for [Music] look at that a mirle I hear the one saying it's G be [Music] [Music] [Music]
I thought you were still talking about R but even it still is that because [Music] all right I think we're ready to get started if everyone to stay m pray father we come again now thanking
you for life health and strength we come blessing your name your name is worthy to be blessed father we come asking right now that you bless us as we go through this meeting bless our citizens here in this County our neighboring counties father thank you for what
you're going to do for this country Lord we know right now that we might be in upheaval but it won't last long we thank you we know you going to do what you normally do and you do it good thank you Father again for your grace and your mercy and we bless your holy name again
these blessings and all other blessing we do ask right now in Jesus name I pray amen amen lead to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic
for which it stands one nation under God liy and justice for all i' to welcome everyone through our meeting this Tuesday February 25th 2025 6: p.m. we have a conference L set
up the number there is 917 91022 access code 32347 pound this is not a to free number and you may be subject to long distance charges according to your longdistance plan when a chairperson opens the meeting for public comment please follow
the below instructions if you wish to speak please D star five the moderator will unmute your line as your turn to speak and notify you by announcing the last four digits of your telephone number please announce your name and address you will be allowed to speak for three minutes any person wishing to
address the board regarding an agenda item will be given three minutes for comment a commenter may only speak one time for each agenda item with that said we will move on to item three for appr of the agenda we have an approval of the agenda
move second second all favor on item four the board to discuss the ship HR P contract and agenda by leanda pton County Administrator uh so this is a followup
um discussion from the last agenda um there was a request for answer to provide documentation of a conversation an email conversation regarding um some Florida housing policies um that have to
do with FEMA funding and how it is expended and they did provide the documentation by the requested deadline and if I may ask I I'm still not a entirely sure um of one question that I asked and it could be that I just
wasn't didn't quite understand what you were trying to say I know in an earlier email that one of your representatives stated that they were following hurricane Michael guidelines and my question from that was what you know
that hurricane Michael was some time ago is there not updated guidance you know with a more recent hurricane especially Adelia and and I'm I'm still not sure of the answer but my question really was um
what is this something that that was clear in policy when you started going through the application process or is this new information that was not that came up you know as we were getting ready to go out to bed on these on these
[Music] homes stand up yeah problem and good evening everyone thank you for the opportunity to be here my name is Cory BC um met yall remotely last week but I run the strategy grants compliance group um that uh has been helping you all
since about 2009 both with the grants work and the assessment business in the past um and very good question so um as it references to the hhrp program itself um the guidance that was published around the duplication of benefit uh was
recent guidance and that was not included in the hhrp administration guide as it relates to the funding and compliance that we're supposed to follow um that's not abnormal for the issuance of federal funds um as you all probably
are aware it's very very Regulatory and the guidance at times cannot be all-encompassing where the origination of the question started was around the unique situation from the demolition perspective around if we are demolishing something and building something new how do those SEMA funds kind of get
interacted um and I will tell you that um keep my personal opinions aside about how Going Back 2 years is is challenging right we continue to work with uh thema on that in the state as well is that in the time that we're at right now we are
being extra judicious in our process of verifying guidelines especially given the executive orders that have taken place around Federal funding our two northstars when it comes to the federal funding process is to ensure first and foremost that you all are compliant with the expending of those funds so that you
are not at risk of having to have clawback of repayment the second thing is to work on a timeline understanding the nature of these dollars to get the funds out as fast as possible and that's what allows the community to benefit from that and so unfortunately it was not written in the guidelines and when
we were to clarify that um one of the feedbacks that we are also providing is that if it's not in the guidelines why are we subjected to it right and so we're continuing to work on that process and that doesn't mean and historically doesn't mean this because it's not written then doesn't mean it's going to be written in the future in subject when
it comes to the monitoring process for us to adhere to can I ask another question something that I think would benefit myself and the board um and I know other people have something to say but one of the
kind of lingering questions I've had was early was there a decision by staff or by your company to hold these applications until you have a particular number and then go out to bid it was
there a reason that as you know two or three were qualified we could not move forward because I think that's been some of the frustration of folks and by the time they you know they may have submitted all their information and been ready to go out to bed now I'm you'll
have to help me with this and then they had to reverifying come information because it had been too long or was it just a matter of you know as soon as you had the first 10 ready was was 10 a number that that that you picked or did
it just work out that way um so it's it's a combination of the two right we we try and lump as many applicants as we can as reasonable together um to try and Achieve economies of scale on behalf of the the vendors
that are um that are uh you're going to be bidding on these we work with some of the biders all over the state with these programs and there's a few that specifically Target these programs they try and get as many as they can to um and typically we found better pricing
when we do it that way um so try and achieve some cost savings on on behalf of the county and on behalf of um the residents as well um sometimes it's right the phasing of right we have six that are ready but these two are you
that close so let's let's slump them all together try and get them um you know try and get all these out at one time um so it's it's a little bit of a combination of the two um and sometimes it works out that we can if we have 10 ready in a month period That's How we'll
do it so if and I guess the another lingering thought that I have is if you had started on construction of several homes and then received the the guidance from Florida housing that now you have to screen for
duplication of benefits how would that have affected those citizens who were maybe halfway through the process or completely through the process of building a home sure I mean I can I can start me it so and that that's a great question um
because really what the guidance that we received was essentially uh these applicants would be ineligible for the assistance until that duplication benefit is reconciled right meaning that it's either taken against the award um or the applicant would need
to pay up up front um that is the guidance you know directly from Michael Cheney with Florida Housing Finance Corporation so if we had moved forward um prior to receiving you know that which is why right we wanted to reach out ahead of the bidding process um and
that's you know again standard practice to to ensure that there's clear clarification especially in areas where the guidelines might be unclear um you know if that had happened right there could be potential ramifications from a monitoring and compliance perspective
