--------- good morning and welcome to the Simino County Board of County Commission meeting April 22nd 2025 it is now approximately 9:30 we are going to have the pledge of allegiance and invocation first Mr curtis Levant Fluffski will be
our uh our pastor this morning from SGTV to give the invocation and then I will ask uh Commissioner Lockhart to lead us in the pledge please join me in prayer in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen heavenly Father we give
you praise and glory for the gift of life that you have given each of us we are so blessed to enjoy all Seminal County's natural beauty and green spaces that are the treasure of this county give wisdom and discernment to our commissioners and staff today as they look to find ways to safeguard these
natural lands and resources to continue to make Semino County a premier place to live work and play we pray dear Lord for the soul of Pope Francis and eagerly await the new appointment of the next pope to lead the Holy Catholic Church in these times we thank you for your
unconditional love for us and the sacrifice of your son our Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life in his name help us to love our neighbor as ourselves and be quick to help those in need please protect our veterans serving our country
and all in public safety who leave their loved ones each day seeking to protect the lives of others we ask this through Christ our Lord amen amen father Son Holy Spirit please join me in the pledge i pledge allegiance 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 Kurt thank you Commissioner Lockhart if everybody would just take a moment and make sure your cell phones
and electronic devices are silenced we'd appreciate that now we're going to move into our awards and proh proclamations segment of the meeting this will be the proclamation proclaiming Sergeant Bryant Ortiz United States Army as Semino Countyy's veteran of the month this will
be read by Commissioner Her thank you Chairman it is my honor to move the following proclamation of the Semino County Board of County Commissioners recognizing United States Army Sergeant Bryant Ortiz for his outstanding service to the United States and to Semino
County whereas the brave men and women of our army navy marines air force coast guard and space force demonstrate the resolute spirit and unmatched selflessness reminding us there are few things more American than giving of ourselves to make a difference in the
lives of others and whereas throughout our country's history generations of service members have answered the call to leave their families their jobs and put their futures and even their lives on the line to valiantly defend our nation and whereas for many service
members the sacrifice has ended in permanent injury or death yet their spirit remains in the continued preservation of our freedoms and the promise of liberty and whereas there are more than 30,000 living veterans in Semino County who served our nation in
times of peace and war through their service they kept America strong and whereas Sergeant Bryant Ortiz served in the US Army honorably between 2012 and 2018 as an infantryman where he earned
his combat infantrymen's badge for his deployment to Afghanistan he also participated in operations in Latvia and Estonia as part of operation of part of operation inherent resolve facing Russian aggression following the
annexation of Crimea his accolades include multiple army commenation medals army achievement medals NATO service ribbon and the Afghanistan campaign medal among others and whereas Sergeant Brian Ortiz a Seinal County native has
been deploy deeply involved with the community prior to and after his military service he has dedicated over 500 hours of community service earning recognition from Senator Harry Reid Senator Mitch McConnell and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'
Connor and earning the Jefferson Award for outstanding community service upon his return to Semino County in 2021 he served as a deputy with the Semino County Sheriff's Office earning deputy of the quarter and multiple memorandums of recognition he now dedicates his life
to serving as the congressional aid to Congressman Daniel Webster and the constituents of Florida's 11th Congressional District and whereas Sergeant Bryant Ortiz has brought great credit and distinction upon himself the United States of America the United
States Army and Semino County now therefore be it proclaimed that we the Board of County Commissioners of Semino County Florida express our gratitude admiration and respect for Sergeant Bryant Ortiz for his outstanding service to the United States Army and the residents of Semino County be it further
proclaimed that this proclamation is presented to Sergeant Brian Ortiz along with our sincere congratulations and recognition as seminal county's veteran of the month adopted this 22nd day of April 2025 second motion and a second
all those in favor I oppose like sign see none carries unanimously thank you Target sergeant if you'll be patient with us we'll get through the next proclamation we'll ask everybody to come up for photos and receive the award we appreciate you very much next up is
going to be read by Commissioner Constantine this is a proclamation for National Travel and Tourism Week in Semino County commissioner thank you very much and thank you for um Robert for these wonderful pineapples
uh they will go to good use uh this is a proclamation of the board of Seol County commissioners proclaiming May 4th through May 10th as National Travel and Tourism Week in Semino County and I move uh the above motion whereas the travel
and tourism industry plays a vital role in the strengthening Seino County's economy generating revenue creating employment opportunities and enhancing the overall quality of life for residents and visitors alike and whereas
tourism generates over 4.1 billion in economic impact for Semino County and supports approximately 26,200 jobs for our local residents in 19 in 2023 and whereas Semino County has
emerged as a premier destination for sports tourism welcoming athletes teams and spectators for tournaments training and events that energize the local economy and showcase the region's top tier facilities and hospitality and
whereas the county's abundant natural beauty including the scenic rivers lush parks and protected wildlife areas continues to draw nature enthusiasts outdoor adventurers and ecoourists enforc reinforcing Semino County's
reputation and as Florida's natural choice and whereas tourism in Semino County provided more than 320 million in state and local taxes in 2023 which resulted which resulted in nearly
1,700 in annual tax savings for each family household and whereas the strong partnerships between the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association local businesses government leaders and community stakeholders remain critical to
fostering a thriving tourism economy and ensuring Semino County remains a warm inviting place for visitors year round and whereas the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association is the largest regional hospitality association in the
United States representing more than 129,500 hotel rooms throughout the Central Florida region as well as nearly 500 supplier organizations that do business with the with the hospitality and tourism industries and whereas the
National Travel and Tourism Week offers a meaningful opportunity in 2025 to honor the accomplishments of Semino County's Travel and Tourism community highlight the continued efforts of the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association and its partners and
reaffirm our dedication to the growing to growing the county's presence as a must visit destination i now therefore be it proclaim that we the Semino County Board of County Commissioners do hereby
proclaim May 4th through May 10th 2025 as the National Travel and Tourism Week in Semino County and encourage residents to celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week support workforce development in the hospitality and tourism industries
and participate in the local initiatives highlighting travel's importance to our community's economic growth and quality of life second motion second all those in favor I opposed like sign seeing none carries unanimous congratulations thank
you very much all right if Sergeant Ortiz and the commission would join us down on the floor for some pictures and hand over the proclamation and then the hotel lodging association Mr robert Aguzo if you'd follow up next
you should yeah all right i want to bring the whole team okay we'll let Nort all right all right okay all right everyone in
here yes yes that's perfect that's perfect that's perfectly good see everyone just making sure I can see everybody's faces all right right here on my account in three two one thank you thank you very much i
appreciate it congratulations okay Sergeant please proceed absolutely thank you so much chairman uh and good morning chairman and commissioners i want to begin by expressing my heartfelt gratitude um not just to the the holy God himself for um allowing me to be
here today but to also my family as well uh regret regrettably my seven-month-old is battling a 100 degree fever this morning so my family is unable to be here this morning but um um I also wish and extend my sincere thanks to each of you present here growing up in the vibrant community of Sino County has
gifted me with countless cherished opportunities and memories that I hold close to to my heart over the past two decades I have been continually impressed by the remarkable growth and development that our county has experienced this transformation is not just a testament to our population
increase but also reflects the strong sense of community and commitment to progress that defines Semino County it's essential to acknowledge that the thriving environment we enjoy here is a direct result of our residents and the unwavering leadership of from our Summit County Board of County Commissioners who
diligently advocate for the interest and financial well-being of our residents in my previous role as a deputy sheriff with the Summit County Sheriff's Office I witnessed firsthand the profound collaboration between our dedicated sheriff and the county commissioners i understand that at times difficult
choices must be made yet I have seen you all make strategic thoughtful decisions that undoubtedly enhance the overall quality of life and safeguard the public safety of everyone living in Semino County for this I offer my heartfelt thanks to the Seino County
Commissioners for this recognition my family and I are proud to be Semino County residents and may God bless each and every single one of you for your ongoing commitment to serving our wonderful community thank you thank you thank you thank you all right thank you very much Sergeant
we appreciate your service mr gusov would you care to make a few comments well thank you Mr chairman and commissioners uh it is a delight to be here today and thank you so much for your continued support with the tourism and hospitality industry uh it's no secret that we've been uh working very
collaboratively over the last several years at least for the last almost four years together uh but it goes back even times before that and I do appreciate the continued partnership with us i'm very excited about the new T that we just recently approved uh and what that's going to come uh for the future
of this community it is going to be a gamecher for us especially in sports tourism uh which has really been the investment that we've all been working collaboratively together so I want to say thank you so much uh for your continued partnership and I'm excited about the future of us working together
on the benefit uh for the benefit not only of the industry but also for our community here in Semino County so thank you all very much thank you sir sincerely appreciate it all right next up we are going to move to our county investment advisor report mr scott
McIntyre who is with us live today welcome Mr mcintyre good morning good morning okay let's see since the last time we were here um we take a deep breath it's okay you got to
say that every morning these days kind of have to kind of have to have to stay it's remarkable i was here virtually last time i was here virtually last time and the tariffs had not gone into place so the landscape is completely changed um and the landscape going forward is
going to depend on how long the tariffs are in place and to what extent they're in place and all of that is completely unknowable at this point um in my mind the US and China are both um not in position to back off anytime soon it
just doesn't feel like a deal is going to get made in the near term so um I think we can expect a a slowdown in the economy i think we can expect higher prices when they show up i'm not real sure but I certainly expect that they will so the the latest thing that's
that's happened if you're following the news is is something that we've expected for a long time and that's the idea that the president was going to pressure the Fed chairman to lower rates in response to the economy slowing and there's a
real need for the Fed to be independent there's a real need for a central bank not to take direction from um the leader of a country so the financial markets have gotten up in arms about that and it's not whether or
not Trump will be able to or will want to fire Pal before his term ends next May the question is whether or not the financial market is going to feel disruption as a result of the president undermining the Fed chairman so I mean
that's an ongoing situation it it unnerves me a little bit i think the financial markets have have reacted to this already and the longer it goes on you're going to see more volatility uh you're going to see more days where the stock market is up or
down more than we're comfortable with we're going to see situations where long especially long interest rates are moving higher which is counterintuitive to the idea that interest rates are likely to be cut um I think it's a danger for even if the economy does slow
down I think it's a danger for the Fed chairman to react quickly i think that the earliest rate cuts will come is probably the end of July two meetings between now and then uh and I think the Fed is really going to have to see some evidence of the economy slowing and they're going to have to really watch prices to see what happens so that
they're they're not in a position where they can react as quickly as the president would like so uh again every day is a new day literally every day is a new day i was looking at what was going on in the market before I stepped up here and if you see me on my phone
it's not that I'm on Facebook or talking to my wife it's it's taking a quick look at the market um so anyway um most of the data that's come out has been okay the the last labor market report was fairly strong believe it or not
inflation is trending lower sharply lower a lot of that has to do with housing that's a big reason why prices are high is is shelter costs and they have been moving downward and they will move downward uh the question is going to be goods prices and we'll see that
reflected in the next couple of of months as this trade war really begins to kick in um I think I pretty much covered everything and I think the bottom line is the uncertainty right now and I think the uncertainty I was talking to the chairman uh on our regular call before this and one of the
things that worries me about the uncertainty is from a businessman's perspective what do we do what do we how do we address the idea that we're running blind here do we order six months ahead do we not order at all i can tell you right now that anecdotally we're understanding that ships are
turning around in port the idea of ordering a billion dollars worth of goods having them come into port and paying if they're from China you know 2.5 billion to receive that shipment is not something that businesses are going to be willing to do so we're in a state
of flux right now it doesn't make me real happy i'm sure there's some traders in Wall Street that are thrilled with the volatility but most of us don't like it one bit this just gives you an idea of where the economy was so fourth quarter revised 2.4 2.5% for the fourth quarter
rolling forward into the first quarter um it appears as though right now GDP is negative for the first quarter ending obviously March 31st but we need data to come in to confirm this i don't think that's going to happen i think it's going to be really soft but I don't
think it'll be negative and again don't know we'll get the first GDP reading subject to two revisions next week so everybody will keep an eye on that i don't think the markets will like to see a negative number if it shows up but again I think it'll be soft i don't think it'll be negative this is the
two-year the reason I'm showing you this is because you did a lot of buying in December a lot of buying in January and and fortunately this is the last six months you could see kind of right in the middle is where you did the buying you you you bought out um the clerk's
office made purchases out in the two to threeyear sector threw it all out there um kind of holding your breath on that a little bit normally the county doesn't go out this far but that's locked in so it affords us the luxury right now of of
uh of waiting and that's that's what we're going to do now having said that got about uh almost 50% is extended out beyond which again I think is is unusual it affords us the luxury but you're also in a drain period
um looking at the interest rates if you can see it over the course of of the last four meetings they've come down down down the uh the uh 2-year Treasury actually got down to 350 several weeks ago during one particularly choppy day
most of the investments that were made were in the roughly 425 area when when you did all the investment that you've done again we believe the Fed's going to cut overnight rates um but we don't believe that's going to be till July
again every day is a new day so so don't set your watch by that but that's our expectation so upcoming maturities um you've got one maturity coming up um within two to three weeks you also have a sheriff's draw um that the clerk's
office let me made me aware of of about 14.1 million on the 1 of May so essentially the the maturity that's in front of us is essentially going to be used to cover that share of straw again you're in a drain period there's no reason to take um what amounts to about
15% of the portfolio is liquid 85% has been invested right now um you're in a period where you're spending so that that percentage is going to stay roughly the same i don't like a portfolio to to
be less significantly less than say 10 to 12 max and you're you're to the point where given the maturities that are coming up given what your expenses are given that you have the share of straw there's no no reason to to invest from here we have a couple of late maturities
in May which we'll address at the next meeting uh your overall portfolio yield is is 444 right now again these are short fixed income mostly treasuries uh very conservative highly rated you don't have any commercial paper so 444 given
the fact that the two years at 377 is is a is a pretty good position so I wish I had more in terms of exciting investments coming up but essentially that's not what we're doing right now but you're in a good position if the market is not every day is a new day
i'll see you in May and we'll address those longer maturities then any questions mr chairman Commissioner Larry thank you i'd like to make a motion to implement the recommendations of our financial advisor based on a report submit here today and recommend the clerk to
implement said board recommendations as second motion second any further discussion seeing none all those in favor i oppose like sign seeing none carries unanimous thank you Mr mcintyre safe travels all right next up is our annual
comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended September 30th 2024 we will have Miss Jenny Spencer from the clerk's office and Mr dan O'Keefe presenting today good morning commissioners um we are
happy to report that we were able to meet our March 31st deadline this year and you should have received the actual report to give you adequate time to review it and be ready for questions with that I'll turn it over to Dan O'Keefe the uh audit partner and he's
with with him is Alan Rickford he's the senior manager on the engagement great thank you Miss Spencer good morning morning morning so uh Allan doesn't get to normally come to these things but I thought it'd be appropriate to bring him since he's the one that
does most of the work in this engagement and uh does all the heavy lifting and and I wanted him to uh have a little facetime with you so uh he could get some credit too uh but uh he's one of my u u best managers in in the firm and and
he does quite a quite a few of these audits not just Semino County but uh uh he's quite busy during busy season um I I um got an interesting presentation for you today um I spent all weekend putting
this together so as you were enjoying this beautiful weather I was in front of my computer doing a lot of research and digging through multiple financial reports and uh so you can imagine I was having a lot of fun so uh we know you
love it yeah I do i do love it so let me get through um you know kind of the part related to uh um our output which is the actual reports that we produce for you and um we put a letter out there that I
think you've already received it has some required communications in it that covers these particular areas um and these are our deliverables that are addressed in in um that document and u and we've put the page reference on here
for you that get you to the actual pages of the uh uh comprehensive annual report and um if you're looking at a PDF it gives you the PDF references too which makes it a little bit easier so the first report is actual the report on the financial statements themselves and it
is unmodified which uh we also refer to as a a clean opinion you'll see a report an internal control over financial reporting and compliance this is required under um uh government auditing standards which required to follow and
um also there's a uh examination of your your investment compliance which is required by uh Florida statutes all of these um no findings uh no significant um areas of concern and uh certainly the
type of report you want to receive there's a management letter in there uh this is required by the rules of the auditor general there's a lot of information in there that kind of goes beyond any type of findings that's required by Florida statutes um one of
them is is doing a um kind of a risk assessment if you will a financial condition assessment that's required by Florida statutes and uh that's where we compare you to um your peer counties and see kind of where you're at the the only problem with that is a lot of the
information that we're comparing to is a little outdated and I wish they could get this more current than it is but uh still we have to go through it we're required to and then you have um the federal single audit requirements and state single audit requirements that are
addressed in in this particular report and and you have u you know uh quite a few but we didn't have any compliance findings and and u uh or internal control findings on your on your major grants so this is the section you know I
spent uh I I do a presentation similar to this for um accounting conferences and finance conferences and I've done it um around the country and um this is a shortened version you know version that I put together just specifically for you
and um so but again it's a lot of financial information going through so I I started with the federal government's uh comprehensive annual financial report um which is uh June 30th 2024 yes they have an audited report no they do not
get an unmodified opinion um the Department of Defense for example since they've been doing these audits has never had an unmodified opinion and I'm not really certain why that is but it's a little nerve-wracking if you think about it it's like hm why didn't the
Department of Defense get an opinion but let me let me walk you through some key areas in this report uh first off I I want you to uh appreciate my graphics i uh I used uh chat GBT to uh you know
help me develop these and I basically told it said give me a representation of something that looks really bad for debt and uh this is what I came up with so what is the national debt of the US government well the what the number you
see uh kind of advertised and talked about is 36.7 trillion um but as I said there's a set of financial statements you can go to that are audited and you look in that document and it's 45.5
trillion now last year is the first time the federal government started to put in the unfunded liabilities for their federal pensions uh veteran benefits and postretirement health benefits they they didn't never did that before um and
what's interesting is the US government has its own standard setting body it's called the federal accounting standards advisory board so you have the government accounting standards board which applies to state and local governments and the feds have its own standard setting board but they've been
getting pressured for years that they're not putting these these unfunded liabilities in so if you look at their statements that are audited you know it's 45.5 trillion well that still doesn't tell the whole story of the national debt because what's not in
there is the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare A now that's in their note disclosures and you have to dig through hundreds of pages to find this number but I was able to do it when you add that number in really the
national debt is more like 73.5 trillion now now think about this for a second you know the the number trillion we didn't even know what a trillion was until what 25 years ago or so it started to kind of eek into our our systems and
we used to be talking about billions the national debt and billions but if you sat here and counted to a trillion it would it would take you over 30,000 years it's a big number now that's a math equation so I I I put a challenge
out there to anybody wants to do this um you know and and if you're counting the number consider each time you count the number it's 1 second of course you get it to a larger number it's going to take you longer than that but uh 30,000 I don't think any of us have 30,000 years to uh mess around
with the other area that is concerning is the amount of household debt uh it's uh at its highest point which is $18 trillion now compare that to the US GDP which is 29 trillion i mean that's
almost half of the GDP but more concerning is the national debt is uh 247% of GDP if you consider that 73.5 trillion number so So why do I even put this in here i put this in here because
we know that there's going to be cuts at the federal level and and quite frankly there has to be they can't just kind of keep on spending the way they are and and not make cuts but there's some arguments in terms of of what needs to be cut and how it needs to be cut so
what makes up the national debt well um 7.9 trillion is owed to other countries and actually that's been coming down interestingly enough and u 21.7 is held by the public that would be individuals corporations mutual funds hedge funds
pension plans and so on and so forth um and then this number right here $7.1 trillion that's intergovernmental now here's here's what a lot of people don't understand um the federal government has about 20 trust
funds that it manages the biggest ones being social security Medicare and the federal pension plans by law they have to invest in federal securities by law so they can't invest in anything else so
what's federal securities to the federal government it's debt so what's sitting in these trust funds is a giant IOU they have basically spent the money to the tune of $7.1 trillion and that's what
the public generally does not understand so it's it's a problem okay so when they talk about the the entitlements or the problem with the budget well that's really not fair because they basically already spent our money so it's like you
know put the damn money back right now medicare Part A is um in jeopardy as we know um and that's going to be exhausted in 2036 uh Social Security will be exhausted in 2035
uh from social security standpoint what would happen is benefits would be paid out based on current inflows and uh so uh social security recipients could pretty much be guaranteed you're going to get a a 25% cut if that occurs so
again that's an issue that has to be dealt with so from a fiscal sustainability standpoint you know what programs are going to be cut and how will that impact local governments that's a big question mark it's big unknown but it's something um I just
wanted you to be aware of and it's just uh I think it's something to kind of keep in the back of your minds now let's look at um states so these are the five largest states in the country they make up 35% of the US GDP
now when we look at this comparison you know um first off let's go over to Illinois uh and you see that the most current financial statement available is June 30th
2022 um California is June 30th uh 23 and uh but New York Texas and Florida are pretty current if you look at Florida compared to all of these other states um it wins in literally every
single category uh if you look at the the um uh unassigned fund balance you know compared to total expenditures and transfers out it's 50% and if you compare that to these other states and even Texas and Texas is a strong state
too it's heads and shoulders above as a matter of fact Illinois is negative now a couple things about Illinois if you look at their uh funded pension liability it's only 40% and when you dig into their financial statements you
notice a couple of things that they're doing first off they're not making the required contributions in their pension plans they're using it for operations second they're uh taking loans out for literally everything they buy from a capital standpoint which basic frees up
resources for operations too but they're running a huge negative so if I was living in Illinois and looking at these uh financial statements I would be quietly packing my bag selling my home and moving away um there's no question
about it florida on the other hand you can see in literally every category uh they're strong and um so uh I'm happy to be in this state i hope you are too now this is the this is the chart that
probably took me the longest because uh um you know Commissioner Delari has been asking me for something like this for for quite some time and the problem is is getting the information but uh our governmental practice has grown so much that most of these counties we actually
