Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Welcome to the Valuchia County Council meeting. The meeting will begin in 10 minutes. 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. 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. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey.
Wonder. behind you. Now you can do it. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Okay, if Everybody wants to find a seat.
We'll start in about 60 seconds. Okay, we are glad everybody is here. We will call the July 22nd, 2025 Lush County Council meeting to order at 4:02. Um, just to uh give you an idea for
those of you that this may be your first time, we always start with an invocation and the pledge of allegiance. In just a moment, I'll ask you to stand for the invocation. You can stand if you care to. If you are a member of a faith group
who would like to participate in the invocation, please just send a uh an email to uh K the letter K green atvelvalucia.org. This is Chrisa over here uh to your
right and she'll get you uh set up. Um you are welcome to participate. And so, uh, with that is, um, Pastor Joel Newman
in the house with the invocation for today. Maybe he came at 9:00 this morning with with a few other people. So, okay, why don't we just stand up and we'll
have a moment of of silence. Thank you. I pledge algiance flag of the stands nationyice for all.
Do I have to walk the line? Can you give me a pin? Chissa, would you call the role, please? Mr. Dempsey here. Mr. Johansson. Mr. Kent here. Mr. Reinhardt
here. Mr. Robbins here. Mr. Santiago. Mr. Brower here. So we do have a quorum today. Uh just short one and so we will continue the meeting. Do we have any public participation?
No, you're too late. Not much. Okay, John. I'm sorry, but you're first. John Nicholson. When I call your name, just come up to the podium. Uh, make sure you have a microphone near your mouth. The podium goes up and down for
uh, to adjust to your height. And there will be a clock on your monitor and I think on the screen above my head, you'll have three minutes to talk about anything that pertains to Valuchia County, something that this council could act on in the future. We ask that
you keep your comments uh to that and keep it um respectful of everybody in the room. Thank you, John. John Nicholson, Daytona Beachside. Couple of things. One on your agenda FF, somebody brought it up um on the granting of authority is I'm presuming
that's uh to uh George Rectal with the regard to buying of housing etc. uh you will set aside an x amount of dollars and he will then just make sure that it's s uh bought and uh sold properly. Uh secondly, uh at the
library yesterday, there were six uh EMS and uh fire trucks at the city library for one person. And the six guys, well, three girls, three guys sat
and talked to the one kid and then I don't understand it. To me, that's a waste of money to have a firet truck and two AMS for one guy and they sat there for what, half an hour, 45 minutes. Uh, I remember um Heather Post made a
comment that we were having a problem with our EMS sitting at the um hospitals waiting to get people admitted. So, we didn't have enough of them. So, we bought ambulances and whatnot. So to have people sitting there, I think we
need to look at. Uh third, at the city commission last week, uh I was shocked. Uh two dozen, three dozen people showed up uh complaining about Mosaic. Uh Mosaic is Moyosini,
well respected in the community, and all of a sudden this sidewalk issue pops up out of nowhere. He's been there 10 years, never heard about it. And I'm wondering how what other things are happening in the community that we and you are not aware of. Uh my commission
was not aware of it. Nobody had bothered to mention it. Um those sidewalks are helter skelter. Some lean this way, some lean that way. One guy said mine is 2 and a half inches below grade so it fills up with water so nobody can walk through it. These things have got to be
brought out. I'm wondering when we do and because you don't do as many as Daytona Beach do does, but we've got to take a look at it to make sure that what's happening in the cities are kosher and that none of this is being brought to us. Uh last week uh remember
uh Clyde Boris Landing, you put in half a million dollars or $2 million into affordable housing and then within a year there's complaints. Uh it was shoddy workmanship. the people are not happy with it. So I ask you find out what the problem is. Have we looked into
that? Because if we're pushing affordable housing and there's a problem, I'd rather fix it in the beginning so that we we don't repeat it often. So if there's a problem in Daytona Beach that you all contributed the money to. You have a right to find out what the problem was and to make
sure that it's never repeated. Um, and lastly, DEI. The Republican party is pushing to get rid of woke and DEI. I'm asking where the county is on that. Abony, thank you for your comments. Uh, David
Hill, and I didn't mention this, but when you come up, just tell us what city, what area you are from in the county so that your representative uh knows where you are. Okay. Um, David Hill. I live on Miller
Road in Orange City and I'm here about Miller Lake and Don Dempsey is our representative. Um, the water has never been as high as it is now. Your retention ponds on Miller Lake have been a lake for the last 5
years. The Royal Oaks pipeline never might never allow us to get back to our 2016 lake level. The county has seven plus reasons to revoke your letter of no objection and revoke the Royal Oaks St. John's Water Management Permit.
A recent St. John's water management permit has been approved for Orlando Health. This property is in the area of Saxon Enterprise. When their property can't handle their runoff water, it will flow into Unnamed Lake.
Unnamed lake is what we call Wawwa Lake and it's adjacent to Royal Oaks. Additional St. John's water management permits have been applied for on the Big Lots Plaza property. Big Lots Plaza has no retention. It will go to Miller Lake
or Lake Wawwa. Publix has applied for a new St. John's water management permit to put the water in Lake Wawwa. I've been told by St. John's water management that the water that goes into St. John's water or the water that goes into Lake Wawwa will eventually go to
Miller Lake. Lake Wawwa is a third the size of Miller Lake and it can't handle what it receives now. I'm asking you to fight those permits and protect your property and ours. The people of Miller Lake have never agreed to other people's water and
we don't agree to any more water. If you sit back and do nothing and just, you know, your attitude is let it flood and then we'll pump it out. I think that's reckless because our lake is so high right now. If we have another
hurricane, the same thing's going to happen. We would need years and years of no hurricanes to get that water level down. So, if you're just going to just do nothing and let it happen, I I just really feel that's reckless. You need to
fight these permits. We can't handle any more water. The Royal Oaks pipeline will eventually take millions of dollars of our community real estate. It needs to be stopped. Thank you for your time. Peggy Hill.
Um, hello. My name is Peggy Hill. I live on Miller Road and I've brought two photos today. Uh the first one is a picture of our front yard. Um you can see that the water is still in our front yard and the second one is of Miller
Lake from the road, Miller Road. You can see that it's still very, very full. Um so full that if there's another large rain event, it will flood again. it will flood worse than it flooded in Milton.
Um because before Milton, it wasn't this full. Um it doesn't have to happen. Pump it down. Revoke the St. John's Water Management 2017 permit that was given to Royal Oaks with no objection from the county. At the last county council
meeting, your staff stated that the plan was to act similarly to what we did in the last rainstorm, walking through acres of neighbors yards with bears, having access cut off for emergency vehicles and garbage, eventually having
a one-lane road across the water paid for by the county, displaced wildlife, destruction of habitat and hundred-year-old trees, homes flooded, septics and wells flooded. And the plan is to let that happen again and then do
something. It will be worse when it happens again because the lake level is so high. That means there's more homes flooded, more damage. Uh just the destruction goes on. Um I'd like to ask if properties are to
be purchased on Miller Lake that uh residents be notified ahead of time, not just have it be a surprise. Um please do something. Tell your staff to ask for the 2017 permit to be revoked, pump down Miller Lake, and stop any further St.
John's Water Management District permits that are draining toward Miller Lake. Thank you. Thank you, Katherine Levenson. I hope you guys had a nice break for you. I'm glad you're here. Um,
Katherryn Levenson, Miller Lake on Shady Lane. And unfortunately, I'm here because Orange City disavows us. Our address is Orange City. Don't know why. We are county. We are county through and through. Our property is county.
Everything we do is county. We have nothing to do with Orange City. And they let us know that. So, they already went and got another approval of a per of a place to drain into Wawwa Lake, which will then drain to us, just like you've been told. And they're looking to get
two more permits, one for Publix and one for Big Lots to drain more water into us. I mean, as the county, I would think you guys would want to protect us. We're you. We are you. And we don't want to be annexed because Orange City is trying to
annex property between them and us. So, we're next. They'll try for us next. I don't want to be annexed. I want to stay county. Um, our whole area is pridefully county until we're not being protected. And we really, really need you guys to
protect us. So, I need everybody to please look at the permits. Please stop them. They're they're asking for too much. Yes, this was a hundred-year flood or a thousand, whatever we're talking about now, but it doesn't mean it won't happen again this year or next year or the year after that. Then what? You guys
need to protect us. I mean, I I've met some of you personally. You're good people. I would really think you'd want to do this. Thank you. Thank you. Uh David Kramer, Dave Kramer, Orange City, Miller Lake.
Live on uh Shady Lane. Don's our representative. So, our house is still uninhabitable. The water's no longer surrounding it. Uh, but uh we found our daughter a place in not in Valuchia County. Now, there's
thousands or literally tens of thousands I could put into the house to make it uh livable again to level it, to repair the floors, AC, ventilation, electrical, the septic, but there's likely a 100%
chance that it'll flood again. The original part of the house is 58 years old. There's never been water surrounding it. So based on the one of the definitions of the FEMA 100-year flood plane is there's a 1% chance that
you'll flood in those 100 years. So did we meet that 1% last year? FEMA said no. They came out and and I understand they told some of the neighbors that it's a man-made problem. So So FEMA did nothing.
Now, is there a 1% chance this year? The today the water's still at the FEMA flood line. So, I'd say there's a 100% chance it's going to flood again. Now, in the June meeting, this council asked George Reckenwald uh if there was
any update on Miller Lake, and you you did say that, yeah, we'll do the same. We talked with St. John's River Management, and we're going to do the same thing uh we did last time. And basically that means nothing will happen right away. Tens of
millions of gallons may be allowed to flow into Miller Lake through that Royal Oaks system that uh that we're asking that permit to be revoked and uh again so do the same thing. That means properties are going to flood.
Septics are going to be destroyed. Wells are going to be contaminated. Access to driveways and roads will be limited. Access to fire and medical will be limited. Uh there was a pump that was put there to pump it. I'd say it it it did about
onetenth of the water, maybe 2/10en of what was what was pump what was uh allowed to flow in there. And then if we just do the same thing again, we'll continue to be here every month explaining the problems,
researching per permits, and asking for help month after month. So the request is if the council asks George again to do just a little more than the same. Thank you. Thank you for your comments, Connie
Colby. Connie Colby, Orman Beach, District 4. Um, this is kind of changed because you've changed your agenda, so I'm going to be jumping around a little bit. Um, I there's a picture that's showing right now. I have never seen a motocross track before, but we were out in Colorado and
passed this along the road. Um, it's first time I've seen what they look like. It looks to me like um I I looked it up. It's called Thunder Valley. Um has about a mile and mile and a half of track. Um looks like it takes up quite a bit of space. Looks similar to what I've
read that you're looking at with campgrounds and RV places and spectator areas as well. Um, landwise, I don't know how it would fit into what we're talking about here, but I don't know that I would like to see that in one of
our count our county parks. Um, hopefully might be I remember not too long ago you asked about vacant land in um the county and wanting a list about that. I don't know if that's ever been
provided recently if they could look around and see might if there might be another possibility for um an opportunity for that. I'm not opposed to the motocross as a place for kids to ride, but I don't like the like
it in a county park. I don't like the million-doll price tag that's just starting with right now, and it seems like a dangerous sport for the county to be responsible for. Um, I've also looked, um, I don't need that
anymore, Chris. Um, don't know when this motocross thing started, but I did go through a request for information and found that looked like there's a contract with Hunden
back in September of 2023, which is like an a year and a half ago. And I I don't know if we're missing something or not as far as public participation, but I haven't seen a whole lot of opportunity for public to participate in this. Um
um that contract was already signed and what I have up there on the screen was um an amendment to that that was sent along with the contract that I was able to read. And the money that's on there seems like an awful lot. I don't know,
maybe there's some explanation we might get for this for $69,300 for phase one and some other large sums of money that come after that as well. Uh, anything else I've got here?
Um, also I keep seeing things like capital improvement updates um for the past three years um money that's been put in here for um a million dollars and more. Thank you. Thank you,
Jeremy Kerenus. Uh good afternoon, council. Jeremy Kerinus, uh president, local 3574. Uh I'm here today. I would have been here at this last council meeting uh regarding the fire fund and the potential roll back of it. Um I've been
a firefighter here 20 years. I've been through the highs and lows, staffing shortages, offered a job at corrections, and uh you know, we've been operating out of these fire stations that are still poorly located. uh you know extended response times uh getting to
the patients in a quicker manner. Um over the past few years though, this council and those of you served on the previous council have really taken the measures of improving our staffing, getting us three people in a fire truck, putting that money there to get these fire stations built, relocated so we can
get to those emergencies quickly. Um these improvements save lives and protect our community. And much of this progress, I believe, is because we've kept a flat millage. You know, our voters back in 16 approved a higher
millage and tked the council at the time to get some projects done, get these fire stations built, get our staffing levels done. Um, I don't believe the full scope of what's happening in the field, you know, gets presented here. I think the bean counters uh present
something a little bit differently. Uh, we still operate a fire station with two people. It's in the middle of nowhere. Uh, and it's tough to run a structure fire with two people. Uh, our guys today pulled somebody from a burning building. They got uh, pulses back and it's
because they had five people on scene. Uh, we wait consistently on scene for ambulances 30, 40, 50 minutes. Uh, we have BLS ambulances now. A lot of my paramedics ride in on them. You know, this causes the engine to be out of service, not available for fire calls,
and ultimately just delaying uh patient care, and uh leaving us available for what we're there for is those true emergencies. Uh you know, I just rolling back to millillage now would stall or reverse the progress you guys have made. Uh there's no initiatives or bond ratings
to build fire stations. A lot of our stuff has come from the the inflated reserves we have. Um, I just respectfully urge you to continue supporting public safety, maintain the funding so we have uh enough firefighters to get on scene and uh re
relocate our stations. So, I appreciate that. I sent you guys an email. It's got a few attachments on there. I'm always available if you have any questions on it. So, thank you. Thank you, Deanna Lesley.
My name is Diana Lesley and I live in Dand and unfortunately I have to tell you that somebody has been operating underneath the name Diane Matusk and coming from the courthouse. So legal mail has been coming from the courthouse operating underneath the name Diane
Matusk still in the day 2025. As we all know Diane Matusk was in office from 92 to 2016 and unfortunately passed away in 2018. I highly recommend every person in this room listen to exactly what I'm
telling you. Her name is still being used on current day mail. Okay, 2025, we have April mail and May mail. Okay, here's the problem. If you respond to the mail that got sent to you from Diane Matusk, you respond to
it, guess what happens? My dad's a retired mailman. It comes back to you, doesn't it? It affects a lot of people. Thank you for the information. Uh, Katherine Pante. Good afternoon, Council Katherine Pante. Slow the growth of Lucia. I'm here to
request that this council direct staff to partner with Orange County and the city of Deltona to file a court challenge against the state of Florida on the recently signed legislation SB180. This legislation impacts local home rule and hinders us from making necessary land use changes to protect public safety, public health, and public
welfare. I've questioned the constitutionality of this legislation from the beginning, and this council should as well. Valuchia County adopted a home rule charter following a voter-approved referendum on June 30th, 1970. This went into effect January 1st, 1971. The adoption of our home rule
charter gave Valuchia County greater control over our own affairs rather than being governed directly by the state legislature. In Florida, home rule language was proposed in the 1968 constitutional revision and was adopted by the people after several legal challenges. The legislature adopted the
Home Rule Powers Act in 1973, which ended challenges related to city and county powers. Article 8, section 2B grants these powers in the Florida Constitution. Valuchia County set precedent back in 1970 by being the first county in the state of Florida to adopt home rule powers pursuant to the
1968 Florida Constitution. That was a display of true leadership by our county government during that time. The seven of you have a choice. You can display the same leadership by taking the lead with our Orange County neighbors, or you can be cowards and falsely claim your
hands are tied. This needs to be discussed today prior to the end of this meeting with direction given to staff on how to proceed. Next, I would like to make a public foyer request for an email dated June 20th, 2025 that was sent to George Reinwald, Susan Konchin, Clay
Irving from Councilman Danny Robbins. I would also like all subsequent emails sent to code and any other documents pertaining to the Singleton complaint. I have sent two prioria requests via email, one July 7th and another July 17th, and have not received nothing to date. This complaint filed by Councilman
Robbins against the Singletons in Tamoka Farms Village gives the appearance of an elected official weaponizing code enforcement against his neighbor for supporting his political opponent, Brian White. This is bullying behavior by a sitting councilman and should not be hidden or condoned by our county government. Thank you. And as far as the
fire trucks go, Daytona has four on a truck, two in, two out on a fire. The county deserves the same to protect their firefighters. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Any more then we will close public
participation for this portion of the meeting and we're going to park on item one just a minute because we have two changes to the agenda that need to be made. The first one uh in order because there's probably people here sitting
that would be sitting until uh item 18 came up. Um, item 18 is on today's agenda. It's a special exception for a 195 foot tall communications tower at 2665
Vulco Road in Edgewater. The item was continued from the June 30, 2025 hearing until today. The applicant has provided a letter formally requesting a continuence until the August 5th, 2025
county council hearing. The applicant states that they are continuing to work with neighboring property owners and would like the opportunity to complete the process prior to the matter being heard against the county again by county council. Uh
so in order to uh to abide by the law and to have proper public notice, I would ask for a motion to continue item 18 to a date and time certain of August 5th, 2025
at a time no sooner than 900 a.m. Chair, I'm coming up as Donna Craig. Yeah. Donna, would you like to Maybe something happened I didn't know about. Um, I think she's on PLDRC. I'll make I'll make that motion. Item 18, continue to August. You say August
5th? Uh, yes. August 5th, uh, county council meeting. Okay. Second. Robbins makes a motion. David Santiago makes a second. Any questions on that?
