >> Um I also would like to know the total value of the employee bonuses that the clerk uh has indicated he is going to
give some of those employees. I think this is for the county attorney. I would also like to get an understanding how and if we're able to recoup our $182,000 that we afforded the clerk for a special project for e warrants that we learned
later from the judiciary that was already in use and we were told by the clerk that it was reappropriated for other purposes. >> If you can give us an answer this afternoon, I'll look at this evening. I' I'd like to have an understanding of
that. Um especially in light that we're being sued by the clerk uh for allegedly not giving him enough money. >> So I think it's going to be pretty important for me tonight at tonight's hearing. So thank you very much. >> All right, we will go to our district
reports. >> Commissioner Delari, you're up first. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Be two quick items. One is uh I was able to go as an alternate for the OEP uh board meeting uh last week and they did a presentation on their uh trip to
Charlotte and it was very informative. I think uh I did not go to the trip to Charlotte, but uh the hearing their takeaways and their what they brought back was very informative and they're hoping to uh do some of those same things with either downtown Orlando or Neo City and uh hopefully get some more
information if any of our staff actually went to it. Uh I'd love to get some updates on that as well. And then I did receive an email this morning from a resident in Semino County that had a situation. I'm not going to give addresses or names. Uh I sent it to the
county manager. Uh I sent it to public works that the uh individual that was doing work on public rightway uh working for the county road repair was very insulting and uh had some issues with it. Contractor had to go back and it was
even worse. So I just wanted to make sure that you're all aware of it. I'm not mentioning names or the contractor's names because I don't want to make sure we get all the information before we actually uh do something about it. So, I'll look forward for more information
with the county manager at the appropriate time and if you would. That is the end of my report. Thank you. >> Very good. Commissioner Constantine, District 3. >> Thank you very much. I did want to congratulate
um the fire department uh at the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association's Patriots Day. They um crew was awarded um the uh heroes award for demonstrating
and and and and um uh the uh the saving of lives uh when it was concerned in a in a potential drowning. uh in the Ovido area. Also, I've mentioned the Florida Association of Counties uh meeting a couple of times today. So, I'm not going
to go into that other than to say that they were working on the legislative. um passing that along to Trisha as well as the fact that um you know a a great deal of discussion was was taken and um
and on the property tax and Senate Bill 180 and uh I think that they are um they have a very strong strategy as far as education and providing information to
uh not just the legisl but the citizens of Florida and and how um you know what would happen and on on the elimination or the uh the continued uh degragation
of property tax and of course taking away home rule when it comes to Senate Bill 180. um at the Central Florida Regional Planning Council that Commissioner her and I were at. Um Christian and Chris did a wonderful job in in um
explaining to the other members about microtransit and uh I will tell you that they were very excited about it and wanted to see uh opportunities potential opportunities that they could have also uh in that program and love the fact that we were
the guinea pigs. Um, on the 20th, I believe that Commissioner Zimbau and I uh were both at the out city of Altoont Springs World Series celebration of town at Cran's Roost and it was a wonderful event. >> Commissioner her was there as well.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. Commissioner, I did not see you. Give um >> Did you see Commissioner Consty? >> I did not. >> Okay. Were you there? >> They're in different places. Um on the coming up events on the 24th, we have the Central Florida Zoo Board. Uh the
25th at six o'clock, Rolling Hills meeting at Altoont Elementary. Um on the 27th, kind of exciting stuff. I think we've all talked about this before. I know that Commissioner Zimbau did the Red Bull tandem roller coaster in Crane's
Roost. That is going to be exciting. They're expecting like 5,000 plus people. >> That's going to be a crazy time. >> It's going to be crazy. Um and October 1st at Semino State we're KO will be meeting and um did want to also bring up
the fact that the uh on the 14th at 8:00 a.m. the sheriff will have his 13th annual interfaith prayer breakfast at Longwood Community Building. Um the birthdays have already been given, but happy birthday both Kate and and
Commissioner Her. And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, uh that um Commissioner Lockheart, congratulations on being um on the board of directors for the Institute of County Government. So >> that was done this past week. Um board
of directors, we approved it. So I just want to let you know that. >> Did you know that it was approved? >> And with that, I'm I'm done. >> All right. Commissioner Lockart, District 4. >> Thank you. I I was not able to to attend this most recent conference and I knew
that that was on the agenda. So, I appreciate you not voting against me. That's awesome. Honestly, the Institute >> Oh, even better. The Institute for County Government really is a a great um uh suborganization of the Florida Associated Florida Association of
Counties in partnership with the University of Florida. that's really um doing good good things to educate local elected officials on all sorts of topics and um any opportunity that anyone has to attend any of their um classes remotely or in person I highly recommend
it. Um last time we talked we were talking about Sunreil and budget and insurance and I think there was a memo that was sent to all of your offices that helped to give more detail and meat on the bones on the insurance topic. If you have any additional questions from that
um ask Bes has just been awesome. Um the the budget uh discussion is still a little fluid. We had a um a minor hiccup uh in that we were just advised that um Mayor Dyer will be
unable to attend the September Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission meeting which is where we had planned on adopting the final budget. However, in order to adopt the final budget, there is some discussion about whether it needs to be a unanimous vote. So, without a full board,
it was cancelled. So, there will be no rail commission meeting in September. Um, we hope to have everything in line and ready to go for October. We also have a work session on uh updating on the prospects of transition for
operations and um variety of things scheduled for October. The local funding agreement modification has to be adopted before uh a date certain before the end of the year and we know how things get dicey with people traveling around the holidays. So we are if you will hope
along with me that October is going to be a bangup month for the CFCRC and we're going to get a lot accomplished and that everyone will be in attendance. Um talked about the scout vehicle demo. Uh we talked birthdays. Uh could we get an update on where we
are with the educational impact fees study up where I think I saw a message about that several months ago, but would love to get a full update. >> Yeah, we've been in conversations with them. Um yeah, we'll get with your office and I'll get with the whole board and let them know. >> Um obviously huge proponent of the
school district. Want to do everything we can to support them. Um but as we know, enrollment is is not um increasing anymore in our in our public schools. And so impact fees are supposed to be
used to fund the impact of growth. And if that growth is not occurring, um, all the more reason why we would need to make sure that we're doing the appropriate thing for our entire community because we know that those impact fees affect the cost of new housing for sure.
