Welcome to the Valuchia County Council meeting. The meeting will begin in 10 minutes. Hey, hey, hey. Happy heat. Hey, hey,
hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to the Valuchia County Council meeting. The meeting will begin in 5 minutes. Happy. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat.
Yoooo. Hello. Everything. Dick. Hello. Wow. Wonder. Welcome to the Valuchia County Council meeting. The meeting will begin in 2
minutes. Come on. Heat. Morning everybody. It's good to see a full house. We will call the March 3rd, 2026 Valuchia County Council meeting to order at 9:01.
Um, just to give you a an idea of how we'll start in just a second, just a minute, I will ask you to uh stand for the invocation and the pledge of allegiance. And you can uh stand if you care to. Um, the uh invocation is open
to all faith groups in Valuchia County. So if you are a member of a faith group who would like to participate in the future, please just send an email to K the letter K green atvalucia.org and Cararissa will get you all set up uh to
come. This morning we have uh Reverend Neil Ganzel of the Coina Presbyterian Church in Orman Beach and we are pleased to have Pastor Kanzel here today. I don't there he is. if you would stand
for the invocation. Our father in heaven, we thank you for the privilege of where we live. We thank you, Lord, that for all things, our particular homes and families, Lord, and here today, the governing body of of Valuchia County here. We pray praise you
and thank you for where we live and the freedoms we enjoy. and all the citizens here. Father, we thank you that as this this group gathers here today in this place, we are enjoying and benefiting from the great privileges of living in
the United States of America uh and where our government is accountable to our people and the people are accountable to our government. We pray that you give wisdom and great patience and loving kindness in the in the room for each other and that you give us in
that wisdom a way of speaking clearly and in all things uh desiring only that we do the right thing in this this in this hour these several hours. Give the people who we've elected to represent us wisdom and patience with us and with
everyone in this room who wants something here today. Lord, help us to yield to one another. Be clear in what we say, loving in how we do it and bless us. We thank you for Valuchia County and for the privilege of living here. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
>> Amen. >> Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Amen. >> Oh, did he leave? Okay. Neil, >> walk the plank. >> Thank you. Thank you. Uh Chrissa, would you call the role, please?
>> Mr. Oops. >> Mr. Johansson >> here. >> Mr. Kent >> here. >> Mr. Reinhardt >> here. >> Mr. Robins >> here. >> Mr. Santiago, Mr. Dempsey, Mr. Brower.
>> Here we have uh a full dis and a full house. Um, do we have any public comments to begin the the meeting with as um she brings them over, I will call
your name and uh in the morning participation, you are free to speak to uh any item not on the agenda but that we might um deal with in the future. You have three minutes to speak. Just come up to
the podium. There is a button on the uh on the left hand side that makes the podium go up and down. We would like to have the microphone right in front of your mouth so that people listening in uh online can hear and we can all hear.
Um there will be a timer on the uh screen um uh over my head and on the monitor in front of you. Please stick to the uh three minutes. We have a lot of people who would like to speak and um you are welcome uh here to speak this
morning. The first first up is Mary Dickinson. And and please when you come up just tell us uh what area of the county you're from. You don't have to give your full address for safety reasons, but your representative would like to know um that you live on Marsh Road.
>> Yes, I do. You'll be seeing a lot of me until y'all decide to take care of Marsh Road and all of us old people over there because our subdivision is a elderly subdivision
and we are being very well mistreated by this commission, this county and the city. And there is an ordinance in this state a quiet time
from 1000 p.m. at night to 8:00 a.m. in the morning. And this is pictures of dump trucks coming through our neighborhood at 6:39 a.m.
We have had them coming through our neighborhood 247. This is from 7:14 a.m. to 1110. 24 dump trucks within that short period
of time. This one is from 1112 to 431. Another 24 dump trucks. Allen Plumbing. Um CFB Outdoors
and Eddie V are major offenders. We have now gotten our sidewalks are cracking up from the sear the road movement. Our roads are cracking with 2-in holes
through them running down the road. And it's becoming you cannot even sit in your front yard in peace of any kind of peace and not be stressed out.
We are sick and tired of it. They're now cutting down the roads that are in a running in our subdivision and tearing them up. At 6:39 in the morning, they're waking up people on both sides of the
road. Marsh Road had weight limit signs. So did Carter and Daltry. The weight limit is 10,500 lb. Those dump trucks weigh 25
tons. They are moving the road base. The roads cracked up. The bridge at Sperling Sports Stadium had a weight limit on it, but those signs have all been pulled out
because when y'all decided to divert traffic from Highway 11 down Carter, Daltry, and Marsh, Marsh Road is a road that has a long ride, and
people think they can go 60 miles an hour 35 mph zone. >> Give these people money from the >> Okay. >> illegal gas tax. >> Okay. Thank you. Your your time is up. >> Katherine Pante.
>> Yeah. Give it to the clerk and she'll distribute it to Is Katherine Pante in the room? Okay. Uh, Suzanne Shyber. Nobody's ready. Katherine Pante, Daytona Beach, address protected. Good morning, council. I respectfully request that this council
place a Valuchia County charter amendment that mirrors Elatchua Countyy's protections for public conservation land. Specifically, Elatchua's 1.7 amendment that requires countywide voter approval before protected public lands can be sold or converted for incompatible uses. Elatcha County adopted this safeguard in 2008.
It protects irreplaceable public lands while preserving accountability and flexibility where it matters. At its core, this amendment rests on a simple principle. Land that was acquired for conservation, recreation, or cultural purposes should not be disposed of or degraded without the consent of the
people who paid for it, preserved it, and rely on it. The Elatcha County model does three reasonable things. First, it creates a public registry of protected places adopted in the open at a public hearing with clear explanations of why each property matters. That transparency
is good government. Second, it says that once the land is placed on the registry, it can be sold. It cannot be sold or converted in a way that destroys its conservation value unless the voters agree. That doesn't ban change. It simply puts irreversible decisions in the hands of the people. Third, it
allows for necessary exceptions like state or federal enem domain. So, this doesn't interfere with higher levels of government. I have given you each a copy of the two Sarasota amendments that were overturned because they were not in compliance with Florida statute 125.35. With respect, neither is an applesto
apples comparison. In 2018, Sarasota voters passed an amendment that said in plain English, "The county shall not sell or give away any county owned parks or preserves. Period. No exceptions, no process." It was an absolute prohibition that took away the county commissioner statutory power under Florida law to
manage county property. That is nothing like the Elatchua County provision where we are asking which we are asking you to support. Elatchua section 1.7 does not ban anything. It creates a registry of protected public places with specific conservation, recreation, or cultural properties that deserve the highest
protection. Only those chosen properties require a countywide referendum before they can be sold or converted under 12535. It simply adds one extra safeguard for the lands we all cherish the most. Sarasota tried to handcuff the commission. Elatchua gave the board a
tool to protect what matters while keeping full legal flexibility. This amendment is essential and I request the council to support it to safeguard our Valuchia forever land conservation program. I respectfully ask that you place a replica of the Elatchua amendment on the ballot to clearly
demonstrate your full support for the land conservation program that 75.6% of voters approved. Thank you for your time and consideration. Suzanne Shyber. >> Good morning. Suzanne Shyber with Dream Green Valuchia Orman Beach. There's been
discussion at the Valuchia County Council meetings about Valuchia Forever, specifically concerning perpetuity and why we have partners. In 2020, 75.6% 6% of voters strongly supported the land conservation program, surpassing the approval ratings of any current or past
county elected officials. In 2000, the initiative had a strong 61.6% approval. This suggests that many of you in this chamber and online listening right now supported taxing yourselves for land conservation. There is a 25-year precedent, Valuchia County, of never
selling land acquired through the program, coupled with a proven track record of establishing strong partnerships. To the Volutions in this chamber and online, we all know what we voted for. Dream Green Valuchia is launching a countywide
movement to defend our land conservation program, Valuchia Forever, in perpetuity and utilizing partnerships. So, what does this mean? We have updated our website with information and ordered yard signs that will be in stock within a week. We have been working vigorously behind the scenes obtaining letters of
support for the program. Thank you to the cities of Orman Beach, Daytona Beach, and Edgewater, 10,000 Friends of Florida, and the Indian River Lagoon Council. We are just getting started. If your city, organization, or business was not named, ask them to send a letter of support ASAP. Our organization can lead
this movement. But fellow voluutions, you are the movement. We are all collectively no strangers to flooding, water pollution, drought, habitat loss, biodiversity loss, and loss of agricultural land. Land conservation
transcends divisions more than anything. For whatever reason, you support land conservation. This is called unity. But we need all of you to hold elected officials in this chamber, in your cities, and at the state level accountable to what we voted to tax
ourselves for. You can start by emailing the county council stating clearly you want perpetuity partnerships, and bonding upheld. Hundreds of emails have been coming into their inboxes. For information, a yard sign, and the council email addresses, go to dreamgreenvaluchia.com.
No one is paid, and we are all volunteers. Yard signs are first come, first serve. Lastly, we can lead voluutions, but you must act. This is not the pitchforks movement. When sending your emails, be respectful. But make no mistake, this is not our first
rodeo, and politics will not intimidate us. We expect what we voted for, perpetuity, partnerships, and bonding of Valuchia Forever Lands that meet the established criteria. Stand up for what you voted for, Valutions. Thank you, council, for your time.
>> Thank you. Judith Lynn Boucher. >> Hi. Um, I'm here today to ask for your help. Uh, I own a piece of land, 10 acres in Oakill, Florida. It's beautiful. It is, uh, uh, classified as I'm sorry, I'm a little nervous. It is
classified as, um, prime agriculture. And as such, I'm allowed to put uh one residence on there to make my land. My idea is to I've been a teacher for 30 years in Florida. Uh at the beginning of 2025, I took a position in Valuchia
County. I'm now Valuchia County teacher. Uh happy to be here. Took the day off from the kids to be here with you five people today. So, thank you. Um but my problem is when I took the job and moved my life here, I applied for a septic
tank um application and it was kicked back because my property is in the u mosquito lagoon area where there is a septic tank um moratorum. Um and that from my research it means
that it could be solved between tomorrow and never. uh which is an unacceptable answer to me because I understand that when I purchase my raw land, I want to make a farm. I'm getting ready to retire. my youngest is grown and you
know I'm still going to teach but I I'm going to make a farm and do organic gardening and I bought this land because it's beautiful and it's protected and it's gorgeous and I'm not going to use fertilizer and you it it's it I'm going to continue the rescue efforts and I'm
happy to put in a tank a septic tank that is an aerobic one. I'm we don't have septic down that way. It's not going to happen. Um I understand the problem. I want to again I love manatees. I teach environmental science some years. I understand the problem. I get it. I'm not the problem. It appears
that there's no variance that I can apply for. There's appears that there's nothing I can do. So, it's like I have this piece of property I bought again in 2022 and now that I'm ready to live on it and farm on it and and do my thing, I can't do anything and it has just like lost its value and anytime I find
anything online, which is not much. It's like a black hole of information. It's very difficult to find anything. There was also no warning. I missed the deadline by like five weeks. When I applied for it, it was kicked out. There was no warning, no nothing, no grandfathering. Um, so now I just have this piece of property and I am losing
money. Again, I'm a teacher. I love the children, but I'm not there for the money. I don't have a lot of money. And I keep seeing in these um um these uh articles that these uh it's against these million-dollar corporations, and I understand it, but the land that I
bought is prime real estate, and you guys made it to where that is not it can't be made for that. It's it's protected. I can't just go in and put up a whole bunch of septic tanks and you you know, it's very strict where we're at what you can do with that land. and and I want to follow that and I want to
put in the upgraded systems and everything, but uh I can't find anybody to help me even at the the I can't get my council person to contact me. I can't get So any help you can give me my information is on the paper. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. U Gary Singleton
Mr. Mr. Chairman, um, and you usually you do a good job of informing the audience of, you know, we can't communicate and I wanted you to because we have a full house staff is already meeting with that lady. If you can to kind of let people know, that'd be great. So, >> thank you. Yes. My name is Gary
Singleton. I'm a citizen of Valuchia County. Uh government is not supposed to work like this. We the people, the citizens of Valuchia County, elected you to represent us, to serve us, to act in our best interest, and to give us what we want. Instead, you ignore our
requests, turn your backs on our complaints, or simply take from us something we've already have. We already have. Those of us who are awake, who are engaged, must routinely prepare ourselves for disappointment. And to say the performance of this council is disappointing is a great understatement.
But you help wake up more citizens with each taking. Each attempt to make to gaslight the people into believing that you are taking something away from us for our own good opens more eyes to who and what you really are. You show us who
you really represent. And which is worse, those of you who represent special interest or those of you who represent yourselves. Either way, we the people are left out of the process. Thank you. And that concludes the opening public
participation. You will have a chance to speak on items. And uh Councilman Santiago is is correct. For those of you that are are new here, it might seem as if we ignore the people that come and speak. Our rules say that we can't we
don't converse with every speaker that comes up just because of matter of time and we want to have as many of you uh that care to speak be able to speak and have the time to u but what often happens after someone speaks is if you
could see the back of the room you see a county staff person going to that person and handling whatever the situation was. In this case, uh, Councilman, uh, Robbins asked for the card for the lady with the septic tank issue. So, things
things do get handled. And, um, just wanted to take the time to tell you that we we really appreciate that you come here. Um, you need to speak up. You need to speak to your your uh your local government, and um, you're not being
ignored. Okay, that takes us to uh the first item of the day, approval of the agenda. Can I get a motion to approve as written? >> Can I get a motion, >> Chairman? I'll make the chairman. I'll make the motion to approve the the
agenda as presented. >> Second, Johansson. >> Okay. Uh, Councilman Kent makes the motion to approve the agenda. Uh, Jake Johansson made the second. Uh, all in favor say I.
>> I. >> Any opposed? And the agenda is approved. Seven to zero. Uh, that takes us to the consent agenda. Does anyone have an item they would like to pull for a vote? Does anyone have an item they would like
to pull uh or just uh to discuss after the vote? Chairman, I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Troy Kent makes a motion to uh approve consent agenda. Uh the second was by Vice Chair Reinhardt.
Any comments? All in favor? >> Broward. You do have two individuals that wish to speak on consent. >> You just handed those to me, didn't you? Okay. Uh Connie Colby would like to speak on item E.
Item E is the echo advisory committee work plan. >> Good morning, Council Connie Colby, Orman Beach. Um, this morning you're being asked to accept the Echo 2025 annual report and the work plan and
goals. Resolution 2013202 states that the council will present direct county expenditures of echo funds to the echo advisory committee for review. On page two of this consent agenda, the description of the advisory committee
duties failed to include this direction from the resolution um which needs to be amended. the duties of the advisory committee need to be amended to reflect that resolution. Why was this resolution excluded from
the um POS? Why why was it excluded to start with? Many other earlier resolutions were included. On June 4th, the council approved the transfer of Echo funds into the direct county expenditure program
for the motocross pro project. However, the public record does not reflect a completed DCE application recommendations or advisory objections. The advisory committee minutes reflect concerns and clarification that the
committee did not recommend the project objected to its location in the middle of the Florida Wild Life Corridor. These concerns were not communicated to the council even though the committee specifically asked the staff that their comments and um objections be
transported transferred that despite that an RFP was announced on January 30th, 2026. The RFP has been inserted between two advisory committee meetings and contains tons of details
that the advisory committee has not been has been asking for and were told that they weren't available yet. 4 days later on February 3rd, the council meeting staff acknowledged on record that the DCE projects are reviewed by advisory committee.
Additionally, the issued RFP states that selected operators will enter a market with demonstrated demand. Yet, the public reflected that the council was urged on October 17th, 2023 to agree
that there is a need and the council agreed to a study with no public input. A formal needs assessment was never done and was specifically excluded from the Hunden partners feasibility study as per the respect request of the council with no
explanations. Why was this project treated differently? If and when the council decides to put motocross on the agenda for a vote, motocross must be given this must not be given a free pass but will submit an application per the echo procedures
where it will be evaluated in the same manner as other applications and will be presented to the advisory committee. Thank you. >> Thank you very much for your comments. And next we have uh Amy Manisy who would like to speak on item I which is the uh
septic system upgrade grant. >> I know this on your consent agenda but uh I just want to take time to thank Ginger Adair and the environmental management team for going to BAT for our community in Deon Springs. She went to BAT way back uh to get us $1.1 million
so that we would have grants for our citizens to convert to nitrogen reducing septic systems. Chairman, point of order. I'm sorry to interrupt you. >> If this is not on our consent agenda, why why is this happening right now? >> We have it is on the consent. >> She just said it wasn't.
>> I think her thanking >> Oh, okay. Okay. The uh >> is item I >> Okay, >> no, I said I realize this is on your consent agenda and you don't normally take comment. However, sorry. It's an opportunity to thank Ginger Adair for
going to bat for us because she got $1.1 million in grants for our citizens who are required by state law to convert to nitrogen reducing systems. And that gave us $7,000 per citizen. Um, and that helped. Uh, but then she went back and
got another $1.1 million and that got it up to $10,000 per citizen and eventually up to $14,000 per citizen. And people really started engaging and taking advantage. the money disappeared because 159 of our citizens got the money and used it to convert and now she's gone
back to back for us again for $375,000. We just want to take time to thank Ginger Adair. I apologize if I wasn't clear there. Thank you, >> Councilman Santiago. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> They're applauding for me to speak.
Thank you. um m I I I thank you for for bringing attention to that that matter as far as the the septic tank conversions or replacements because it's a major issue and I spoke about this last time too and I'm I'm very appreciative of the grant
and the efforts our staff has put here but uh we we have to do some in the Blue Spring Basin. We have to go after grants in the Blue Spring Basin because I'm getting calls from people almost in tears when their septic tanks are failing and septic tank company comes in
there because of the new law. It's a 20 to $25,000 septic replacement. It's it's because of a state law that passed. So, um I just want to unless there's objection, Mr. Chair, just ask our staff to aggressively find more money for the Blue Springs Basin because they're not
eligible for this grant. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. And without objection from the council, I think that was transmitted successfully. Any other uh comments from the council after hearing from the public?
>> Yes, my name's up. Chairman. >> Okay. Councilman Kent. >> Yeah. I um I' I'd like to add since uh and thank you for your comments, but um after Mr. Santiago mentioned if we're going to put some grants out for the Blue Springs area, which I'm totally for, I don't want to leave out the North
Peninsula up in Orman by the Sea as well. Um, you know, we've we've got the Halifax River right there that feeds up to the Matanzas and heads down to uh Pon Inlet. So, let's let's add that one to the list also. Thanks.
>> Thank you. Okay. Then if there's no other comments, I will call for a vote on the consent agenda, which was to pass each item. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed?
Consent agenda is approved seven to zero, which brings us to item three. Motion to approve. I can show Johansson which is a resolution of for the echo
advisory committee implementation of uh term limits as requested by the county. There's three options here. So I'm not sure what the motion to approve would be. >> My thoughts exactly German. >> Um
so if uh is Dr. Burbal or who was going to speak to this >> tell us what our options are. So there are three options that we've given you and you asked us to return with it. Um one is the
it will allow individuals the the clock on the 8 years starts now. So it would be individuals who are serving um presently the clock for the 8-year limit would start. Um the next one is allowing
the individuals to complete their term and the and if they have more than eight years they would they would be gone. And then the last option is essentially um giving individuals two more years after
their term completes because it will help us stagger now that we're aligning with council um terms. >> Okay. And the way that it's presented in our in our information here is option A is the clean break, option B is
grandfathered transition, and option C is a phased sunset. Uh, Council Vice Chair Reinhardt. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, I'm actually in favor of option C. This is what I brought up when we talked about this before because it does stagger it and it puts it with our uh we're the ones that
actually appoint these individuals. Um, so it kind of puts it in line with with our uh cycle. Um, so curious how the rest of my colleagues feel, but I I like option C myself. >> Are you making that a motion?
>> Yes, I'll make that a motion for option C. >> Is there a second for option C? >> Without a second, we'll move to uh Councilman Kent. >> Thank Thank you, Chairman. Dr. Burbal, I maybe I'm not hearing clearly today, but what you said with the different options
was I think different from what I'm reading from option A, B, and C. >> It was It was different. Okay. >> Make sure I'm not losing my mind here. Um, that being said, council, since there was no second on option C, I'll make a motion to approve option A, the
clean break. All prior service counts immediately toward the 8-year cap. Members with eight plus years of service would be ineligible for reappointment beginning March 2027. This approach ensures immediate turnover but may result in the simultaneous departure of multiple
experience members. Option A. >> Is there a second for option A? >> Second. >> And a second is by uh Councilman Dempsey. And uh any questions for staff?
Any comments? Uh Troy, I will I I agree with you. I think, you know, we all serve under term limits of two four-year terms. I think there's a good reason for that. It encourages uh leadership and innovation
and it also will prevent um one really strong member from from leading the uh uh the votes on any item. I don't know that we have that. I think we have people that have really served well and and
honorably. Um but I think there's there's a good reason for for term limits. And I also think that the public prefers term limits. They prefer us to have term limits. Um, unfortunately the state doesn't and the federal government doesn't, but the county council does.
Um, so I appreciate you bringing up option A. Uh, Councilman Johansson, I I do have a quick question. One of the statements in option A says that we'll lose some um multiple members with with
experience, but but we have we have people with we have a lot of people with four to six years or two to two to six years of experience. So >> um >> three three will come off.
>> Yeah, three will come off. So that majority will Yeah. So there's going to be a lot of people that went through the the rework that remain uh of of the plan that that you guys just did. Thank you. That's all I have. So thank you. Any other comments? Then the motion on the
floor is for option A, which is titled here uh >> clean break. >> The clean break. Um if there's no other comments, all in favor of option A, please say I. I. I.
Any opposed? And option A is adopted. 720. >> Mr. Chairman. >> Yes. I may take Councilman Santiago. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to make take a moment of personal privilege. I wanted to recognize one of our former county council members, Dwight Lewis. Welcome back, sir. Nice to
see you out there. So, >> thank you for your service, too, sir. Thank you. >> He didn't even fill out a card to speak. Okay. Uh, Mr. Bailey, that moves us to item four, uh, reconsideration of the 2025 2026 community cultural grant
program awards. >> Good morning, Mr. Chair, honorable county council members. I'm Tim Bailey, parks, recreation, and culture director. Uh, today before you is the reconsideration of the 2526 community cultural grant program awards. Uh there were two applicants that
withdrew since the last time you've heard this uh uh shoestring Theater and Athens/ Sands Theater. They will they were removed from the recommendations and all other recommended grants are as uh previously recommended and I'm here
to answer any question for you. >> Okay. Uh thank you. Any any questions for staff? Councilman Reinhardt. >> No questions. Comment. Councilman uh Kent >> comments only right now. >> Okay. Um we will if there's no questions
for staff then we'll hear from uh the public and there's um about two hours of comments here. Um okay. Order. order in the house. We we
need to do this orderly and and uh in the in the order that they that you signed up. So, we'll hear from the public and then uh the council will will uh debate and comment. Um
first up, we have the uh mayor of Deberry um Karen Shaz. And thank you, mayor, for coming. >> Trying to get this to go down. There we go. A little bit.
I'm short. Karen Shaz de Berry, Florida. My remarks will be brief. I thank you for the opportunity. For legal and moral reasons, you should approve the dispersement of the recommended cultural grants for the 2025 to 2026 budget year.
You took an oath. The comprehensive plan requires funding cultural arts annually. You can revise the comprehensive plan by following a public process to do so, but this has not been done. Knowingly, refusing to follow the comprehensive
plan is at odds with your oath. Morally, you provided more rigorous vetting for proposed grants for the current budget year and fully funded grant requests complying with the new standards and ratings in the approved
budget. Your word and formal decision to approve the 2025 to 2026 program last spring and through the budget must mean something. I see that there is no moral choice to
take the money for something else like infrastructure. No matter your views on core governmental services, your views can be accommodated if they prevail in proper procedural action for new fiscal years. And that's the end of my comment.
>> Thank you uh Jennifer Morano. And everyone does have three minutes. If you can take less, then more people will get to speak. >> Good morning, Jennifer Morano, New Smart Beach.
First of all, thank you for putting this back on the agenda. I do appreciate it. Excuse me. You've heard from me a lot. Um, and my uh neighbor, City Market Beastro, wanted to chime in. He couldn't be here, so he gave me a letter to read to you.
I write today not just a neighbor but as a taxpayer and a business owner. I write to urge you to maintain full funding for the arts and cultural organizations. While we often talk about the arts in terms of inspiration or culture, I want to talk to you about economic infrastructure. In the world of small
business, we rely on anchors to drive foot traffic. For Canal Street, the hub is that anchor. When they host an event or gallery opening, my restaurant sees an uptick in diners. These aren't just art lovers. They are consumers. They park in our lots. They walk our streets and they spend their disposable income
at my tables and the shops nearby. When the gallery lights are on, my tables are full. The hub creates a night out economy that would not exist without them. Please don't drive into town. People don't just drive into town for a meal, but they will drive into town for an event, and they stay for that meal
and a glass of wine. Beyond the big events, the hub staff and dozens of their volunteers and artists are our most loyal regulars. Regulars. They dine with us week in and week out, providing the kind of steady, reliable revenue that small businesses need to survive the slow seasons. Beyond the hub, the
downtown is home to the New Smyrna Beach, New Simra Museum of History, Artist Workshop, and Arts on Douglas. All of these organizations feed traffic to my establishment. The hub also hires me to provide food for their events, and a few times a year, I am able to donate food to them, and in return, I receive
advertising and other marketing opportunities that help bring new customers to my restaurant. It's a win-win. If you cut funding to the hub, you aren't just cutting a nonprofit's budget. You are cutting the marketing department for every small business on our street. You are removing one of the reasons people choose to eat in the
historic district. Public funding for the arts is often treated as a luxury or a gift. From where I stand, it looks like a strategic investment. Please don't pull the rug out from under the small businesses that rely on the gravity the hub provides. Keep our district vibrant, keep it busy, and please keep funding the hub along with
all of the other arts and organ cultural organizations. Thank you. Scott Krauss, owner of City Market Beastro, Lloyd Bowers, Lloyd, you usually go last. I don't know what happened today. >> It's all the luck of the draw.
>> I get to go back up. >> Lloyd Bowers, Beachside Daytona. Chairman Brower, council members, neighbors, and friends, on February 18, 2025, you made a promise to our community to fund cultural arts
programs for this year. That promise wasn't just about dollars. It was about dignity. It was about telling our children, our artists, our educators, and our neighbors that their creativity matters, their voices matter, and their
stories matter. Today, you have a chance to keep that promise. When we talk about cultural arts, we're not talking about something extra or something nice to have. We're talking about the heartbeat of our community. It's the afterchool art class that keeps a teenager engaged
and off the streets. It's the local theater production that brings neighbors together who may never meet. It's the mural that turns a blank wall into a source of pride. On February 18, this council committed to funding those programs. That
commitment inspired hope. People believed you when you said you would act. But here's the truth. If we walk away from that promise now, we lose more than programs. We lose trust. And once trust is broken, it's far harder to
rebuild than to maintain. Right now, across the country, people are asking themselves, can we trust our leaders? Do their words mean anything? You have the power to answer yes today, right here, right now. Approving these funds is not
just about supporting the arts. It's about proving that when this council makes a commitment, it follows through. When you keep your word, you send a message that echoes far beyond this chamber. And that message is this is a government that listens, that acts, and
that honors its commitments. Council members, today you do more than approve a budget item. You can reaffirm the bond between the people and their government. You can say to every resident, "We see you. We value you. We
keep our word." So I ask you, not just as a speaker at this podium who has been here and spoken at every meeting since October 8, 2025, but as a member of this community, keep the promise you made. Approve the funds.