down the road um so know there could have been a scenario where the county chose to move forward with those applicants depending what the FEMA response was um if the response was the applicant or another source of
funding was required to mitigate the funding that was already spent that would be the beholding of the applicant in the county and so that would be a Delta that would need to be unfunded that would need to be fund LA on for compliance by the county Poss yeah and that's typically why we
try to address those issues before we get to the the bidding and um you know award execution process do you know when FEMA release this guidance as far as the duplication of benefits so there's a standard practice for duplication of benefit
where typically it would not be the responsibility of the program to verify the theme of funding from approv of expenditure standpoint what's unique here is that we're funding the whole project and actually doing away with the past FEMA dollars so when we reached out the FEMA at that time to clarify the
guidance that's when they said it is actually the responsibility of the county to do that which would be atypical to other funding streams and just to clarify um this is not a FEMA rule that's being imposed this is from Florida Housing Finance um that that
this this guideline and you know this guidance is being issued right directly from uh you know an authority within the agency um and they're the on saying that really again you know any potential duplication right the the any potential
duplication must be accounted for which again is something that right is is is established but in terms of going through and verifying what those FEMA dollars were spent on that's where right that's not in the guidance that's not written anywhere within the um within the ship
uh you know the ship guidance or any type of program Administration guidelines well how how is anyone supposed to know I mean you can't constantly check with I mean do they issue guidance or do they wait for someone to ask a question they
do issue and and quite frankly that's why we assist to counties and cities and states across the country with this is there's constantly updated guidance that's issued um I'm sure you're probably familiar with the ARA funds it felt like every Friday we are getting new issuances on what we could do or
what we couldn't do and so we monitor that activities um we also you know have good relationships with the the state to clarify guidance because there's there's not a way that they plan for every scenario to be captured by the guidance and so we address that Nuance as it comes
up I'm still I guess I'm still not clear how How would how would the county know or how would you know unless somebody flagged you that there's a change in the guidelines and you have to do something different
because that that concerns me that you know if if y'all if you hadn't asked you would know and then there's a mess for the county potentially at the end of the at the end of the project so the the clarification that we received right
we're uh we collected the duplication of benefits information right at the beginning of the application process right and typically uh you know when they provide information and say we have $5,000 in G funds that's what we need to reconcile against right the project and
you know with the um with the demo reconstruction issues right that's where we reached out for clarification and um you really within that Nuance it's it wasn't so much that hey you need to do a duplication benefit analysis that's something that we do with with all of
our grant programs um it was really that just specific Nuance of oh well just by the way here's how we interpret a duplication of benefit it's not just FEMA right if they got FEMA funds to fund their repair on their home and they did that they spent those dollars
adequately that doesn't count as duplication benefit so you collected that information with the original application we we did yes yes it it was the specific new of oh you need to verify what they spent their FEMA funding on and that it was used for its
intended purpose of home repairs that was new information that was not published in any written guidance um and that was communicated to us through um through both phone calls and emails okay I think I understand I'm sorry it took so long you it's a very nuanced and
complicated situation as the advisor said the what's what's fundamental and why this is eligible why we can't disregard the fee of dollars is because the hhrp program was not known at the time so there couldn't have been a conscientious decision to to fund FEMA knowing that this program was in a come
so that's what kind of makes the duplication of benefits allowed again that's where the feedback around the approved payment is subjective in terms of having to go back to get back to the so I'm assuming at that point you
already knew which applicants had received FEMA funding but you put the brakes on so you could gather the receipt information from them right I think when we it was bear with me young dates January 25th from my review that we had that initial call I think we had
one call with the county in between then and then that was the you know hey here's what would be the allowance to get us that time to do this verification I know between our two project managers that are pretty much supporting this fulltime and engaging with the applicants themselves with assisting
with technical information following up to make sure there's Clarity on through on the information that is provided that we were able to go back and do that okay I think I okay thank you so are you are you notified when these new guidelines
come out are you notified immediately so we Monitor and Survey Publications um around guidance we're always attending webinars and communicating with uh the legislative and governing bodies to ensure that no guidance is slipped by that's part of
our standard practice um but we also do go to the extent to say if there is a question that looks that is not directly answered within a webinar or a guidance from the public publication perspective we follow up and clarify so you so you're saying again that the day
that you stated that that you got these guidelines that was the the very day they came out is that what you're saying they were actually the the facilitation of the answer was only prompted because we reached out okay and how long have you been doing this myself personally or
your company uh both myself personally about 16 years um I've been uh working with public agencies on the funding perspective everything from school districts to City cities counties on the state side um and then for our group we're actually formerly GSG so we've
been helping you all since about 2009 I'm aware of that so are you are you saying tonight then that um the people that received um benefits that received funding through
FEMA is that going to be taken away from what they're getting now or is it okay is it forgiven so that we are allowed to not count that as a duplication of benefit based off the guidance if because of the condition that was unknown at the time being this hhrp
funding we don't have to count that themea funding as part of the duplication of benefit so to to clarify so it's that's where the Nuance comes in from what was communicated to us from Florida Housing Finance so let's say if applicant X got $5,000 for home repairs
um and they spend it on a new car because they needed a new car to get to work right they spent the Fe dollars and what they needed at the time right technically there's still a a a benefit that has been unmet because they didn't spend the the funding on the home repairs that were intended so for for
that funding that would need to be reconciled with the with the hhrp award um the the one method that Florida Housing Finance suggested was a payment upfront of that funding prior to the award being issued um we have seen in
other project with other funding sources where they would just basically d uh deduct that from the total eligible award um but the Nuance there is we're doing demos and you know complete rebuilds and it's like how do you fund 95% of a new house right um and then and