All in favor say I. I. And that change uh passes unanimously. 7 to zero. 6 to zero. That's right. We're short one. Uh the the other change I'm
requesting to make is uh only because I'm afraid we will run out of time if it waits until the uh the uh final comments from council. Um, I have had discussions for a couple weeks with the uh our
county attorney, Michael Dyer, and and some of his staff about Senate Bill 180. Um, I'm going to call in the attorney in just a second, but he he has uh shown uh the willingness and the interest to to
rewrite that law so that it's um not so broad, that it's more specific and actually accomplishes what the legislature intended it to uh to accomplish. I talked to one of our representatives, Chase uh Chase Traymont
today who said he would actually work with us and he would take that to leadership. We will also use our um our new um uh
person in Tallahassee uh to to do that. Our lobbyist. Thank you. Um, so what I need from the council, we don't have to take any more time than this. I I'll ask Mike if he would like to say anything, is just for a vote by this council to send it uh
back to uh staff to Michael Dyer and his team uh to bring us back um options for rewriting this language. Um Mike, am I misstating what you uh what you and I talked about?
That that's correct. I we could bring an agenda item back if council directs um at a future meeting and you have a new lobbyist of course that you're working with. So um you know I think they would be point obviously in interacting with
legislature they're your lobbyists but um you know I think certainly the bill if council wishes me could attempt to u lobby for changes to it and narrow it scope
correct I think the cities in Valuchia uh need that help today on our agenda we're going to have to void item MJJ, which is uh good regulations for storm water management that we passed in
February in our meeting trying to solve flooding problems and now this this bill, this very broad bill, um causes us to have to avoid that. So, uh Councilman Robbins, thank you, Chairman. Um I agree. I think
uh um that it would be wise to uh get this as an agenda item. That way we can all get a full scope uh of our options. You know, we also have to be careful about um unintentionally poking the state in the
eye as we're asking them for help. I just want to make sure all of our our moves are surgical and precise so we don't make any mistakes uh create unnecessary u liability or and whatnot. So, I'd make the motion to uh have the
uh city attorney or city attorney, county attorney uh bring back this item uh on a future agenda to uh explore uh further options of uh possible modification of the bill. Do I have a second?
Uh thank you, Vice Chair Reinhardt. So, we have a a motion to uh send this back to staff who will bring it back to a future um county council meeting hopefully as soon as possible because our cities do
need help um and uh and give us the options so that we can adequately uh discuss it and Mr. Chair give you further directions. David, no match first. I'm sorry. Thank you, Chair. Vice Chair Reinhardt. Thank you. Um I have to agree. I mean, the the premise behind taking this
matter further, what you were able to accomplish by reaching out to the state legislature and are willing to work with it accomplishes what we would have probably accomplished if we took it further. So, I have to agree. I mean, this does it without uh without
conflict, without upsetting both parties. Um, and we come to some sort of resolution. Um, I'm a firm believer that you just don't, how do you word this? Jump on board to without trying to allow the state to fix this, right?
And by reaching out to him like you did, I appreciate that. Uh, because that hopefully will accomplish what we want to without having to take the matter to a higher level. And I'll leave it at that. Okay. Thank you, uh, Councilman Santiago. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And this is the right way to do it. Um, exactly the right way to do it. I just wanted to
maybe word smith that a little bit differently and and um and just maybe propose that um for the county to look at proposed amendments to the law instead of a rewrite. It's just word smithing. I know that's the intent. I know that's the intent. I'm just word smithing, Mr. Chair, but I think this is
the right way um to go about this to affect the change that we're not happy with. Okay. Agreed. Thank you. Uh Councilman Dempsey. Yeah. I just uh Mike, if you can clarify this or affirm this, even if we do nothing, it's not that we it's not like
we'll not be beneficiaries of this. Correct. Um, a lot has happened over the last two weeks, and I I would assume there will be more activity with different local government, cities and counties around the state dealing with this. Um I would
assume that other local governments would be interested uh and possible changes to the bill. We know in following um city Deltona and uh Orange County that they have been faced
with the bill provides a means for someone to send them a notice developers attorney uh arguing their position that the government's positions violate sability and Senate Bill 180. I would assume they'll be in litigation as well.
Um, in addition to I think some local governments being interested uh in possibly changing the bill outside litigation. Okay. So, we're we're hearing that Orange County is already taking the ball and running with it. Is that right? What you know, and of course, this
changes dayto-day. My understanding is both Deltona and um Orange County have received notices from different law firms that uh action they've taken violates Senate Bill 180. Deltona's involved uh adoption of a building
moratoria. Um and Orange County involved a conference of plan amendment uh involving the rural growth boundary. Okay. So, we we've just heard from a public speaker that we should join Orange County in their fight. So, are
they continuing the fight or do we I don't know yet. Um I know that the their commission took the action um to not repeal their conference of plan amendment um based on
the notice they've received from a law firm. I'm assuming litigation will result. Okay. So just to reiterate, even if we as part of your presentation when you come back to us, can you also tell us which other municipalities
or counties are already committed to litigating this issue and it's it's correct. It only tight this in the whole state would benefit if they want. Correct. Yes. I'm happy to go into that then. At
this point, the only two jurisdictions that I know have received notices from law firms uh taken issue with action taken by their governing bodies uh are Deltona, Orange County, and Manatee County based
on media reports. Okay. So, when you I think it's great what Danny proposed and Matt, but I just I'd like to and David, but I want to see it come back with sure that information as well because if other counties are going to take the point Then I guess that would affect maybe our
decision on how we Well, and just to be clear too, I think you know we we as your staff are going to be looking for your direction on how to change that. We can certainly talk about that as part of the presentation and the talk about what's in the bill and uh what your direction is.
Okay. Thank you, Councilman Santiago. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I I want to ask Mr. Chair and council and to our city attorney county attorney. Um you've been demoted. Yeah, you demoted twice. Yeah. and to our city manager joking. Um either at
the end of today's commission council meeting or when you bring back a proposed amendments to Senate Bill 180, can we have a comprehensive explanation for this council and maybe members of the public that are interested in what
does home rule mean legally, right? where where are those boundaries and some historical perspectives as to how home rule came about and how does it apply to us legally? I think that'll be beneficial for the council to understand that.
You like me to go into that now or wait can you give us a brief narrative and then maybe we get in deeper later because we got a big agenda. I have a 80 page uh 80 slide PowerPoint right white paper. Uh there's a lot of confusion over what
home rule is in Florida. Um home rule has a lot of benefits uh many benefits to charter counties and cities in Florida. Uh in 1968 the constitution that we're operating off now introduced
home rule to charter counties and cities. We were the third charter county in the state, the first charter county uh became a charter county after that constitutional amendment in 1968. Um the prior constitution before that
was adopted in the 1880s, 1885 I believe. And the rule before 1968 was something called Dylan's rule. I don't know if any of you have heard that don's role meant you local government, you county, city,
you only have that authority which the legislature gives you. And so whenever we would write an ordinance before 1968, we would need to go through the statute books and find authority to write it on that subject. In 1968, it allowed
charter counties and cities to have all those powers unless the legislature otherwise provides. And that's what the constitution provides. Sometimes you see laws um that treat charter counties different than
other types of counties. Beach driving is one of those. We have beast driving today because charter counties uh there was an exception for charter counties that had adopted beast driving as of a certain date and we qualified.
Otherwise around the state beast driving is prohibited by state law. So um what home rule is not it is not a sword. It is not a basis for a charter
county to sue the legislature uh to say that our home rule powers generally have been infringed on. They are the legislature is a superior legislative government. They can decide what to preempt us on. I
think we're tracking about 200 areas that we are preempted on on different subjects. some mundane and others controversial like this one. Um there are um some exceptions.
uh you know the I when let me put it this way when somebody says well we want to challenge the constitutionality of a law and county you should do it local governments counties and cities and school boards largely do not have
standing to file a lawsuit to invalidate a state law arguing that it's unconstitutional there are exceptions um I I don't think they apply here um and they're narrow
So a standing is a fancy way and Don would agree fancy way of saying you have the authority to make this argument in court. You may have a winning argument. You may be able to argue that something's unconstitutional but if you don't have standing, you cannot bring
the claim. So I think that is set up that way because we are an inferior government even though we have more enhanced home world powers. than non-charter counties. Ultimately, we're subject to the authority of the
legislature if they choose to regulate a subject and tell us something must be done a certain way. We may not like it. We may think it's a bad idea, but the legislature has that authority. Um, the
constitution also did not create counties. It authorized them if approved by the legislature. So the 67 counties we have in Florida today, if you go to a certain chapter in Florida statutes,
every county is created, the boundaries are identified and they can amend those boundaries and they can abolish us under the constitution. So, um I get that people are frustrated
that they think, well, my local government knows best for me in a certain area. And that very well may be true. It just is not the structure constitutionally
and how counties are set up. ultimately um if the legislature chooses to do something uh in this area um they can do so. Ju just one simple followup. Is there any case law that's shown any success in a
governing body other than the exceptions that you said uh successfully? Well, no. Well, there's actually case law to the opposite where uh this argument has been attempted. Uh one of the closest ones I remember is county. It's actually
a local case. Uh, Simol County and City Lake Mary made a similar argument and for the fifth district court of appeals uh argued that their interpretation of an issue, their their regulation was supported by home
rule and they lost on that in attempting to invalidate the statute. So, um, yes, there is case law. I'll be glad to uh it won't be 80 slides next time, but I can there's a lot of case load that shows that they all lost. I mean, this has been an extensively
litigated idea. And I'll be honest with you, I mean, I'll be frank. It's because the legislature perhaps has adopted some things that local governments don't like and there's been litigation on that subject in the past. So, this is not saying what they have done in all
subjects just because we're preempted is right. It's just that they can that on the spot. That was a a pretty good argument. Thank you for taking the time to do that. Thank you for asking. I will point out that that's not what
we're asking you to do. Fortunately, you are going to, as the motion says and as as uh David clarified, um the motion by uh Councilman Robbins was to bring this back at a future uh hopefully very soon
county council meeting with proposed amendments. And it's really a very narrow section of of this bill that needs to be amended. Most of it is fine. It's in my opinion it's the last couple sections, but that's correct.
We'll see what what you come back with. Um uh so uh thank you for the motion. Thank you for the second. Any other questions? All in favor of sending this back to the legal staff to bring it back to us for
discussion, please say I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. And I'm very much looking forward to having John Booker give that presentation as Yes. He's gonna have to wear his three-piece suit.
Okay. Uh Okay. With that said, then item uh one, we've made uh two changes. The rest of the uh of the agenda stands. May I have a a motion to approve the amended agenda? Motion to approve.
Second. Motion to approve by Matt Reinhardt. Second by David Santiago. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And the agenda is approved. Six to zero. Um
that takes us to a consent agenda. Let me ask two questions. Does anyone have any item that they would like to pull for a vote? Okay, I'm going to ask the second question now and then go down the list here. Also, if you have an item that you
would just like to comment on after the vote. Uh, Councilman Robbins. Thank you, Chair. Just uh for discussion, item O like some more information on that, but also like to talk about um uh item E. Sorry to steal your thunder,
Don, if that was the reason. And item, Say that again. Eee item E. Okay. But also night note that item HH g FF E I can't read my own DD CC BB A Z
are all flood related. Uh and I wanted to point that out that our our staff is full bore ahead on on getting some of these issues. But item E and item uh O for me. Okay. Uh Troy Kent. Yes. Uh thank you chairman. Item O, I
wanted to um get some information and have a vote on it. Okay. Pulling O for a vote. Yeah. Okay. O for a vote. Kent and uh Councilman Dempsey. Item A for a vote.
For a vote. Kenny, before I make my motion, was E for a vote? Discussion. Just discussion. Yeah. Both. Uh Mr. vote also for discussion and I I'll vote when if if you choose to, you know, go that route for E.
No, discussion only. Oh, discussion only. Okay. Did you want to vote on it? No, I I just wanted to vote on O and Don wants A. So, I'm going to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented absent items A and O. Second.
We have a a motion to approve the agenda except for item uh O and A and um yeah, let me let me catch up to you and Danny, you second it. Yes, sir.
Um and for discussion, David Santiago. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to echo again Council Member Robbins comments on that there are several items with millions of dollars that are going to flooding infrastructure projects. I know there there's a narrative out
there, a false narrative that we're not doing much. This is exactly the opposite. There's a lot that's been happening and a lot that continues to happen in conjunction with cities and the county work. So, thank you staff for uh bringing these now finalized to the next step. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay. for discussion also. Okay, that I have three names up still. Troy, did you have a comment? Don Dempsey, uh, Vice Chair Reinhardt. Thank you, Chair. And to piggyback on what Mr. Santiago said just in Daytona
Beach alone, uh, district, there's four lift stations which total $1.7 million of funding that will go to help rebuild those, uh, that are addressed specifically for some of the flooding in those areas. So, that needs to be mentioned. So people I want to make sure
that they're they're aware of the fact that so much money is gone for that. So it was a good good move on staff. Excellent. Okay. Thank you. Uh so we have a a motion to approve except for OA a second. Um all in favor say I.
I. Any opposed? Motion carries six to zero. So let's start with the easy with the discussions um first. Uh, okay. We'll do that. E, uh, for Mr.
Robbins and and staff, I thank you. And, uh, you don't have to go through those other all the other, uh, ones I had noted, but mainly because we have the residents of Miller Lake here, and I know that we're a little bit restricted um, as council
going into depth about some of these issues that there's possible litigation. I just want to make sure that you cover that. And um Yes, sir. This is I know it's a little um they're real close in name. Uh Miller Lake. This is Mill Lake. So, this is uh
within the city of Orange City. Um so, it's a it's a great project. It's actually I think the largest one we awarded in the first round. Uh experienced significant flooding. Um they have an existing pump station in Force Main that pumps to the river. They're uh proposing to this project
will uh design, permit, and construct a significantly larger force main and pump station. And it'll be pumping to a borrow pit that the county had originally acquired for some recharge, but it it will work great as storm water. So, can we expect any other projects in
Orange City? Uh it depends on when they apply. We have multiple rounds opening up. I'm going to let Donna answer that one. So, we'll open up again in the fall. However, they have um they're getting ready to start um several uh storm water
studies and I think they're waiting for those storm water study results to come back prior to applying. Most of the cities are Do we have an idea of when that may happen or is that kind of up in the air? Yeah, those are in progress. We're working on, you know, bringing the proposals and scopes to y'all to get
that going. Um we're focusing on multiple areas in Orange City such as the hospital and some areas that will tie into this project as well. This project uh Mil Lake represents kind of like their master storm water pond and pump station and from there they'll be able to tie into it once this project's
done and move and address some of the other localized flooding they've experienced. Sounds good. Thank you. Quick question, Mr. Chair. Sure. Will this project help uh the the issue on graves as it dips down over there by John Knox Village? Not directly, but you know, part of that
is by creating capacity in Mil Lake. The hope would be someday to have a an adjacent project that would be able to move water into this direction. That's part of the area that's getting studied. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Don, I want to make sure you you were uh
O and A, correct? Just a just a Okay. Um we have a a special guest in the room tonight uh with with Director Lynn. Um, can you uh come up and give us a good
news on KK? This is the Ocean Center in response to what the council has asked the Ocean Center to do with music for our residents. Good evening, gentlemen. I am very excited and honored to to introduce you
to Joe who he can give you a little bit more detail about his role with uh Danny Whmer Presents which was item KK. Um so with that I'm going to turn it over and then any questions that you have we he's here to answer them or I will answer them. Good. Good afternoon. I'm Joe Litvag.
