Everyone, please make your way to your seats. Today is Tuesday, November 18th, 2020 2025 at 9:30 in the morning. Board of County Commission meeting here in Semino County. I would ask that you check your cell phones, any electronic devices that
you may have, and please silence those. We're going to start with the invocation by uh Mr. Shane Cahoot of Metro Life Church and Commissioner Delari will lead us in the pledge. Please rise. >> Thank you. Please join me a moment of
reverence. Sovereign God, we acknowledge that you are the giver of every good gift. That you bless people. That you are provider and you use things in your created order and use things in our culture and
society to bless people and local governance is one. Which means that this room and this meeting is a fountain. And I ask this morning that this fountain would overflow with goodness, grace, mercy, compassion, justice, and
righteousness into Semino County. That real people would be blessed through the decisions in this room. We lift up our teachers to you right now. We thank you for them and the work that they're doing. We ask that you would help them flourish, not only in their calling and
vocation, but in life. for the children in their care and the children are being watched by child care workers and are at home with families right now. Would you bless our children and keep them safe and would they flourish? We lift up business owners and
entrepreneurs and the work that they do in commerce and creating jobs and and growing our economy. Would you bless them today and would they flourish? for those who work for them in hospitality and services and construction and maintenance for our first responders for
law enforcement, ER nurses and doctors, ambulance drivers and firefighters. Would the citizens of our cities flourish? And would you bless the commissioners and those who work in this room? And would they flourish and their families
flourish? And would everyone in this room rightly feel the weight of the responsibility to govern well? Would the decisions and the leadership in this room not only lead in excellence in their work today, but excellence in
their character? That everyone would be blessed. And I pray this in the name of your son Jesus. Amen. >> Amen. >> Please join me in the pledgece 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 both very much. We sincerely appreciate um Mr. Hut for being here today and lead us in prayer and Commissioner Delari, thank you for the
pledge. We're going to switch things up a little bit this morning with the blessing of my fellow commissioners. I'd like to move item number four from the consent agenda up to uh awards, presentations, and proclamations. If I don't hear any reason why we
shouldn't do that, I'm going to go ahead and ask that we move that forward. >> So, be it. This will be Commissioner her. If you'd be kind enough to read this item into the record, please. >> Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the presence of royalty today. So, I read
the following resolution of the Semino County Board of County Commissioners honoring the 103rd birthday of Queen Charlotte Taylor, who is here with us today to celebrate. Whereas, Queen Charlotte Taylor was born on November
11th, 1922 in the Republic of Panama. And whereas Miss Taylor immigrated to the United States in or about 1961, a very fine year, I might add, residing first in Brooklyn, New York before making her home in Queens, New York. And
whereas Miss Taylor worked diligently at New York Hospital for approximately 28 years, retiring in 1989. And whereas following her retirement, Miss Taylor relocated to Florida in 1995, first residing in Lake Mary and
later moving to Sanford in 2004, where she was among the first three residents of the Cedar Hill subdivision. And whereas Miss Taylor's strong work ethic led her to rejoin the workforce for several years as a private duty nurse, continuing her lifelong commitment to
caring for others. And whereas Miss Taylor has been a devoted woman of faith, worshiping as a member of Family Worship Center, Abundant Life Ministries Church, and Reality Community Church congregations she has outlived, yet she
continues to worship and give thanks to God whose presence transcends all walls. And whereas Miss Taylor has also been an active member of the Sanford Senior Center, engaging in her community and fostering meaningful relationships with fellow residents. And whereas Miss
Taylor is the proud matriarch of a large and loving family, including five children, 14 grandchildren, 19 greatg grandandchildren, and seven great great grandchildren. And whereas Miss Taylor became a
naturalized citizen of the United States and remains deeply grateful for the blessings of 103 years of life, love, family, and community. whereas her life stands as a shining example of faith, perseverance, service,
and grace, inspiring all who will have the privilege of knowing her. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Semino County, Florida, that Queen Charlotte Taylor is hereby honored and celebrated on the occasion of her 103rd birthday
with sincere appreciation for her lifelong contributions, her enduring faith, and her steadfast fast love of family and community. Adopted this 18th day of November, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion and second. Any further
discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor I oppose. Like sign carries unanimous. Congratulations. Let's get a photo down front of THE Come on. Come on.
Do you hear me? Heat. Heat. Down. Amen. You are you are Shut up.
Heat. Heat. Hello. Hello. So, the phones are ringing off the hook. and she will go with over >> she's going to be there. >> Hey, there's some mornings I get out of
bed and not feel that probably another two weeks. Can you imagine 103 years you've seen more accomplished in this world than any generation ever before. >> All right. We appreciate everybody's
patience. Isn't it amazing? 103 years old. God bless him. >> Wow. that that generation has seen more accomplished in this world than any generation before and probably any generation after. Well, next we'll go to
our county investment advisor report, Mr. Scott McIntyre, who's here with us live today. Mr. McIntyre, welcome. Good morning. Thank you. Here we go again. All right. Okay. Uh the Fed cut rates uh very
recently. The big question is whether they're going to cut in December and the market has kind of decided that they probably might not. It's sort of iffy is is opposed to a month ago when it was roughly 100% chance priced in. It's about 50 now. And the reason why is that the Fed has not seen economic data to
substantiate whatever decisions they're making. And that's going to be here for a while. I think it's a coin flick if it's December, but if it doesn't happen in J December, it will likely happen in January. So, it's just a question of timing. It's not a question of of uh if,
it's if it's when. Obviously, the the federal government shutdown is resolved. There's bad feelings all around. Kind of kind of let you know that this funding only goes through January 30th. And on January 31st, we potentially do it all again. And I think there's a a
reasonable chance that that happens, God forbid, but but somewhat likely. Um the uh economic data um I'm sorry, my eyesight is sort of deteriorating a little bit. I'm going have to bring my other glasses next time, but uh there
the government sourced economic data is not available. We're looking at private source data. It's not clear that the uh investors are trusting that data that they haven't been used to seeing yet. So, we're not going to get a CPI report for for
um the month of October. It wasn't produced. Uh chances are November will be late or not produced at all. September employment will actually come out on Thursday, but it's going to be uh it's very 48 days late. So, I'm not sure
how useful that is. And then when we roll into October employment, the idea is we may see the payroll numbers, but we won't see the unemployment rate. So again, from the standpoint of the Fed who's trying to gauge uh the data so they can determine whether or not they
cut rates, they're just not seeing enough right now. Um but I will tell you the private sector job data seems to be really really weak. And the more we hear and the more we read, the more it appears that AI is having a significant quick effect on on white collar jobs at
the front end. seen that. We talked about it before, but a 7% unemployment rate for recent grads coming out in the technology area, which is about double what it was a year before. Very, very troubling. Uh inflation is warm. It's
not hot. That's probably fine. And to be honest with you, and this is right off the top of my head, regardless of when the Fed cuts, I don't think that that rate cut would affect inflation or the job market because in theory, when you cut interest rates, you stimulate growth by making borrowing cheaper. There's
plenty of borrowing and plenty of investment going on right now. Uh so I think that as usual, we're just going to have to wait and see what happens, but this is a this is a very unusual time. I know I've used that phrase before to the point that it's almost worn out, but uh
we're having a lot of trouble making understanding the current environment. Uh this is the 2-year Treasury note yield. I like to just show it to you guys. This is over the course of the last year. So, uh down down actually moved up just a little bit recently. Um which is fine because there haven't been
a whole lot of investing done in the last couple months just because you've been spending the money. This is, as I usually show you, the interest rates that are available over the course of the last several times we've been here. So, up a little bit since the last time we've been here. I
feel like it's it's uh still a good time to invest longer to the extent that it cash flows allow uh simply because I do think that ultimately rates will be lower. Again, it's just a question of timing more than anything else. So, uh upcoming maturities and I'll mention there are maturities coming up in
November. Then there's a gap in December for maturities and a gap in January and a gap in February. And the reason why is that your tax money is coming in. So we intentionally did not position maturities to mature at the time when we'd have to make decisions about where we'd invest that tax money. But a couple
are coming off recent transactions. Um two palm reinvestments that we had talked about before at what I feel like are fairly reasonable levels. Those were positioned to mature when you need the uh maturities for for expense reasons.