then you get into a sticky situation where the contractor and the applicant are you know they you know and some type of obligation of funding between the two um so it's not just that if they got Dema funding that's going to be deducted from
their award um but if there is a remaining duplication of benefit then it is something that you know we would need to figure out how the county would want to move forward um with those Awards which is why we reach out you know ahead of the bidding process to ensure that we're my concern is that the people that
did receive benefits to uh repair their home and I know some of them did perhaps some didn't but the ones that did and they used that funding to repair
their home enough until they could get a new home so to me it makes no sense that they used it for the purpose and then since they did that that then that would be deducted from
from their new home that makes absolutely no sense to me and and commissioner that's a great point because you are correct and that is the clarification that we got was if they used it for its intended purpose of repairing the home the FEMA funds were issued to repair the home they use them
for that purpose then that will not have any effect on their hrp award okay and so I I know that the one person that I know you know something about um I know that his application was sent and it was
sent early and then it was one thing after another we've discussed this several times now and um and so there's a delay now and and and so I don't know how far down on that list he
is but we all know that the or I've been told that the money that uh we have is not going to build 40 homes and we still have 40 applicants so is this going to put this person down here so that he doesn't get a home because kept asking for different
stuff every week correct and to to address that that applicant right specifically um what what we did after hearing the sentiment of the of the commission um of Wanda of Melody and Jamie was this initial group of we was
17 that was all income qualified and have their applications you know full to us with what was requested at the time you know those are the applicants that we are moving forward with and giving um giving that time to provide all that information so that so that application
is not in jeopardy because of that fact and I can tell you right now um our team is actually engaging with BMA on those applicants behalf to try and get that information do you uh um date and time stamp these applications when they come
in uh yes when you receive them they're they're stamped in with time so we yes and so then you know the ones that you got first MH so then there wouldn't be a possibility that these people because they've been asked for different stuff then would be
would not get their new high that is correct thank you any other questions from the move I got several um I been looking at the uh contract that was dated uh January the
16th of 2024 which was uh really provided that y'all were taking over for um G GSC and the change of names and
then it's got a lot of bullet points I mean it's just familiar with point that would be our our scope our scope of services so yes sir yes sir um just a couple of questions I mean
it's a long list okay um and one of the things that brought my attention to is provide regular project status reports to the commission this board being the commission from January the 16th of 2024
took the date how many reports have be done verbally or written to the commission you know I don't know that number off the top of my head I can find that number for you but I think you might probably know the number um and I know that we probably
provide regular updates through our engagements with the administrative staff um one of the things that I you know would like to discuss with the County Administrator is is how we improve on the communication that's part of why I'm here tonight um is to play a role in that improved communication um
and stepping in the product executive and taking the lead on this moving forward I agree with you I think it's really important to keep these five folks informed uh you know we do have folks that come in quarterly we do have
folks that come in monthly and so forth and I know and where's your home base me personally yes sir Austin Texas sir that's a long way from here it's got a lot harder now my three-year-old actually knows us how to say goodbye so my uh my original jacket had some tear
and snot marks on it but um we're getting past that we'll learn well and but it does not come at a cost to you for me to be here just to clarify I appreciate you coming um but I will tell you this um ever since um uh the co uh
we do a lot in my business I'm a trial lawyer we do a lot of things on zoom and when I first started I thought I want to do that you know and but I've learned how to use a mouse and all that kind of stuff um
and I'm sure that our board would be appreciative of doing it by Zoom um and we have the facilities to do that updates okay then um also
uh do you keep records on your oversight of citizens complaints in other words I'll tell you what I do um when I get when I get something a client calls me um I write them back the same day to
usually you know um and believe me you have people that that hire me that want things done yesterday and that's because of the uh of the computers now because we used to be able to wait a little bit we can't
now um and then so uh also how many site is it have y all done so far or the hhrp funds or funding in general you we the number so the the
site visits are done prior to um us recommending them for to go out to the to B for the bidding process because that's it's that's a statutory requirement so um actually we there's a uh a local firm that we work with confident we're able to get these funds expenditure these
homes buil in this time uh commissioner very much so so the obligation period through June 26 um you know with the 17 we have right now the expectation is that obligates all of your funding um and meets that deadline ahead of time um obviously there will be opportunity to revisit that funding cycle and funding
schedule should applicants move around uh but no concerns um and we'll you know personally commit to that here um in front of you it just takes a minimum of six months to
build a home a minimum so it is concerning that you're almost at just 9 months left to finish this job we've got till June of 20 so the um
the deadline in place is to obligate the funding um which means to get them under contract now to be clear we're not setting that as Our obligation deadline Our obligation deadline is much further ahead um and will be in fact there's nine that are um that I believe are
going to go to the board um one of those going on the next on uh a week from tonight nine that are going forward um a week from tonight and then um the other ones again we are working our team working with them every day on a daily basis reaching out to them and working
with the agencies to try and get their their um their duplication information to hopefully get them on the um the next board meeting uh and then I'm sorry no go ahead you're um right and then right from there um
you know getting the bids back U and getting the M contract to get well ahead of that deadline I think Conrad wants to ask under amount of uh consideration um just want to read you
what this says the owner will pay Asner the sum of 10% of the County's total hhrp award for administrative services fees are based upon available HHR funds totaling
$3,600 the additional hhrp funds are and or become available the fees will be adjusted accordingly more money right the owner shall issue the fee amount in equal monthly payments to Asner over a
period of 24 months okay so we're talking 24 months from January the 16th 2024 to January the 16th 2026 if my math is correct correct okay to conclude but
it says over a period of 24 months to conclude in December 2025 so it's kind of goofy there you might want to look at that okay if the Project's completed in less than 24 months Hallelujah I added that okay um
the bance administrated and projects delivery fees will be paid to as after completion and submission of the Clos out status report to the owner Additionally the owner will extend Asner scope in consideration of their previously agreed of f ship program