audit so I I had um access to all of this information there was a couple of counties that we don't audit but uh get theirs done pretty quickly and posted on the uh auditor general's website so first off you know and I and I think
I've I've explained this before to you when you're looking at uh net position um the government standards require that you you have this line item called uh investment in capital assets net of related debt um it's the only reporting
model that has that the nonprofit one does not have that the commercial one does not have that that's why I like to put the unrestricted and the total so a county like Simol that that likes to um do infrastructure projects because you have that it's all funded you know no
problems there is is going to have possibly a negative unrestricted as result of that calculation so to me the significant number to look at is the total because that really is is showing you kind of what your your true
financial position is uh and if you look at that number compared to everybody else I mean there's there's really no issues there uh your business type uh activities are are very strong by comparison uh if you look at your um
unassigned general fund which is the um uh percentage of of expenditures and transfers out compared to your total unassigned fund balance your 24% which is uh not the highest not and definitely not it's not the lowest and
it's definitely not the highest you can see over Valuchia County there's a 70% um but there's probably a lot of different reasons for that uh total bonded debt is going to vary from entity to entity if you look at Valuchia they
don't spend the money on infrastructure the way you know Simino County does and and um but that's to the benefit again of Simino County and meeting the needs of the because you have a a resource to be able to do that they do not have these things so
u the the other numbers that you have to kind of peel out here deals with the millage rate so the millage rate you're you're second from the lowest I think um and millage rates as you know there's two equations there's the the millage
rate itself and there's a property value so if you have an entity that has high property values they may have a lower millage rate if you have um an entity that has a different mix of commercial versus residential you know they too might have a higher or lower millage
rate so there's a lot of different factors put in there but in looking at it um you know if and you average everything certainly um on an average basis your millage rate would be lower than everybody else any questions on
this before I move on i know you all look stunned all right so let's get into the financial highlights uh for this past year um you know everything looks pretty good uh when you look at your governmental activities I'm not really
seeing anything um that is earthshattering here your business activities of course have always been strong um and um certainly if you look at this at the top level which is where you're looking at here because think of
your your financial statements two tiers there's the top level which is compressing everything that you have and then there's the fund level which is basically showing unrestricted versus restricted so most of your your liquid
assets if you will are in restricted funds such as special revenue funds capital projects funds and debt service funds um so it's only your general fund that has the any of the unrestricted amounts per se and your business activities would have certainly some
unrestricted amounts as well so your your business activities have always been strong uh if we go in and look at your general fund um as I mentioned before your uh unassigned fund balance or your reserve if you will is 24% which
dropped a little bit from uh the previous year and uh you you had a positive change in fund balance but you know there's other um uh expenses and expenditures that basically you know brought that number down a little bit
from a budgetary standpoint point you're in the positive if you look at the number down at the bottom corner uh you're in in the positive in terms of uh you didn't overspend your budget which of course you know we live in a state that you really can't do that um but
there are other states that uh you actually can do that u I have done a uh analysis of of different municipalities around the country too and and that's a that's a big eye opener but uh that's that's for another day um I put the two
major proprietary funds here which is um well which is solid waste and water and sewer and uh again you can see how healthy these funds are um not all u counties that I see have their uh
liabilities fully funded on the solid waste side and uh so that's very very good and it gives you the ability to you know expand if you if you can find a land um and uh and actually monitor that solid waste fund
so the the last thing we need to do is is we need your action you know which is basically the uh approval of this and uh once that happens um you know Jenny will be able to file uh put this up on the uh uh auditor general's website and it'll
be available for public view i do want to thank Jenny and her staff for for everything they do for us it's uh uh we we give her some big ass and she goes through and puts a lot of information together for us and we really appreciate it and the constitutional officers and
their staff because um the way this audit works we have to audit each one of the constitutional officers get their audits done first before we can come in and finish the uh the board audit and then we then everything has to be consolidated so then Jenny and her staff
basically consolidate all that prepare the financial statements and then we do you know our final uh top level reviews but uh uh the audit went pretty well and as you notice we changed our name from letters to an actual name you know so um
uh that went very well this year too u we we're all been very pleased with uh the transition over to formars and then uh as I think I've mentioned all of you this will be the last time I do this presentation uh so
it's uh on 12:31 I will be u uh moving on you know onto something else you know I have no idea what that is but I know there's going to be a lot of golf involved mr chairman any questions or inquiries from the
board commissioner Her first of all a big shout out to Jenny because you do this every year with little fanfare and the you are very very much appreciated for the work that you do and and the quality of the work that you do um I
think your name was Allan thank you to you because we know Dan did none of this over the weekend and so he may have pulled some weird picture down off the internet i'm not sure thank you to you for all you do and we'll look forward to hearing from you next year um
if I go back if you go back to the county analysis slide which is I think your slide 10 the the question that I have on that is if you were to look at that and tell us what is our weakest
point on that and what is our strongest point on that what guidance would you give us well you have not and and I'm just going to be total and I'm a taxpayer in similar kind i'm just going to tell you that just you know full disclosure uh
you haven't raised your millage rate in forever okay um and if you think about costs going up just from a cola standpoint cost of living standpoint um you know you're you're probably a little behind which I think is why you've seen
your reserves kind of drop with the past couple of years uh remember your reserves at one point in time were like 30% okay and now it's you know down to 24% um at some point in time you got to be aware that if you drop down below
that 20% mark that starts to you know throw some red flags up there and and the primary reason for that is is the flow of funds that come into your county uh if you think about how tax revenue flows into the county uh there's a huge
delay from when you adopt the budget uh when when the tax bills get sent out and how it starts to collect so there's there's at least about a 3month period where you got no revenue coming in but yet you have operations that you have to
fund uh we also live in a um hurricane prone you know state as you know and we've we've had this experience now fortunately you've got some some enterprise funds you've been able to kind of borrow from to fund some of the um um you know the the cost of of the
disasters kind of going forward which is your strength by the way i think your proprietary funds is is kind of a a backs stop for an emergency and and probably gives you um a better position than some counties do um the the
infrastructure costs i I think again you were smart enough to get that funded you know where some counties are using general revenues to basically fund those you know so again I think that's a strength and I was glad to see you know
as a taxpayer that that got passed because I know how you spend it because I audit it and uh and I know the value that it brings to this county and uh and I think that's very important um but uh that that kind of would be my biggest concern is is I just don't like seeing
that that uh reserve kind of going down a little bit so a followup to that what is the sweet spot for reserves from your perspective you said 20 throws up red flags and the math you just rolled out there was 25% if we got to fund three months but that's that's fiscally
responsible is 25% what's the sweet spot i mean I I I think fiscally responsible is 25% i think anything above that is is u uh extra and uh and just kind of gives you a little cushion now again I don't
think you have to worry about being over that as much as some of these other counties that don't have as strong a proprietary funds as you have okay so that that's why I'm saying um in a in a catastrophic law situation your
proprietary funds are really a backs stop for you um but some of these other counties don't have that i guarantee you like like if you look at Oyola County for example you'll see that their um their proprietary or business type activities are negative well why is it
negative it's because of the Oyola Parkway um they gave the assets over you know to the expressway authority but they had to maintain the debt because the debt's in their name okay and they couldn't they couldn't relinquish the debt so that's why it's this huge
negative so if you look at their um uh uh enterprise fund there it it's not providing any backdrop value to them if you will like yours do thank you thank you Chairman any other any quiries Commissioner Deli thank you
Danny and first of all congratulations on your future endeavors hopefully they'll be long and straight and uh I'm sure you'll be spending a lot of time out in the fairways and greens so congratulations on that uh and this is a great chart i know I've been asking for it for quite
some time but one thing that you didn't also uh talk about and I understand that the military is uh you're talking about that you know we should have been talking about that in the past but also looking at our debt services
and also our reserves but the thing that also helps us quite a bit with our bonding is our uh utility tax because it's low as well as our gas uh tax the counties that you're talking about they actually have higher utility rates
higher utility tax and higher uh gas tax as well which helps us uh uh the citizens in this county you know it's difficult sometimes to you know everybody uh that I shouldn't say everybody there's a number of people that live here and the percentage keeps
on going up that are retired that are on fixed income and uh it's hard to uh stay current with the cost of inflation and the high cost of everything's going up so these other counties that you're talking about if you look at them they
do have a higher gas uh tax they have a higher utility tax which we don't right and so that also helps us as well so there's a lot of uh pros and cons in looking at this chart but you need to dig deeper to get the full financial picture of those other counties as well
yeah yeah and that and that's a valid point Commissioner because um they're using the gas tax dollars to deal with their infrastructure issues where you have an isolated amount that um uh is spread out you know amongst uh not just the residents of the county but the
non-residents of the county correct which is which is positive okay commissioner Consting thank you very much um Dan we've been friends for a long time and I just wanted to wish you the very
best um I you saved the best for last by the way you know this this was you know with with the charts and the and and the illustrations proud of you you know um I do want and and what you've done in
the community outside of this you have been a leader in our community in in 501c3s nonprofits a number of different organizations and I want to thank you for that when we were talking about this uh you did mention one of your you know
great joys in life is is golfing and you did mention our golf course and just concerns that you had would you write like to express those please yeah I mean golf courses make sense um from a municipal standpoint or county
standpoint in this particular case because um what you're doing is you're preserving land you know you have a place where you can uh also put you know some of your treated water on their value yeah absolutely and it's going to lift property values around the golf
course so so there's a lot of intrinsic value you know to owning these things and we see them you know we have many many clients that have uh uh golf courses um but a lot of times when you look at the operational side of them because there's debt associated with
them there's depreciation on them the bottom line they're just not profitable you know if you're looking at it as a business type activity so that that's been my only uh only concern about is that I certainly think it was a good purchase you know from from a and we're
talking about we're just talking about we don't want to talk about the other golf course cuz dessert's totally different yeah that's a whole different reason as a matter of fact I'm glad you bought the one in my community too cuz my wife and I walk around that park you know all we want uh a lot now so um but
but that's another reason you're right um but you know that they just don't make a bottom line profit per se uh and I know you wanted to be transparent and that's certainly your choice um but at some point in time you might want to think about you know collapsing it back
into the general fund and and putting into the recreation department but again that's your decision mr lockhart um I'll just say thank you and I'm fortunate in that Dan and I uh serve
together as trustees on the Seminal State District Board of Trustees together and so I was just with Dan yesterday and I'll be with Dan again in a couple weeks and so he may be retired from this but he's got other responsibilities he needs to keep up with and and we're you
do a great job and I appreciate how much you bring um to the college your your professional expertise and having your wisdom there is just invaluable so thank you thank you for everything you've done here and thank you for everything you continue to do i appreciate it it's uh
this has been one of my favorite clients to serve uh in my career I will have to say and it's and it's fun serving um not just a a government but a government that you live in and that uh you know you see all the things that uh I read
about in in the minutes and read about in the financial statements and everything else i live it so uh this this uh I gave it a little extra you might say you know so uh but it's been a pleasure but thank you very much Mr chairman
yes sir like to make a motion to approve and accept the county's annual comprehensive financial report for fiscal year ending September 30th 2024 as presented here today second motion second any further discussion commissioner her just for followup with
regard to when we talk through the budgeting process um we need to really think through that collapse the golf course into the general fund i I will go on record as saying I am not a fan of doing that i like the transparency that
we've provided that was a business decision that could be asked to be made again at some point in the future and we need a very clear accounting of what this stuff cost us i get that there's intrinsic value and all of that good stuff but when we collapse it it becomes very difficult for us to find that it's
a research mission for staff that I don't want to put out there so for later consideration well Dan thank you very much i sincerely appreciate uh the years that you've given to the county and your diligence
uh this I would agree is probably one of the better reports or the best reports you left the last the best for last as you stated i would agree so bravo to you and of course I will miss the debates that you and I often have about reserves from a business perspective um and I
probably will still have that debate with your predecessor um so I look forward to that as well as my fellow commissioners who chastise me often about reserves when we get into that discussion and uh you know reserves are taxpayers dollars u but you can
still have that debate i am a a taxpayer res absolutely you know it's you my my core belief is is when those tragedies and and unfortunate circumstances when the economy makes a downturn what is the first thing that should happen retraction which means you scale back
what you're doing you scale back your spending that begins to help bolster your reserves uh as you move forward and then make the turn and then come out of that so but I sincerely wish you the best uh I suspect you will be playing
golf uh for a great deal longer than you suspect and hopefully you do some traveling with your wife yeah absolutely make her happy so very good i will call the question all those in favor i oppose like sign seeing none carries unanimous
thanks again Dan appreciate your service all right next up we have item number five this will be the state road 417 Sanford airport connector PD&E study update mr john Slott is not here today
um so we will move to Will Hawthorne good morning Mr chairman commissioners very happy to be here on behalf of uh Central Florida Expressway Authority thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on the project development and environment study we have underway on
State Route 417 Sanford Airport Connector with me today are our executive director Michelle Micish and our senior director of external affairs Raquel Asa with that we'll go ahead and get started okay hey so in 2003 we completed
the concept feasibility and mobility study to evaluate a new direct expressway extension between 417 and the Orlando Sanford International Airport during that study there were four corridors that were developed and evaluated and each of those were deemed
as being uh feasible the PD&E study we have now started in May of last year the project team has been hard at work refining and evaluating those four alternatives that were recommended from the CF&M team as well as a fifth alternative which is the
elevated vioduct or bridge roadway through the median of East Lake Mary Boulevard it's important to note that several studies have been conducted for this connection in this corridor but none of those prior studies u actually
determine the expressways to be feasible most recently the turnpike is currently in the design phase for the widening of State Route 417 from four to eight lanes between 434 and Airport Boulevard our State Route 417 Airport
connector CF&M study was approved again in 2023 with our board providing authorization to move on to the next step which is the PD&E phase where we're at today this expressway connection is being proposed to help address the expansion
plans at the Orlando Sanford International Airport the project projected increase in the traffic along East Lake Mary Boulevard the anticipated population growth in Semino County and in the study area because of the ongoing development in the growth in the area
east Lake Mary Boulevard as you know is quickly approaching capacity and there are long delays experienced during peak periods at the interchange with 417 and the other intersections as you approach Red Cleveland the purpose and need of this
project has been further refined during this study for the design year or horizon year of 2050 and the project is anticipated to enhance regional connectivity mobility and address anticipated future traffic needs support
socioeconomic growth plan development as well as improvements to our modal connectivity shown here are the five alternatives we started off with when we began this PDN study just over a year ago alternative one is in pink and is the longest alignment it has the
greatest directional or greatest direct residential and non-residential impacts and travels from 417 south of the Lake Jessup toll plaza to east to the east and north to East Lake Murray Boulevard east of Cypes Avenue and then connects
at Red Cleveland south of the airport alternative two shown in green is the shortest alignment and has the lowest potential environmental impacts with the exception being four of the four new alignments this being in the middle of
the study alternative 2 travels from State Route 417 north of the Lake Jessup toll plaza and then again connects at least East Lake Mary Boulevard at Red Cleveland Boulevard alternatives 3A and 3D in orange and
blue respectively attempt to balance the direct impacts to the existing and planned residential developments as well as the environmentally sensitive land they both begin at 417 south of the Lake Jessup toll plaza and head north to East
Lake Mary Boulevard again connecting at the intersection with Red Cleveland Boulevard now alternative 3A is located west of 3D and has it had the potential to impact a number of residences north of Pine Way
3d on the other hand is east of 3A uh this avoids those residential impacts but does have a greater impact to the storm water south of Pine Way lastly alternative four shown in teal is the bioduct or raised bridge roadway
that would begin at 417 in the area of the existing interchange with county road 427 and Lake Mary Boulevard it then runs east down the median of East Lake Mary Boulevard to Red Cleveland Boulevard at the heart of any PD& study is the
traffic that it not only will generate but relieve to the other network in the U transportation area our analysis again was done looking at a horizon year of 2050 on East Lake Murray Boulevard and the different airport alignment uh connector alignment
alternatives by the year 2050 East Lake Murray Boulevard is expected to carry 36,700 cars per day the alignment with the most benefit to East Lake Mary Boulevard are alignment 2 3A and 3D so the the alignments that
were in the middle of the study area these would have a 40% reduction in traffic on East Lake Mary Boulevard and that stretch between 417 and Red Cleveland it would take it from 36,700 down to 19,800 uh vehicles per day
the alignment the alignment with the least benefit to Lake Mary Boulevard is alignment 4 which again is the vioduct option and that only reduces traffic by about 21% or about and it carries around 8,900 cars per day so at this point in the study we've
eliminated four of the five original alternatives we started the PD&E with the primary factors and the of those being dro for those being dropped were driven by the environmental and social impacts the traffic benefits to East
Lake Mary Boulevard as well as project costs now as we focused in on this area of alignment two in green we looked at we looked to see if there was an opportunity to smooth out the curve a little bit and that is where alignment 2A was born i will note that alignment
2A where it connects in does stay north of the uh Lake Jessup Conservation Area that is owned by South St john's Water Management District this change uh was determined to be significant enough that we would have to go back out to the public to let them
weigh in on this so that's exactly what we did we we held an a refined alternatives public meeting on April 2nd of 2025 um to get their input before we made a decision on the preferred alternative now before I move on from this slide I do want to take a moment we've had
several meetings with county staff uh discussing some possible additions to what we have proposed andor some changes uh the first were the ramps to and from the north going to uh go north on 417 or to come from the north on
417 now at this point we don't have those in the study but it's important to note that both of these alternatives do not preclude a future interchange if that were be the desire so it's something that you know as this PD& closes out we could look at that in the
future with Turnpike's approval now the the main reasons we didn't include those is financial viability this project has to be a a financially feasible project from a toll perspective for it to move forward adding these ramps we're looking at 70 to $100 million so the the the
viability factor goes down drastically if these were to be added at this stage the others um project schedule we would complete we wouldn't be able to hold the project schedule as it is today we're looking to close this out in August you could automatically add in probably another year maybe a year and a half to
the schedule uh third would be the traffic demand it is somewhat of a backwards movement and um it's just we just didn't have the the data there to justify these now all that being said uh again these these ramps are not precluded in the future and we do
recognize that behaviors change demands may change as this if this moves forward so we've committed to looking at that in the future if this project does come to fruition this is a rendering of what the connector would look like um the same meetings we had with staff
uh they did mention taking from two lanes to four lanes again for the same reasons we have to deal with project schedule um deal with the financial viability that's really the big one and just trying to get this project you know across the PD&E finish line is what our target is right
now we would have two 15oot lanes in each direction those would have four four foot paved shoulders uh as well as landscapes areas on each side for this uh corridor it's a bridge section um very
typical to what you'd see on 417 today over Lake Mary Boulevard even on our system and then as we went to the public we had a lot of questions about would they be able to use this coming from Lake Mary Boulevard there's kind of a misconception that it goes directly into the airport and there's no relief to
Lake Mary that's totally not the case uh this is a main reliever for Lake Mary Boulevard as you've already seen and you will have full access there the red Cleveland access for the airport will be maintained so all of we'll kind of get the best of all the worlds uh both worlds you'll have the access that's
here today plus a possible future connection with 417 now the comparison between alignments 2 and 2A are very similar alignment 2A does have less wetland impacts and less mitigation costs but it
does have higher cost for utility relocations as well as rideway cost alignment 2A is better from a roadway geometry perspective it does have fewer curves your your uh sight distance is improved uh and it would ultimately be a little safer than
alignment 2 because you don't have the big sweeping curves back and forth uh overall alignment 2A is estimated to cost about $7 million more than two uh which we've carried forward at this point in the study so at the refined alternatives
public meeting uh we did have host that in April 2nd of this year we had about a hundred a little over 100 people attend in person a little under a hundred in virtual uh attendees and then we actually put out a survey for the study
uh similar to what we did in OciOla County and that was uh extremely successful we had over 400 respondents on that it was a geoence survey so if you came into the study area drove through it you lived in it it was kind of promoted so we um it was very
successful we got a lot of feedback on that um we'll probably look forward to doing that on any future PD&E study now as with any PD&E we do engage with uh agencies far and wide we've uh met with county staff like I said uh we
we do have a project advisory group which consists of um municipalities uh cities they sit on the board and on that group and kind of give their input what projects they have underway we also have an environmental advisory group that make those are members like St john's
Ottabbon Society um Sierra Club things like that and then we have our environmental stewardship committee that is assigned and appointed by our board members at the Central Florida Expressway Authority these are groups that we consult with multiple times throughout the schedule of the study and
make sure that we're taking uh all different perspectives into account as we try to land on a preferred alternative before I close out we'll talk about the schedule uh like I said we did finish up with our refined alternatives public
meeting uh we are working towards a public hearing that is tenatively scheduled in July of this year with a goal of going before our board in August of 2025 that concludes our presentation and update and I'd be uh happy to answer any questions thank you thank you Mr
hawthorne we'll start at the far end with Commissioner Lockhart and work our way across um curious about the alternatives that staff requested that you investigate can you expand on those a little bit more and tell us what the impetus from that was from your
perspective this is the first time hearing that we asked for additional things to be looked at so the um let me go back a couple slides the first one were ramps to and from the north on 417 so right now this would really it's taking traffic it's to and from the
south um that's where the demand is that we see in our traffic studies right now uh so they asked that we look at that we we did look at it but where is from the north like can you specific from I4 for example you would be able to take ramps
from I4 or you know if you're heading south on 417 mhm so down on this map you could then go back to the east and have that direct connection into the airport so right now you'd be coming over the bridge from Lake Jessup going east to
get into the airport or to Lake Mary Boulevard and the reverse movement you would take a left onto this connector and then you would only be able to go south on 417 you wouldn't be able to go north so to the north they weren't asking for an for a realignment that
would connect like where 1792 is or where um Reinhardt Road like I'm just trying to figure out no no not not a realignment just we'll call it a full interchange so this is a half interchange that only gets you to
areas understood okay i was thinking there was some some other place from the north that they were wanting to connect and I'm like what is that doesn't understand through law great question now that'd be fabulous let's do that thank you Commissioner Constantine thank