Restore faith in government. Show us that your words matter. Because when leaders keep their promises, communities thrive. And when communities thrive, we all win. Thank you. Thank you,
>> Angela Pah. Is Angela Pah still in the room? Angelo. >> Yes, Angelo. You might not remember me, but you probably remember the yellow jacket you've seen a number of times. Uh, I'm a playwright with productions
around the country and in Canada. I'm a teacher instructor of performing arts. I study painting at the Artists Workshop of Nisna Beach. I'm a member of the Museum of Arts of the Land. I'm uh a member of the Little Theater of Narna Beach. All by way of saying that the
arts are not some head in the cloud thing for me. It's an important part of my life as they are for most of the people behind me. The monies that we are uh talking about are valuable and crucial for the support of organizations that offer services to
the county's children, senior citizens, to those for whom the arts are therapy, and of course to your family as families and constituents. These organizations invol the organizations involved include seven music voice and dance
organizations, six art centers and festivals, six museums, four theaters, four historical and cultural societies, two film societies, more than 30 in all, not to mention the tourism and business
that's generated as was just mentioned. So to be brief, I for one uh congratulate you for having the perception to revisit the funding question. I hope you'll do the right thing by your arts organizations and by
your constituents. Thank you. Thank you, Patricia Miles. And after Patricia will be uh Craig Upper. >> Good morning, Chairman Bower and esteemed councilman. I am Patricia
Miles. I live in Port Orange, Florida. I am a retired art teacher and art supervisor. 10,000 people turn 65 each day and it's the fastest growing age group in the United States. and women 85 years of age
or older are in that group. By 2050, the US population over 65 will more than double to 86.7 million people, and the global average lifespan is expected to extend by 10 years or more.
This increase in an aging population will weigh heavily on the already stressed social services and medical sectors as well as on the caregivers of these older adults. Getting older can be both a joy and a
challenge. It is a new time of celebration, freedom for many from daily work, an opportunity to learn new skills, explore new places, and enjoy life. It can also be a time of loneliness,
declining health, and grappling with the end of life. The arts are there for all of it. Arts particip participation can improve health, decrease depression and the loneliness and increase
participation in other kinds of activities. It also has been known to decrease anxiety, which affects cognitive performance and decisionmaking and lower the risk of dementia. Using the arts to engage with aging
effectively provides lifelong learning, increases social engagement, decreases loneliness and isolation, and improves frail health and memory loss at home or in care facilities. $43.3
million will be saved from reduced doctor visits because of the arts. 63% will have a reduced risk of dementia and these uh statistics are from art for the
Americas for 2025. engaging in or viewing art and cultural performances can act as a natural anti-depressant, fostering joy and emotional resilience. The shared heritage
I just looked at my time. All right. So, how many of you guys in the next 20 years are going to hit that that where you're going to be looking for? So, folks, thank you for your consideration. Craig Upper and Craig you will be
followed by Becky Adesso. >> Good morning gentlemen. Craig Uppercue, president for the Valuchia County Cultural Alliance. I also have the good fortune to be one of the arts administrators in our public school district. It is so nice to be with you this morning. Uh the spirit surely is
alive in this room. Wouldn't you agree? It's pretty it's great. So, just wanted to gently remind you that the council approved when you approved your current budget, arts and culture funding was included and based
upon that action, a formal process began. Many arts and cultural organizations that were eligible throughout our county invested a sign a significant amount of time and effort to apply in good faith. Along the way, this
council voted to transition from the funding model of operational to support to more of a projectbased support. And that change required weeks of additional work by your county staff, your appointed volunteer arts council, and numerous community stakeholders to
redesign the process and to bring forward a new structure. That revised process was presented to you, discussed publicly, and ultimately approved by the council. All eligible organizations then reapplied. After applications were
reviewed and funding recommendations were approved, the final step was a procedural vote on the consent agenda. That item was pulled to a cons due to a concern involving a facility uh rental connected to one organization. Since that time, there have been many
conversations and public input. But today, thank you for revisiting this consideration for arts and culture funding. This is about honoring the budget that you all previously adopted,
respecting the process you established, and recognizing the work completed by staff, volunteers, and applicants. It is also about honoring your constituents. Over 3,000 residents of Valuchia County have signed a petition demonstrating
strong community support for arts and culture funding. So today, I respectfully urge you to approve the funding for current fiscal year as planned. Then as adjustments are needed for the future, please let us work together
thoughtfully and transparently to strengthen the program moving forward. Thank you so much for serving and for your time. Appreciate you. >> Becky Adesso and Becky will be followed by Heather
Mlan. >> Good afternoon everybody. Um, my name is Becky Adesso and um, I did not really write a whole lot to talk to you guys about, but uh, I don't have any statistics. Um, I grew up
in the foster care system. Um, my mother was in the welfare system, uh, had a lot of kids very young. Her mother also was in the welfare system, had a lot of kids very young. My point is that according to
statistics, I should also be um a abuser of drugs and alcohol, had children, be reliant on the government assistance, but I am not. I am a strong
advocate in the community. I'm a dedicated parent and foster parent and uh I'm a business owner. been a business owner for over 20 years. And I feel that I owe a lot of that to the arts because going through the foster care system,
the one thing that was always there were the arts. In the 80s, there was a uh huge expansion of funding in cultural arts programs. If you look back, that had not been there in the 60s and 70s.
um it was becoming uh a little bit more niche to uh support the arts in in education. Uh because of that I was able to find a release in arts that I did not
have to find in the streets which means that I had other outlets for my anger and my loneliness other than drugs and casual relationships. So that means that the choices are pretty simple. We can give kids a chance
to find expression and release in arts or they can find it in the streets. So I hope that we're going to support the arts and give these kids another place to
put their emotions and to release their their just, you know, to show themselves because they need that. And if we don't give them a place, then they're going to find a place. Thank you.
>> Thank you for your time, Heather McClean. And Heather, you will be followed by Cameron Vincent. >> Um, good morning. Um um my name is Heather Mlan, resident of Dand. I'm the vice president of Valuchia Pride. I want
to say thank you to council members Reinhardt, Johansson, um Santiago, and Dempsey for putting this back on the agenda. Um during the meeting in October, um council member Danny Robbins removed the county arts funding from the consent agenda because he believed a
rental agreement with Valuchia Pride does not fit the definition of art. That's despite the arrangement being a rental and not paid for by taxpayer dollars. But the Athens and Shoring Theaters withdrew their applications for the cultural arts grant. So why are the
other organizations um grants not yet approved? Uh to the public to these organizations to me it seems like Felicia Pride was an excuse not to support the arts. The complexity of the mental gymnastics involved to say that renting out a space the way that these
theaters support themselves as this council has encouraged them to do uh is directly tied uh to the county funding that could deserve a gold medal. But it's not the summer Olympics yet. You are on a slippery slope. You are
preventing actual economic dollars from supporting this community on the basis of discrimination. I love the arts and I love this county. It makes me furious that two organizations have been hurt because they were doing what we at Valuchia Pride do, which is making a
safe space for everyone by these elected officials who are people who are supposed to represent all of us. While there is certainly room for debate about how our county tax dollars are spent, it's evident to me and likely all of you and all the people in this room that the arts are invaluable to our community.
Please continue to fund these arts grants and please be careful to not discriminate. Thank you, >> Cameron Vincent. And then you will be followed by Carmen Rosamanda. Good morning, chair, council, staff. Cameron Benson, Port Orange, Florida,
Art House Executive Director, Vice President of the VCCA. I wanted to first thank you all of you for bringing this back up and for consideration. You guys have seen more of my face than most of my board members. Um, and I
believe in the process that we're seeing here today. I believe the open communication between the public and our elected officials is so valuable and I am proud to be a part of this. I've been up here so many times um and I
come up and and I share facts about the return on investment and and I share how impactful our programming is for children and you guys know it by heart. In fact, I'll be sending out invites to join our board to some of you guys. Um
so this time I would like to read a letter um of endorsement that was given to us by Sheriff Chitwood. I believe you've had it um sent to you via email and I would like to read it for the crowd today.
Members of Valuchia County Council, as you consider restoring community cultural grants, I'd like to share an example of how a single program can influence the long-term safety and security of Valuchia County. Art House is one of the organizations standing before you that met all the requirements
and took the necessary steps to obtain cultural grant funding. The support they're requesting today is not a handout. It is an investment that will pay dividends for years. I often hear questions across the community about what we can do to address youth crime and the mental health and behavioral
challenges impacting our kids. One of the answers is Art House. This organization runs programs serving youth throughout Valujia County, including underprivileged, at risk, and those with special needs. Its art therapy programs build self-esteem, inspire confidence, and help give our kids a sense of
purpose and direction. Its afterchool programs and art camps over school breaks help kids keep kids engaged, active, and out of trouble. These are exactly the kind of initiatives that transform our kids into welladjusted young adults. Law enforcement leaders across America support programs like
these because studies show that they keep kids out of the juvenile justice system. Today, I'm proud to say the sheriff's office is supporting Art House with a $7,500 contribution. That's in addition to about $1.3 million in drug forfeiture funds that we have already
donated to youth programs around our community since 2021. Art House and the 30 other organizations seeking funding today each follow the application and vetting process, met the standard set, factored these grants into their budgets. By restoring these grants, the county council will be fulfilling its promise and allowing the great work of
organizations like Artouse to continue for another year. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chairman. Carmen, you will be followed by Lee Dunl. Thank you, chairman, council members. Uh my name is Carmen Ruiz Amand. I'm the
city manager of Deerry. As you know, Deerry is the one of the highest quality of life communities in Valuchia County. And being on the first council, we built from scratch one of the most fiscal responsible businessoriented governments in the state of Florida.
We have the lowest advalorum tax rate in Valuchia County for all of our 32-year history. We operate a full-ervice city with just 48 employees. Our operational philosophy is to eliminate duplication in government
utilizing contract for services for law enforcement, fire, building department and recreational and art programming. We contract with West Valuchia Art Athletic Club for baseball and softball program for thousands of kids with no additional
employees. We contract with Gateway Center for the Arts for cultural programming for thousands of kids without additional employees. And if you know me, I don't have an artistic body bone in my body.
But in 19 uh in 1999 after being elected as mayor, I met with Sandra Wilson as she started a nonprofit organization uh to inspire art services into Berry. If I was a 100% sportsminded only mayor,
our relationship would have ended after the first meeting. But it was my responsibility to build a quality small town community with a lifestyle that serves all of the residents of Devi. my leadership and the city's partnership with Sandra Wilson and the Gateway
Center for the Arts team, which included the county, we have built the first class art center and a family oriented programming for our adults and children. Too often, governance governments invest millions of dollars on building opportunities for sports uh facilities
and programming, but overlook family oriented cultural arts. Just like sports, there is a return on investment for cultural arts. Let me explain. Devi has been named Orlando's hottest suburb. It is one of the most desirable places
to live in Central Florida, mostly because of our quality of life, our family oriented lifestyle, recreation, and cultural arts. Collectively, this creates a desire and demand increases property values and spawning economic
growth. You see it right now in Deb this very moment. Devi's committed and I'm going to use the word committed commercial investment in the next three to four years will exceed $1 billion in market value and it was in process and
being built right now. The return on investments are enormous. We ask you to follow the dear's model and best practices. physical responsible conservative governments can and should support cultural arts in their community. Thank
you very much, Lee Duncle. And Lee, you will be followed by Ellen Wintermouth. >> Hi, thank you for having us here. Um, in 1972
I and my family, my two sons and my husband moved to Orman Beach. It took until 1991 for a a cinema art theater to come and it was
a theater that was behind the mall in uh Daytona Beach and it was there for many many years and it was such a joy to be able to go and see art movies. We all see the Crash and Bang movies. There's
plenty of those. But film that is made as an artistic thought process is rare. Um anyway, and our little theater, Cinematic, which is now on Beat Street, was started
in 2005. And the art theater has been there and is providing us with films of note, fun, interesting, and yes, some are works of art, but most
not seen at the other local theaters. Why, you may ask? And I reply because our mission is to provide films to our audience which are unique works of art or just a bit different than the films in the other theaters.
Also, I might add, our theater is a bit different in layout. We also provide live comedy, live music. People may rent the theater for a party or special showing of a film of their choice. With the money you have provided in the past,
we have been able to continue our mission, but without it, we are not sure. Beach Street has proven to be a great location for us and for Daytona Beach, and
we continue to provide something unique to Beach Street and to Daytona. and I hope that you will continue to fund us. It's not a lot. It was only $17,000 and a few hundred. That's not a budget
buster, but for us it means a lot. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Ellen Wintermouth is approaching and you will be followed by Julia Trillo. Good morning, council members. I am
Ellen Wintermouth and I live currently in Orange City and make the commute to Cinematic on a very regular basis. I'm here to ask you to restore the $100,000 that was removed from the arts and culture grants and placed into the general fund for sidewalk repairs. Now,
let me begin by saying this clearly. Sidewalks matter. Infrastructure matters. Public safety matters. but so does cultural infrastructure of the community. The $600,000 was not a new request. It
was budgeted. It was approved. It was designated for distribution. And then $100,000 of it. Nearly 17% was pulled away after the fact. That reduction is not just a line item shift. It's a real and immediate loss to working
nonprofits, educators, performers, local businesses, and thousands of residents that they serve. Arts and culture are not decor decorative extras. They're economic drivers. They generate tourism. They support restaurants and small businesses. They create jobs. They
provide educational programming for children and seniors. They offer veterans, families, and young people safe and meaningful places to gather. Every dollar granted through arts and culture multiplies in the community. You
know that it does not sit idle. It is spent locally on printing, on performers, on technicians, on rent, on supplies. It circulates within our communities. Sidewalk repairs are an ongoing responsibility of government. But arts and culture grants are not a
pothole that can simply wait another year. Programming is scheduled now. Contracts are signed now. Educational research is happening now. When you remove funding midstream, you destabilize organizations that operate on tight margins and careful planning.
And let's be honest, in the context of the budget, your budget, $100,000 is modest. In the context of small nonprofit art organizations, it's transformative. It may be a difference between a season happening or being cut, between a
children's program continuing or being cancelled, between access and absence. This is not an eitheror decision between sidewalks and the arts. A thriving community does both. We maintain our physical pathways and we in invest in
the pathways of creativity, education, and civic life. We want a community that attracts families, businesses, retirees, visitors. We must signal that we value that more than asphalt. We value imagination. I respectfully ask you to
restore the $100,000 to the purpose that it was budgeted and approved for. Show the community what you commit to is supporting the arts and that that commitment stands. We can chip away at the culture to fix concrete. We risk
creating a county that is well paved but less alive. >> Thank you, >> Julia. Julia Trillo and Julia, you will be followed by Melissa Borghorst. Good morning, gentlemen. My name is
Julia Truillo. I'm from Daytona Beach. I'm actually from Daytona Beach, which not a lot of people can say. Um, and I represent the Valuchia County Cultural Alliance. I want to thank this morning, I want to thank Councilman Reinhardt for bringing the cultural grants back before
this body. I want to thank uh the other members of this body who voted to allow the agenda item to go forward. But most importantly, I want to thank the more than 3,000 people who signed a petition to restore cultural funding. And even more
important than them, the people who are here today to support the cultural funding that is so important to the life and vibrancy of this county. Will you all stand and be recognized?
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. And as Melissa comes down, following Melissa will be Tracy Grubs. Good morning. My name is Melissa Borhorst and I live in Deleon Springs.
So I live in District 1. I'm speaking in favor of funding for the cultural arts. I grew up in rural Felia County and my exposure to culture was through
school, church, and home. We have seen tremendous growth in our area and I do not want us to regress. One tenant that has guided me my whole life
is that once I gave my word that I would do something, I would do it. Well, you gave your word that you would fund the arts and now you have decided not to you have decided not
to honor that promise. Keep your word. Do not make Valuchia County Council's motto be promises made, promises not kept. Tracy Grubs and you will be followed by
Marilyn Goldsmith. Good morning, council. Uh Tracy Grubs, vice mayor, Port Orange. As I stand here before you again, I look back and look at a chamber full of individuals.
As I sit in Port Orange Council and a chamber fills, there's got to be something pretty important. This has been important that your chambers have been full for the last four months. I have to listen to my constituents. I
hope that you'll listen to yours. The money that comes in off the $500,000 is exponential to all of these cities. My city of Port Orange, we have De
Berry, South Daytona mayor here, Daytona Beach Shores, Deberry all represented inside this chamber. I look at that and go, "Wow, something's been missing." The missing part is understanding that
in Daytona Beach, we have the Museum of Arts and Science, Beach Street, Arts Cultural Area, Port Orange Art House, Dunlot Mural Projects that we're doing underneath the bridge, New Simra Beach, Canal Street, and the
mural projects underneath the bridges. Orman Beach, the casements, all the art festivals that happen on Granada. And then again, as I drive here, welcome to the land, the cultural and arts
district signage. As we come to this building, it amazes me that we have the cultural grant underneath the opice of parks and recreation that they have to go through. And the reason for that is every parks
that we have in every city and county park has art displayed. So when you're thinking that it's not a big deal, it is. All I'm doing is asking for all these people standing behind me and sitting behind me is that you look at what you
told them you would do. We're not asking for anything different. just fund what has been budgeted and already been paid by the taxpayers. Thank you, Marilyn Goldsmith. and you will be followed by Kathy Thompson.
Good morning. My name is Marilyn Goldmith. I'm from Port Orange, Florida. Thank you all for attending today and allowing us to speak with you. This is a very important issue and that's why it keeps coming up.
Plus, promises made should be kept. If you take the time to look at ending the Valuchia County Cultural Grant, you must understand the effect it can have um on on our community. Studies have been done on this subject by the Mayo
Clinic, American Academy of Neurology, the America for the Arts, and many others. The availability of arts within our community generate more income than the grant provides. It allows these nonprofit organizations
who are servants of this community, for sure, to continue to use the money to provide much needed community services. These studies all seem to say the same thing. The arts are necessary to help stabilize and refresh our community. And
that should be what all this is about. Positive impact. The arts provides spaces for connection and engagement to occur organically within a community. This happens by promoting self-expression, transforming public
spaces, and creating collaboration through the community projects. The arts increase creative intelligence that allow for critical thinking, problem solving, and emotional expression. Overall, our youth do better academically and tend to go on to higher
education. Because of this things like neighborhood projects builds trust, social capital, civic engagement, and it has been shown that artrich communities have a 25% increase in safety and cultural participants are 50% more
likely to be involved in the community activities. It can also be effective in decreasing violent crime, abuse, and neglect. negative impacts. When the arts decline or disappear in a community, then there is increased stress, anxiety, and
depression. Emotional outlets are decreased. Neurochemical benefits disappear. That means your brain changes. Neural synapsing slows, coping mechanisms can be reduced, social and commun communal fragmentation can occur.
Uh, sorry, I've got something I got to get off there. Empathy can become reduced also include erosion of social cohesion reduced civic engagement, loss of identity and it weakens cultural identity and fewer opportunities for
self-discovery. The there are also increased public public health concerns. research links high arts engage with engagement uh will reduce levels of obesity and higher overall mental and physical
well-being. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you for your comments. Kathy Thompson and Kathy you will be followed by Lori Ring. Kathy Thompson, Orman Beach. And I came to Valuchia County in 2007 because of
the flourishing arts here. That is the reason we chose this county. I hope you will honor what you committed to last year and allow the Young Actors Company to flourish and continue to flourish.
They will perform for over 1,500 of the children in this county this summer. and our travel troop, our senior travel troop that travels to retirement centers, churches, libraries, and entertains residents for free.
But you also cover or hopefully will cover the expenses of 60 shows that we produce a year that brings people to restaurants and and entertains our tourists and causes them to come back to
this area every year during this during the winter. We did everything you ask and I ask you to honor that please. Thank you for your time. Lori Ring and you'll be followed by
Martha uh Underriner. Good morning. I want to thank Matt Reinhardt for bringing this back to the agenda and the other members of the council that supported this. As a my name is Lori Gman Ring. I have lived in Valuchia County since I was
three years old. And I really really have enjoyed and honored and been very proud of paying my taxes every year for two houses. And in that taxpayer money, I
want you to know that the best way to spend that 600,000 or less now is to invest in this program. It is really really you do more with that little bit of money than I could do
alone. Seriously, the organizations would not get anywhere near the support if it was just me writing checks each one of them. So please understand this is rational. This is logical. This is
the way you support your community because you are spending money. Just like when I was 34 years as a art teacher, I had to be so frugal with that money for art supplies so that every child could get something. You're doing the same by supporting so
many organizations that really as executive art director of Art House for 11 years. This grant money was saved us every time. Not because we weren't working our butt off all year round to
raise money. Not because we didn't have supporters, but because it is very difficult, okay, as nonprofits to raise enough money to continue in this world. We're in a beautiful new organization uh building and we're very proud to be
there through the echo grants, which has been great, too. But realize that as a taxpayer and a voter, and I vote at every election, okay? I want you to know that the way you
support this cultural grant is very important. This is the honorable choice to approve the dispersement. Thank you >> Martha Underiner. And you will be followed by Kristen Gandandy.
>> Good morning council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'm Martha Underiner. I live in Dand and I serve as executive director of the museum of art dand and I'm here to respectfully urge you to release the cultural arts grant funding. Arts
funding is sometimes seen as an enhancement, something that's nice to have, but in communities like ours, the arts are essential infrastructure for education, economic vitality, and community well-being. And across this county, cultural organizations provide
direct services to residents every day. A lot of them free of charge. At the museum of art deand programs like arts on the grow serves hundreds of children in headstart classrooms which are families living below the federal poverty line through storytelling and
creative exploration. Young learners build language skills, competence and kindergart kindergarten readiness at a critical stage of development. Our creative compass program supports students by providing mentorship, creative skills and a sense of belonging. And through our teacher
institute, we invest in educators, Valuchia County educators, providing a free program that equips teachers with creative strategies that reach thousands of students long after a workshop ends. Cultural arts funding also shapes how
our community is experienced. programs like the sculpture walk activate public spaces and make our county a vibrant and desirable place to live and where people want to work, raise families, um, and spend their money. And county support is
not the only funding we receive, but it is a catalyst that allows these programs to exist and remain accessible. And when funding is delayed or removed, organizations must raise costs or reduce free reprogramming impacts felt mostly
by children, seniors, and lowincome residents. And the museum has felt this re reality since the loss of funding. And we have already started raising our costs and are making difficult decisions about what's next. And releasing these funds is an investment that was already
promised to the community. One that returns through value in education, economic activity, and quality of life. We are only strong as a county when we support all people regardless of income and our community and when all voices are heard. The arts help define who we
are as a county. And I respectfully ask you to release the cultural arts grant funding and keep the grants in place for the future. so organizations like ours can can continue serving our residents. Thank you.
>> Christine Gandandy, you will be followed by Jason and Summer Volo. I'm a shorty, too. I'm gonna Okay. Good morning, council. Kristen Gandandy Delane Florida and I am your events director for the Barberville Pioneer Settlement. I am extending my energy and
my sweetness to all of you. Your job is not easy. You frequently sign up to get pies thrown in your face. I feel like that would harden anyone. Um and for me, um I know that throwing the pie also hardens us. So I'm very cautious of
that. Um, so today I'm hoping to uh convince you with uh car hard cold facts and a little bit of cuteness. Okay. I am here like so many others to advocate for the approval of this year's funding for the county cultural grant. I
understand how government works. Promises are made, but they can be broken. Your commitment from where you sit is to future generations, not necessarily to the wants and whims of now. In the real world, we say things that we have to take back if it's for the greater good. So, how does this
rescending these funds impact the greater good? If the goal is for these programs to sustain themselves bootstrap style, wean off government dependence, that burden would then transfer to your constituents, the public. But what if
your constituents can't afford it? If they have to choose between sustaining their business to keep food on the table and supporting the programs that enrich their children while they're at work, does that mean they don't value those programs? My uh observation very humbly is if we
want less government overreach forced upon our people, then we these people are your civil servants to pick up that slack. any gaps in government support um are so frequently filled by programs like these.
Uh in closing, this is Mandy Levy. She had my job as the events coordinator at Barberville. She passed away at the young age of 44 in 2023, less than two weeks after running Barberville's biggest event of the year, the Fall Country Jamboree.
Lying down sick, she gave orders through a walkie-talkie to ensure our organization and the public never lacked despite her illness. She gave the last of the energy of her life to Barberville to the arts and to the community. Just so no one could give um excuse me uh
just as no one could give you a dollar amount to shorten your own lives. This funding pales in comparison to the life these servants will give in exchange for the support I'm asking for one last time today on what happens to be today
Mandy's birthday. Thank you, >> Jason. And Summer, as you come down, uh you will be followed by Kayla, uh Bartaluchi Caval. You'll tell us your name when you get here.
>> Good morning, members of the council. My name is Summer Vo. The last time I stood before you, I was 11 years old. I am here today for the very same reason. Now, at 13 years old, I've been a part of Athens Theater for nearly four years. I have truly loved every moment of it.
During that time, I had the opportunity to participate in several performances, including productions with the Halifax Reparatory Theater. Through this experience, I discovered my true p passion lies in the arts. I take classes in musical theater, voice, acting, and
dance. Being involved in the theater has not only strengthened important life skills like confidence, teamwork, and discipline, but it has also given me lasting friendship. Everyone involved shares a genuine love for the arts, and
the passion creates a supportive, inspiring community. The arts are more than performances on stage. They are opportunities for young people like myself to express ourselves and build future filled with creativity and confidence. So, I kindly urge you to continue supporting and funding the arts
so that others can ex experience the same growth and joy that I have. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Wow. I'm not sure I should have let her go first. Uh, I'm Jason Bol. I'm Summer's dad. We are here from Dand. Uh before I did
this, I was not aware that Athens pulled their application, but I'm going to stand here and support all of the arts because Lord knows where my daughter will end up. So almost two years ago, March 2024, nearly to the day, Summer and I stood here to
speak against the Chamber's decision to remove funding for the arts of Valuchia County. Unfortunately, we're here again today for the same reason. I do sincerely want to thank all of you that have continued to support the arts and you can see by her how important it is
for our children. I'm not sure what changed from the four February 18th vote that was 6 to1. This decision suggests that sidewalks are being valued more highly than our children's development. I believe for funding for the infrastructure can be found elsewhere
without taking opportunities away from our youth. Not every child is interested in traditional sports. I played football, basketball, baseball. You see what my daughter does. My son shoots archery. Does not do anything that I've done. My wife was a swimmer and a horse
rider. So again, you see the difference. For many children, the arts are their passion. As a community, we have an obligation to support and encourage and encourage our youth, no matter where their interests lie. This funding assists in keeping program costs down
and provides scholarships for families who otherwise could not afford p participation. It also supports students who want to learn the technical side of theater, opening doors to careers behind the scenes as well as on the stage. I urge
you to do what's right. Fund the arts this year and every year moving forward. We appreciate your time. Kayla. >> Hi Kayla Bartaluchi Kowaloku. Thank you for always trying. And I think this is
so amazing with the up and down podium. >> This is awesome. Technology is so cool. I'm sorry I just whacked the mic. >> Hi. Thank you so much for having us here today. >> I've seen you before on behalf of ACA Images, a Festival of the Arts. I now
represent the artist workshop in New Smyrna Beach. Um, I just want to say thank you for letting us come back here. Thank you for I loved what Miss uh well the pioneers settlement just said about pie in the face. This does take so much
out of you. A lot of bandwidth. Um, I just want to gush gratitude for having us here and honestly putting us all together in this moment to stand together as a new leader in our creative community in New Smyrna. I've gotten to meet so many passionate individuals, all
ages, all walks of life. The arts really do bring us together and are such an identity point for Valuja County, including um part of why I moved here and bought a family property. Um cuz I knew New Smyrna was an art center, an
art mecca, a safe space to be creative and expressive. Um and you guys represent that to me. And I I love that we have this opportunity to do the right thing, invest in culture and arts and community because it speaks volumes to
not only our local population um but everyone. We all need this investment in community. So, thank you so much for your time and thank you to everyone in this room. If you notice, some of us are wearing green because we want to remind you of that investment.
We want you to see us as part of the future. So, thank you guys. Happy Tuesday and I look forward to the next time we talk about cowoku. It's kind of like kowabanga. Uh, but I really appreciate that. So, thank you so much.