administra service to the same concluding date of December 2025 upon this date the owner may choose to extend asner's contract for another two years just want youall to be aware of that part of your contract that y'all
provided and was signed by our chairperson so that's all that I've got so thank youall I appreciate it so so I'm still trying to
understand what's happened since last January up until now we're almost at March and we don't have the first home yet not even starting on bids haven't even gone out
yet so what's going to make me believe that all of a sudden now you're going to get the work and you're going to get this done so first of all what has caused your delay that you haven't produced in
over a year and and then I don't know I I'm trying to wrap my head around how you're going to do this how are you going to do this because we've got people out here suffering and I don't think y'all understand that we've got people that have lost
their homes or they're living in terrible conditions and so to me time is of the Ence so if you can help me understand why in over a year that we don't have the first home
yet and and so I'm very doubtful that help help me a little bit you I'll start by saying uh commissioner I I completely understand um having been in the disaster recovery business um is kind of a blessing and the curs in a way um
being on site whether it be for fires or earthquakes or hurricanes flooding you name it um it it really really strike a cord in terms of the human emotion that people go through um that's the curse unfortunately um the the blessing is what you can see on the back end right
when you actually get to see these funds implemented that actually help people um so I very much understand and and recognize and that's why we we don't use obligation timelines where it may be a three-year window to get the funds obligated which just means getting under contract that's never been the program guidance that we follow in terms of what
our mission is to support you all as to as expeditiously as possible get the funds enhance and so yes that relates to having to go through a program design phase an application window clarifying the application window and then reviewing for all the statutory
guidelines um is taking time right and the intent of that program stand up in then Administration phase in in in what I'll call initiation to actually breaking grounding s the homes is to one saard yes a little bit against the county and from the compliance perspective two to verify all the
information that's required and then three feel have peace of mind when we go do implement the funds that we've done all the leg work necessary to mitigate any risk around those funds not being obligated to the accounting and the recipients themselves and so have you how many have you verified the n that's
all out of 40 so so of so that we have 40 um 41 applicants um who have all submitted applications and every single one of those applicants there's been a you know a process interacting with them um
verifying information certifying information of those 40 uh we uh there are 17 that have gotten us everything that we need up to the the recent guidance that we were just informed of
um so you know in terms of like who's who's ready to go that's and that's why we're moving forward with that list of those 17 applicants um but even you know the ones that might fall out of that 17 there's been numerous numerous Communications with those hours and
hours of review um the the ship and hhrp administrative process is notoriously administratively burdensome um which I think is one of the reasons why the county engaged with us many years ago to assist them um there's an income
certification process that is um overly burdensome by most opinions and actually that's going to be changing with new recent guidance from the state which we're very excited about um but in terms of right the the work that's that's been done there's been a lot of things going
on behind the scenes um interacting with those applicants um doing the compliance work to verify that everything is accurate um making sure that we're you know upholding the the couny and the residents best interest trying to move people along in the process as well as ensuring that right the funds are
getting spent in a way that is compliant with the state guidelines and the program guidelines well let's just go back a couple or maybe it was one before that I don't even remember now you lose time with all this
stuff but the n and I think you were on the phone and Terra was on the phone and I mentioned a lady that had sent her application certified mail and she has the green
slip nobody why why did y'all act like you didn't know anything about it I mean help me understand that because that gives me a lot of doubt and and understood and I I just to clarify I wasn't on that phone call
sorry um I wasn't on that phone call um I was on the next phone call I think for the board commission meeting um the bottom line on the receipt of the certified mail and not registering that like hand up we made a mistake um I'm in the process of of the corrective action
and understanding what and how that could possibly happen um but it did and I apologize for that and I I let me just jump in and I understand everybody can I know that but what I don't understand is why that night and I know at least one
of y'all knew good and well what I was talking about but you didn't come clean with it until I called the next day I believe I spoke with you uh you spoke with Joseph and and okay and then you knew all about it then you knew who
signed for it but she knew or one of y'all knew the not before and so why did you not be upfront with it so um I'll clarify you know Joseph attended that meeting as well he was not the person that was made aware of the certified now
um somebody was and they didn't speak up and you're right Fair work for you we're in the process of of understanding and having a corrective action plan um you know my personal take is people make mistakes and it's my job to help either
you know fix those solutions for people that um have done really good work especially for Taylor County in the past um I won't disagree with the frustration um but uh for lack of better words I'm going through our process um to evaluate coaching opportunities and evaluate
opportunities for improvement but that's primarily why I've stepped in this project um because I could tell that the communication from uh commiss not happy with so like one of the things that I've I've looked to our te to do is every Friday now we send out a update that can be shared with the board so there how many phone calls what applicants we
talked about what we discussed all the metrics are shared with you all as a starting point to kind of rebuild that trust um and so that's a commitment that I'm going to be making on behalf of our team and being uh responsible for delivering and that's only one step to get this back to where the levels of
trusts have been in the past yeah I I'm still questioning in my mind if if we need to move forward with these people or if we need to go in a different direction I'm not sure I know the answer
to that but it is it is a my question do we what do we need to do do we they did tell us they have nine applicat coming to our meeting next week
so I think as I mentioned before we don't want to jeopardize folks that are this close absolutely not I don't want to be doing that now with them I think you I think everyone's got their hands around it to watch this and follow this through so I mean we'll know if we've
got nine applicants coming to our next meeting and really if that ends up not happening and the communication is not there we don't see it then but I just don't want to you know I'm with you think the look is nothing's been done for a year then all of a sudden everybody's jumped on board
and trying to get to work and make things happen but I just don't want to jeiz these applicants by changing directions and then it be on us that they get delayed and getting a home you know understand my point that first I'm
here for the citizens only for the citizens and so I'd be the last person that would want to jeopardize any of these people and getting their home and so um so I don't for me I'm not as