I'm with uh Danny Wmer Presents. I oversee the company's expansion into uh facility management and programming initiatives. What are you going to do for us? Book some shows. I'm agent to Troy Kent. He does a mean
air guitar. Just want to let you know in case you need someone. And harmonica. Don't forget harmonica. We'll negotiate. Thank you. Thank you for introducing yourself. That was the uh we've already prolonged the meeting. So, I appreciate
the very brief uh explanation that you had, but we're we're glad you're here and I look forward to um was it Red Hot Chili Peppers you wanted? Or you could or you could bring a good man. Cold Play. Cold Play or Red Hot Chili Peppers.
They're both on the list. Got it. Work really hard to to No kissing videos, cameras. No kiss cams. No more kiss cams. I think they've been outlawed. Yeah. All right. Good. Nice work, Lynn. Thank you very much. Any other questions
from Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh item A for a vote. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, gentleman of the council, Cyrus Callum, Aviation and Economic Resources. Okay. Sure. I just
Go ahead, Cyrus. Um, obviously I appreciate everything you're doing for the airport. You've created a u a magical thing out there. You got all these airlines now coming in, more routes coming. This is awesome that you're getting Cleveland in it. My only question is, is this coming out of the
general fund? No, sir. This is coming out of the airport's enterprise revenue fund and this is customary anytime we have a new market. These are one of those incentives that we employ to help promote the service, help advertise that
new market. So this is Cleveland and it's one of our top 20 markets basically through Akran Canton Ohio and we're able to get this service. I have a relationship with the colleague, the director of aviation at Akran Kenton
Airport and so we kind of squosed the airline a bit and convinced them to come and pair our two markets together and so uh just checking the stats already uh they're already booking out service from Daytona Beach to Akran Catton. It starts
September 3rd so very very happy about it. And and what funds this pool of money where this is going to come out of? These are airport revenues. This all from airport. All from the airport. Yes, sir. So it's self-generated money. It doesn't come from the tax base or the mil. Not from the tax base.
Okay. Is there a is maybe you can explain the dynamic between that and the advertising authority. I mean that's on the agenda today coincidentally. You know we've got 26 million here that we're dealing with for advertising. Basically, it sounds similar to what
you're doing in this project, which I'm all in favor of. Right. Well, for small markets, every little bit helps. And so, this is what we're going to talk about later is a partnership that we have with the ad agencies. But for airports, the Federal Aviation Administration allows us to use
a limited amount of airport revenues to help market new service. And so what we would do is put this on social media, put this on billboards around town. If you're driving down I4 and you notice there's a variety of billboards that we
have uh going out towards Orlando just to remind people of the different service that we have, we would be able to allow this new service to Akran Canton to be a part of that program. Okay. My my main concern was that this wasn't coming out of the general fund.
No taxpayer money. And that's the thing everything for the most part at the airport is user fee generated. So the FAA mandates and they want airports to be self-sufficient that money that's made on the airport stay on the airport. But transversely also want to make sure
that the airport is generating its own ability to create its own financial stability and so this is all part of that. Okay. All right. That's all I have. Thank you. Yep. And uh Director Kalin, this 150,000 goes to any new airline that comes into
Valuchia County. Yes. That if it's any new route for a new airline that comes into Valuchia County, we allow that $150,000 and it's only maxed out to two years. And so that's a federal aviation regulation. So was my point was to make it clear
that it's not just a special deal for it's one of the ways you market our airlines. That's exactly it. The FAA doesn't allow us to discriminate based on the different air carriers as well. So what we offer to one airline, we have to offer to another new entrant. Chairman, I make a motion to approve
item A on the consent agenda. Okay, Mr. Kent makes a motion to approve. Second was by Don Dempsey. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And you're approved. Six to zero. Thank you for the explanation.
Thank you, gentlemen. And that takes us to item uh O the echo advisory committee. Um is doc Oh, there he is. Hey, Dr. Burbal, you don't mind if I start since I pulled it? So, um Dr. Burbal, I'll never put you in
a position to uh like an I gotcha position. That's I'm not that guy and I have too much respect for you. But I got an email from my board appointment to Echo. He's been on the board for three meetings now and he had he had mentioned in in the correspondence that in the three
meetings he's been there they've not had a discussion on the 2025 work plan and I just thought I believe that. Um, so my question to you was, was there a discussion about it probably before he got on there? And then if if there was,
is it problematic for us to hold off on this to allow the board that's currently there to have that meaningful discussion? That's that's my goal today. My goal is for our eco advisory board, all of the ones that are currently on there, this board has said, "Yes, we're
going to approve these individuals." that they um don't leave any meat on the bone. Yes sir. So the typically this there's kind of two models that we use. One is we do the uh annual plan for the goals
and the annual report um after appointments in March. So typically in April. Some committees do it at the calendar year. So they start in January with a thought of if you have a new board, they may not have the knowledge to have
the plan of work um or to contribute to that plan of work. This one was done in January. We just had a meeting with the team and we're going to go to the April timeline with both Forever and Echo in order to allow new members who are appointed in March every two years to be
able to contribute. Okay. So would it be problematic for us to postpone this and bring this back and have all members have an opportunity to talk about the 2025 work plan? We certainly could. I would say that the
the 2025 work plan and every work plan that we do is aligned with the enabling resolution that's adopted by this council. So when you when you establish a advisory committee, you basically give it a a charge in that first page saying these
are your duties. So that aligns perfectly with what we're presenting today. And and and I I don't want to micromanage, but I do think it's important to have every every member of an advisory board, especially one like Ekko that has serious dollars tied to
it, that the wonderful people in this county voted them to tax themselves to have this program. I think it's important that we get those voices because some of the other comments I heard were that it was generic. You know, when you look at the list, it's it's it's just it's generic. It's not
fine-tuned and detailed and things like that. And maybe that's by maybe that was by design. Um but I thought this um postponing this and allowing that opportunity, that discussion to happen would would solve that concern. That was
all. Our our next meeting is not until October, so we would have to bring it back then if that was the case. And it is kind of all-encompassing by design. Um, and that is I' I've brought stuff before that was outside their lane uh to
council and um, you know, the council question kind of why are we doing these things out of the the scope of the charge. I hear I hear what you're saying. Um, but I just want to make sure again if we waited until October, it would not negatively it would not negatively
affect anything ECHKO is doing. No sir. Thank you. Just one other question for you. I know that we had hired um a consultant to work with Echko on planning strategy and I don't see any reference into it in the
item. Did that happen? Did we consultant came in and was it successful? What did they do? So, it is um in the the work plan and goals. It's referenced a few times. They're continuing to work on it. I will say, you know, this was a council approved action as part of uh annual
goals, I believe a year ago or or the year before. Uh it took us three times of putting the solicitation out on the street to find a consultant. Um we finally found one and they should be presenting their findings uh to this council in October. Okay. Okay.
Yes, sir. Uh thank you. Can this council add anything to the work plan? That'd be sure. I mean, it's a I stumped everybody out there. Has it ever never been done? Um
suggestion maybe just uh you and staff talk about it and um maybe bring it back in this October meeting. But I would because of this, I'm also hearing from members that were confused. Um, we do have new members. Um, I would like for
you to consider adding a uh a workshop for the committee in the on the process of reviewing these grants. um not just looking through all the various categories and that, but kind of
drilling down more um on basic essentials of running a nonprofit because they're approving nonprofits that we have seen in the past, not very often, but a couple times, didn't have a good strategy, didn't have a good maintenance plan, and and they failed,
and we had to get money back, and sometimes didn't. Um, so just a meeting to discuss those essentials that they need a business plan, maintenance plan, strategic plan. And I'm not trying to
embarrass you assuming that you're not teaching them that. I've just never heard of the new members I'm hearing from have never had that as a benefit. So, right. And and they haven't they haven't been through a a cycle yet. So, one of the things that we go over with new
members is our rubric scorecard, which I think has helped a lot. So, it basically, you know, using a rubric based system allows you to give points based on the criteria that you're evaluating against. And if it's they've done an excellent job, they'll get the highest point value, you know, and a
satisfactory job and so on. But, um, we can certainly offer um training to new members. That's something that we're always available to do and consultation. I will say in the in the past we we did offer this to the committee and other
nonprofits in the community and the committee voted to support our efforts working with nonprofits but exempted themselves from attending. Okay. Okay. Uh thank you Councilman Robbins. Thank you Chair. I just want to make
sure uh Brad I didn't see it on here but just double checking there was some conversation some questions about the legacy project does that have any involvement on this uh item that will come back that will come to you in future agenda. Yes sir. Okay. Thank you.
Councilman say I I know you laughed when I said exempted but Echo probably meets the most out of any advisory council that we have. They're pretty accurate. Probably 10 meetings a year. So, um, they do meet a significant amount. Thank you, uh, Councilman Santiago.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move to table item O to the second meeting of October. Second. Okay. Second meeting of October, which will be a night meeting. So, the the
motion is to table uh O until uh that point. The second was by Troy Kent. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries six to zero. Thank you, Mr. Kent. And
unless I missed one, I think that clears up the consent agenda. Yes. It's showtime now. It's time. Travel show. Okay. Item three.
Where is the man dressed in? Okay. Item three is a fiscal year 202526 advertising authority budgets uh by Halifax area advertising, Southeast Valuchia Advertising and and West Valuchia Advertising.
Motion to approve. Second. What was this for? I did not. Can uh can you sit right on the front row a second? Sure. I neglected to call. We had a request from somebody from the public.
Uh Alyssa Jackson, are you still here? You are. And you I'm sorry that I overlooked you. Uh this was for consent item QQ. Correct.
Okay. Well, hi. My name is Alyssa Jackson. I live in Longleaf Plantation and I have for the better part of a decade. And I I'm all for roundabouts. They are really good traffic tools and they really do help in proper spots. And today, I'd
like to explain why I believe that this is not a proper spot and why um it should not be given to the engineering company. Sorry, I'm nervous. You're doing well. You're doing fine. So, this roundabout would be at the
entrance of two neighborhoods, which doesn't necessarily make any sense to me. Um cuz people people do get confused by roundabouts as we all know and uh miss turns would clog up the neighborhoods and it would the construction would be
an inconvenience to residents as well. And the there is a school zone right there. the school bus parks right outside the neighborhood and the parents also park along the road and the both the construction and the roundabout would um hinder that. And I can only
assume that the school bus would stop in the same spot and the people stopping behind the school bus would back up into the roundabout and therefore prevent people from leaving their neighborhoods.
Um if the goal is not to the goal cited is because um traffic issues living there for the better part of a decade. I have never once seen a crash or a close call or anything, not even on Taylor Road
entirely. But um if the goal is to slow people down, you could instead try things like uh speed bumps, speed cameras. Uh maybe even a four-way stop would be fine, like the one that is on Aquarius and Taylor. But the roundabout I just think is not a very good idea and
other residents I have talked to have agreed with me. Thank you very much. Don't go anywhere yet. You you did a great job and I want to commend you for coming in and taking part in your local government and for being so well prepared with a reasonable
argument based on facts. U Councilman Santiago has a question for you. Well, Mr. chairman. Yeah, I because she's really she's making public comment which I appreciate it. Thank you. Good job. And since we already voted on the item, I'd like to afford the opportunity
maybe to get those points at least addressed from staff and if the council chooses that um her comment or whatever changes our position, we can act on it also accordingly. That's exactly what I So, I wanted to with the chair's permission if maybe Tad can address some
of the young lady's concerns. you, Matt, you were gonna the exact same thing. I saw Okay. Tad eagerly walking up to to do that. So maybe we can address. This is our uh chief engineer. Um hi Tar. Alissa
Tad Case Bear, county engineer. Uh yes, I appreciate uh the questions and the comments regarding the uh the roundabout at this location. What we're asking for at this point is a design uh contract, not uh actually to move into construction. We did perform a study at that location. We've had quite a few
complaints from the residents in both Bent Oaks and uh Longleaf Plantation to the south indicating that they've had a problem uh one with the speeding that occurs out there. The speed limit just to the east of the intersection changes from 50 down to 35 and people still
continue to go past. Uh give you quite a few tickets. uh we take a look at that history when we were looking at uh projects like this, but we're also getting a lot of complaints that they were having a hard time getting out of their uh uh subdivisions, particularly during the peak hours with the uh nearby
middle school. So, um the study recommended uh for the intersection improvement doing a roundabout. We're going to go ahead and move into the design on the roundabout, but then we're going to go take a look at uh seeing how the condition continues to uh uh to operate. And then if we get a grant,
then at some point in the future with that grant, we would go into construction uh at some point. But it's not with the intent that next year or the year after that that we'd be moving into the construction on this. partly because we do understand that it's roundabouts are not exactly the most uh
popular topic or type of uh intersection improvement uh particularly on this side of the county at this point. But we do want to put ourselves in the best position to uh uh put in an improvement with a uh government grant. And to have that or to put ourselves in that best spot, you really need to have the the
design. Thank you. Uh Councilman Santiago. Thank you, Mr. Tad. Will will the uh consultants that we just voted on, will they take into consideration the young lady's comments about the proximity of the entrance, I think you said, to the subdivision in those concerns she
brought up. Correct. Yes, we would. Uh, you know, she'd mentioned one of the more important factors of that location is that there's a uh bus stop in that area and we would certainly make sure that we're working with the school board. We don't want a situation where the bus stops creating uh congestion at that
intersection. So we'd work with them to make sure they're stopping um depending on which route which direction they're the bus is going. Make sure they stop before they enter the roundabout so that they're not backing up the traffic in there. We'd also elongate the median on that side to make sure uh the traffic on the opposing side doesn't have to stop
and so on and so forth. So yes, we would consider that's the long answer for yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Vice Chair Reinhardt. Thank you, Chair Tab. one of the with that consultant would the idea about the four-way stop sign be another consideration as well? We've already taken a look at that in
the study and and the recommendation was not to do a four-way stop. Prefer not to put uh stop conditions on thoroughfare roads. Taylor is a thoroughare road in that area. Okay. And uh that would not generally how we would like to handle that aspect of it.
And they did recommend as a part of the study the roundabout over the four-way stop. Definitely. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Um I don't know. Make it keep it easy. Extending the thing into the there's a
sidewalk right there. Extending it. So the median would be would that affect the sidewalks or how would that affect side? Have you looked into because there's no sidewalk on the other side of the street. So there needs to be a sidewalk somewhere. There would be crosswalks as a part of the roundabout. Yes. But the side sidewalk is part of
extending the street. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Yes. All the existing sidewalk paths would can be taken. Thank you. Alyssa, you are free to go. But I I'm going to commend you. You just moved your local government. That's why local government is so important because we
can be responsive to the people. But it it took you to stand up here and scary as it was, you did a good job. Thank you. Thank you, Ted. Okay. All right,
Miss Halifax, area advertising. Top that chairman, there was a motion in a second already. Yes. And I just wanted to see if my good friend from Deltona is okay. I am happy with the ladies. Thank you very much for everything you've done this last year. Thank you for a motion and a second to
approve everything she was just going to tell us. Okay. How did I miss that? It was It was fast. We did it quick. Danny made the motion. I second it. Danny made the motion. I second for item three for for the whole thing.
All three advertising authorities. Okay. Um all that work is paying off and R made a second. Um I wouldn't talk myself out of it if I were did if you
cared to say anything go ahead. But we have a motion to approve and a second. I'm going to be very quiet because I'm liking the motion and the second. So, I know that we've talked to all of you and if you had any questions, you would let us know.
No, we're I think we're all pleased. I'm pleased. Yes. Anyway, I won't speak for anybody else. Southeast, you're you're good. Donna or Georgia, Georgia, you here? Y Okay. Smiling.