you good job Will um you know explaining it the you know and and also I I just have to say to the expressway authority from the point of us first starting to talk about this to the point that you've gotten here it's it in my in my
situation I think it's been rather quick compared to some of the other uh programs I've seen so in that case I want to congratulate you all as you move forward the you know the 2A first when you were
looking at the original the two great 2A now um is is you know looks um like that's obviously the alignment that you're looking at but the thing I was interested in is you said you had 400 surveys
what did those surveys say i don't see that in the presentation so those surveys they said a lot um there's I'd say 50% of those that were submitted responses recognize a need for a
reliever to East Lake Mary um some said they I think it was 40% said they were experienced 10 minutes delays on Lake Mary and then there was another I think 23% that were saying they were 20 plus minutes on Lake Mary Boulevard so the public does see a need for something
like this or at least half of the survey did um two the alignment two has been out there for some time i mean we the concept study had it that was done that was wrapped up in 23 uh the PD& has had alignment two for the entire time we've been doing the study so it's been out
there for several years 2a is relatively new so there was a little bit more uh favor favored toward alignment two um the we got to look at more than just the surveys though you got to look at the environmental impacts and
residential impacts as well um you know we do have less wetland impacts with alignment 2A that was that and the drivability of this is really where that was born um we do have a slight increase in residential impacts that are possible
um but it's something we again we had to look at and we had to take to the public to get input on so will those results be available absolutely they're published in the PD study okay i' I'd love to see those if also um when you say that you
know was there any change in the numbers of of of the 19,800 uh drive the the amount of use of that there was I think trips 19,800 is that
the corre correct number for two so did you ever have is 2A different or is it basically saying the So the traffic generation for two 2A 3A which is to to the east is kind of grayed out and then 3D were all the same
it's almost the same distance um those three those four had the biggest uh relief to East Lake Mary Boulevard so now it's a it's a it the situation is less impact on the environment less impact on the residents this is what
we're looking at the the balance there um the greatest you know trips generated um this I think you said that 2A is about seven million more it is i hate to say this but in terms of your
projects that's a rounding mistake in some cases that's not a lot of money compared to the two i know it you know it's a lot of money to us to everyone but in in the case of you know the long-term of the use of these projects
that is not I mean you even said it it's a relatively different you know a small difference it's not enough to to sway to 2A or two um I will say the vioduct was three times nearly three times the cost for these other alternatives so that
that's where project cost becomes a big factor not only cost but that one had half the relief of traffic that on on East Lake Mary that these others did so two big factors there that we just couldn't carry that one forward though it looked great yeah so what's the next
step so the next steps is we got to get to our public hearing and tenatively set for July that's uh we have a court reporter we get all the public comments on record again we'll take that data we'll go back to our board which Commissioner Hurst sits on as you know
and we'll present the findings of the study uh they they have a number of different options they can accept it um the financial viability is something that we're literally in the throws of right now our consultants are working on it as we speak that conversation will
start to we'll start to have that with you know if this doesn't quite rise to the bar of being a um where we as staff need to be to recommend it to the board to move forward we'll have to have partnership conversations which I know that the county has possible um areas
that they could work with us on that um as far as future funding we we purposely don't fund these for design and construction because that could be construed as you know biasing the study that well it's a foregone conclusion you're going to do it anyway the the what you don't see here is the no build
that's that's the third alternative that is still on the table no build is carried all the way through to the end so you've got a no build alternative alternative 2 and 2A um so those are the things that you know we'll take a no build and a preferred alternative to our
public hearing in July okay thank you Commissioner Glory thank you Will thank you Comm Chairman so there's two neighborhoods you're trying to sneak this thing through slide it through there's an existing one there's one that's under construction at least what you see on Google Map talk to me about
those two neighborhoods please so we have heard um we had an alignment that so 3A was hitting us a good part of I think it's Concord um that's the neighborhood on
the west side that had a number of you know much higher residential impacts than the others so that was uh obviously eliminated early on in the alternative workshop process okay 3d is closer to the other side neighborhoods um 2A and
two are are uh common corridor they kind of split the middle between those those two neighborhoods here um alignment one again that goes far that goes out to the east it is much longer than the others it doesn't have the relief to East Lake
Mary Boulevard that these 2A and two have so it's it's again so just focus on 2A and two and two on on those two just focus on two and 2A on those two neighborhoods yeah these these go right between they kind of split the difference between those two neighborhoods and that storm water
management area so what will happen to those two neighborhoods they I mean are we taking homes are they going to stay no right now we don't have any homes to be taken in those neighborhoods that was That's why I'm asking the question okay well no no homes in those neighborhoods so there's
no right there's no condemnation or buying of people's homes not for two or two not in those two neighborhoods no we do have south and in the southern part of the alignment i understand that but with those two existing neighborhoods they're pretty significant that's why I'm asking the question that is correct
and and those two HOAs we would not be condemning anyone's personal home we would have HOA property but not their personal homes got it on the proposed connecting uh typical section you're showing it's the next slide over eventually when the demand is
needed can you put four lanes on that yes sir okay yes we've we've laid that out uh these are 15t lanes so those would convert into two 12T lanes with a shoulder um this would be similar to what we did with 417 and 429 when we built those we laid those out to be
widened to the middle we're now doing that um I would point out the rightway if this moves forward the rightway we require um we would pretty much fit inside that rightway so there wouldn't be new rightway would be cleared from a PD study perspective uh it's a pretty
straightforward process when that is needed in the future okay can you talk to me about uh what's happening in Farmington about how that's going to affect this project coming through Semino County Farmington Valuchia County there's 23,000 homes already been
approved on 415 that is it's outside of our study area i mean we that's been looked at by other agencies if you're talking about a connection that goes further north is that what you're Well no those homes are going to be on 415 which is just north of Semino County
right okay so they're coming here and so I'm curious have you put those numbers in your feasibility yes those are in the traffic study so the one one key thing to keep in mind when when and if this needs to be four-lane
disconnector improvements would need to be occurring on East Lake Mary Boulevard east of Red Cleveland so you you essentially would have four lanes from this connector four lanes from uh East Lake Mary today feeding into So you'd
have eight lanes feeding into four there would need to be improvements to get up i understand that but I'm talking about with this piece here when you because those homes have already been approved to a certain extent and I don't know the exact time that they're going to be starting construction but there's going to be a lot more traffic on 415 coming
south in the Semino County and I want to make sure that that's in your model yes that that's part of the regional planning model that we get from uh D5 that we take and we kind of adjust for um our needs but yes that is accounted for okay
thank you Mr chairman commissioner her I'll I'll pick up where that leaves off i think that's the reason for the request for it to come in from the north i'm guessing that there's interest in that but that we have an immediate demand that is
a future demand that would need to be addressed so I'll I'll just leave it at that um I think somebody asked about next steps and I think the biggest part of the next step for us is in the budgeting process with regard to determining what partnership looks like
and costs um I think that we have a a responsibility to be all speaking now that we've seen this with regard to this Lake Mary Boulevard vioaduct it is not an option and there
is a significant amount of ground swell out there that it would be less expensive because there's no rightway but you're building a road on top of over a road it is it's always expensive very very much more expensive and it does not relieve the traffic to the same degree
so it loses on both sides of that i think we need to be messaging that out there as we're getting asked because I know we're all getting these phone calls i do want to make sure that for the record if you put up the slide that shows two and 2 A the purple and the green line um that what we were
referencing in terms of no homes being taken is where the green and the purple converge and it's purple only and it's threading the needle there down as you get closer to the 417 there are plots of land and there is acquisition and whatever has to happen
there has to happen there that so we made a statement that was in reference to former sentences that said there would be no homes taken but it's no homes taken and you corrected it and said in those two neighborhoods correct I just want to
make sure we are clear about that on this DAS um I do think Commissioner Constantine is correct the amount of work that you've done on this in the short amount of time that we we've we've asked you to push this through is has
been uh really remarkable and I think that's important because the the longer we wait to do this the more expensive it becomes and we need to know whether it's economically viable now and so we appreciate that that's not a foregone conclusion as to where it goes but the
timing of doing it was very important so I very much appreciate that and that's all I have anyone else can I just to to expand upon that also the faster we do this the less additional concerns of
homes and and alignments are going to happen yes uh you know I've seen that time and time again where we know where a road's going but then folks come in to start start building roads and it increases the cost to everybody mostly
the taxpayers absolutely so the fast we do it so so when you said so there will be homes impacted on I will call it the southern side yes until it converges into the single purple line that's correct okay that's correct so one more
uh bit of information on the bioduct i know that's been a lot of the popular option that's not expandable to four lanes so that's that's 600 almost $600 million for just one lane in each direction and it's not a shorter trip so you got to look at you know the end of
the bridge Lake Jessup is still the same distance that you would be traveling hence the reason why the traffic was not you know there to leave it wasn't quite as popular of an option okay commissioner Delari then Commissioner Constantine well I got a
question so between 2A and two at a later date when you put the northern ramps in there's enough separation to the existing uh exit and the new ramps correct it does it does we looked We're not going to fall into that nope no we looked at that uh 2A works a
lot better than two i mean you do need some separation between exits and interchange question yes sir mr constantine and since Will is a wealth of information I'm asking this question because it's not directly related to
this but we talked about the vioaduct we are looking at a vioideuct around the Meland Avenue in the Altoont Springs and the Semino County area there for Matland Boulevard expansion extension whatever you want to call it of Mland Boulevard how is that going since you're here i
wanted Yes uh it's progressing we are in design and I think we're we're approaching 60% plans that is a very um that's not a cheap project but it is one of the projects that if you look at a big map there are very few east west
connectors and that is a we all know it's a it's a huge pinch point i mean it backs up every day peak hour uh so it's something that we're we're trying to work as diligently as we can and there's a lot of utilities out there as you know um so we've got we almost have two sets
of plans you got a utility sets of plans and then the bridge set which is um no small feat but it is well underway it's funded for construction it's just a matter of getting the plans done at this point you have Orange County on one side and Simon County that's correct that's correct
okay thank you very much we appreciate you being here for your presentation today and taking our questions keep up the good work and we'll look for the next update thank you Mr chairman could you make one more comment if I may Mr chairman i think since this is a big not just local but potential in the future
regional need uh besides the expressway we should also be talking to of course we're talking about big dollars here at some point uh the turnpike as well as DOT so we should be looking talking to all entities to make sure that they're we're exhausting all future dollars
coming into this project absolutely i mean we we had a meeting with Turnpike on Friday and uh we're talking to the airport i think we'll be presenting to the airport in the very near future we're there should be no stone left unturned i understand that's why I'm bringing it up because we do turnpike
yourself everyone all of them yes sir on that note can you go back to the very first slide this one the one with all the partners and stakeholders oh oh somewhere in there in the back sorry there you go so
all of these entities are aware involved engaged collaborated is that a fair assessment multiple times great yes thank you thank you all right thank you all again very much for being here we sincerely appreciate it thank you all right folks we're going to move to our
consent agenda if there's anyone here that desires to speak on the consent consent agenda please fill out one of the forms in the lobby bring those up and hand Miss Dominique the clerk here with her hand raised i will now go to the county
attorney Miss Kate Tour for the rules of public participation thank you Mr chairman 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 six minutes when the individual is an official representative of a formal association or group the chairman may modify the maximum time for
public comment at his sole discretion when appropriate public comments on quasi judicial or other public hearing items will occur during the board's consideration of those items this afternoon 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 forms are available in the lobby mr chairman thank you Miss Lour mr county managers any updates on the consent agenda thank you uh Mr chairman
and commissioners just one item I would like to pull it's item number 11 and I'll be bringing that back to the board number 11 and that's all I have thank you okay any commissioner have an item they'd like to pull commissioner Lockheart i'd like to pull eight number
eight for Commissioner Lockhart anyone else seeing none then I will go to public participation is there anyone here to speak on any of the consent agenda items no sir seeing none we'll close public input mr chairman I will
move the approval of the constitutional uh consent a officer's consent agenda number six and the county manager's consent agenda 7 through 21 with the exception of the administratively pulled 11 and the commission pulled eight
second motion and second all those in favor I opposed like sign seeing none carries unanimously we will go to Commissioner Lockhart item number eight um the reason that I pulled this is that they there is a provision in our interlocal governance agreement um for
the funding of Sun Rail that allows uh any of the partners to make a proposed amendment during the budgetary process and so um what I would like to do is instead of us adopting this tentative uh budget that we we make a proposed
amendment um and we talked I touched on this a little bit at our last meeting about the um lack of timing uh coordination with DO's budget and our
budget sorry it's a weed whacker yeah what is that noise okay um so what I So my proposed amendment would be that we that FDOT provide a revised tenative budget after their fiscal year concludes so that we can capture any remaining
fund balance it could be a carry forward which would then leave all of the funding partners in a in a neutral position moving forward into this next budget year so that that is my proposal and if anyone has like additional questions or technical I've asked Christian Swenson
if he would be available um on deck uh for anything that um may come up mr chairman Commission I concur with Commissioner Lockhart i was going to also suggest that we pull this because in the discussion not only with staff
but in in um Commissioner Lockheart's reports before we're talking about a $2 million contingency which we've never had before a $250,000 fee on insurance and we really don't know right now what it is so to put that budget into
perspective and and lock it in in concrete I at this moment I think is incorrect so I would if that's a motion I'll second the motion motion and second any further discussion commissioner her i just need clarification so are we
approving the budget with your amendment stating that what say it again okay i think county manager wants the same thing i I see him grabbing his microphone i'll let him answer the question i'll follow So two things that
we will actually we'll we will put a placeholder in the budget just for our planning purposes um working with Commissioner Lockhart just for as we go through our budget uh work sessions but yeah so we would you would not be taking action on a budget for the CFCRC for
Sunreil basically commissioner Lockhart at the next uh board meeting would ask for an amendment that we would bring a budget back probably in July when they when the state closes their books and then we would know the exact amount of their fund balance rollover so more than
likely it will be less than what they had given us uh as an estimate so we would not do enough be voting on a I mean a recommending a budget to the to the board okay okay and so the followup to that is and then at that point if it is it it
will just come back at a later date with whatever the numbers are based on either the close out or the notion that we can't wait for that because of X Y or Z so it may indeed come back before then correct understood yes
i think the the timeline that the the the needle that we're threading on the timeline is that we're required the CFCRC is required to adopt a tentative budget by a certain date but then there is sort of if you want to call it a cooling off period or a time where the
local government funding partners have the ability to review make suggestions adopt move whatever and so we're in that window of opportunity to make suggestions mhm i fully understand it and will support it so anyone else all
right all those in favor i opposed like sign carries unanimously thank you all right next item up is going to be item 22 it's going to be our microtransit services and we're going to take a quick
uh 5 to 10 minute break because they've got to come up and get set up and bring computers and plug in so if everybody wants to take a quick say 10 minutes let's be back in 10 minutes heat hey hey hey heat heat okay we're back
on this is item number 22 options for microransit services this will be presented by assistant county manager Mr christian Swinsson and Mr tim J manage it and budget director i would ask the commission if you're looking at your
slides there is a slide that says board input and policy direction if we can wait to that point to ask addition any questions we may have would be very helpful to our staff so thank you all right gentlemen thank you thank you
chairman good morning commissioners christian Swinsson assistant county manager i'm Timothy J the director of the office of management and budget tim you'll probably have to pull your mic a little closer or up there you go thank you y before we get started just for
purposes of of people that may be viewing today that that may not recall what microtransit was from our previous discussion I just want to give a very very high high overview of what microtransit is it's a demand public transportation system it is very similar to kind of an Uber or a Lift but a
shared service it is a door-todoor pickup it doesn't have to be we're talking about doortodoor today um and then also you reserve an order through either an app or a call center as opposed to traditional public transportation where you go to shelters and and go to a fixed route and wait for
a bus to come so I just wanted to kind of point that out just for high level and then additionally you're going to hear me talking a lot that I have a tendency to kind of guess on so I uh I don't want everyone to think that this is the Christian show there's a lot of people behind me that have helped with this and with that if if I may I just
want to mention a couple of them tim he's worked with me obviously extensively have taken him a lot of evenings away from his wife um also had a purch staff that has reacted to a procurement we put out that was very wide very broad-based and that they did a fabulous job dr paul Tweed in our
facilities group we actually had him riding Lynx buses for a week and and taking a bunch of things and then John Slott who would be at the table with us today but is having a medical procedure and he was part of the selection committee and has a uh a public transportation background so with all that said let me just kind of jump into
things as you see on the screen here's our agenda we're basically going to go through a purpose talk about where we've been talk about um what meetings we had with stakeholders review the RFP and then as Commissioner Zanbower mentioned we're going to solicit input from the board and we'll reach a series of
questions as a result of that once that finishes up we'll talk about next steps and then ultimately go to a recommendation so getting started on the purpose the purpose of this whole presentation is to solicit input from the board to get that guidance to go back to the vendors that um provided
proposals for our RFP and then come back to the board ultimately with a a recommendation and a ranking so now going on to the progress at last last year's budget workshop in June the board asked us to look at ways to reduce links costs the the cost had gotten quite
expensive there there was a year-over-year cost increase and it things were just kind of getting a bit unbearable for us so we were directed to go try to bring bring things back and and try to come up with some other ideas so as a result of that we spent June through October meeting with link staff
and ultimately that resulted in a presentation of the board in November of last year where we presented some links changes some different ideas some of which were microtransit and then also present an alternative concept um with the city of Arlington and how they do microtransit with a wide open zone and
things like that so from that meeting the board provided us direction to uh to go out and solicit an RFP and and try to find out what's in the marketplace the board wanted it um very wide open not for staff to create false um false parameters but to let the marketplace
speak to what's out there and then also when we talked to budget the same kind of thing was there budget wasn't set it was said have folks provide it let's see what is out there let's see what costs so so this is what's happened there that RFP was brought back the scope of services to the board for approval in
December of last year solicitation went out on the street and then it closed at the beginning of February so In addition to uh when it when the RFP was brought together and the board was talking about those things we were also directed to meet with community partners um and stakeholders
and just try to get input as to what our service might look like what their needs are so as a result of that we've had a series of meetings with uh with potential partners and stakeholders we met with Semino County Public Schools Seminal State College the the three
hospitals in the in the county we also met with the Sanford Airport Authority we met with the county's department of community service community services to capture the different uh social service needs that may be out there kind of in one group and then we also met with all
seven cities so now the next few slides I'll go through um the feedback we got from each one of these uh partnership stakeholder groups so the first one Semino County Public Schools the school system said this type of thing would be very good for their dual enrollment students currently they have students at
the school that want to uh take dual enrollment classes at seinal state college but the classes may fall during the middle of the day and they can't get there there's not transportation so they thought this filled the void for that they also educated us on something called project search this is a a
program for um folks with disabilities that helps them get into the workplace and then also trains them on how to get around using public transportation things like that they felt this program too would benefit um from such a service currently they're using paratransit and
there are some hiccups with that um and then of course students that are involved with afterchool activities where where um the bus service may have already gone for the day and they have duties to to handle afterwards with different activities so they provided preferences to us because of the types of things they were looking at and the
school system being you know a countywide service they said "Hey we would like this to be a countywide service with perhaps drop off limitations for the students as to where they can be dropped off so you know they're not going going to a store or something like that." They also suggested that the transportation serve
users that are 15 years old and older um that there be background checks provided to the drivers which that's something that was standard in in all the proposals we received and then they asked that there not be joint ride sharing for the miners you know the the way this works as I mentioned with you know it's similar to Uber but you pick
up people along the way and go from that so there is kind of a shared ride and obviously with the minors there was some concerns about that the next group we met with semol state college and one thing for me just to say I'm going to run through these they were not the meetings in any order I don't want to I don't want to make sure that anyone is
is mis being misled that they were in this kind of chronological order but um so the next group I'm going to talk about is seminal state college they felt it was helpful for their general students uh and they also felt it was especially helpful for internship students to be able to get to and from
uh employers and then healthc care students they often times will have clinical rotations as part of their coursework where they go to a bunch of different healthc care facilities to to do their coursework and get their experience they thought it was helpful for that they thought their preferences would be that it needed to serve as a
connection between all their campuses um that the operating hours of the service we provide match um class schedules they currently have a a free transportation for students program that they pay to links they would like this program to have the same and there was a willingness to transfer that funding
perhaps to this program if it met the need the next group we met with were the three hospital systems um they felt this was especially helpful for their patients as well as their employees they saw a need that potentially could uh could be beneficial for free transportation to and from urgent care
centers also this could serve as a um employee benefit um they also thought this was a great advertising partnership potential for them and this would serve as a potentially a revenue offset for us um and apparently they provide transportation or contract with
transportation for for some of their patients and they have a uh kind of a cadre of groups that they do this and people of all different um levels of of people with no mobility issues to people with mobility issues go to different services they thought obviously this could provide a a potential um avenue
for them with regard to some of those folks so that they like that as well uh the next group we'll speak about is the Sanford Airport Authority they thought this was beneficial to not only their airport customers but their airport employees they were especially interested in a connectivity to Sunreil
um and also a not only a connectivity to Sunreil but to have enhanced services during their peak flight times um wi with regard to Sunrail and they too were interested in advertising partnerships with us then as I previously mentioned we met
with the uh the county's department of community services um they mentioned to us that they thought this would be beneficial to lowincome residents the homeless population that we have in the county people with disabilities as well as seniors it was brought to our attention
that the committee on aging identified senior transportation as one of their key priorities they felt that this transit service should allow allow access to to you know in a countywide services that are limited so there are certain sim