The CD, the big CD that matured was rolled over. Um it what I felt like was a really favorable rate out three years. So locking in a 385 with Centennial, which is where that came from. All the other banks on that competitive bid situation were nowhere near that 385 and it's about 35 basis points above where
treasuries were in that spot at the time. So, recommended purchases. Um, we are recommending for heaven's sakes, I'm really having trouble here. >> I have an extra pair. >> Well, it's long distance, which I used
to have just fine, but uh so looking at 10 million and 10 million out in the two and the three-year sector at roughly today probably in the neighborhood of 360. Those are specifically positioned to to fortify your expected cash flow,
which I became a lot more intimately aware of this summer when I looked at what your spending patterns were. And then same thing with that $20 million palm, which is basically reinvestment. It's going to the summer months next year when you'll be needing the money.
So, it's fairly simple. And again, uh just to let you know, the next thing we're going to be concentrating on is when your property taxes come in. So, um, that's going to be pretty quick and we're going to have to make some decisions there. But for right now, it's it's a fairly easy. It's a it's a rollover to $10 million investments
going out. Basically, this is diversify your maturity ladder more than anything else. Uh, the so again, the the two-year right now is right about 360. The three-year is right about 360. the portfolio at the end of October was yielding 428.
Uh after what we're doing here in November, I estimate it's going to be right around just under 420. Uh again, you don't have maturities coming off for a while. So the impact is is I would expect the yield will be fairly similar to where it's been for
the next month or two. So um got to help me here. Okay. Okay. So, I think we need a motion. >> So, I will look to the board for action. >> Mr. Chairman, >> like to make a motion to implement recommendations of our financial adviser
based on our report submitted today and recommend the clerk implement the said board's recommendations. >> Second. >> Motion second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I oppose like sign. Seeing none, carries unanimous. My biggest takeaway from all
that was the lack of a CPI being published and how troubling that's going to be to the state CFO in his calculations. >> I know I did read that. >> I don't know what he's going to do. >> Yeah, there's and if if it makes you feel any better about what's happening
in Florida with all the rhetoric and things going around, we're experiencing the same course in my state as well. >> We seem to be taking a >> great state of Texas. That's right. >> Yes, indeed. Good. Thank you. >> Thank you all. Have a good Thanksgiving. >> Travel safe. Appreciate it. Have a good
holiday. >> All right. Now, we will go to our consent agenda. And uh if anyone is here that desires to speak on the consent agenda, please make sure you fill out a form in the lobby. Bring it up to Miss Dominique, the clerk. It's yellow form.
She'll have that and uh we'll call you up as as a time is appropriate. Please put the item in which you desire to speak on so that we make sure that you're speaking at the right time. I will go to the uh county attorney for the rules of engagement of public
participation. Miss Lour. >> 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 in emergency or ministerial matters or conducting a meeting exempt from the requirements of
the sunshine law. Individuals shall be permitted three 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 and forms are available in the lobby. Mr. Chairman, >> thank you, Miss Lour. Uh, Mr. County Manager, do you have any revisions, changes on your consent agenda, items 5 through 26. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and
Commissioner. Just two uh items. I'd like to pull item number 11, and I'll be bringing that back to the board uh at our next uh meeting. And just a clarification on item number 17, which is the criminal justice center. I handed out before the meeting started, the
value engineering items. This was not in the the backup in the uh packet. So, I just wanted to make sure it was a part of the record. Um, and we're joined by Chief Judge Chase here. She's in the audience and I just wanted to thank her. She's really worked hard with our staff to value engineering this project to get
this under budget. So, I just want to ensure that this was a part of the record. >> Yeah, good stuff. Good good work. We we appreciate the judiciary working with us hand in hand on behalf of the taxpayers. This is a huge huge savings. So, thank you all very much. We appreciate it. All
right. I will go to the board. Does the board member have any item they desire to pull for separate consideration? Commissioner Deli. >> Mr. Chairman, if there's no objections, I'd like to make a motion to approve 2 through 26 excluding 11 and including
the item that uh the county manager talked about putting into the uh item number 17. >> The addition to 17, >> correct? >> And less item four, which we've already dealt with. >> Yeah, last four as well. >> Okay, I have a motion.
>> Second. A second. Mr. >> Chairman, >> does anybody else have anything to be pulled? >> I was just wondering about >> Okay. Yeah, I'm going there now. >> Nothing else. Commissioner Lockheart. >> No, sir. >> All right, let's go for public input. Do we have any folks from the public that
wish to speak on these items? >> No, sir. >> No public input. We will close public input and go back to board action. We have a motion and second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I oppose. like sign. Motion carries. Thank
you all very much. Next item up is our work sessions. This will be item number 27, parks and recreation update. Mr. Rick Durr. We'll give you a moment to set up Mr. Durr while folks are leaving the
chambers. Thank you all for being here today. process. Inconsistency set, good to go. >> Yes, sir. >> All right. For the record, Rick Dur, Parks and Recreation Department, uh, director. Um, I apologize. is I'm woke
up this morning a little bit under the weather. So, um uh I I figure that will keep me one focused to get to the end so I can go lay down or if I pass out then it'll quickly come to an end and I think everybody's a winner at that point. So, with that being said, um the last time
we were before you to talk about just in general um the department and what we've been working on, it's been since February of last year. So, there's a lot of things that we wanted to update you on. Um, we'll do a brief department overview as well as some highlights in our operations, some key initiatives,
and giving an update on some of those as well as what our future opportunities and challenges look like moving forward. For those um that wonder where uh who who is within parks and recreation, we've got folks from extension services, our library services, our recreation
division, trails and parks, and those particular folks. So, Bill Pandos is the division manager. Wave wave to everybody. There you go, Bill. uh of our trails and parks division, Mandy Salazar in charge of recreation, Christine Patton, libraries, and Shane Michael in
UFIFA services. Um our administration office, Jacqueline, she has I like to refer to her as the boss. Um she continues to allow allow us to operate uh within budget and so forth. So I really appreciate the folks that as part of that leadership team that are here
today and really continue to sing their praises. Um number one is we did receive our our national reacreditation moving forward and again uh the kapper process uh holds us to 154 standards of excellence. We re we achieved a perfect score last year and were awarded that.