All right. Um, all in favor of the proposed budget for the advertising authority budgets, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? And your budgets pass six to zero. We appreciate your support. Thank you
all. Item four, fiscal year 2526, trim rates and budget overview by Ryan Osowski. Uh good evening council. Ryan Osowski,
chief financial officer. Um today we're here to set the trim rates. We're midstream in our budget process. If you recall, we've done the capital budget review and two sessions of five-year forecast where we've gone over all of these rates that you're seeing
here today. But we have to uh formally put in the rates to the property appraiser and we're seeking your approval for those rates to do so. uh since we last met with our five-year forecast review, we did get the final values from the property appraiser. And as as always, they don't change by much
from the preliminary values once they give them uh in June 1st. But if you notice some slight difference in the numbers, it's going to be related to those values. Uh the recommended budget was put in your Dropbox earlier today. It's also
been recently published to the website. the operating budget and the non-operating budgets are the amounts that are listed on the screen there. I'm not going to read them out. Uh the non-operating budget, just as a reminder, uh especially for any articles that may be written about this, the
nonoperating budget is primarily, and I mean almost 100%, it's like 99% funded by transfers from the operating budget. So that means if you add those two together, you really are double counting a lot of things.
Uh got a pie chart here of where our operating revenues come from. The biggest thing that I'll point out is that while advalorum property taxes are a big component of our budget, especially in the general fund, which covers a lot of your public safety areas, the biggest piece of this pie chart is actually your appropriated fund
balance. And what is that again? That is the amount you're carrying forward from last year. In the county budget statutes, we don't just appropriate what we need to balance the budget. We have to appropriate our entire estimate of any savings from FY25
into the FY26 budget. I'll relate that to this slide here with the operating expenditures of the total reserves. The total reserves are the amounts that we currently estimate that will continue on from FY26 into FY27.
The difference between the 538 million and the 395 million here are the amounts of appropriated fund balance that we're estimating to use in this budget primarily on capital projects. Pie chart here of our taxable value by
property class noting that we are still primarily a residential county. Um the advorum tax revenue by fund. The general fund makes up about half of your uh of your uh taxes across the county. The law enforcement fund about a quarter
of that and the rest of the funds are the remaining quarter. Some highlights. Just a reminder on the general fund. Uh it's the only fund that I'm going to do this on for the highlights because it is the largest fund. It is the countywide fund with the highest tax rate. We are recommending
maintaining a flat millage rate with no increase from the current year. It's primarily due to significant revenue challenges. If you recall, we have a decrease in their sales tax funding from the state uh state revenue sharing uh from the state, constitutional officer
uh excess fee decrease primarily the tax collectors office expansions and then the additional transfer that we need uh related to the beach parking. We also have mand mandated expenditure increases. Uh but notably uh the
highlight that I like to make uh on this budget is as you saw as you saw in the 5-year forecast, the areas that the county council truly has influence over uh with George's leadership, Georgia's county
department budgets, those have actually decreased by $1.6 million. And that means that they also had to overcome in order to get to that decreased position $4.2 $2 million in wage and benefit increases, which includes your health
insurance contributions because health insurance is constantly increasing, our retirement contribution increase, as well as a uh budgeted uh it's a budgeted amount of 4% uh for salary increases. Our millage rate history chart, we cover
this every year where you can see all the green rows are where a fund was at roll back in that year. The pink or orange rows are partial roll back. And then there's that one row where echo was put at zero for one year, which was obviously significantly below roll back.
The tentative millage rates for the trim notices are what's shown on this screen here. They are all the rates that you saw on the 5-year forecast, including the vote that was taken on the fire rescue district at a roll back rate. As a reminder, these rates at this point
once we lock them in with the property appraiser, they can only go down from here. They cannot go up. So, if you had any thought on any fund of not doing roll back, you would have to make that choice. Now,
in the uh the next proc part of the process, we'll be setting our actual budget hearings. That's where we by statute through the trim process, we have to go have the public hearings for the budget to adopt a tenative budget and then a final budget. They cannot be held on the same day as the school
board's uh hearing which was September 9th, which is why we ended up with the council meeting on Thursday, September 4th. Uh and that's because of the timing of TRIM. You cannot have it, it's not enough days to have it on Tuesday, September 2nd.
Uh we've got our recommended uh dates listed here which were the already the council scheduled dates. There is something that I would point out to you is for council consideration. We've got them listed at 6 p.m. I do remember vaguely some discussion last year
especially uh for the day meeting one uh considering council's um 6-hour time limit that if you wanted to have a smaller gap in between by law we could set it at 501. We've traditionally done six o'clock, so that's what we've got
left here, but if there was any desire by council, it could be at 501. And I'll leave the rates up on the screen and I'll take any questions. I need a a vote on the rates and the times. Okay. Uh, Vice Chair Reinhardt,
I'm going to yield to Mr. Robbins and I think we're might be discussing the same thing. I'm not sure, but I'll yield to Mr. Robbins first if that's okay. Chair. Councilman Robbins. Thank you. uh Mr. Reinhardt for that uh council. Um
we have a couple things in front of us. One of them uh that I know uh I have pride myself in here uh as well as council and past councils uh is our fire and uh I'm committed at committed to
them to help them out wherever possible. Um just from observation uh being here the last four or five years you know we've approved increases in in other uh first responder areas uh without blinking an eye some of them uh double
digits. Um, in years past, we've held kind of law enforcement and fire, uh, EMS, uh, across the boards, almost harmless, uh, chairs, you remember, uh, each year, uh, and agree to fully fund them. I don't think what they're asking
for is uh um over the top given that and and looking at the projects that are still uh pending. Um, and at the end of the day, they're asking for it to stay the same as as last year, uh, so that they
can make some necessary upgrades uh throughout the county that will only benefit our residents, each and each and, uh, every one of them. So, um, they go to bat for us. Uh, I want to, um, I'm going to support, uh, the fire uh,
services and make a motion to keep, uh, their millillage a flat rate. Um, second. Yeah, slung. It's out. Okay. Councilman Robbins makes a motion
to keep the uh uh fire fund at flat rate instead of roll back. The second was by Matt Reinhardt. Just had a com that's if you're done. Go ahead. Okay. Okay. Thank you, chair. Um and I agree. um
something that came up. I mean, I've given this a lot of thought since the last meeting and not by any particular one source that brought it to my attention, but I have never in the two years, I mean, it's not like it's a long time, but two and a half years, have I ever received emails from the public
asking us for higher taxes in a certain area. I mean, I know people uh prior councils experienced that with Echo and and with forever, you know, asking to tax themselves, but I've actually received no negative about this, just the the just the simple fact of one of
them brought a particular attention. They said, "Listen, we have a lot of infrastructure needs." And the way we veer infrastructure is usually by roads and and storm water and things of that nature. But infrastructure also has to do with what services we provide to our
community. And with fire and the and the job that they do and the public protection, I didn't want to be the one to take away from that. Not that it will, but I'm just saying I want to give them the resources at all possible. Like to piggyback on what Mr. Robbins had said. So there are a lot of things that
um a lot of building that's going up uh around us. Uh and we are we have those mutual agreements with certain cities where the county does assist them and I don't want to be uh short changing them. So uh I'm with Mr. Robbins. That's why I
seconded the motion. Thank you. Um Danny, you're you're right. I think for the four years that we were here, we fought for increase in in all public uh safety items, especially fire went from
two people to three people per station. Um, and so when I saw this, it it uh it concerned me and I've had a lot of discussion with staff about it. Are there any
uh anything on the future that we cannot fund if we stayed at roll back through the budget that's been submitted through the division up through the chain? The the the entire budget is fundable right now with the roll back rate as was presented in the five-year
forecast. I know we're looking for land for a new station on Highway 40. Um, if we find land, can we do that? The fund also has significant reserves that could be tapped into if there wasn't enough that was included already
in the budget for any that are already on the books. So, in in your opinion, going to roll back doesn't hurt um fire services. That is a subjective opinion. It is um
it it if you were to go to a flat millage rate, it would provide additional funding for capital projects. The capital projects that have submitted are funded already in this project. You could do more.
I mean, if you give more money to any operation, there's always more that could be done. Yeah. Okay. Uh thank you, Councilman Santiago. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. you know, in in in light of why we're here today is basically to set that trim rate for the
for the legally required notice. Um, we can certainly whatever that rate is, we can go down from there, right? So, Danny, I I'll support your motion. I don't have no problem with it. I know I made the motion last time to go to the roll back based on the conversation that was happening at the time. I have no
problem going to the other number. However, as we go into the budget, let's have those discussions on what we want to fund uh and then make that budget accordingly. If it takes up the entire amount based on guidance that we give,
then it does. If it doesn't take the entire amount, I think we owe it to our constituents to adjust accordingly um based on what projects we feel that we want to fund capital or whatever improvements there are to our fire services. So, um, I'm game to support
what they have and then our our leadership team to present maybe other options for us to on a priority level to see how much of that additional do we do need. Does that make sense? And make make financial decisions based on the
budget discussions. Like like I said, if you can't go up from here, so you can go down. Councilman Dempsey. Um Danny, I I I gotta I agree with what you're saying. I mean, they're a
wonderful um group of guys and women and they do a lot for the community, but I I want to stick with Rollback. Um I know I've said it before, and I don't mean to sound like a doom and gloomer, but I think we're on the cusp of another recession. I think our taxpayers are
going to be hit with a a rough economy over the next couple of years. And I I don't think it's asking too much of anybody to cut their budget five five and a half percent. I know during COVID private industry was hemorrhaging. I
mean I had to make more than 5% cuts in my businesses and stuff but so asking him to cut five and a half% I don't think is a big ask especially we got Sunrail coming in. We got all these other variables and our goal is to lower
taxes. Not not only keep it the same, but lower it. And I they're wonderful guys. They deserve all the respect in the world. But I don't think asking them to cut their budget by 5.6% or so is a big ask. Um so I'm just going to ask that we keep it at roll back like
we all discussed before. If I may. You may. The change you see here is the is the reduction in the percentage tax rate goes down. But as a refresher, what roll back is? Roll back collects the
same revenue as it did last year with the addition of new construction. It has no impact on any individual taxpayer. The same rate is applied everywhere. So sometimes you may get emails about I bought this house and then a year later the taxes went up three times. That's not because we went to roll back or not.
that that's because the value changed. Roll back is an entitywide and in this case the entity is the fund calculation that keeps revenues the same with the addition of new construction. So this roll back rate is not a 5% cut.
It is the same revenues plus a little bit more for new construction. I don't have the number off the top of my head but it's probably around 2% maybe a little less of increase collection of revenues over last year. Not a not a cut.
Okay. Okay. Uh, Councilman Robbins, thank you for that. Thank you, Chair. And and Don, I I understand what you're what you're saying, but this is more for that future planning that and that unknown inflation. I don't know how much this
accounts for. Cost of goods, cost of uh engines updating this stuff. Uh I still have uh fire stations down in in Southeast Felucia that are in in tin buildings. Uh and also I have a lot of guys and gals that are in um mobile
units uh out in the uh alongside their station um George, what are they called? I'm drawing a blank. Uh modular units. Modular uh units. So you know um there there's definitely a need there. I I cross referenced a lot of the stuff as
well that was sent to us in the last few weeks, but you know, I don't mean to also, Don, put you on the spot, but um if everybody can can uh afford a 5% decrease, we didn't have this discussion about the sheriff's office. We didn't
have this discussion about any other first responder uh entity. So, you know, um I stand firm on uh on uh kind of drawing the line here and and funding them at the same level in preparation
for uh a possible fallout like you have like you had had mentioned here to make sure that we can continue to fund uh their needs properly or the the citizens need uh needs properly uh as time progresses here. So, um appreciate it.
Thanks. Councilman Kent. Thank you, Chairman. I I appreciate the discussion we're having on this today and um I appreciate the I believe the union coming in and giving their their take on it. I I always support first
responders, but Don, I'll tell you, I heard staff say that if we went to the roll back rate that we had enough money to fund everything that we needed to fund. There's money in reserves for buildings. So why in the world would a
conservative like myself put more of a tax burden on our residents when I just heard staff say that we have enough to fund what we need to fund. So I'm with you on that. I I can't support that at this time because I don't think it's
financially the prudent thing to do. I agree with you. Okay. My uh my last comment I I agree with Troy and with you not looking at a percentage but um as a fire service is
critically important and I I would never even entertain it if what Troy just said wasn't true and has been verified by our staff through the last two weeks of discussion that there's um plenty of funding there. We're not hurting them. I
have to balance that with what I I hear from residents in our community all the time that oftentimes it's not fair or true, but it's it's um it goes like this. I can't afford to live in Valuchia County anymore and pay my mortgage, pay
the taxes, and pay the school board and pay for insurance on my home. Um all those things are true. Um, so we have a chance to it's we're not proposing a a big tax cut here. We're just we're trying to hold the line and not raise
taxes on everybody. So I'm I'm with you. We may be looking at a at a uh a tie vote here. I I don't know. But um David Santiago, thank you, Mr. Chair. and and if you recall the at the last council meeting I
made the motion to to to give the lower rate. Um, but I've changed my position mainly because I want to afford the opportunity to have the discussion to see what other potential capital improvement projects
may be beneficial to do, let's say, earlier. I'll just use that lack of a better term, what makes sense. But remember folks, this is not our final decision on this. So, giving any one of my colleagues here the opportunity to to make their case, Danny, Matt, whoever,
county staff, whoever is um the the our our rank and file, make the case as to why we should expend additional monies and then adjust that number accordingly. It may go back to roll back. Maybe there isn't a case made, but I think today we
afford I'm voting for it because y'all are asking for it. Y'all are asking for that opportunity. and I'll support that opportunity with a good case made then maybe accordingly we will act. Um what that number is at the end of the day I do not know today but I
think we should afford um any one of our colleagues the opportunity today to make that case and then when it comes to that final vote then we make it final for whatever it is. So that's why I'm supportive of the motion. Councilman Kent.
Thank you chairman. my last bite at this um to try to sway my friend from Deltona here. You make a good point and a really great argument and I don't think uh Danny's wrong in his assessment either or Matt.
Um but when I hear staff say we have all the funding we need for what has already been asked for like that was key for me. So staff answered the question that they have the funding needed and there's no new major buildings that
I know of, George, that they they need that we're not funding, we don't have the money for. And and unless I hear differently, then I'm okay with the change that we talked about, you know, going to roll back. Yeah, we have a capital plan to replace uh
several of the uh uh stations and upgrade others. Uh there are I think 20 uh fire stations. So people need to remember when we're saying sure that that it's not just one or two like a city it's 20 of them. So at the end of the day they have a
plan. We're following that plan. I if you chose to add uh or stay at the same rate uh we would look at that plan based on Mr. Wood Santiago said well is there more you want to add to that plan? But the plan that's uh been proposed by fire
by the fire chief and his team uh is fully funded. Yeah. And that's that's another thing is that I have huge respect for Mr. King, our fire chief. And if he's given you that plan and we're funding that plan, then I I feel like we're good to go. And
council, you know, I'll just of course speak for myself here. My my role I have to remind myself from time to time. I must provide basic services for our county residents. I must make sure that they have police protection, that they
have fire protection, that they have public works, that they have roads they can travel on, that they have clean drinking water, and recreation's a nice piece to add after that, after that. But after that,
it's my job to keep the taxpayers money in the taxpayers's pocket. That's my job. and I heard that we're we're going to be able to be funded and we're good to go. So, that's why I'm okay where we are and keeping that taxpayer money in their
pocket. I hear what you're saying, David. We could still do that in September when this comes back before us. But I trust our fire chief. He's already given talked to George and they've had that discussion and they've created the budget and we got Ryan here giving us
the the good numbers and we're I think we're we're good to go on it. That's just me. Thanks. I see. Uh yeah, I thought that everything just moved. No, I just have one more thing. Vice Chair Reinhardt. Thank you, Chair. Um and and I respect
that, Mr. Kent. I I do. Um I do re David. But I appreciate the fact that you want to support us because it's important to us so it's important to you. Sorry to use those words, but it is true and it gives us a chance later down the road to look at it deeper because
you just said it. We can't go higher in the future if there is a need that we identify when we go to look at the budget more in depth. We can't go up now, but we can go down. So that's what I'm keeping in mind is it gives us a little more time to dive deep into that
part of the budget. If we identify it, I may be that one that says, "You know what? You're right. We can go down." But I can't come back later and say, "You know what? You're right. We should have gone up." So, that's all I'm saying, Councilman Santiago. Okay. I promise. Last bite. Everything
you said, I agree with Troy. I think that No. Yes. You did good. You did good. You did good. But there's one part I think that I should bring more light to um that might be able to help you. uh is that yes, the fire chief certainly
presented a plan to George Reinwall, but I'd be willing to bet that that plan was designed around a number and the number because we gave some guidance as to where we wanted the tax rates to be and what our motives were going into this
session. So, he's going to make that recommendation based on the guidance that he gets. 98% of the times I'll say that that's what happens. Right? So, um, and I'm not saying I'm sure he presented the best he
had based on the dollars he felt that he had to propose a budget for to fit in the slot based on our commentary. Um, so I don't know what those items are that may that list or may did not make it on that list. Sorry, I said that wrong. Right.