services around the county that may only happen once or twice um or once or one or two locations and as a result of that a countywide services would help make sure those services are available to all they thought it would be helpful to have a a tiered reduced fair structure and in fact potentially fully subsidize certain
users or certain drop off locations so they also advised us of community organization and insurance partnerships that that were potentially beneficial apparently insurance companies cover transportation to certain appointments and they thought we should talk to them so that's something that we'll pick up
in the future we also met with the seven cities within the county obviously the potential users from that group are the city residents the the feedback we got from the cities was um they were looking for a more efficient and improved alternative to the current fixed route services that we have they were looking
for something that would reduce pickup times as well as travel times for people using it there was an interest in connection to the Sanford airport there was also a feeling that commuter opportunities would be would benefit from this and this would be a good thing and that this could serve as an improved
feeders to local commerce centers in fact the cities actually applauded the county for taking on we heard this a couple times taking on such a large efficiency improvement that they were they were very impressed with that um and they also provided some initial support for the additional 5 cent gas
tax toward mass um mass transit after we met with the stakeholders we also uh utilized um a review of links as as part of this process and we met with Lynx we met with the Lynx planning folks we we looked at our routes we tried to understand
writerships we also separately from those meetings we went through all the boarding and al lighting data that Lynx has on online and we went kind of stop by stop on a number of routes to see who's getting on where who's getting off where to try to u better understand it a as mentioned um as mentioned we
conducted a a a county staff field survey we actually put u Mr tweed on the bus we sent him around there he took the boarding and a lighting data and you know and looked to see is it you know is it the same is it different and things like that he provided us some good information we obviously appreciate his
time on there um we also link provided us some proposed route changes we reviewed them that was part of our initial meeting and and we we looked at that we also met with Orange County because you know we looked at route one which is a route that comes up to Elimont and terminates at the uh at the
mall and you know the hospital there and kind of goes south into Orange County it's not a route that's particularly productive for us there there's probably a need for it for employment reasons for those folks but we met with them to say route one does not look like it's it's something that's potentially very
feasible and may be a deletion and we talked to them about potential alternatives so so with that I'll now uh just switch a little bit and talk about the RFP and the solicitation update um as mentioned you know we we put out a
we put out a a scope that was very broad and said you know send us what you think is a good idea what type of information you know you think suits us so we didn't provide a a whole lot of framework for it and that was by design to try to solicit solicit different ideas so we
got those after that we met two hours with each vendor that we had there are three vendors that proposed for us we sat down with each one of them to try to understand their proposals their capabilities and we also wanted to highlight the county we want to talk about our demographics what transit looks here what board direction we'
previously gotten and we use the these two-hour meetings to develop a consensus with a vendor on both service level and goals we also talked about cost control measures this is an extended contract we talked about what that potentially looks like and because it's a longer term contract um this would provide us
limited annual increases so what we got from that was you know they're all different when when we kind of had a bunch of conversations we we kind of come to a consensus as to what things would look like but as so as part of that we decided we'd put out an applesto apples comparison so we we did
a standardization and pricing exercise that we gave to each vendor so it provided a definit a a a a constant list of what the the link's route changes would likely to be so that way they were kind of all on the same playing field we provided an anticipated
service level for each of them to get on the same service level we did this again to create standardization we did advise all three vendors that this is ultimately a board decision as staff were trying to get to a standardization but the board will will have to weigh lean on what the policy decision is and
that will and that will potentially defy definitive changes so the next few slides we're going to go through will just talk about that standardization exercise and what it looked like what kind of the the recommended structure that they were being provided was for them to come back to us so the first one
was service level assumptions we talked about the uh the total service area for for purposes of the exercise we said we should include the entire county excluding the rural boundary we picked this because right now you know it's a linear system that goes through but it is kind of touching a lot of the area
that's not you know that is the whole county other than the rural boundary albeit some people may be a long way for that but but it is it is kind of getting that so we told the the vendors we didn't care whether it was single zones or multiple zones but we did not want to see a transfer we wanted it to be free
for people to go wherever and that was for purposes of it so just the the next slides that we're going to talk a little bit about is about the uh the fixed route service that we have and then the changes here so this slide is just kind of a
refresher as to what we have today to to boil it down to the very basic form we kind of have fixed route services on all of our major state roads that's that's not 100% but it's pretty close our major corridors in the county have fixed route services this map depicts
that what we suggested um for purposes of the exercise was that all routes be removed with the exception of the 436 route the 1792 route be reduced to the Fern Park Superto which is by the old highline we also said that the western
portion of the 434 route which is actually called is called link 23 that come up from Orange County and stop at Semol State College in Elima on the east side of the county on 434 which is the 434 route we propose that to stop at McCullik Road which is basically the
county line and then we have this route um that runs just clips the corner of the county route 106 and we kind of have one stop there and it's in Orange County that one stop is pretty productive we just said leave it alone it's not a very expensive route it's a it's a through connector it goes through there's a lot
of service so the next slide is a is actually a graphical depiction of everything I just said this was something that was provided in one of our vendor uh what I'll call reproposals as a response to that standardization exercise and you can kind of see here what we're talking about so the you know
the points are the you know the the new routes would be the orange as you can see it's a you know comes up starting on the east side just right there at the at the county line on 434 and then as you move further to the left 436 stays as it is 1792 comes up and finishes at the at
the bottom of the county in Fern Park and then 23 comes up in Elimon so one thing to note from all this is even with all these reductions the regionalism of what was being proposed in that exercise stays the same the connectivity into Orange County stays the same with the
exception of that route one which is just not a very big performer so and just just also as another point if you're in and around Route One there are other options to kind of transfer through the super stop so I I just want to point this out because you we heard a lot about regionalism the last time we
were here and and this was part of the effort to to get there so so that's that we also we also suggested the vendors keep a schedule that's a seven day a week schedule when the proposals came in some of them were six day a week schedules we currently have a seven day a week schedule so this is the schedule
on the screen we suggested to them monday through Friday 5:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m saturday 6:00 a.m to 10:00 p.m and Sunday uh 6:00 a.m to 8:00 p.m during some of our brie we we got a we got questions about what is our
current what is our current hours of links and things like that so it the short answer is it depends but I'm going to give a bucketed answer so of the ones re we are talking about reducing here they they pretty much maintain the
schedule that we're s we're suggesting here that's it the other ones run from the ones that we're keeping runs from depending on the route 4 a.m to 1 in the morning so we're not adjusting that what we're looking at here kind of stays consistent with what we're reducing so I
just wanted to provide that feedback had come up a number of times and I and I apologize for not having the slide on it we also we also mentioned to the the vendors that we wanted a fair structure that was quite a bit different from links so right now links fairs in my
opinion kind of target the customers with the greatest need we kind of wanted to turn that model on its head a little bit we wanted to look at a fair structure that was based upon other mult market alternatives for transportation and then provide discounts from that for people that are in maybe a more
vulnerable population and things like that we also suggested there should be some um some level of discount to uh to sun rail users as mentioned at the very beginning of this this is an ondemand service so we said we need to have maximum pickup times of 30 minutes Monday through
Saturday and then Sunday 60 minutes the reason for the Sunday reduction is one is our service for the link stuff is reduced on Sunday but it also serves as a cost control measure um and then we also talked to them and said hey it is a shared service we want you to provide what the inconvenience or detour times
are and what that means is if if I'm going to I book a route to go point A to point B tim books a route that's on the way but he wants to go to point C they'll look at they'll look at Tim's ride and say "Okay if he's within the inconvenience or detour stuff of say 10
minutes it's okay to pick Tim up." They'll divert pick him up and go if Tim's ride is going to take me 30 minutes out of the way and that's outside of their parameters they would say "Okay sorry Tim kristen you go on tim a different vehicle comes to pick you up." So we asked them to specify
what those times were in there we also said we were expecting there to be revenue to come back from advertising opportunities that's both invehicle so some of you may have gone to some other metropolitan areas and you see the screens in the seat and you get you know you get ads playing to you they also
indicated to us that that you can use these for public service announcements as well so if we wanted to put something out hurricane time you know hurricane you know is coming or whatever we could do that or hey we've got this event at the park we could do that but but we could also play avatar advertisements and get revenue from it and then we also
talked about exterior vehicle advertising with wraps and things like that and that being a revenue source so we put all that together and we put it together with the hope of having apples to apples well with all good hopes they don't quite go just just to that so we
got closer things were were much better we were no longer apples to ham slices we were apples to pears now um and we get and and that's what we want to talk a little bit about more but we spent an hour going through each one of the the um vendors responses to those
exercise to just further understand them and go from there and don't get me wrong the the exercise was very beneficial it just didn't quite get us there and it did realize to us that we need to get back in front of you all to get some feedback to really go further so here are some of the issues that were
highlighted by the vendors we kind of thought that hey if you make things expensive enough people won't go that's kind of basic you know economics that we all had um we got some comments that fair structure may not control rider habits
of distance so there was some case studies they had that that basically you know they tried to say okay we we'll make it expensive to go a long distance maybe a more premium than other services out there and writers have seen from other areas have said uh we're okay
paying that we have the means we're okay paying it we like a background check rider we like knowing what the vehicle looks like showing up and all the things that come with a a consistency of a public system so as a result of that it was actually taking vehicles out of service for some of the vulnerable
population and it was turning into more of an affluent writership so we were cautioned on that so what we were recommended by by really some of the vendors was that they recommended multiple zones with transfers or a
limitation to how far you have to go without a transfer so that was a comment we heard from some of them we also felt we also got the comment that there should be some deep discounts for Sun Rail we're paying for Sunrail we should try to encourage ridership on that and get that so that was one thing that they they looked at as long as it's a Sunrail
rider going to the station to get on there not just that hey I have an annual pass and I don't use it but we're dropping you off at the station and then we were introduced to an interesting concept called a flex zone concept and I'm going to spend we're going to go to this slide i'm going to spend a couple minutes on this so this is kind of a
hybrid approach the zones I talked about has cars or or or vehicles tethered within these zones so as you look at this graphic you'll see an area that says flex around it but then you'll see some different colored areas that don't say flex so those
areas have vehicles tethered in them the fairs treat cheaper if you stay within that area and that and that is such because you can actually populate them with less vehicles if you want to travel between one color to another or
from flex into one of the zones then the fair structure shifts slightly and it goes to a per mile basis so it's a little bit more expensive and then it goes by mile it's more of if you think of it as a taxi cab thing with the meter running
it's not quite that they're talking about they're talking about blocks of distance but this was an approach that was given to us as as an idea to control to control vehicle count not necessarily control ridership but to control vehicle count to minimize the number of vehicles
and yet still provide a service that people could go quite a distance so this was presented to us as part of those now we'll talk a little bit about pricing so the slide that you have up in front of you is a range slide we had three vendors providing proposals one preendor provided multiple
proposals and this is kind of the bookends of of all those brought together in one in in one place so as you'll see there was a swing on the service hour rates there was also a swing as a result of that on what does it cost per vehicle to put them out there the next slide is
probably more important than those other two things because those two are really straightforward different vendors have different cost structures the next two is is how many vehicles that we need so you look at the 20 and then you look at the 70 it depends on these are the bookends it depends upon what our
wrership is you know coming out we we all don't know everyone's putting this into their kind of you know their algorithms to say so that's the low end and then it's also less vehicles when you do either when you do zones and transfers than when you do a wide open
everyone can can go anywhere and the reason for that is if you're in Sanford and then I book a ride to drive to a veto I may pick up a few people on the way but that vehicle is now out of service from grabbing other riders until it not only it gets to a veto but it gets all the way back to to its home place in Sanford so these zones are
strict at that flex zone is kind of the concept on there so you see that in turn you look at the proposed costs and the costs are kind of commensurate truthfully to the number of vehicles the more vehicles you put out the bigger the area you know the more demand the less restrictions on it the more expensive you tighten it up you put less vehicles
on it no one rides it it's cheaper and then the you'll see the fair revenue swinging as well 300,000 to 2 million obviously the more more cars the more riders higher the fair less guards less riders lower the fair and then the same corresponds to the ad to the advertising revenue
so with that we're kind of at the the board input and policy directions we got a series of questions here they're probably not the end- all beall questions but they're just try to get feedback from y'all so then we can go back to the vendors and then ultimately bring something back for y'all to make a deci a decision with so with that I'll
I'll start with the the first one if I may just go through them individually sure unless does anybody have any questions of what's been presented thus far before we get into the direction request i think we all have questions but I think we're we're waiting and we'll let him finish his program okay
all right sir proceed with your asks i'll start with the first one so as you heard in kind of our pricing exercise we said we said vendors look at the whole county excluding the rule boundary so we we really need some feedback from the board did staff get that correct did we not
and and that's kind of the question so yes that's correct no it's not or or you'd like to see it some other way and let me get my pen here to take some notes let's start with Commissioner Lockhart at the far end and work our way across to Commissioner her so we're going to do like rapid fire
okay so I would say yes um because that's even an expansion of the service we have now mr constantine yes um also the fact that um a rural boundary is not conducive to the type of density that you need to
have you know mass transit i would say yes but I'd like to know and I'm not trying to make this more complicated is there areas that Lynx is not serving this county now and what will those areas be today so I I'll give a hybrid
answer i'll give a hybrid answer so if you stay on the main routes they're kind of getting that area but they're on the main routes so you could argue that if you live 2 miles off the system they're not serving the area that's my point yeah so I'll I'll bring this back to
school bus kind of routes you know I was at the school system for a while so the school has a walking distance that people can go to be on a route and then they feed in other routes what we have currently is the routes on the major route some of them may be a further distance than than what we current than
what would be acceptable to a school bus rider again you know if you're a mile off that main route you're not in the link service area right that's my point yep okay understood i now now I get what you
were saying yeah that's why I'm saying it that way okay i I would I would also be Yes uh just reminding that the rule boundary that based on what you've given us thus far you know part of that rule boundary is in the black hammock and
portions of the black hammock are covered in this mapping exercise so would not be the entire rule boundary that would be omitted but basically it's mirroring what's available now so I'm a yes on that i'm a yes on that because I really
don't think they want our little cars running around in that neighborhood all right so then the next one I'm going to I'm going to turn it over to Tim tim Tim is our finance guy and we go back and forth on this a bunch he does more than just clicking we debate this out a bunch so I'm going to turn the next few slides
over to Tim thank you Christian so the next question is the staff recommendation of fixed route and links service changes as presented acceptable and before we turn it over to the board we wanted to give a little context this is a snapshot of the current FY25 costs that the county is paying for the routes
that are being discussed for reduction these are based on the $15 links funding partner rate um you'll note that the FY26 budget for next year has not been set so we don't know exactly what the savings would be for the elimination of these routes but we do know that there
might be an increase in the uh rate the funding partner rate that Lynx charges um as the fixed cost that Lynx is paying gets spread out across the fewer routes um we also wanted to note that currently we're in the process of setting the budget for FY26 for Lynx so we would be
providing them with the um expected service level uh at this time and then they'll use those those services to to set our budget so we would look to um also notify links um as as soon as possible after this meeting of any proposed route changes with that I'll
turn it over to the board okay we'll start with Commissioner her and come the other way yes and whatever uh Sears catalog approach we're taking to the designing of this program i expect it to come in at less than what the reduction is to this cost
did I Same here Commissioner Delorei by reducing these how many people are we actually affecting that ride these routes on a regular basis we did an exercise that you may recall when we I asked you to do it yeah okay
fair enough um so just for the just for just to refresh everyone um we did an exercise when we presented this at the at the November board meeting we think there's about 3,500 to maybe 4,200 people that ride links so that that's
what we believe our wrership is yeah the numbers are very difficult to get from the writership and to talk about how h how we got there you know the way Lynx does writership is you're an on or off and then they add the writership to the whole the whole route so when they give
you route writership if it goes into Orange County gets there tim and I did some mathematical exercises taking taking that ridership looking at it and then actually putting it into transit studies based on usage and that's where we drilled it down and and we I think I
use the term it's an 80% answer no one knows for sure but not even links not even links but but we we think between 3500 and 4200 is our best guess and and Commissioner I've been trying to get that answer out of links for six years
and they've yet to be able to supply me a dead answer so I'm not sure how we identify that specifically and and if I could Mr chairman if you and that 3500 to 4200 wership when you talk about what's impacted it's not all those
people that are impacted majority of the all the routes that we that staff is requesting to keep are the ones that are utilized the ones that we are uh looking to eliminate are the ones that are not used so the ones that we're thinking about eliminating what classified not
being used is it nobody on the bus is it less than x amount of people on the bus so so we obviously had some data from from links and sat there and we looked at that but in addition I think it's very important to talk about what Mr tweed did so you know Mr tweed got on we put him on and and we we put him on as a
as a writer and we tried to get him during peak times commuting times not all of them were at that but but they were the busiest the busiest routes was the 436 route which we're not suggesting cutting he he I have the handy dandy
number on that bus the total passengers that got on were 40 he spent the entire route on there so that's what he experienced there we think that's pretty good we think that's you know a pretty good representation he's there weekday he's at rush hour he also looked at the
1792 route he he did the whole thing when he looked at that that was 13 people were the max riders on at any given time going to the and that one we are suggesting stopping it at Fern Park there is a busy section the 103 that goes from Fern Park to the seminal to
the seminal center which is the Walmart on on 1792 but we think with it being engulfed in a potential microtransit zone based upon everything we've seen here that riders will flock to that so and they're not levels that can't be handled by microtransit the 434 route
the third most busiest one he saw nine riders you start getting to the 46 routes and things like that there's a max of four riders on there and we've saw some of those when when we did our analysis looking at it you look at that 46 route that runs from the um Sanford
Sunrail station to the mall on Sunday it actually has you know by Lynx's own documents a half a half a rider per route on it so that gives you kind of an idea what we looked at so you're able to document the ridership on the ones that you're suggesting to eliminate have next
to zero ridership they have a small number that's correct okay and you're saying let somewhere in the single digits the one that's true with the exception of the 103 and because he did it as kind of a blended route there there is
possibly low teens he had 13 riders on there but these microtransit vehicles and I and I should have probably said this at the start the vendors are looking at vans six passenger vans so basically two microransit vehicles you know could almost take the whole the whole ride of that kind of thing and and
those people are you know just to kind of go on it the the the folks that are riding it depending on the schedule some of the ridership is hour-long routes some of it are 30 minutes the 1792 is 30 minutes so it's a bit more frequently you know but some of them like you may see the 434 it goes an
hourly it goes hourly you saw nine people get on there but you know did they all had to wait an hour to get to that you split it out over that it's going to be much more reduced okay so that'll be a yes then okay thank you i'm just trying to get No no no these are
great questions and we like the dialogue so thank you Mr constein okay this this this mysterious bus drive bus rider um when you say it was never more than
16 or 13 or a half a person is this one time or how many times did he ride this bus he wrote it one time during rush hour on a weekday but we can compare that which he did to what the what the weekday average ridership is he saw
numbers that were close albeit less than that but he did see them the data he took was that boarding and al lighting data lynx actually has it on their web page where you can click a stop and go one person got on none got off next stop no one gets on no one gets off and you
can go route by route he actually downloaded that information sat there and every stop he documented who got on you know not who personally but the number they got on and the number they got off and then compared that to what the average is i think the numbers he come up with were a pretty good
representation of what the wrership is okay so the so what we have now is a bus service what we're talking about is more of a um
a limo service a more of a premier limo service as opposed to a bus service so the importance is who absolutely has to has to have the bus service those
folks and and what I'm saying is if we are looking at the the the routes that you have indicated that are the most productive and get to the actual places then my answer at this point to that question is a yes
to the question that you've asked you know is staff recommending fixed route and and links changes i can say yes to that currently although I the caveats are you know how do we make sure that the folks that absolutely address and
we'll get to this i don't want to get into it right now that's that's later on in the questioning okay okay but yes the answer is yes now with a caveat I I do just want to point something out just for the audience because and I know the term limo service and there's a there's a limo service that handles there's not
a limo coming it's not a limp stretch limousine or anything like that and I know that goes without saying and that's not what you meant but I don't want anyone watching seeing that these are these are minivans designed to be nimble black Uber that's correct we're not talking about that so I just want anyone watching I don't want them to think hey
great i'll get my app and I can go to the prom you know I don't want them to think that there's multiple riders right that's correct they can take up to six people is what they can take they're ADA accessible they'll have bike racks and things like that these were all things in our original scope of work that we
put out there that were basics you know we we we want to make sure that these basic things are covered without making the parameters when we did the pricing exercise we said all that carries over plus these these other items so and and and and also part of the caveat is you
know it it is some other things that folks have said here today is we really don't know who the 35 to 42 is that an actual number or is that 4200 over the same people over and over again makes the
4200 no that that is not people over and over again that is the people so the numbers we get from links when they say wrership data is the people over and over again it's basically instead of using the term wrership it's probably more easy to understand if you say ticket sales so so that's that's what
wrership data is the numbers we come up with is we took we took the American Transit Association I think that's what it's called i apologize if I get it wrong they put out a survey around the nation of what wrership habits are lynx actually was was someone that responded
to this and then it breaks out how many riders on average ride one day a week two days a week etc etc we took those numbers and we did some some math gymnastics to come back and say this is what we think the base folks look like based upon the percentages in each
category and that's where we come up with that range and that's why I say it's an 80% number i want to explore the the commissioners to make sure I'm understanding what's what's happening here in those numbers okay i I think what the commissioner is asking to an extent we really can't
answer just from the perspective of if I get on the bus and I go to point B but then point B is maybe an employer who then takes me to an employer's sub