>> Thank you, >> Mike Ponyattowski. And you will be followed by Paul Lubie, who will be followed by Judith Stein. >> Good morning. The seven of you were elected to represent the will of the people, your constituents. everybody
backing me. We didn't elect you to be our religious or moral authority to tell us what we should or should not watch, visit, or experience. We do ask you to spend our tax money wisely, and if we see waste, we should let you know what the waste is loud and clear. The
elimination of this funding was done, I believe, without any input from your constituents. In fact, Councilman Robbins said he was waiting at the airport, waiting on a flight to Montana, going over some budget issues, and he had a personal epiphany about what should be funded in regards to the arts. So, at the next council meeting,
Councilman Robbins asked that item H, the 2526 funding for the community cultural grants be pulled from the cons consent agenda for discussion. That discussion devolved into a confusing ninth inning pitching change that ended with the game being thrown and all the funding being pulled back. the
proverbial pulling the rug out from under 32 organizations who since 2012 have qualified for this funding for hundreds of very valuable community arts programs. These are valuable endeavors that bring thousands of visitors and residents out to visit and spend money
all year long. I know that my family has visited many of these these items. If we wanted you to cut the spending, we would have asked, but we didn't ask. Granted, it is this council's prerogative to change the program
requirements or even eliminate them, but for a future time, not after the budgets have been set, the money has been awarded, and these programs are ready to roll. I'm sure that most of you pay for cable TV or some premium movie app. And there are programs that don't sit right
with you and your personal beliefs. So, you don't watch them. You switch the channel. You turn the TV off. And that's what we need to be able to do. I don't expect the government to tell me what to watch, what not to watch. Again, we live
we live in a democratic republic and that decision is up to me and every other individual in this room. I will agree that arts funding is not a core responsibility of government, but neither is the construction or running of a government funded motocross track.
I firmly believe more that many more people will be positive positively affected by restoring this cultural funding money because more people will visit them than any other place in Valuchia County. Thank you. God bless and please do the right thing today and support the community that has come out
in mass for the past several months to get this funding restored. Paul Lubby and Paul, you will be followed by Judith uh Steam.
>> Good morning and thank you for taking up this matter once again. I really do appreciate it. As uh you have heard from all of the eloquent speakers uh thus far, the role of the arts in our community is vital. It may not be um as
tangible as uh fixing sidewalks, but uh um the intrinsic value that it provides. As as someone who was a lifelong uh educator, I um I taught theater for 43 years. uh primarily 30 years in Seol
County where I retired as the dean of the fine and performing arts and I have been a resident of Valuchia County in Dand since 1988 and um I can tell you from personal experience when they talk about the uh
the value of community of working together continuity of effort um unity of purpose can be seen in the arts projects that our community participates in and uh the positive impact it has on
the citizens of our community uh cannot be stressed enough. I uh sincerely hope that you will consider this when it comes time to con uh decide whether you will restore the funding which is a modest amount and has um a tremendous
return for that investment um in our community. And uh I just uh I'm I'm struck by uh by the uh thought that it's been said that you know the scientist reminds us of how insignificant we are.
I'm thinking of you Carl Sean. Um but the the artist reminds us that we do have value. We are significant. The arts are are uh humanizing
and they are vital to the mental health of our community. Thank you. >> Okay, Judith Stein. And Judith, you will be followed by Terry Hogue. >> Good morning. My name is Judy Stein. I
live in Orman Beach. When I moved here in 2007 from Washington DC, the local art scene was not the first thing on my mind. The beach was. Being an art lover, I took advantage of all the theater, galleries, museums, and so much more
that DC had to offer. Though there were many fewer offerings in Valuchia County, I was delighted to find a growing art scene supported by both the public and the local government. Over the years, a truly vibrant art scene has flourished
locally. Personally, I was founder of the Orman Beach Arts District in 2017 and currently serve as vice president. We include representatives from local museums and galleries in our board of directors. And we're active in contributing to and supporting the arts
in our area. The arts contribute to our well-being and enrich our lives. The public supports the arts. We are your voters. Please do your part to continue funding the arts in our county. Thank you.
>> And Terry Terry Hogi will be followed by Alexa Baldwin. >> Good morning. Terry Hog from Valuchia County Deair. I am the executive director of Gateway Center for the Arts. First, the two that previously spoke are
mayor and city manager. They are a hard act to follow. Um, I appreciate you both being here and it does show the strength of the arts in Deerry. I'm just going to give you a few statistics. Our past fiscal year, we had 227
events at Gateway Center for the Arts serving over 17,000 patrons. Our strongest programs are truly our youth programs, our summer camps. We have over 300. Those youth end up continuing even
in high school with their bright futures coming to Gateway Center for the Arts and doing that with their summer. We have two that are now we are trying to have them become teachers in our in our programs. Um, Gateway has one and a half paid
staff. I'm the executive director and we have one admin. We do all of this with the help of the volunteers and I just want you all to know how important the arts are and please support this. Thank you so much.
>> Alexa Baldwin and you will be followed by Scott Mina. Good morning everyone. Uh my name is Alexa Baldwin. I am a Dand resident and I have the honor of being the executive director for the Athens Theater. Uh I
would like to thank each and every one of you for being here today and uh especially thank you Councilman Reinhardt and Dempsey and Johansson and Santiago for your support here today. I am here today to ask you to please
move forward in investing in these arts and cultural organizations. Um and and each one of these nonprofits invested a vast amount of time, effort, and in most cases money because staff members and
grant writers cost money. Time is money. They made this investment of time and money because of a promise made by each of you. They budgeted for their years based upon the promise of these funds of this investment.
The decision you make today will not affect me or the Athens Theater. The Athens Theater withdrew our application so that the focus could remain where it should be, on how important the success of each one of these nonprofit organizations is to our local towns and
our great Valuchia County. Today, you are not voting to fund future grants. You are voting to sign off on money that was already earmarked for this current fiscal year. Money that these nonprofits budgeted for, that jobs depend upon.
Please show mercy for organizations and the staff and volunteers that work so very hard, often 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, so very hard to offer education, entertainment, and enrichment for local children and for your voters. Please
vote to move forward and stand behind the promises that you made to these organizations months ago and give them a chance to prepare for next year. I thank you all for your time and for your consideration. Thank you.
>> Thank you, >> Scott Mina. And you will be followed by Jennifer Abler. >> Hello everyone. My name is Scott Mena of Deltona with Valuchia Pride MP Flag Dand. I'm here to speak on restoring the cultural grant program to help keep the
arts and culture funded in our county. As a teenager, I was trying to find a safe space to blossom my creativity. I was blessed to find sho string theater and do countless shows with them. Theater saved my life. I went to serve a
two-year mission in Colorado and returned home. I felt lost in the world. I was told by peers to audition and so I did. at Athens Theater and returned to love the arts once more. Theater saved
my life once again. Three years ago, I competed and won the title of Mr. Dam Pride and was able to tell my story on the Athens stage. I took the time and I also took the name of theater guy and showed the world how
art can heal, art can change, and art can be celebrated. It is unfortunate that both Athens and Shoring had to withdraw their application because they didn't want their participation to jeopardize others from getting this grant. And
so, Belia residents, uh, I don't I want you to remember to please show up to their shows that are coming up. Show love to Shoing in Athens and go sell out their shows, please. The arts have the power to make an impact
over at places like Gateway Center of the Arts, to allow minds to be open at Cinematic, to have talents be explored and opened at the Museum Arts and Science. Give residents a voice here in Valuchia.
And let's not forget the parents who will be thankful that they get a break from their kids with an art program. This money may not be a lot to all of you, but it means a lot to them. Make a positive change in Valuchia
because you don't know whose life you'll be saving because you've helped the arts thrive in our community. Thank you very much, Jennifer Abler. and you will be followed by Kayla from uh
Go ahead. >> Good morning. Um my name is Jennifer Adler and I speak to you as a Dand resident. I live on Mercer's Fernary Road. I um I come to speak to you this morning also as just a local uh Christian conservative mom. I do not work outside my home. My husband and I
own a successful HBAC contracting business. than we are. I'm able to work within my home um other moms, other church groups, things like that. And I want to tell you, we don't all feel the same as you guys. And and for you to say that you made these decisions to protect
our children, I take issue with that. I do as a mom, cuz that's not and as a Christian, I take issue with that. Um I want to go ahead and give you guys some statistics since we're talking about kids. Students enrolled in art programs
have a better attendance rate than students who do not enroll in art programs. And that's from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. Um, expanding our education program corresponds with 3.6%
reduction in disciplinary action and improvement in standardized writing scores. And this was Rice University 2023. Um, I think we all know the elephant in the room here, the the motocross.
So, I'm going to I'm going to ask respectfully if you guys can show me any other single item budget that simultaneously improves academic scores, reduces behavioral issues, dropout
rates, and improves attendance and social emotional skills that we want for our children to protect our communities when we raise strong, healthy kids. It's okay to change your mind.
It is. I want to remind you it's okay to say that, hey, we we've looked at more facts or we've had a change of that's human nature. You can do that. You can change your mind. And I just want to remind you of that. Thank you. >> Thank you,
>> Kayla. Is it trickle? >> Trickle. >> Mhm. and you'll be followed by uh Dorothy >> Heather Stone. Go ahead. >> Um so I want to begin with a name many of you should recognize, Patricia Miles.
She was an art teacher here in Valicia County and has been an advocate for the arts since before I was born. And if you weren't fortunate enough to have her as a teacher, she was the kind of teacher students never forgot. When I was a little girl, she would visit us in Kentucky and we would work
on projects together. I would sit beside her for weeks after school, sewing, painting, drawing, gluing. But what I remember most wasn't what we made. It was how we felt while making it. Those quiet hours gave us space to talk, to work through hard things, to
laugh, to dream, and to learn patience. I felt safe. I felt seen. I felt loved. That is what the grants that you have withheld have provided in the past. The grants were fighting for an opportunity for connection. Last night, I attended a
junior league meeting and a few teachers shared comments that were that students had. I feel loved and supported. You're my favorite teacher. I did this because of you. These aren't statements about projects. They're statements about impact. When grants are withheld, what's
taken away isn't just funding. It's moments like the ones I had with my grandmother. Moments that shape confidence, character, and direction. We cannot afford to take away from programs that were already operating with so little. Children deserve better than just enough. And if not for us, than for
them. Thank you, >> Dorothy Featherston. And you'll be followed by Deborah McShane. Okay, thank you. My name is Dorothy Featherston. I'm uh in Orman Beach. Um we often hear about prioritizing
infrastructure over the arts, but I kind of want to ask you, what's the value of a beautiful road if it doesn't take you anywhere you truly want to go? What's the value of a city building that does not display the beauty of our community?
What's the value of clean water if it never nourishes your soul? I know Valuchia County has serious infrastructure issues that must be addressed. Floods, drainage, public utilities matter, but I'm here to
respectfully ask that you do not solve those challenges by stopping investments in our arts. My name is Dorothy Featherston. I'm an art educator in Valuchia County and the treasurer of the Valuchia County uh Valuchia Arts Education Association. I
rely on the Museum of Art and the Art House to do my job. Valuchia County is not Nashville or New York City where art and music exists on every corner. We must go be intentional about cultivating
art and our culture here. When I visited Washington DC last summer, I didn't go there to admire the roads or to drink the water. I went to visit our national art museums and to learn from the art all around our nation's capital. Art is what draws
people in. They are what create identity and meaning. The arts are not are not a charity. They're part of our civic infrastructure that this community wants to build. There's a song by Casting Crowns called
City on a Hill that captured this idea beautifully. It's the rhythm of the dancers that gave the poets life. It was the spirit of the poets that gave the soldiers strength to fight. Art inspires courage. It tells the story
of our community. Infrastructure builds the framework of a city, but art builds the heart. Art builds bridges. Art paves roads of understanding. Art feeds the soul of our community.
I respectfully ask you to release those funds and recognize that investment in arts is not separate from the infrastructure is what makes Valuchia County worth building. Thank you. Deborah McShane and you'll be followed
by Kate Mulun. >> Thank you all for being here. What a delight to live in such a vibrant community. >> Good morning, council members. Thank you for being so attentive and being willing to um take up this issue once again. And
what I am going to ask you to do is I want you to honor the vision of the founder of our city, Mr. Henry Dand, when he wanted to create out of the wilderness an Athens of
Florida, embracing the arts, culture, and education. And so we have this here today that we want to make sure that vision continues to be realized. I feel it very very strongly. I look at the
number up there of the money that's going to support the arts. I was shocked. I I I was really shocked at what a small small portion it is because of how much the support of the
arts goes to building a community. I also want to put in a good word for both Shoring Theater and the Athens and I know that they pulled back so that they would not have to be part of your consideration because they were dealing
with edgier subjects and I would like to ask you to continue in a separate endorsement to restore their funding and to make this a consent agenda item for years to come. so that we don't have
to take all of your time, how many times a year to take all of your time to listen and listen and listen and you know our whole story, but you know the support of this community. So, thank you so much and I know you'll
do the right thing. Thank you, >> Kate Mulun. And you will be followed by Anthony uh Elrich. I I'd like to a ask Anthony Erlic to come up with me. >> Okay,
>> if that works for you. >> My name is Kate Mulun. I'm a resident and taxpayer here in Valuchia County. I'm a semi-retired biologist who also heavily values the
arts. And to that end, I'm on the board of an organization called Creative Happiness Institute. Tony Erlick here is the president and we both have some things he we want to say.
So Tony, uh yeah, I'm uh live in Birkshshire. Uh I live in Barbaraville in beautiful Valuchia County. I'm also president of Creative Happiness Institute, a state
recognized notfor-profit organization. Uh uh Kate is uh the head of our grant writing uh committee and successfully submitted a grant to your council's revised requirements last year. I just
want to say quickly um that the uh I think the uh uh consent agenda is shortsighted. It presents a false vol a false binary uh choice
but for the arts versus sidewalk maintenance. We think that both are important and both should be done. Uh, the arts not only benefits the public, but it's, as has been heard, a big
revenue multiplier. Stopping support for the arts would actually lower revenue to local businesses and small uh, county uh, resources. The result would be that
next year the county council would have less money for report for repairing sidewalks. So please restore financial support for the arts. Thank you.
Thank you. I'd also like to say I do remember that approximately $3.5 million had been set aside for sidewalks this year previously. I believe that was stated in a council meeting. So this
$600,000 which would go to fund something so much more meaningful than than sidewalks. Please please do the right thing as you
promised. Thank you. Thank you Stony Johnson. And you'll be followed by Beex Scrift. Stony in the room. >> She said Sydney left. all age all have terrible handwriting,
right? >> Your your writing resembles mine, so you're forgiven. >> We're in good company here then. Thank you, chair. City Johnston Band, I want to thank our council persons, Santiago, but Dempsey, Johansson, and Reinhardt
for returning this important issue before us. And I also am so proud of our arts and culture community in Valuchia County in the land Orman Beach, Port Orange,
Daytona Beach, and beyond. Thank you all for being here today and thank you for the courage that it takes to withdraw your applications from consideration and still
take time to speak before the council about how important it is. And I mean that's for the shoestring theater and the Athens theater, both of which my family has attended for decades. As you all know, I'm a fifth generation native to land. We've supported arts and
culture for a long time. The historic society hall and opera house in the Bushnell building, the Dand Opera House in the Cadrington building and the Athens theater here in Dand are in all stand proudly within one block of our
site where we're meeting today. That's how important arts and culture have been to the land and still are. Today, the Valuchia County Council's political war on arts and culture organizations
continues to go well. Today's agenda pairs yet another attempt at funding a reduced list of arts and culture organizations against the reallocation of those financial resources
for use in building concrete sidewalks across Valuchia County. That's an incredibly blatant political calculation. Insult our arts and culture community. Congratulations on another ugly chapter
in the political war on Valuchia Countyy's arts and culture community. More hopeful, there's this another round of elections draw near in November 2026 and beyond. I encourage you to make that part of
your political calculation today as you vote to fund our arts and culture arts and culture organizations. And again, I pause to express my deep appreciation to those of you on the council who support financially our arts and culture
community. Thank you for your service. Thank you. Are you Beex? Welcome. >> Good morning. My name is Beck Sumpt and I'm a student of Luchia County Schools. So, I'm I'm pretty sure that most of you
guys are probably parents. And when your children's come home from school, the first question is probably how was your day? And then after that, you ask them what their favorite thing about school was. I know I always say that I love art and I also always said that I love
music. I loved music so much that once I got into middle school I I started band. I've been in band ever since I'm a senior now in high school. My band program made the advanced performing arts program a thing. And if you get rid
of the the arts programs, then the advanced performing arts will also go. and it's very important to all of us inside the school. We've made it grow so much since my sophomore year. Um, so I'm hoping that hopefully you guys can consider that a little bit. Something
that we really love. Thank you for your time. And Jessica Jessica sent and Christine sent. >> Are you Jessica? >> She stepped out. Jessica stepped out for a second. Sorry. >> Okay. Christine. >> Hi. Yes. Hi. I'm Christine Seth. I'm a
mom of three. Um, and I'm just here because each of my children has been shaped by the arts in our community. Uh, we are from Port Orange and it's really been an honor to have these schools in Valuchia County have such a strong arts
program. I'm originally from Queens, New York, and we had a really strong arts program where I where I grew up. So when I moved here, I was really um really impressed with the programs, the performances, and the creative opportunities that helped the kids find
their confidence, expressions, and connections. The arts are not extra. It means so much to the students to continue with all the programming. Not every child excels in science or math. Some of them really bloom in art, the
arts programs. The arts programs teach discipline, problem solving, collaboration, creativity skills, and it's not just for school, but it's for real life. Without the arts programs, we risk raising students who are academ
academically trained, but creativi creativity underdeveloped. The arts give our children a voice. They give them a sense of belonging and courage to think differently. Please continue to con consider the funding of that program.
Thank you. >> And did Jessica come back in the room? And we'll move to Eric Nielsen. And you'll be followed by Lori Leo. Hi, my name is Eric Nielsen. I am an associate director at the Barberville
Pioneer Settlement. I am also a Florida native, a homeowner, a taxpayer, and a voter. Um, yeah, cutting this funding really hurts. I want to share with you what I
did yesterday. I ripped out copper from a 126y old boat at the museum. Uh I did that because we have cut hours
to our five employees there because we can't afford it without this um funding. Uh I also did it because it's a form of fundraising. It's a form of fundraising of drug addicts, but it's a form of
fundraising. We are going to need about 250 pounds of copper to offset what you guys have taken from us. I really appreciate uh Matt's decision
to put this back on the uh agenda. Uh I hope you guys will do the right thing and honor your promise. Lori Le Moine and you'll be followed by Samuel Oley, Lori Le Moine, theater administrator for Shoing Theater. I want to echo
everyone's thank you for bringing this back to the council for a vote. Um, unfortunately Danny stepped out, but I also wanted to thank Councilman Robbins because he started something I don't think he really intended to step in. And because of that, it strengthened the
resolve and the communication between all of us that support the arts here in Valuchia County. And we're going to continue to be collective spaces that are open to everyone and where people get to grow. And I understand that we
have a lot of financial constraints here in our county right now. But one of those constraints is we're also very divided. And in my experience, being a part of these arts groups, they're places where everyone is welcome. And
when everyone is welcome, important conversations get to be had, where we get to support each other, learn about each other, and develop empathy for one another. So, thank you for bringing this back. Thank you all of you from the
bottom of my heart for being here today. And please, you guys do the right thing. You changed the grant. We rewrote it. I'm not a professional grant writer. When I first came before you guys, I was just a kid out of college. And it was one of the saddest days that I
experienced when I had to remove Valuchia County, Florida from our advertising and website and posters. I was so proud of the partnership with the county that we had developed and that I lived in a place that supported all of its citizens. So, thanks for bringing
this back today because you have another opportunity to show that you really do support all of your citizens. Thank you, >> Samuel Oley. and you'll be followed by Henry Crom and Henry will be followed by Gary
Singleton. Uh hello county council members. My name is Samuel Oley and I am from Orman Beach. The last time I was here, I spoke in support of reinstating the funding for our local arts groups. I'm here today to say the same thing because it
bears repeating. We are a county who has a rich history in the arts and this is because we as a county have generally supported artists and through the support of our local art groups we have helped expand the horizons of our residents. It is easy to claim that art
groups should be able to stand on their own and not rely on outside funding. This is an admirable goal and what I know many of our local art groups would love to achieve. However, idealism is subservient to reality and the reality
is many of our local groups require support to keep their organizations running. Even now with the delay in funding, many of these groups have been forced to make significant sacrifices in order to maintain their organizations.
I'll provide a quick example of one group. Uh la this past weekend, the Orman Beach Historical Society uh featured a speaker series discussing the history of racing in Orman Beach and how we became known as the birthplace of
speed. However, unlike previous years where these speaker series events were free for the public to come into, they are now restricted to a $10 admission fee, say for members of the society.
And I I just can't uh believe that we've taken something that was so open to the community and so inviting and essentially blocked it off with a price tag. And now we're left wondering
whether somebody in our community has missed a chance to experience our community's past. And I'm left wondering whether that person will be less prone to reflect on our community's future because they can't see where we came from.
Art is always important, but it is especially important in Valuchia County. Please restore funding for our local art groups and help them make Valuchia the best it can be. Thank you. Henry Crom,
followed by Gary Singleton, followed by Tommy Toby. >> Hi everyone. Thank you again to Matt Reinhardt for uh putting this issue back on the agenda for today. Uh my name is Henry Cron. I live in South Daytona and I'm the co-chair of Valuja DSA. I come
to you today to echo the concerns from our community uh to restore these c sorry uh culture and arts grants. Um, I am a graduate of the music production technology program here at uh, Daytona
State College and I'm also the head sound technician at Punk Rock Pizza. Luckily, we at Punk Rock Pizza don't have to rely on the whims of a partisan county council in order to stay open, but I'm here in support of playhouses and other music venues and artistic
centers that do rely on this funding. Um, sorry. The arts are not only important to me, but they are an essential part of our community. They bring people together and allow us to express ourselves. They enrich our culture and our economy. And they
provide vital third spaces to our community. And in our community, the arts rely on the funding provided by these grants. And while I regret that artists have to depend on again the whims of a partisan county council that's not supposed to be partisan but
is that is the reality. I am also concerned that the council is not cleareyed on their justification for revoking these grants. Councilman Brower as well as Robinson have claimed that they will redirect
these funds for roads and sidewalks and other infrastructure projects. To be clear, I support funding vital infrastructure, of course, as we all should. Uh my belief though is that this is a false dichconomy and we can fund both. And truthfully, I am skeptical of
this truly being the justification. What this seems more to me is a political retaliation against the Athens Theater and the Shoestring Theater for a perceived wokeness and agenda that is non-existent.
And to revoke these funds for these reasons is a violation of the free speech of those places, their attendees and their performers. And it is quite frankly a disgrace to this community. Again,
this council is supposed to be nonpartisan. You're supposed to be focused on local issues that affect our community. And instead, you are waging culture wars and demonizing our queer community in order to advance national
right-wing talking points that demonize our neighbors. I'm not here to talk about that today. I'm here to ask you to restore these grants and stop wa waging partisan culture wars. Thank you very much.
Terry Singleton, followed by Tommy Toby. >> The citizens of the citizens of Valuchia County want you, our representatives, to fund the arts. You gave us what we wanted and funded the arts. It wasn't a lot of
funding, but it was funding. Then came the taking, personal decisions made by this council for individual reasons to take away that which had already been given. And then came the reasons. Some were very sincere, some not so much. But
there is always hope because there's always a chance for redemption. I hope you choose redemption. Tommy Toby, followed by Kristen and Cam Hewitt. >> Thank you again for reconsidering the grant. Uh Tommy Toby, we moved here in
2014 as artist. uh inertia uh inertia's is a positive moving forward. When we run into issues like declining the grants, you stop the forward movement of us being able to proceed as artists.
When you give it back to us again, we get that started again. But once again, we have to get that all started once again. I think many people take the arts for granted that it's just there. It's not. Just try to imagine.
Go home tonight. Close your eyes. I'm assuming everybody here has artwork on their house. In their house, on their walls. Take it all away. Blank walls.
Take the artwork in your offices away. Take it away in the restaurants. It's all gone. You never know what you have until it's gone. Stop this. Christine and Cam Huitt,
here they come. And uh you will be followed by Michael Nun. You can do it. >> Come on. You got this, buddy. Go. >> Good morning, council members. My name is Cameron Hwitt, and I'm 10 years old.
I want to tell you why our house means so much to me. Our house isn't just a place where I draw or paint. It's where I get to be creative and feel proud of what of what? Wait, hold on.
of what I accomplish. I've learned new skills, tried things I didn't think I could do, and I'm growing as an artist every week. Art helps me express things I can't always say with words. When I'm
creating something, I feel like my best self. If I could live at our house, I would. >> You would. That's true. Programs like our house give kids like me a safe place to learn, grow, and
build real skills for my future. Please keep supporting cultural funding so we kids can continue to thrive. And also, if I make a promise, I'm expected to keep it. And you guys should do that, too. Please keep your promise, Felicia
County. Thank you guys for your time. Great. It's a tough act to follow, but I will do my best. Um, I had a chat GPT polished uh speech, but I'm going to toss it out because I'm just going to speak from the heart. I see this room full of people. And what really stuck
with me was the daughter and uh father team that came up here and spoke about several years ago. They were here fighting for the same thing. And um you know, how many more times do we have to do this? Do we have to play this game every single year and show you guys that
this is important to us as Valuchia County residents, taxpayers, and voters? Um we want the arts. This is important to our families, to our communities. Um, and also I just want to say real quick, as a homeschool mom for the last six
years, these programs are vital for our children that aren't going to public school and aren't getting the opportunity to have art on their own every day. Um, we love Art House. We are in uh Port Orange residents and we are there three or four times a week. Um,
and as my son said, he would live there if he could and that's 100%. So, um, for everybody who could possibly think that there's something more important to do with this money, I just think all of us are here to show you that that's that's
incorrect. We want the cultural uh, grant program to stay. And like he said, if you guys made this promise, let's keep it. Thank you. Michael Nun, you still here?
Donna Craig, followed by Ed Tobin, and I don't see a Michael Nun. Good morning. I'm Donna Craig. I live in Orman by the Sea. By the sea. By the beautiful sea. Last summer, I had a medical condition
come up and I had to go see my doctor. She recommended me to see a specialist that sent me down a rabbit hole. It took hours and many phone calls before I found a doctor who could see me in this millennium. I was really lucky. I was
able to get in to see my specialist within two months. I've talked to people since then who have said it takes them four, five, six months sometimes to get in to see a specialist. We obviously have a doctor shortage in Valuchia County. I spoke to my primary care physician when I went for follow-up
about this very issue and she suggested that one of the reasons we have a doctor shortage here is because of the lack of support for the arts. Believe it or not, she said she goes to Orlando area for entertainment that's intelligent,
professional. I mean, she's obviously missing out on a lot of what I'm hearing of the local arts. And perhaps it's just a a matter of advertising and and public relations. Um but the lack of cultural entertainment as perceived by these
people uh there there appears to be no incentive uh for these professionals to move here. Um to me this is a this is a quality of life issue. Uh this is what I get up here and speak about almost every single time. It's a quality of life. We
live here because we want to be here. We want to we want good things to do and um uh it it takes money to to do this. For you to withhold 0.04% of your entire budget, what seems like
pocket change is very shortsighted. that should that money should be used as an invest investment that serves for not just cool things to do but uh as a magnet for professionals who want exciting and interesting quality of life and I'll keep them engaged and dedicated
to Valuchia County. Do me a favor, do yourself a favor and do Valuchia County a favor. Throw that pocket change to the arts. It will be an investment with a huge return on on it. Thank you very much. Ed Tobin and you'll be followed by Mark
Karstens. >> Good morning, Ed Tobin. Uh, South Daytona. Thank you for reconsidering this issue. Excuse me. Uh, I am a guitar teacher. I work with a chapter of Guitars for Vets.
We teach guitar and music to veterans suffering from PTSD. Our chapter is hosted by the hub in New Smyrna Beach and that's where I teach. Matter of fact, I was over there yesterday teaching. Uh because of cutbacks,
Jennifer had to give me a key to the building because they're closed on Mondays and so that's I have to go and let my students in. Anyway, so that's just one of the impacts that happens when when you cut back on your funding.
Three years ago, myself and some fellow musicians formed a bluegrass band out of Port Orange, and we played our first uh performance out at Barberville Pioneer Settlement. Over the last three years, we've
performed out there many times, and I made the mistake one day of making suggestions to the young lady, Kristen, who was here speaking previously. And the next thing I know, I've volunteered
for the board and now treasurer out at Barberville. What I learned, you know, it was just a place to play music for me for two years. What I've learned in the year that I've been on the board is that
we're more than just a bunch of old buildings. We are a living museum and we touch the lives of 8 to 10,000 students every year through field trips. Matter of fact, I even help with field trips when I have
to. So, yes, I I feed I feed goats and I teach candle making. So, we have, you know, 8 to 10,000 students. We have about 20,000 visitors. We run on a very thin margin. you've met half our staff.