But now that we've opened the dialogue, I'd be willing to hear what other items might be on that list. And I was going to make a little bit of funny because if you know me, maybe that item is a a fire station in Orman Beach. It doesn't really benefit my district, right? Or,
you know, extra lifeguards. I'm being funny now. In, you know, the northern side of our beach, but if I don't hear about it, I can't vote on it or make changes for it. So that's why this is not the end of the discussion uh on what
that number is. I may still roll for roll back, but I think the minimum is let's give them the opportunity to make the case and then we stand wherever we can, but the budget was made to fit a number. Troy, that's my opinion. Right. Chairman, may I respond briefly to him?
Uh yes. Thank you. Uh David, I I'll just say this. You said if you were a gambling man, I just wanted you to know I I quit gambling. You want to bet? Thanks, Don. Um, that that being said, I have an unfair advantage, and I know it's unfair. That is, I worked with Joe
King in Orman Beach, and he is he is the type of man, the type of leader who he's not just going to give George a set of numbers to fit inside of a box. He's going to tell George exactly what he needs. And that's unfair because I worked with him in Orman and I knew him from there. So, that's that's all I say
to that. But great points. Yeah. Thank you. Um uh again I I agree with you, Troy. Uh Chief King, I um I want you to know Matt Matt said
this is important to him, to Danny, and to Santiago. It's important to every one of us up here. This is a core government responsibility, and it's important to all of us. There's a tension here though with um how do we fund things and how
are we responsible to taxpayers who who look at taxes? They believe their taxes are going up every year. I I've worked for a couple months now just bugging George and and Ryan about the budget,
you know, and and where we can cut. and they have worked incredibly hard in a year when everything has gone up two years in a row now. Everything we still have potentially more bad news coming on
Sunrail. Um it's been a tough year and they've turned in a a budget that um that was reduced more than I thought was possible, but they didn't do it carelessly. And I was really careful and
it sounds like other members, probably all of the members of this council had discussions with staff. I wanted to make sure that the fire fund was not in any danger if we went to to roll back. They we have been really good stewards of the
money there. That's the only reason that we're in this position. Ryan, I wanted to ask you one question to make sure that what David's saying is is true. You said this is our last
chance for um for roll back or not if if we bump this up to a flat. Could we can we still go to roll back in the future? You can only go down from here. You cannot go up. Okay. Okay.
Yes. Yes. If you were to set it at a flat rate, you could go back to roll back still. If you set it at roll back now, you cannot go back to flat. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Councilman Robbins. Thank you, Chair Ryan. This might be a question for you. It may be a question
for for uh county manager fire. Um, what would be the recourse? Uh for instance, uh station 22 delay um by going to roll back uh delays it by approximately uh 6 years with increased
costs of 3 to 4 million uh a year nearly equivalent to the projected roll back savings. Is that an accurate statement? Yes or no? I I'm not familiar with that. The individual capital projects in the fire fund right now.
uh county manager, do we have any insight on that? And I I'll start uh Mr. Robbins and and invite uh Erin Van Cleek to come down the director. Um I think what you were referencing is that the reconstruction of station 22 has been delayed six years
in the past. It had to do with not financial but other constraining uh site improvements like the extension of water service in that part of Oakill. Uh it is fully funded and scheduled to
proceed under the current budget as proposed. Right. We could not expand it without the water. So you had to wait for the water and then that's that's the Oakill station if that's the issue there. But the money's been there for that project and for other projects. That has not
been the issue, not money. What in your professional opinion would be the hangup or delay on getting some of these projects knocked out? Is it lack of property? Is it lack of Well, case in one case, I mean, they've
had they've had the money for stuff up on 40 for uh four or five years in their budget. It has been about uh fire leadership finding a suitable spot. I believe they invested in uh some software to help uh pinpoint exactly
because one thing about fire once you put down the station that's where you're going to be. So it's very important that they pick the station in the right location is is and it's a dynamic situation because you have cities that are expanding and annexing. So they're taking on more area
and where do we go? What's the best spot for us to locate a fire station? I will point out you got station 15 which is uh uh going to be a main station out there uh on on US 92 uh that is been designed
and it's going to bid here I think in October that'll be a uh very large station for us. So, that's uh that's coming on. That'll be a brand new station. And then you've got uh others, like I said, that in various uh states
are being upgraded. And uh it's certainly my intent, I mean, to pick these off as and go along and get them upgraded. I want I don't want to have metal buildings for our firemen. I want them to be improved. That's something I've talked to them about. But you know
the other side of that coin and I think that's what we were trying to point out is well we only have the capacity to build so many in any given year. Sure. So I only have so many construction managers. We only have some you know we have to get them designed. It's similar to this flood situation. You can only
get so much out in any given year based on a certain capacity. And that's all we're saying is is look based on the pace that uh has been submitted to us by the uh fire leadership. we're on pace and we're able and a matter of fact, you can put up the five-year forecast and
show you not only this year, but moving forward, you know, uh the revenues there for them to uh continue their building program. Uh if if you were to set it at at roll back, if you go, like I say, if you decide not to set a roll back, then
well, that'll a little bit more money into uh the building program. So possibly you pick up uh some speed to that assuming we again have the ability uh or the capacity to actually build the building. We have the land to put it on. You have the design to do it. But that's
all you know usually these things are about a year year and a half to design and permit and a year or so to build it. So that's what you're looking at for fire stations. Thank you uh county manager. Um just a quick quick point at that pace
four to five years you know for for instance a project and finding land for instance in the best of your knowledge does land increase or decrease over time does it get more value certainly it increases so there's certainly you know but we have situ we
have land we have land uh we're sitting on out on uh state road 44 that's uh uh it's designated for a fire station. You've got uh so I mean yes, but overall there's definitely value and uh you know
do you want to how long do you want to wait and you're going to increase all of our costs have increased not just the land but all construction costs have gone up. So that's definitely a consideration for this and for all the things we do like roads and uh you know other projects
and I and I say that guys is because uh they don't make land anymore. And another thing too, the value of the dollar keeps getting less and less and less. Uh equipment keeps getting more and more and more. Um but um
trying to find a a way here and to piggy back off Mr. Kent, which I agree with with uh Mr. Brower, Kent, and uh Mr. Dempsey uh traditionally, but we're not talking about an increase here from last year, per se. Uh, and I know we've
talked about it before where we don't want to make or would rather make, not even in this case, we're keeping it flat, but we don't want to have to come back at some point 2 3 4 5 years down the road and hit with a major increase in fire. So would it behoove us uh to
take uh the ideology or or methods of of some of my colleagues to possibly keep it flat and instead of coming back in hitting our taxpayers with a uh a higher rate that's maybe not justified when there's a possibly declining uh um
economy or recession uh by Mr. Dempsey's standards, which I agree with uh in the near future. That's my argument and uh I'm out of uh I'm out of turns. Councilman Santiago. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to make a motion that we approve the trim notice
at the recommended staff levels with the exception of the fire services to maintain for the initial notice of 3.8412. Isn't that what you need? Did I say it right to to have that? He's making a motion.
I didn't know we had a motion. Oh, we missed it. If Did you make a motion? Don't remember, but I think there was another motion. I My notes reflected Mr. Robbins made a motion. It was seconded. Okay. Then I have a different motion. A
cold question. Where to where to stm here? Okay. Your motion was to approve except for fire fund to to go flat rate and Matt seconded that. Okay.
Same motion only by a different person and uh uh for discussion. Don Dempsey. Uh George, thank you for the explanation. And Ryan, um Danny, I agree with you too, but I also agree uh with Troy and Jeff the chair because uh we're
fully funded now. we're going to be okay for the next five years. We got to get in this mindset of roll back. We can't It's easier to raise taxes than maybe I guess to lower taxes here. But I mean, we need to get in this mindset. We don't have to always do knock down, tear down,
rebuilds and stuff. We need to learn to not always have the best of the best for all the buildings and stuff like that. I just if we can get by and complete all our plans with what we've got and roll back um I'm all in favor of roll back and no disrespect to fire services
they're wonderful but these other funds I mean they're also important and we're asking them to deal with the same reductions and it's just I don't think a 5% reduction is is that big and I just I just I'd like to stick with the roll
back so that's all Okay. Thank you. Did you have something else? We were conferring. Uh we believe the motion that's on the floor was only about the fire fund right now, not the rest of the rates. Okay.
Okay. Um it's unfortunate that we have six people here instead of seven because in the case of a tie, county attorney, correct me if I'm wrong, but if there's a tie, the motion's lost because it's not a majority. Right. Miss Conchin did offer to vote if you would like.
I would like to hear her vote actually. Okay. No other discussion. Okay. The motion on the floor is just on the fire fund to move it to a flat rate instead of roll back. Can we table it? Well, we have to do it today, don't we?
The statutory deadline is 35 days after the I think it's 35. It's August 4th. I think it's 35 days after July 1st. Thanks. Okay. All right. Um, it's it I'm I'm mixing
two things. I heard a confusion behind me. So, the statutory date to provide the property appraiser with what your tentative trim rates is is 35 days from the date that the property value was certified, which is July 1st. That makes that August 4th.
This is our only meeting before then. Gotcha. Am I hearing that you wanted to pull the motion? No. No. Okay. I think we got ourselves an okay corral here. Okay. All right. Everybody knows a
motion just in the fire fund. Uh to move it from roll back to flat rate all in Carissa, you better call the role. Mr. Dempsey. No. Mr. Kent.
No. Mr. Reinhardt, yes. Mr. Robbins, yes. Mr. Santiago, yes. Mr. Brower, no. And so it is a tie three to three, which means the uh the motion
um in this case fails. Fails. So it's still at roll back. No, we still have to take action. No, nothing has been adopted. Okay. I believe currently it's still a roll back just
the fire fund. Currently the recommended millage rate is what was submitted. Okay. Chairman Councilman Robbins may say something. So when we take a vote and it's probably a stalemate again at 33. What happens? What happens at the fire fund? Because I
got a whole bunch of time on I I'm I'm good till Friday. I'll sit here for the next five days. Well, we have a six hour time limit. So, we can't do that. You would need a special meeting uh prior to August 4th. Mr. Assassi was the deadline.
Prior to August 4th, when does Mr. Johansson come back? Pardon? When does Mr. Johansson come back? We'll make this his fault. Carissa, do we know that? All right. Mr. Chairman,
Don might be gone then, though. Yes, David Santiago. I move to approve the remaining U military items as recommended by staff with the exception of fire services. Second,
at least we can get that one done. The other What does that mean? That means the others we're adopting the other the other nine militates. Yeah. Fire service is still out because we haven't decided. We just decided the motion failed. Mr. Mr. Johansson returns on the 29th.
Okay. Did you hear that? Jake returns the 29th. Santiago. The motion is to approve all the other uh mill rates as stated. You seconded that. Second.
and David Santiago makes that motion. Uh Danny Robbins made the second on that one. I'm running out of space. Uh Councilman Robbins. Thank you. Uh Chairman U. County Attorney, how would we go about
if we adopt this minus the fire uh to set a special meeting um upon Mr. Johansson's uh return return uh to uh Valuchia County, but before the 30 some odd day deadline, which is the fourth,
what would we need to do? What kind of notice we need to prepare? Ryan, um what kind of notice in your world would you need for the budget? This is not a budget hearing. The TRIM statute set the rules on notice for the budget hearing. This is a regular agenda
item for all intents and purposes. Okay. So, we have a 48 hours. 48 hours. County attorney, what what date would we need to have uh the would you call it a special meeting for that one vote?
By August 4th, uh we could publish the Well, we won't be able to publish in the paper, but we'll be able to release notice of the meeting tomorrow morning, July 31st. Does that work? That's a Thursday.
We'll make it work. It's only fair. I'm gone. I'll be in Tennessee. That's okay. We don't need your vote. Okay. I'm joking. I'm joking. I'm joking. You're on the opposite side. Who Who will be here?
I mean, it could be the same outcome, but would would have uh Mr. Johansson. Uh it's not saying that he'd go one way or the other. Uh I don't know. I don't think anybody knows. But um we may end up right exactly where where where we are, but it's still going to be
at 33. So um again, the fund can always go down, but I'm prepared to make a motion to have a uh uh find a date here for a special meeting uh in accordance with u whatever the statute uh states and within the timeline that we need to
make. Which means we have a window of about three or four days to do it in four days. Better get working to to vote after Jake back. Chairman point of clarification if I can.
So we just voted on on the nine other items or did we not vote on that yet? No. Uh we have not had that vote. We've had a motion in a second on but we had a vote on the fire services. Right. The vote was to uh
Right. And it was a it was a tie so it failed. Yeah. So why are we having another special meeting? I don't I I just don't understand. We still need another motion. That's why if the motion is in the opposite and the vote stays the same, we're at a
stalemate. That's what they're the way I'm looking at it. Oh, if if this next vote, you're talking about the one we haven't had yet. No, the fire services one. If let's say we flipped if there was a motion to go to roll back, let's assume, right? We still be at a 33 failed vote,
provided everybody voted the same. Correct. And then we're still stuck. But but I I don't see it as stuck. We we had a vote. It's it failed. So now let's have a vote on the other nine items and that either goes up or down. So if it
failed then it's roll back. We're we're at the rate that it was that presented by staff, right? No. No. I think for this you have to have an affirmative vote. Mr. Assassi, Mr. Dyer, can you jump in on that one?
Do you need We've already the council already voted on this once. Gave some direction. Do you need an affirmative vote here? the I just conferred with our former budget director as well in all of my understanding and his understanding of
the of the statutes and the way that this is set up. This is not the budget hearing. This is not statutes prescribe how you actually do this, right? Statutes just say a rate has to be entered. It doesn't technically have to be approved by council. We've always done that because that is the best
thing. So given that there was a prior vote on a rate, if I don't have something to go off of, that's the only vote I have, right?
Can we get clarification on something that I don't want to lose? Mr. Chair, you said we don't have to take action, but you'd like for us to take action. It's always been county practice to have the trim rates set by council. The statutes don't actually dictate who sets
a trim rate. It dictates who adopts the budget, who adopts the tenative rate, that's September. Who adopts the final budget and the final rates also September. Those are the official budget adoptions. What if we take no action? What happens in the notice?
If you take no action, we still have to enter some sort of rate. I actually have uh Veronica trying to do I have Veronica trying to do some sort of research. What happens if we don't enter a number in the trim system? I think really bad things like you can't levy a tax happens. So, we would we
would have to confer with legal. Uh but I my I can be corrected and it'll probably take additional legal research, but we don't I believe legally we don't have to have a vote of counsel. We've always done that because that's the right thing to do to seek the guidance of your elected officials. So, right now
we're at a split vote and staff really doesn't have direction on what to enter as our trim rates other than the previous vote that council took. It it is the right thing to do and I don't want to see it change today tonight. Um,
you know, we had a vote on the fire fund. Now we're going to vote on everything else. Um I don't so chairman like so one of us would have to make a motion to go to the roll back rate and then it would be another probably
a tie. So that would fail and then we would have nothing for them. I'm going to hear what Ryan the law doesn't require us to have a majority vote. There is no law on setting. This is it really is the budget uh what's the legal
term? budget officer that certifies the rate. Okay. And George is the budget officer. I just conferred with the budget officer and we would enter the full rate because you don't you can't they would give the future council the more flexibility.
What would the full rate be? The 3.8412 the current rate. Okay. Flat rate. If we're stuck, Mr. Chair, if I may, if if we're stuck, then you default to that.
I do. Yes, that is that is what we're That way we can go down if that way we could go down because if you don't enter a rate, I'm pretty sure it gets implied as is. I think there are statutes and rules that do that, like not complying with trim statutes. There's penalties to that. And if you
don't enter a rate, it could be bad as in no taxes levied bad. I'm not 100% certain. So, we'd have to enter something and we would enter the the current rate, the current rate, even though it failed.
