Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. 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. Welcome to the Valuchia County Council meeting. The meeting will begin in 5 minutes. Hey, hey, hey.
Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Baby, I do it.
Yeah, baby. Hey. Hey. Hey. Welcome to the Valuchia County Council meeting. The meeting will begin in 2 minutes. Come on.
Tell He wants to find a seat. We'll get started in just a few seconds. Oh my goodness. come up in the future. Okay, we will call the uh February 17, 2026 Felia County Council meeting to
order at 4:01. We are glad that you are here. In just a minute, I'm going to ask you to stand for the uh for an invocation and the pledge of allegiance. You can stand if you care to. It's not
required. I hope you will. Um and um if you are part of a faith group who would like to participate in the invocation, please just send an an email to k green, the letter k green.org
and she will get you set up. All faith groups are are invited and um and welcomed. Um today we will have um you don't have to come up yet, but the the Reverend Alex Williams with the Dan Church of the
Nazarene in Dand for invocation. Um is uh Alex, are you here? I can't see him in the front row. Okay. You were the one I accused of being a troublemaker. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Well, we will have the invocation.
Please stand with me. >> Thank you. It's an honor to be here. God, you are full of all authority, all wisdom, and all power is yours. We're asking tonight that you would impart some of your wisdom on us as we as we
make decisions for our county. Lord, you care about these people. These are your people. You care about these proceedings tonight. And we ask for unity among this meeting tonight. Lord, we we pray for peace to come in, the peace of Christ to
calm all fears, all confusion. We pray that that this meeting would most importantly uh be about the common good of all citizens in this county. Lord Jesus, you are supreme. You are on the throne.
and we give you the glory and all the honor and all the praise is due your name. Once again, Jesus, put your peace in this place tonight. Bring your presence so that we can make the best decisions for your people. In the name
of Jesus, we pray. Amen. >> Amen. United States nation, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. Okay. And we always start our meetings
uh after the invocation and the pledge with public participation. So when I call your name, >> Mr. Chair, I need to do the roll call. >> Okay. Cararissa, would you like to call the role, please? >> Mr. Dempsey
>> here. >> Mr. Johansson >> here. >> Mr. Kent >> here. >> Mr. Reinhardt >> here. >> Mr. Robbins >> here. >> Mr. Santiago >> here. >> Mr. Brower >> here. And we Everyone is here.
Okay. So, when I call your name, please come up to the podium. There is a uh button on on the side of the podium that will make it go up and down. We need the microphone near your mouth so everyone can hear you and it will be broadcast to
uh to millions. Um you have three minutes to speak on anything that pertains to the county, something that we might be able to act on in the future. Um, so you are welcome to do that and I would just ask that you
choose to um be respectful in your language to the to the public and to those that are listening. You can say anything you want to to us. We ran for this. Uh they can take it, but please be respectful for the people that are uh
listening online when you choose your language. Um, first up, I know nobody wants to be first, and also when you come up, please tell us where you're from. You don't have to give your your whole address for reasons of safety, but let us know what part of the county from
your that you are from so your representative uh knows. First, we have Mary Dickinson. My name's Mary Dickinson and I live on Marsh Road and I have two things to say and I'm going to say it now. Under state
law, the weight limit on our substandard road is 10,500 lb, which equals 5.25 tons. Put our weight limit signs back up. Y'all took them down for your convenience. repair our roads in the
highlands. You have caused damage to move all utilities to your five-foot easement. You have caused a lot of ground movement and detrimented our homes.