comfortable as maybe some of you are but I don't want to jeopardize and I don't I don't want to jeopard I don't know if if moving in a different direction would jeopardize or stand with them would jeopard because I'm only looking at the history here doesn't look
good to me but maybe we've got your attention I don't know I hope you're capable I hope you will do it but you see where I have a lot of Doubt understood and that's why I was important for me to be here in person tonight um is is you know I will say
talk is cheap I I know that um and that's where we're going to put the mechanisms in place to communicate better um share the results and um cautious of the appearance of it looks like there's nine the team was working towards that had this new guidance not occurred we'd probably be in a different
position than we are today um but that's my intent by being here tonight and to follow up that with um the action that's needed to help you all deliver on this this program so I've got one question for con now if if something happens and they don't they don't come through what
kind of legal Avenues do we have I ain't going to tell them what we're going to do do yeah you know what I'm talking about I do okay okay but he said none but you had seven more eight more there's eight more that we're still working through to
get to the position where they could be recommended to the board for approval and so part of that communication is to be transparent and hope you know if sharable then you know disclose what it is we're actually waiting on what are the actions we're taking to get that close right so um that would be the intent of that communication for
transparency to the extent it can be publicly disclosed and there's Comfort around what the details are you know we pay y'all over a quarter of a million dollars to do this for us 350,000 that's a chunk of change right
there and I expect I expect better for over a quarter of a million dollars to administer this Pro one program well commissioner Fel I hope I'm back here in front of you uh in the
short term with uh you know validating the decision to continue to work with with our team who's you know appreciated working with you all for a long time any other questions I want to see it
complete and keep us in tune every step you make from here on out or it could end I mean we we we need to the people need to know when they asked question when is it coming when is it coming we
didn't know so we hadn't been told so I'm I want youall to stay in touch with Manda and keep everything straight is are you referring to the tracker no we're going to update the tracker um and it'll be very clear and concise I'll call it a Friday flash to give it a name
because I don't think I've received anything like that yet well yeah we starting you know this week we'll have a an updated today's Tuesday yeah starting this week we'll have an updated Friday flash that can be you know disclosed and we'll work with you maybe we spend this week you and I can chat a little bit
about what information will be helpful we agree upon that and then we start the following week sending out every Friday that can be disclosed any other questions all right appreciate you guys being here thank you thank you thank you
have a safe trip home we'll do MO the board to consider approval of request for proposal documents and request to advertise for professional Consulting Services Commissioners this is the request for proposals for the Department
of Commerce Grant um for the final Taylor County Economic Development strategic plan um and of the um dated scope of work and just to remind everyone this is basically for the final
economic development plan and will include some economic excuse me some environmental monitoring of the closed and soon to be demolished um Georgia Pacific site so we have to do
this I don't I mean we'll send it to um to the same list we sent the last um the last um proposal the request for proposals to we'll advertise it and send it out to the same vote motion to approve motion to approve
by commissioner second second second by commissioner mood all in favor all right we'll move on to item six the board to discuss resolution of intent for fire and or recreational vehicle assessment agend by the
administrator this is just a followup to our um from our workshop last week our um our U excuse our budgeting Workshop um there was some discussion of attempting to adopt a
resolution of intent just in case for fire um EMS and the potential either RB permit fee or assessment and um the bad news is the deadline is March 1st but it requires a
public hearing and I think at least 3 weeks of advertising so in in order to collect any of those assessments on the tax bill we would have had to do that you C you still can have a study you can
impose the assessments just the first year they could not be collected on the tax bill if that's what you wish to do um I we did some checking on a potential RV assessment and that is not something that can be collected on the
tax bill there's just there's no such thing as an RV assessment so that is not a possibility so I would say for future consideration and the sooner I know the better um we can um we can move forward
with a study for what the board wishes you know and and and but we need to get started on that um and if the board adopts an ordinance um imposing an
assessment the bills would have to be sent out separately from the tax bill anything that is not collected next fiscal year could be added to the tax tax bill for the year after that that's 2026 now we're talking about fire
assessment fire assessment or EMS assessment now as far as an RV permit fee um that's a different topic um I sent Conrad the ordinance from from uh was it Hamilton I'm sorry
Gilchrist Gilchrist excuse me Gilchrist County um they have adopted an ordinance for an RB fee but I think and Conrad you're going to have to step in and help me I think the difference in Gilchrist County is that all RB permits are
special exceptions so they are granted approval and then they are builded every year for an RB permit which obviously we we don't have special exception RVs here um I
mean there you you can basically place an RV where it's allowed and at the density it's allowable I think it's a I think it's a practical matter um for each one of yall Commissioners I think you need to send them a copy of that
each commissioner a copy of that ordinance um it's very new it was passed in October of 2024 so it's very new I don't know whether they've had any challenges to it you know um y all remember years ago when there
were challenges to special assessments and we still got people that are calling it tax it's not you know uh special assessment you have to uh prove that number one it benefits the property and then number two that it's
administered um fairly as the two the Supreme Court of State of Florida has just um really uh CAU on folks about it and it's uh like I said it's it's an interesting you know a lot of times reading an ordinance is not interesting
to read it's kind of boring if you needed to go to sleep but this one is a good one um I'm sure that they worked very hard on it and as I've told you before uh there's no um problem with pleasure
iing uh other folks's work in ordinances and so forth there's no plagiarism in the law you know if you understand where I'm coming from there but I I would request that you send it to to each commissioner and take a look at
it so you say it's not a tax no it's not what do you what do you call it isn't isn't this assessment being an additional charge to the [Music] citizens I know but I'm telling you that uh if you went into court and you called
it a text you would probably get punched in the nose I mean I guess we can you know not literally but I mean you know Mr Bishop why are you calling that a taex you know better than that Mr commissioner or Miss
commissioner you know better than that your old lawyers told you that a bunch of times that it's not a tax let's put it this way it's money out of folks's pocket yeah so I'm just trying to get this make this clear or
get this clear for myself it's a license kind of thing what what um what L was talking about and it's like U you know I've read it like um it also provides that it's a