Mr. Chair, with that being said, I think the motion that I have in play right now is acceptable one because we do have some agreed upon roll backs in there. Let's vote on those. That way, those roll backs are advertised accordingly.
If we are still stuck in fire services, then staff has to do what staff has to do. But later, well, we could always go down. Um, so I think we should take action on the motion that's on the on the floor, Mr. Chair. Okay. You're calling the question. The
question and the motion is that the other nine rates are uh trim rates are accepted as advertised. Uh, for discussion, uh, Danny Robbins, that was that was old. Um,
Don Dempsey, is that old? Okay, I'm going to dump it. Uh Chris, would you call the role, please? You cl just clarify the motion once more. Yes, the motion is for the other nine funds to be accepted as as published. Some are
at roll back, some aren't. They're on they're right in front of us. Everything but the fire services fun. Got it. I think you have a public comment card before I call the vote. I don't have any comment. Did you just give me this, David?
No, I didn't. Oh, really? We have a public comment by John Nicholson. You have 30 seconds, give or take. Uh, yeah. you missed me on three and
then you missed me on the last vote. Um, yeah, the public has a right to speak. I don't understand why there's a problem because if you want the roll back, you can still vote the roll back. It doesn't wipe out
the roll back. But if you put the roll back in, it wipes out all your discussion because you have nothing you can do. Now you don't mind feeling on roll back, but Asher 7 years and we were devastated. 27% tax increase. All right?
It's not going to happen to you guys, okay? But that's where I come from. I don't want to be boxed in to where you cannot buy a new police car, you cannot fix a road, you cannot pave the street because there's no money because you
hate roll back. at least give yourself the option as David said to discuss these. All right? Because if you go back to roll, if you go to roll back, you're going to have a 33 and it goes to staff and you really don't want to do that.
Not after all these years. So go with the high number and you can always lower it. You can't raise it, but you can always lower it. Thank you. Chissa, would you call the role please? Mr. Dempsey
the other to approve the other nine funds. Yes. Yes. Mr. Kent. Yes. Mr. Reinhardt. Yes. Mr. Robbins. Yes. Mr. Santiago. Yes. Mr. Brower. Yes. So, the other nine rates are
approved unanimously. 6 to zero. And I may. You may. One other thing that I think we can get consent on. Do you want the 6 pm or would you like to potentially revise it at least for the day meeting so that you have a smaller gap between the six hour
limit and the budget hearing? Oh, it would be 501 officially. Yeah. What date? Uh the dates are here for the council meeting days. Uh and it would be 501
September 4th and September 16th. The law reads must be held after 5. So that's 501. We're here for meetings anyway and then we have to wait till 600. Now we just have to wait till 5. 01. 01. Okay. I have a motion to accept that
time. Motion to change that time to that time. Second. Motion by Vice Chair Reinhardt. Second by Councilman Robbins. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries six to zero.
All right. So, we have nine rates and uh a potential discussion on a special meeting. Well, let's if we could let's talk about that. Yeah. So, council can direct it. You need it by August 4th.
Um we can notice it tomorrow morning. you're comfortable with having it done at a special meeting, that particular fund. Okay. And Jake isn't Jake isn't back till the 29th though, right?
Yeah. When is Jake get back? And then I um Don won't be here between that date and the 4th. So we're still six. But what but worst case it'll just default back to the county manager. goes to the flat rate or we can just have
somebody um end this right now. Well, let me if I could just interject like I would not put your manager in a position of setting the rate. I mean, you've historically made that decision as the elected representative.
Chairman, you all know where I stand on this. I don't It's dangerous to put George in that position. I'm going to make uh I was on the winning side of this. I make a motion to reconsider that uh fire service rate. Is there a
second? Second. Chairman, you call the question. Chrisph, would you call the the role? And your motion is to reconsider the fire services fund only. Yes. To keep it at uh to move it to flat rate. Correct.
Okay. And this way we don't have to have a special meeting. I'm unless I am uh moved tremendously, I'm still going to be for roll back, but this takes it off of George's uh shoulders. It's I think it's grossly unfair to I don't think you need to call the role.
All in favor of that motion say I. I. Any opposed? I So it passes 4 to two. But now that was just a motion to reconsider. Now I make a motion to um have the fire service rate at the flat rate. Is there a second? Second.
Chairman, call the question, please. All in favor say I. I don't think we need a roll call. I. Any opposed? I. So, same fortitude. We'll come back. See what you started, Jeremy. You can't talk to him.
Item five, review of the updated echo direct county expenditure. Brad, you're back again. Yes, sir. So, this was included in your packet. It's a recommendation uh for nine new projects at 12 sites for $5 million. Again, this is a five-year
plan. So, it's a five-year rolling plan. Um the descriptions of the projects are in there, and I'm here to answer any questions you may have. Motion to approve. Count. Second. Okay. We have a motion to approve as presented by Vice Chair Reinhardt and
the second comes from David Santiago for discussion. Councilman Santiago. Oh, no. Sorry. Okay. Any discussion? Okay. The vote is uh to approve the uh recommended uh echoed direct county expenditures. Um
all in favor say I. Any opposed? And that carries six to zero. Five to zero. And we'll get his vote when he comes in. Um, meantime, let's move on to item six,
budget resolution, appropriation of the community development block grant, disaster recovery grant for hurricane Milton recovery. Donna Butler. Motion to approve. Did you say that? I did.
Motion to approve as presented by uh Vice Chair Reinhardt. Is there a second? Second to approve item six. Um second was by David Santiago.
Do you have any public participation on this one? Okay. Uh Danny, we voted on item five uh five to zero to approve the updated echo direct county expenditures. Are you for or against?
So it's six to zero. Okay. We're now on item six, the budget resolution appropriation of the community development block grant disaster recovery grant and the motion $133.5
million. Uh, the motion to approve as presented was made by Vice Chair Reinhardt, second by David Santiago. Any discussion, questions? All in favor say I. I. Opposed.
Item six. Well done, Donna. Item seven, resolution awarding non-exclusive commercial solid waste collection and disposal franchise to FCC Environmental Services. Motion to approve. Second. Motion to approve by Robin,
second by Is that you? Pardon? Great job, Ben. Second was by Matt. Any dis discussion? Danny Robbins? I'm just on there for the next uh motions for the next 10 items, sir. Okay.
Did you want to talk your way out of this? I don't I know not to talk. All in all in favor of uh item seven, the non-exclusive uh rate say I. I. Any opposed?
Motion carries five to zero. We'll catch him up when he gets back. Item eight is also a resolution awarding non-exclusive commercial solid waste collection and disposal franchise to my dumpster guy for approve 4,000. Motion to approve by Robbins, second by
Vice Chair Reinhardt. Any discussion? Danny Robbins. I'm going to clear you. Okay. Um. All in favor say I. I. I. Approve. Five to zero. Item nine, resolution awarding
non-exclusive commercial solid waste collection and disposal franchise to SJP Enterprises. Motion to approve. Second. Motion by Councilman Robbins to approve. Second by Matt Reinhardt.
Any discussion? Don Dempsey. Okay. Um we're voting on item nine and then we'll back up two for you. Item nine. Uh all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And that carries six to zero. The previous one, David. Item eight.
I six to zero. in the previous one. Item seven, FCC. Oh, you guys are fast. Okay. Oh, I I like that. Think that was it. Okay.
Seven. Eight. Nine. Where's my paper? Item 10 is a proposed vacation of a portion of Plat with Triangle Estates Map.
Okay. Okay. Pause one second. We had a public comment on item eight on my dumpster guy. Uh Robert Brown, are you still here?
Robert. Okay. Okay. Then we're back to item uh 10, proposed vacation of a portion of Plat with Triangle Estates. Good evening. Move to approve. Second. That was You convinced me with the good
evening. Motion to approve by David Santiago, second by uh Danny Robbins, questions. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Then that motion carries six to zero.
Item 11 is a proposed vacation of a portion of plat within third addition to Carnell. Motion to approve. Second. Motion to approve by Danny Robbins, second by Matt Reinhardt.
Um, all in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 6 to zero. Item 12, another proposed vacation of a portion of a plat of sanctuary subdivision. Motion to approve. Second. Motion to approve by Vice Chair
Reinhardt. Second by Councilman Ryan Robbins. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That vacation is approved. Six to zero. Okay. Item 13.
Um, reszoning from rural agriculture A2 zoning classification to the transitional agriculture A3 zoning classification located on the north side of West M Minnesota Avenue in the Arn
City area. Um, uh, Clay Irvin, director of growth and resource management. I would also like if, uh, council will allow me to discuss item 14 at the same time since they occur to a similar situation. Uh, one is an applicant initiated. Uh, the second
is a administrative effort. So, um, before you today is an a request to reszone properties north of Minnesota in the Orange City area. As you can see by these outlined areas, uh these are odd-shaped lots that are actually a
combination of multiple 25- ft lots that were historically uh subdivided back in the 1920s. The uh applicant and uh owner are requesting a resoning because as you can see here, we have kind of a a
mishmash of zonings out there. There's some higher density with the R six. There is A2, A3, R4 throughout there. They are looking to take the 5 acre parcel and be able to go and and create it as a unified piece. There will be a
separate request to do a vacation of the platted paper roadway there and be able to utilize it for first a single family home and then in the future potential for subdivision of the property. This explains what the uh underlying 1925
subdivision plat looks like and what they're trying to accomplish. Uh we are pointing out the two separate applications Z2502 uh is addressing those two parcels or actually three parcels there. Z25007
that piece of land is subject to agenda item 14. It is a I would say a ghost ownership in that the original owner has not paid any taxes since at least 1999 the records show. But every year there's
been tax certificates. So there's no way for the property to a sheet to county ownership. And it also makes it difficult because the applicant may want to try and acquire it but they have to work through everybody who has the tax certificates to be able to acquire it. And as we were
looking, we did not want to create a piece of spot zoning on a parcel that is already non-conforming. So this will be able to provide for a uniformity in regards to zoning. It will provide for an opportunity for the owner to be able to come in, aggregate the
land, and come forward with a project that would be in compliance with our zoning regulations and would be providing for an opportunity for use of these prior, you know, platted lots that were sitting relatively dormant. This went forward to your planning and land
development regulation commission. Um it was um there was public participation. Uh going back to the property that is um at the corner northwest corner. It's kind of L-shaped over there. That owner
was concerned about impacts on wildlife vegetation and the overall area. Um, she spoke through an attorney who identified some concerns because her existing home is 10 ft from the property line where it's at, where it shares with
this property. Uh, I will allow the applicant to address what's going on there, but there was an indication that they would be willing to work with that person for a land swap to address some of their concerns with the separation. In regards to the environmental issues and concerns, development of these
properties would require review for gopher tortoise would require review of historic and specimen trees, wetlands, those types of things. So, we are uh confident that if there is any critical habitat or anything of that nature, it would be addressed through the
development process. So after everything was said and done, your planning and land development regulation commission recommended to approve the property for the resoning from A2 to A3 on this property and the administrative resoning that accompanies
it with agenda item 14. Uh the property owner and uh applicant are here and we will hear from them right now. Uh this is motion to approve. Wait, wait. Uh, also this is requires ext. It's exparte
communication. Clay, can I first say how good-looking all these guys are? I take my motion back. Joking. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, this is my daughter's property. She intends to divide it hopefully in the future to maybe two or three to make it a pretty much a family compound. Um, and uh I
will be uh conflicting on the vote. So, I will not be voting on this topic. As it pertains to what Clay mentioned with the neighbor with the house, we've been her name is Gretchen. We've been communicating with her. We intend to try to find a way to work with her to kind of give her a little bit more separation
uh to do a land swap. That's our plan. But we're going through this process first because it's so cumbersome. But hopefully with her attorney, we'll be able to do some type of land swap and give her some more buffer. That's that's the plan at least if we can come to an agreement. Thank you. I'll answer any questions if there are any. Chairman, I got about 15.
Did you have any? Okay. I I have one. We We vote to do this all the time to allow somebody to uh build a home in an area that was um platted in a way that the law doesn't agree with
now. So, I don't have a problem with that. What I what I worry about is it essential to you for this vote to allow it to be subdivided. That would be my concern because the neighbors in the area are concerned about it's a rural
area about packing as many houses in as possible. Um I can vote for your daughter to build a house there. I'm concerned with future subdivision. Sure. I mean thank you, Mr. Chair. I think it's a good question. I think that the intent is probably to split it into two. That's currently the intent, which
would probably make it two and a half acres, a little bit over two and a half acres each, which complies very easily with what the neighboring community is across the street. I think there are like 80 by 125 lots. I may be wrong. Um, but, um, we don't intend to do that. It's going to be acreage. And then I
know you're a big fan of maintaining, you know, one plus acres or higher. Um, it'll certainly be within that realm easily. No, no, no, uh, several houses in there. Okay. And I'll second Mr. Robins motion.
I think Danny Robbins made a motion to approve before anybody ever spoke. And Matt, you waited and made the second. Um, any other uh, this is quasi judicial. I'll just say
I've had no exparte communication. Yeah, neither have I. Did Don say no? Okay. All right. Um I don't see any discussion. All in favor say I. I.
Any opposed? And the motion carries five to zero. That also we have need a separate vote for agenda item 14 because that is a administrative resoning of that small parcel. Motion motion to approve 14 and second.
Motion to approve 14 by uh Mr. Kent. And the second was by Vice Chair Reinhardt. Yes, sir. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I.
Any opposed? Motion carries 5 to zero. See, wait a second. I want to make sure we're Yeah. Santiago Ranch. Item 15 is a resoning from rural
agriculture A2 zoning classification to the transitional agriculture A3 zoning classification for north to Mocha Drive and Dillion Springs off of Highway 11. Correct. Mr. Chair, real quick, just interject. Sorry. Just for item uh 14 for the
record that Mr. Santiago also recused himself on that item. I don't know if that was mentioned in 13. I didn't hear if it was. Okay. Yeah, the vote was five to zero. We didn't He didn't vote. Barely looked at us. Okay. Item 15. Good evening, Clay Irvin, director of
growth and resource management. Again, this is a similar type of application in that we have a property owner who is seeking to take an oddshaped piece of land and be able to divide it so that he can create two separate lots. The current zone is A2 and it requires a
minimum of five acres. uh he's looking to go to the A3 zoning with his intention of just splitting it into two lots. So it basically you would be seeing a parcel that's 2.81 acres and another parcel at 2.69. Um this also went to your planning and
land development regulation commission with a recommendation of approval from your staff. There was no public comment. Um and so therefore it is coming with to you with a recommendation of approval uh uh unanimous from the PLDRC.
If there's any questions we'll be glad to answer. Also quasi judicial is there any exparte to declare anybody? No. Uh Councilman Robbins motion to approve. Motion to approve uh this change. Is there a second?
Second. Second by Vice Chair Reinhardt. Any discussion? Danny Robbins? No. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 6 to zero. Item 16, reszoning from the light
industrial and general commercial zoning classifications to the transitional agriculture. Why can't we get more of these? I heard that. Um, zoning located at 2110 North US Highway 17 Seville. Good evening. uh CLA, director of growth
and resource management. This is addressing an issue where we had an existing single family home on this property and it was zoned for industrial development. Um the owner of the home and property would like to continue to utilize it for a single family home and and do some improvements and expansion
to it. Unfortunately, because it is a use that's not allowed in that zoning, it's considered a non-conforming use and it cannot be expanded. This will address that issue and allow for the property owner to continue to use the home as a single family and be able to get permits and expand it and be able to operate it
until he say feels that he needs to. Uh so again, this went to your uh planning and land development regulation commission with a recommendation of approval from staff. It's coming to you with a unanimous recommendation. There was no public comment on it. And this will address uh the property owner's
inability to update and expand his existing single family. Motion to approve. Second. No exparte for me. Motion to approve by Robins. Second by who was a second by? Kent. Kent. And no exparte from anyone.
Okay. Myself included. U all in since there's no discussion. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. It's approved. Six to zero. Item 17 is a special exception for a mini warehouse on general commercial B4
zone property between South High Street, Gale Drive and SR-15 in in the land. Um, and I think a representative of the of the owner is here. Um, go ahead, Clay.