And the next is the 7 cents a gallon gas tax is an illegal tax as of 2005. Rescend the tax. Now you have used taxpayer funds to do beach restoration
that were allocated for to pave every dirt road in Valuchia County by 2005. You have kept renewing this tax and now you've just renewed it again and the
dirt roads are still dirt. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Uh >> Justin Sandeski. >> Good afternoon, council. My name is Justin Sanduski. I'm a resident of the Land Highlands off of Marsh Road. I'm here today because our residential
neighborhood is being used as an unintended industrial bypass corridor, specifically along Marsh Road in Old Daytona. These roads were never designated to handle the type of heavy commercial traffic we are now experiencing. Mars Road is approximately 20 foot wide with 10ft lanes. Old
Daytona is even narrower at 18t wide with 9 ft lanes. When large dump trucks, 40 ton logging trucks travel these roads, they are forced to ride the center line to remain on pavement. This creates a daily safety hazard or blind dead corners, especially near the golf facility on Marsh Road. Passenger
vehicles are forced to come to a complete stop or pull off the roadway entirely just to allow these trucks to pass. This is not a congestion problem. It is a roadway geometry problem that makes safe two-way travel difficult when heavy trucks are present. I want to stress that the level of traffic is not how Marsh Road has historically
operated. When I moved into the neighborhood, it was a quiet and lightly traveled one. The escalation of heavy truck volume is a recent development that has occurred over roughly the last 3 to four years. I have direct visibility into this activity through residential camera coverage positioned along Marsh Road and Old Daytona. I've been able to observe consistent
commercial cutthrough traffic patterns. These trucks are not making local deliveries. They are using our neighborhood to bypass traffic controls while traveling between major corridors. Functionally, our residential roads are being treated like an extension of industrial route without the infrastructure to support that use. This
activity occurs at all hours, including 2 3 4 5 a.m. The noise wakes residents, and the vibration from loaded trucks is strong enough to rattle homes. The vibrations are not just a nuisance. They are causing physical impacts. Many homes in our neighborhood sit close to the roadway because it's a residential development, and that has never been
engineered for sustained heavy truck traffic. Residents are now observing suddenly cracks, structural stress that align with increased truck volume. We have cyclists, children, and experienced drivers in the neighborhood. Some residents are hesitant to even back out of their own driveways because of speeding heavy truck traffic on our substandard residential road. Looking
ahead, we are concerned about the future diversion impact. With the traffic signal planned for Marsh Road and 92 intersection, there's a strong likelihood that even more commercial vehicles will use our neighborhood grid to bypass the light since there are multiple entries and exit points through Dan Highlands. We are asking the council for targeted actionable relief. First,
implement weight or width restriction to proh prohibit through truck traffic on Marsh Road and Old Daytona Road. Second, install traffic calming measures such as speed tables or multi-way stop control. Third, post clearly marked no through truck signage at neighborhood access points. Industrial traffic should be redirected to appropriate corridors such
as Edison Drive Industrial Route. Residents have raised concerns for Road and Bridge County staff for several years without resolution. We are asking for intervention now before serious accident or further property damage occurs on our residential corridors. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you,
John Nicholson. John Nicholson, Daytona Beach, Beachside. Uh, actually, I remember voting for that, but I don't recall it for being for dirt roads only. So, if you would mind looking at that, if if it
if what she says is true, we have to deal with it. So uh if you could ask and find out. Uh secondly, there was an article in today's paper about seminal creating a,720 uh no yeah 1,72
square foot uh indoor facility for tourism. Uh I know we're talking about uh doing something like that in Daytona Beach. Uh we've paid a consultant to look into it. You were also looking at giving money to Orange City to help out
Sanford so that Sanford uh in tourism industry could flourish. I don't think it's our uh purview to help Sanford at the cost of uh our own city. So I wish you look at that. Um third um somebody
it's on your I think your uh consent agenda wants to donate a Vietnam wall to City Island. I wish you would pass that. I think it's a great idea that she came to the city of Daytona Beach last week or two weeks ago. Um I wish you would
pass that like 70. Uh the Ocean Center hired a uh consultant for um what Troy Kent is hoping to have uh in entertainment at the Ocean Center. Could we expand that to help all of our
cities? If there's something that could go in the Athens theater, if he something pops up in his belly wick that could help the Athens, why why not help the Athens? So, if we could look at the idea of helping the county per se rather
than just uh the Ocean Center because apparently this gentleman has farreaching uh ability to contact all kinds of people in all kinds of venues. So, if he could help all of our venues, I think it would be helpful. Uh, and lastly, I don't know if you've been down
A1A in Daytona Beach. If you think uh Orman had a hard time, you should take a look at the core area. It is all They took all the trees down and now we have like 200 signs instead of trees. All right. They just redid um the section of
uh peninsula right by the Coptic Church. They put a cement barrier in the middle of the road. So you're going down seabbze and then all of a sudden three feet out from the side you have a 12-oot lane and four feet of it has a barrier
right there. So you have to curve to your left and then curve back to your right because there's a curve in the road and those people are going to come around and all of a sudden they're going to have traffic in their lane and they have to curve to the right. So it this idea of curving back and forth, please
look in the DOT. Thank you, >> Ann Marie Willicker. Can somebody help her >> drop that? >> Nope. She doesn't need any help. >> Found it. >> Thank good deal. >> All right. Good evening. My name is Ann
Marie Willilicker. I live in Dand and I'm a regular user of the trail that runs between Gemini Springs and Ostein. So, imagine my surprise when four miles into a 12mi run on Saturday, I encountered eight new illegally installed bullards at the Courtland
Avenue crossing in Deltona. Not only are these the most dangerous style of bolards for cyclists, they are not in compliance with the Americans with Disability Act, a federal law that has existed for nearly 36 years and can be found with a basic Google search.