Um, today is National Great American Pot Pie Day. >> I love a good pot pie. >> So fabulous. Fantastic. >> That's all I've got. >> Okay. Commissioner her, District 5. >> I don't believe there is a good pot pie,
but I could be wrong about that. I don't know. I've never had your pot pie, so I don't know if that's a thing. >> It's too close to a casserole for me. >> Yeah, there's a lot of stuff mixed together. >> There's green things in there. Is that what you're saying? Uh, I I was able to attend the ribbon
cutting for the Sanford Courtyard phase three. And I'll I'll let um the chairman talk a little bit more about that. I'm sure you can talk about that. But it was it's just a great thing when somebody in the community realizes there's a need and creates affordable housing based on
the fact that she literally put her retirement on the line to do this. And it is a great community right down the street from us. Um, I did attend the attend the Advent Health Sanford emergency room grand opening which is on
a little piece of pie property and you can literally drive around it all day. So, it's an amazing use of land and um I think in a great area of need. So, that was uh that was great. They also do radiology there. It's not just emergency
treatment. I do want to give a shout out for uh annual enrollment meetings. So, it is that time of the year where you make your selections on the best benefit plan for you and your family. And if you have not engaged or have not thought about it, don't just let your benefits roll
over and then complain about it later. Attend a meeting, learn more. A lot of them are virtual and there's way more meetings than any one group could ever need. So, thank you to Christine, the two Christinas that are doing that on behalf of all of our employees. And the last item that I have to talk to
you about is the big one and that is the 417 Sanford airport connector. I do think that we sent to your offices a link to all of this material but I'll pass it down the dis so you have it in front of you as we're speaking. I do
believe that I think this gets you enough to get to the clerk as well. Okay. This is the um preferred alternative
is now been narrowed down to 2A. This is coming in front of the CFX board on 109. I do expect that we'll have several attendees um that will speak to it from a public input perspective.
Uh the alternative is the most cost effective, the least impact to property owners, although there is still impact property owners because the development out there is growing rather quickly. And I would also tell you from an
economic feasibility perspective, this the 40-year shortfall on the study is $52 million. I believe when we heard about this in the initial feasibility stage, the anticipated number was somewhere around 49 million doing that
by memory. Um, and so it came in pretty close to what the expectation is. So for that $52 million shortfall, they will be looking for partnerships. Certainly, we're one of them and there may be others, but there may not. So I'm just sharing this. I will be asked to vote on
this on 109. Uh unless I hear anything differently from this board today, I intend to vote in favor of it. I truly do believe that if we don't do this now, we will not be able to do it because of the impact to
future homeowners on these open lands. Um it still has impact now. It will have a greater impact years from now. Any questions? Commissioner Lockhart >> in the context of other partners,
what do you know who some of the other partners may be besides in addition to us that may be looked at? >> I don't. So once this gets moved forward, then CFX, the airport, and the county sort of lock arms and start
looking. That is my understanding of the process. >> Okay. And with the airport being owned by the city of Sanford or ostensibly managed but well what whatever that relationship is are we talking about the city of Sanford as well?
>> Well maybe I can answer that from airport board perspective. >> Yeah. >> So the airport is a separate government entity not associated with the city of Sanford other than city of Sanford approves the budget. They don't fall under the same
guise, but the Sanford Orlando International Airport cannot be a partner in funding under FAA regulations. So then we would assume that maybe the city of Sanford would be
since they actually have the airport in their jurisdiction and they're the government body sponsors and oversees the airport. Um that discussion is yet to be happening. >> Okay. All of the members of this airport authority board are appointed by the Sanford city commission.