temporary license um for it's temporary period of time then you got to get it renewed you know like you have to get your your car license renewed and that sort of thing like I said it it's it's very new and I don't know whether they got it
from some other County or something I don't know that like I said I don't know of any challenges to it I just an assessment like this doesn't really look good in the
wake of a me closures you know two hurricanes you know damaging all of our real estate and imposing an assessment is that is that what's
driving this to you know look at this assessment is I was just I I think that was just one of the possibilities that was discussed last week and because I knew that there was a deadline to adopt a resolution of intent I put it on the
agenda for tonight but obviously we've missed the deadline for advertising so there not even really anything that we could do even on our Even in our next budget you could and see so let's maybe
let's break this down one at a time so if the board wish to impose a fire assessment then first of all you need to get a study right Conrad I mean there's we would have to to have a study done because right because how else would we
defend that how it's a portion right yeah unfortunately that's no fun though I know I know but you know and studies are not cheap the cost of a study would be about
$45,000 and then on top of that you have your legal fees um so the total cost not mine not his so this would be through most likely neighbors Giblin and Nickerson this is
their in their willhouse so that's an additional additional $199,500 which is about what we what we paid for the solid way study so you know you would have to do that first and then go through the whole you know public hearing you know
all all of that that you have to do we would have to prepare a budget and then that W or would not be adopted by the board and it's the same for an EMS assessment so you need to pay for a study first and that's to protect the board in case there's a challenge and we
know you know where the numbers how how to come up with the numbers so that's you know that's an additional 60 $65,000 that you would have to you would have to fund up front to even adopt a
you know these ordinances now there's another possibility um that we're you know we're kind of looking at or at least you know if it's a possibility there is a potential of 1
cent sales tax for um fired emis um that could not be imposed next year it has to be added by referendum on on a general election and then the January pass by the voter
the January after that we could start collecting an additional 1 cent if that's something you wish to do one of the things that you got to bear in mind too you might get such a hue and
cry and probably about special assessment because you have a public hearing um especially the way economics are in our County spefic specifically that you might get up here and you hear all your constituents and
you get phone calls and so forth and then you spend all that money for a study and you decide well I'm not going to pass that because my my folks my people don't want it you know well I
mean I can see that I'm not I'm not really you know looking to impose additional Assessments in the wake of what our community is going through I would I would be more in Li of
showing the the taxpayers where we're willing to make cuts and where we can cut the budget down in order for this County to survive and we we do have options I know we have options to show just that without our first option being
H potentially impose an additional assessment right there you go you got it you got it good for you well again this was this was strictly a timing issue I just we can't do it by March 1st so that's something for you to decide if
you want to do this at a later time I just don't think I would wait too long if the will of the board is to move forward with an assessment because it takes time to do the study and to you know all the legal work that has to be done you remember what we went through
with the CES it was something if you do have do a fire assessment what can that funding be used for just fire rescue right right and I think that if I'm not mistaken and I don't want to
speak out of turn the clerk's not here but Conrad help me if an assess if a fire assessment is imposed or a 1 cent sales tax is imposed for fire
doesn't the um doesn't the millage have to be reduced by this by the same amount I don't know the answer to that one I know we what would we what would even
be well the I think that what I've heard in the past is it gives the the the homeowners or the you know maybe the business owners whoever pays adorm taxes it does potentially reduce their tax and it spreads it out maybe
equally among all property owners and the same with the one cent everyone pays that this not too long ago this board the majority I think commissioner Fel had brought numerous times and B I
do I want these firefighters to have more money I do and I know M figel brought it to this board to intentionally do so and the majority of the board rejected under the understanding that
they was not willing to give just one group an increase that if we wasn't doing it across the board so I struggle with adding an additional assessment that would do exactly what
the majority of the board said they didn't want to do I just said I'm just following the rescue I want to have I want to have additional money I do but it it's kind of like we're talking this
way and now we're talking about that well I think that again I don't know that that's the purpose is to generate additional funds but everyone would be paying it versus versus just those who pay
adum but um I mean that that's wasn't the intent of the discussion tonight I just wanted to follow up on you know what we had discussed if if the board wishes for me to pursue um you know obtaining a
study or to further search 1 cent sales tax I just need direction from the board and that's really what I'm asking for in terms of your comment just now um yeah I've advocated for firefighters for
a a long time and I feel like that if for all these years if if we had not had inflated budgets we might would have been able to to give that raise but you know that's that's already done but see
here's here's here's the thing nobody wants to face the reality that we have to prepare for a 20 to 25% drop in Revenue that's what all this
is about and and and and I know for the last few weeks that I know that some of my colleagues in County government have been critical of of my Approach uh to develop a a u balanced budget for fiscal
year 25 and 26 and and and many many many people they want us to they want the bard of County Commissioners to raise taxes raise fees charge a special
assessment or you know take money from our reserves and to to do this to um to make up for this pending budget deficit so where I'm at is I would like
I would like to cut government spending in Taylor County that's that's been one of the biggest problems and Taylor County's population has has not increased our population has
decreased but the cost of Taylor County government has increased even more than inflation and we can just look back at all these budget numbers that's been approved over the last 2018 I think
you're privy to that too and just see what kind of of uh of increases that that that that's that's taken place so many many of our citizens have lost their jobs and some of them have been able to find new jobs but a lot of those
new jobs have been at reduced wages lesser wages than what they made while at the same time they've had a higher cost of living and you'll see where I'm going with this in just a minute so and and also many people have been
forced to drastically decrease their own budgets at home just to get by so I I say this that now is not the time in my opinion
to further burden our people with these extra taxes fees assessments we we must cut budgets to make this work and and Taylor County we need to operate as a
business and we need to be more efficient and and learn to live with lesters like a lot of households have done learn to live with less and I want to be clear about one thing I am not now and I have never advocated
for eliminating any farf fathers or any deputies Public Safety is of the utmost importance each office has to look within their budget to find other ways to cut their budget other than by