These openings fall 5 to seven inches short of the ADA minimum clearance and 17 to 19 in short of the FDOT Suntrail design standard minimums. photos and a copy of the Justice Department ADA complaint filed against Flush County is with Carissa.
And while I was relieved to hear this morning that the issue may be addressed soon, this should have never happened in the first place. This is 2026 and we should not still be discovering accessibility barriers after the concrete dries. This does not just
affect people who look like me. In the 20 minutes I spent documenting the site, four cyclists had to dismount because their handlebars would not fit. Two recumbent riders had to physically lift their bikes over the barriers. And a mother with a jogging stroller turned around and went home because she could
not safely carry her children and her ch and her stroller over the barriers on the side of a busy road. In Valuchia County, 12% of residents have a mobility related disability. 25.7 are over the age of 65 and 22.7% of households have
children. These barriers deny access not just to people with disabilities but to seniors, families with strollers, and anyone using adaptive equipment. These barriers block all of them while also creating a safety hazard by forcing cyclists to thread a needle made of
concrete. These residents are your constituents and right now they're being told that the trail is no longer for them. These barriers also block emergency response. The spacing is too narrow for rescue bikes and other equipment uh that is you routinely used on trails. And when you install
obstacles that first responders cannot pass through, you are not improving safety. So my questions are simple. How did a non-compliant design get installed on a regional trail? Why are we still fixing things that should have been compliant before they were installed?
What is the timeline for full correction? and what safeguards will be put in place so we don't have to file a federal complaint every time new concrete is poured. Equal access is not a special request. It is the law. I look forward to your
answer and to you returning this public trail to public access. Thank you for your comments. Rosemary Laam. >> Good afternoon, Chair Brower and council members. My name is Rosemary
Laam. I live in Dand with the zip code 32720. I am a member of the board of directors and co-chair of the legislative committee of the Northwest Valuchia Democratic Club. All politics is local.
The goal of our legislative committee is to attend meetings of the county council, the school board, city commission, the various town councils in order to learn firsthand what is happening in our
community. We report back to our membership to keep them aware of the decisions made by those entities and how these decisions directly affect each individual.
This is one way to assist our membership in decisionmaking when it comes time to vote for the membership of these entities. This year being an election year, one of our focuses will be ensuring free and
fair elections and the safety of all citizens participating in their right to vote. Susan B. Anthony said, "The right to vote is the right upon
which all our rights depend. The right to vote must never depend on convenience, politics, or circumstance. It must be guaranteed, protected, and honored.