area remote office somewhere else in the county and I get back on Lynx has no idea when I bought the ticket whether I'm the same person or not yeah and to to to show you that is correct and I'm going to make sure of that well and to show even a better one so let's say I
start at the county line on 1792 and I have to ride to Sanford there's three routes and two transfers I'm going to take i'm one person i'm going to show up as three different riders because I've got three different there's a sensor when you get on the bus and get off that
sensor's counted me coming on boom i'm on i'm on i'm on so it counts me as three people so you know this is where this gets a little murky as far as we get back to the low vehicles the medium vehicles and the high everyone's taking their algorithm to guess and we've got our 80% math to say how many riders we
think are out there i can tell you we're wrong you know there it's probably you know 3501 or you know 4202 something like that it's an estimate that are doing the same and I think the commissioner if I don't want to put words in your mouth no and I I want to finish i think what he was asking is how
many people in our community have the need to ride this not how many people based on uh sales of tickets which is totally and let me add to that i don't think we really know okay and I don't
think we also have ever explored and I'm not saying it's our job i want to say because I I really do believe that you've done a lot of work and we've learned a lot and I'll repeat that over and over again in my disc but I don't think we've really and nor has links and
I think it's more their responsibility than ours but you know establish the efficiencies of the routes that we have how can we maximize those routes to the people that actually need them I don't think that has ever been
done that exercise has never been done and I think that's part of what we're talking about here when it comes to am I okay with the with the routes that you've changed and presented yeah because that's the numbers you know all we're really doing is looking at the
numbers that that we have today and what are the highest numbers and therefore making you hoping that that is going to fill the need the real need of those people that are using it but we really in all honesty don't know i I I
would agree with that i I'll tell you going to this process it's not about passing a beam and getting counted three times you get a you get a writer profile and we'll know exactly going to this type of thing we'll be able to have the analytics you'll be able to see you know
because there I mean there much to your point that there are there are people that probably would ride this that is too far to Commissioner Delar's point that is too far to walk to where they're going and they're not currently a customer and they have a need we we can't see that now the type of data and
analytics that will come from this not only will we know the wait times within you know hey the average pickup times 23 minutes we'll know what percentage they get to that but we'll also know where people get dropped off and we'll get a true where a true wrership map is and to your point where a true need is and and
on that statement that would summize with all that data being collected that we could adjust this program moving forward that that is completely correct this is a very scalable thing where we're you know and you saw you saw the ranges of vehicles
if we get in and we think hey we should we're low and then it's high okay great we can adjust it if it's high and it should be low we can adjust it if we miss you we we made some ideas on times you know and we'll make some you know there'll be some conf confirmation or or
revisions made here today if we get in and they're not the case we can adjust them you know and that that's a whole very scalable chairman yes commissioner Lockard hasn't weighed on this but yes go ahead there's This has opened up a whole can of worms
though i'm going to go back to we're spending 9.8 million right now and adjusting doesn't mean we're going to start spending 15 20 million on this because this could be rather convenient and we have an untapped need my concern is is the complete opposite of
Commissioner Delari's concern is that who are we not going to be serving after we do this this is going to open up a service level that becomes tolerable to a much larger portion of our population than the current bus system i'm gonna get to that part that's Yeah I think we're all going to get to that part so
so that wasn't the question we we have to be very cognizant of data collection around were you a links writer before we are trying to fill the need that Lynx is filling right now and improve service but not to the detriment
of the rest of the taxpaying citizens in this county that are not taking this system i want to be super clear and Commissioner Her that's why I'm holding my tongue i'm trying to establish something so as we get it back into it after we get the answers or the questions answered for him then we start
talking about the ramifications that you just indicated because I think there's a lot that once we do this there's going to be more a lot more writers a lot more writers but let's talk about that after we finish next in the price commissioner
talk are you a fan or not um I think that the changes that you're proposing are completely appropriate and I I want to continue to reiterate as much as possible we are not taking a bus away from anyone that we are not replacing with a better service you will
not be standing out in the sun waiting for a bus that may or may not be on time mostly not on time um it will actually take you where you want it to go so I would be okay over time potentially if we find
that it needs to be further honed um doing that as well you get the answer first you get the answer first i did I did the answer my answer is yes no the next question first oh
okay the uh the fair structure so so as mentioned you know links has based their fairs on serving the people maybe with the greatest need or the greatest challenge and it's kind of based up from there we looked at you know we suggested turning that on his head making a fair
that is comp you know that is somewhat linked to what alternate transportation options are out there so you know things like Uber things like so that was kind of our idea we thought you know and you'll see some other slides about discounts and things like that coming
from but we want to make sure that you all agree for that that that's not maybe the common transit thing i think Lynx is probably more on the common transit thing but from our perspective when we went through the pricing exercise and looked at people that can maybe afford to pay for this right to Commissioner
Hur's point it does help you know control who's riding it i mean if we're giving away free rides everyone we can all get rid of our cars so I don't think that's where we want to be and and then having a fair to to to make that makes it the case okay Commissioner Lockhart we'll start at your end and can I just
add and as Christian mentioned um the next couple questions are talking about the dis discounts as well so I just want to make sure that we are going to cover that um regarding different populations okay um so my short answer is yes my
more expanded answer is that um I would rather I agree with the analysis of starting at a fair that is reasonable so that we are the general taxpayer of Semino County is not subsidizing to as great a degree as they
are now for links um because the fair studies have not been done in years and so it's the same fair as they were paying you know however many 1990 whatever it was so I think
being more in line with um the market makes us actually less of a competitor with the market i think if we were to start low um that would make us more of a competition but I think the people who want that individual ride service from an Uber or a lift that know that someone else is not going to be getting picked
up on the way um they're still going to use that service um I I I'm excited about the possibility that some of these if not all of these proposers have to I help us identify
those who are the most vulnerable and offer discounts as appropriate based on the rider or the destination and I think that's where it gets I don't want to say fun but that's where we get to really decide um how much we want to subsidize
which types of um rides so that's my long yes okay short answer Commissioner Con um okay I think the next two questions are linked not wanting to use the word links
but it are linked um that they are the next three actually are are all kind of linked if you want I can read them all now no no I I I well okay you wanted to Well I don't know i think you might want to go through each of these separate I'm going to agree we're going to do it
separate but I'm I'm going to say going to the next one to me the biggest problem here in the fair situation the the fair rate situation is identifying what's vulnerable what does
vulnerable mean ed and it's somebody that is you know handicapped you know has a handicap sticker you know I mean you don't and also it brings up the question that I brought up that you know that Commissioner her and others Commissioner
Delh Dolor and everybody let me just say everybody is you know we don't want to start a process that's going to open this up so much that we all want to use it um but at the same time you know if we
start doing the fair based upon Uber that's going to eliminate you know the the the people that are potentially using it now they truly need it truly need a way to get from one place to another
so should the should the base rate be based upon transportation available such as Uber i I you know I mean I'm not familiar with Uber's prices as much as probably others
um but I would say that I we have to you know if we do that yes for those that don't need the service and no for those that do need the service can I just go real quick so I think one
of the things that maybe we could add to the question that changes the answer a little bit is should the base fair be based upon other transportation available such as Uber not the based upon is from my perspective is a
percentage of or a um it it's not mirroring it it's not matching it but it would be 50% of or 25% of or 70 not that it's going to be identical and matching because Uber and Lyft uh change their
rates based on how popular a particular area is at a time so I think the question is a little bit misleading now that I'm reading it again and hearing someone else ask you know a question based on it because I don't think we are talking at all about making our fairs um
variable like an Uber or a lift car yeah let let me uh let me just kind of add some clarity as to what the intent was with the question and you're exactly right so I instead of we're looking at what the alternatives are this is not Uber or Lift this picks up people commissioner Herd mentioned that there
are things like that but making it a percentage of if it costs $7 to go on Uber from point A to point B we're potentially loading six other customers up there maybe having a rate that is a percentage 50% of it then that's a
reasonable fair as opposed to saying the person that you know the person that is is perhaps you know unemployed makes minimum wage th those kind of th those kind of economic st can only afford $2 a ticket that's a that's a much different
thing and I and we're looking at as you described it to try to base it on what a percentage of that fair is not being the same because it isn't the same but adjusting the market as to what that is and we are not we were not talking unless the board directs us to to be
doing peak hour fairs and rate adjustments and things like that i think we're just trying to establish a normal hour fair based upon you know based upon this as an alternative means Mr clark thank you Mr
chairman not to get into the weeds I would say yes however I know Christian you're talking about not having dynamic pricing like dynamic tolling i get that and we need to know what the average cost is per
that zone i mean all zones going to be priced the same or is it going to be different cost going to different zones i haven't seen any of that yet well and and that's why we want to kind of get to what you're looking at because if you decide one zone then there would obviously probably be a per mile charge
i understand that but that's why I'm asking yeah in philosophical yes but the devil's in the details and you know how you get to those details is going to be the issue fair enough right
so my short answer is yes but it's it's much more complicated than that i have no interest in competing against the private sector being Uber and Lyft to begin with number one number two I think the ridership will
ultimately dictate the pricing schedule based on as this unfolds and develops whether you use one zone or multiple zones they're going to be some zones just like quite frankly that you have now with the bus schedule that you have
more ridership than others our advantage is those vehicles can be moved to a different zone to accommodate those changes um and I do believe it should be based on our actual
cost when you when you write when you get down to it because at the end of the day I mean Uber and Lyft do have car pooling options other words you can pay less if you want to take a little extra time and pick somebody else up at this
hotel or here blah blah blah but would people who typically don't ride a bus ride this i hope they do because that could help offset the overall cost for somebody that may want to take it other
words I could take this whatever it is one of the routes from point A to point B if I'm not in a great big hurry if I got to get there now I'm calling Uber but I could take this if I've got ample time I should be expected to pay a premium price but not an Uber or lift
price but something that would be palatable uh that would be different than somebody that truly has a need would be less so the short answer is yes thank you okay mr uh first of all I think supply and
demand matter i had a college professor that taught me that i actually went to those classes um we cannot set the fair too low we will be digging out of that hole forever the studies that you referenced were long distance so you
could set the fair pretty high for a long distance ride because the market drives a very high price for a long distance ride none of these are long-distance rides so that study didn't correlate to the to the answer of we shouldn't set the fair high enough to to and I'm going to
use words that no one's using yet but but you were there make it a self- sustaining program mhm so it needs to sustain itself while at the same time it's supporting it's supporting the
vulnerable members of society that cannot afford a car that can have no other choice and need to get to work doctors hospitals etc and I don't for one minute think that mass transit is a profit generator but this cannot be a
huge fiscal drain on this organization and if we don't do this well it will be the expectations have to be set clearly the cost should align with the value of the service and that is not what we are wired to do as government
and so we need to flip that paradigm that is how we got into this with links and we don't want to do it to ourselves amen does that give you the answers you need on that one i think it does okay all right the next one um and we we were kind of touching all around on this one
but discounts for vulnerable populations you know and we've got some we've got some listed here these may not be ones that that are palatable but we've said lowincome disabled seniors homeless students things of that nature and just for the public I want to make sure in my
briefing so there's clarity these are ADA equipped vehicles correct yes sir okay that's correct we'll start with Commissioner Her and work our way across on this one i I don't think we need to re to hash at this point through all of these this level of detail the answer is
yes to vulnerable populations to be determined based on which vendor and how they're going to determine the vulnerability of the population they need to be managing this this is not we build a department we hire four people that are going to determine the vulnerability of a population i hope
I concur commissioner Delari the only question one of the questions I have Christian is that uh we actually did a study for the region through Metro Plan and they were saying that 25% of all medical appointments through uh parame medicine uh was being missed the
appointments uh how is that should be addressing through here somehow with the hospitals and the docs appointments because that's a vulnerable population that's not getting to their appointments and that's not there's an issue and I don't know
how you address it so I I I think you're talking about the the paratransit service that they're getting with with link paratransit it's it's the elderly elderly population and you have seniors here that's I I have seniors well I I'll I'll touch on the paratransit a little bit obviously
they'll get kind of the same service there there is a these discounts can work to an advantage we showed you the numbers on fixed route the paratransit is a cost we're spending about $5 million a year to links um if this becomes palatable and cheaper
for them and more convenient they could come off of that service and and and come to us it's cheaper to to provide this type of service than it is to provide a paratransit service you could make an argument that you could even reduce it down to the barest of bare bones and still we would be money ahead
on it because it's a cheaper service that with it being the for the seniors with it being the 30 minute on demand I I think it's from my personal opinion that's my personal opinion I think it's taxing for someone that's maybe elderly maybe with a walker things like that to
get to a bus stop if they don't if they don't if they're not on paratransit or they're not on TD so I would think this will become a a very reliable service for them and obviously you know the the discounts would would help maybe make someone mo mobile and not housebound
that currently is so with the vulnerable pop with with these vulnerable population guidelines who determines that so we we could do it a couple ways the vendor has offered to do some things we can work with community services tim or I are not the right people to do it there are people that do this that know this business and I think truthfully the
probably the answer I would recommend would be work with a vendor with community services and maybe some of the community partners as well and Darren I think has something to add yeah and then that ultimately that's a recommendation that would come back to this board and then you all would direct us how how you would want those vulnerable populations
to be thank you commissioner Constine to add to what Commissioner Delorey said i think in that same study they indicated that those going to appointments medical appointments more than half were going from one county to another correct so
and this has nothing to do with another county that that is correct i mean the I'm just I just was point ahead yeah that the paratransit does do that they can go out of the county i think that the hope of people that maybe own paratransert now is we we we take try to encourage those those riders staying
within the county to go there and then transfer that i don't think we have any interest in trying to create a service to drive someone to shance yeah okay so you know again I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty of this but um this is
as important as to how this is going to be successful as anything we do who is really the vulnerable people and I would just say a couple of things just because you're a student shouldn't get a discount there are students that are coming from different locations that you
know can afford it a lot more than others just because you're a senior um that you shouldn't get a discount they have more discretionary the senior population has more discretionary income than most if you're a low-income senior
absolutely but if you're a senior like myself or Darren you you should not get Well your birthday's coming up so you don't um should not I'm classified as a senior yeah there you go should not get it i was just using I was just teasing should
not get it um and I and I think that is as I said it this is as important as anything we do because again it's identifying the people that really need it and that are using the bus and the last people we want to take out of this
system is those few that are actually using it right Commissioner Lockhart so I will say yes to discounts and I will say that our community services department is already helping to determine who is vulnerable because
they are the ones that are providing the links bus passes now at a rate at a discounted rate and purchasing them and handing them out um as is ROM and Christian Sharing Center and uh um Recovery Connections and a
plethora of people who are currently buying links passes for their people who can now purchase passes and they would be the deter so we would be essentially this is a possibility
um selling a certain a number of rides to those agencies and they would determine who they give them out to in their organizations and how that occurs i think that's how that's happening now with with links and Ubers and Lyfts if
I'm is that correct i I believe so i think that they they are buying passes for Uber and Lift to go to go things there are things of that nature um there is the pre-qualification and things like that so I think I think you're accurate on that um as far as students are concerned um Semino State College um I
believe spends a I'll use the very specific phrase boatload of money um that goes to links every year so that our students can ride um for free to the student it doesn't mean that
it's a free ride to the vendor th those rides are paid for by the institution so I think um as we work with partners and including private sector businesses who want to include it as a part of an employee um benefits
package free to the rider versus um no payment to us are two different things and so I think that's important an important distinction in this conversation as well so um I I think that I would add a
caveat or a question part B to this would be not just for the individual riding but for the location the destination so if you are taking a trip to the health
department perhaps that's a discounted rate if you are going to the Christian sharing center that perhaps is a discounted rate you know that the people who are maybe going and accessing those services there inherently are vulnerable um so that's that's not a that's just
another way that this could be approached um that I'd like to us to look at as well and if I Mr chair I'm sorry you wanted so real quick and I'll go to the questions just to point out it's 12:30 we got public hearing at 1:30 what's going to be the flavor of the
board do you want to work on through forget lunch or do you want to get to a stopping point then come back we're on a roll okay we're on we're close commissioner Her and then Commissioner Constantine and Commissioner Delari just a couple of things to point
out health care has changed whenever that survey was done there has not been the expansion of services in this county so you no longer have to go across county lines for cancer treatment surgeries etc etc so that survey is probably outdated with regard to
employee benefits it's typically done through a TSA similar to an FSA but for transportation so it wouldn't be a direct purchase more than likely if they were smart um so I think those levels of detail just happen later i think the
word that we haven't said out loud is needs-based um we danced all around it i think Commissioner Constantine got Capri like those who need it but it should be needsbased um is kind of where I think we're aligning
i was going to clarify one thing but I want to clarify the other that study was based upon going to doctor's visits and it was found that you know people had preferences for doctors so even if we you have it available in Semino County a lot of them were just going to where they thought was their doctor most of
those doctors now have dual offices the model has changed so saying that I also wanted to clarify the students we were putting 15 and over in here i'm looking at high school students saying "Hey wouldn't it be cool if I got picked up and didn't take the bus you know and
paid le I'm serious i mean you know the mentality of of a high school student then the taxpayers pay for it." That's what I'm saying we have to be very careful about that when we're talking about vulnerable population just because you're a student i'm 15 years old i'm going to Lyman when I was back in school
I would sit there and you know okay I'm going to look cool today i'm going to go in and you know in in this instead so I'm just I'm I'm using that as an as a as as you know why just the word students is not vulnerable
on that point yes yes so I think for the purpose of brevity this these questions and these categories were put up here there are certainly expandable you you could h you we could qualify that they have to be a dual enrollment student we know who
those students are they could be identified if that's what this board chooses to do we could say that they have to be um a you know they're going to an afterchool activity most the the school district does not provide transportation for many after school activities
um there there are way there are things that that people in our community are missing out on participating in because they don't have transportation the fact that they're a student you know I I just I think we're trying to be way too particulate at this point of the
conversation and we can hash all of those details out um later on great mr delari would this service qualify for pre-tax dollars being used for transit because
right now in federal for links and for sunrail you can actually ask your employer for pre-tax dollars for transit would this qualify this has to be a certified transit system we will
confirm with the vendors i believe the answer is yes but we will confirm that and we had and we did have that we had that question from some some interested employers wanting to do that as well so but we will we will positively clarify that okay all right well before we move on to the next
one on several things were said here I have zero illusions that there will be speed bumps and curves regardless of what we ultimately decide and it's going to have to be
monitored mhm it's going to have to be corrected course corrected as necessary there's going to be some things that we don't even know could happen that are going to be brought to our attention at some point but what I do know is doing away with the routes at links
to the savings of $10 million and replacing it with a better process arguably I don't know that we need to talk about a whole lot of additional stuff beyond that i mean look there's going to be people that are going to call and say "I used to ride the bus." We have no way of knowing that whether
they did or not i mean reality so I mean in the grand scheme of things there are going to be course corrections probably for the first year as as things play out but it is a much more nimble and much more modern way of
transportation for our citizens the vulnerable as well as the unvulnerable so anyhow we'll let you move on to the next question thank you next one is should there be discounts for riders access on the Sun Rail
Commissioner Herd we'll start with you uh we have nine more questions so I'm going to pitch this off quick no uh I'm a yes on that one mr lori I'm going to say yes at this point we're paying for Sun Rail it should We
should We should make sure that we get people to use it yes yes okay all right next question we'll start with Commissioner Lockhart go ahead Chris oh you're Okay sorry I thought I thought he was calling Commissioner all right so so the next
one is on um zone limitations and I've got this for vulnerable ride nonvulnerable riders and in the sake of brevity there's a slide back here that talks about vulnerable riders if you want we can just try to platoon them together if you're okay with that i know we're we're getting in there but the the the question becomes is how should the
zones be structured and this is really kind of a meat and potatoes question for us so there's the single zone which is the highest option and what the single zone means you get in the car you go from Sanford to to to Ovito there's there's kind of no boundaries on it the multiple zones where you know you you
have a you know you pay a higher cost structure if you go outside of the zone but there are some zones and tethering type of things there's the zones with the transfer where you're in a zone if you want to go to the next zone you get dropped off in that at that zone and you rebook and go again that's a much lower
cost option then there's the flex one which is the one I showed you on the map which is kind of the the hybrid these are all ways of controlling cost the the the further you go and the more you open it up the more expensive it is like I said the flex zone is a is a lower one the cheapest one is going to be multiple
zones where you make someone get out and then rebook and then just just to give you kind of a reference we're asking this we're asking this question for both the vulnerable and the nonvulnerable riders in case you have a different opinion on that and then we took the opportunity to look at our current routes and see how far they go before
you have to take a transfer and here are the here's the list of the ones that that we were talking about reducing and then this is how far you can go without a transfer did you have anything to add or you Okay okay well let me see if I
can short circuit this a little more when I say short circuit make it a little more quicker as we go through this we have four zones they're asking us single zone multiple zones multiple zone with transfer required and flex zones how about we just come down the
dis and ask which one six no no there I'm I'm sorry there's there's four options correct they can have multiple zones you said four zones i counted six zones four options yeah four options yeah okay so we'll start on your end Commissioner Lockhart are are
you wanting single zone are you okay with single zone yes or no you know that I'm not going to comply with that yes or no answer question i'm not asking it's just not gonna happen so
I am between um a single zone and the multiple zone with the flex and I and I and I know that's weird
because it's if someone needs to get from for I'm going to be selfish and talk about seminal state if we need to get a a student or a faculty member from Altoont to Sanford they are not in the same zone