Okay. So, I would ask you to really uh uh help us out and reconsider these grants. And uh the last thing I'd like to say is that I would like to invite everybody here, including the council and everybody in attendance, to come out
to our spring frolic, the last weekend of the month. We're going to have nine stages, over 100 musicians performing and it would be a big boost for us financially because we operate on a very thin margin. Matter of fact, the margin
our we were in the black by less than the amount of this grant that we've uh requested. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Mark Karstens's and Nicholas Liby will close us out.
Hi, how you doing? Yeah, I have to be careful the way I phrase this, but I I am the uh uh I'm I'm the chair of the historic pres preservation board of Valuchia County. However, I am speaking as a citizen. I have to be very careful the way I phrase that. I'm speaking as a citizen.
But the thing is is that uh we are approaching our 250th uh anniversary as a as a nation and as a historic preservation officer as a historic preservationist and as a citizen of our republic
uh uh and I don't know if the cultural arts has anything to do with this but uh and and I kn I knew as I was uh years ago I knew Bill Dger's and and uh I've I've been part of the community for quite a while and also there's been a
lot of uh like uh issues with uh you know vandalism to historic properties like in Orlando there was some buildings that were uh uh you know there was some vandalism and things like that. We need
uh uh we need money for to keep our historic resources uh protected and and uh and also uh the county has a a responsibility to preserving
uh to to maintaining uh uh historical resources that's that that that are in its custody. Like there's there's there there are buildings, there are museums, there are things like that that are in the in the
uh custody and are in the control of the county and the county uh has responsibility to uh maintain those those historical resources.
So, uh my my uh uh my my role in the community culture grants program is that it be preserved in order to uh so that these historical resources
are are maintained because we're going into our 250th year as a as a nation and the founding fathers Others would want these resources to be preserved and maintained in perpetuity forever to maintain these
these resources for our children and our grandchildren because it's important. We cannot forget history. History is important to our nation, our country, and we need to we need to make America
great again. Thank you. >> Nicholas Liby. >> My name is Nick Liby. I uh I wasn't going to speak today, but the fine folks of Barberville have inspired me to say something. I'm Mandy's brother. I lost my sister a couple years ago and uh she was super >> Yeah.
>> Can you pull a microphone? There you go. >> I'm My name is Nicholas Libby. I'm a long time I was born. I was raised in Deltona. I've been in uh Dand resident for years and uh my sister Mandy Libby who worked at Barberville um was
couldn't have been prouder of her work out there and the fine folks of Barberville have inspired me to speak today. I wasn't going to say anything but I'm a business owner in Dand um and uh hang on a second. Anyway, I lost my
sister a few years ago and we're I'm still dealing with that obviously, but um no one's going to pay to see sidewalks, okay? They're just going to use them to take the money out out somewhere else where there's something fun to do. That's all they're going to that's and I
don't and I I'm I'm shocked to see the low number that's on this screen. It's pitiful. And uh I just don't understand. And I I didn't even realize that the that the Athens and the Shuther theater
had pulled back their bid for the for the It's that's enraging um that they had to do that for this. But I I beg you, please don't take this pitiful amount of money away that would
turn us into a a culturalist backwater. This is a huge county full of very interesting, fun people that that just need something to hold on to. They can't sit in their house all day long with nothing to do and watch it all just be de overdeveloped. And you know, it's
like we're all I I don't know if I speak for anybody else, but my wife and I, we run our business out of our house. We're in survival mode. We're just busy all the time. We can't get out to do anything. We my I'm my daughter is LGBTQ, you know, just watching her watch what's going on around here and being
afraid all the time. It's too much. It's too much. This little bit amount of money will help so many people and the the investment in this, you know, if you guys understand investments and you know that that that pitiful amount of money will turn into more money and bring people in.
I don't know what else to say. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that concludes the uh public comment for this item. I'm going to give the council and because I think almost everybody up here uh wants to speak to
this, but I'm going to give everybody an opportunity to ask uh staff a question after hearing from the public if you care to. I I will start I I want to ask our legal staff. It's I think we started the public comment by hearing that um
this is an illegal vote if if we vote on this and I didn't see that in the background material. I didn't hear it when the first time it came to the council uh on the consent agenda. I didn't hear it today and and then I'll I'll tell you that our attorneys are
very careful. They're not shy about telling us if we're doing something that shouldn't be done. So, can you clear that up for is this illegal? >> Sure. Uh, Paulora, senior assistant county attorney. Uh, good morning, Mr. Chair, members of council. So, what the
my understanding is the the comments were directed towards your comprehensive plan. So, your comprehensive plan has an optional element. It's called the cultural facilities element. Um, and there's a statement about cultural funding in that in that element. Um, so what's a comprehensive plan?
Comprehensive plan is essentially your constitution for growth and it's your constitution for development. So um it can bind and restrict council's actions when it pertains to growth and development when you issue development orders, development permits and you do
your land development regulation. So your comprehensive plan is you know is your sets your goals, objectives and your policies for future growth. Um the issue is that you have this cultural facilities element um that has statements that are not related to
growth. Uh it's just a funding statement. So in it is in your comprehensive plan. But the way it works is it is aspirational. It does not bind the county when you are setting independent budget decisions because
you're not issuing a development order. You're not issuing a land development regulation. You're not doing anything related to growth. when you're making a decision on funding cultural facilities or culture cultural groups essentially. So no, our opinion is that you know when
you are making this type of budget decision you are not in violation of your comprehensive plan because your comprehensive plan in this sense is only aspirational. >> Okay. Thank you. So so we're free to continue. Thank you uh Paulo.
Okay. Uh, Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt, you're up first. >> Thank you, chair. Um, gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity for bringing this back. Um, I'm not a person that likes to repeat myself u got ridiculed for that at a previous meeting because
everything had already been said, but I think in the words of a gentleman that came up here a little while ago who said, "It bears repeating." And I think this bears repeating. When I ran for office a couple years ago, um, not knowing what I was getting
into, I was a I was a jail guy for 30 years. And I pointed out a specific incident that related to cultural arts. I pointed out how arts affected just one individual. And I gave that one individual as example of that inmate
that was extremely combative that we turned it around, gave him a blank canvas wall in an institution, started a mural, and that mural still exists today. that has expanded. I shared a picture a little while ago with uh some friends of mine in the arts community of how we
have allowed inmates to continue that process out there and we've kind of evolved that into that second chance initiative that I came up with in prior prior meetings. The ROI is important. It does bring a return on investment.
The $1 billion market value, thank you for that. I appreciate that being pointed out. I took out several things. One thing I can't be today, and I'm going to break it up with a little levity. I can't be cute. Let's just face it. I I can't be I have no hair to fling back. I can't be cute about this. So, I
had to just give you how I feel for my heart. I said during my original campaign, >> you got a second on that, Matt. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. And a third. And it's true. And I'm gonna accept I'm gonna take it with a smile.
Thank you. So, I said it during my original campaign that, you know, we are renowned and known for NASCAR, for the world's most famous beach.
Okay. For New Simra, for several of our our our beaches and stuff. We're renowned for that. We're known for that. If you can ask anybody, where do you live? Daytona Beach. Oh, yeah. The beach. Yes, I know that. You can ask anybody in the country, probably anybody in the world.
One of the things I live in a in an area off of Beville Road and we did a lot of uh things with FDOT or FDOT did it to enhance that as a welcoming to our to our community in Daytona Beach and I noticed a sign that was there and it
said museum so many miles up and it was a small green sign an FDOT sign and I thought wow if we would have had a sign like the speedway had or beaches How much more emphasis would that bring on the arts? And I said, 'Th that's what
I want to be known for. This is a guy that can't draw a stick figure. But my daughter has the ability. My father had his career in arts. It skipped over me along with his height. But nonetheless, I see the value and the
importance that it brings from it. We have arts in all of our structures. It's in this very building that you walked into today. We emphasize the importance of of making sure that we visit our airport and fly out of our airport. There's art in our
airport. We're talking about putting more out there. There's art that's in our ocean center. That is our venue. I'm very proud of that being in District 2. Thank you. And we're talking about putting even more art in it when they do the reconstruction. Oh, of that little
facility there off of Nova Road called the Brown. So, art exists in our community for a reason. People come to it. When we There was a person that spoke earlier about how the doctors uh and that's true. I
was shaking my head. That's true. The doctors that don't come here because of the bigger cities that have the bigger complexes, the bigger art museums. Remember those museums didn't start big. We have a lot of fine great art that's here in this community. Small but
mighty. And here's an example. Today you're here. So, I'll leave it with this. I do value you. I do see you. I do hear you. That's why it was important to me back in October
to bring this up and it failed for lack of a second. That's okay. Another motion was made with some modifications. I seconded that motion. It failed. I decided to try one more time and I hope that uh we can get this through. So,
knowing that several of my colleagues, and I only have 15 seconds left. I never take five minutes, by the way. But I'll leave it on this. I know that several, like I said, several want to say, but I'm going to go ahead and make the motion to approve the funding of $571,926
for the 2025 2020 26 cultural arts grants. Okay. Uh, Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt makes a motion to approve the $572,000 for the AR. Is there a second? Second, Johansson
>> and Councilman Jake Johansson seconds that and now we can uh we'll debate it. Uh Councilman Troy Kent. Thank you, Chairman. And uh thank you all for showing up again today. If there's something we can certainly say
about the arts group is you all are consistent and tenacious and I would add passionate as well. Um so thanks for showing up. Thanks for being It's one of the reasons I love local government because you have an opportunity to show up with the
individuals that represent you and we see you at the grocery stores, etc., etc. But I want to begin by saying that I value the arts or I value the arts. The arts organizations, they certainly can and do enrich a community and provide cultural experiences.
My comments today are not anti-arts. They're about priorities and responsible use of taxpayer dollars. County government exists to provide essential services. Its primary responsibilities include public safety,
emergency response, infrastructure, public health, and maintaining core county operations. These services affect every resident every day. When we talk about allocating public funds, especially in tight budget environments,
we have to ask a basic question. Is this a core government function? Private arts organizations by definition are private entities. They are not county departments. They operate independently, set their own programming, and charge admission or
membership fees. While they may provide cultural value, they do not serve all taxpayers equally. Many residents in our county are struggling with rising property taxes, higher insurance costs, managing their increased living expenses of just day-to-day life. It's difficult.
I didn't interrupt you, so I'm going to ask you to please don't yell out for me. It is difficult to justify requiring all taxpayers, including those who may never attend these events, to subsidize private organizations. We also do not provide ongoing
operational funding to other private entities such as gyms, entertainment venues, restaurants. Providing funding to one type of private organization raises questions of fairness and precedent. Another important consideration is
fiscal discipline. Every dollar allocated toward discretionary funding is a dollar that cannot go towards fire services, road maintenance, drainage and storm preparedness, public health initiatives, reserves for emergencies.
Before expanding funding beyond core responsibilities, we should ensure these essential services are fully funded and sustainable for the long term. Finally, private art arts organizations have alternative alternative funding
sources. Ticket sales, membership programs, corporate sponsorships, private donations, foundations, and grants. If there is a strong community demand, voluntary support will follow. In closing, I respect the role of the arts organizations and what they play in
our community. But I believe county government must focus first on essential services that benefit all residents equally. Private organizations should primarily rely on private support. Now, I'm going to use the term here possibly
out of touch. Some of you may think my comments were out of touch. I may think some votes up here by fellow council members are out of touch. Our state legislature just approved the question to go to all Florida voters about eliminating property taxes. Well, not all property
taxes. You'll still be on the hook for those school taxes. What's the state's top funding priority every year? You got it right. Schools. So, with a huge reduction of money for local communities possibly coming, how
can we think about spending any general fund general fund money on anything other than core government responsibilities? I heard 3,000 signatures to restore arts funding. Well, there's 550,000 local Valuchia residents that did not sign that
petition. It's real easy to give away $600,000 when it's not your own personal money. Let's compare apples to apples. Sound bites are just that. I've heard the
motocross facility brought up several times today. So, let's make sure we're talking about the same thing. All motocross money, all of it, if we decide to forward go forward with it, all of that money will come from Echko
and Valuchia forever, not not from the general fund. Cultural council money, all of it would come from the general fund. I I think it was Reagan that said it, and if he did, I agree. It's time for government to stop making charitable
donations for us. Thank you very much. >> Uh thank you. Valuchia County has a very strong arts program and you're the reason why we have tremendous artists in the county. It I don't understand my
friend that spoke today that said uh someone has to go to Orlando to to see real art because there's nothing here. That's an insult to everybody in this room. We have tremendous art programs here. And I'm going to You're not going to like this part, but I don't think
it's dependent on 611 or $572,000. It's dependent on you and the programs and the policies that you put on what you do with the money. And I want to I want to start off uh having said that to speak especially to the young people and
and most of the speakers that came up and said basically that we lied to you that we uh pulled the rug out from under you that we made a promise and then reigged on the promise. Well, we talk a lot about
process on this council. What you're seeing is part of the process. The money was not promised. We have a lot of money in the budget and every consent agenda and every meeting that we have here, we're voting on some of that money whether it should go forward or not.
That's the process and we have that process so that the county council can respond to a changing environment that we're all confronted with. So the process is the yes, the money's in the budget. It goes on the consent agenda or
on the on the as a regular agenda item and then it's voted on by the council and once it's voted on to approve it, that's the promise and then you get that money. But we have to have an opportunity to vote on whether or not
that money should go because things do change and as Mr. Kent just said, things have greatly changed in Florida. the Florida legislature is going to put some kind of a property tax reform on the ballot. When they do that, it will pass
because none of us like property taxes. However, it funds everything that we do here, almost everything that we do. So, we have to face the current reality that if we are stripped 50% of the money that
now funds us, where h how do we fund anything else? The first responsibility of this council is the safety and the security of every person in Valuchia County. And yes, that means fire services, that means lifeguards, that
means uh EMS, that means law enforcement, it means corrections. All of those things are extremely important and we have to fund them. And now we have to fund it with extremely limited amounts of of money coming in. So, I'm I
I would say that voting to terminate this money is not a vote against you. It's not a vote against the arts. It's a vote that says we respect you and we think that you're talented enough.
>> Well, maybe you're not. that you're talent enough and that you can manage your programs and and and and put out the kind of programs that people want to go see and they do now. And this will not stop it. The best way for this
county council to support the arts is to support the things that support every business in Valuchia County. And if you don't have a road to get to your business, you're you're out of business. If you don't have fire service and police protection, all of those things
are supporting the arts and every other business. Now, you've told us in the last few weeks, don't we're not a charity. Quit calling us a charity. That's happens to be what a nonprofit is. But you are a business. I agree with you. And there would be not a single
vote on this council if we were voting to give money to Chick-fil-A or to Costco or to the best restaurants in Valuchia County because it's not government's responsibility to give taxpayer dollars to private businesses.
That's what you are. You earn it. You're in a capitalist system that thrives on the free enterprise system. And you will succeed or fail by how you put forth your programs, not by relying on government money, which is easy. What
we're asking you to do is harder. I agree. But you will be successful because you're good artist because we have enough people in Valuchia County who can do this. 12. So, no, Troy, maybe you and I will be the only ones, but I
will not vote even to extend this for one more year because politicians, and this is not a partisan view. I have never once mentioned the content of any art. I have from the beginning said this is not the role of government to take
money to appropriate money from people who are barely keeping their head above water and give it to any other private business. I wouldn't do it to any other business and I can't do it for you. I want you to succeed. I'll help you to succeed but I'm not I can't give you
taxpayer money to do it. It's not yours to ask for. It's not mine to give. Thank you. >> Uh if you >> chairman, we've got two chairman removed from the auditorium if you
interrupt the meeting again. Councilman Jake Johansson. >> So, I'm sorry I'm not as passionate, but uh I hope my words uh are received.
Our arts to me are important. Uh most of you know my history. I've traveled around the world. I've seen some phenomenal things. Um I stood in Abraham's house in Iraq. Just
amazing. So and and deeply um important to me as a as a Christian. So, so I'm I'm very um moved by art. Um I'm an
artist myself of sorts. Um I I won't show you the picture, but but I've dabbled in oil and and acrylic paints as a way to uh manage I wouldn't call it PTSD, but the stresses of the military
life. Um, and and I've spent time in Port Orange, specifically with Art House, making sure Lori and Cameron got out of that crappy office. We gave them Ridgewood, moved
them into the new wreck facility because I think that's where that needed to go or I did when when I was uh in Port Orange. There's no denying that the arts help everybody, specifically our children and
and the elderly. I can't wait to be 65 and I'm a veteran, so I'm going to go for my guitar lessons next week, apparently on a Monday when the doors are closed. Um but but I want you folks to realize that
that sitting up here we have a balance of responsibilities. I have a responsibility to you all to fund the arts. I also have a responsibility to the people that that don't want their tax dollar to go to anything other than
core services. That is why back in Lord February October um that that we said change the way the program's done. We're
going to give you three years. I'm a man of my word. I never want to go back on my word unless some emergency exists. When we passed the budget, that budget
was a budget to say we agree to tax our taxpayers this much money, $611,000 of which will probably go to the arts
unless there's an emergency. Is Is there something looming on the horizon? You bet there is. If property taxes go away, arts isn't the only thing that's going to suffer. But right now, we've already taxed you
for that money. Between that and giving you my word and you all compromising to say, "Okay, we said three years, but give us one. give us a an opportunity to figure this out, which I want to be part
of that help that I think it's important that we pass this today. I I will caution you. We we listen to a lot of a lot of great comments, but it has to be apparent to everybody
that everything that we do for our children, everything we do for the elderly, everything we do for everybody benefits our community. Anything that happens that keeps a kid
off the street is beneficial. my kid. Maybe photography, maybe painting, maybe uh uh time on the stage, maybe
time on a motorcycle. All right? So, you can't complain about one and say you're the only one helping the community. We're one of many things. And I think that every stinking thing we do, our parks,
our baseball, our football, our our arts, our culture, everything we do for everybody in this community makes it a better community. So when you start comparing the halves and the have nots and where the money should go,
that's when you run into a problem with with the uh elected officials. We can't do that. You know, you have my vote. You had it before. One year. Let's make a plan. Thank you, >> Councilman Robbins. Thank you, Chairman.
Uh, real quick, it's been some time since our last meeting. I just want to thank the the arts groups that u I had met with, especially in my district. Um, you know, I'm a firm believer that that calm, cool minds prevail and that we
should be working towards a a compromise uh if that's achievable. Uh I'm all ears. Um but but also too on on the flip side, there was a a lot of u negativity, especially in the wake uh or the wake of of an assassination by by somebody in
our nation uh with uh you know, political views or views on whatever. What I'm getting at is that kind of behavior um afterwards by a large uh group of of folks uh in the arts community is not acceptable. And I don't
believe that there's any place for that no matter what uh you are on on an issue. And and some of us did experience some of that up there. So I will I will put that on record. Um but but that's not acceptable in any any uh in any form or fashion. Um I just want to go through
a couple things. We heard some um talk about duplication of resources. Uh, and I just want folks to know, uh, all the funding, uh, sources, uh, taxpayers, including myself, pay for or pay into,
um, and that, uh, support the arts programs. Uh, I I just did some some quick research. Daytona Beach general fund, uh, Daytona CRA, Dand uh, general fund, Dand CRA, Orman general fund,
Orman CRA, NSB general fund has a little bit in it. Uh, Valuchia County general fund, Valuchia County Echo, the Valuchia Sheriff's Office did a great job and and and uh, has been donating about 1.3 million uh, out of asset forfeite. From what I understand, it's a couple
hundred,000 every year the last few years. Valuchia County schools, Vuchia County advertising authorities, both east and west, which our tourism or tax dollars come from uh uh to help advertise for nonprofits and other businesses. There's several state
programs where public is taxed and several federal programs where the public is taxed and we have our uh budget and all the county buildings to the airport. That's a minimum of 12 to 14 different funding sources that were all taxed for that I'm all taxed for. So
to to say that that we don't care about about funding the the arts simply to me is is is not is not true. Um I've supported the arts for the last 5 years fully funded but times times are
changing. We're facing new obstacles uh in my opinion. But out of those some of the citizens are getting tapped six and eight times for for arts and culture. So, we can't sit here and say that that we all don't care uh no matter if if we vote in favor
or not, that we don't care about the arts, cuz that's not true based on our taxing system. And I know I left some out as well. Uh I I pay for one, two, three, four, five different taxing uh possibly authorities or or or ways to
tax. So, um, and I'm okay with that, but but we're also some of these people are not facing what what what we're up against. Okay. Uh, we heard, uh, I went through 6 eight hours of tapes uh, from the last couple meetings that we had on
this. We heard uh, discussions from Mr. Johansson, look for a win-win scenario. Uh, we heard uh, discussion not use tax dollars uh, by at least four members. uh we all pledge to work with our groups to look for outside funding. Uh I've I've done that. I've met with a lot of groups
and we're exploring out uh outside funding as well as meeting quarterly to discuss some of our hurdles. uh the NSB um advertising the east side advertising authority. she has really stepped up in her team to offer additional support, go through the calendars and help them and
help uh Southeast Felia um arts uh arts community really be more efficient and effective in target uh because there's a lot of issues uh there was a lot of issues that had surfaced at our our breakfast at at Ruthy's that were that were valid and and I don't think there
was any um qualms about that. Then we heard three motions uh all which had failed. Two of I believe by Mr. Reinhardt to approve the funding uh as is with all the groups. Then there was one uh another one to
remove the two groups that had failed and then Don to approve the funding for this year and get cut off that failed as well. And and this question is for council just for the respect of time and to you know do you know what or get off the
pot so we just not throwing stuff up against the wall and and and putting is there another approach that the the motion of the the the maker of the motion or that council member that brought up that's different from this that that's already been proposed. Do
you have another angle that we can look at this? you have any suggestions whether you know does that make sense? >> Well, yeah. Well, we're gonna have to discuss the motion on the the floor then and deal with that and then we could go into something else. But as and that is
that does bring up a good question. Matt, you made the motion to approve the funding. Is it for uh just this year or for every year to follow or >> It is just this year. I mean that's you know we're talk we're in the middle of budget time workshops right now where we're discussing each and every entity
of our of our government. We're talking about what funding but I think we wanted to move on this. I think that was a direction that that we had or the question that was asked from some others. Uh and I put my name up initially before and I took it off because Mr. Joe Hansen kind of hit it on
the head. We're talking about this year and um and I'll leave it at that. Chairman, would the maker of the motion be amendable to change his motion uh to say just this year and then add that um
would not um support this going forward after this year that might get support from others. >> I can say I'll just for this year because I I want that discussion for later. >> So this comes back every year.
>> Chairman may just on that real quick. >> You can continue. And and Matt, I I kind of feel similar to to Troy. I think you had said it and several others that this was the final year and in order for us to do that would also have to uh cancel
the cultural council. I may be I could possibly support support you in that. And and and those were statements made by you and I think several others. So if we're going to do this,
let's do it. The band-aid's already off. We We need to >> So, may I answer chair? >> Um, I'm going to stick with the original motion, but if someone wants to make a motion after this vote, >> yeah, >> then that's fine, too. I don't want to I don't want to cloud this up. If you want
to make it one motion, and I'm simply basing that off the fact of I think Mr. Johansson said it better. When we when we toss this back to the cultural council, we told them three years. And things do change and and I understand and I understand the the talk in the
legislature now right now about um income, you know, the property taxes we're talking about this year that's already been funded. It's already been the budget had already been approved. That's what I'm talking about is this budget, this item for this year's budget. But if again, if somebody wants to make a motion after this vote,
whichever way it goes, then then so be it. >> And and I get it, Matt. I'm trying to gain a little bit consensus here, but every everyone's tip around it to get clean hands. I I I get this political political stuff by now. So, I'm open for
a compromise. Uh what I'm not open for is dragging this stuff out, putting these folks through it, playing the the the the political dance. I I just don't want to keep going through it. So, just hopefully I I respect your standpoint.
uh we need to make a decision one way or the other. >> Well, then the the motion on the floor remain and this is for the everybody that wants to speak after the motion on the floor as stated by vice chair Reinhardt is to approve the funding for
this year only and which means we'll take it up every year after that unless there is >> somebody else makes another motion afterwards >> which somebody is free to do. >> Yeah, absolutely. Wholeheartedly. >> Yep. Okay. Uh, Councilman Don Dempsey. >> Yeah. And Danny, I think you were kind
of dancing around what I proposed last time when I made my motion was to fund it for this year, but then no more funding after that. Now, the future councils, they could go ahead and address it again if they desired to, but again, the reason I made it that way is because of the property tax issues that
we're going to have coming up. I mean, it's it's almost assuredly going to happen. So, why put these people through the application process again? make them go through all the hurdles again when more than likely if this property tax measure goes through, it's going to pull
the rug out from under them very likely the next time around because we're going to have a lot of mess a big mess on our hands with budgeting. Um, but yeah, I still I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again. I am uh in favor of the cultural arts. I uh just I know
you guys have heard this, but I'm going to reiterate it for those who haven't. I uh was very active in the arts as a child and as an adult uh as a kid I used to take painting lessons in southwestern PA. We go in the basement and I did oil painting and I also rode dirt bikes at
the same time. So I I've had my toes in both areas. What was impactful to me and I've been maintaining this all along is is the father and daughter who came up here and said we have to the father said support the youth no matter what their interest is sports or the arts. And like
Mr. Johansson said, Mr. Kent said, and I really appreciate you guys doing that. We have to focus on the youth. I've been doing criminal law for 36 years now. And we got the former juvenile and chief judge here, and I think he'd probably attest to this, that these kids need an outlet
uh to do stuff, especially now with video games. I mean, I was around when Pong first came out, and I got addicted to Pong as a kid, and now they have everything at their disposal, their basement vegetables, just playing their video games. We got to get them out doing stuff. If it's painting, like that
10-year-old boy uh said that he enjoys or riding dirt bikes or little league, I have been, I believe, consistent my whole time on this DAS. From day one, I said we've got to have more football practice fields on the west side because we're we're short. Um we're very active
in trying to create more little league fields, football practice fields, and a dirt bike riding facility for all these youth kids to get out and do stuff. And I am supporting of the arts, too. Um I had the comedy club in town. I lost money, but I thought it was good for the
community. I'm a big fan of words smmithing. Maybe it come that's what caused me to become a litigator because I had to take English lit as a kid and I learned about Robert Frost and Snowy Night in the Woods that poem. I mean it really hit me and I didn't want to take
it. So I had a real appreciation for the arts and I've learned even Pink Floyd lyrics if you listen to them they're pretty impactful. Or if you listen to comedians and what they do with the wording that can make you laugh. That's why I opened the club because it just I've always been a a fan of words
smmithing and people who really know how to write lyrics and poetry and stuff like that. So I know it adds a lot to the community. I'm a huge fan of the Athens Theater. They do so much for our community. Um so I am in support of
helping the cultural arts. I did last time look at the 99 the tax returns for some of these organizations and um some of them really are in dire need of financial help. Some of them not so much. Some of them I think are profitable and maybe don't need the help
of the taxpayer money but other ones definitely do. And so, um, but I I do believe we kind of gave the impression at least that they should go through with the application process and make their applications and that there was a good chance of them being
funded. So, I am in favor of funding them this year, but with all the future stuff coming on in next year, you know, I'd rather not set them up for disappointment by having them go through the application process again only to be
told no at a later date. So, I'm I'm kind of in favor of that, Dan. Thanks, guys. >> Councilman David Santiago. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Wow. Mhm. A lot of in good debate on all sides and
thanks for everybody that spoke. Um, as you can see, no matter which way we vote, there's going to be a segment of the population that doesn't like to vote, right? Um, that's why we get the the big bucks up here, right? To say, um, you know, I I often tell that to to
people that are considering running for office is that you know what, you're never going to get 100%. And you're going to have people out there that going to hate you or love you and maybe hate you one day and and and love you the next. Um and as long as you can do that, then you know use your moral
compass and try to do what's what you think is best for the greater good. um you know the arts situation. We made some statements that you know it may not you may not have heard commentary from me regarding that but my wife and I you know we travel a lot and when we travel
abroad we visit museums we see shows live shows those are the things that we love and we go out and experience that and I know it starts with the youth right because that's you know no one just automatically becomes well maybe some has talent that was hidden but uh
so I embrace it as my as an individual my wife and I um and um we spend our money in you know where I stand with this is you've probably again those that have followed um me from the past you know I
was critical of this in my first two years um some of you probably were here and speaking against it and and it was from the perspective of fiscal decisions on what government core priorities like some of my colleagues have said but we went along with it for
a couple years and I supported it at that at that point how the comments were being shared. But I also feel compelled that, you know, I kind of sort of led the charge to reform the program. Some of you that were here, I I uh came down to say that, you know, we can compromise
and let's reform the program and uh allow folks to apply under this new program if that's consensus. And that's what we passed and that's what you all did. So, um I feel obligated to that. I'll say that. Um, and I don't
criticize any of my colleagues for their decision on this, and that's not a a jab at them. But since I led the charge to reform that program, I feel obligated, and I've said that publicly to fund this year's program.