Each of you sits in your seat because people were able to exercise their right to vote. What is the motivation behind placing barriers against any individual's right
to vote? Is there concern about the results if all qualified citizens were to exercise this right? Thank you very much. >> Thank you for your comments. Uh, Zultan
Caracus, you can correct me when you get up here. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Olden Carus and uh with my wife, we owned Daytona Shirt Shop on East International Speedway Boulevard
approach for the past uh 35 years. Um, I respect and appreciate the purpose of the $20 beach parking fee for non-county residents. However, I regularly observe
vehicles approach the ramp intend to park and after seeing the fee, they immediately turn around and leave. Many of these visitors are not planning to stay all day. They simply want to see
the ocean briefly, take a photo, or visit the nearby businesses. When they turn away, the county receives no revenue. Local businesses receive no customers and visitors leave without experiencing
our beautiful beach. I respectfully suggest exploring a shortterm parking option in addition to the current $20 daily parking fee, perhaps a 30 minute
option at the rate of our council uh decision, maybe $3, $5. Offering both short-term and fullterm options could increase participation and
create additional revenue for the county. These are also times when conditions for sunba bathing are not ideal, such as early morning hours from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. or after 5:00 p.m. until
until 11 p.m. During this time, short-term parking could be especially valuable since payment is already handled digitally by cell phone. implementation may require only minor
software programming adjustments and updated signage to include the 30 minutes option. This could be a practical lowcost enhancement. This can be a win-win situation for the county,
tourists and businesses along the beach approach. Additionally, I have observed that some beach tenants park under approach instead of using their reserved beach parking on the beach. Better utilization of these reserved spaces
could also generate additional revenue for the county. I offer these comments in the spirit of collaboration and balance. Seeking solution that benefits the county, local businesses, and our visitors. Thank you for your time and
consideration. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments, >> Jeff Hearn. Good evening. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you. Um, I don't see my representative. I'm I live in Edgewater, but originally from Palm
Beach. Okay, there you are. Um I was looking for somebody much younger. Um, I'm I'm a business owner in Valuchia County and um I have several clients, HOA me uh board members, condo
associations, uh property management companies and um I'm have a hard time hiring people because it's such a hard uh hard business to get into and um the only people that get into the business
generally have drug and alcohol issues. Being from Palm Beach County, Judge Mary Lup, which I would encourage anybody to research and look into, backed a program called the drug uh the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Drug Farm. I was a uh
participant in that for 13 months and it changed my life forever uh in my 19 and 20 years. Um, I wrote some pamphlets that I'm not going to have time to go through, but I would please encourage for you guys to take a look at those. And that goes into a lot more detailed
explanation of what I see as a problem with um, law enforcement policing, drug addiction, alcoholism. Being that the Daytona International Speedway grosses close to a billion dollars a year, I don't see why, you know, that alone
couldn't fund something like this. the homeless shelter across from the jail could be utilized, all these programs. Um, you know, they can or incorporate some of these strategies that this program in Palm Beach County used and maybe clean up the streets and get some
of the homeless off the streets, get people the the help that they need. And it's really important to me because I do all my work by myself. Um, I have no no one that wants to work or I can trust. So, I'm hoping that
Felicia County combined with Daytona Revenue can um get together with Judge Marupo uh somehow and discuss it and um maybe start some sort of program particularly at that homeless shelter because that is
the perfect building for it to run. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Jeff. Would you make sure that the clerk gets those and she'll make sure we each get a copy. Thank you very much. Kathy Thompson. I return yet again with hope and
optimism that this time you will honor your stated commitment to the arts and cultural organizations that inspired people like me to move here and remain here so far that promotes tourism and a quality of life factor for all our
residents and offers a return on your investment on an at least a 2 to1 basis. I'm going to continue to repeat this. We are not charities until you stop telling us we are somehow charities. None of us have a charitable mission. We are
nonprofit businesses. We promote the arts through education, exhibits, live performances. We are have been in the past in a private public partnership with you and we carry the majority of the expense for our facilities and what
we do. Good faith. We listened, worked hard with you to revise the criteria and focus of the grants. We spent long hours rewriting them to your stated requirements. You approved by a vote of six to one a three-year process with a
caveat you could alter the criteria for future years. So once again, honor your commitment, honor your approval from last spring. honor that vote and approve the funding as recommended.
Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Uh Greg Gimbert. Hey, Greg Gbertbert, Daytona Beach. Boy, am I glad to see all y'all tonight. Um, I want to bring you some reports from the field, the city of Deltona and the
city of Daytona. Some significant things happened you might want to bear in mind as you're making decisions tonight. We'll start with Deltona. Boy, it's been like hiding the pee what they're doing with their aquifer injection plan. And man, a bunch came out last night. If you
haven't seen it, that's too bad because they finally pulled the curtain back. And we've got some river water we're going to treat. And we got some sewage water we're going to treat. So the sewage water they're going to treat to what Mr. Johansson educated us before is effluent. And uh they're going to put
that in a part of the aquifer way down where it's never going to escape. And it's going to be fine. And then there's some river water they're going to take and they're going to treat that to a drinking water standard and they're going to put that into a different part of the aquafer where they get their
drinking water from. And that has a heck of a thing. Somebody finally asked one of the important questions. Well, well, if it's to a drinking water standard, why don't we just drink it? And boy, did I not see the answer to that coming. It was this real pregnant
pause. And then the utilities director had to say very uncomfortably, you don't want to drink that. You don't want to drink it. And there it is. It's sewage. It's sewage. It's sewage. It's just over the line where it won't kill you. Minimum standards in an
emergency if you're desperate. So, there are some really big takeaways for me from that. Number one, is it here or not? Well, God bless America is here. It's been all over the place shooting it in and and dang it, it's they can't hide it from Deltona no more.