And then just looking at the uh the stats and figures out of over 10,000 agencies across the United States, there's just barely over 200 that have this national national accreditation. So we really appreciate the work of all of our staff who continue to work through that process. In addition to that, we
are able to celebrate with you the Florida Library Association naming the Simol County Library Library of the Year this year and that's going against some of the biggest systems here in the state. So we again give our staff credit and the kudos for achieving that moving forward. But the bottom line with with
all everything is we've got a very diverse group of public servants over 200 individual souls throughout our department who serve the public seven days a week on a daily basis. and offering everything from uh library services and early child care reading to
classes on making your own uh and managing your own budgets and food. So, we really appreciate all the work that they do and we can't do anything any of these things without their incredible dedication. So, I really really really loed our staff and it's continues to be an honor for me to work with them on a
daily basis. So, just by the numbers our operations again I talked about being diverse. We're also diverse in locations. We're we have staff based at 17 locations throughout the county. Uh a number of, as you see the list on the screen, different types of facilities that we maintain and staff, a lot of them seven
days a week without throughout the county. And we maintain the paved trail system, the unpaved trail system, and all of our natural lands within our natural lands program going forward. All told, again, a very diverse and eclectic uh group of services that our folks deliver. This is our um dashboard, if
you will. uh it was a manual dashboard at this this particular uh time we're moving towards and I'll speak to this in just a moment going to some maybe a way to automate some of this but we track all of this data every year uh at the end of each fiscal year we initiate what's called the community impact
report and we make that available to to the board to staff and to the public in general so that we're able to count exactly the types of services they delivered and how many folks that we were able to serve throughout the course of the last calendar excuse me the last fiscal year. So everything from, you know, extension services doing almost
500 separate educational classes moving forward to tracking in our recreation department, our partnership with tourism in delivering over $55 million worth of economic impact based on the events at our facilities. Our partnerships goes beyond that. it
continues to be working with the cities and with the school district on a on a continuous basis to make sure that we don't have any necessarily duplication of services and we continue to overlap and provide quality services throughout the year. We also have a lot of other folks throughout the county that we that we need to say thank you to and
everything from our different volunteer groups and all the volunteers that we have working through parks and recreation uh to our some of our nonprofits and all the way down to a number of our uh advisory committees that this board um appoints members to
and they're able to again provide and be a sounding board for us out in the public. So, we really appreciate those partnerships throughout the course of the year. So, it's been a busy last five years, if you will. This is just a highlight of some of the uh the major initiatives
that we had had uh throughout that. We'll talk a little bit about some of those. Um finishing an ADA transition plan in parks and libraries to actually creating the latest or the newest park park system master plan, the library services master plan, which is the first
in about 30 years, and an update to the trails master plan. Those master plans moving forward while they take a lot of time and a lot of effort to put forward help identify where our existing needs are and then talk about implementation of strategies moving forward. So the
library system master plan for example listed a number of items that we will focus on within this this next decade and we named a lot of those projects within the infrastructure sales tax and we will be continuing to work those moving forward. In the meantime, we've had a lot of things to celebrate and a
lot of projects that were already underway and continue to move forward. So, everything from um the grand opening of the kids zone at our largest library branch to continuing to work on the renovation of building 302 to collect the carriage collect to collect the carriages and put those on a public in a
public space uh for the for the folks there to uh appreciate those at the museum. Our library services master plan again talked about a 5, 10, and 20 year horizon and it prioritized the types of projects that we will continue to look at and move forward as we plan the
future. Our trail system master plan um that was completed back in 2022 and the update to that uh it highlighted a number of projects that we already had in production as well as some uh needs that we had uh moving forward. And we've been happy to say that over about the last year and a half uh utilizing both
third generation sales tax funds and looking forward to future uh projects in the fourth generation such as finishing up the Silven Lake Park uh trail loop, the Sano Park Trail Loop, just to name a few. We'll continue to work forward and continue to work with our partners at uh
FDOT and in Metro Plan as we continue to to plan the future of potentially a new regional trail moving through Semino County. This is a map of some of the state's regional trail system. And as you see, a number of them, if you can see right up underneath there, the green shaded area, that's us on the map. A
number of these already moved through our trail system. And we'll continue to see other folks plugging into our trails to make regional connections. One of the new initiatives, and this came back before you back in May, was a uh letter of support for what could be called the
Lake to Lake Trail. We continue to work with folks at the state level, the Florida Trails Foundation, and our partners and neighbors next door to continue to move this idea forward and to have this recognized at the state level as a new regional trail. Why is
that important to us in Semino County? It immediately puts us eligible for Suntrail dollars that we can then plug into and help offset some of our own costs as we continue to work on priorities within our system. Our park system master plan as part of our
reacredititation process was adopted in early 2024 and that's the last time we we discussed this with you. We had a number of initiatives at that point. Number one is making sure that we're providing high access high quality parks and initiatives for all of our residents.
And then some of that included making sure that we were targeting future areas for parks development where we identified geographic needs within our system where folks in certain in particular neighborhoods do not have easy access to green space or to recreation facilities. So we have those
big bubbles that were on the screen as part of the um the park system master plan and that has helped us to identify a number of properties that this board has approved and move forward. uh and we really appreciate that leadership in that in that regard.
So where the uh property acquisition of the W the equestrian facility was to provide a space for us to eventually expand Silven Lake Park that will deal with one of the items that we had had in our master plan and identifying needs. We had the adoption of a new passive
park at a at a uh previous maintained uh county storm water facility with Lake Wildwood and that was officially blessed by this board. the lavender parcels just next to Redbug Lake Park will allow us to eventually over time expand that facility. And then last but not least,
the entire Yarborough Ranch acquisition of working with this board with the state of Florida on the acquisition of that through the Florida Forever program. That was a huge uh uh undertaking and with your support, we were able to work with the state to bring that through through fruition. The
spin-off of all of that is that as the Yarros were looking to devest themselves of certain properties, they then turned around and later on uh we accepted a donation of 30 acres within the um uh St. John's River area and then the last
final five acres that we can add into the Lake Harney Wilderness area. Um and we really appreciate their donations in those in that regard. some of the major initiatives that are moving forward as we speak the indoor recreation complex. Um we brought before
you the selection of Pazuti. I believe it was the last meeting. We are working on finalizing their scope of services so that we can kick off this project much sooner than later and we had a meeting with them on Friday just of last week to go ahead and complete their initial purchase order proposal. So that will be
coming back to you much sooner than later as we move forward. Dear Run, we've had a number of stabilization uh projects that we've completed out on that property and that included cleaning out the clubhouse. Uh on the consent agenda today was a was approval for the first utilization of
the MSBU dollars to rehab the u the clubhouse building as we had in the plan from the start and make sure that we can move forward with whatever renovations that are needed so that that can be opened up for public use. at the Bumba Sports Complex. Currently, we have a
project underway that took years of planning and lots of savings in the tourism development uh tax uh piggy bank putting those in reserve for the eventual replacement of the artificial turf at the sports complex. That project is well underway. It is currently under
budget and ahead of schedule. So, knock um everything here that will continue to meet on time. Um the deadline on this was to get us ready for January of 2026 and at this point we're in really good shape. Um the other thing that happened that you are all uh knowledgeable of and
and uh we like to be able to uh enjoy this is to celebrate the fact that uh Newsweek magazine's Fans Choice uh listed the Booma Sports Complex as the number one youth baseball destination in America this past year. and working with tourism, we've now began to announce
that to our parks visitors at that location. Overall, we've had a really good year in terms of the number of um tournaments that we've had at our at our various locations throughout the county to the tune of again $55 million worth of economic impact. Working with our tourism partners, this year we had the
Florida State Athletic Association softball championships that were held at our facility at Bumba Soldiers Creek. And then we had the NCAA Division 2 tennis championships played right here in Simol County earlier this year. So we continue to enjoy both uh a healthy
backlog of tour of tourism events as well as local um and state championships moving forward. Waka Golf Club continues. We continue to do projects out out at Wakiva. We've had a number of projects completed. You see on the list
off to your left. Probably the single largest project that we had there was a complete system replacement on the irrigation system. Really hard to play golf and without any grass. So, we had to make sure that that was being taken care of. That project was successfully completed and I'll show you the rebound
effect that had on the ability for us to uh hold additional um additional rounds of golf. So, putting everything out on the table in fiscal year 22 23, we had a quote unquote normal year where we're looking at operationally a net income of about
of just over $175,000. We knew that we would take it on the chin operationally because in order to do the irrigation system replacement, you can't have folks playing golf at the same time you're digging holes in the ground. So, we saw obviously a decrease in the overall net income for that year
wasn't actually uh as bad as as we had predicted in terms of the worst case scenario. In the full calendar year since that replacement is done, you see the rebound of what we had. We've seen an increase in the round of golf rounds. We've seen an increase in the accolades that this uh this property receives
online. And then final numbers that came in for fiscal year 2425 show us in a nice net income balance with the operation of that facility. Either way, if you're interested in playing a round of golf, you can go to
golf now online or you can go to the website uh address there on the screen and book your tea times now. Uh and it's we continue, like I said, continue to get good props from the community and from the players there at that location. So, what's in our near future? Aside
from all those projects that are still in process, um we'll be bringing back to you the uh guaranteed maximum price or GMP working with uh collage, our contractors for the rolling hills uh GMP. As a matter of fact, this afternoon
there will be a host of folks uh staff from the county in parks uh public works and utilities at Kollage's office pouring through the numbers on that GMP to get that ready and bring back to you as quickly as we can. We've got uh more more work coming on the Rosenwall
property that continues that we continue to work with our partners and facilities. WB equestrian center building itself, that's something that uh was discussed at your last meeting regarding the fourth generation sales tax projects. We'll have more refinements on what that plan looks like coming forward as well as we'll continue
forward with the uh MSBU uh expenditure on the clubhouse renovation at Deer Run. Our seminal moments this year is really important and we've moved forward with a contract on this and hope to begin in July. July, wow, June. Uh let me try it again. Another J word January.