um how how does that impact that d that dynamic or if I am a patient and I live in Lake Mary and I want to get to Advent Alultimont that is not in the same zone how would I do that um
so I I'm going to say single zone merely for the fact that I want people to have flexibility and the ability to move around the entire county but if there is a way to do that without a whole lot of hubbhub that would be my secondary option the the flex zone would would just change the pricing structure you'd
get a discount for the ones in the zone but you could do it you know but you could do it without getting kicked out and having to rebook that's correct okay that's what I want okay and just for for the record can it's the single zone is the most expensive and is above the 9 million
um again it's going to depend on the number of vehicles and this is where it gets hey look from my perspective this cost is a is a factor it is not the only factor because right now all I'm hearing from people is I if I don't have a car if I don't have the ability to get around I can't do it in this county and
so so I'm measuring in my brain the not just the value of the dollar but the value of the service and the increased quality of life to our citizens who can't currently
utilize links so I'm I'm weighing both i'm weighing both my turn question to you by highest cost to us or to the customer to the county is gonna be to the county i mean the fair structure is not going to okay but the
county but we control the cost we don't have to do we can say use a number 10 million that's what we're spending on this you could absolutely do that i mean there's a couple ways to do this i mean one you can control time so right now we've
suggested the 30 minute pickup you may not like that but if it gets expensive you can say do 60 minutes or do 60 minutes that controls it the number of vehicles ties to that um and then the transfer side so Christian if we control the cost Y and and and therefore we're
also going to control you know we can control the use and the co and the cost of the program depending upon vulnerable nonvulnerable um I would just say single zone um with a with a price limit cost limit
to us and those with vulnerable less cost those not nonvulnerable you know more cost i mean I think that's kind of simplistic but that's what I would say okay christian on the three companies that
you've been talking to has anyone done anything similar at this scale yeah so one of the companies that did Arlington I mean they're doing Arlington they've got that out who's the company it's it's VIA okay that's the company that has done Arlington so so they've done that
arlington is about the same size you know density it's a little bit larger but they are familiar with doing this so in Arlington what did they do they did a single zone via has come back and said that they are now adding what's called
dynamic fixed route to it um so that is running a minivan down primary roads and serving like links um as an effort because because the wrership has gotten a lot and they don't want to put extra vehicles on i I believe I'm I as my
understanding that's very definitive what I said so as a way to as a way to pick up service let me rephrase as a way to pick up service that's not being met from vehicles that aren't there they're looking at a dynamic fix route to add to that i can go back to what we were told
in the meetings is having zone having something tethered does reduce the number of vehicles and reduce the number of you say tethered what does that mean so the zones will have certain vehicles so like Yeah yeah they're assigned to the zone so with both the flex zone they'll have
maybe five vehicles that never leave that zone they may have two that can go out of there so if you book a thing and say so we'll say you're here and you want to go to Sanford not Sanford you want to go to Ovito okay there's two vehicles that have the ability to leave that zone and do that that's how the flex is if that zone's not available
they're going to if those aren't available they're not going to grab one of the tethered vehicles and go you're going to be in a pool based upon these roaming vehicles so that is a way they're they're controlling cost with that idea but still allowing you the flexibility to go multiple places so the other companies that you've spoken to
how have they dealt with this zones and zones with transfers controls the number of vehicles that that's the traditional micro transit method can you do a hybrid where on weekends you do one system or in evenings and then during
the other time you do a type of you you could I mean obviously this is a very customizable I think ultimately it's going to turn turn into how many people are using it and whether they have enough vehicles if they're doing transfers and the zones are fixed and you can't transfer between them the
number of vehicles is is quite a bit less so whether that would whether there would be an increased demand to to swell that to a level those vehicles couldn't take it I I don't know can you do zones without leaving the vehicle where you just do pricing differences that would
be the That would be the flex zone that's the flex zone and it just changes your It changes your fair structure so if you're like "Hey I'm in this zone and I want to go to the next zone," then you're no longer paying a zone price you're paying a distance price and the price goes up and you could make it where okay going 10 miles is maybe
economical and then going 15 miles it starts getting pretty spendy going 20 miles your house thinking about those long about that so I'd be more inclined to do a larger uh flex zone area from what you're telling me today but that
doesn't get you outside the county because it only stays inside the county that's correct that's all we're looking at anything we're looking at here i'm just trying to answer the question i'm trying to understand what what what's out there yep good dialogue so I'm a single zone
advocate with the understanding I understand from my briefings and I think it's been brought up here today we have the ability to change direction once we get started correct meaning if we start out a single
zone we see the numbers we could go to a flex zone or multiple zone is that correct it is i mean we can change the directions in in any direction i would say you know human nature and I'm no expert on that tighter is easier to loosen than looser is more difficult to
tighten that's not the that's not always the case but we can do whatever if we don't have enough vehicles or let's say we get in there and we think hey we've got too many vehicles we we can make adjustments however right so it's very scalable so you've got one of the entities that came in under $10 million in a single zone
setting with I think 40 vehicles uh that I believe is correct that is that is correct we don't know at this point where 40 vehicles are actually going to be able to serve that need but I would assume based on their algorithms they believe it would or
could uh yet to be determined and and I appreciate the direction you're wanting from us on a lot of these but we're going to get pretty granular so my position is you all have done a lot of homework you've
briefed my office on it i'm okay with whatever you all believe is the best thing moving forward with everything we've given input on as long as we have the understanding that we can change that or shift gears
accordingly to do what we're ultimately set off to do which is replace the existing links lines that we're doing away with a better service model yep anything above and beyond that is is
cream on the on the just give them on the top uh for our nonvulnerable cis citizens and so forth um I mean we could talk about this for a week about all the whatifs how comes why don't you do this why don't you try that these people are
supposed to be the experts you've asked them to come in with their expertise you all took it one step further met with them deeper to try to flush out where their differences were and frankly I think you've done as good a job as you could
have that's where I'm at with this whole thing so Commissioner Her I'll let you go on this one i'm at flex zones because I don't think you can go backwards i think multiple zones requiring a transfer is off the table i think that's worse than the service that we have
right now um and I think if you start with flex you could upgrade it to single it would be harder to start with single and then reduce the service to move to flex and I'll kick off the next question on the service schedule in order to keep this moving is the staff recommendation
acceptable the answer is yes for me yes yes yes yes with the understanding that we can make modifications sure yeah sure okay right okay next one is maximum
rider or pickup weight times commissioner Lockhart you want to make a go at that one sure yes because you're going to be wherever you are sitting in air conditioning not outside in the weather and you can schedule it ahead of time again 60 minutes sounds you know if
you're going one place come back but but I understand it's just for Sunday i'm just going to say yes right now because we can change it can I So if I know church starts at 9:00 I'm going to ask I'm going to call for it to come at 7 or 7:30 and so I get them there at least in
time so I can get to church by 9 like you like you know where it is you're going and when you know you know when the mall opens up or you know when the grocery store opens up like I I think people can plan for that they can plan for that a heck of a lot better than they can with what they have now correct
yep agreed yes yes yes okay next vehicle advertising yes yes yes on all right student riders think you need to be an adult i've already said my concern about
student riders 15y olds i'm good with student riders being 15y olds i think there's a lot of applications for students where they wouldn't want to be on the bus i think I'm cooler on the bus than I am in mass transit so I don't I have a different
view of that i'm a yes on student ridership as well um yes i'll be the long guy that says no okay and I like that because you've never sat in a car line and I like that you know I like the I like the
thing where the students you know when they're going to after hour programs and things of that nature i I that's I didn't mean that yeah okay okay let me just say if you have a student at Ovido High School who wants to go to a dual
enrollment class at Seminal State or UCF they will be able to do that with this they can't now to me that's different i'm talking about going to school that's not what this is just that's your interpretation i mean people going to school it's they're not going to be kids are going to be taking
this to go to school not dual enrollment if it's dual enrollment that's different okay so you're really a you're a yes with a caveat you're not a no because you want dual enrollment i'm answering I'm asking the question there is no I'm telling you what your answer is Bob i'm
telling you my answer that's pretty clear i am reading the question and answering it okay uh next is funding options you want to side it go so I'll just quickly mention um some options to pay for the
cost of the service um one first would be the reductions that we would experience for our current link service uh second option is an additional 5-cent local option gas tax um that would levy approximately $8.8 million countywide um and then there's an option to talk about
distribution uh allocations with our cities they would be eligible to get some of that funding that money could go towards this service as well uh Christian went over the um partnerships uh that would potentially provide some offsetting revenue then we would have our fairbox revenues depending on wrership um anywhere up to $2 million
advertising opportunities and then um grants as well okay all right so the next steps I want to thank you all for for going through this i know it's been a pile of slides you've had to listen to me drone on for an exceptionally long period of time but we got good information and I'm going to take that
and go back to the vendors and then get a ranking and bring it back to you for your your approval when do we start asking other questions but I wanted to I thought this is not a question the funding options this is just a statement we can talk potential funding options okay okay then I want to say something
about that okay i truly believe that the savings from the fixed route is the is the number one i think we can sit there and put that at the level whatever that is whatever that savings is that's the level and then you've got the partnerships the fairbox the advertising
and the grants you know when we were presented the 5-cent sales tax or 5-centent gas tax and the options to that you know we are looking at a distribution with the other cities obviously because we have to but number two I don't think this should be this
should be the option to pay for this program I think this program number one should be from the savings we decide a limit of how much from the savings and the general fund and then we can supplement it with the other things that we get the partnerships the grants the
fair box the advertising and everything i'm not saying that we can't use that money i'm just simply saying is I don't want it tied to it gotcha gotcha agreed agreed commissioner Lockhart so the
thing that we have kind of ignored throughout this conversation is the paratransit some of these rides will be converted paratransit rides which will save us significant dollars we're talking about $9 million in fixed route but we're forgetting that we pay links
$17 million a year right so some of So the paratransit costs will convert into some of these rides because right I mean we're we're yes we're eliminating some of these fixed routes but we did not touch at all on how we envision
paratransit being modified so that's like a whole another element of this discussion that is a savings that um at not right now but at some point we need to incorporate it into the conversation i think some some of the incorporation
is going to be just seeing what it does correct and and that and then getting it we're we're hoping that I mean one it's it's easier it's more convenient we're hoping a lot of people convert trying to predict the conversion even we talked to links and we're having the early it's very difficult for anyone you know that
there are some folks that are you know that are are used to using a certain service so there's a reluctance we want to get out there and market it to these folks and show that this is a better service so it's difficult to get at that number but we're very optimistic with that number time for sure I mean yeah to to everybody's point this is not going
to be a flip the switch and we just it's going to be working exactly how we want it it's going to take some time but I think that one of The key messages to the community and anyone who's listening to this conversation is we are not going to leave anyone stranded without the ability to get to where they need to go
in this community you may hear because our offices have received some phone calls and some emails there is some um misinformation disinformation that is being spread that um Semino County is
getting rid of all of the buses and that people are not going to have any more transportation and routes are being eliminated yes and to use Commissioner Hur's phrase yes we are modifying and changing the way that we deliver transportation options to this
community it will not maybe be a bus anymore that picks you up but you will have the ability to get from point A to point B and multiple points beyond better than what you are able to do today so I just want to make sure uh for
those who are spreading the misinformation and disinformation we know who you are commissioner Constantine and Delari and we'll go right on down thank you okay so I just want to follow up on a few things i mean we've talked about a lot i'm not
trying to reinvent anything we've learned a great deal here i mean and and we're trying to piece together something that has been in place for a long time um has served a certain segment of the
population and has failed another certain segment of the population and now we're trying to build a better mousetrap so I applaud what we have done here i truly do i think this is amazing but we you know as Commissioner
uh Lockheart just said and and she didn't say it directly but I think we're not we're not establishing a new bus system we're trying to build as a a better mousetrap so you know we we I know you have done
and like I said you've learned a lot we've learned a lot you've gone through a lot of the dynamics and what we're really trying to accomplish here and you know one of the things that I go back
to sometimes things that have happened in the past that I have with the inst you know some of the institutional knowledge I have and there was a there was a a great man truly who passed away recently who was actually Nicole Guier our former
county manager's father he was an amazing human being and he ran the regional planning council for a long long time when it had 60 DRIs going on at the same time you know when truly regional planning councils were into the
land planning and one of the things he did there was a problem with par transit in central Florida this is late '8s and he decided that he was going to tackle that and the ultimate thing was you had
this huge room call-in center this and that and that I understand it was before what we have today you know AI and everything else but it became a disaster and a total disaster and was part of the
real problem that that that started the downfall in many cases and again this was a a great man who did a lot of great things and he wanted he saw a problem he wanted to solve it i don't I don't want us to have a see a problem and try to
solve it and make it worse so I'm I I want to be very careful in how we are not only presenting this as Commissioner Lockheart just said because we want people to understand we're trying to do a better system but also that we've
covered everything and you know some of the some of the questions that I go ahead that we haven't even discussed today is like have we thought about our own regional transportation authority i know we've mentioned that before but have we really
looked into it because that opens us up to grants and other opportunities and we already have a multimodal transportation system in Semino County for free a bet it's just beginning but you know it's
the system that Altoont Springs has and you know it it so we we do have in our comp plan and in everything a multi-transit system is this truly going to get us the multimodal approach which Commissioner
Delorei has I've heard him say this many times and I and I I have said it many times also throughout my career especially in the legislature when doing Sunreil the multimodal system are we truly engaging and ensuring that we're doing a total multimodal
situation can we transition because I I do believe that automated cars are coming I do believe automated transportation coming i bet Tommo Hanley who thinks it's going to happen tomorrow i truly think it is going to come and we have to
be able to transition and I heard long-term contracts flying cars that I want to make sure yeah flying cars too yeah scary you being in a flying car though for the sake of getting a break I'm gonna move on i want to move on i'm
trying please these are important to me i want to get this okay have we really engaged people that know this system incredibly well throughout the nation like Paul Scatalis and people like that um I'm sorry i don't know who Paul is i
I think Paul Scatalis is is is in charge of the transit systems throughout the United States he's used to be actually the director of links so I'll I'll tell you what let me let me finish i just want to make sure that we're doing this
and then I like you said we can continually change the system i see us as you know setting a limit that limit being less than links today supplemented by the other costs that we or other monies that we can so
we can increase it but I look at this like a a a a commercial um like commercial solid waste contract i don't think we should put all our eggs in one basket i think we should have competition i think we should set the
standards and the criteria of what we expect of these people and if you meet that criteria you can work within this system and then you have a a number of choices you're not worried about somebody selling their software or
owning the software or this or that you're not you you know can have I'm going to use Commissioner uh hers dashboards you could have every one of them up there and you could have choice and competition with the citizens i don't think that that would be there's
so many balls in the air right now in the complicate i think that would be something that actually could be of benefit and would keep us out of the system where we select one and then all of our eggs are in that one basket commissioner Delorei thank you Mr
chairman and uh Lee I think you've hit on something because I was going to bring it up as well what we did with our solid waste we actually had three zones back in the day and now the three zones only have two providers have we thought about diving up the county to multiple
providers we we said in the RFP that we were looking at one um just because of transfers and things like that but but we could we could do that we can go back to expounding on what Commissioner Constine just spoke about if that's the flavor of the board we can certainly do that but I mean it's something that we
should be looking at uh you know there is obviously a lot more questions here than what we've been uh discussing uh I like the idea of getting more information have you looked at the transportation master plan on how this
could potentially affect it with the additional vehicles because on one end they got 20 and another end you got 70 vehicles if this is going to be taking off is the vehicle going to go over a 100 vehicles i don't know uh what happens
when we run out of money because we talked about what the money we're using saving from links if our spend rate is more than what the annual savings is then where does that money come from and how does that system work in perpetuity for that
following year the rest of that year uh those that come some of the questions uh do we own our own data data so the data that these companies are going to be obtaining who owns the data uh in this whole system are we talking
about education of the public what type of educational program they're going to have are they just going to be off and running and then I asked about the pre-tax dollars uh and then there's more questions but in safer
time and then we talked about federal grants but my real question is what happens when you exceed the money that's allocated for links and then with links with their routes that we're decommissioning so to speak what happens to their stops
and their benches are they required by our agreement to remove them and then what happens with all that asset that's out there on the street because I don't want people sitting on a park uh bus bench waiting for links to show up and there's nobody showing up because that
will happen that's it for now so my thought process is again I think staff's done a wonderful job and gathering this data he spent a great deal of staff time interacting with these people and
again a lot of good things have been stated here but the initial purpose for us going down this path is to replace what we currently have in a bus service now we can align that with multimodal we
can align it with other things as soon as we get on our feet yep and it's going to take a time process even with those experts that staff has met with again I have no delusions that there's going to be some speed bumps some hiccups and I
don't care how many news outlets you put it on how much Facebook you put it on we are going to get calls the bus didn't come it's just going to happen and we're going to have to be able to deal with that pivot move and and and make those
changes again there's so much opportunity to this but if if if we think we want to go out and put a whole new RFP scope out there I have zero interest in that whatsoever we know that the budget process at lengths has taken place we
know what the reduction is based on our staff has already met with them what we don't know is what through the process may be additional costs that Lynx is going to have when they go to the new budget year for what we are keeping and how that may impact this so at the end
of the day looks like to me based on the numbers you get about $10 million to spend i'm looking for the best bang for the buck for under $10 million that we're replacing for the Lynx project commissioner her so I'd like to start by
saying that this entire opportunity to modernize mass transit in Semino County came from Commissioner Lockhart being assigned to links so congratulations to the chairman for putting her on there and congratulations to you for thinking there it's not outside of the box
thinking it's there is no box let's figure out how we build a better mousetrap so we wouldn't be here had it not been for you challenging the status quo and I appreciate that and the citizens should appreciate that i have no interest in doing multiple vendors i think that just makes our work much more
difficult and it changes the dynamic of the vendor they are no longer our partner they are competitors with the other vendor and I don't think that's what we want when we are in the learning stages of bringing on a new service into the county we don't have a whole team of
transportation experts that needs to manage this contract so we need to pick the best possible vendor manage the contract i would actually say to legal if we don't own our data in every single contract that we have out there that ought to be a standard clause in everything that we do not just
transportation um I don't think it impacts multimodal yet i think that the if we choose the right vendor the vendors will modify to to work toward multi-modal we in essence are privatizing this and so they will become
more and more competitive as time goes by uh with that I think we need to move ahead i think you need to take it back to the market to get a standardized response with the number of zones that we I think aligned around i'm not sure good luck with that
um and and take it to the next step i don't think we can afford to wait lynx needs to know what we're doing our citizens need to know what we're doing and they need better service than they're having now mr german um I I appreciate very much the credit
that you just gave me but I'm going to pass the credit baton one more time because in 20 February of 2019 I recall vividly sitting at this dis and looking at Commissioner Delari like he had two
heads when he said "We need to get rid of links and just move to Uber and He wasn't wrong he was just ahead of his time he was he was too far ahead of where we were as as a as an organization
and as a community at that time so I remembered this it just hit me the other day and I asked Patty if she could please find the minutes in the video from that conversation and she did i'm gonna I'm gonna forward I'm a lot younger then i'm going to forward it to
you all so you can see it and for yourselves because it is proof that everything old is new again um nothing is created commissioner Delari stated he wants to see you know the difference between this year and last year's quarterly reports um we had
uh an opportunity commissioner Constantine was the chairman of links at the time um commissioner a discussion in a discussion ensued imagine that uh regarding Uber andyft and in which commissioner Delari stated our current
links cost was about around 7 million he questioned how many rides Lynx is doing i'll save you the um the details but we didn't know still don't still still don't know um fast forwarding to the very end this
board in 2019 gave the then county manager direction to look at alternative options and see what we could do because we knew it was a runaway cost that we were not going to be able to get control of and we are in the same situation and
we've we have to make a change for service reasons for financial reasons there are so many different things that we have pressures and um responsibilities on this board and delivery services of deliveries of
service that we need to make to our citizens and with the current model we have almost zero control other than counting routes to keep our costs under control we are completely at a regional transportation authorities's mercy this
gives us puts us in the driver's seat it allows us to make very quick changes and decisions for our citizens if they need to be made and um I agree wholeheartedly we need to move forward we do need to give links an answer and let them know what it is that we're um planning so
that they can plan i will throw out there I I want and I consensus hopefully from the board to have the county manager and his team have a very keen eye on the squishiness of the
numbers because I am concerned that when they find the routes that we are going to be changing we may see costs increase in another area because they're going to get their pound of flesh or they're going to want to get their pound of flesh and we need to be we need to be
guarded against that and be protected against that because um because you know M you had somebody else nope go ahead Commissioner Cost and Commissioner i love the squishiness the boat load and all the other very
specific words that you're using today um the fact of the matter is we want to know we want to make sure that we also know though that we're not eliminating or being or or taking ourselves out of the regional system we are still keeping
the basic routes that we feel are important to our citizens to continue so let's just make sure that so nobody thinks or can go out there and write that we're trying to get you know that we're trying to get get ourselves out of links we are not we're trying to make
our system in Semino County more efficient and at the same time using the the resources that we have today to keep the routes that we think are Yeah let me let me let me expound on that if you wouldn't mind Mr chairman we've been talking about the cost of links for a
number of years and about how to be more cost effective we've asked them time and time again i can't even remember how many years because it's a number of years that we've been asking and we've not been getting any response and this
is with a lack of response you have to do something and this is what we're doing if they have a better response and they can get under control I'm willing to stay with links but give us something i'm just give us something great well for me that that ships left the harbor