that commissioner that asked that hard question, why don't we just put it in the aquifer and facing that standard that drinking water standard is not really drinking water and it's dangerous for them to put it in the aquifer and we heard a lot I hate to keep going back to COVID but comparing the science like
comparing COVID science. I am I was very worried about what it was going to do to kids that are drinking this long term, but it took seeing all these people in the room behind me to remember that what it's going to do to seniors and they're more compromised immunity than anyone else.
So anyway, uh Daytona on the other hand, who's done everything to try to race past any restraint to try to satiate certain interest, has run off everything but the last of of our visitors, and one of them got his throat slashed on Daytona Beach's boardwalk area.
13-year-old boy, right, during the Daytona 500 weekend, somebody came up, just slashed his throat for no good reason at all. And that's Daytona Beach on the 500 weekend. So, we got to start making some new decisions around here. Let's talk about that more later
tonight. Thank you, >> Lloyd Bowers. Good afternoon, Chairman Brower, members of the council. I'm Lloyd Bowers. I uh am a uh beachside resident in Commissioner Councilman Reinhardt's district. Excuse me. I stand before you
today not just as a supporter of the arts, but as as a citizen concerned with the integrity of our local government's commitments. I'm here to urge you again to reconsider the decision to withhold cultural fundings for the current year. Funding that was already vetted, ranked,
and approved through the established cultural council grant process. a process that was approved by you on February 18, 2025. Now, ironically, one year ago, when the county council established the grant program, sets rigorous criteria,
and asked nonprofits to spend multiple hours applying, it created a covenant with the community. By unilaterally withholding these funds for this year after the work had been done and the recommendations made, you're not just cutting a line item, you are eroding
public trust. to pull the rug out now tells every volunteer and educator in this county that a commitment from this council is subject to change without notice to understand why this is vital consistency especially I want to give you an example of something that I
helped start 12 years ago the Peabody Auditorium Foundation as one of the programs that we did it's the youth plus art equals success which brings every year live professional children's theater into our Valuchia County public schools free of charge to the County
as a fundraiser for that. We started a Marty GR party. I'm a transplanted New Orleian. There's several of us here and today's Marty GR by the way. Happy Marty GR. But it's taken us 10 years to get that party going to the point where it sufficiently funds separately the youth
plus art equals success program. It finally is at that level. But it didn't happen overnight. It took 10 years. I give you this example because it provides the cultural impact is not an instant return. It's a long-term investment. When you approve the current
grant cycle program, you stressed the need of our cultural organizations to become more self-reliant. When you interrupted funding the current grant cycle, you did not just pause a check. You broke the momentum of programs in place and in some instances
canled. At the last county council meeting, you heard from the commemorative Air Force Museum over here at the Dand airport. They had to cancel the Tuskegee Airman exhibition as it was to be funded by the grant they were anticipating receiving which the cultural council had scored for them.