All right, breathe deep. um at these particular facilities. And why this is important for us to move from the older kind of typical incandescent sports lighting to the more LED uh energy efficient fixtures is the uh conservative estimate on the impact on
our general fund once we uh complete this project funded through infrastructure sales tax is we could see up to $145,000 savings just in our energy consumption bill across the board. Other major projects that we continue to have on tap and we will
continue to move forward include renovations and neighborhood green space. We'll continue with library renovations and expansions and modernizations of our service delivery. And we'll continue to work at making sure that we're getting the biggest bang for your buck in our sports youth tourism market as we move forward.
Technology and technology opportunities that we're looking at. We've The reason why I show you the GPS field painter is that is a robot paint machine that has cut down our uh the amount of time that our staff has to spend by almost 90% of the time they spend just trying to line
the fields by having this wonderful programmable robot that will put the lines down. Um, we're now looking for ways that we can create efficiencies within our department of using both AI technology and being able to track the users of our property and move to that next generation of patron tracking as I
mentioned and making sure that we are moving forward with the technology and the ability to um identify efficiencies. And last but not least, we'll continue to work through the fourth fourth um generation infrastructure sales tax on all of those items at which we had
picked out as needs within the community. We'll work on continuing to refine priorities for the department and then we'll be bringing back those to you in the near future. So with that, >> great. >> Thank you, Mr. Durr. Any inquiries from the board?
>> Commissioner. So just four easy questions I think. Uh are we keeping an eye on the Valuchia County plans for their recreational tourism programs?
>> Yes, we are. >> And are we is the plan to work collaboratively with them? >> Um to some the short answer is yes. and we've got a great relationship with their parks department up there and uh Tim Bailey and the director um has done
a fantastic job of us checking in with each other and continuing to get status status updates. Yes. >> Yeah, I I I there's I think the opportunities for synergy are significant um given the proximity uh tea time pricing at Wakiva. How's
that decided? I'm turning around looking at the one person I did not introduce which is our deputy director Michael Worzing who plays regularly at Wakiva. You want to you want to talk about your experience on that? >> Sure.
>> Come on up. For the record, Michael Wing, deputy director for park and recreation department. So the part of the contract with golf now with uh down to earth is that they set the fees based on uh averages across the country. So they have the authority to basically raise
them based on peak time. Obviously you we're coming into the peak time in January, February and March. Golf obviously drops in July and August when it gets hotter. So they set them there. They set the rates based on the average and they're right around the average. I play as much as I can with my kids don't
have sports, but the they're right in the middle of the average there. Um, they've been able to increase the the fees based on the condition of the course. Um, and driving in. And again, as Rick mentioned, if you look at the golf now, it's an app. You can see the last probably couple months, almost all
the ratings have gone from two, three stars to four, five, and they basically pointed out the condition of the course. So, they are set by the management company. >> Okay. I'm going to assume they're set by the company with oversight by us since we're making the investment in the increased >> That is correct.
>> viability and we're keeping an eye on that given inflation and given demand. Those prices look like they're barn burners to me. >> We have but I do know the prices of golf. >> Yes. So we we continue. So every month we receive a new report on the breakdown of the entire budget across the board.
So yes uh at least on a monthly basis we're getting those reports and analyzing all of them. Yeah. Commissioner her if I could on that. >> Commissioner Lockhart. >> Um I believe the same management company that manages Wakiva also manages the Mayfair Country Club. Those prices are
very similar. Um and and so I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to the folks who are here from the city of Sanford. Um uh Mr. Lassard and Mr. Utsie are both doing an incredible job with the Mayfair Country Club. I know it's
not ours, but it's in my district and it is almost literally in my backyard. And so I I feel like I have to say they are doing a grand opening for the new Mayfair Country Club on December 6th um from 2:00 to 4:00. So another wonderful space in our community that is seeing an
in huge increase in um usage. So be interesting to compare since they're the same management company how that is working. um fourth gen Midway Parks. Do we need anything in fourth gen for Midway Parks
to complete all of that? >> The short answer will be yes. Right now the uh probably the the next project up is the um the Midway Trail Loop around the large lake. Currently, we're working with one of our on call um contractors
to give us a construction management risk proposal. um that is in process as we go so that they can they can marry up what we've committed to in design versus what we currently have in the budget so that we can then say all right here's the only piece that we need left in
order to complete that. So that's in process as we speak. >> Okay. And then my last comment is that I realize that the summer camp programs are at maximum capacity and I would tell you that that's probably one of the single greatest things we can do for the community is figuring out how to help
working parents deal with kids over the summer in a safe educational environment that's affordable. It it is a huge family stressor. So probably needs some focus. >> Absolutely. And one of the things that we were very thankful to be able to
bring to you earlier this year is an expanded partnership with the school district on the use of the uh nature center at Spring Hammock right there in the heart of the county. Uh right now we're working on a staffing plan to exactly figure out how we can maybe
expand and double our uh eco camp at breaks and especially over the summer uh and maximize that. So basically, we could, again, we're sold out within minutes every February when we post summer camp, um, but being able to find a way to both manage the cost and then
be able to double the opportunity for folks in the county to attend our our summer camps. >> I can tell you that if you do the math, most parents spend more on summer camps than they do on college. >> Absolutely. >> I mean, think about that.