And and Matt, at the same time, I think Don has expressed because Don has really, sorry, allergies. Um, Don has expressed bringing this back. And I think based on your commentary over the last maybe month and a half is why we're here today. And then Matt, you made the
motion and now we're here officially. But you can see that, you know, some of our colleagues are struggling with um the continuence of this program um because of the fiscal issues that we're going to be facing uh from the legislative perspective and and and the
vote. Um so that being said, um you know, I want to add to what Danny said because this is important. you know, the the the public discourse, not you all. Well, maybe some, but um is uh it's a tough one because he and I both did
receive threats over this topic, just so you know, it was a real thing. So, and and I don't blame you all for that. I'm just saying, you know, it's it's a it's a tough thing. And then we have also those that are on the fiscal side that you got to stay strong, right?
Stay strong on this. So that being said, uh Matt, I think it'll be best position for this dismend that motion. Um you can still stick with it, my friend. I appreciate that. But I think as Don said, I I'd rather not
because I'll I'll vote no on the motion that sits and I think Don will too. And I'd rather not put us on the board for a no vote. I'd rather amend the the motion and say that we will fulfill our commitment for this year. We funded it.
We taxed the people for it. We'll go through it. But because of the looming issues on the fiscal side from the legislature, we can't at this time continue to allow this program to move
forward because the application process, like Don said, will open up. They'll apply and we'll be in the same boat. I don't want to do that to you all. We have some very, very difficult decisions to make if that amendment passes. You will not be the only one sitting there.
No one ever wants their program touched. It could be the it could be something on animals. We'll fill the room with animal advocates and rightfully so. But know that I don't take the decision lightly, but my commitment I take very important
that I made to you all. So, Matt, I I I I I appeal to you to accept the motion because I think it is the best thing for this council that we don't downvote this and then have another motion. >> Thank you. Uh, Councilman Jake Johansson. >> Yeah. Real real quick before Matt
considers the new motion. I One of the things I think is important is we're going through budget conversations right now and and um doesn't matter to me. But we can when we
go through these budget discussions, we can say $611,000, take it out. We we don't want it in the budget next year. And and that is virtually the same as what you're asking Matt to do. If we don't put it in the
budget, it's not going to be funded. Um, so, so that would be our our that would be our stop right there if if we didn't want to put it uh in this motion and Matt wants to stick with his uh and and that goes with any other program and and
we have to take a serious look at that uh based on what uh uh what we're seeing up in Tallahassee. Um uh so so I think I think that's the I think that's the mechanism for saying it's only going to
be one year and and we can vote on that when we go through the budget brief or at least gain consensus. Uh the other thing is I I mentioned uh to uh Jennifer at the uh ACA and to Mr. upper quue from
the VCCA that that I want to be I I want to be a a proactive member of finding a a a result that works here that doesn't involve government money.
But I'm not going to wait to vote or not vote on that. I I want to I I want to immerse and engage and come up with a plan. I and I want to be part of that solution. Not for any other reason than I love you guys. I want to be part of
the solution. I I think the cultural council and the alliance in in some formality can help with that. Uh so I I caution in
in making the the cultural council go away. uh they'll they'll be they'll they'll know that they don't have the money when we don't put it in the budget. Uh and at that point, I think we all have to get together for a solution.
If they go away, then we'll just keep them ad hoc, I guess, and work with the alliance. But we'll come up with a solution either way. Uh that's all I have. Thanks, >> Councilman Troy Kent. >> Thanks, Chairman. Um, I appreciate the insight from my fellow council members
and uh, Councilman Johansson. Um, thank you for your your thoughts on it. I I like games. I play them at my house with my family often. But that sounds like a game to me. Like we're going to fund it, but then we're going to maybe
take 6001,000 out of the budget next year and then you'll know. I don't want to play that game. So, Don and David, I appreciated hearing um your ability to
adapt to the situation and say, "Hey, you know, if we if if we if the motion said this year only and that it was definitely coming out after that and then also for me it would have to be, you know, and I'm not even sure I'd still be on board with it, but I'm
definitely going to vote Mr. Reinhardt's motion down, but if his motion gets voted down, if no one else does, I would at least make a motion for um to provide the funding for this year only and with disbanding the cultural council
immediately and um stating in the motion that there is no more funding for this. I would do that to help some members up here if they didn't if they but if they want to make the motion they could do it. I'm still
going to vote no on that one also. But I'll make the motion to help the group out here for this year if four other people want that. But some of you are perplexed like why would you make a motion and vote against it? Because this first motion I think it's bad business.
I think it it sets these fine people up for failure next year when they don't deserve failure yet another year. They need to know, hey, we're not going to play that game like it's over now. Thank you, >> Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt.
>> Thank you, Chair. Um, first, a couple things I want to say. Um, it is a very controversial issue and you can see the division up here already and that's why you have seven members. If we all voted the same, how exciting would that be? But nonetheless, um,
even if we do, we don't agree, at least the way I act and the way I am and what made me successful in my career prior to this is I still respect their opinions. And it it bothered me that when you made the comment about, you know, the the hate emails or the threatening remarks
and and that bothers me, that troubles me. I come from a world that was just all violence. Um, and I I you know, I don't I don't think that's right. That's not a society I want to live in. So, that being said, please, you know, understand that I still respect uh their
opinion. Um, and I do, gentlemen. I really do. So, we don't have to agree, but, you know, at the end of the day, we walk out of here and and that's that. But going back to what was said about the motion, nowhere in what I just said did I say it would be in perpetuity.
Nowhere in here did I say in my motion that it would go on and on and on and on. I just said specifically this year. Now that keeps it clean. If someone wants to make a motion after that to say okay you know it passed or it didn't whatever
let's just say for argument sake it passed. If somebody wants to make a motion saying, "Okay, it passed even though I voted against it, but I want to make a motion no more." Let that entertain that. That's a separate issue as far as I'm concerned.
It's the same, but it's a separate issue. So, I'm sticking with what I originally said. In my heart, that's where I've I've stayed for how many months. I think for me to change it goes against goes against my fiber. So, thank you, >> Councilman David Santiago.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. um to Jake to I just wanted to kind of absorb your comment a little bit about you know the budget process and and I I tend to agree with you you know because the budget process is when we speak of
what we want to support I mean where we want to fund things. So I I want to agree with you on that perspective but with a twist with this because of how this has developed over the last three years. It's kind of sort of been its own
thing. I don't know. I can't insert a better word than that. Um, and these folks are going to go out there and they're going to get their funding and they're going to prepare because I don't even remember when the cycle they're going to start preparing for their grants and they'll some of them hire outside and spend money with grant
writers and they're going to get ready for something that may or may not be there um for the next funding cycle. Um, and because we've had this dialogue, wow, probably four times if I can remember. Um,
we we've heard this four times, right? At least. Um, it's us, it's time for us to give them the decision as to is this something we want to have as a core government process going forward. That's why I think to you and to Matt, it's
better, I think, to tell them that message now. um not to be mean but to have clarity to they can prepare for it if the council approves it and and to Matt um you know the reason I suggested
adding the amendment it's uh it it's it's deal making right um that's part of this process right sometimes to bring other votes on board you got to strike a deal and I'm stubborn too my friend and many can attest to that um but I think
for the good of the body, the deal making is better right now, not only for us, but to the individuals out there and then they can prepare for next year because I I don't think the vote's going
to go the way you think. But strike the deal, send the message. You know, some I get it. You're not going to like the message for the next year, but you get your money this year. And that's been consistent for me. I can speak for myself. I've been very consistent for that. I'm standing behind the the the
the the program that I led the charge to reform and I'm sticking true to that. So, make the deal, Matt. That's my ass, brother. I'll leave you alone there. >> Okay. Uh, Vice Chair Reinhardt, I'm going to let you go first because whatever you say, it might affect what I was going to say. >> Understood. You know,
goes against my fiber. Yeah, I had to say that, didn't I? I can read the tea leaves. Um, and I see all these people out here and I see all the people that have taken their time out of their day, their schedules to to ask for this and I want to see I want to
see them survive. Um, I know that if I keep with this motion, it will probably fail and you guys are going to walk out of here very disappointed. Um, so I'll I will then therefore amend my motion to
for this year only and to end it or however >> think >> and the cultural council arch programs I think is what >> just keep in mind that the cultural council does other things like the license plate thing you know they >> we have to give staff direction on that.
I I don't I don't want to do away with the cultural council on that and that's why because they do a lot of other functions. I didn't know that. >> Uh they don't just handle this grant. So >> got staff here. What is >> Go ahead. >> Yep. Uh Tim Bailey, parks, recreation, culture director. Yeah. So you also have the art and public places program that
that is in place. Can you all hear me? Y >> uh so if you do and they are involved with that cultural council is involved with that. You also have the license plate uh program which is a part of the local arts agency that that we represent. So those two and then you have the echo gallery. So there's three
things that that cultural council actually do that's outside of the cultural grant >> and that's why I didn't want to do away with that. But I will end it this year and be ending the cultural grants after this year. Okay, >> that's all I'll amend it to and I I don't want to put the cultural council on that for that very reason unless there's something different to say.
Somebody can have something more to add. I think that's as far as I'm going to go on this. So I I'll call the question >> and I'll in the second. >> Okay. So, you're good with the with the second uh Okay. Well, that was actually
most of what I wanted to say. Yeah. I I see other people I was going to ask uh Troy what he could support. And again, I you know, I'm I'm going to take a beating on this. I I know um from
from all of you uh a lot of you people here um I support the arts. I live in a household full of artists. One of their favorite places to go is the hub and to the uh Pioneer Art Settlement which is
two miles from my home. But for me, government does not have the moral authority to take money to appropriate money from our residents around the county and hand it to another business. It's just
it's immoral to me and I won't I I can't vote for it. I will support uh this amendment. Um if if that's how it goes uh to um to approve this for this year, I'll change my mind on this year because
I want to I want to I want to be done with I want a clean break on this. I don't want to hold these people hostage. And um so uh I I hope you'll support that. You said you wouldn't support either one, so I'm not sure what what
you would support. Uh Troy, but uh Councilman Robbins, thank you, Chairman. I I just need some some clarification. Uh Mr. Dyer, last couple weeks, I know we've we've talked about this stuff with the cultural council. I'm getting a
conflicting kind of message. Uh, do we have when it comes to the future arts funding, do we have to keep the cultural council what direction clear concise direction do you need that we
can end so we can put a correct motion together >> because I'm confused at this point. >> My understanding of the motion is to fund it this year and the cultural grant funding >> just the funding. We can bring back information to you about other roles the
cultural council has >> and we can add that to the motion >> but my understanding is you would end the cultural grant program after funding it this year unless you direct otherwise. >> That that makes sense.
>> Is that I have ADD so I I >> Yeah. >> Okay. I understand. Okay. Uh Councilman Kent looks like you're the cleanup guy. >> Yeah. Thanks, Chairman. uh only because you asked me about it and you know for three years I voted uh yes on this. I
expressed concerns. Mr. Santiago is actually the one that really got my mind thinking about about this more in depth. Um but you know over $1.8 million I've I've said yes and approved. Um but those that know me know me. Those that
are going to beat me up are going to beat me up. But chairman, nothing has changed as far as core governmental responsibilities. Nothing has changed other than just an appeasement of I'm going to go ahead and do this and you know, next year is going to be next year and it won't happen
again after that. And um I'm I'm going to I'm going to hold true with what I came out of the gate talking about today. So if I'm alone, no. I'm alone no. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh Carissa, would you call the
role? The motion is to approve uh funding this year only and uh and then end the cultural grants, not the cultural council, just the grants. >> Mr. Kent, >> no. >> Mr. Reinhardt?
>> Yes. >> Mr. Robbins? >> No. >> Mr. Santiago? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dempsey? >> Yes. >> Mr. Johansson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Brower? Yes. And the motion passes. The funding is restored for this year
only with a vote of of 5 to two. And we will it's 12:30. We will break until uh 15. >> Yes. The next uh item was item five, but it
was contingent on item four not being closed. So the uh the extra sidewalk money goes unallocated. Item six is a quasi judicial hearing on
a resolution reszoning of 16.5 acres in prime prime agriculture on the St. John's River RV storage business planned unit development. Does anyone have any uh
contacts with anybody to declare? Yes sir. With the applicants lawyers. >> Okay. Same here >> with applicants. >> Yes. >> Okay. Motion to approve. >> Pardon me.
>> Did you say that? >> I did not say that. Sir, >> I'll second it. Mr. Chair, >> we have a >> Was I >> I I got it ahead of myself just a little bit. I have to recuse myself from this.
Um, and I have to withdraw my motion. >> And and my understanding is because you have a property interest and property nearby it. >> Well, I'll second that. >> Okay. >> Vice Chair Reinhardt makes a motion to
approve. Second was by David Santiago. Tell me about it. Well, this is a a resolution uh for a reasonzoning from uh agriculture to uh PUD. Um the you see the property highlighted. It's off of uh
New York um Avenue. Uh it's it's in red. You got the aerial to the right. Um there is on the right hand side of the property is already zone PUD and there is an existing storage facility there and outside parking for like RV parking.
Uh the previous owner did some work on the east side of the property. Uh a new owner purchased the property and worked with staff to resolve some of the compliance issues on the east side of the property. And in doing so, they
created another uh master plan uh which I'll show you here uh to continue the development of a storage facility uh mini warehouse to the east of the property. The property is uh divided by a wetland. You can you can kind of see
it on the on the left hand side of the of the screen. They are preserving that wetland. That's not going to be impacted. To the west of the property, there is a large um about 100 foot uh easement. Duke Energy has an easement
there that will buffer it from from the west. Um so it is consistent with the comprehensive plan. Staff provided the technical analysis uh as part of your agenda package. It meets all the criteria for reszoning. The PLDRC public
hearing was held on December 18th. There was no one from the public that had any opposition and the PLDRC voted unanimously for council and recommended council to approve this uh uh PUB amendment. The applicant uh represent
representation is here and may have uh want to do a few words as well. Council. >> Okay. Uh question for you and from anybody else on on the council. This is currently zoned A1 which is one house per 10 acres.
>> Um so once we reszone it anything could could happen on this property as far as development unless there is restrictive language in the agreement. Is is there any such language?
>> Yes sir. Um the development which I um uh showed before has uh specific uses that are permitted such as mini warehouse storage uh covered canopy spaces. The development agreement would run with the land. So even if they sold
it to somebody else, they would have to comply with those uses that are specifically spelled out in this development agreement. Residential is not permitted. So, if they were going to make a change, it would have to go through a major modification. Uh, and of course, council would have that decision.
>> Come back to council. >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh, any other questions for staff? We have a >> Does Mike want to talk himself out of it? >> Oh, did you didn't have that beard when you got here this morning, did you? >> He grew it during the last meeting.
>> That's right. That's right. Uh, just briefly for the record, Michael Woods, Cobalt, 231 North Woodland Boulevard. Um, this is a project, uh, I'm here on behalf of the owner, uh, Mr. Hagen and his entity who bought the property about two years ago. This was developed initially on the east side of the
property as a storage facility. If you drive over there now, you can see what's out there, what it looks like, and we're going to kind of continue on that theme on the west side. Initially, when it was constructed many years, many moons ago, um, it was a larger plan for that east side of the property. Um, they had some
financial issues. And so if you've seen the staff report, there's some modifications or updates being done on the east side of the property. That's just to true up with this new proposed master plan so that can be finished off. It's basically finishing off some landscaping on the northeast corner and where there are been planned buildings
on the east side, it'll just be surface parking. The main portion, the main drive of this project is obviously that west side. We have two separate driveway entrances so we don't cut through the wetlands. We're avoiding those wetlands entirely. And the only other design element I want you to be aware of is we have the, you know, 2,000lb gorilla on
our west boundary, which is that power line easement uh that runs north south along Paradise Drive. It's one of the older easements held by the power company. Uh we looked into even just having like a drive aisle access point through there and it just became a logistical nightmare to try to get any
kind of sign off on it. So what you see with our project, we stay entirely out of that 100 uh foot uh area. there is uh access available to for the Duke uh power line easement for them to come off of Paradise. Otherwise, there's a like a
you know the 6 in or 1 foot of non-veular access easement along Paradise. Paradise is one of the old uh roadways on that subdivision that was like the eastern edge of that platted subdivision. So, it's technically non um non-conforming. uh needs additional
rideway, but where it's located right now, there's a swale on like the east side of the roadway. So, there's no additional rideway being conveyed over to them. And we still provide buffering on the east side of that 100 ft because we didn't even want to get into the plantings because Duke could they can
just kind of do whatever they want to. Um we outline the type of facilities. we stay within the nature of the underlying land use and um uh everything will be designed for storm water capacity. Um we have no issues out there right now and we're when we go into site plan you can
see it on the concept plan but we've got adequate provisions made for that and for you Mr. MC, we're pretty good with the visual corridor. Um, and DOT will tell us what our turn lanes will have to be. But if you go out there now, we're already servicing the same type of customer and it's been working out pretty well. This basically just gives a
lot more space for the RV and boats and we think the proximity with the river makes a lot of sense. So, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have or if there's anybody that has questions from the audience as well. >> Any questions? >> Okay. >> Thank you very much.
Are you the only speaker? >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. Um there's no questions for staff. We have motion in a second to approve. Any other comments?
All in favor of of of approving. Say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? And it is approved uh six to zero. >> Thank you. with one abstension. >> I was going to give him another minute.
I was going to withdraw my second. And now we have item seven, a beach related services mini budget workshop. They have your attention, so I'm not going to start yet. Yeah.
>> Good afternoon, council. Marinoski, chief financial officer. This is the second of five of these mini budget workshops um where we go over the use of property taxes or or other unrestricted uh general fund or or other taxing fund
revenues. This presentation is uh a little bit different because it's not a single department. This is all beach related services since there is now a beach management fund and every year we do a subsidy from the general fund to the beach management fund equal to the amount that's necessary to to fund the
beach in excess of what the uh the revenues are that cover the beach. The total net subsidy is 17.391 u million. There is a $200,000 um amount that's on this slide that I'll leave up for when Jessica takes over
that I would like to do a little bit further explaining on. The $200,000 resident capital subsidy transfer was in the budget. However, it is no longer required with the recent as in since the budget was adopted with the recent
change to the beach management code. in in that code, it required $4 from every pass, which we also interpreted to mean whenever there was a subsidy to uh be sent to the beach capital fund. So, the
beach code modification, the $4 still exists. There is still a $4 allocation to the beach capital fund. However, with that recent code modification that was approved by council, we no longer have to contribute $4 from the general fund whenever a resident pass is granted. So,
that $200,000 capital subsidy is no longer required. It uh will now be sent to the beach management fund instead of the beach capital fund. However, you may remember that there are two different subsidies that go into the
beach management fund. There's the $150 per resident pass that's required under the charter for uniformity. And then even when we contribute the $150 per pass, there's an additional subsidy that's required because even the $150 per pass is still not enough to
actually fund it. It is because we'll be transferring more of that $150 piece. That other subsidy will come down. So, that was a whole lot of words to say this $200,000 is budgeted, but you'll be seeing uh an amendment in the future that we won't need that $200,000. With
that being said, uh I will turn over the first uh part of this presentation to our coastal director, Jessica. >> Good afternoon. Jessica Fentress, Vicious Coastal Director. Um, what we have right here is kind of an overview
of our beach management fund revenue expenses. As you remember from the last council session, my division is funded by two funding sources. The Pon Still Port Inlet District, which we talked about at the last meeting, and then the other side of this is the beach management fund. I have my organization
broken out into four different sections. Uh beach maintenance contract is primarily the operation of the beach, your ramp grading, your toll collection. Uh your trash pickup parks are your park facilities. Sunsplash park, Frank Rendan Park. Uh public access is your vehicular
ramps and your single one-off dune walkovers that we have that may not be connected to an overlying park. And then coastal operations kind of covers all three of the bottom sections. Uh you will see that our budget is heavy on operating grants and aids. Um capital is
mostly for your uh engineering design and then um park planning and major signs that may not be eligible for other grant opportunities. Uh ultimately we have just about $14.5 million in expenses in this budget fund. And then
we do bring in about $10 million in revenue. So, we are drafting approximately $4.3 million from uh the general fund. Our revenue consists of beach access fees, off- beach parking fees, and we have set rates in the concessionaire
contract where the beach concessionaire provides us with an annual fee to so they can have sole exclusive right to provide services on our beaches. And then we get about $22,000 a year from our park pavilion rentals. So, in total, you get about $10 million
of revenue under this funding source. Again, in my division, I have 32 full-time positions. Uh, three of them are primarily portfunded, so they either do administration or they're connected directly to those two inlet parks, Smyrna Dunes and Lighthouse Point Park,
that are funded from their entrance fees. The remaining positions, 22, are funded fully from the beach management fund. that is your maintenance, your trades, and your supervisor crews that are keeping your parks, your walkovers pristine and helping to recover and rebuild after your storms. We do have
seven positions that are split funded between both uh funding sources and those are the the more construction managers and your administration who oversee your maintenance workers and the construction projects. Uh summary of operations, we maintain in
the coastal vision, we maintain and operate the beach. So that's all your beach accesses. That's your beach tolls, your ramp grading contract, your trash collection, your portallettes, the janitorial, cutting the grass, everything from making sure there's toilet paper in the bathrooms to keeping
the lights on literally. Um I do have a little errand here. You will see public showers is written twice. I have 70 total showers uh on beach and in parks, but overall you have the most accessible beach in the nation with 61 million
visitor day trips a year. Summary of operations. If you remember, uh our beach maintenance contract carried about 8.4 million. Um that's all of your beach maintenance contracts. And what that includes is your toll contract, your janitorial, so cleaning
the public bathrooms, opening and closing them every single day, 365 days a year, and holidays. Uh along with the portallets that we have on the beach and at various locations, and then um we have landscaping contracts, irrigation, a whole bunch of various other
contracts. Our top five expenses come in at the beachole contract at 4,400,000 followed by the beach maintenance contract that is ramp grading, litter collection, uh, and and major debris removal um 3.7 million. Paid parking
contracts at just under 1.5. And then grounds maintenance, which include your janitorial, landscaping, painting, facility repairs, portallettes, all come in at 889,000. And then we spend about 236,000 a year just keeping the lights on, keeping the showers running, and keeping the toilets
flushing. Um, across 31 other object codes, we have about $870,000 of other expenses in total. In the upcoming years, uh, the CFB maintenance contract that does your ramp grading and your trash collection does expire on September 30th of this year.
We will have a new contract in place effective October 1, 2026. That should make it to you well in advance of October 1st, 2026 for your review and consideration, but we just haven't realized what those costs are going to be yet until we get a little bit further through the evaluation period. Um, we
are working through our long-term beach resiliency projects and our management plan uh funding of those projects in future years for the next five to 50. Um, we'll have to figure that out. And then uh everybody's heard some rumors about FEMA changing their organizational
structure. So we take a lot of damages on the beach and anything that happens to FEMA that changes reimbursement structures kind of also is something we want to monitor closely as well financially. And with that I'm available for any questions you may have.
>> Councilman Troy Kent, >> great um great presentation skills. Thank you. You flowed through that like you read it 50 times beforehand. Thank you. Here's my question. In Orman by the Sea, where the new secant wall has been put in by FDOT and
FDOT's been beat up quite a bit actually from local governments. Uh maybe deserving deserving for um some of the things they've done on A1A and Granada and other other roads. They've gone back and made some changes, but I can't compliment them enough for
the secant wall in the expeditious manner that they installed it. They listened to me when I talked to them about the importance of having vegetation on top of the wall. They have planted sable palms. They have sea oats, excuse me, and other grasses that are
growing there. Now, it looks great. Here's the question. How did were they did the state pay for and I don't know if it's 15 or 30 beach walkovers that are uniformed and
beautiful and they work like all of those streets have their own beach walkover and many of them were complaining to me about not being able to get a permit. They wanted funding and like all of a sudden I go up to see my sweet father who lives up there and I'm like all of these beach walkovers are
complete. They look uniform. They look amazing. Did the state pay for that? >> Yes, sir. The state used emergency funding under the Ian Nicole storms to to expedite it and pay for it and the D department of environmental protection who oversees it kind of expedited the
review. It was one design, one contractor. That's why it looks so great. Well, to Governor Ronda Santis and all of our state legislators, a huge kudos from Troy Kent and I'm hoping this entire council because that is a huge
undertaking. And if gentlemen, if you've not been up that way, you need to just head up, you know, maybe you want to go take a look at what they're doing to the Flaggler Pier. But take a look at where that secant wall. You can't you you can't tell there's a wall there, by the way. You have no idea. Just when you see the
the palm trees on the east side of A1A and the new plantings, that's where the secant wall is. I believe buried 20 feet down into the ground with pumped concrete into their circular fiberglass design that they have. And look at those walkovers. Please relay, George. Please
relay to FDOT. Masterful job. Thank you very much. >> That was back when I was in the legislature. It started then. >> David, thank you. Won't >> let you Sorry, Vice Chair, Vice Chair Reinhardt. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, Jessica, you may mention about the we are very reliant on
oper on grants and and whatnot that we get. >> If that goes away, that obviously changes that significantly. Correct. >> Yes, sir. >> Or if it's impacted in any way. Is there been any lean towards that? I mean, we're hearing cuts all over. I didn't know if you guys were and we've been
very very good and aggressive at grants and applying for them and I I commend you for it. Um but I guess I'm always leerary of that. You know, we hear here locally in the state of Florida. We saw the House resolution passed today and it goes to the Senate now for the property
tax issue. But again, anything on the federal level that would because I know we we rely on that as well. We are always pursuing our feasibility study with this the federal government which provides a smaller local share for
our resiliency projects long term. Uh I think we're all a little nervous about how they're proposing to reorg FEMA where >> that's what I was going to >> parks and recreation items may not necessarily qualify uh and and the beach would fall under that category. Um,
we're we're going to have some strategy in the upcoming budget. We're working very closely with Ryan Assowski on how we can kind of best position ourselves uh over the next couple years. >> And I know we're always coming up with innovative ways to um we don't have the
lifeguards. We had that discussion. I know that's coming up later, I'm sure. Uh with what we sat in on uh which I love that idea, by the way, but that's for a later day, I'm sure. But um I I get puzzled looks, but there there's something that's in the works. But anyways, hopefully we can get to it
later. Um but I thank you for that and I I thank you for the aggressiveness on on looking for those grants. And I guess we're all just a little nervous when we knew what's happening at the state, what would also happen at the federal level as well. And with respect to FEMA, thank you.
Uh Jessica, back on um slide five, probably I can just I can just tell you what it says. Um the beach toll contract is for about $4.4 million. That's contract for booze personnel
>> administration processing the permits. Yes. >> Okay. For everybody that drives wants to drive on the beach. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Um revenue is uh about $6.5 million from beach access fees and
three million for off- beach parking fees which means we're we're netting about $5 million uh revenue. Yes, we're also the way that our budget works is we cannot put money
in our budget as a dedicated revenue stream if it is still in an accounts payable status. So the money doesn't count until it crosses Ryan Oesky's deposit box. Um, so we we have additional we have additional revenue
that is kind of in an accounts payable waiting for people to pay their bills, waiting for them to catch up, uh, appeal processes. So, we have un unrealized revenue that we can't just conservatively work into a budget until it's actualized. >> Okay.