Valuchia County school children lost the opportunity to learn firsthand about this important chapter in our history solely and only because the grants that were approved by the county cultural council were not funded. The cultural council did its job. He reviewed the
applications, identified the programs that made Valuchia County a place where people like me want to live and raise families. I ask you today, honor your promise. Restore the cultural funding for the current year. Thank you for your comments, Lloyd. Uh
Susie, peace, Susie. Peace to land 32724. Uh I'm here again with a negative. I don't understand why you all are not honoring the voters decision which was to fund well the arts and also um this is a
poster that I held at the corner of New York Avenue and Woodland Boulevard in 2020. I just happened to find it behind a cabinet in my house. Uh, it says, "Vote yes for Valuchia Forever Preserving Outdoors and Wildlife." And
we voted yes. And I want to ask you, how did you vote? How did you vote? Did you vote yes for this? Would you raise your hand? Nobody voted yes for this. No wonder you want to cancel it. Uh, anyway, I I'm
just saying voting is our our right. And it's an honor to vote. And it's an honor when your government stands up for what the voters want. So, I'm being kind of hard on you today, but uh you know, I
have no other choice, but thank you for uh you're well-meaning, but not doing needs to be corrected. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comment, Susie. Uh Gabriel Perez. Hello, my name is Gabriel Perez. I live
in Dand, Florida. I actually live on Marsh Road. I didn't know that was a topic. Um, I do I I wasn't coming to speak about this. Um, I do have the white lines on the side of my road crumbled in. I didn't know that was from heavy traffic. Um, so I actually came to
speak about the Park Valuchia issue that Zoldi was speaking of earlier. Zullie Caras, we have um a big problem there where tenants, they're they're leaving from our property. We own the property. Um nobody
can shop at their stores. Nobody can afford to pay $20 for a parking and a dollar for a slice of pizza. Uh he's having the problem with the t-shirts and we're having u issues with Nathan's hot dogs as well. We have an apartment on up on on top of that property that nobody
can park at. They can't stay overnight in those spots. Um, I don't know what can be done. Uh, as far as Zoli's problem, I think shortterm is a good idea. As far as upstairs, maybe we can allow overnight parking for the
residents of the apartment. Um, it's directly across the street from from the uh property. Uh, thank you for your time. >> Thank you for coming in, Julia Trail. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Julia
Truillo, Daytona Beach. Um, I'm here in my uh Valuchia County Cultural Alliance hat. Um, so many times during your last meeting, I heard members of this board speak and say, "If it ain't broke, don't
fix it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I heard it over and over again. And this council continues to break one of the systems that it has that's been functioning well for nearly 40 years. We've told you time and again what it is
that the county receives from the arts community. quality of life improvements, tourism, additional educational opportunities, and of course, tax revenue. Let remind you what you are breaking when you hold this year's arts and
culture funding hostage. Last meeting, you heard from the Dand Air For Naval Air Station, who had to cancel the visit of a historic Tuskegee airplane that would have provided free educational experiences for 5,000 school children.
The Hub on Canal in New Smyrna Beach has had to cut its hub onthe-go program that serves seniors, children's veterans by 30%. If you examine each of the 32 programs that are being funded through the
cultural grant, you'll find that every one of them has had to pull back programs that they have scheduled but cannot accomplish without your partnership. We continue to lose events,
scholarships, outreach programs each day that passes. The fiscal year is almost halfway over and you still have not released the money. Please deliver these funds as you have promised. The people of this county want and need these
programs. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments, uh, Pat Miles. Good evening, uh, Chairman Brower and esteemed councilman. I am Patricia Miles. I live in Port Orange, Florida. I
am here, of course, for uh the continue funding for the arts, but I want to give you a brief history. In 1999, Florida artist Christopher Still was commissioned by the House Speaker Thrasher to paint a series of 10 murals
on the renovation of the House of Representatives Chamber in Tallahassee. These murals are huge and encircle the entire chamber area. He is a Florida native. His father taught history at a local high school and his grandfather
and great-grandfather were all farmers. He's a very accomplished artist. He won scholarships to prestigious art schools and fellowships, including studying at the Vatican, where he was trained in Renaissance art. If you go to Tallahassee to the House chambers, you
can see those murals when they are not in session. They are a sight to behold because this man has researched and done these beautiful compositions that depict the different eras of our Florida
history. Upon completion of the murals, a group of us were pulled together by Dr. June Hinckley, Mary Palmer, and Susan Rosoff. These are all um arts people in Tallahassee to produce a magnificent book and a DVD that provided
a complete multidiscipline curriculum for the entire mural project. The project was called Our Florida Legacy and it was a marvelous compilation of work. We were given the opportunity to
share these DVDs and books with the entire state of Florida in in public education and I was honored to be able to write the visual arts part of that curriculum. So that meant that my kids at Dan High School at the time were the ones that
got to benefit the most from that opportunity. They had promised that they would pay for these 10 murals. He took it upon himself to complete the 10 murals. They are magnificent. I wonder how things are going now up
there. But each mural showed the promise uh of each generation to learn from the past and accomplish in the present what might best serve future generations to seek balance where growth, diversity and
opportunity can best benefit all of the state and its people. So these students now are here in Dand. I see them often. They ask me about the funding that was promised here and I tell them that um
they need to come and speak to you guys too and let them know of course they're raising their families right now. Please gentlemen, please approve the funding for the arts. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. And the last speaker for the uh first public
comment is Gary Singleton. My name is Gary Singleton. I'm a Valuchia County resident. My opening comment tonight will be on the use of the shiny object. A common practice in political theater.