five years ago uh Commissioner Her given how far down the road we are I I think we need to continue to move forward and with that in mind I'm actually willing to make the motion to approve item number 23 to submit a grant application for the public transit service
development program of up to $10 million for the microtransit services in Semino County second motion second any further discussion seeing none all those in favor i opposed like sign mr chairman one more thing when they do bring this back I'd like to know which companies
have experiences going after grants and being successful with grants all All three of them we all three yes i want to see I want to see more detail okay seeing none motion carries unanimously keep
going okay we'll see everybody at 1:30 we'll be in recess until then get a 15 or 18 minute break Part: 2
if you're 25% of the city you need to get 25% Good afternoon Welcome to the afternoon session the public uh hearing session of the board of county commission meeting here in Semino County Uh the date is
April 22nd 2025 The time is approximately 1:30 p.m Our first item up on the agenda is proclamation proclaiming May 4th through 10th 2025 is public service recognition week in Semino County And I will read
that proclamation in and then Miss Christina Brandolini will do the awards and recognition Proclamation of the Semino County Board of County Commissioners proclaiming May 4th through 10th 2025 as public service recognition week in Semino County
Florida Whereas public service recognition week has been celebrated during the first week of May since 1985 as a time to honor the people who serve our communities as public service employees And whereas public service is among the most noble thankless and
demanding professions And whereas over 1,600 hard-working talented people are employed by Semino County And whereas in often difficult circumstances our employees work to protect and improve the quality of our life for our residents businesses and visitors And
whereas public service employees serve as frontline workers and first responders in times of crisis leaving their homes and families behind to help the community recover from natural disasters And whereas Semino County residents are impacted every single day by county employees who serve in many
valuable ways helping to make life better and striving to meet the needs of a diverse population and everchanging environment And whereas without public service employees at every level delivery of essential services would not be possible And whereas public service employees should be commended for their
dedication and continued service to our citizens and community Now therefore be it proclaimed that the board of county commissioners of Semino County Florida hereby proclaims the week of May 4th through 10th 2025 as public service recognition week adopted as 22nd day of
April 2025 Second Motion second All those in favor i oppose like sign carries unanimous Thank you all very much Miss Brandolini you're up and we appreciate you bringing this to us today Of course Good
afternoon chairman and commissioners Christina Brandolini human resources director It's especially fitting that this afternoon we will honor employees who have dedicated years of public service to Semino County Please join us as we recognize employees who have reached milestone anniversaries and
retirements Jose Gomez with development services will lead us off with the retirement of Howard Mueller after 20 years of service Good Good afternoon commissioners Uh so Howard Mueller's story is one of dedication adventure and unwavering commitment A proud US Marine Corps
veteran Howard spent several memorable years in Alaska before eventually planting roots in Florida A true motorcycle enthusiast he was well known for riding his Harley soft tail deluxe to work rain or shine Howard began his career with
Semino County on August 2nd 2005 as a building inspector He transitioned to the role of building plans examiner on January 15 2023 Beyond his professional accomplishments Howard is a devoted husband father grandfather and great-grandfather Since his retirement
in January the 3rd 2025 he's been savoring well-earned time with his family and embracing the freedom that comes with this new chapter We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Howard for his nearly two decades of service and dedication We wish him nothing but the best as he rides into retirement
surrounded by family fueled by adventure and always chasing chasing the horizon on two wheels Thank you Next we have Johnny Edwards utilities director and he will be recognizing Timothy Moy lead in instrumentation and
control technician for 20 years Good afternoon Um Johnny Edwards utilities director Um like to introduce Timothy Moy uh who started with Semino County in January of 2005 Uh who I think at that point in time most of us remember uh most of Central Florida was
recovering from hurricanes Charlie Francis and Jeans and it was a sea of blue rooftops everywhere Uh and and it was also a time before mountain man beards were cool And in the 20 years since then uh Tim has definitely through his dedication
grown through the ranks Um transitioning from student to teacher um is a mentor to many people uh in in the department Um and it's lead instrument instrumentation and control technician basically responsible for making sure that all the buttons and levers on the
control panels work for the people that use them Um Tim is supported u by his wife and three dogs who love to vacation as you can guess in the mountains And we greatly appreciate the work that Tim does One of the many unsung heroes for the department in Semino
County Kim Orberg environmental services director will be recognizing Shannon Wetzel watershed management division manager with 20 years of service and Steven Evan team leader with 25 years of service Good afternoon Kim Orinberg um
environmental services director And yes I want to thank um having this opportunity to thank Shannon and Steve um for their years of service I know this is going to be a little bit sappy Um but it's genuine and true because I
am really happy to be here presenting these service recognition awards to them because they're two of the very best people I've had the privilege of working with and since I've joined Seminal County They represent the epitome of public service They take pride in their
work and they care for our community They're always willing to help out regardless of the task And if they see something that needs to be done or someone that needs help they will volunteer rather than asking to having to be asked They always with a smile and
a positive attitude Um like pulling someone out of the mud when they've been stuck out in the field me many years ago more than once um or volunteering to take on difficult situations or personalities with
calmness and grace That's why we call her Switzerland They're both married and they have two children whom they're both very proud of And for the record Shannon is not married to to Charlie Wetzel
She's married to Tim Wetszel Um but I am very proud to have them on my team And moreover I consider them both my friends and part of my work family And I want to thank them for everything they've done and continue to do every day They've
made real contributions to Seol County making it such a special place to work and live And I thank them for all that they do And Ronnie Hope wanted me to tell everyone that he loves you Steve Thank you
Rick Durr parks and recreation director will recognize Jennifer Robels customer service representative with 25 years of service and Lorie Stevens also customer service representative with 25 years of service Good afternoon Rick Durr parks
recreation director and we're as um Christina just said we're recognizing two folks that have been with us in our library services group for for a very long time and we really appreciate their contribution to our to our county Um we'll start with Jennifer Robels She was hired in January of 2000 as a library
page where she shel shelved books at the central branch was then promoted to a part-time staff assistant position in 2001 and full-time staff assistant in 2005 By July 2007 Jennifer came to work at the West Branch where she still works now Jennifer started working towards her
masters in library sciences in fall of two 2020 and graduated with that master's degree in August of 2024 She would love to eventually work as a children's librarian Jennifer has literally grown up in the library She went through finishing school getting married having kids and now her two
teenagers a son and a daughter now volunteer in the library Congratulations Jennifer So Lori Miss Stevens started her library career as a page you see a theme going on shelving books at the East Branch She was promoted to part-time staff
assistant in 2002 and transferred to the central branch She worked in the library's technical services unit and provided books by mail service to library patrons unable to go to the library in person She later transferred to the north branch in Sanford Lorie's 25 years with the Semino County Library
System has been marked by an enthusiastic commitment to our mission of enriching lives and engaging minds Her fine arts and literary programs have blended well into the growing artistic community here in the city of Sanford Lor's impact extends well beyond the library walls The book club she founded
at the North Branch now meet outside the library on a regular basis and the members have built genuine friendships that have lasted for years Next year sadly or not sadly from your standpoint um Lori will retire from our library system and she will be sorely missed But
in the meantime congratulations for 25 years of service Matt Hassan deputy public works director will be recognizing Derek Griev senior team leader with 20 years of service and Martin Butcher crew chief with 30 years of service
Good afternoon um chairman and commissioners Uh this is Matt Hassan deputy public director Uh and today we'll uh be recognizing uh Martin Butcher for his 30 years of service with roads and store motor division uh with
public works Martin and of course uh Derek So Martin currently works uh for the district 5 team He was hired as a maintenance worker on January 17th 1995 Uh in 1997 he was promoted to an
equipment operator and moved up to an equipment operator too In 2006 uh he became a crew chief in 2015 Martin skilled at doing roadway shoulder repairs and asphalt patching as well as
ditch maintenance Uh he can operate variety of uh heavy equipment uh but is known for his experience with gradel Thank you for your service The second recognition is for Derek Uh
Derek began his uh career as a senior team leader on January 3rd 2005 He was promoted to crew chief in 2006 and his team leader uh and and team leader in 2015 Derek has been uh the senior team
leader overseeing district 2 and three since 2017 Derek is known for his natural leadership skill um and commitment to quality work Uh he has been instrumental in working with human resources to promote careers with
seminal county Thank you Derek And now we have Allison Thaw community services director And she uh did say she was going to try to keep the recognition of 35 years for Katherine Schubert to under two minutes So time
Good afternoon commissioners Allison Thaw community services director And I have with me Kathy Schubert And Kathy is my veteran service officer of 35 years She's been with the county for 35 years
28 with the VSO but I'm getting there So sit back relax We're going to go Um so literally Kathy came to Semino County in February of 1990 She came from a small CPA firm and um actually began her career in the
planning division where she started working with the impact fees She worked there for about two years and then moved over to public works and she worked in public works for five years Then one day in October about 1998 she was approached
by a gentleman named Bill Scally who happened to be the veteran service officer at the time And he said to Kathy "Hey Kathy you should try becoming a veteran service officer." And she's like "Okay." She's like "Besides nobody wants the job
so you might like it because it could be interesting." So Kathy said "Okay." And went home and thought about it and she thought about it and she thought about it and she said "You know what that does sound pretty interesting I think I want to try this out." So the rest honestly
they say is history and Kathy has been our veteran service officer for the past 28 years with with Seminal County Kathy entered drop three years ago and was ecstatic when they extended the drop because she automatically signed up So
she has at least five more years So hopefully you'll be celebrating her 40th year in the next five years because I don't think she's going anywhere Are you so one quick not so one quick note So one just
real quick note Kathy's Kathy's fellow veteran service officers love to tease her and they literally say "Kathy I wasn't even born when you started working here." Which is a true statement Kathy thank you for your service and for being the bedrock of my veteran service
office I have so enjoyed working for the county and I do want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart Thank you Thank you That concludes our presentation So we'll do pictures for the proclamation and the
individual service awards Absolutely If you'll meet us down on the floor Tomorrow Hello Heat Heat Heat Heat Oh Heat Heat Hello Hello You're
around Heat Heat You are me What is happening oh there he is We have a Let's get started I'll take some All right Next item up is item number 25
reduction of lean request This will be presented by Miss Alexis Valley code enforcement clerk Good afternoon Alexis Valley code enforcement clerk presenting item number 25 request for reduction This request
encumbers three cases and the violations for all three That's going to be uncultivated vegetation rubbish and abandoned vehicles The request is to reduce the leans from $214,395.64 to administrative costs of $1,39564 With the assistance with
assistance the current property owner brought the cases into compliance Summary of the first case is as follows On January 27 2022 the matter of abandoned vehicles came before the code enforcement board which issued a
findings effect giving the respondent a compliance date of February 28th 2022 or a fine of $100 per day may be imposed On July 27 2022 the code enforcement board issued an order finding non-compliance and imposing a
fine lean in the amount of $15,000 for 150 days of non-compliance to continue to acrew at $100 per day until the property is brought into compliance The affidavit of compliance states that the property was brought into compliance as of January 27 2025 making the
outstanding lean total $106,85646 Summary of the next case On January 27 2022 the matter of uncultivated vegetation came before the code enforcement board which issued a findings effect giving the respondent a compliance date of February 28th 2022 or
a fine of $50 per day may be imposed On July 27 2022 the code enforcement board issued an order finding non-compliance and imposing a fine lean in the amount of $7500 for 150 days of non-compliance and ordered that a fine continue to
acrewue at $50 per day until the property is brought to compliance The affidavit of compliance states that the property was brought into compliance as of January 24th 2025 making the outstanding lean total $53,51959 In the last case on January 27
2022 the matter of rubbish came before the code enforcement board was issued a findings of fact giving the respondent a compliance date of February 28th 2022 or a fine of $50 per day may be imposed on July 27 2022 The code enforcement board
issued an order finding non-compliance and imposing a fine/lean um in the amount of 7500 for 150 days of non-compliance and ordered that a fine continued to acrew at $50 per day until the property is brought into compliance
The affidavit of compliance states the property was brought into compliance as of February 3rd 2025 making the total lean $54,1959 This is a financial summary table of the case and
um the 2024 assessed value is shown there as well as a breakdown of all three leans And at the bottom to the right it's the grand total of the leans which is um $214,39564 review
criteria Um deputy county manager determined this request did not fail the seminal county criteria based on the following The amount of the lean as compared to the value of the property The amount of the leans exceed the 2024 certified assessed value of the property
The actions taken or not taken by the property owners in attempting to abate the violation The applicant reports that his medical physical limitations have become major problems when completing daily tasks in maintaining the property himself and has received assistance from
prospective purchasers to remedy these cases as he is a disabled veteran The amount of t staff time expended The non-compliance period spanned approximately four years with a collective 32.3 hours per staff
affidavit Request for reduced amount The applicant requests that the board make an exception to its established guidelines and reduce the total amount secured by the leans to the collective administrative costs for the following reasons One financial hardship The applicant provided statements in his
application outlining his financial struggles Two medical hardship The applicant provided statements that he has medical conditions that made compliance difficult to achieve due to his physical limitations Applicant requested action
The applicant requests that the board consider and make a final determination on the applicant's request for a reduction due to financial and medical hardship of the leans to the collective administrative costs of $1,39564 And should the amount of the leans be reduced authorize the chairman
to execute a satisfaction of lean upon payment of the approved reduced amount if any That concludes my presentation Thank you Any questions for staff is the applicant here wish to make any presentation or comment to the board the
applicant is here as well as the assist the people that have assisted him and they are here to speak on his behalf Okay If you would folks please come up if you'd like to speak And if you would just give us your name and address for the record as you
speak please My name is Harry David Bilsbro and I live for Dominique If you'll ask them to come up to the other podium please My name is Harry David Bilsbro Um I was ex-Navy since uh
200 two 2003 I lived at fi live at 560 East 2nd Street Julio Florida Okay And about four years ago I started to have problems uh with my health because in my 30s I had Crohn's disease
While I recovered from that it required a couple radical surgeries And as I got older it's more difficult to deal with the medical expense and dealing with the issue itself And I worked in IT for 30ome years and
more and more it now is for younger people And uh doing the travel I did cuz I worked for 10 years for General Dynamics for doing Army National Guard projects traveling was more difficult to
do and the contract had gone away and each time I found work it lasted for shorter periods of time due to buyouts downsizes and other issues Thank you sir And ma'am did you want to say
something uh my name is Andrea Tolbert and just for the record I think the case presented covered pretty much all of the issues So I don't really have anything to add to it at this point Okay Very good Thank you Anyone here to speak on this matter
other than what's been spoken so far no sir Seeing none we will go to board action This is Commissioner Delari's district Commissioner thank you Mr Chairman And after reviewing this uh application and talking to staff I believe that the final determination of the application request upon reduction
due to financial and medical hardships of lean following leans case number 21-76- CEB 23 21-77 CEB and 2176 CEB for the
collective administrative cost of $1,395.64 64 cents and should the amount of lean be reduced uh authorize the chairman to execute the satisfaction of lean upon payment of the approved reduction of as talked about here today
Second motion and second Any further discussion yes Commissioner her I just want to read the case numbers again because I heard it differently It may have been said right but just for the record Case number 21-76- CEB and
21-77-CEBB and 21-78- CEB If I said them wrong I apologize It could have been me but we don't want you to have any trouble later Right Exactly Okay Commissioner Yeah Mr Chairman Um since this gentleman has you
know it's this is three different things and I want to I support the motion but I want to make sure that we have a support system for him so this does not continue I mean have we have we h have you contacted the veterans our veterans
department or anything for help sir you know since you said that you were a veteran in the Navy and and because each one of these things seem to be a physical concern that you know rubbish or vegetation or something So can is
there a way that we can help you so that this doesn't happen again part of this is the property has become too large for me to take care of by myself So it's just forcing a sale and I'm going to move to
uh or rent something that I I don't have to deal with this type of stuff Have I contacted VA mostly about medical stuff the change in the job market the VA can't help as much They don't control the job market I just wanted to make
sure that you know you're not out there and you know somebody's there to that help And I see you have neighbors that are also there So that's good Yes Thank you Okay we have a motion second All those in favor i oppose like sign Seeing none carries unanimous Thank you all
very much for being here today Next item up is item number 26 reduction of lean request This will also be presented by Miss Alexis Valley Good afternoon Again for the record Alexis Bal clerk to the code enforcement
board presenting item number 26 This is a request for a reduction as well The code enforcement violations are trash and debris uncultivated vegetation and other objectionable objectionable unsightly matter The request is to
reduce the lean from $350,540.19 to administrative costs of $440.19 The previous property owner brought the property into compliance The current property owners received the property through a probate matter in
2024 Summary of the case The case was originally cited in October 2008 for the seminal county code violations of trash debris and cultivated vegetation and other objectionable unsightly matter On January 22nd 2009 the code enforcement
board issued a findings of fact requiring compliance no later than February 4th 2009 Lean hearing was held on March 26 2009 Is there was an order finding non-compliance and imposing fines/lean of $5,000 which will continue
to acrew at $100 per day until brought into compliance The property was brought into compliance on September 6th 2018 This is a financial summary of the case showing the conveyance type as a probate order the 2024 assessed value daily
accured fines and the total lean amount of $350,54140.19 Review criteria Deputy County Manager determined this request did not fail the seminal county criteria based on the following The amount of the lean as compared to the value of the property The amount of the lean exceeds
the 2024 certified assessed value of the property The actions taken or not taken by the property owners in attempting to abate the violation The property the previous property owners rectified the violations prior to current ownership The amount of staff time expended The
non-compliance period spanned approximately 9 years with a collective 10.45 hours per staff affidavit Request for reduced amount The applicant requests that the board make an exception to its established guidelines and reduce the total amount
secured by the lean to administrative costs or not to exceed $5,000 for the following reasons The current property owners did not cause the violation There is a prospective purchaser interested in the property who upon reduction of the lean will
potentially purchase the property and make sure compliance is upheld Applicant requested action The applicant requests that the board consider and make a final determination on applicants request for reduction of the lean to the
administrative costs of $440.919 And should the lean ex amount be reduced authorize the chairman to execute a satisfaction of lean upon payment of the approved reduced amount if any That concludes my presentation Thank you Any questions for
staff seeing none is the applicant here and desire to make any statements the attorney is here Okay Good afternoon Mr Capro Good afternoon I'm here with Mr Grime who's the prospective purchaser of the property The um the actual owners are uh well I'm
sorry Phil Capro Uh 5200 South US 17 Highway 1792 sweet 1000 Castlebury Florida 32707 Um the current owners are actually three sisters that are the uh heirs of the two prior owners Um historically this was
something that was handled by the couple that owned the property and then just sat and continued to acrewue and continued to have time built because it took nine years for I guess one of the spouses passed and then the other one got it fixed right before passing before
it got squared away Um the new owner the sisters wanted to say they inherited it Uh didn't know about it at first until Mr Brian approached him about purchasing the property and then when he started looking into it the costs exceed what the value of the property would be Um we
did request a reduction to administrative costs We also understand that uh that oftenimes does not adequately compensate the county uh we provided an alternative if the court if the count if the commission did not want to accept uh the administrative costs um
then we had suggested that under the statute if a uh code issue was deemed irreversible or uncorrectable it's a maximum of $5,000 since the current donors and the prospective purchaser can't fix something that's already been fixed that was the logic that I was
looking at um certainly they'd be happier with the lesser amount but uh that's up to the will of the commission Okay Any questions for the applicant i'd like to hear directly from the applicant if that's okay I'd like to hear from the the applicant The potential buyer The
potential buyer Hello my name is Elliot Grime I live at 683 Bear Creek Court Warner Springs 32708 Uh I own a general contracting company So my intention on the property is to pull permits and uh revamp the property you know new roof new plumbing
electrical air conditioning all those kind of things and bring it back to a home that can be lived in Okay great Thank you very much Yeah and we we have been maintaining the property um since we've been in negotiations with the sisters u mowing the grass getting
trees trimmed professionally and some other things to make sure that the neighbors were not inconvenienced Thank you Thank you Anyone else seeing none anybody here from the public to speak on this matter no sir Seeing none we will go to board action Commissioner
Delari this is your district Mr Chairman thank you Uh since the person who just spoke is in purchasing buying the property He didn't actually cause the issue There's a death in the family The people that actually now own the property didn't cause the issue uh now
that they're bringing this back on path and it's going to be uh a point where I believe that uh it's going to be an asset to the community since this is contract the applicant I'd like to make a motion to uh consider the final
determination of the applicant's request in reduction of the lean administrative cost of $44.19 and should the lean be reduced and authorized the chairman to execute the satisfaction lean upon approval payment and approve reduction amount
Second motion second Any further discussion commissioner her So from my perspective the acquisition is to for lack of a better word flip redevelop the property which does acrue positively to the community but this
community lived with nine years worth of violations That from to me is that's a detriment to the community for nearly a decade I I I would support moving it to 5,000 I'm struggling to support moving it to 440 I don't think
5,000 is punitive I don't think 440 is the right number As Commissioner Constantine has said a hundred times we don't do this math right We're still working on fixing that Um so that's that's where I would lean on this No pun intended
Go ahead Commissioner Well we have had those conversations repeatedly about the administrative costs not really being reflective Um not to compare your situation to the case right prior to you but from the basis of a medical hardship
or a financial hardship those are two of the things that we typically look at which we don't really have here I I think something greater than the 440 would probably be more appropriate to be consistent with other decisions that we've made Uh Mr Chairman I'd like to amend the the amount but still keep the
motion of uh bring it to $3,500 Second Motion second Any further discussion seeing none all those in favor i oppose like sign Seeing none pass unanimously Thank you all very much for being here
today Thank you Thank you Okay Next up is the county attorney's report Chairman I have no report today Fantastic County Manager Report Just a couple things One as a fellow tourist that birthday is coming up Mr Jose Gomez
birthday is today So happy birthday Happy birthday Um but also uh we've had a great turnout for our citizens academy for the last three uh events that we've had We've had over 300 citizens show up to those We've
got three more coming up over the next couple of weeks So I just want to thank the citizens I want to thank the board for allowing us to do this as well as um Chris Patton communications group as well as all of our directors and team team members who are putting this together And that's all I have chairman
Thank you Very well We will go to district reports Commissioner Constantine Thank you And that was part of my thing I I've been to two out of the three citizens and I just got chastised by Kim Warberg for not being at hers I apologize But I wanted to tell
you Chris you're doing I think this is a much better idea than that you know that very straightforward stayed thing where you have to go to this and that And I think it's going worked out really well and I congratulate all of you Uh on
August 9th or April 9th uh the MO had a transportation summit over at Lake Mary's Event Center I want to congratulate Commissioner Delorei for being the chairman of that and and moving that forward It was very interesting Um and uh I think a lot of
um it was I do believe that a lot of good ideas and um and and really strategy came out there and we'll we'll see some of the results as we move forward Also yesterday it was great to be at the set
um at our veterans appreciation lunchon it I I really felt that that was a wonderful event the best one yet Congratulations to all that were involved with that Um this coming weekend as you know today is Earth Day