Are there any plans to uh to phase out the beach toll with technology or how can we reduce that 4.4 4 million it costs us to process people. >> Well, that's the contract that we approved. Uh we we are never going to be
fully automated on our beaches. The volume of people that we receive on our shorelines and the varying users that we have. Uh they they need a little bit of the personal care and personal touch. ISB will always have a person at it. Flaggler will always have at least one person at it. Uh we have found that the
best way to get people on the beach is to be flexible with conditions and volume. So we have two-way on basically you lose the exit lane at Flaggler third and Dunlen. We're not going to lose that. That's still going to be here for when volume and condition demands it. Uh
we have 15 people that we get after full automation is completed. We still have 15 dedicated people on the beach at a minimum and we have the flexibility to ramp up as we need based on conditions. >> Okay. So, we're probably stuck with it for
some time. >> Yes, sir. That it's in line with the contract that was approved. >> I I understand that. Okay. Uh Jake Johansson, thank you, sir. Uh on I'm seeing a minus slide three,
but the one that says uh use of property taxes and or unrestricted revenue. Uh beach maintenance contract. Um pretty pretty bulky there. What's our level of service for that maintenance contract? >> It's not just one contract shown on
here. It's how we It's all the beach maintenance contracts. Our level of service varies on conditions and visitorships. On a a blowing December 3rd, which I'm I'm assuming might be a Tuesday, we're pretty low.
We're only emptying the trash twice a day. We're probably not on a portallet service. We have an inservice and an offservice portallet level. Um we also have bare minimum on the beach tolls just because the people aren't coming to the beach, so we're not paying for those services. When we ramp up to peak season
or holiday level service, Memorial's Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Mother's Day weekend, even, we can empty those trash cans on the beach up to six times. Uh we will have all the bodies at the toll booth, as many people as they can give us, we will take just so that we can
take that massive volume and put them on the sand efficiently and properly. We even have the ability to have uh onsite janitors dedicated to Sunsplash Park the entire Memorial Day weekend. We have the ability to have um additional law enforcement services at some of our
parks where we pay for additional we bring additional portallets out to some of our facilities like Mary Mloud Bthoon Beach Park. We bring additional portallets just because that park itself can move up to 2,000 people at one time where on Tuesday and December you might
have five. Is that from a we don't want people waiting in line or from it fills up and we got to I'm looking if if the if the property tax thing goes away, how are we going to cut it? I I
got it. We don't want people to wait, but people sometimes might have to wait. uh is is that an area the beach maintenance contract is in an area where we can take a look at lowering a level of service where convenience is
maybe you know overcome by by budgetary restraint. >> Yes sir. We can always scale back based on budget. >> All right. Um um and if we move on to Oh boy, there was another one. Um, if we
go to slide se page eight or slide seven- maybe eight or nine, uh, coastal division operating expenses. I notic in grounds maintenance it says janitorial landscaping portallets, which we kind of just talked
about. And then below that, it's utilities, showers, restrooms, electricity. Um, are those two separate contracts or did you break them out that way? And I suppose that is actually the same thing
I just talked about just broken up that we can make >> the utility section is truly paying the water bill. >> Okay. All the bills. >> Yes, sir. >> Got it. All right. All right. Thanks. Oh, and and how hard
would it be to look at those? I mean, you can send it in an email or point me to the direction or or send me to Ryan. I'd like to look at the 31 object codes for 870 uh,000 and see where that is. >> I'd be happy to give it to you.
>> Yeah, we spent three hours on 611,000. So, I'd like to spend 15 minutes on $870,000 at your convenience. I don't need it today. >> Okay. >> Councilman Kent, thank you, Chairman. Um, Miss Fentress and and George, I
apologize because I probably should have asked you this question ahead of time. But I'm just sitting here looking at the beach maintenance contract, the 3,710,777. I'm already assuming the answer is going to be cheaper to do it this way to farm
it out than to have our own crew to grade like, you know, have I don't know how many you would need to to grade our ramps and probably do it the way we want it. Um, and uh picking up our litter, you know, going and getting our own trash cans.
I'm sure you're probably going to tell me you all have crunched the numbers and this is the cheaper way to do it. And if that's the case, you can just say yes and I'll be done with this. >> Well, yes. But I would just say that we uh but we do check that all the time. I
mean, we we have that ability to weigh it against our own forces. And this isn't the, you know, love George Rectenwald fest, but one of your um strengths is that I I truly believe unless and and
I'm probably wrong about this also. I was going to say everything except for putting out a fire, but you've probably done that also with our firefighters. >> Yeah, I did. >> See, so so there you go. I can't even say that. But I truly believe, you know, you one of the best strengths and assets about you is that you've done every
single job that there is. You worked your way up and you were a school teacher before this. So, um it's it's a wonderful thing that we have you in that position to make those decisions. And I believe that you you do check that because, you know, when you start
looking at $4 million a year, you know, maybe it's something we could look at and with our own with our own people, you know, with their salary and Benny's and we could do it better and save some money. Just something to think about. >> No, you're you're correct. We do and I'll tell you because we watch the
cycles of what goes on in industry and it's interesting and maybe a little bit more aical in uh public works. But what's interesting about that is the legislature years ago started limiting how much we can actually do with our
people. So we've had to battle that because we want that flexibility to be able to do that. And we do the nice thing we do have with our organization. Say the beach grading guy fails for whatever reason. Well, I can borrow from
public works and other places to to make sure that we take care of that on a on a Memorial Day weekend and things like that. So, we do work together. So, it's good to have a hybrid approach that we have and we do weigh things all the time. uh in certain things when you can
have mass uh repetition like this, it usually comes out better to contract it. But uh freaky uh oneoffs, usually better to do it ourselves. >> And and tongue and cheek here a little bit, but I am also being serious. Make sure keep your grading skills up to par
and maybe teach Suzanne as well in case in a pinch we need both of you or one of you to run out there and and handle. >> I don't think you want me loose on a tractor. Uh with with pe with people around. But uh we could give it a try. >> Oh yeah.
>> If I could just make a quick comment um on the beach toll contract on the previous slide and the beach maintenance contract, but especially on the beach toll that includes the equipment, correct Jessica? So as part of that negotiation, all of the toll arms and
equipment were required to be intact as part of that. So, just wanted to make sure that was clear for council >> and and and correct me if I'm wrong, but they are also responsible for any damage due to wind, water, sand, and then you have to make sure that it's back up and running in an expeditious manner. >> Yes, sir.
>> Yes, sir. and for the beach maintenance contract along with the labor portion of whether you could train me to grade the beach and I'm up for the challenge. The equipment on the beach is one of the big ticket items that I presume are part of that contract cost because as all of the
teams in the uh uh room would verify our beach equipment is on a quick replacement cycle. That salt, water, and air really is hard on our trucks and other equipment. So, >> and Sherman, thank you for the latitude here with this, but this is a workshop
uh presentation and and we have some questions about this. And Suzanne, you're right because when I met with Ben on this and I believe Jessica as well, that was one of my questions was, you know, this equipment, they understand it's going to get chewed up by that ocean and that salt and that air and the
water. And and that was the whole response I got was, oh, they're aware and they believe that they have equipment that can handle this and they're on the hook for it. So, I'm not happy with the amount of money we spend, but they're on the hook for that and they have to, you know, live up to their
end of the bargain. Thanks. >> If if I may take just a second, your efficiencies, I didn't have the opportunity to have an efficiency slide here, but I do want to highlight that the county full-time employees we have listed here. Since the 22 hurricanes have gone above and beyond the response
level, we have found that we inhouse can rebuild our dune walkovers quicker and faster with zero questions from FEMA. If we build it, if we cut the stringers, FEMA, it completely reimburseable. We use county staff, labor, and time. Uh
because of this this fiscal year, because of the FEMA eligibility on coming back, we realized that it would be cheaper for us to buy our own tractor so that we can start putting our own poles in the ground. And then we completely eliminate the need for a contractor to do any work on our walkovers. So that's one of the efficiency measures. Instead of spending
$125,000 for a single set of stairs, our guys can get it done with a tractor to get the pole in the ground for probably about 15,000. And that's including all the materials, too. So, we we are identifying the efficiencies and we're also looking at reimbursement from FEMA to try and get as much money for our residents as possible.
>> Well, that's music to my ears because it sounds like you're letting common sense rule the day. And that's exactly what we need to have happen more in local government. And and I'm I'm pleased to hear you say that, especially when you attach some numbers to it of over 100,000 and then 15,000. And our guys and girls are doing it more efficiently,
more effectively, and more expeditiously. and also with zero questions from FEMA because they know what the questions are going to be so they do it right the first time. Good. >> Okay, I don't see any more questions for you. Hello. Um, back in 2002,
uh, the Marine Science Center, uh, first opened up here in, uh, Felucia County. And, uh, one of the primary reasons of why is that the federal government requires that we do a take permit for
driving on the beach. So, as you drive on the beach, the federal government requires you to go through a process. uh it's called a federal incidental tape permit and part of that permit requirements they they attach on um different requirements or
responsibilities of of what we would be responsible responsible for. So you know the idea is that you're mitigating uh the potential loss of uh threatening endangered species um by doing these things. They call that
an incidental take permit. Um part of the uh take permit of course requires uh the re rehabilitation of sick and injured uh uh sea turtles uh sea turtle monitoring and also shore
birds as well. Uh part of the requirement is also to uh provide for educational opportunities and educating our community about these threatened endangered species. Uh the Marine Science Center are um our
total expenses is about $2.397 million a year. Uh 1 million of that is approximately in personnel. 1.2 is operating uh cost. Uh, one of the things
that, um, we do is half of that is we collect, uh, a little over a million dollars in revenues, um, um, for for the center. And here is the revenues. Our gift shop is bringing in about $381,000
a year. The summer camps are very, very popular. They're bringing in about 30,000 a year. Our school field trips throughout the year bringing in 35,000 a year. Our entrance entrance fee is also bringing in some money with with a total of over a million dollars to offset our
expenses for this uh requirement that we have from from the feds in the state. It's a uh the organization Chad is here is uh one of our leaders um of the Marine Science Center. We have approximately 11 full-time employees
with three uh part-time employees. And if you notice, the divisions are kind of set out on those requirements of the uh of the take permit and being in compliance with that. We have a a group of sea turtle rehab. We have an aven uh
rehab for our birds. Uh we have an educational component, life support, and guest services. Some of the accomplishments is that as all y'all know, we uh did a large renovation at the Marine Science Center and we reopened to the public uh this
June after the uh capital improvements were done. A beautiful facility. Um just since we opened we've had almost 30,000 visitors and on a on an annual average rate uh the average for the last 3 years
is about 80,000 visitors that come in in in and out of that facility. We have treated 958 birds uh this this past year. Uh on the average we treat about a thousand or a little over a thousand of shore birds within the facility. And
then this past year, we treated a record-breaking 335 sea turtles uh and 202 other reptiles this this past year. And uh we are, I think, the second in
the state of Florida for turtle rehab uh facilities in the state. It's great. Uh we have delivered over 5,000 educational opportunities for for children and students. Uh we've hosted eight weeks of
summer camp with u 178 campers and my understanding when this thing goes online it's sold out within a day. There is such a need for for for more camps and that's also bringing in some some revenues for us.
Um, our temporary personnel uh we we uh have uh temporary seasonal personnel over uh 400 hours per week. We do have contracted services. We have to have veterinarians there for our sea turtles
and for our shore birds to take care of them. and our uh gift shop merchandise. We pay about $158 uh,000 a year, but then again, we're getting revenues from from that as well. Uh the rest of our operating expenses is covered with
utilities and medical and surgical supplies. As you can imagine, a lot of the equipment that is being utilized there is very very specialized um and we have to replace that every once in a while. the efficiencies I'll talk about. They
it's it's amazing of the uh volunteer programs that that they have there. Um they have had volunteers that donated 13 over 13,000 hours uh equivalent to about $459,000 which equates to over six full-time
employees. So they they continue to get volunteers to help support that program. uh and staff itself there. They, you know, when you go in there and you look at the artwork, a lot of that artwork, a lot of the um demonstration things that
that you see is done by the staff itself. Um they have uh talented individuals. Um gentleman named Christian who who's been working there for for a couple years now, I think a few years. It's just so talented. uh he
um instead of subbing out, he actually dives. He cleans out all the uh tanks on a regular basis. Uh he is uh you know with the um filters and replacing the filters. So we try to use the in-house
uh folks as much as we possibly can. Some of our future challenges of course would be inflation. Uh you mentioned some of the equipment that's very specialized. uh uh some of the capital equipment and also the food. It's really
specialized food that you have to feed to the to the animals. Um and also, you know, you never know, but the increase in number of sea turtles uh and medical costs can vary year year to year. So last year, you know, we were kind of uh maxed out on the budget because we had a
you know, a record-breaking uh sea turtle year. And you know, it's not on here, but you know, some of the opportunities to of looking at grants and u uh I know uh Chad and them are uh uh always looking for different
opportunities, getting volunteers, and looking for grants to support this program. And we're here if you have any other details or questions you might have. >> Councilman Kent. Yeah, you um great presentation as well. Thank you. Uh, you
talked about the specialized food for the animals and and I'm I'm thinking of all the animals here and I'm thinking what what else would they need other than little fish? >> Chad gender. >> I mean, I saw some pellets and stuff in the background, but I'm like why why why aren't our volunteers out there with,
you know, 12oot cast net catching some small mullet and feeding them to the sick >> turtles? So, >> right, Danny, are you thinking the same thing? >> No, you're not. You're not there with
me. >> Uh, so it depends obviously on the animal. Um, the sea turtles have a variety of diet. Um, they eat a lot of produce and they have to have human quality produce. We operate under um, uh, state and federal permits and there are quality requirements. Um, the birds
eat things like um, dead rats. >> Can I interrupt you just for a moment? Your name is Ginger Adair. >> I was just bragging about common sense rule in the day and now we have to feed
turtles human level quality produce. >> Yes, sir. >> Who Who's making that decision? >> The state of Florida has certain requirements for these facilities. >> I don't want to recall everything positive I said about our state legislators a few minutes ago. >> Yeah.
>> But this is not letting common sense rule the day again. I mean, we could talk to some farmers in Sam Sula and even our friends up in Flagger County about some produce. I'm going down a rabbit hole with this, but >> why don't you like turtles, >> man? Oh, man.
>> Yeah. So, we have like one of our contracts is with a company called the Gourmet Rodent because we have to buy rats to feed birds. Um um we do have a contract with a produce company. Um some of the animals require seafood and so seafood prices have increased with
inflation more significantly than some other things. Um and again you know the amount of food we have to buy depends on the number of animals we have um in house in addition to you know medications and medical supplies. I'm not trying to get, you know, PETA all
stirred up, but you know, the amount of river rats that we have from the Halifax River on the beach side, I'll just use Army Beach as an example. I'll just tell you, you have a field day collecting those and feeding them, but I don't have to hire
more people for that. The the last comment I have about this is I want to compliment the facility. The last time I was there with my family, uh, and I might get some people fired up about this as well, but I purchased some honey there and it was my favorite honey, which is, uh, an invasive species called
Brazilian pepper honey, which if you have never had, let me just tell you, it is a beautiful dark amberish color. And the spice in it when it hits your jowls, um, it's it's my absolute favorite. and
I can't find it anywhere except for our >> okay >> own location. So, whoever's providing the Brazilian pepper honey, tell them please keep it coming. >> We'll do. >> Okay. Um, thank you for answering those. Uh, Ginger, just a a question out of
curiosity. It's a little thing, but um looking at the the gift shop, 158,000 is what we spent. Um the return is 381. That's pretty strong. I I have a friend
that's in that business. And he it's a lot of honey. He uh he provides uh gift shop items to retailers. He gets about 85% markup and teaches all his people to do 50%. This
is 50% or better markup. Who Who is our buyer? Who's buying this stuff? They're doing a good job is what I want to say. >> Yes, we have a fabulous gift shop manager. Her name is Stephanie Harris. Um she is really good at looking for
products that both meet our mission, right? so they're as much as possible environmentally friendly products or or um have a statement about the mission of the marine science center. Um and she's really good at working with our um procurement analysts in the county to find really good prices and then and
then marking them up appropriately. And we have in our gift shop things that all the way from like a little kid comes in with, you know, a couple of dollars and wants to leave with something to things that are, you know, frankly more pricey. And >> um she she does a really good job on >> looks like it and
Right. Right. So, a a real variety. Um and the the new renovated gift shop, in case you all haven't been since the grand reopening, is beautiful, and Stephanie and Chad and the staff have done an amazing job. >> The whole facility is beautiful. I'm not
surprised that it's that it's popular. Um it it's it's a um wellrespected facility in the state of Florida for the reason that you said with the the amount of uh birds and turtles that are um
healed and and um that can go back into the wild. So it's it's really something we can be proud of if if no if you haven't seen it yet, you need to go and and u and spend some time there and some money. >> Yes. >> All right. I don't see any other
questions. I was just going to add the customer service that they have at the shop is amazing. So, you almost want to buy something from them. I mean, when you're there, it's it's fantastic. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. Okay. So, next, as part of our incidental tank permit, we also have a sea turtle conservation program. Uh it's also implemented by by federal law. Uh we manage and uh contract for sea turtle
monitoring, implement the sea turtle lighting ordinance, and we uh also review the coastal construction and any projects that are on the coast to make sure that they're in compliance with our habitat management plan.
Uh has a total expenses of 723,000 a year. uh personnel expenses about 258,000. Our operating is uh 435. We did receive a um some revenues about $11,000 through
a uh uh department revenue sea turtle license plate where we did get some some revenues through that program. Uh Jennifer Wyers is is the uh manager of of this division. It's relatively small. uh we have one environmental specialist,
two or three and uh another environmental specialist. So a total of of uh four people in that in that division. Uh we monitor 9 um 43 sea turtles this past year. Uh we ensure
that our uh plans are in compliance. Uh during like I said during construction projects uh we conduct sea turtle lighting inspections um and we also coordinate the ann annual international coastal cleanup.
Our top operating expenses our contracted surfaces services is approximately $224,000. This is pretty unique is that uh our this the state requirements require us
to contract out the actual permit holders for uh the take permit and or our or management plan. So we have one contractor that that is uh north of the inlet and one at the at the inlet
themselves. Uh so that that is a requirement that that we are uh obligated to do. Uh we do have temporary personnel during the uh sea turtle season uh at about $85,000 a year. Uh we
have a vehicle replacement. We talked about vehicles and being on the sand and and the salt. Uh so that uh replacement's pretty pretty high there. and maintenance of our different equipment that we have at about $20,000. Um we did um have after the hurricane we
had a um an employee that was a protective special uh species specialist role. We did uh absorb that in house uh to take that recently. And uh we also created a uh a data system and field used to be all done by paper and now we
can uh uh collect data electronically that that helped us. And again I want to emphasize um the um the volunteers that we get all the different turtle groups that are helping with the team with this small department
of three. We couldn't accommodate this without all the volunteers that are helping out with this program. One of the future challenges is that you know the incidental take permit expires in 2030. Uh I see that as a challenge but I
also see that as an opportunity right I mean when you know different requirements maybe as we're going through this permit in the future maybe we can do things a little bit more efficient maybe negotiate a little bit more on what those requirements would
be. I know we are monitoring St. John's County right now. They are going through that process and we'll be monitor monitoring them and uh looking forward to maybe some good opportunities that we may have as this permit uh gets close to
expiration. So, we are here for any questions you might have. >> Vice Chair Reinhardt. >> Thank you, Chair. I was just curious um right the St. John's County one, when does that expire? Uh >> they started early, didn't they?
same time, but they're already they're they're just a little more into it than we are. >> They are starting to get into it right now. >> Okay. How far are we into it? >> Uh we're monitoring. We're we're not into it to it yet. We've been looking we we we're constantly into it because we
always have to collect data every year for our sea totaler program. So that is all kind of part of the application. So as far as >> being into it, that's kind of what we're doing is is the data collection at this point. And I don't mean to make it all about them, but I love comparison, especially have something to compare to
is, you know, if they do, how much driving do they have? Their Theirs is >> They don't have any, do they? >> Oh, yes, they do. I have more maybe about a dozen miles. I'd have to get the exact statistic. I just um a little bit of a historical perspective and and
Ginger could complement this, but uh from my knowledge, Valuchia County >> went first uh during the original incidental take permit efforts about 25 years ago and then they watched us and came second and some of their mitigations are
>> less less than ours. Um in fact, I think Blush County has taken some questions what they can do up there versus our permits. So there may be some theory to let uh let them go first this time so hopefully we can see what we need to do to match >> okay
>> their program. >> Thank you. >> Yes sir. >> Uh Councilman Kent. >> Yeah. Um for my knowledge and also those listening online and if the paper wants to write about it, how do you all get
most of your um turtles that are in need? Do people bring them to you? Do they call you? Is it a mixture of both? >> Uh Ginger Adair, environmental management director. So you mean uh are you asking like the ones that end up like say at the science center because
they Yeah. So like uh Ry mentioned there are two permitted um permit holders north of the inlet and south of the inlet. They are responsible for recovering any sort of injured turtles or turtles in need of support and they come to the marine science
center. That is um a partnership that we have with the permit holders, us and beach safety because a lot of times particularly those little washback turtles that come in when we have a storm and they they kind of wash back onto the beach. Um, we have a program with beach safety to grab those little
guys, get them to the science center, and we have a volunteer program in the areas um where beach safety isn't as um heavily, you know, um staffed in the natural areas, we have a volunteer program called the washback watchers where folks will go out and look for those washbacks and transport them to
the science center. So, the ones that end up on the beach, that's how we get them. Um, sometimes we get turtles from other facilities or um, FWC directs people to bring them to us and sometimes we get turtles that are entangled in, you know, fishing line or nets or something and they usually come through
those permit holders. >> Thank you. And then, not to beat a a dead horse, but back on to the uh, human food grade quality vegetables. Does the state say we have to buy it from Publix or can we use Aldi? >> Nope. They don't tell us who we have to
do have to use. we do have to go through our procurement process. So, um we you know we bid that out >> other than the the rats and the bugs because I understand that not to open up a
a door to a whole new conversation but corrections is is is clean and we don't have bugs and rats there. But could they they are growing farm produce. Could could that be provided >> potentially? you. We'd have to talk about what the quantities are and if it's, you know, year- round availability
and those sorts of things, but >> here we go. >> That was it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Dogs. All right. Good afternoon. Randa Matusak, director of public protection. So, we're going to start with animal
control. Um, we have one position that's staffed really um with the success of the Orman Beach pilot dog program. We had the addition of one animal control officer. Uh, we didn't add anything uh with the expansion then into the Daytona dog beach. Uh, but we did kind of
incorporate those two areas into a zone. So, we have an acco that is uh that is funded uh through the beach fund, but that is the only portion of animal control that's funded through beach fund. Most of it's through AMSD. So, um it's on here because it's part of the fund, but it's not really the the
primary focus. Really, what we're focused on is beach safety. So, beach safety is is a um user of the beach uh management fund. As you can see here, most of our budget is comprised of personnel with about $1.9 million in operating. We do have some revenue uh
that we bring in. So, about $109,000 in revenue. Most of that is from the junior lifeguard program. Um, now one of the things that we want to we like to highlight with the junior lifeguard program is we actually do have 42 people who are employed with beach safety right now who were prior participants in the
junior lifeguard program, right? Five of which are full-time ocean rescue lifeguards. So, our junior lifeguard program, it not only provides revenue or a source of revenue, but it also provides really a recruiting tool uh that we have uh that we really try to
fish for any other uh word there. um you know, for uh for part-time lifeguards particularly. And I'll kind of jump back to that here in a little bit, but other than that, we're responsible for a lot of the permits and the uh like special event permits and um jet ski permits and things like that on the beach that also
bring in uh some revenue for beach safety as well for a total of almost 110,000. Now, our org chart, you'll see here, it's a little bit confusing because we have a total FTE count of 117.67, but you'll see on the side here there's 296 part-time lifeguards. So they're not
counted as full.5 FTE there. Um, generally speaking, what we have is kind of an administrative side, which is largely not ocean rescue lifeguard or not lifeguards. And then we have our operational side. And our operational side is really split by two ships. We have a captain on each shift. And then
we have uh our full-time ocean rescue lifeguards in addition then to those part-time lifeguards and wades. And my apologies, I left out our captains and our sergeants there, so I don't want to don't want to sell them short. But really, those part-time lifeguards are intended to supplement our full-time
lifeguards when um when needed. Uh now that might be that usually is and always is really during the peak season uh during the summer season which seems to get earlier and earlier every year but as of for instance this Christmas uh you might recall was we had a gorgeous
couple of days around Christmas Eve and Christmas that we also required some part-time lifeguards in there to supplement some of our staff. So that's really what we utilize them for. And then our special workers are uh we have um um put into place some special workers for parking assistance uh that
can help with uh guiding people to park in the correct place and correct things if uh if parking gets a little bit out of hand. Um our summary of operations I it's actually been a really interesting conversation and I appreciate kind of going at the end because exactly what you were saying Mr. uh with regard to kind of a common sense
approach and do we do we pick things up here and there the beach is operated and it might become you know it might have been obvious today it is a total team effort to make sure that the beach is operated and run smoothly and in a lot of that beach safety actually kind of
picks up some of these so that other folks don't have to hire additional staff for instance to help take care of the washback turtles beach safety takes care of some of that beach safety um u participates and putting in the conservation poles and making sure that other kind of wildlife you'll see this
giant bird not an animal my animal knowledge is not the best so I don't know what kind of bird that is but it looks like a pelican maybe yeah pelican okay uh so we help with those kinds of wildlife preservation in addition to that we um we are responsible for um kind of boots on the ground or the um
customer-f facing beach management portion so opening and closing the beach taking care of traffic and traffic lanes we make sure that we have the signs placed um where they're supposed to being again that special event permitting and then our main focus uh really is that life savings. So we have
uh we average about 2400 rescues each year. Um in addition to that we have thousands upon thousands of preventive actions. We take care of EMT medical care. Every single one of our full-time lifeguards are certified lifeguards and EMTs. So we're able to provide BLS care
uh there on the beach and then again those preventive actions. Now, one of the things that's interesting about the uh EMS or the um BLS care that we're able to provide, we've just started a BLS program where we are responding to upland calls for BLS services as a
supplement then to the EMS system because we understand that we have times of the year that are less busy for beach safety and so we're able to assist the county in other ways. So getting onto our operating expenses as Suzanne um or Miss Conchin mentioned earlier um you
know the equipment on the beach can be a challenge with that sand and those conditions and so our primary expense really about a quarter of our budget is spent with vehicle replacement at $500,000. Other than that we have liability insurance. We have maintenance then for our vehicles and equipment um
to kind of round out a lot of our uh top expenses then. And then the remaining that's not listed here are really for utilities and other types of equipment that we need and EMS supplies throughout the year for a total budget of about $1.9 million. Some efficiencies that
we've had in recent years. Um the first is that we have restructured. We have we have been since the transition away from law enforcement. Um beach safety has done a really good job of really zeroing in and focusing in on um the tasks that we can really highlight and uh
reassessing kind of our needs then uh in the context of losing that life or that um law enforcement side. So we re-evaluated our administrative side. It led to a reduction in two positions overall. Um so we were able to save that. We are continuing to evaluate um
any kind of efficiencies that we can realize uh from any of our staffing. Um additionally, last year we reassessed a need. We had a couple of um permanent control towers in our budget, which is those, you know, those larger structures. We just finished one over at
um beach safety headquarters. We realized that the um the use of those control towers probably doesn't justify $450,000 a piece. So, we removed two of those from a request um uh from last year and we're reassessing then the
potential for bringing in um a um it's a more mobile, it's not a red tower, but it's a more mobile kind of control tower so that as the needs shift, we're able to move those. Um we've also um since the transition away from law enforcement, since we don't need to
carry people in the back of the trucks anymore or in a seat, uh we have reassessed the trucks. we were able to save about a one point or $1,500 to $2,000 per truck by um not having the full size back cab and that provides then for longer beds um so that we're
able to actually transport patients by the longer bed so that's a better operational and then again we've expanded those services um to supplement BLS units and it's really a a service then uh and a supplement to the EMS system uh for us to be able to uh again
respond to those BLS calls in upland areas and we've found that that was successful and that we were able to really make a difference in those BLS calls and it has not impacted any kind of response then on the beach. So that pilot program that we were kind of testing out looks to be successful.