Clay, director of growth and resource management. Uh the subject property being zoned before the type of use which is a self- storage facility requires approval of a special exception. Uh there are specific criteria that they have to follow. They're established in your zoning ordinance. An application
was submitted including a conceptual site plan that is included in your packet. Here gives you an idea of what's going on. We have a three-story building that would be utilized for self storage. Additionally, there would be outside storage for vehicles and and RVs as well.
uh it went forward with a recommendation of approval to your planning and land development regulation commission. Uh this is a call it a revamp. There was a previously a similar special exception approved for
this property that unfortunately lapsed. So they're coming back doing some modifications and it is a little bit more intensive than the previous one, but it complies with all of your requirements that you have in your zoning ordinance and land development regulations. As we can see, this is a special exception. Once this is approved, they would then have to
process a final site plan in order to actually begin development on the site. Uh again, it's coming forward to you with a recommendation of approval from your planning and land development regulation commission without any comments. And um if there's any questions for staff, we're available and
the applicants representatives are here as well. I I have one question for you, but this is a quasi judicial hearing. Does anybody have any exparte to declare? None. No. No, neither do I. I'm just curious. Is it the same owner that laps or is this a different owner? I don't different owner.
You think it's different? Okay. Well, those again the property owner and the actual developer maybe they're going to be separate people. So, what has happened is you may have a a continuous land owner, but whoever's the contract purchaser wanting to do the may be different.
Chairman, motion to approve. Second. Second. Motion to approve by Troy Kent and a second by uh Councilman Santiago. Any other questions? Michael, it doesn't look like you're going to get to speak. Um all in favor say I.
I. Any opposed? And another mini warehouse is approved. I've item 18. It's a special. We already disposed of 18 and 19 is postponed to
August 5th. That brings us to item 20. The uh uh we need one person appointed to the Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida. And Carissa, I understand any council person can make that nomination.
did uh I have two that I could make, but I'll defer to the rest of the council if anyone has a uh a person they'd like to recommend. Any uh just looking through I see a person that has uh health uh background.
Felia Oan Fedum I do um want to also bring something to your attention. So, this came to council on March 4th of 25 and Miss Sarah Buddy
was appointed and she um decided to um that she didn't want to be appointed um to this board after researching I guess what it entailed. Previous to that, Mr. Matthew Romnik did serve on the board and then you do have three additional
individuals um who applied as well. So you're telling us we need two appointments? You need one appointment. Oh, okay. Uh Don Dempsey, I know Matt Romick's a uh a wellrespected attorney over on the east
side, so he not as much as me. He's he's a good guy. Um I I would recommend him an attorney. Yes. Well respected. Well I know it's comparatively speaking. I mean
does he less less loable as than others? Yeah. All right. That's a different chart. You use a different chart for that for the classification of attorneys. Now he he looked good. Uh Felia looked good. Arthur Burns I know. Uh, and he
looks good, but I will I already said I would defer to somebody else. So, what is the name? Second. Second. Matt Ramen is That's a motion, right? Yep. Yeah. Was that a motion? I'll second it. Yep.
Okay. Second. Motion for Matt Romanic by Don Dempsey, second by David Santiago. Any any questions? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? And Matt Ramenick is appointed to the Health
Planning Council. All right. Um, do we have public participation? Does, let me ask the council. It's been a it's been a long time here. Would anybody Does anybody need a break? We
could take a five go through it. Okay, we have one uh person for public comment. John Nicholson, I can still hear you. John, you've already heard it already. Anyway, John Nicholson, Dakota Beachside. Um I don't know if any of you have been on
A1A lately. It is a mess. Um they talked about these chains that everybody would love them. Nobody does. Not a single person I've talked to anywhere likes this wavy thing. They don't like the idea that you got a car coming this way and a car coming this way and they have
to curve to face each other with no dividing empty space so they could hit each other. It is really not good. Um now the landscaped ISB terrible landscaping. It would be great
in Canada, not bad in Alaska. uh for a beach it's horrible. It is just not a beach landscaping. So um then the beach approaches ISB is done. Not a single plant, not a
tree, nothing living on that approach. All right. is the other second approach that we have. Uh you put one at the far north uh where Bell Air Plaza is all cement. All these sand dunes were
replaced with cement. Uh within 6 months the uh metal started rusting, the plants died. So it's just cement. Now you're going to go into uh Silver Beach and repeat it all over again. So the county
is either deliberately or inadvertently uh creating a horrible tourist and tourism is our main industry. They expect it to be attractive and we are not making it attractive. We are not
making it safe. So I'm asking you to pay attention because I've had at least six people say, "Well, I wish I had known. Well, I did let you know. I don't know if we're going to get those ballards, but they're supposed to come in on her plan for uh uh A1A.
120 ballards, those are those metal poles in the ground at every intersection for seven intersections where everybody travels. And you know, there's not enough space anyway. It's only a 5ft sidewalk, so they have to go into the street. It's not a good idea to ask people to go into the street. Um,
secondly, uh, I think it's been 20 years, maybe 30 years. There was a discussion about how many firemen should be on a, uh, a house. All right. Daytona Beach and the county both had two. The Daytona Beach was going to three. Daytona Beach is now
at four. Two in, two out. It's a safety issue. You guys are at three. You've been at three for 20, 30 years. You're supposed to be going to four. That's why I'm opposing cutting back. You have supposedly you were supposed to
go. So, do you still want to go? It's a safety issue. Um, there's a big article on the don't get because I don't know anything about computers. The digital infrastructure data centers, it's a big thing. Are we prepared for those? Thank
you. Thank you, Don. Is that left over? Okay. Okay. That takes us to uh closing remarks by uh county manager.
Yes, sir. Mr. Chair, first off, uh just address quickly the two in, two out that was mentioned. That's of course two firemen in, two firemen out. That doesn't necessarily have thing to do with you how many on a necessarily a truck because we respond with multiple
trucks. Remember I said we had uh 20 fire stations. The average house fire uh usually is manned with at least 12 to 14 firemen when there's an actual fire. So they're obviously coming from multiple stations, multiple trucks. So the two in two out is our rule. we just get there a
little bit differently than a more compact city which can put more on a truck because they have fewer stations, fewer trucks. So, we're coming at a little bit differently, but it's the same same idea. And uh we have uh in the
time I've been here gone from uh well, actually in the time I've been in the county, you know, we in far as 98, you had one professional in a station and 400 volunteers. So you're now at and just in my time as manager, we've gone
to the three uh professionals and a fire and you have a couple of stations with four and you have floaters and other stations. So the the uh chief uh and his team, they go ahead and put
people in those stations based on what they see for a need. And you do have one fire station as he's mentioned that gets about a call every day and a half and that's the one that has two. So, uh, and that's the one we're looking at moving, by the way, that was discussed to an area that's more advantageous and would
get more use. That's in the in the works, but I just don't want to think we're just sitting there. George, question for you. So, you know, Orman for a long time had three and they complained because the county had two and Orman had three. But if you have three on a truck, can't two still deal with the fire and
you have the one out at the truck, the third one, you could, but I'm just saying that that the standard fire practice is two in, two out. But, uh, again, it could be two and it could also be, you know, there might be other people on the scene. Sometimes there's a sheriff's deputy who's gotten there and then sometimes
there's other people but but the standard is two in two out but we just get there differently uh because we man stations differently and they and I just want to point that out and uh uh and so we made great strides but remember like
adding a person is adding to 20 stations so it's not adding you know when you're doing that you're adding actually think about that for a minute for three shifts so that's a 60 person swing when when you do that and and so we have and we have done that and we're continuing to
work on it. I mean I always talk to the fire guys in terms of an evolution and we and we evolve with the needs of the community and and that's what we're trying to do. I just again I didn't want that to go un said. Can I ask a question to that? Sure. Like did Mr. Yes.
What happened to the evolution of the volunteer? Well, caveman I think a lot of became professional and again I I I could theorize on some things but volunteerism in this country
is down in general and and to have that con you know to have that consistency. Uh I will say uh the last time I checked still like a very large portion of the United States like uh twothirds of the land mass of the United States is is
still protected by volunteer environment. So this county we have a very advanced system and and it's we should be proud of it and again we got to keep evolving it and keep it going. But to say you know it's behind it would be very inaccurate. We're we're I think
a cutting edge uh and and we've worked real hard. But no, the volunteers uh we have a handful and some cities have a handful. They're still there. They often do other duties similar to what you have in the sheriff's department where they'll do traffic control. They'll do
other uh duties to help out at a fire scene. Um and some I think start that way and then eventually might go to fire school and become a professional. But again, back in the in the time of when we were talking, they could actually be
a volunteer. Uh that was kind of at the tip of the spears, they would call it. Uh those days are gone. Uh the law laws are different now. And they have to be a professional fireman um with certain training uh to be at the tip. So just
another point and and uh and then of course there's different fires, you know, I mean woodland fire is different than house fire and it's treated a little bit differently. Okay. The other thing uh I just wanted to update quick on the Miller Lake. Uh again, you know,
I think I mentioned it last time, but I want to repeat that, you know, Ben and the team have been working the issue, but it's not an issue that has an overnight solution. So, uh we have met with the Department of Transportation. We have met with the city of Deerry. We
and these are just not just meetings. They're moving forward with trying to get u I think mentioned uh rightway or some sort of a an easement to get uh a more direct route uh through uh
Book Energy uh land where they have that uh big um solar farm. There's also a tower, but uh the idea being to get us a more direct route uh to manage the lake and the idea is not to wait for it necessarily to flood. However, that has to be permitted with a
St. John's water management district to and how they're going to allow us to manage that lake. It's not something that Ben Barlet or George Rectum, you know, can just decide to do. It is a lake and they control lakes and they control lake levels and uh but we are
prepared, you know, in this season because we knew it was going to take time. This is not something I we can snap our fingers and do. So, we're already prepared with the Department of Transportation, City of Deair. Uh, yeah, if if the lake gets to the point where
it's threatening access, uh, Ben will ask permission for a pumping authorization from St. John's should that occur. Okay. And right now I could tell you that the the uh heat keeps
track and the latest uh readings for that lake it's actually gone down 5 in even though we've been having the rainstorms we've been having. So it continues to recede. Uh and again I know that it's probably in their you know they're looking at it probably overall
higher than it was in those drier years but we are at a wet period and and so so what we're looking at will be you know how can we maintain access should it go up. This idea also somehow we control the permits of those
other places is not accurate either. Uh when those other places Yes. We did not uh we didn't um object and that they bring that up all the time. Uh to the one permit, but there's other permits
that they're talking about. Well, while we can weigh in and say what our thoughts are, and I actually asked Ben to do that on one of the ones that they mentioned, or maybe both, uh depending if they apply. Uh but again, it's ultimately not our decision at that
point. It's the decision of uh St. John's. So, I just want to point that out, but we will look at what they brought up about the Publix and the big lots. Um, I'm not so sure they're accurate about the hospital because the hospital is in a whole another basin and
that water goes to uh if it's what we're thinking. We're studying that. Actually, Ben brought that out and when he was up there, but uh that water uh that's down in where the Advent Hospital is would eventually move towards I4 and and goes
out uh a chain of lakes out through Deltona or been pumped down the uh I4 right away, but it does not head in the direction of uh of um the Waw Wa Lake. So, um, but I just want to get an
update, uh, on those items that were said and we're not ignoring it. Uh, it is one of many, many places we are working on. Um, and thank you, Mr. Robbins, and and others for U. Santiago for pointing that out that yes, there's
millions of dollars and more coming. There'll be more in the next uh, uh, council meeting as well. So, we're moving a lot of projects along. I'll be looking at my staff. actually probably be um adding some key people into the
staff as we roll into over $400 million in work uh that's coming. So, thank you. A quick question and I appreciate that update. Um I want to make sure I understood you uh correctly on the on
the pumping. Um we I think that we can't pump on our own. Correct. We have to get permission of FDOT and right in the case in in this case the that to turn on the pump you know it's an emergency authorization
from St. John's then and and of course here because of where we're pumping we have to work with uh the uh Department of Transportation because they hold the line and the pathway to get it into the Deair system and of
course um and that so that's why uh DOT and Deerry are partners in this operation. Now, in the future, we're working with the department. Uh they may help us with the funding. Uh but if we get a clear shot uh kind of to the due
west as we're looking at to the river, uh that would take the berry out of the equation and leave uh and then again, I think what my goal would be to have a lake management system in place so I don't necessarily have to get with St.
John's if they preset an elevation and say and and let's see some of the deerry ponds are like that there's already an elevation set by St. Sean's and they'll say when it gets to here this elevation you can turn the pump on. I don't have to get an emergency authorization like I
do today in in this particular lake until they set that elevation. And to get an emergency authorization you have to wait till the water is close to um putting the road in danger. They have to def they have to say what the
emergency and we would have to ask and it would probably be in this case uh access because we know that a certain elevation uh they they're going to lose access along that north side. Why
this would be St. John's I guess. Why why wouldn't St. John's allow us to avoid the emergency and pump it down before the storm? Because the other side of the story is is that St. St. John's is in charge of keeping water in the lake. They they they view it differently than we're viewing it. Remember, their job is to
keep fresh water available to us. So, they like when lakes are are full. That is so, you know, we're coming at this from one direction, they're coming at it from another. You know, we want the water. We want the water there to recharge. We want the water because uh you got Blue Springs around the corner
that has a minimum flow that they have to set and they want. And by the way, you know, that spring is meeting that minimum flow for the last couple of years because you've had this kind of rain flow uh rainfall. You see, so they again they they don't want water moved
out of basins, closed basins. They want them there. They they they want a healthy lake and and so they again they they realize that there's a balance and they don't want people necessarily flooded, but they again they going to value that. They're going to view that
lake differently than those people that are living on that lake. Have they had to put eyes on it? Have they had a representative out there? I think they have. And I've studied it and they have people on it. And uh there are people flooded now, though.
No, they're not. There's nobody flooded on that lake. I was just out there being in their yard is not a flood. That's nature. And and they don't even consider that. They're going to look at access and they're going to look at water in their house. And the only house that was mentioned
there today is not a house. It was a trailer. That trailer was put down by the edge of the lake. We don't even know if it has a permit or not. Uh but everything else you're talking about, it's yard flooding, backyard flooding, maybe a dock. Uh but not their living living
structure. Okay. Versus the 2,000 homes, by the way, that did have water in them throughout the rest of the county and especially on the east side. So, I mean, that's the kind of the scale difference.
Okay. County attorney, have a good evening. Thank you. Uh, Don Dempsey, you're up first today. Yeah. Um, Ben, I didn't know if I could catch you. Uh, I was just wondering if there's any updates on the Lake Gertie
area basin study. Similar questions from uh locals in that area about where we are. Yes, sir. You should be seeing that one come to council here very shortly. That one is paired with um another one in the Dand Ridge area and we're waiting on a final proposal on that, but that one's
coming soon. It's a smaller basin, so it should move a lot quicker. Um and and I think the focus on that is going to be identifying which houses, you know, are vulnerable to these floods and probably, you know, should they be there or should they not be there? It's such a large
area. Moving water out of there is pretty difficult. So, I think we're going to be looking at modeling that area, seeing where the water stage is up, and seeing which properties are we're going to identify for TA on when that bas it should it should be here. You should
have the uh uh probably next month. You should have the uh in front of you for approval and then we'll kick it off and get going. And uh we already had they already that area has already been studied before, so it'll be really an update. That one's smaller one, so it should go pretty quick. Okay. And then what about the uh the
high school FFA area near the truck route? The city of Dand's doing that one that's already underway. It's part of transform 386, but it was one of their requested studies. It's already underway. And we are looking at that multiple ways. You've got a flood part of it. I
can also tell you that uh we're working with the school. They may want to relocate the farm. That may bring some other opportunities as well. I'll update you as that unfolds. and the Department of Transportation because the Department of Transportation is going to do an
intersection project with 44 and the truck route and uh they'll be uh putting in a turn lanes there. Then it may require expansion for um their storm water and they already send storm water
to that uh pond at the back of the farm. So So there be room for improvement there. Right. Well, thank you. That's all I had. By the way, it was his birthday last week. A real birthday. We missed it. Troy Kent. Thank you, Chairman. Uh, nothing. Have a
nice evening. Vice Chair Reinhardt. Nothing, sir. Have a nice evening. What is going on here? Somebody Councilman Robbins. Thank you, Chair. Sorry, guys. I'm going to break the uh streak a little bit. I just have a couple things. Uh, first and foremost, I want to thank
uh uh Ben and his crew have been uh on point. Awesome. George uh uh as well and his upper management. I'm literally sending in an email uh from constituents and we're getting not just calls and emails back, but we're
getting response times. I think we had one I was literally standing on the phone and um one of the supervisors was was on scene within 30 minutes and uh it's getting noticed in the community Ben uh George and uh people appreciate
that especially now that we're in we're in rainy season but that uh between Oakill you guys are doing a lot of work in Oakill catching some things and picking up on some things uh that are going on down there Edgewater New Smyrna uh and out in the rural portions of Sam
Sula. We we appreciate it. I just wanted to kind of pass that forward. Um, a couple things. Uh, county manager, I had um, uh, talked to earlier about getting an update for uh, bringing back that uh,
agricultural products not produced on the property. Uh, did we have a timeline or an idea on when that was possibly coming back? Uh good evening Clayman director growth and resource management that was incorporated into that larger ordinance
where we were addressing all of the uses that were from either permitted by right to either special exceptions or conditional uses. So that will be coming to you probably the second meeting in August. Okay. Thank you. The uh the ordinance already has gone through the PLDRC. There were some
comments from the members of the PLDRC. Oh, the fir pardon me, excuse me. It's going to be the first meeting in August. Okay. All right. Can you send me uh Clay when you get a chance the notes uh from PLRDC? Yeah. Uh on on everything. Yes, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Um also too, uh council, I'll probably need your help uh with this one uh for sure for for a workshop. Just a a quick overview. Um there's been some uh development in the city uh uh of New
Simra Beach uh and especially in around Glenco and 44 and u I'm getting a lot more complaints and I went down there and ate lunch a couple times and and watched um an increasing uh amount of vehicles in the last let's say 6 months
to to a year utilizing uh Glen Co uh in New Simra Beach uh southbound. For those uh who are not familiar with Gleno, it's one of a total of of three roads. Uh there's Gleno, Old Mission, and and US1 that go in between 44 and
442. So, uh ultimately, uh at the end of the day, uh was trying to figure out how we can leave traffic on, uh Gleno, but also kill a couple birds, uh in the process
of doing so. And what I would like to do is uh make a motion to talk about or to have a transportation workshop. Um and there's some possible dates. I'd like to to try to do it, guys, to not only address the
Glenco area, but incorporate um uh promoting uh industry and industrial. I know that was a goal, Mr. Santiago, a few meetings ago. And a goal this council is is promoting industrial uh areas, any of these space overlay areas.