>> That is correct. >> Okay. Separate budgets. >> Separate budgets, but approved by the city of Sanford. >> That's correct. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, >> Mr. Chairman. >> And I do plan to be there, by the way, and so is the county manager. >> County manager. And and I think that's a
really good clarification. I did not say that, but the airport cannot fund, but the airport can ask for funding elsewhere. >> Correct. And so I did not say that as clearly as I could have. >> Okay. >> Commissioner Dar, you had something?
>> I just want to make a couple statements if you don't mind, Mr. Chairman. >> Sure. Go ahead. >> First of all, I would agree with uh everything that's being said here uh that if it's not done now that it'll never get accomplished. And I think this is looking at the future not just for Seminal County, but the region and in
particular around the airport. The thing that we need to be doing is once we start looking at those partners, whoever they may be, we should be looking at what those traffic volume numbers are today and what they're projected to be, so we can actually explain to those partners
why this is so critical. >> You We have to be able to tell the story >> and I think CFX does an excellent job at building that out. They have the numbers. That's what I'm sure right now. We don't I don't have those numbers and I'm sure we're going to getting a briefing from them and I just want to
make sure that as we move forward we tell the proper story. >> Yeah, they're in the process of briefing. I believe the chair has been briefed in his role on the airport board as well as chairman. >> I because I sit on there and then they're working their way down the dis but for me to bring it here is important
because the meeting happens on the 9th. >> I I think that we should as a board we should be wanting you to vote yes. And with that said, I want to make sure we have consensus. Everybody is uh fine with Commissioner Her voting in the
affirmative. >> Yes. >> Oh, yeah. >> Thank you. That concludes my report. >> Thank you very much. Um well, you all covered quite a bit for me, so I I was here scratching off things. Um to follow up, thank uh thank you to Commissioner
Herur for uh moderating the ribbon cutting for the courtyard phase 2 project, the 10 new affordable units right here behind us on Second Street. Um really a great story there on work that's been done by uh Kimberly Fogle
and her group and I happen to sit on that board as an adviser. You know, she's put her own money in this thing. This woman took her 401k, cashed it in to build affordable housing. The first 10 units uh that came online and and those occupants, those
families that are now in them, it's amazing what work they've done. They're collaborating with other 501c3s, Habitat for Humanity and and others. But the employment benefits that these folks have brought
with the exception of one, their income has increased almost 52%. Of the people that now live in those homes that they otherwise never had a place to live. Uh and they they've got skin in the game. Uh so it's a great
great uh attribute here for the community. And phase two uh people are going to be waiting to move in there as we cut the ribbon the other day. So, thank you to Commissioner Her for being there to do that. It's in her district. Um, also today, I want to thank our
staff. Uh, you guys were doing the vendor outreach today at the Sanford Orlando International Airport, uh, along with the city of Sanford. I think the city of Winter Springs and others to greet vendors and help them understand how they conduct or may be able to conduct business uh, with government
entities. Also want to uh put on your radar that the Sanford Orlando air show is coming back this year. Thunderbirds will be the headliner and the date for that is October 25th and 26th. Uh I think that's all I have in my
report. Uh other than one thing I do want to touch on. Um and I struggled to to bring this up but I think it needs to be said. Um, you know, this past week we watched uh Mr. Charlie Kirk assassinated.
And I got to tell you, when we look across the landscape of our county, we are very fortunate that we don't have the kind of discord that many parts of this country have. And I think that's that's an attribute that comes and starts with leadership within this
county. So, I want to thank each and every one of you uh and our other elected officials who continue to have good dialogue with our citizens and understand other people's perspective. Uh I think it speaks volumes of our county and where we're at because as you
look around even parts of this state, um the the the discontent and some of the argumentative things that happen. So, I just want to thank each and every one of you uh for all the parts and roles you play in making sure that our community
is is one of the top in the country in my opinion. So, that's the end of my report. I will go Commissioner Lockhart. >> Sorry, I just have one thing that I want to add not at all related to what you just said. So, my apologies. Um there was a gentleman who made public comment
at our at our budget meeting last time um who I later found out connected the dots that um he was also the gentleman who had been asking me to meet him at his home before 7:00 in the morning to take a 2 and a half mile walk together.
And so when the comment was made that um he was an orphan of Commissioner Lockhearts that is what that's that was referring to. I just thought I wanted to if I believe he's going to be speaking again this evening and I don't want to say anything in his I don't want to I'm not
trying to but for context for any of our staff or for my colleagues there I I declined his option his the opportunity he gave me to go on a walk with him and so that's why he's a little un unhappy with me
so that you understand we've all had that happen to us. Yeah. Where people would blame us for something. Well, and in today's world, I don't I don't feel comfortable going on walks and meeting people at their homes by myself. So, >> Sure. Understood. >> Yeah. >> Rightfully so. >> Good. Good stuff. All right. We will go
to our non-aggenda portion of the meeting. Anyone desires to speak before the commission on non-aggenda items, we will go there and we will check with the clerk. Do we have anybody here to speak? >> No, sir. >> And we shall be adjourned till 5:30 this evening.
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