>> Yeah, absolutely. >> Can't get student loans. >> Yeah, that's correct. That is correct. >> Commissioner Costine, >> thank you. Um, could you elaborate a little bit more about uh the libraries and the library system and our plans a
couple of years ago? I maybe it's been even more. We had the report um and uh you know there were some real needs that were identified and uh when we were talking about the Gen 4, we didn't really talk a lot about libraries and
that. Uh so could you give me some uh information about that? >> Absolutely. So when the the project list was being put together in terms of uh what could be on the fourth gen list and then thankfully the uh the our voters uh voted to approve that um we took the
recommendations that were in the master plan and moved those forward and said based on the priorities that were established in that report as you had mentioned um these would be the early projects out of the gate. Um, one of those is, uh, both the expansion of our technology and being able to create, uh,
remote kiosks in areas where you maybe had that they're a much further drive away from our existing, uh, libraries and being able to have folks check those out. Our libraries have implemented that service, uh, sort of the Dropbox service at one library branches. We were able to
use dollars out of COVID, and that has really worked well for folks. And what this would do is allow us to then expand the k into a kiosk service in other areas of the county where they again have a much longer drive to to reach. In terms of our actual library buildings,
we've had a lot of work that's being done by facilities right now on deferred maintenance items including uh the infrastructure at those libraries also including the AC units. Uh those are on the the master list of uh of being able to diagnose and replace. happy to say
that those continue forward as we speak as well. So, we continue to upgrade those facilities. But one of the things that uh the report did mention is we do have a lot of just physical needs at each of the five branches. Um one of them is space especially was identified
in the uh the east branch library in Ovido and looking at a potential expansion to that. So, we've got those projects identified. They're on the list for funding and we'll continue to move those forward through the discussion uh as we go through and prioritize what the
next decade of spending looks like. >> Thank you, Mr. Lockheart. >> Um my heart's always with parks and recreation. Always. >> Thank you. >> Um congratulations. It's it's a incredible the amount of things that you
accomplish with um quite frankly not a whole lot of resources. So you you continue to knock it out of the park time after time. It's it's incredibly impressive. Um love the economic development ROI. I think we need to continue to talk about that, not just in
this room, but regularly. I think it was one of the things that was most um misunderstood and most misrepresented during budget time of the amount of um investments that we make into our parks and recreation and keeping that going and making it top-notch and having it be
the best in the country. Um the amount of return on that investment um we we can't talk about that enough for our citizens to understand what a a great um return on their their tax dollars. And um so that's one thing. The other thing,
it was funny yesterday we did our master plan conversation at Seminal State. We adopted it and the first thing that came to my mind is oh look another master plan and right and so oftent times they go on a shelf and then when we're ready to redo a master plan we look at it again in four years before the fifth
year is up. And so I challenged our our team at Seminal State and us as a board of trustees to keep it on our forefront in every decision we make every time a shiny and I use I and I stole shiny object too. I you know we just tend to
see these shiny objects and they look good and and but we need to be confronted in a positive way every time we go to make a a large capital investment that what we are doing is tied back to the plan. And if we decide we need to change the plan, let's at
least address the fact that we are pivoting away from the plan that we adopted and we said we wanted to do. So I would I would give ourselves that same challenge as we head into this new year. Um I think we've done our team, our our consultants, this board has done an amazing job of setting a path forward
and we need to we need to try and stay the course. So thank you for all you do. >> Thank you. And again, I apprec I personally appreciate the the kudos, but I I immediately try to kick them back to our staff. Uh again, I can't say enough
about our staff and what an incredible privilege it is with me to with for me to work with them on a daily basis. That's big reason why I come to work every day. So, thank you with staff. Yeah, >> Commissioner Glory. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to uh continue to expound on what
Commissioner Lockhart was talking about not just on the economic side and that is very important so that the citizens do realize and understand the investments that we're making and how it it not only benefits them but their family but the community. Uh but one of
the things that you talked about today was the accreditation Rick accreditation not just holds we just don't hold ourselves accountable you just don't hold the department accountable but we hold it accountable through national standards and I think that's very important
to not only talk about but to celebrate because not all organizations do that and to have an accreditation that uh we've now been reacreditated three times uh that's not an easy feat. A lot of
times people do get into this and they realize how difficult it is. So a lot of them don't go through it and then when they do go through it and they do get accredited a lot of times they don't re accreditate because of the complexity of it and how it really keeps you focused
on what's important. So, it's important for us to thank not just you, but your entire staff. And as you just said here today, there's a lot of people behind you and a lot of people not here today that makes this happen. So, please on behalf of the board, thank them uh for
their fine work. And every time that any one of us goes throughout the park system, as I know we all do, uh the attention to detail that each one of the staff people have to reaching the goals and the objectives and taking care of
business uh is truly noted. You all do such a wonderful job. So, thank you. >> Thank you. I'll be sure to do so. >> Mr. Um, just to follow up on that, um, I I'm most thankful for several things. Since the day I started here, uh, my
first budget session, there were millions of dollars of capital improvements that have been deferred in our parks and recreation. Those are assets that the taxpayer had already paid for. Um, money had been spent and then pretty much ignored because there
was not funding there to do so. Um, I applaud your your folks for being able to find that money, get it programmed into the budgets and and get those taxpayers dollars protected. It's one thing to spend the taxpayers dollars, but once you've spent it, we have a
maintenance obligation to protect those taxpayers dollars. Great work in the last 5 years in doing that. I would also be remiss in not saying that we've watched our parks and recreation department develop uh and we've asked
them to do a lot more than what a parks and recreation division actually does. I think folks would be surprised to understand some of the things that you're charged with caring for like some of the roadway medians, uh the maintenance, the planning, the the sprinkling or irrigation uh and making
sure those are maintained properly. But then we threw the Florida Forever program in your lap uh on the Yarborough Ranch uh that you've never done uh and arguably nobody in the state's county has ever done. So great work on taking what we
ask you to do uh and getting such a great outcome for the citizens. So good work for for you and and all of your staff. It's uh it's wonderful to see the progression in the last five six years. The question I have is in your
presentation, is it possible because we have so many state-owned lands and trails within our area? Can you give us a economic impact going forward of what those are bringing as
well? Because a lot of the state lands, equestrians use those where they may not necessarily use the county's trails, but they're coming here, they're spending money, uh they're part of our community. It'd be nice to know what the economic impact if we can gather that as well as
the amount of acres of stateowned land as well as the amount of miles of state trails. And I realize some of those overlap. That is a good marketing tool for people that would come here. We're already the Orlando MSA area is already
the number one sports tourism destination. Um, and it's because of the things that you have done and this board is blessed to fund and that economic impact that helps offset the tax burden on the citizens of this county at the
end of the day because it falls a lot on the commercial entities and that revenue that's generated. And I think I think it was Commissioner Lockhart that mentioned we must do a better job in explaining to the public the cost and the benefits uh of some of these sports complexes that
we endeavor upon. um so that they clearly do understand uh what the offset benefits are to them. So good work. Appreciate it very much. Um if there's no other questions, I'll go and see if there's any public comment. Anybody here
from the public desire to speak on this item? >> No, sir. >> Thank you very much. Then we'll close public input and move to the next work session. >> Mr. Chairman, just just one sure >> follow up on what you said. When you're doing that analysis, I think it's
important to recognize I think it's important to recognize that when you have the conservation and open space areas that it benefits the valuation of the homes around it. So
that is um and that was clear when we purchased the rolling hills and how much increased value those homes had. It has happened in other places. So, if you're going to do that analysis, that I think is clearly an important part of that
overall um project. >> Yeah, agreed. And and one other thing, if you could put in your presentation next time, how much money is the golf course returning to the taxpayers on an annual basis?
>> Be happy. >> $65,000. >> Last time I looked last three years. >> Yeah, last time I looked it was somewhere in the 60K over the last several years. So, but but that needs to be pointed out. Absolutely. >> Um we hear a lot of comments, well, you bought a golf course >> on the taxpayers's dollars. Well, it was
AARPA money to begin with, number one. Number two, it's returning money to the taxpayers to offset some of that burden. Um so, good work. Thank you very much. So, we'll move to the next presentation, which is a seminal forever. And this is Mr. Durr as well. Do you need a break,
Mr. Durr? I >> I'm I'm still standing here. Okay, good. Yeah. Thank you. Okay, let me get reset here. Okay, so the outline of today's work session and update on the seminal forever program. We're going to give a little bit of a summary on the program background so that the folks that are
both here and watching on television again get a refresher as to the the background of this program. Uh we'll go through the uh the 10 applications that have been uh scored. We'll talk about how they were scored and why they were scored the way they were as well as a ranking. And then we'll talk about how
we use not just seminal forever but how we combine this tool in the toolbox with other tools that are there whether it's Florida Forever Florida Communities Trust grants uh LWC excuse me landed water conservation fund grants and how we might be able to piece together a way
forward on these applications. So again, just a brief overview. Um the actual ordinance for this program was approved in August of 2023. By the end of 2023, uh you all had appointed the application review committee and I will officially call them ARC as a move through the
presentation. So that's an acronym again. um their task was to then move forward with creating a uh evaluation criteria based wholly on the adopted ordinance and some of the operations of say Florida Forever and how they
approach things uh so that we again weren't weren't reinventing the wheel on some of this. And then we had our first nomination cycle for folks that had uh an interest in potentially selling or being part of the program that was extended from December to January of earlier this year. So, as I've said, we
had nine applications coming from the public, plus one that we we had added by the county for at least consideration as we move forward as to how this could be impacted. Um, each ARK member did conduct site visits to all of the properties um as well as staff. And just
to let you know, the number of publicly advertised meetings that the Ark had held since uh January of last year is the number 2020. They met 20 different times uh and the last several of them being right here in the chambers where we met with each of the applicants on
their property as well and they were able to to participate in the scoring pro process. Um so first off if we have members of the ark here in the chambers if you will sheepishly stand up and and be recognized. Thank you so much.