Um, and then our future challenges. We're always going to have staffing challenges or I want I don't want to say always going to have staffing challenges with part-time, but part-time for a 16, 17 year old, you know, we don't have um and it's not necessarily the pay. We we
um we we pay people really well to come and do we have a lot of incentives. It's finding people that are physically fit to be able to do the job of a lifeguard. Um, as I've gotten into this role, I've kind of I they let me kind of uh train
with them occasionally and that is a job. Uh, so you know, finding people who are physically fit enough to do the job of a lifeguard is difficult. Some things that we've done to improve that, we've expanded the number of recruit uh, classes that we have in addition to holding uh, swim workshops uh, then to
help people gain those skills. And then as you've seen probably with the other or we're kind of implied with some of the other um uh groups here, just the changing beach conditions and environment and the seasonality of what it is that we do. We're always looking at how we can right size our response on
the beach. And that right size really does sometimes vary daytoday or hour by hour based on what the conditions and the weather is on the beach. And so finally, our service expectations really do kind of pose a challenge because if we look at covering the entire beach
with um with lifeguards uh because we have done everything we can, we actually were able to expand the number of red towers that we have on average by about 10 towers uh last summer compared to the summer before. Um so we've expanded the number of red towers but even with that
to be able to cover the entire beach and according to the USLA um covered or guarded beach includes 300 feet on either side of a red tower to do that for 37 miles of beach because we don't really count the Canaveral seashore that would that would call for
almost 300 red towers. We don't have that. Uh and so our expectation with beach safety has always been that we cover the entire beach. Now, that's accomplished by um the red trucks that you see roving the beach and checking on conditions and things like that um and
making sure that we're able to respond as people um are on the beach all over because as Jessica said, we have one of the most accessible beaches in Florida, if not the world. And so to beach safety, we want to be sure to cover as
much of that as we can. um and understanding that that's difficult to do with those red towers because I think even in the heyday uh when you were out there as a lifeguard Mr. Brower um I don't think we had you know the 300 plus uh red towers to be able to officially
say we have a guarded beach for the entire county. Uh so those are some of the um challenges that we see moving forward or just what are the service expectations when we are actively assessing that and looking at different models that we might be able to again
really truly right size with the um with keeping in mind kind of financial efficiencies uh with that. So with that I'll answer any questions. >> Councilman Jake Johansson thank you very much for the for the
brief. You know, I I'm I was all about dogs on the beach and and I still am. I I'd like to know what what I what I didn't want is to spend extra money on a animal control officer if it's not needed. Do
we find that that there's a lot of dog bites in the area uh and and that animal control officer uh is required or do we have one just to give peace of mind? So, what we've done
actually is we have looped those areas into a larger zone. So, we don't we don't staff that 100% of the time. It's looped into the larger zone. Um, and we don't have dog bite issues. We do have issues with people following the leash
laws. Um, that is our most common violation out there. And that can lead, you know, to bites, but we haven't had the kind of bite um issues that we have. But really that that time was we're able to better cover than that side of the of
the county and loop those zones into kind of the larger patrol and response area. >> But we haven't had any bites. >> I think we've had one bite. >> Okay. >> I don't have the date off the top of my head, but I think I've heard of one. >> Yeah. I just I don't know. I' I've been
elsewhere where the dogs run free and >> they don't bite and and there's not an animal control officer out there and seems to work fine. I'm I'm I'm not saying we ought to entertain getting rid of one,
>> but lately I'm looking at ways to save $74,000 in this case. Um is there I know Mr. Ken's going to talk about or or Mr. Brower about more lifeguards, more lifeguards.
>> Is there any technology out there that can help alleviate some of those gaps? You know, the first thing I thought of is is like a a campus phone. >> I'm at I'm at phone number 42 and
there's somebody out there, but you know, saltwater that'll last about a day. I got that. you know, and I think I think what Mr. Reinhardt had referred to or was alluding to earlier, um, you know, we did just recently see a demo for some camera systems that um the they
offer the ability through AI to kind of look at what's going on on the beach um to be able to assess the conditions, to assess the waves, to count the number of people on the beach, to count the number of people in the water. um and you know to the to the campus phone. I'm very
familiar with what you're talking about to be able to alert somebody. Everybody has a phone on the beach anymore, you know, and so so I think that there is some potential that we're kind of exploring as far as um how we can utilize that technology. I would argue
it's not a replacement for a for a lifeguard on a tower. Um you know, when somebody's calling 911, >> we're going to fill in gaps that you already have. Not >> for those unguarded areas. exactly that we're not in all the time. Um, you know, I think that there is some potential uh
to utilize some technology and we are exploring those options. >> And I guess my my question my next question maybe to you and it may be to Ginger or somebody maybe even Jessica, I don't know. But I know we have cameras along our beaches and and I get
complaints from people that either either the surfers wanted to look at the surf and the and the guy down the street wants it to look at his house and and and we want it to look at the at the ramp. >> Um
>> do do we have what it takes? And is it are they doing what you want? >> Well, so the the camera situation is always tricky. Uh we had some cameras that were up that were kind of set up initially by beach safety as as kind of a an eyes out there, you know, for beach
safety. We were able to put it onto a YouTube uh you know, so that the public could take a look at them. Um they kept failing. So we thought, well, we'd transition over to a different kind. View is different on that. So we're getting a lot of complaints. And so one of the things with this company that we've um just recently seen the demo for
with some of these other um components is that their their cameras are a little bit better and a little bit better positioned as well. Um I think some of it too is currently we only have cameras, you know, on our control towers and um and so there's only certain there's only so much you can see uh with
that. And yes, you're right. They do have, you know, we opened it up to kind of a wider view to be able to cover more of the beach. And I think that that got a response from some of the surfers that wanted to zero in on what's happening in the water a little bit more when we thought, oh, maybe this will show for
parking. So, um, so we are looking at some uh options for cameras. It might be this. It might be uh, you know, something else just depending on what the costs are. >> Thank you, >> Councilman Troy Kent. Thank you, chairman. And um because Councilman
Johansson correctly predicted one of the things I was going to talk about after the meeting, I'm going to ask for you to help predict the six winning lottery numbers at the next poll, please. So, with um all the funnies uh put aside for a moment, Randa, how long have you been
in this new position? >> Um since about Well, officially since last March. Interim since September before that. >> Who who put you in that position? Was it George or Suzanne? >> George is the appoint. >> George. Uh, yet again,
you're just making great decisions, men, left and right about who you choose because council, it it could be because a large portion of my district is on the beach. But Randa, I find you to be incredibly
professional, efficient, likable by the constituents and residents of Valuchia County. And you respond quickly. >> Well, thank you. >> Oh, thank you. And George, thank you for putting her in this position. That dog
issue up Norman by the Sea. this department head, Miss Randa, after a situation I thought was over and done with, she shows up, not just her staff, she shows up to check on all of the individuals involved to make sure that everything is going okay above and
beyond the call of duty. I can't say enough positive things about your leadership and the just the way I think it feels uh down there at the beach because of your leadership. So, I I publicly wanted to say that about you and I wanted to just say thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Now, my questions, >> there are um there's a little bit of revenue you showed us through the junior lifeguard program. I I challenge you to think of other ways that our your part of the beach that you run that you're in
control of can make more revenue. I don't know if it is swim lessons. I don't know if it's infant swim lessons. I just I know what I pay for my grandchildren to have infant infant swim lessons and it's 10 minutes at a pop and people are lined up for it. I don't
know. And I'm not trying to get us into that business, but we're sort of already in that business with junior lifeguards. >> And I'm looking at our expenses and our revenue and I'm thinking I I just I challenge you with that. And the answer could be in three months. >> I can't think of anything. And that
could be okay. But I if anybody can I I think that you can. I'm glad you mentioned the elephant in the room with the lifeguards we need that many of them just aren't physically fit enough to do the job that you have to do x y and z within a certain amount of a timed limit
and if you can't do it we're not going to put you on the beach to save people and >> nobody wants that >> nobody nobody wants that and I'm appreciative that you you mentioned it and it was there um I want to touch on what Mr. Johansson said, "I I want you to help come up with
a focus of more lifeguards in Orman by the Sea. >> My constituents are screaming for it. I'm I'm George is tired of hearing me talk about it to him with him privately. So, I want you to come up with a way." I again, I think you're the right, you know, you mentioned this. You said this.
I wrote it down. Uh looking at models with the right size and I thought you were the right person at the right time for this job. And I have faith in you that you can help come up with a solution to Orman by the Sea lack of
lifeguards. We have a tremendous amount of people there. You heard us earlier say that the state came in put in all of these beautiful walkovers. More people are going to be using the beach up there and they are wonderful taxpayers as well and and they're asking for this. So now
I'm asking for it and I charge you um through George's direction of course to brainstorm and come up with ways that that can be done. And I hadn't thought of of of what Mr. Johansson said, but it it could be through videos. It could be through a phone. I I don't know. That's
not my wheelhouse. That's your specialties. The beach is my wheelhouse, but that your your specialty is is in that area. Um so that's what I'm hoping for. other ideas that you can come up with for revenue and how we can better
patrol or by the sea with lifeguards. >> Okay, let's start with an easy okay uh question on the beach safety program generated revenue. >> I feel like I'm going to play Jeopardy. Outside detail for 8,150,
please. What's What is that? So any kind of outside detail is when somebody has an event and they need a lifeguard um you know to staff it that would be included in that. So we charge the special events like when you apply for a special event for instance it's $100 but if it's ex if it's extra space there's
an additional charge for that. If you need staff for it there's an additional charge for that. That outside detail would be something along those >> Okay. >> Have you jumped off the pier yet? >> No. Actually I was just asking Tammy though if I could. Uh, or it might have been AJ. Uh, no. They let me do anything
I want, you know. So, it's great. I get to go swim with them. >> Be careful. They might want to push you off. So, >> if you if you do jump, jump with other people and let half of them go first and then jump in the middle because then the sharks are all distracted. >> All right. Noted. Noted.
>> Um, technology on the on the beach. I I have also heard good things. Uh Suzanne and I were just talking about this about the uh um the the program >> that looks at waves, ocean conditions. So I'm looking forward to hearing more about that. I'm glad that you're
pursuing it. Yeah. It won't take the place of of lifeguards, but it will give them uh maybe it can't anticipate where the next accident is going because the farther and farther towers get apart, you can't see all the runouts from that
red tower, as you say, you you can see the runouts. You can see them forming. You can see how they're pulling. So, there's nothing that will take the place of adequate um towers. But, I'm glad to see that tech that technology. Are we using drones?
>> So, we have drones. We don't use them for active like monitoring um frequently, but we do use drones to see kind of what the crowd is, you know, especially during the holidays um and and things like that. We've got a couple of drone pilots uh that of course can
assess then and and help with any kind of assessments pre and post hurricane and things like that. But it's not a and and if there is a response that's necessary like uh that somebody's out, you know, a ways out, we do put the drone up to be able to identify people,
but I don't believe we use it just in >> No, we'll bring bring T. >> Here's the chief. Hi, >> Tammy Melers, uh, beach safety director. We do use drones uh, a lot of times for mutual aid rescues in the ICW in the river.
>> Okay. >> I do want to comment though on the on the camera situation because, as you said, you know, it's it's not really a replacement for, you know, a red tower jumping in the water. Um, I think the other thing to to kind of pay attention to with this as well and and something
that we'll need to it's it's part of the consideration is all of these other things that we mentioned that beach safety does help with. So, for instance, when there's a a traffic disaster, you know, and I don't want to say disaster, but when traffic is bad and they're moving traffic lanes back and forth, you know, we want to be able to maintain
that level of service to be able to get people on the beach and make it safe, you know, when people are driving on the beach, but maybe utilize those cameras to be able to expand what our our look is. Yeah. So, so it's a it's a it's a line that we'll have to kind of walk, but we're we're definitely interested in
digging into it. >> Good. >> Uh Mr. Kent is is right. We we need more lifeguards. We need more lifeguards in Orman by the Sea. It's it's interesting that he said that. That's that's where where I started because I was underage and under size. I shouldn't have said
that because they somebody broke the law. >> I'm sure there's a statute. >> You had to be 16 and I think I was 15 and 135 pounds. So, they hid me up there, but there was enough of us. We were about a half a mile apart. There was only six or eight towers. Um, but you could
see from tower to tower with a good pair of of binoculars that we purchased ourselves. Um, uh, we so we we need more pe there's there's just nothing to take the place. However, I understand the
challenge. I've tried to work with some of the old uh ex- lifeguards and our current lifeguards. It was a lot easier to find people then and now you're dealing with um you can go to Bies and and earn more money, but you're also
dealing with people, young people that are addicted to cell phones and we can't let people sit on a red tower and stare at a cell phone all day. And people have left when they found out I can't have a cell phone up my tower. >> I want to assure you though in the midst
of this, it is difficult. It's difficult to be able to recruit folks. >> Beach safety though, I'm sure you know and you remember, you know, from your time, it is an experience and it is a family when they get there. Um, and so one of the things that we're So, while
it's difficult and it's difficult to find these people that are capable, we are making every effort we can. So, like I said, Tammy has expanded the recruit classes. We have started these um swim workshops to be able to get people if they might just not be over the hump,
you know, for the time cut off, we might be able to get them there, which are things that we haven't done in the past. For the people that have worked for us be for us in summers before, our sergeants are reaching out personally uh to them to make sure that they're coming back. We are doing everything we can
that to the people that are capable of doing the job. We are we are enticing to do it. And some of that is even our social media campaign. You'll see a lot in our social media about like, hey, look at the look, this is, you know, this is, you know, Brian Siri or
somebody, you know, from the from he's an ocean rescue lifeguard. And some of that is is catered toward having parents feel comfortable sending their kids come, you know, to come work with us for the summer. So, we're doing a lot. We're seeing some benefit from that. Our fall recruit class, for instance, that was
the second one that we've done. it was even larger than um the year before. And right now we're sitting at 34 um uh who have passed the swim portion and that's even before we've started what would regularly be our recruit classes for the spring. Um so we are we
are we are not throwing our hands up and saying it's just impossible to do. In addition to that, the people that we have on staff, we're finding ways to entice them to work more hours because it's one thing to hire them and get them on the payroll. It's another thing to make sure that they're working and we're utilizing them and maximizing their
time. So, all of those things are things that we're doing to make sure that even in the midst of potential problems with recruiting, we're still able to get some more towers, red towers up to and including making sure that to the degree that we can, we've got our full-timers
in the control towers to be able to put more red towers then on the on the beach as well. So, we are really maximizing and and squeezing every ounce of that uh out that we can. >> You you have a pretty large number of of part-time guards that we saw here. Are
you utilizing them now or is that just for summer or >> So, it's occasionally. So, if there is a nice day, not last summer, but the summer before, if there is a nice day out there and there's a ton of people out there on the beach, we'll put some some um uh part- timerrs out there. Um
during the off season though, we really do focus on making sure that those towers, control towers or even the red towers are staffed by full-timers because we don't want, you know, on a 30°ree windy day, we're not going to bring in a part-timer to put a red tower up. That's, you know,
>> unnecessary. >> Yes, it is. >> Um just lastly, I want to touch on on something. You're I'm sure your head is probably sore now from Troy patting it. Um so, >> no, I'm I'm good.
So, I want to I want to pat Tamara on the head a little bit and the senior staff that she brought with them. Lifeguarding is it's the best job you can have in Valuchia County. It sure as heck beats packing groceries at Publix or Wind Dixie. Nothing wrong with that
work. It's good solid work. Um but it is a family and it's it's um it's a lot of fun and in an instant your life can be in danger. So, it takes a really special kind of a person. So, y'all have all my
respect. I appreciate what you do. And and what I wanted to say, Tamara, is that um recruiting is a problem. We just had a little mini reunion of of local lifeguards. And I think all three of you um came, the senior uh guys and and
Tamara. That was that was really important because there was some there was current lifeguards mostly all of us washed up old-timers that just love seeing each other because it is a family and you never lose that. You make friends for the rest of your life. But
it was really important that the three of them showed up and made theelves accessible because you get hard questions, you know, why aren't I getting enough hours and why is this person getting more or whatever it is. But thank you for for doing that, for having the guts to come and I think you
probably enjoyed yourself too because you are um the essential part of our family right now. I just appreciate the hard work that you do, the good work that you do, and uh we'll continue to do what what we can, the the old-timers to
help with recruitment because you you can't beat it for a summer job. even if you earn more money at BIES, it's not the same, >> you know, you you want to go to the beach. And we'll keep working on on um uh improving pay for for lifeguards.
>> Oh, for sure. And if I may, and thank you for that because, you know, what what Mr. Kent was saying that's not I'm not I'm I'm I just work with them, you know. I mean, they do a really great job and they do the great job out there on the beach and and like I was saying before, you know, I hope and I love that
we're we're structuring this presentation in terms of like everything that goes on at the beach because it truly is a team effort. And so beach safety wouldn't be as good as they are without Coastal, without, you know, the um marine science center and everything like that and growth and resource management and everybody and and vice
versa. So, it truly is just one big team that's out there all kind of working towards the same goal. >> All right. Yeah, >> Tamara, I'm going to have to take back my word of uh the word I use the bunch of white washed out old lifeguards because Jack Driscoll was there and he's not washed out yet. He's still working
hard. >> Still working. Y >> So, uh, Councilman David Santiago. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, good good presentation. Lots of details. Thank you. I'm just sitting here thinking listening to Troy though and um he was putting it on deep and I was wondering
do we have video of Bad Boy Dougly running around without a leash? >> Not that I know of but you know >> you got something on him cuz he was putting it on deep. >> I did. Was it Miss Daisy then I so Miss Daisy was at the Daytona dog beach but it was you know and she was
>> absolutely absolutely with a with a leash >> trying to figure out if we got the dog video or the he really wants those fire I mean those lifeguards so thank you good job ready for the next one Mr. Vice Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt. >> Thank you, Chair. Gentlemen, I just want to point out when they alluded to the
coastal technology demo, if you get a chance, Troy, I would watch it. Um, this service, yes, there are some questions we still had, but the what the technology offers out there with with the AI. Um, they use green
boxes for people that are lying down. They use orange boxes in the water people laying on their surfboards. I mean, it's just that type of technology. The camera picks up when you have an area of the beach that doesn't have a lifeguard. Say you had a park and all of a sudden a school bus came up because, you know, they don't tell us that
they're going to the beach. That alerts us to the fact that we need to put a lifeguard down there. Little things like that. Um, it measures risk assess assessments. Um, right now they're using it, I guess, in the UK and Australia. Um
they also it it measures erosion slope of the beaches. It soon will have technology that'll measure how much sand is lost. >> I did I signed up for the for the demo. I said I wanted to see it. I met him at that uh seminar. Jessica introduced me
to the gentleman Paul. Um and I met him at that seminar on coastal erosion stuff and uh we set up that that uh demo and I was blown away. I wrote like two, three pages of notes. It is amazing what the technology again there are things that
we could really well maybe not but then there are things we're are thinking outside the box like you just brought up. I didn't think about the hardtop issue that we could utilize it for. They already have cameras in Daytona Beach but we want we could actually expand from that. So if you get the opportunity I would definitely definitely watch that
that uh demo thing. >> Didn't want to take anything away from it but >> thank you deputy county manager Suzanne Konchin. >> All right. And Ryan, stay up here because uh two comments. Um and one I don't know if I want council members to go to conferences anymore because
vendors will try to sell you their products. Uh and we'll be looking at the procurement process on that. >> Yeah. Um when we presented this, we did it following our budget uh uh structure
and in that case uh Coastal gets to take claim for all the revenue for beach tolls and off- beach parking. Um and it shows up uh in the Coastal budget, but it could have showed up in beach safety budget too. It it's really uh to the
entire offset of our revenues. Having said that, we'll continue to look for revenues from beach safety and every other division that operates to try to make up the 17 plus million dollar subsidy that uh we do uh carry with uh
managing the beach. And to that end, just one last point and and I think only because uh Dr. Matusak failed to mention it. Um, we are trying to raise money everywhere, including for animal safety and May 31st. Mark your calendars. Uh,
there's going to be a a dog surfing event uh in the Daytona Dog Beach area. It has been held in Flaggler Beach for a number of years. They've really outgrown Flaggler Beach and the group that puts it on wants to come to Daytona. Uh, we're hoping that we'll be one of the
fundraising recipients for uh animal services. So, uh, should be a great event. I think it will be, uh, well attended. At least that's what I observe up in the Flaggler area. So, with that, I'll turn it to Ryan. >> Apparently,
>> yeah, council, I just wanted to at the beginning of the presentation, I forgot to reiterate uh that through these presentations, we're looking for any potential direction. And if there's any level of service here that that you have question about that you want to see any costing of, this is the direction. This
is the input that will go into the preparation of the uh of the next budget that you're seeing. >> Okay. Uh standby, Councilman Santiago. >> Yeah. Thank you for that, Mr. Chairman. I'll be the I'll be the bad guy. Um, and
thanks for that reminder, Ryan, because I think we need that because guys, we've been all over the place on all of these items instead of really getting into the fiscal side of it. The purpose of this was to talk about where's the fiscal side of it and what do we want to trim or have them go back and look at
opportunities. Well, well, I think it can be said that some of the comments and um questions uh could point to that, but from an efficiency standpoint, I think we just been all over the place. I just want us to self-govern.
And I thank you for the presentation and I like all of your budget items from my perspective. >> Councilman Johansson. >> Yeah, I've already indicated I'll I'll make this for uh Randa as well. I'd like to see the the other budget items that
almost equal the the cost just to to take a look. A lot of times um some of the level of service is is where you guys want, but maybe where we can trim if we need to trim, but if you
can't see it, you don't know. Um, I would imagine uh George on a on a bigger scale that during uh COVID we did everything we could to make sure the lights turn off automatically and and instant on hot
water. I know you have that where anywhere I go, but uh all those little budget trimming techniques we probably already took care of with ARPA >> that or we're working on them. I mean we've done a and through the whole county you know the seaman study and
other stuff >> chipping into that seaman thing. >> All right. Yeah. If I could see that and and I'll pro provide guidance accordingly to uh um to the leadership and we can talk about it David at
David's going at another meeting. But that's really what I want to do. I want to have this discussion about level of service and and you know there's an assumption that that y'all's level of service is where we want it but but moving forward maybe not maybe we're
going to chip it down in some areas and chip it up in some areas depending um um but um yeah I I don't know if I want things for the sake of wanting them. I talked a little bit about animal control. If we don't
need animal control on the beach, but that that zone is important in its entirety, I I got it. But we we hired that person to be parttime on the beach. If we don't need him on the beach or her, then then
let's not have them, >> right? So, um and and and there's other areas like that. So, we we'll just have to talk about level of service. Thank you, sir. Councilman Troy Kent. >> Thank you, Chairman. And Jake, I'm glad
you brought that up because if my memory is right, in order to get the first dog friendly section of the beach across the finish line, that was one of the caveats by some council members like, hey, we want to make sure that we have someone there. And I'm more than okay not having
that person there. And if that's something that, you know, we don't have to have, I'm I'm for one to say, listen, I'm I'm ready to help you with that decision and let's save $74,000 right there. And that helps Randa take away $74,000 that I'm asking her to come up
with ways to fund. >> Yeah, I would I would like some more some more information on that. There, you know, there's things that come out of the woodwork when you uh when you're when you're trying to take away an FTE or two, but And I think every department
ought to be looking at that. Um but but you're right, we hired that particular one and and if you remember that that beach, there's going to be tons of people that are going to the hospital because we were wallowing in dog poop
and all the other things that didn't come to fruition. So all those fail safes we put in to make sure that didn't happen, th those that ship is sailed. let's let's pull the band-aid off and and any other program we did that not just during our council time but uh
throughout uh uh throughout history. So, thank you. >> Okay. I and I agree with that. I think we need to look at look at that and and determine uh how necessary it is. But um I also think that the level of service
for for the beach is going to have to increase. Um we need more lifeguards. We we're going to have to pay them uh more to get some. We've worked on that. The the uh staff has has increased pay the
years that I've been here. Um, but the uh we the beach is an economic driver for Valuchia County. It attracts a lot of people and we don't want people drowning because we don't want people drowning, but we also don't want them drowning
because it's it's it's a bad sign that goes out on the news all over the US. Don't go to, you know, such and such a beach because it's dangerous. U the beach is a lot of fun. It can also be dangerous and we need a level of service
of of lifeguards whether tower station. So I'm interested in looking at the at technology that will help us with level of service, but I I don't think we're ever going to get away from having the physical bodies in those red towers in
the busy times of the year. So it's uh and that's what I said earlier in the arch discussion. The our first uh priority is is um keeping the residents county safe. So uh Deputy County Manager
Suzanne Konchin. >> Thank you chairman. Uh just a concluding comment and I'm just going to focus on animal control which is the smallest number on our screen here. I when we added the mile point 1.6 6 1.7 miles in
Daytona Beach and we kept the same level of service at the council's request. Just want to remind you I I know I receive a number of complaints on a fairly regular basis from citizens about compliance with the rules on the beach. we're able to, you know, get on top of
that, but keep it, I hope, away from this deis, uh, and in other places by having that team person who rotates from time to time on the beach. And when you think about that, that's 40 hours over a
7 day, 12hour open beach time. um we can take it off, but I don't have any other team members who can enforce those rules, and I don't control law enforcement who won't be interested in enforcing those rules. So, just food for thought for future conversation. Thank
you. >> Thank you, Councilman Johansson. >> Another clarification of what the u what the majority of the complaints are off off leash. >> Yeah, maybe we get rid of that, too.
Okay, thank you all for your presentation. Go save lives. We had a 45minut lunch break. two that comes off that this uh takes us to item eight uh discussion of placement
of charter amendment question regarding elements of a rural growth boundary. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. Paulo Sora, senior assistant county attorney and I know we don't have a lot of time so I'll be quick on uh my part. uh you have seen uh
the first portion before so this is the last presentation from the last time you took it up and I'll jump straight to the point um under the current law uh you cannot do the same rural boundary as Orange County or Seminal County what is
left to you after our analysis of the current state of the law and for the future bills that have been filed is you can still do what's called the exclusive method of voluntary annexation. It's where a charter county has the authority to basically describe the method of
voluntary annexation that applies when a property owner wants to voluntarily annex into into a city. Um that is the majority 99% of our um annexation. So you can describe the process um and and you know how that procedure goes. So at
the end of the day it could be county council makes that decision that county council makes that decision by majority plus one vote. County Council makes that decision, but excludes certain aspects such as, you know, if you are in an interlocal service boundary agreement, if your annexation uh property is uh is
below a certain threshold, you can set the notice requirements. You describe the process and the procedure, but all of that must be done in a charter amendment uh that goes to referendum and must be voted on by the entire uh Valuchia County. So, last time we did we
we did this county council wanted additional information. That's where Rey and his team collected all the annexation information and document documentation and historic um information so you can make an informed decision if you would like to proceed to
basically provide us the direction so we can start if it comes to it drafting a proposed resolution. >> Okay. Thank you. Any questions for Paulo? Uh I'll just I'll Ry, did you want to say something? I
would I not if you had a question sir I had a second half I was going to present today. >> Okay. No no no questions. >> So as Paulo had had mentioned uh at the last meeting when we had this discussion council asked us to go back and collect data primary growth data annexation
data. So our staff went back and provided a series of slides that's also in your package that that we'll go over. uh Valuchia County uh we we are a population growth uh about 18% from 2014 to 2024.
Uh this is an average annual growth rate of 1.8%. Um the estimated population in 2025 was 611,741. We fall right into the middle of of the counties. Uh we're 12th of the most
populated uh counties in the state of Florida. This uh breaks down the population uh from 2025 and looking at the projections to 2050 of looking at all of our cities.
Uh you can see for example uh Daytona Beach uh 2025 had a population of 81,000. You can see where you know most of our cities are uh all of our cities are going to uh grow at a uh a steady
steady pace. I will say uh if you look at unincorporated county all we did they gave us the data just with city data we knew what the overall county population was we just subtracted mainly what this slide shows is that you know most of our growth is in the cities and and the
unincorporated county stays relatively flat. Uh this is the last uh several years um from uh density increases or decreases within the un unincorporated county
area. As you can see, these are some of our projects that were approved by council. Um, basically what this shows is that uh some of the reasonings that were taking place with uh council, some of them were decreased, some of them
were increased as far as uh entitlements. But as you see, the total is about 543 residential units within the last several years. Will they be built? We don't know. But that is the entitlements uh currently.
This is a breakdown a slide that shows from 2020 to 2024 of new residential permits. Uh you can see uh you know Daytona Beach if you look at our cities um Dan for example uh
all the different cities of the different single family permits that they have had throughout the year. um and unincorporated. Our total is there on the bottom at at at 420 for the unincorporated area.