I have one of the the the largest ind contiguous industrial area in southeast Felia, which I believe we can alleviate some of this traffic and also uh improve possibly Old Mission Road south of Josephine to Park Avenue where that industrial uh area is. Uh it would kill
a couple uh birds in terms of uh promoting industry. uh as it's designed uh possibly improving storm water traffic flow uh improving uh traffic safety on Gleno but also to the the ditches on uh Old
Mission are are are very deep uh and there's been some some traffic fatalities over the years but also too there's been some emails from Mr. Gunther uh and and um I hope everybody's reading them. I think there is some validity to them and I would like to
have a discussion with this whole scenario. It's complex but there is a southeast chamber summit on October 23rd. They would like to be included if we can have a transportation workshop prior to that summit. So, I've been
given update to the chamber uh on the uh progress that we're making in Southeast Felia, but also gives them an opportunity to weigh in on any additional needs uh that we may miss and uh yeah, that's um chair, would you like me
to add something to that? Yeah, go ahead, David. Um thanks, Danny. I I think if you want to add the element of the light the industrial type of stuff and it's it's kind of tied into transportation. Um I think that's an important element to it. Um but maybe we could also include if
it's not too complex with too many participants um someone from our economic team whether it's or something like that. See what do we need to do to kind of grease that? So, and and no, AB, absolutely, David, you're and you're correct, but we have um and and during this meeting, the
whole goal of this meeting is to look at funding sources, right? We're going to need funding sources if we're going to improve um Old Mission Road, right? And uh and and and why I want to get the ball rolling and I since several things are currently under design, Tad put out
a a great email today outlining some approximate costs and how we can possibly achieve them. And we have 5 million, which is just a drop in the bucket of new money, not the 5 million C council approved uh last year for traffic safety improvements, but this is
budgeted in this year's budget. We can appropriate that for um uh projects, but also to talk about possibly bonding uh county manager, was it the gas tax fund? You said pos we needed a funding source
in Right. Uh, I think I can correct the exact year, but back in the early 2000s, we uh we bonded uh uh we did a $65 million bond issue. Uh we intended to pay it back with impact fees, but uh it
was guaranteed using gas tax and uh and in fact because impact fees uh went away for a while in some cases during the crash uh we used uh gas tax, but we actually got getting that paid
off. So you are at a point where if you wanted to uh do another bond issue for roads, uh we could uh look at doing that. I definitely would like to incorporate that and Mr. Kent uh too. I think we were on the same page. Um you guys had done this in Orand about
looking at transportation. Uh I got to see if I can pull up your model unless you have it archived somewhere. Um where we can really chip away at some of these projects uh because I know all of our districts need them and it's a major thing. But uh is there any dates that we
can uh collectively we have some time so October 23rd it's going to be around the corner here though. Would would anybody be open to uh sending this to staff to look at some dates and I could I think we can probably get this done guys in two three hours tops. Um but I'll leave
my my schedule open. Um and I'll can try to accommodate I'll just say we've been here three hours already today. I mean, I think we could probably get it done in a lot less time than that. And give me some dates cuz as long as it's like a 4pm meeting, I'm good.
I'm good uh with uh an evening workshop. Uh council. Yes. So, just make let's make it a a motion that staff will bring back dates for a transportation workshop slashpromoting
uh industrial uh areas and storm water economic uh analysis of how to promote that. So, it could be all three of those are important. I might get it done in 3 hours, but I'm good with that of having
staff bring us back some dates in uh and and also guess September. Yeah, I'd say um I'd say probably September and let's get with the Southeast Fuchsia Chamber um and before their summit and make sure uh
you know we get them on board and their economic development team. Is the direction for countywide, Danny? I just want to make sure. I know you mentioned a couple of uh communities, but is the direction to look at this countywide? Yeah, this is going to be for for all council members, but I'm I'm trying to tackle this this project. Uh
but if anybody has any other ideas specifically Yeah. And then I'll support whatever you know is feasible for you guys. I mean, we got to work. This is not going to get done just by me. So, uh I'll I'll be there for you guys. Um, but also to staff if if there's any job
growth grants. I was trying to find some information on on on how um Park Avenue was done in the past or any storm water funds uh that may be available. But, uh, yeah, I appreciate it. If we can look at
some dates, uh, whatever whatever works for you guys. Yep, we got it. We'll put it together. And, uh, let me just make sure. Anybody opposed? No. to that. Okay. And uh
let's do it after the budget meetings September after deer season starts. Uh and uh Mr. Kent, thank you for uh for being that fourth vote today. Um be nice to get out of here if I stop talking. Thank you.
Okay. Uh Councilman Santiago. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I got three things. Um, on the Miller Lake thing, you know, they they obviously have a strategy where they come to every meeting and they bring up their issue, which I applaud, you know, their consistency. They don't stay till the
end. And and I don't think we should continue. You know, we've changed our meeting model a couple times to try to address some of their replies or commentary afterwards. I I just want to ask if staff has any of one of their emails and maybe send them the clip of
the last hour of uh of this meeting video and saying, "Hey, watch this." You might get some answers because the commentary is often that we're not doing anything or we're not saying anything or we're not addressing anything. So, let's just maybe be proactive. Say, "Hey, here's a clip of the last hour of comments that included something that's
important to you if it helps." So, I just want to throw that out there because we're accused of not doing anything. We can also put it on. We have a flood website. Okay. So, we'll we'll update it there. I I could tell they're watching because I mentioned it last time and uh and their comments I think
today were based off of what I said. Okay. The last meeting. I just want to make sure they're hearing what we're saying. They're I think they're going home and and joining the evening and uh and then either tuning us in or watching later. Later. Okay. Good. Thank you. The other thing is I want to bring back an old
issue, the hospital authority. Uh Mr. dire. We've won all the battles. The war is over. Is that accurate? West Felucia. Um, yes. Yes. Now, I recall now I think they
uh they may still try a review with the Supreme Court. I can follow up on that. Um, so that may still be one last attempt. I recall last time I had made some comments about looking at possibilities of a local bill to abolish
the West Valuchia Hospital Authority and there was a recommendation to let's wait to see how our battles went about in the the local courts. Um and um I think I'm back to that point. Um council I think we had a lot of conversation about it. Um I I think we had a couple of basic
ideas but we really never went deep into it. um that that authority, in my opinion, should be abolished, absorbed, or some type of variation of it. Their governance is just ridiculous. Um and I I don't expect us to hammer it out now,
but unless there's objection, I I'll try to get some more information and bring back to the council so we can start the dialogue. Go ahead, David. And and I excuse me for for my ignorance or not just being as familiar with it. Um, do we get to who who
assigns those people? Uh, just refresh my memory. They're voted in. Christ. Yeah. Um, okay. I'll second whatever you want to do on that. Well, I I I just wanted to get unless there's objection, I I'd like to get my ducks in a row and bring it back to you
guys is what I'm saying. No objection. Um, and then we get the process started. We the challenge is it's legis once they're gone. We use that money to pay Medicaid. Medicaid. Yes. Yes. And we Yeah. We got to get the money. So I think it needs to be that we need to
thread that needle with ideas of how do we plug the hose? And I don't know those answers yet, but I think it's worth the discussion. I think the legislaturator is open to that. Yeah, they had an audit done that that I don't think it was very favorable also. So, um, the the the doors open now that
I remembered you said wait for the legal part to pass and I'll uh I'll send somebody out tomorrow on the status. I cannot I don't believe I heard they filed yet for a Supreme Court appeal, but I'll let you know tomorrow. They're just not good stewards of the tax dollars and they need to be uh
reigned in. Um, and the last thing, Mr. Chair, if I could, Mr. Clay Irving, if you come to the podium, please, sir. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know why? Um, if those of you that don't know Clay, this is the last meeting Clay's having
with us, and uh, I wanted to personally say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I could tell you from my experience. You know, I've served in various public roles for 20 years now, and you're at the top of that list, my friend. Um,
I've seen several people do that very, very difficult job. I think George's job is the most toughest or the city manager and honestly the second toughest is yours. I'll tell you my opinion because you take a lot of public beatings that
often are not fair. Um, some of them are sometimes, you know, it's just improvements that need to be made in any organization. So, um, I've watched you since I've been a a state representative and I've said, man, that guy is good. Um, so I still feel that I wish you luck
and I thank you for your service here in Valuchia County and I hope whoever fills your shoes uh can do at least as good a job as you do. So, um, I wanted to give you the opportunity if you wanted to say anything. I don't know, Mr. Chair, it's up to you, but um, I didn't want this meeting to finish without saying my thoughts about your service and you're
going to be missed. Thank you. Yeah, probably everybody would would like to say something. I I when I was listening to you today, Clay, I I thought, is this a recording? And and if it is, I mean, you have it down so well.
You know the law. You know what you need to say. I hope you can just pass that recording on to the to the next person to have it be that clean. Um it has it has been um rather amazing to watch you
operate. sometimes you you've been uh a tremendous help to me every time I've asked you to meet me somewhere and try and help a homeowner. Didn't always work out for him because there's this thing called the law. Um but they got they got a lot of help. And um I I don't know if
you'll mind if I make your announcement for you, but Clay is buying at the elusive grape right after this meeting for anybody that wanted to take. He's part owner of that. I think running variances.
You you will be missed. Thank you. Yeah. Yes, sir. I I have to everything from our meetings in South Daytona at the at the uh mobile home park with a very very loud crowd can be.
Yes. Thank you. and uh the way you controlled that and the way you helped me through that very very early on uh to now. I I hate to spoil Troy's surprise, but Troy, I'm going to have to tell you, Troy's having the the actual uh trophy made that say his best in the business.
So, um you you truly were you truly are and uh we are going to miss you. Thank you very very much for all you've you've brought to Valition County. Thank you, Chairman. Um, thank thank you, Mr. Reinhardt, because you're you're you're right. And
um I'm beginning to think it's me, Clay. Um, I got elected to the Orman Commission. I think you stayed two years. I got elected to the county council and you stayed about two years. So, I'm I'm thinking I'm thinking it's me. But, um, in in all seriousness, I
can echo everything that was said here and I I agree with David. I think that um unfortunately the position allows whoever's in that position to take some beatings that aren't warranted and I mean what I say and I mean and I say
what I mean. Uh you are the best in the business and it's a huge loss for this county and we will feel that loss. whoever comes after you has h has a huge
void to fill. And I thank you for your years of dedicated service. I I know George had some rumblings about bringing you back for special projects and and things like that. And uh Clay, I just say, you know what, you you do you, man. You do whatever it is
you want to do. And you know, I I told my son who and I tell you this because it reminds me of of you. I he's he's got a little job at Jimmy Hula's while he's home for the summer. And I said, "Son, you listen to me. This is your number
one priority. When you leave that place to go back to college, you want them screaming and crying, saying, "No, you can't leave. We need you here." And that's how I feel about you leaving. It's like, "No, you can't leave. We we need you here. Um but I'm I'm happy for
you at the in the same sense, but selfishly I wish you changed your mind. Thank you, Sky. Can I add one more thing? I just hope you said George, you know, may have access to you, but I hope that you do provide that access. That's my ask,
right? Because that institutional knowledge is priceless. Um and we're going to need it as we proceed. So I'm not going anywhere. I'm still living in Valuchia County. Orman. Yeah. Yes. Sorry. Thank you, George. Rectimal
before he gets too far. Uh, of course, Clay hates this and because he's leaving, this is uh his penance, but um uh I of course obviously agree
with everything that has been said. Uh, I've known Clay actually we met uh back when we were a little bit different station in life and u I think it was uh going to be a um
an annexation issue with between uh Orand and and Holly Hill and and uh just enjoyed every time we met and through the years got the opportunity actually we we actually had to um
lobby his wife. Uh she was doing the uh citizens academy and uh it's how we we lured him here by working through his wife to uh get her here. Uh and of course what a coup it was to to get him.
But I have to say this and I finish with this part is as great of an employee and public servant as he is, he's that much greater of a human being and a nice guy. and to do all that and what he has to do
and what he has to put up with uh and manage the people, manage the expectations, everything out there, it's so rare to find it with such a great person and that's what you got with with Clay. So,
I think that's it for me, Mr. Chair. I want to thank uh Troy for not having public comments and Matt Reinhardt for not having public comments today, too. Recognition. Okay, Don, you keep looking like you have one last thing to say. No.
Okay. Uh then uh for me um well I was going to close the meeting but I I wanted I want to say one more thing about Miller Lake because George
you you are right and you you knew this already that they come in and they talk in the morning. It's close to their hearts and they they go home and they do listen. They're listening to everything we say right right now. And um I I was
also out there a couple weeks ago and you've been out there. You you know the you know the feeling that they have. Yeah. The mortar's not in their house. Uh but it's taken their property. It's taken docks. It's taken that mobile home
you talked about on the water's edge, but it wasn't on the water's edge when they put it there. And now it's now it's been flooded out and the guy had to move his daughter out. So, it's it's personal. Um, and I know that you understand that
and that you do have a heart for what's going on there. And I know the whole council feels it and we are, even though they don't see everything that we're we're doing, um, we're serious about trying to rectify that situation. And I wish we
didn't have to beg St. John's to to do something before we have to go in and build another temporary road. But Sure. And I and and just remind everyone too that you know, yes, I we certainly have a heart. We definitely want it uh
to be improved and it's not a new problem. It's a problem that we have worked. We bought uh um quite a bit of property and I think six homes that had previously flooded from uh other times. So again, this is uh unfortunately uh
it's a continuing problem and and uh and we're committed to trying to find like I say a solution where maybe we can manage that lake, get it to an acceptable level and uh but but I think that's where we're at with a closed basin with all
that's occurred in and around that basin. um because you definitely have uh a lot of development uh on the edge and in part of that basin. So that's that has occurred and a lot of it's been there a long time like the uh big lots
and and all that's been there as long as I've been at the county. So and it's all concrete. That's right. And maybe in some of this, and I've asked the team to look at if they are going forward and with uh some requests, maybe they can get rid of some of that asphalt that's out there and
some of the, you know, um and some of these very large parking lots. Do they have to be as big? Can we look at, you know, uh taking some of that asphalt and replacing it with smaller ponds or other things to help relieve the situation?
um at least every little bit helps and that's what we may have to do there. So at 7:25 we are adjourned.