>> The the amount of work that was done both working with the Ark and uh between our staff uh has been incredible to be a part of. of these have we have dedicated volunteers uh on the ark and they've just been fantastic to work with and really really digging down into the
weeds on these to make sure that everything that we can possibly think of is addressed as we move this program forward. So again many thanks to our to our seven member art committee. So, the 10 applications that we have, uh, I'm not going to go through every single one of them on here. I'm just
showing you geographically speaking. We go from east to west, north to south. We've got some some potentials in the urbanized area, if you will, or in the core population center. And we also have some uh applications for folks who own tracks of land that are within the rural
boundary area. And then one is right on the line, literally right on the line. And that's the bugle's property uh just northwest of Chiota. So why is that important? Well, we're going to go through the scoring on this and after much deliberation and working
through the criteria. The Ark established a system of major categories that are written within our ordinance and then assigning point values to those and there was lots of discussion about how many points and so on and so forth and looking at other uh similar types of
grant programs uh throughout the state and the ARC came up with uh consensus on a total possible point total of 50 points for each um each particular aspect of each application. Now, a couple that I want to highlight and especially as we talk about this program
in relation to the Florida Forever program and our experience with the Yarborough property was taking a look at the established Florida Wildlife Corridor and the importance for that. And I don't want to say it's a simple thing to do, but hopefully we'll simplify that discussion with a with a map. And that's taking our map that we
showed you the location of all those properties and then sort of underlaying the boundaries of the Florida Wildlife Corridor as they move through Seminal County. So, that being said, we've got three areas or three properties that are on the uh east side of the county that are
within the Florida Wildlife Corridor as was the uh Yarro property. And we've got one the Parker property, little slipper property up on the St. John's River uh up in the western part, northwest part of the county. So, to some degree, you go, well, check that box. Great. What
does that mean? What it means is is that if we're looking for partnerships on these, it makes it much easier to be able to say that yes, we're within the Florida wildlife corridor. And that's been a a hot button issue and priority at funding funding at the state level for the last several years. And we'll look at maybe being able to take
advantage of those for these applications. The other thing and the comment regarding using the master plan and moving forward. One of the things that we did at the staff level was to say all right if we identified where those need areas are in terms of uh need
for green space within both the urbanized within the urbanized area do any of these check that box moving forward? Um, I've super superimposed those circles, those need areas on there. And we've got one particular
property within this that fits. That was an opportunity identified by the county called the Lawler property up on the intersection of Orange and Oregon. And we'll talk about that in a minute. But again, being able to utilize that to say, do we have another uh aspect where
we've got a potential property for sale within an established need area for passive park space? And in this case, we have one So the ARC went through after multiple iterations and refined their scoring on each of the 10 properties. The ones highlighted at the top of the list are
the ones that the ARC recommended and said, "Yep, we believe these are great candidates for funding for Seminal Forever program. And then here's the point totals associated with those. The other ones that are still on the list, they still they'll still garner consideration as we move forward, but obviously those weren't part of the top
five moving forward. So what do you do? Okay, great. So then it became a we've got a ranking in process. Uh we've got identified program needs and we have some rough estimates in terms of what we think the property might cost. Again, these are just rough back of napkin and
in all cases we just ask the question from each of the land owners. Where do you think you are in terms of price knowing that it can all change as this moves forward through due diligence. So the place we started was what do we have in the budget right now? So in our fund at Simol forever fund as uh
non-allocated to any to any other project or any other uh transaction at this particular point we have just over $10.7 million available at this time uh for allocation to moving the list forward. So what we did uh working with
the ARC and then at staff it became a again going back to the idea that this is one tool in the toolbox. How can we make the biggest bang for the dollars and the investment that Simol County will will make potentially in these these applications? And then what are the next steps in moving any of these
forward? I'll say across the board with every one of these at no part are we asking you right now that we want to go out and we want to spend all this money today and we're asking you to do so. On the contrary, where we are in this timeline is we're at a junction at which we need to make some decisions on what
the next steps are. The next steps will then uh once we have consensus from the board on what those look like, we'll then talk about what the next steps on each of those applications are. Anytime we have to make a decision moving forward, if we move forward with due diligence, we're bringing that
information back to you. If we're moving coming back with a recommendation to purchase a property, that's coming back to you for approval. So again, this is a critical time in the timeline of Simol forever to determine which ones will move forward with partnerships and then how we continue to manage this program
going forward. So this particular chart tries to distill down some of the pertinent facts of each of the five properties that rank the highest on the ARCs list. Um we immediately start to go okay what fits within our budget. Uh and then how do we manage these going
forward? And the top two that are on here, High Oaks, which is almost 670 acres, and Lee Ranch, 360. Um, we know those are big bigger projects, bigger than than we can take a bite out of out of our current budget. However, based on their characteristics, based on their
location, based on their proximity to and within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, we think flat out these are two great opportunities to move forward for Florida forever application. So far in uh to update this, the High Oaks owners moved forward with their own
Florida Forever application and on Friday of last week, we were contacted by the state and said, "When would you like to give us an update on where you all are at on this particular property?" So that that is already moving forward um with the owners and that uh we will then get back with the state and say
based on the direction given by the board, how involved do we want to be in that moving forward? the Lee Ranch pro project. Uh that one is a good Florida forever application. We've had discussions with that with the representation of the land owners. It's
direct it's adjacent to um one of the state forests in the uh just outside of Chiliota and would make kind of a great parallel um uh acquisition. But in terms of management, it makes makes a lot of sense for the state to pick that up. But again, we're not going to know that until we're able to engage with them
formally on these applications moving forward. the Butults, which is the third on the list. That is the one that's right on the line, right on 419 um in South Oto. Uh we've looked at that. Again, each one of these properties were visited and analyzed uh by staff as well
as a great opportunity as a future investment in both passive recreation as well as the preservation of natural air, natural green space right there on the uh the border of the rural boundary line in South Ovido. Darcos is a wonderful,
wonderful 200 acres of Lake Monroe property just east of downtown Sanford. Um, directly across the channel where this sits on the St. John's is another uh project that is currently managed by the St. John's River Water Management
District. If we decide to move this forward to the next step, we would engage with them and say, "Are you interested? should we should we uh uh are able to purchase this property in maybe a partnership or having them manage those lands in cooperation with their property across the channel from
from this one. And then the last one on the list, Lassard. It's uh 80 acres directly adjacent to Malt Lake Park. It is within the flood plane. We've got not just opportunities for a uh land and water conservation grant as with the completion of the spring hammock project, we open up another slot. You
can only have two active applications in. So, we've got spot for that one. And then we recently uh discovered that we could also engage the Florida community's trust for a purchase based on the characteristics of that property. So, at this point, what we tried to do is give you an estimate based on uh
making sure that we've got dollars to do the due diligence. So, whether it's survey, appraisal, you name it, all the steps that we need to move any of these forward that we've accounted for that and moving forward with the top five on this list. I'm going to quickly jump to the bottom
five on this list. There are two opportunities that we think uh both of which provide some interesting uh opportunities for the county. The first one that was ranked on this one was the Parker property. It's a small uh piece of land right on the St. John's River.