but this coming weekend we have the U Makiva Island is going to have an Earth Day We also have uh or that's the Friday I believe that the U St John's Festival the Arts is coming up Always a great event and the city of Castlebury is
going to have an Earth fest Um also I I do want to um highlight the Harvest Times new program which is a supply store and
pantry for other nonprofits And I think this is you know something that we've all been um really supportive of is nonprofits helping other nonprofits and that they are going to put together a supply store and pantry that
nonprofits can come in and and pick up supplies and food and everything I think is just a a wonderful wonderful idea and goes really um directly to their um that
organization's uh reason and statement of why they want you know why they want to and how they want to help the community Um tomorrow uh is the administrative professionals day I hope
we all remembered that And um on the 25th Semino County uh April 25th 1913 Semino County was founded 112 years ago Now I I still remember when I first got elected that Commissioner Lockheart
was in charge of that 100th year anniversary And uh I was the party planner You were the party planner You did a great job Thank you On the 28th uh our county manager is going to uh have his birthday He's going to go he's
going to be able to go into the uh ARP or whatever that is AARP organization But congrat congratulations I did want to mention a um a couple of things I I that um I
brought up before and um our deputy county manager Trisha Johnson and I have talked about a couple One of them is the Senate Bill 818 Um if you recall they were trying to take u or require us it's specifically
Spectrum was leading the charge to take away uh our ability to or have to pay them and other cable companies when we had to disrupt the right of way in building
roads Substantial amount of dollars that would have cost us In fact the conservative estimate was $50 a square foot So a mile you can do the math that's a quarter of a million dollars Um and uh of course once they got it the
other utilities would love to have it too Um that has been amended to take out a super fund to the state We're still going to lose money It's up from the worst case scenario to only a bad
situation but they're going to take 7 12% The bill currently takes away 7 and 12% of everybody's communications tax approximately puts it into a super fund that they can then apply for And um you know again what what the cable companies
forget is the reason they're able to use our um our right ofway for free was an agreement that was made way back when I was in the Senate where they would pay or they would get the utilities free if we would a utility right of way to use
our right of way and they would um collect a service fee tax That's that's no longer and as we all know our ser our communications taxes has been very level lately In fact going down a little bit Well now we can expect another 7 and a
half% loss in that this year Um that's encouraging Yes Uh and that's the best scenario that we can expect Um I I did get word however that in the House Bill
943 which is the companion to 1730 of the the changes in live local um uh there has been a retroactive date put in Now that does not mean that that bill will pass It just means I'm not going to say anymore It's
just moving along Um I did in in in in talking about our 100th 12th birthday Um next year is the United States of America's 250th birthday and I was hoping that um I you know just asking
that we start planning something I don't know you got it on your report too Good I I would hope that we do something for that Um I think it's obviously it's important Um also another person of
significance that I think that we need to recognize and I've talked this is something that I've talked to Darren about and and uh I hope that you all would agree Um our good friend and a really a a person that has really
highlighted Semino County in Central Florida in the many years that he's been on television Uh our friend Lee Corso is retiring from from Semino County Uh is retiring from game day and he's an FSU
played football You know the scooter is what he was known as Um but he played defensive back and and uh quarterback Um but he is going to be retiring at almost I think he's 89 years old 90 years old But I think it would be great if we
planned something really s uh nice for him He's he has you know has really highlighted this community in Semino County If you've ever watched Gabe Day he's always talking about how wonderful his home is here in Semino County And um
also just a request that um uh understanding that we have decided in the last elect the last meeting that we were going to end fluoride in our water that when we do that that we as we do that that we do send notice I would hope
that we have a plan to send notice and alternatives to fluoride for thing I've talked to you about that u Mr gray And I just want to make sure that I did not just do it in in a vacuum and I'm I let everybody know that I that there's something that I believe we should be
doing Uh with that that's the end of my Commissioner Lockhart Yeah Um so on April 11th the city of Altoont uh and the Banyan East Town Apartments had a ribbon cutting for their new affordable
housing project um which our team was very instrumental in in making sure that it happened There was support from a variety of different funding sources and our our staff helping to pull that together It was a great um example of uh city county state and federal and the
private sector coming together to make that project a reality It's walking distance to the Altimont um Sunreil station and they are already um 100% leased up and this is a project for people at um 60% of AMI or below Uh
there are some folks in the 30% range as well but um just a beautiful beautiful facility beautifully located Um so proud of everybody who made that happen We need more projects like that in Semino County
Um I did uh just return from Washington DC traveling with Seminal State College as one of 10 finalists for the Aspen prize which means that your seminal community college state college is in the top 1% of colleges nationwide Uh
while we didn't come away with the number one slot um we learned a lot and our competition was incredibly stiff Now that we know who else is out there in this country doing great work along with us um we're already taking notes of
applying again next uh for the next round And I can just tell you that that team represents not just the college but this community so well So be very very proud of our Seinal State crew Um I want to dispel a couple of things
publicly about Rosenwald Um there are some community rumors I don't know where they're coming from but that the county has sold Rosenwald to the state of Florida Um that is not true Um the county is still very much uh in ownership of Rosenwald and we are still
moving forward with the uh modifications to the property the improvements the community center uh all of the things we've talked about Trisha and I are going along with a couple of other staff members to the May 12th um community association meeting to be able to bring
the latest greatest an update I think we we probably need to be sending out some postcards maybe do some geo fencing social media to just make sure that the the facts are getting out that as we work with collage to make sure that we
have a a website that is stood up that we can direct people to to dispel rumors because I'll tell you what if if any community is really great with rumors it is East Alamont Windwood They they rock them So
um administrative professionals day is tomorrow I want to thank so much all of our team members who um just put up with so much just put up with so much in supporting the work that goes on in every department and every office in
this county So thank you all Um talking about America's 250th um so funny that we both have that on our our list I did have a meeting with the Sally Harrison chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution who are um very interested in spearheading
the um planning for whatever that looks like They they are going to be sending a letter um with a proposal of the types of things that they would like to do asking for not only our support and and collaboration but the cities and the school district
as well Um I don't know exactly what that's going to look like but as the party planner for Seminal County is hundreds I can tell you the amount of time effort and energy that it takes to put on that type of celebration
you really do have to start almost a year in advance and we're we're just about there So I would highly recommend that um we give some direction to the county manager for what type of support how much support we want to lend to that and and let someone
else take take the lead Historic commission get them involved They and we talked about all of the different historic societies because we have many of them in Semino County and and the D would reach out to all of them and make sure that they are all included and they could be the
um the the funnel point if that's something that we would like to take them up on But that is coming Um I'm just going to point out because we're because I because I want so much to be able to talk with you
all about the different commission committees that I serve on and and sometimes the the conversations are a little tedious moving forward with the medical examiner discussion next month Um I I just want to put on the record that the county manager our county manager sent a letter
to Marian's county manager in with a an official public records request um copied all of the other members of the medical examiner committee their administrative administrators as well And to my knowledge have we had any not
even No we haven't had a notif like receipt or thank you for your letter We'll be back in touch with you No No Much less a response to the public records request So part of my concern is that I am supposed to go on May 15 14th
to back to this meeting with our prop with Seminal County's proposal for our extraction from this um cooperative agreement But part of that proposal is based on some of the information that was supposed to be coming in that public records request
which we haven't received So I just want to make sure that we are still in alignment that um that our regardless of the response or lack of response we are extricating ourselves
Is that a question yes it it is a well I'm I'm asking for confirmation of where I believe we left things the last time and we left it that that letter was going to be sent and that we would be get assuming we would be getting a professional response and we have not
received that and so I just so I guess for me I would just like to have some more updated information um where that actually stands Has there been any dialogue or inquiries over the I was I was going to follow up with the manager and Marian I
was going to give him a just I was waiting um gosh it's been a month hasn't it Christian probably over a month that we sent that letter So I'll follow up with him before and see if we can get anything from them Isn't there a requirement of how long you have to turn around a public records request that's
rather reasonable but we didn't ask for that much information Right Right there's a requirement to acknowledge the request in the first place and we didn't get that very busy and so I I don't know that I need any more information I think we have to tap out of it I think Lake
provides us with an alternative I'm still on that path and that that being said I'm concerned and and that path started with you chairman and you're groaning over here So I'm I'm not sure that I think Lakes having the discussion I think we need to have make sure
everybody's understanding what's going on over at Lake right now as far as the discussion and what they've asked us to do Do you want to do that now i can actually have you do I can have Mr Swinson come up and Mr Chairman you know and I think that it's reasonable to ask
our county manager to reach out to Marian and say "What the heck's going on what's happening?" Yeah So that's what I would that's the next step We've got until as Commissioner Lockhart said May 14th So it's not like it's going to happen tomorrow right um and I think we
need to get to the bottom of why they're not being responsive I I just hope even by telephone we get a response because that has not been right Good communication has not not been not difficult necessarily what's occurred Go ahead Christian assistant county
manager There has been some conversations with Lake They've met with some of their constitutional partners on things and um they are discussing the feedback they got from their constitutional partners at the board meeting to at their board meeting today Um as well as some potential deal points
that we we sent over which is kind of the the stuff we talked about here and and referenced the letter and the information coming over from the letter So based upon what they come back with the intent was to provide you an update at the next board meeting Um as to what
their feedback is but I we're not sure if they're if they're still able to partner with us or not but that is part of their conversation today that they're having amongst their board Okay Thank you So I'll make sure we put it on our next board meeting Yeah if you could I
think for me critically it was to to make sure that our board knows where we are that there's not been a response and that if you are willing to continue to probe that response from them that would be super helpful because we're running out we are running out of time to bring it back to this board after we get the response from them
Right and I'm good with that Okay have to do with the sheriff So the so the sheriff and the state attorney are two of the most but well stakeholders that are that are involved and so it it's you know we've
talked to our sheriff and our state attorney and they are talking to theirs and there seems to be differing opinions of whether or not it benefits them or not to sure and we're in different districts right so in their different medical districts All right Thank you
Commissioner Herur I did tour the Sunreil Operations Center That was fabulous Thank you to FDOT Uh the Ovido Women's Club philanthropic awards ceremony was on the 15th They
gave away $70,000 in scholarships to local Ovido Ovido kids and to teachers which was amazing over the tenure of their uh being that it's been around a million two It's it's just amazing
impact of a group of ladies that sell stuff at a fair that we don't think very much of but it's generating a ton of money and it's amazing and and appreciated Um do want to give a shout out to anybody that's listening the three people that are listening you should know
that the tolling authorities meaning the expressway authority the turnpike F dot nobody sends you a text asking you to pay your tolls Please do not respond It is a scam It is apparently a very lucrative scam So we should all be on
the lookout for that probably not a bad idea if we're doing any sort of public service announcements to include that because it is it is rampant There was a presentation at CFX um with regard to EV toll which these are the
George Jetson you know take off in a little plane and go to your destination and his wife Janie and their boy Elroy That and their boy Elroy The the one old person and the person who apparently watched reruns
catches on Um and if you would like to see that presentation that that might be worth bringing here because it is interesting It's a private entity that did it and they're the ones that scope out land And the notion is that as we're planning they are looking
for relatively small plots of land but it has to be in in relativity to all sorts of constraints with flying But we need to be taking it into consideration as we're planning And then I would like to make an official request that we have John
Greenwood from Goldfinch come and present to us Not with regard to the employee benefit We've already done that But with regard to his billion pill pledge it is so far the only opioid
prevention program that I have found that actually does change uh the addiction rates in communities and it is by education It is a very lowcost structure and we have the ability to not just get people
unaddicted after they're addicted but to stop the addiction in its tracks by stopping the number of prescriptions that are being handed out in provers offices And um so it it's about a 20-minut presentation I'd ask with your
indulgence that we listen to that I'm okay I'm always happy to learn something new Yep Chairman commissioners I'm f I'm fine with it I'm okay with it All good
then That That was not the assumptive close but that was a little awkward but I'm going to go with it Uh and that concludes my report All right All right Commissioner Delari you're up sir Thank you Mr Chairman Uh
this Saturday April 26 from uh 3:00 p.m to 9:30 p.m the city of Avito is having their 100year anniversary celebration I know hopefully you've all gotten invites Just want to make sure that everyone got it because I was asked to make sure that
everyone received it Also want to thank everyone who uh was able to go to the veterans appreciation lunchon that we had uh yesterday which was April 21st We recognized the Korean War uh veteran His
name is General John McWaters Uh I also want to say thank you to everyone a part of that uh committee Uh we took over that issue uh with the veterans appreciation lunchon in 2019 and we're an ad hoc group We raise
all our own money uh we meet monthly and uh I will tell you that we all have our strengths and there's people that uh focus on the day of the event There's people that focus on the programming There's people that
focus on the fundraising and uh we have a chairman uh the last two years was Charles Davis Next two years will be Bobby Smith and uh we all have a lot to be thankful for We all work very hard on it and uh I know Andy Wog's in the back
We drive her a little bit crazy at times uh with the programming and the videos but uh uh a lot of people spent a lot of time on that Uh we did for the longest time have it at the uh Sanford Civic Center Uh I want to thank the city of
Sanford allowing us to be there for the past five years uh for free This year we're able to strike a deal with the uh uh Marriott in Lake Mary Uh they were able to give us a phenomenal price So we actually upped our game and we had to
raise more money to do it But uh if it wasn't for the Marriott as well as the city of Sanford allowing us to use them as the fallback if we couldn't raise the money we're going to go back to the city of Sanford But uh I want to thank the city of Sanford for participating in that and everyone uh but more
importantly thanking our veterans for the things that they've gave up to serve this great country It's a small minor way that to say thank you and uh next year I can't wait because it's going to be even better than this year and every year we've been improving it
and uh we'll see what's uh what holds for next year Congratulations It was great Yes In response to the OVTO invitation I I did get it through um Commissioner Zenau's office but I I got it Thursday
Okay And so I I already have so many things scheduled for Saturday It's just kind of a short notice I I was My apologies It's all right I got I got uh notified a couple days ago Okay So I'm just letting you know that So that's the reason why they contacted me Yeah Yeah
And they wanted to make sure that everyone they wanted to make sure that everyone got it because of the short turnaround Understood That was it Okay Mr Chairman Yes Yes sir If if I could I first of all I want to apologize to Commissioner Her that I left the room
there I I I saw that it was my best report ever Ever Well we actually named you that you're going to be handling something for the future Correct This may top it for you because it has to do something in your district
That was Representative Lopez and the senator that's sponsoring the bill and they agreed together to move it to January 1st 2023 the original date of the bill So um
you know that might you know pass Yeah let's you know let's hope it works Great for that information If I can continue Well I got one more thing I apologize I apologize This Saturday uh will be the
uh kids house gala April 26th Uh it's very important to us at Kids House Uh some major fundraiser with all the uh funding shortfalls that we've been experiencing over the last years Every fundraiser is very important to us So if you do come uh please put on your
calendar be there uh and uh please be generous and uh it's our children that are uh it's a wonderful event It is a wonderful event And then we also as Commissioner Constine spoke about uh this April 28th
on Monday is Darren Gay's birthday So Darren happy birthday Thank you A report see how nice that is Commissioner Constantine you don't have to add anything else to it I didn't mention Hey I apologize to everybody else I apologize to you too I
didn't mention his age I just said happy birthday All right Um my district report April 12th attended the Semino County Citizens Academy at the fire department Alamont was a great event Um April 17th attended
the county citizens economic development tourism uh event out at Bumba Also pretty well attended was not able to make the solid waste one this past weekend because of prior arrangements Of course April 22nd uh keep in mind this
evening for those who are not aware is Earth Day sunset sunset hike out at Lake Harney from 7 to 8:30 p.m at the wilderness at the Lake Harney Wilderness Area Uh no registration and it's free of charge April 24th uh is the uh scouts
golden eagle dinner which is my fundraiser for the year I know that several of you are already contemplating or planning to be there So we look forward to seeing you there April 25th of course already mentioned is the birthday of Semino County will be 112
years old Also April 25th here in Sanford Women's Build Awards will happen Um great event And then April 26th uh we have the Earth Day celebration 9:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m at the Ed Nagene Yarbor
Nature Center Uh no registration required there either Of course April 26th also there a lot of things going on The 100th anniversary city of Ovita that was already mentioned and the kids house gayla Also on May 1st um 2025 from 11:30
to 12:30 is the Sheriff's Faith-based Community Team National Day of Prayer which will be at the Lake Mary uh stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints at 2255 Lake Emma Road in Lake Mary Everything else in my
district seems to be going along just fine Um we also have an item before us for consideration by the board which is appointment of two members to the uh
Fred R Wilson Memorial Law Library Board of Trustees Hopefully everybody's had a chance to review those We have three uh candidates that have filled out uh applications to be put on that board
Two of them according to their applications have previously served So how would you all like to take these would you like to take them in order and just see how many votes each one gets or somebody want to make nominations i'll make a nomination for
Briana Bayham Okay Second motion second for Brianna Binham Y any further discussion all those discussion Okay We have three people we went to This would be the new person Is
that correct this is the person who on the application indicates they have not served there before Correct And the other two have served according to since since we would be eliminating one of them Is there um you know is there a reason why this person would be better
than those and I'm I'm just asking since you know you made the motion Yes Okay Okay And would you like to i wouldn't You would not I would not like to So I will tell you So I will tell you I I
have um met Miss Binham She has a wonderful history in this county serving um as a prosecutor Um so she's been in both the public and private sector Um I think sometimes it's good to have new
blood and um I she is very interested in serving and looking at an opportunity to to be a part of of the library Nicely done That was nicely done Yeah Yeah That's all I really wanted to know Thank you
You know her her um she has a recommendation from one of our current judges Uh I think the uh administrative current administrative judge has recommended her as well as um another attorney here in town in practice who we
all know very well and um I think she has a wonderful reputation and that's all I really wanted to know Thank you Any further discussion all those in favor i oppose like sign Seeing none carries unanimously I'll be looking for
a nomination for the next one of Mr Mark Rays or Mr Daniel Kavanagh Mr Chairman I'd like to make a motion to nominate Daniel Kavanagh Okay we have a motion for Mr Kavanagh High School Do we do we have a
second both of them did I I'll second And but again I would like Motion second Any reason any further discussion no particular reason It's just that I've heard some nice things about him The only reason Commissioner Lockart the only reason why I would recommend Mr Reyes instead is because Mr Reyes has
recommendations from Mr Kavanaaugh and the other person on the board So um I that spoke volumes to me that Mr Reyes has the support of the other two existing members and that maybe we should as the the more senior person um
if you're adding a new person sometimes it's good to have someone who is a veteran on a board Okay that was just my that was my logic not before Commissioner Delari made his motion That was where my head was going So just hearing that any further input I
was just saying looking at both of their applications they both seem that they have done a great job Um they're they're both Lyman High School graduates So I'm not going to that's not the only reason But I do see that both of them have a
lot of references from folks Um I'm going to go you know because I don't really have a preference I don't know these two gentlemen Um well I think I've met both of them but I'm going to go with the recommendation of of Commissioner Delorey as far as you know
the appointment Okay we have a motion and a second All those in favor i I opposed No 32 Mr Kavanaaugh is the second individual to sit on that board If we could make sure staff gets with
Miss Bum and Mr Kavanagh also let the other folks over at the law library understand Thank you all very much And now we will go to public comment for items that are not on uh the agenda Do we have anyone
here to speak on the agenda or non-aggenda items yes sir Mr Morgan would like to speak Mr Morgan welcome Did Mr Morgan fill out a form for us it'll be filled out Okay great Thank you She's going to strongarm him and make
sure he fills it out Yes From the city of Longwood Mr Matt Morgan who's council member there at City of Longwood Welcome sir Thank you guys And I know you guys are super busy so thanks for giving me the time today Also I wanted to invite you guys on April 26th Ironically uh
this Saturday our city of Longwood's third annual walk for autism awareness and inclusion It's at Ryder Park from 11:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m So it's right before the kids house gall before the Obito celebration you guys can get a full day in Um but I personally wanted to come invite you It's a project for me
and me and my wife Lissa As you know we have a non-verbal autistic son Jackson who's 11 now And one of the things is we have so many services in this community for autism that a lot of our autistic families don't know about yet So we came up with the idea 3 years ago to have Semino Countyy's very first Walk for
Autism awareness event And now we're going on to our third this Saturday with the thesis is two-pronged It's one getting vendors to come free of charge We'll have over 55 different vendors that specifically serve in the space of autism services for all these
neurodyiverse families to learn more about and maybe get their kids signed up for the help that they may need Um and secondarily to get our neurotypical and neurodyiverse families intershing a lot more and this event definitely does that with the walk in solidarity around Ryder
Park The actual walk itself is very short Um and it shows our kids that look everybody is all different shapes sizes makes and models and have different abilities of speaking or not speaking and communicating And uh the autism rate's only going up It's not going down
And so our community really needs to learn how to intersh with those that don't communicate like maybe you and I do And it's a really good opportunity for kids that are neurotypical to meet some neurodeiverse kids uh and adults
just alike So it's 11:00 a.m this Saturday Ryder Park in Longwood and we'll have a splash pad will be open Uh everybody's invited all kids uh everybody Bounce houses uh water slides mini goats mini horses you can feed and
pet rabbits which is going to be really cool for uh neurodyiverse kids that that love that sensory integration uh component of this event Um and so many so much more Um Disney princesses actual real Disney princesses who play these at
Disney World will be there Um and if you know anything about autistic kids at least mine at least absolutely love themselves Some Disney princesses especially Princess Sophia for the record Um that's his girl He loves her Um and again thank you for
giving me the time and uh hope to see you guys there if you're able to make the time Thank you for all you're doing for our community Thank you Commissioner Thank you Commissioner Morgan When is the walk actually start that's a great question I would say if the event starts at 11:00 I'm going to say around
11:45ish Thank you Yeah Matt is there is there a website Matt if someone wants more information just the city of Longwoods It'll be on the city of Longwoods website along with City of Longwoods uh Facebook Instagram and uh X accounts Thank you Thank you very much I have another question for Commissioner Morgan Can you give an give us an update
on your city manager search we're going to miss Mr G Oh my god you are Yeah I know you are too but where where are you what are you doing we're right now we're just starting in the process Our acting we have a acting city manager now that was uh from a fire department Will Watts He had his very first meeting with us
last night I thought he did really stellar He did amazing job especially being his first meeting Um but yeah we got to go through the process of not to be a jerk or finding somebody that that's irreplaceable He is You guys know how important it is to have you have one
right now a great county manager to take notes Thank you Thank you Thank you for the compliment to Clint You're right He was MVP of our city without a doubt That was really nice Thank you He will be missed Yes Great Thank you Good luck on your search Thank you Thank you Very good Anything else for the good of
the order seeing none we shall be adjourned Heat Heat