talking about First Responders we need our First Responders so you know sadly budgets sad sadly budgets um may cause us to have to reduce
services and we may have to learn to live with less we may not have all the amenities that we've been used to having and I don't believe that there are many citizens that would mind to wait just a few more minutes in an office rather
than having their tax bill increased or or however other way that you would send them a bill for all these things that some people want us to do so I took a few notes um we all know
that President Trump is demanding budget cuts and I think everybody seems to be really happy about that well today Governor Des santis announced a similar version of the Department of government efficiency that's the known as that do
GE okay he stated that he would Sunset some boards and commissions he was cut 900 positions and he would require independent reviews and
Audits and he would look into local government expenditures that was today this announcement was today he also said he is excited about this effort to take some of what is being done in DC and apply it to
Florida and I'm quite sure that they are not facing a 20 to 25% deficit the way we are and they're taking these measures so bottom line we need to follow the example of what's going on in the
federal government and in the state government and so for all of these reasons that I've just talked about I can't support this resolution tonight I I I in all Consciousness I can't I can't
put any more burdens on our people they they've suffered enough we got to suck it up and cut these budgets and not back off iion any other discussion any other questions
yeah let me say something I had a friend over walk Nassau County wanted to go there and buy a motor home and he told me that this impact he buy motor home in Nassau County put a motor home1
14,000 so I went to our local people over here in Perry and asked them about buying a motor home that's more impa we don't have one we not as bad and we don't charge as much as some County government
charge I think because of what we have had in the past years has been Surplus money probably GP and we we've been blessed with jobs now these this last 18 months we've been hurt with the two Mill
closures and the uh and the three hurricanes I can understand that we been hurt but is and we going to have a budget Workshop or some days for the budget Workshop I think all the five
governmental bodies that we got that being elected they need to come to this room we need to discuss with them if it's our intent and we cannot balance our budget they need to make the decision where
they could they know where they can stand the cuts up and let us they we need to work together we don't need to be take that responsibility and tell them you don't need to buy two trucks this year you need to cut two P out of your office
they know where they can make those cuts better than we do and I think it's it's going to be beho us to get them here really do that they can tell their people so look we got to do something we got to not buy no cars we can't buy no
trucks we can't improve no building if anybody can do it they can do it commissioner yes that's exactly what I said last time I don't want to micromanage and tell these anybody what
to cut everybody I said this last time you know your budget cut your own budget do what you have to do you mentioned impact fees if you take a look commissioner English down at n all r that was my
district for 14 years and I don't know how much money we have spent on that road because there's a lot of residents that live beyond that that plant there and their trucks are
they keep that road tour up and there's no impact fees we pay for that and there should be impact fees when you've got a company like that that is costing our
taxpayers money and in the same respect we have lost a lot of money fixing roads behind log trucks on County roads all these years and the taxpayers took it right on
the lip on there because one Road in Gibson faster up there was $50,000 spent one year just where you you get an ambulance and a fire truck down that road to go to them people's house in case they did have a
fire did somebody got sick that kind of money come right out of the taxpayers pocket and I mean that's just like what you saying those people that rock mine should be paying something to tear that
road up the same for the law trucks well if you remember commissioner Moody several years ago when Malcolm Paige was here and I I put quite a bit of money on the CC grade and um you know that that one
year I'll never forget that I didn't have enough of money in my account to finish it and he he took money out of his District's money uh uh pot and help me and we spent a good bit of money on that road and the next thing you know
they their um mud bogging down there after there's rain and and then you know being tore up so yeah I would say it's my understanding and just something to think about the
neighboring one of our neighboring counties does not allow I'm just using log trucks after a rain during a rain after a rain they don't allow the log trucks on their County Roots they they keep them off if it's after a rain whatever
the period of time time is because during and right after rain them log trucks do tend to beat those roads out and it's my understanding and check on it but that's they don't allow these trucks up and down those County Roads Whenever there rain or right after a
rain we still have log trucks going do we still have log trucks that are in the woods a lot yes I thought they had had to cut way that they have but they're having they can't let them trees they they're doing a lot of they're still
probably doing some Salvage cutting but trees are moving if I could Mr chairman I I've listened to a bit of this analysis and we talk about impact fees and we talk about either shutting down loggin or or
transport of aggregate and or the or adding an impact fee to those folks but anytime that we add something to our businesses that's going to trickle down down to our residents those fees aren't just going
to be limited to that business or to that Logging company and by the way you know we talk about how much things have changed but our our loggers are still struggling and continuing to provide those jobs and yet here we say we want to close the roads to those
folks so I just continue to kind of try to look at and I do agree Mr D there are certainly impact fees not just for RVs that youve talked about another colleague talked about but in a in a
number of ways that that we currently do not have so I'm not saying all that just to carry on in a a blind conversation but to say I believe the way that we can work forward to balance in our budget is to
utilize a a common sense approach that has a combination but not just one element I don't think our formula is only going to have one element to come to a balanced budget so you know I I do think we could
uh discuss with our aggregate transport partners that are continuing to provide truck driving jobs and all those folks that you know our County needs L rock or my the roads in my district do I get reminded by a number of folks routinely
and uh we try to deal with that but I think what we continue to need to to maintain a a Clear Vision of is I don't think it's going to be a one-step approach and certainly we don't
want to have to increase our fees or reduce our services but I do think there's a way in working with our constitutionals and and all our our government commissioner DS I I do agree if we can uh have a common vision of of
reducing some of these services that we know are are not essential or that we can U do with less of perhaps then I I I can see that but you know just to say we're going to
um take take an approach to to limit or prohibit log trucks those are jobs those generate money and those are helping our people in a time when we don't have a multitude of jobs and those are not the easiest things to do but I do respect
all those folks in those capacities or the folks in our minds or or driving trucks to move Rock so I don't I don't believe you know we say hey now's not time to to create these these costs or
taxes um I sure don't think it's a time that we try to add to a limitation of jobs that are already limited now I I do think we can talk with our loging companies and express the problems that we have there with the costs and how