Um we met once we went through this application and analyzed it. We met with public works and it's right on the Lockhart Canal. it makes a lot of sense for a future storm water project and bringing that into their their storm water management system. So, we would look at maybe taking advantage of other funding to potentially purchase that
property moving forward. And again, it would need to go through due diligence no matter what. The other one is the Lawler piece. Um that one came up while um the county was looking at having to purchase frontage for the uh Orange Avenue project. Um, we looked at needing
to then go through the due dilinate domain. Um, at that point the property owners who had been operating a nursery on the property had closed down. Uh, it was a family business and they're now willing to sell the entire property for what it would probably cost us less than
to go through uh, eminent domain. Again, it's an opportunity whether or not it's right for Florida forever funding or excuse me, seminal forever funding or another uh pot that would be a good one to have, especially since it helps check that box that says we've got a lack of
green space in this particular area and could become a park in the near future or the distant future, however the it falls out. So, those were the 10 on the list. We then said, "All right, let's just play this forward and show you how this will work going forward out of the
10.7. Each time we're going to bring back the next step on any of these properties, we'll do exactly what it is we talking about with our master plan. Give you an update. How does this fit into the program? Where are we financially with the program? Are we putting away potential maintenance dollars that are needed for any of these
applications going forward that we need to commit to based upon the criteria of those programs?" So making sure that we're able to then go ahead and update a budget for you so that you can continue to see how we're managing that fund and that we continue to plan for the future and making sure we have dollars in there
for management purposes. So today the idea was to go through here's where we're at with the entire program. What we're asking for in terms of the next steps is being able to take at least those seven uh that we had highlighted on the list and moving those
forward to the next step whether they're grant applications or uh regardless we'll take them through due diligence directing staff to then start to uh look at those through the due diligence process and then as I'd mentioned anytime that we're bringing back the next step on any of these we will come
back to the board to give you an update on both the overall program as well as what the commitment is on each of these properties moving forward. So, at this point, we're also uh basically stating we have plenty of projects in the hopper on this one. U we're not in a rush to
ask for more at this moment, but should we uh we're able to successfully bring a number of these projects forward, however many of them that there are, and where the board is able to decide on making those initiatives, we'll then potentially look at opening up a new round in late 2026. But again, that's up
for decision at a future date. So, at this time, that's exactly what it is we're asking uh the board for, and we'd like to move forward with this. So, thank you. >> Thank you very much. We'll go to the board. I first want to take an opportunity on behalf of the board to thank all the members of the art
committee that have taken their passionate time uh on behalf of the citizens of this county and given your valuable input to making this much more streamlined. I can tell you if it came to us all five to beat this down and figure out who which one was best, we'd
be here for probably a year. So, thank you all very much. We sincerely appreciate it. All right, I'll go to board questions. Commissioner Constantine. >> Um, this isn't a question. I Mr. Durr and I discussed this at length and uh
also um getting periodic reports from the art committee as they went through their process. I just want to uh reiterate what you just said uh Commissioner Zimbau. This is probably the most organized, focused and hardworking committee we have had in a
long time. They have done a tremendous job and bringing these 10 and doing the entire analysis and the point system and everything else. I'm just very proud of every single one of them. And uh I I you
know this is so much easier to you know work through than as as you said if we ever tried to do it. I don't even want to think of what would happen there. Um the recommendation I think is
uh quite reasonable and acceptable and and the right way to move forward. I do believe that um the first two obviously we know we can't even take a huge bite of those apples and that to work and get
involved with Florida Forever Project especially that they're in the uh corridor makes so much sense. Um the next um two obviously are as you said are very much involved with as part of
the seminal forever acquisition I think in um also I have heard from others in discussion uh the um the number five or the lassard that also has a lot of seinal forever acquisition opportunities
and have heard not only from them but from others about how they would if they were moved forward, how they would be willing to really negotiate. And one of the things in the Florida for or the seminal forever uh ordinance is
that preference can be given to those that will be giving at less than appraised value. So I think that's wonderful because that's also something. The next two, the Parker and the Lawler,
I think are more in line with a U Gen 4 potential and also storm water funds. Although I think that maybe uh there is a mix that could be done especially in the Lawler the the mix between that and so um I'm not going to make a motion
right now because I believe that maybe others would have something to say but I think the recommendation that has come before us today in that um I'm I'm more than willing to make a motion and move forward with it. >> Commissioner Delari.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to uh expound a little bit on your comments as well as Commissioner Constin's comments about the art committee. You all did a phenomenal job. I know you all spent many hours, how many hours? I can't even imagine because I've heard several of you as well. And uh the fact
that you've been so dedicated through this whole process uh says a lot about you all. So, and also says that we picked the right people. So, thank you. You've done a phenomenal job. And uh as chairman said, it would have taken us at least a year if not more. And I don't think we've gotten would have gotten
this far. But uh on your recommendations, Rick, and uh the recommendation from the committee, I totally support all seven of them. I think that is the uh next step and uh we'll see who's going to be the partners and who's going to where it's going to shake out. But uh I look forward to
continue getting your updates as we always do. And uh I think you're going in the right direction. I think the committee is making the right uh decisions and working very hard to do all this. I think the the seven that you're recommending to move forward and to continue to figure out where they
stand uh I think it's a natural step. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Her. >> I want to just confirm what seven we're talking about. So the top five as recommended by the ark this is that list of the top five.
So Hy Oaks, Lee Ranch, Buolts, Dearos and Lassard. And then below that that line on the list were the Parker and the Lawler uh properties for consideration for other means. Let's put it that way. >> That's with my understanding as well.
>> Yeah. So, if you go back to the first five, I just want to point out that there's one property on there that's 200 acres for $500,000. It's $245 an acre
and we're seeking a partnership with St. John's Water Management District for management. I think that one needs to be prioritized just based on price. We would we would absolutely be horrified if we lost that opportunity. So Rick and
I talked about this during briefing, but but it's significant. It's waterfront, etc. Um I do I do agree with the recommendations and I think that at some point we're going to be stretched because we're
running a race based on timing and answers that are going to be coming back to the board. So I think this is the first step in what's going to become a more difficult process in terms of decision-m. I can't I can't possibly estimate how difficult the process was
for the committee to get it to this level and thank God we have you. Let me just say that. And so thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all that you did. Um, so as as we're going through this, I think there's got to be a a timing of how this works and a prioritization in
terms of how this works so that we make sure that we're not losing out on unbelievable opportunities for the potential on opportunities that we may or may not be able to execute. That's that's my two cents worth. >> Very good. Commissioner Lockhart
>> um reiterate a tremendous amount of gratitude to the committee. Um I love that we learned some great lessons through the Yarborough process about how to leverage funds. Um because not every piece of property that is being preserved in Semino County or could be
preserved in Semino County has to be purchased by Semino County. um because as we've learned once we once we buy it it's ours to maintain and that cost is is what is overwhelming to do it correctly. Um so partnerships with the
state and other state agencies I think are critical. So congratulations on on figuring out how to best leverage those. Um I think it's a great recommendation. Um I'm excited to see how things flesh out moving forward. Um
I I will um as as the one I think I might be the one commissioner that has basically the urban core. I don't have any conservation east or west or north in my district. Um, I appreciate greatly
the fact that the committee um recognized that the seminal forever ordinance was specifically written so that people who live in the urban areas of the county can um access open uh land and and green space um because we have a
lot of preserved property on um on the east and the west and the north. So um >> and we welcome folks from your district to come out and visit anytime. And they do, a lot of them do. And thanks to our trail system, um, they can
do that, um, very easily. But, um, you know, you pack up three kids in strollers and you take a hike out to the Geneva wilderness area, that's that's a plan. You have to plan to do that. If I if I want to walk a couple miles down a
trail with my kids and my dog to get to some open space in a park, that's an entirely different um activity. So, we need to have both. I think this county has done a wonderful job of planning for both, and I'm glad that we're continuing to do that. >> I will tell you that um I rank them
slightly different, but but there's some outstanding information which we may or may not have at this point. I don't disagree with the list uh in its entirety. What conversations have been had, if any, with Orange County about what's
happening with the adjacent property known as the Frybolt Ranch, uh, that backs up to the High Oaks. There was discussion that they were possibly going to seek to purchase that property from the developers. Uh, they're in court right now over development rights. Uh,
of course the state with Senate Bill 180 has put everything on hold with their voter approved initiative of their rural boundary. What conversations at all have been had. Do we know anything about their plans moving forward with that adjacent property?