This is um staff went and uh researched the different uh cities that that uh show the different entitlements and approvals that they have had uh of over 100 units from 2022 to the present. Uh
this slide's pretty self-explanatory where you look at some of the growth that's happening within our cities. Uh total city totals there you can see on the right hand side of single family residential units are about 25,000
multifamily residential about 13,000 town homes about 88. within uh Valuchia County, unincorporated area, uh we've had about 1695 residential units, zero uh multifamily, and about 100 town
homes. So, you know, no surprise. This really illustrates that most of our growth is is is within the cities. This is a uh interesting slide. Um on the left hand side is from 1990.
This shows the in the colors that you see are the the cities within uh Valuchia County. The middle slide is 2006. So if you you can really tell a difference from uh 1990 to 2006, you
actually have the new town of Deltona uh and then you have some other areas of of of growth within those cities. But if you look at 2006 to 2025, uh we had to actually highlight um in
the circles of some of those changes because it's uh really uh with some of the city boundaries, it's uh really didn't uh grow out or grow grow west. And uh in some of those areas um uh that that have grown in the circles are in
our interlocal um uh boundaries. This is uh was requested by um council as well to actually show how many annexations we have had uh since 2015 to 2025. And we really wanted to highlight
and and kind of show where these annexations are happening. Uh in area one on the left hand side of the screen you can see the land helen uh Deltona we've had in that area 64 annexations
totaling about 1,023 acres. Uh, area two is is is in the is a little bit to the right there where you have Orman, uh, Daytona Beach, um, South Daytona. In those areas, we've had 89 annexations.
And then area three on the right hand side, we've had 264 annexations. And if you can really look at the at the map, especially in in New Simra, for example, in that area three on the right of the map, you can see that um you know, the
areas that are in white are in unincorporated county. And you can see a lot of the annexations are infill uh within those areas. So total all the cities um we've had uh 7,655
acre of annexations since 2015. And about 4,49 of those acres are through our ISB interlocal service boundary agreement which I'll talk about here a little bit in the future another slide.
So now these next series of slides um talked about the cities, talked about the growth. Um these next uh series of slides is really going to focus in on I guess the lanny's mechanisms of what is actually within the unincorporated
uh county. Uh some first some terms um that I think we all know but for our public's sake uh utility service areas. What are utility service areas? Those are specific areas determined by uh a utility service provider that indicates
where utilities may be provided and they'll they'll typically um work with St. John's River Water Management District when they get their cup. They have a capital plan of a specific area uh where those utilities will provide it. But then that that uh state law
allows that boundary to to expand I think is is 5 miles from from uh the initial boundary. So they may provide not necessarily will provide. Um we also have uh interlocal service boundary agreements. We have five of them in the
county. Um what these uh ISBAs are, there are specific areas where where the county and the in and the cities had had agreed and and had an agreement uh determine how to provide services to to
residents uh in the most efficient and effective manner. Um balancing the need of community. Um it spells out areas that they may annex uh such as enclaves. We've already had that agreement through these ISBAs that where they're able to
annex. Also, most importantly about these ISBAs uh that are very beneficial. It really spells out um services. Okay. Who's going to provide those services? For example, if you're going to annex this area and and the unincorporated
county is maintaining the roadway, well, you're going to now uh take on that responsibility because it's in your city. you should be taking those responsibilities maintaining your road or other utility services be very beneficial on emergency services as
well. So they're they're very um very beneficial documents. Five uh uh interlocal service boundary areas. So, you know, when you when you take the interlocal service boundary areas because they're already agreed upon on
the annexations, the area that remains in the green is the unincorporated county which is about uh 498,260 acres. The next thing that we have in um unincorporated and incorporated areas is
these growth areas or these activity centers uh that are scattered throughout unincorporated county and some of them have been uh portions of annex such as the farmatin uh DRRi there's some growth centers in there the southwest activity
center the sun rail uh dan activity center will receive potential for economic development and and development within those areas. And we also have in unincorporated areas local plans. We have many uh local
plans. Now these are regulatory in nature that these local plans are actually adopted as part of our comprehensive plan and that spells out uh could spell out density uh form of how you're going to develop where you're going to develop and those type of
things. So they really control uh some of the growth within those areas. We also have thousands of acres of conservation lands uh within uh the unincorporated county. Uh some of these lands are owned by St. John's River
Water Management District uh county other areas. They have easements. Some of them have have different agreement. But we have uh lots of conservation uh lands as well within unincorporated county.
And then of course we have our county public institutional lands, our airport, our uh landfill um public work facilities and different facilities throughout the unincorporated county. And that's what I was talking about the
utility service areas. Here you can see all in the colors of uh the different municipalities and where their uh utility service areas um are. Uh you can look at um Deltona for example and you
see where that highlight out from five miles from where they're actually uh providing water and sewer. Then we have the Norma areas that uh encompass a lot of the uh unincorporated county. This is the natural resource
management area. Uh it's within our uh comprehensive plan. Uh the lands within this area are limited to density. Uh depending on the zoning, it can range between one unit per acre to up to uh 25
units per acre. One for 25. Yes. So in summary, these are uh possibly I guess if you were going to come up with a boundary of of areas of consideration. Um you know the first one is um areas
outside of the cities and outside of the interlocal service boundary which totals about 498,000 acres then you have maybe you may want to consider if if you move forward with this of of looking at the uh maybe you
just do the conservation lands and easements that overlay uh uh the conservation areas for consideration. those are about 236,000 acres and then uh areas consideration
uh not overlaid by conservation lands and and other areas that are 261,000 acres. So I really wanted to provide to you what you know kind of those mechanisms are in the unincorporated county uh that you consider with your
with your discussion. So putting everything that we just presented together. So we've got some potential procedures for county council to consider. So you know we've provided you the data and histo uh you know historically how annexations work. um
what's in the unincorporated area and the the area that you can affect which is basically all the unincorporated area um except for your the ISBAs because those are covered by interlocal agreement. Um, so you know the questions
is if you want to have an exclusive method of voluntary annexation, they're really asking what procedures does the council want to impose on any type of voluntary annexation. And you know, these are procedures that we that um I
picked from other charter counties that have done done this. So, Orange County and Semol require their uh county commissioner approval for all annexations. Um, they keep a legislative discretionary review criteria. So, your
decision, if you choose to take it, remains a legislative decision. Uh, Orange County provides a notice requirement depending upon the size of annexation. So, they they reach out further. Um, all of them kind of exempt certain areas. Uh obviously, you know,
uh we would recommend exempting ISBAs. You have to exempt what's called the greater Dand area. That's an old law from the 70s um that basically draws a small square around downtown Dan and says only the land can annex this area and they're allowed to annex. Um so
that's something we're building in um if you choose to proceed, we're going to build as an exemption. And also you can you can exempt annexations below a certain acreage. So Ray presented a lot of the annexation requests. We get a lot of them per year and a lot of them are
less than an acre, less than half of an acre. So you can you can you have the authority to determine how you would like to process an annexation request if it comes from a property owner. And additionally, you put in your procedures, you know, if anyone if any
city disagrees um or any person disagrees an appeal provision um of a decision which will be limited to, you know, your legislative discretion on whether or not you agree that a property
should be annexed. Um so there's uh two fundamental choices and then you know sub choices your options are to not proceed um and then we just go process as usual. We'll then try to enter into
different ISBAs or you can direct uh staff to proceed with their charter amendment and provide us like a vague direction or or general direction of what procedures you would like to apply and what procedures you would like to see. We'll draft a resolution, bring it back for um further discussion, and
eventually a vote. >> Okay. Thank you. Um we've got limited time. We've got till 3:45. We've got four people from the public. That's 12 minutes to speak. I'd like to hear from the the public and then um I'd like to
uh ask the council for what what I'm hoping to see from this much of what Paulo just reiterated. Um, so four people when I call your name, you can just come up. You have three minutes. Uh, first one is Cat
Pante. >> I did and you'll be uh followed by Amy. >> Good morning, council. Katherine Pante, Day Dona Beach. I'm here to support a proposed rural boundary charter amendment. This amendment is not about stopping progress. It's about guiding responsibly. For generations, the rural
areas of Dand New Simra, Edgewater, Deltona, and Port Orange have defined the character of our county. Our farms, wetlands, forest, springs, and open spaces are not empty land waiting to be built on. They are working landscapes, wildlife corridors, flood protection systems, and part of the heritage that makes this county special. Florida
continues to grow at one of the fastest rates in the country. Without clear boundaries, development pushes outward into rural and agricultural areas. That kind of sprawl costs taxpayers more in the long run. It requires new roads, new shorelines, new schools, new fire stations, and more law enforcement
coverage, all stretched across greater distances. Studies across Florida have shown that compact growth is more fiscally responsible than scattered development. A rule boundary charter amendment provides certainty. It tells land owners, residents, and developers where growth is intended and where conservation and agriculture remain the
priority. It protects property rights while also protecting the broader public interest. It encourages investment where infrastructure already exists. An amendment also safeguards our environmental resilience. Rural lands absorb storm water, recharge aquifers, and buffer communities during
hurricanes. As we've seen recent storm seasons, natural systems are not luxuries. They are critical infrastructure. Importantly, an amendment does not eliminate economic opportunity. It encourages smarter opportunity. It promotes redevelopment, infill, and mixed juice planning in appropriate areas. It helps preserve
tourism, agriculture, and outdoor recreation economies that depend on an open space and environmental quality. Most of all, an amendment respects the will of the people. A charter level boundary ensures that major changes require public involvement and transparency. It places decisions of
long-term consequence in the hands of voters where they belong. We owe it to future generations to leave them a county that is livable, resilient, and financially stable, not one burdened by unmanaged sprawl and repetitive flooding. I ask you to support a rule boundary charter amendment for Valuchia County. Let's plan growth more
thoughtfully and choose to protect what makes our community unique. Thank you. Now, I don't know. I know I can't direct this question to you, but I'm going to direct it to our county staff. Why couldn't we implement a rule boundary charter amendment that is effective if
SB80 gets amended? >> Okay. >> And that's my question. >> Amy Misy. >> Good afternoon. Amy Munisi, De Leon Springs Community Association. An amendment similar to this was brought before the public um in 2006 and it was
defeated. Um but since 2006, in the last 20 years, only 10,000 acres have been annexed. Only 10,000 acres in 20 years. And almost 7,000 of those acres have been done by cooperative agreement
between the county and the municipalities. So, I think that dispels the myth that these big bad municipalities are gobbling all of us up. Um, it's just not happening. Um, and in our opinion, this comes down to property rights rules because um,
property rights because individuals um, sometimes want to be annexed in if they're contiguous to a municipality. Um, it's getting more and more difficult to maintain uh, your well. You can't just pull well water out and drink it
anymore like you used to. It has um animal feces in it. It has petroleum. It has all sorts of things in there. So, all of us who have wells need to put treatment systems on them and they're very expensive to maintain. They're very time consuming as well. Septic systems
aren't just, you know, once and done. You've got to maintain those as well. So for these small property owners that are contiguous to a municipality um they can voluntarily annex in um if they're right next to a municipality and
they can take advantage of water and wastewater services and it's write a check, pay your bill every month and be done. And we've heard from a lot of the um businesses that have connected to municipal water and sewer in Deleon Springs and they've been told you don't
want that. You don't want that. keep your autonomy. And now they're saying, "We love this. You know, we pay a bill every month and that's it. And it's less expensive than what we were doing with weekly testing for our water." So, this really comes down to a property rights
issue, and we respectfully request that you decline this. Thank you, >> James Clayton. Uh, first off, oh, Jim Clayton from Dand, Florida. I've lived in Blush County 72 years. I I must disclose that
I personally would benefit from a rural growth boundary. I have 134 acres immediately adjacent to the city of Dand and it falls within the boundary of a rural growth boundary and what proposed earlier is an urban growth boundary. But I'm against this and I'm going to tell
you why. A lot of my friends live in rural area and they asked me to speak and let me just from a common sensical standpoint think about why we're here. You're proposing this because of Senate Bill 180. Well, think about it. Tallahassee hates it when Washington
dictates to them what they should do when they could best solve a state issue. Y'all don't like it when the state tells you what to do, which is why we're having this conversation with with issues that you can resolve a lot better than the
Tallahassee can. Now, you are basically doing to the c the cities, the 16 municipalities, what the Tallahassee has done to you. You're telling them how to control their property. And then, of course, the rural land owners out there, this will definitely impact them. lay
it'll add an additional layer of bureaucracy to them if they want to do anything with their property. The Valuchia County Association of Responsible and uh Development, VCORD, I think they've written you a letter against it. I think the Valuchia County Farm Bureau has also written a letter
against it and maybe some others. I don't know. Um but just think about the rural people. I respect and I completely understand trying to slow down development and I'm for smart development. Like I said, I would benefit from this. I told Don this the other day. I said, "You know, it's funny
that I'm talking against it because I personally would benefit from it." But um and then lastly, I'm not sure I agree with your staff about doing an end run around Senate Bill 180 by having a charter revision.
I'm not sure that would stand constitutional muster. However, the charter is your constitution. It's the foundational framework of our laws. It's what you base your ordinances on. This is something that should be addressed with an ordinance. I can't
help it that 180 stops you, but you shouldn't amend your charter so willy-nilly in an effort to go around Senate Bill 180. The charter is your constitution. Don't amend it. And lastly, I have to ask y'all a question cuz I zoned out this morning when y'all
were talking about that cultural grant. Did I hear Don Dempsey say that he used to read poetry while he was riding his dirt bike? That will be spread. Thank you so much. Please vote against it. >> Gary Singleton Rule boundaries are something the
citizens of Lucia County want. They are something that will benefit residents by protecting their quality of life. They are tool used to manage growth responsibly by placing a boundary between the greater good and commercial avarice. The state legislature is intent
on removing our constitutional right to govern ourselves. They have passed legislation to undermine home rule. We the people have an opportunity to counter the state's infringement on our home rule by passing amendments to the county charter. It is your duty as
elected representatives to make this happen. Now throw up your hands crying about how much there's nothing you can do. If you are not allowed to create rule boundaries now, then you must create a general non-specific legal mechanism that will enable you to create
them later when the legislature and the special interests that control them no longer have their boots on our necks. Rule boundaries are something the citizens of Valuchia County want because they serve our best interest. It is your duty as elected representatives to make it happen.
Suzanne Shyber. >> Hi council. Um Suzanne Shybering Green Valuchia. I did not prepare a statement for this because I hadn't planned on speaking but listening to the speakers um navigating this minefield is so difficult for someone like me who's
extremely opinionated. So going to do my best here. Um this morning I spoke about Valuchia forever and um it's been quite painful to listen for the last few months to some of the
things that have been said about the program that's been in effect for 25 years. So to think that um we've had to navigate this for a few months now and we're at this point where
we're talking about a rural boundary where um Valuchia forever could impact the areas. I'm not going to speak against a royal boundary because obviously I want one. I spoke about that
before, but how do we reach a royal boundary when we can't even get what we voted for for 25 years? I mean, I'm just being honest. I'm struggling here because I know you guys get um angry and I'm trying really hard
to be respectful. I want what I voted for and I know a lot of people, most of the county when you talk about 75%, they want what they voted for. And now we're in a position of discussions on drinking
water and um broad arguments and um I mean I'm going to be honest even I received backlash recently when I stood up here and spoke. That's not going to stop me. But it doesn't it's it's quite difficult to navigate. Somebody is angry
all the time. You're planning our future and it's in your hands. So, if you're planning the future and you want to protect our water and you want to do right by the residents, I want you to consider the rural
boundary, but I want you to give us as voters what we voted for, and I want you to honor that. And I I think that's about all I can say. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you. That takes us to 3:29. We have to 3:45.
Uh, I don't know if this might be a good time to uh for a motion and a second to add 15 minutes or a half an hour or we can just try and plow through this and not have time for closing comments. >> Yes.
>> Go through. >> Okay. Let me let me tell the council what I'm hoping for here and it's not going to please anybody in this room. I think the county attorneys are correct when they tell us that we can't legally
do a a rural boundary, the whole thing that we've discussed before. Since we've had that discussion on this council, I also don't believe we I would have the votes for. What I do think we may have the votes for is what we can legally do,
which is to um solve an issue with uh annexations, with voluntary annexations because uh Mr. Clayton, you said we're telling the cities what to do. Absolutely not. Right now, the cities are telling us what we can do. when they came in, they
come in and and annex unincorporated Valuchia land that uh probably has a rural uh designation of one house per five acres or 10 or 25 and then the city annexes it and changes the zoning, changes the land use, and packs in 24
houses per acre or whatever they can fit there thinking that it's going to be a a property tax nirvana. Um, I want to give the people in in unincorporated Valuchia County a voice at the table, too. They don't have one. Now, when it comes to annexation in their neighborhood, it is
about property rights. I agree with that. It's not just the property rights of the person who wants their property to be annexed in the city so that they can destroy the long-term historic integrity of that neighborhood that used to be rural and now it's going to be
high. um uh 24 houses per acre highdensity neighborhood. It's not respectful of the neighbors around them. They deserve a voice at the table, too. So, I'm proposing a simple thing that we send
back to the county staff to come come to us with a charter amendment that only deals with the um annexation, how many votes it takes. um could be a majority, could be a super majority. Um let's see
what they come back with. We can hash it out then and and talk to it. But let's give the residents of Valuchia County in rural um unincorporated Valuchia County, all over Valuchia County. Let's give them a voice at the table right now, too, because they don't have one. Their
neighborhood can be completely turned upside down and they don't have a voice. they can go to the city of Dand or city of Port Orange or wherever the annexation has taken place and talk to their elected officials who don't care because the unincorporated people don't
vote for them. Um, so I would like to give our constituents in unincorporated Valuchia a a place at the table um a vote through us, their elected representatives, so that the annexation doesn't just go
through because the city says we want it and you have to you have to uh listen to us and and yield to what we want. Let's give our residents a say, too. Let's really have property rights because we have people that live in rural Valuchia
County that bought there and invested there and raised families there for a reason. They wanted that kind of a rural neighborhood. They have farms. They raise horses. They raise children. Their property values are high right now. and then they can all be destroyed because
of what somebody else wants to do so that they can maximize the financial potential out of the sale of their property. Let's just give everybody um uh an equal voice in this. That's that's what I'm asking for. I'm hoping somebody
will make that motion and a second to send it to county staff uh legal can bring it back in in two weeks and and then we can hash it out. Um, Councilman Don Dempsey chicken. Um, I uh I can't support this.
Um, I think uh rural boundary kind of is exactly what Judge Clayton said. It's uh us preempting the cities. You know, you gave a wonderful speech at the state of the county address talking about preeemption and local rule and home rule
and why the locals should um take care of their own business and the cities. Uh these are public hearings. I mean, you guys make them sound like they're evil villains, you know, that tie women down to railroad tracks and take property and
do all this evil stuff. There's public hearings. If you don't want your neighborhood changed, you can go to the city meeting and argue and bring everybody with you to object to it. It doesn't I don't see why we somehow think that these people are not a the county residents are not able to go to these
citizen or these city annexation hearings and object there. I mean, they're getting a voice. Their voice is just going to be heard before a different commission. So, you know, I like to quote George Washington who said, "Freedom and property rights are inseparable. You can't have one without
the other. You know, there is a value to Judge Clayton's property being on the border because he can either choose to reside in the in the county or he could choose to reside in the city. That makes his property more valuable. Anybody you impose a rural boundary on when they are
currently adjoining a municipality, they're going to lose their value in their property because I for one would love to sit next to a municipality so I could have the choice of whether I want to live under the county's rules or the municipal rules. And to take that away through a rural boundary proposal like
you're like you're setting up is uh it just takes away the value of the property. takes away a person's uh choice to live either under the city's jurisdiction or under the county's jurisdiction. So, I just, you know, I understand people don't like
growth in the development and I've been here 36 years and even longer than that as a child coming back and forth between here and uh a small town in southwestern PA. And I'm telling you, you're either growing or you're dying. It's the oldest basic rule of life. and having seen my
hometown dying and it's now part of the rust belt and the population has almost declined in half over the last 30ome years versus the land which has tripled in size over the last 30 years I mean guys it's I hate to say this but
it's a good problem to have I mean our economy even through co uh thrived because we're a destination state and we got to accommodate these people but we can't lose focus that I mean respons responsible growth is the best way to do it. And I don't think just these
arbitrary rural boundary lines are the way to go. I think maybe restricting some resonings uh might be the way to go. Just tell some of these people looking to reszone their property, no, but I don't think just setting an arbitrary line is going to resolve the
issue. I think um for all the reasons everybody else has said up here against it, I I agree with them. We just can't we just can't do that to these people. We got to give them, you know, the benefit of their property rights and their individual rights.
>> Thanks, Councilman Johansson. >> Thank you, sir. Um I I concur with Don. I I think that um the cities are are are taking into account the um unincorporated citizens um thoughts
on on annexations. I know Ray helped me but uh Port Orange just said no to an annexation to own incorporated across the street from airport boulevard. So, um um
I I think they're doing the right thing for the right reasons when it's required. Um I I do feel it's a preeemption from the county to the cities to limit them. I think it's um um restricting the the rights of
land owners to make that decision uh to to annex if they like. Um and and by and large uh the urban sprawl is an issue. I think smart development is is important. Um but but cities aren't growing up.
They don't want to grow up. Um uh you know, every almost every city has a limitation on on the the height of their buildings. So, uh, until they're willing to grow up, not out, um, uh,
we be in a position to just, uh, uh, preempt them. I just don't think that's right. Um, I think we ought to, like uh, the chairman said, listen to the the unincorporated people. I I think
we've heard from a bunch today and and and the letters we got from from the farmers and ranchers state the same. Uh they don't want us to pick winners and losers and they want their opportunities to uh uh exercise their property rights.
So, um I I can't support it either at this time. >> Okay. I'm not sure what what you guys heard me say that you're not supporting because I just removed all the hard stuff off of this. all the rural boundary, all the drawing of the lines,
all the maps. I'm asking for one focused thing, and that's to give the the red all the residents who are involved in annexation a vote at the table, a voice at the table to where no city can just uh annex county property
and it always results in changing of zoning, changing of land use. Don, you just said just don't vote for reszoning. Well, that that's what I'm offering here. That when a city wants to annex, they get to vote on it. We'll we'll let
the rest of the people in that neighborhood vote on it as well by bringing it to the county council and and so the cities can citizens can speak to their directly elected people. Um, do you want your neighborhood changed? Do
you want this uh annexation to take place and then have it follow with reszoning and and land use? That's all I'm asking to allow the people of Valuchia County to vote on. Do you want a voice? Do you want to have a vote by
your elected officials before properties in your neighborhood are reszoned? I understand it's a property owner who says, "Yeah, I want to I want to be annexed. So, um you know, my property will be worth a lot more." and instead of selling it for 2 million, I could
sell it for 10 million. Um, and in the process destroying everybody around them who wanted a rural lifestyle, just let the people vote. First, let's do a charter amendment. let the people vote on it and and see if if they agree with
it, but ultimately let the people of unincorporated Valuchia um wherever the annexations are occurring, allow them to have a vote on that one narrow thing. Um do you do you want this annexation?
Y'all can vote for it or against it. I and I can't tell you how to vote, but it at least gives those people a voice at the table. That's that's all I'm asking. annexation one narrow focus. County attorney has already said we can't do anything else.
>> Don Dempsey. >> Yeah, just to respond to that, you know, I I supported the uh putting the toilet to tap for lack of better words on the ballot >> and because I believe that's something of great importance because that could
affect the health of our drinking water. >> And I still maintain my position on that because that could really affect us countywide and the health of our families. So this though, you you have to remember we're a republic. We're a
representative form of government. If we're going to start if we're setting precedent that every hot issue is going to be on the on the ballot, Belvadier, should we put that on the ballot? Should we put all these other hot topic issues on the >> I'm sorry. Well, whatever. I mean, you
know, these other issues that we've had in the past that are very controversial. They've packed the uh the chambers. We can't we can't put everything on the ballot. You've said it because you know it's going to pass. The property tax thing with the governor. You know it's
going to pass because nobody likes paying property taxes. The problem is when you have a lot of people voting and they don't get the benefit of staff reports and studies and to sit down and have debate like this and really maul it over before they make their vote. A lot of these votes are going to be just
sound bite votes. And I just this is not of that magnitude in my opinion because this is not talking about our drinking water. This is just talking about development. And again, we live in a growing area. I'm sure people in Miami that have been there for generations have the same issues with growth and
overdevelopment. But I mean, we live in a destination state and we are just we're, you know, we keep advertising how Dand is the most livable city. Valuchia is so great. we promote Valuchia so well, but people are going to want to move here and so that's just something
we got to deal with. But just arbitrarily drawing lines and affecting property owners and their rights, I I don't think that's the way to handle it. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh again, it's I'm I'm not suggesting we draw any lines. I'm suggesting that we give people a vote
that our republic allows for us to vote on an annexation when it happens to our constituents. >> You mean the people vote or us, the county council? It has to to change a charter, it has to go to the people to vote. Do you want to give the county
council um the ability to vote on an annexation when property is being annexed out of the county into the city and then we vote on it? >> Just like right now the cities vote on it. Yeah, we want your land. We're going to take it. We don't have a say.
>> That's potentially more expansive than even boundary lines. You're saying that this could over generations could go way out and beyond even those 06 boundary lines they had. No, >> I'm saying that anywhere in
unincorporated Valuchia County. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That's >> okay. I want our residents, our constituents to have a say in it. They don't. >> Well, it's it as we've said before, whose rights are you wanting to protect? the neighbors property rights or the
individual's property rights. >> They all have an equal chance. >> Well, no. George Washington said you're individual. The biggest minority we have in this country is one. >> Jim Clayton is one. >> You can pack this room of people who are against urban growth and all this stuff,
but he's the only person who's affected. And it's the individual rights. cited that it's it's that property owner's right to use their property for what they want, not what their neighbors want them to do. >> But he's not the only one affected. >> How point of >> order?
>> No. When you can't use your land for what that just goes against everything this country stands for. You should be able to use your property for what you want it for. Unless you're burning tires on Saturday and smoking out your neighbors, you know, you should be able to use your property for what you want it for. And that's kind of where I am.
>> Until your property rights affect the across that boundary and affect the rights of your next door neighbor. >> But how is that affecting your neighbors? I'm not building a house on their property. >> Point of order. >> Okay. It affects their neighborhood and their property value.
>> Okay. Sorry. Okay. Chairman Councilman Robbins. >> Thank you, Chairman. There there's no motion or second on the floor. We're in a uh deep discussion and I'll make a motion to extend this 5 minutes. If we
don't get a second or a motion uh then it dies just like any other agenda item. >> Okay, we probably don't need five minutes for that. But is there >> Sorry, we also have this that's time sensitive. So, we need five minutes. >> Is there a Okay, that's all you want is
five minutes. >> Okay. Is there a motion to extend the meeting by five minutes? >> Anybody? >> Motion to extend. >> Second, Johansson. >> Okay. All in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed?
Okay. Is there a motion for uh an annexation um for the county staff to bring back an annexation charter ballot amendment? There is none. So, it dies.
Okay, that is uh we have item nine uh appointment to the historic preservation board. There's only one applicant, Joseph Chance. Would anyone like to uh nominate? >> Motion to approve Joseph for the
historical preservation board. >> Second. >> We have a motion by uh Jake Johansson, a second by Vice Chair Reinhardt for Joseph Chance. All in favor say I. I any opposed and it's approved. Uh he's nominated is
nomination is approved seven to zero. Okay, that takes us uh we better go to staff comments so you can deal with this time-sensitive issue. >> Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um we just
have one thing. If you recall, uh we accepted a uh a grant, a local law enforcement immigration grant, uh back at the February 17th meeting. Uh requirement of the grant is that uh someone be named uh to u do the uh
monitoring of the grant, the chief operator of the grant. And so it's before you was uh just a uh request for the council to designate or to allow you as the chair to sign a letter designating me as the uh grant. Um
>> so moved. >> Second. >> Any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Permission. Anything else from county manager's office? Uh, county attorney.
>> No, sir. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, any any uh we have two members of the public that want to speak. We've got one minute, so it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Uh, is there anything pressing from any council me
and closing comments before we go? Nobody. Okay, we have less than one minute now. So, um, sorry Mark Hail and Gary Singleton, we are out of time and, um,
please come back to the next meeting and this meeting is adjourned at 3:49.