that impacts everybody not just folks that are that are logging but the residents that live down those roads where they may be Harvest and Timber so or where they may be loading Rock trucks or transporting that product
so you know I think it's uh crucial to to look at the full picture I I it's not that we can't make a decision because you know we're going to make
those decisions and and we may have to reconsider some of those um and and I think there are ways that we can see reductions in our cost and that may mean you know a number of our services have to be
re-evaluated and I and I do hope folks can understand and appreciate that in a patient capacity but I'll just tell you the last um you know short term when we talk about something like Solid Waste when there's been plenty of that um but
folks haven't been very patient in that respect so if that's an indicator as to what we can see going forward um folks have a real high expectation that we're going to move um solid waste because there's more of it coming and we got more of it to
clean up it's truth and we may wind up with some more on top of that so you know for me I I don't think that we can necessarily take options off the table I don't I don't think it's an extreme end I I don't think we'd have to have that
Nassau County impact for you but we may have to look at you know is there something that that we can do there that's acceptable or pable let's say to those potential residents or or users of our services so that's that's my thought
commissioner but I would just say in reference to the log trucks on the county road that's pretty minute to what we have going on in our community that was just a gesture of what's going on so I think we've got plenty of cuts that we can make that's cut our cut spending
outside of that that's I mean that's something that might could shave a little or could help you redirect how that happen but that's pretty minute to what we got going on we got we' got numbers we can cut that's pretty much more significant than worried about the
log truck running under that was just a gesture that of what another neighboring County does so U any other comment on this item all right if uh nothing
else uh we will move on to item seven the board to discuss future budget workshop dates agenda by the County Administrator so I believe I was actually tasked to send dates to the Commissioners and I
apologize I did not get that done so um I wondered if we could maybe discuss scheduling out um you know two or three budget workshops or I don't I don't know the will of the board if you want to
have how often you want to have workshops when you want to start um I just need some Direction should that be agenda to our regularly schedule workshops I mean is that something like I'm not sure how busy those are going to
be but given you know I think this is kind of first and foremost on on everyone's mind right now so um yeah I mean I think we're far these budget discussions I'm down to proposals of
what I would like to see done in Cuts I'm there too I'm uh I mean at the end of the day I can't wait till May or June to do such because then we're chasing our butts at that point okay so there is a regular workshop on March 25th do you
want to have a budget Workshop sooner than that think i' give folks time to adequately look at what those adjustments could be and I I could you know certainly when did you say May
March 25th is our next regular Workshop so if commissioner English do you want to have something before that that's a month away uh I like to say one thing about the budget Workshop we pretty much having one
tonight we had accomplished a thing as far as bringing another dollar in and we have said we're not going to SP send any more out like getting those studies done and things like that spending $50,000 of taxpayers money to to do a study that
might not even F and but now we need to a budget Workshop we we're looking at all the Constitutional officers to to cut their budget and if we go to cutting the county budget Mr W has to go to
laying people off and one thing or another just like right now we need a new truck to haul the dumpsters away from the rooll off SES she found one today they going to try to get it because the other trucks is all broke
down and that's expense and if we're going to spend money for something we need to spend it on having good equipment to work with not you know we just we uh we waste we wasting time on a
budget Workshop when we I mean they got I mean a workshop we we brought up a lot of things tonight we didn't accomplish anything what I'm saying we did get those people that's going to build the homes we got their
attention I believe and that that is a plus for tonight but we we hadn't come up with anything to bring any more Revenue in that's why I mentioned I'm at the point that I'm ready to make proposals
of what we need to do at our next meeting and I'm with you on that in L of public works if you've looked at any of these numbers our Public Works numbers really have not had any increase over
the course I know of the last six years I mean so you know but I'm I'm at to get the point somebody's got to make a decision to move forward and then people got to go to work on it so and that's where I'm at just like today I had a fell call me and said why am I why
had my road been Grady got holes in it I'm going to knock the front end of my truck outline and I said we got the gr graders on a rotation they get to the roads when they can I said but you need to look at this we might have to cut where we can't grade
as many times as we have all these years we might have to we might have to do it one every other month instead of every month I mean there's a lot and I I've been explaining that in my constituents you know the they don't need to get
upset if if they pull up to the garbage dump and they can't uh put the garbage out right you know right then yeah you know U so we just a lot of things we just we're going to be short on yeah and that things are going to change but that
guy uh needs to slow down he don't want to knock his truck out that's exactly what I told the Gent today but but speaking of equipment that's what that 1 cent sales tax is for okay now we haven't Ted talked about
that cuz I think everybody don't really want to bring that up you know we keep 50% and we give 50% away but um but in but in the same conversation you said a while ago you didn't want to increase no taxes no I don't I'm not saying that we
already receive a c tax of one extra Cent and we keep 50% we give 50% away so we haven't talked about using more of that but um I'm you know I'm I agree with you we
don't need to keep handling and haggling with these workshops we need as a board because the buck stops with us and we need to say this is what we want you to cut your budget by that's it and if they
can't do that or won't do that then the governor can decide that's where I'm at we don't need to keep on with this haggling reference to a date if it's I mean really I mean I'm prepared to do what I need to do next week or next month so if everybody needs March 25th
then we'll do it March 25th well do you want to I mean I know I know the discussion was let's not have a workshop after a meeting because we were here so late but if you feel like it will be a
short workshop and and you just there's just discussion of which way you think we need to go I don't know that that would take as much time do we need a workshop to decide that at our next meeting we could say this is what we want budgets cut and and and and and see
see where it goes uh instead of keeping on with this this will go on until July next week at next meeting that next week's meeting you just want to add it to the agenda for next week I okay I
think it's fairly easy yeah and you know everybody I know by not by now everybody knows we're going to be between 20 and 25% short that's the deficit we're going to have so that's how much we need to
cut we don't need to put it on the backs of our citizens that's already struggling let's cut big government out of Taylor County let's live by our means just like we do at home that next week sure right
there's no other discussion uh we'll obtain a motion to [Music] Second Line muted