>> We know a little um but part of this is we need to get a what's the latest update and we'll be happy to do so with speaking with them. And it was spoken about briefly that the uh High Oaks has already started the Florida Forever program. How
far along are they and is is that to mean you're looking to us to do the due diligence financing portion of that or are they already started down that road? >> So they the application went in in just last month in October. So it's right at
the beginning. Um, right now what we're saying is we'll put away dollars for whatever due diligence that we need to help facilitate. And the uh the information that we got from the state just on Friday alone says, "Hey, we'd like to get the the presentation of the
property so that our staff can now begin walking it through our process." So, we're very very early on in that. >> Okay. o on that property. When you guys get deeper into that, and I should have provided this to you earlier, some of the residents that live in and around
and adjacent to that property have shared uh panther pictures. We have a mother and we have some cubs that are roaming around in that area. Uh which makes sense in that that corridor along the Econ River. Um, but I would move
personally I would move the Lassard to number three. Um, because it backs up to our county parks. Um, of course you got to negotiate. The one the one I'm really struggling with is the buck holes property. I really struggle with that.
that property was the the reason the boundary was put there is I stood in this chambers as a as a private citizen when the then chair Carlton Henley during the um rural boundary discussion having the
discussion they had to draw the boundary somewhere and it was asked of the citizens does this make sense does this work for you all and we said well really doesn't make a lot of sense because you got houses you're going to develop over here. You got houses you're going to develop over there. It's going
to be sort of like an island uh sticking out and that's exactly what it is. But that's where the boundary was drawn. Um because it is surrounded with what's there. I don't know. At least my opinion is
it should not be ranked that high. I think your other properties even some that are below the top five are more valuable for the intended purposes. Um, but I'm happy to go with with the list pending additional information, but I
really would would want to know what Orange County's plans are or if they're talking any further about purchasing the Rybolt, which would back up to us because that's always been the sore spot. >> Sure. >> You know, everything is slams up against the rural boundary and we can't change
by example on the Buckholes property. You've got density that backs up to it. It's just what's happened because there was never a transition contemplated during the referendum on how that would be handled. Um, and that property's got
fair amount of wet wet ground on it as well. So, that's my two cents worth. Uh, good job. U looking forward to further information to help us make those final decisions. >> Fantastic. So, we we'll be happy to get with Orange County and then with Buckles
and this goes really for all of these as we move them forward. A big piece of this is going to say and going to be when we come back to you is here's what we envision this property could be and how it it could be part of the system. Sure. >> So, part of trying to answer that question is, all right, what is this
potential public use at this location? >> Then we'll be able to flesh that out as well as we move forward >> because you got Lake Mills Park that's literally >> three blocks away, >> uh, where you have the recreation ability and capability. But I would point out earlier in this presentation
those parcels you're looking for for other recreational opportunities. I would only say even though it's agreed that a great deal of the green space is in the eastern part of the county. There's a couple reasons for that. One, the voters voted for it. Number two,
there's a great deal wetland. And to the point of waterfront property, I would tell you that property is water flooded the majority of the time. Um, I don't even know that you could put a single house on it. Um, but that said, if you look at your maps that you've given on
this presentation and previous, I would just say there is zero playground equipment for my children in Geneva. >> Zero. >> That is correct. >> None. They can only go they can't ride their ATVs in the public parks. They can't run their ATVs on the county
parks. Um, so they have their limitations that some of the urban core children have the ability to enjoy. So I know it's a whole different conversation, but I'd like to have some conversation of how we plug in because
we got a lot of young families that are continuing to come to the Geneva area now. So certain what it's worth. Mr. Lockhart, >> um, we all make choices where we live. Playgrounds are important. You you buy near a playground. If you want to keep a horse in your backyard, you buy in
Geneva. Like that's everything's trade-off in life. But I understand um I understand the comments. Um one clarification on the ranking. Are these ranked? >> They're scored. So in terms of the
ranking, it's quite simply just taking going from high to low. Um, one thing that we made certain on as we proceeded to develop the ranking criteria is a reflection of what our experience was in Florida forever. So, we put together the
Yarborough application for example. Their their ARC did their own ranking and it was probably in the bottom third of their list and it was a really long list. So, it's it that's where it ended up. However, where that where that comes into play is does it meet the criteria
or does it not? And then the next step, which is the step we're in right now, then says, "All right, which of these are ready to go?" And that's why Yarborough was able to go quickly because we had done a lot of the leg work up front that their staff was going to need to get to and we provided that
to them. So, we look at this list as saying this is what the score was, but essentially you could look at any of the 10 and say where does this fit within our program and who's ready to go and who's not and so on and so forth. So it will help as a guideline to get us this
far. The next steps, however, will determine how quickly something gets. So if you want to call that a priority, that's it's a different conversation. >> I just wanted to make sure because the way that it felt like it was presented to us were these this was the ranking and these are the top five were presenting to move forward. Not that the
rankings no longer ma mattered because they they that's what got them there, but they are not being presented to us by the committee in rank order of priority for our process moving forward. by the scoring so that the actual process will start to shake that out as
to which ones are ready to go sooner than later. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Okay. Fabulous. Thank you. >> I think to sum it up, don't put words in your mouth. >> This is the scoring at this juncture of process. Yes. >> Next process, it could move >> the top one could move to the bottom,
bottom could move halfway, vice versa. That's correct. Got it. Yes, >> Commissioner Constantine. >> Well, again, I'm I'm ready to make a motion. Uh, but Commissioner, I just have to comment that your children are too old to be playing on. Uh, >> but I have but but I
>> I know. I knew what it was. >> I have two grandchildren. >> I bet they have a grandfather that would build them a little jungle >> gym. Little treehouse. A lot of open space out there. Okay. Again, thank you all very much. And I see a lot of the
potential per uh sellers out there. So, it's good to see you all here, too. I will move the recommendation of the uh uh director of parks and recreation and that we uh continue to move forward in
doing some um analysis of the seven uh that have already the high acres, Lee Ranch, Buckold, Dros, is that how you say it? close enough lassard, Parker and Lawler realizing
that some of them um the f especially top two were already involved with you know the Florida Forever and the bottom two you know with Gen 4 and and the others in some form of capacity I don't want to put I tell you what you put that all in your motion >> I know I'm going to put it all okay I'm
just saying continue forward drop the other stuff >> that was a comment more than >> I'll give you a few moments to perfect that motion move forward with the seven recommendations to do more analysis. >> Okay. Is there any public that desires to comment on this work session?
>> No, sir. >> Okay. We'll close public input. All right. >> Try to get >> perfect your motion, sir. >> Okay. >> Then we move forward. >> Come on, Bob. Don't do that. Move forward with the seven uh recommendations to, you know, continue the analysis and bring back
recommendations. >> Second motion is second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I I oppose like sign >> pass unanimously. >> Thank you very much. If I may just for one moment and I really apologize for not having done this because she's not
here in the room is acknowledging our special projects manager uh Sher Williams who has worked with tirelessly with the ark and the applicants and continues to do so. Um she wouldn't have been here uh until I got a uh emergency text this morning that there is a family
medical emergency that she is tending to with her husband. All will be well. I believe he might be in surgery right now. But that being said, so our our best wishes to her, but >> quite honestly, I we would not have been able to get this far without her tireless work on this project. So, thank you. >> And a good person to have that knows
this county. >> Probably as good as anybody. >> Absolutely. >> So, good. Well, thank you very much. You've got your direction. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. That concludes our morning session. Is there anybody else has anything else for the good of the order?
County manager, county attorney, fellow commissioners. All good. We shall be in recess to 1:30.