Hold the shiny object up here. divert our attention away from vital issues over there to pass a feel-good ordinance or charter amendment that in no way addresses the real issue at hand. No courage required,
no hard questions, no unpopular answers, no actual work. Just type it up, vote it in, and spend your time congratulating yourselves on a job well done. all while secretly being satisfied that the most urgent issues facing Valuchia County
citizens remain in the dark, unexamined and unressed. Thank you for your comments and uh council on on your behalf. I'm going to make a comment before we go on. Just as as part of our rules, we don't respond
to people when they talk for time efficiency. However, because of constituent efficiency and the fact that we all represent you, what you what some of you did see, but nobody watching this can see is a lot of the people that speak here are actually
helped before they leave this chamber by the staff member with whom interacts with whatever their issue is. the rest um will hear from uh many of us u several of us or some of us. Uh so it's
sometimes uncomfortable to listen and look like you just you're just ignoring what said what is said. We we don't ignore it. So council, thank you for uh allowing me to say that. Okay, we will move to uh item one,
approval of the agenda. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> Motion to approve. >> Second, Johansson. >> Motion to approve was made by Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt and a second by Councilman Jake Johansson.
Any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? And the agenda is approved um 7 to zero, which moves us to the first second item on the agenda, which is the consent agenda. Does any council member have an
item they would like to pull for discussion or a vote? Uh Councilman Dempsey. >> Uh Q Quebec for uh discussion. >> No vote, just discussion. >> Discussion. >> Q. Okay. >> Motion to approve consent agenda. >> Second.
And we have a motion to approve the agenda uh by Councilman Robbins and the second was by Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt. Uh all in favor of the items on the agenda, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? And the agenda is approved
7 to zero. Uh but we will discuss item Q. Brad. >> Okay. And item Q is uh Suntrail agreement with FOT. >> Did you need Brad? >> Yeah, he's hiding.
>> Brad Burbal, can you come down? >> Come on down. Not that he doesn't want to hear from you, Ted. >> Yeah, >> he uses too many big words. I don't >> So, this is uh Tim, you want to share?
>> This was in your department, so I didn't prepare. >> Yes, I have a question. I don't know if he wants to make the presentation first and then I'll ask >> just go to the question. >> Okay. Uh this is just the uh grant agreement. Every time we >> chairman, I'm sorry. I I thought he was just going to ask the question. Thought
Don had a question. >> I thought it was discussion. >> Do you have a question or did you want to hear a presentation? >> We can hear the quick presentation then I'll ask Dr. Burbal. >> Okay. A question. >> Uh this is a section of a trail that we have a sunrail grant agreement on. Uh a lot of times we're able to qualify the
uh trail system that we have for construction. Uh get uh funds from the DOT through their Suntrail grant. As a part of that, we have to uh when we get a grant awarded, it's usually for multiple phases uh design, ride-of-way or construction. Uh each time we go
through a different phase, we have to update the grant based on the amounts. And that's what this is. This is the section from uh 44 up to the north. uh it cuts by that 7-Eleven through the uh what will be potentially that Woodruff development and then to the uh west of
the dump and then uh tie in ultimately to Grand Avenue. >> Okay. And if I could Thank you. Could I ask Dr. Burbal quick question? >> Yes sir. >> Dr. Burbal. This is uh for connectivity to the rest of the county rail systems
uh actually trail system. I'm used to rails for trails, but how much do we have in paved trails in Valuchia County right now? >> So, um, paved trails, um, I'm sorry, I'm trying to find the email. I apologize.
>> So, right now we have um close to um 200 miles of pave trails. >> It's with asphalt. >> Yes, sir. Some sections are concrete. >> Okay. And uh how many miles of this 200 mile trail in Valuchia County goes
through the wildlife corridor and wetlands? >> 31 miles goes through the wildlife corridor. And have we received any complaints from the public about us extending more asphalt roads through our wildlife?
>> Not since I've been in the seat, sir. >> Okay. And how much have we spent in total? >> The um set aside total was um >> Right. We're working on that. Sorry. Uh good afternoon. You know, I'm Tim Bailey, parks recreation culture
director. So, um, we're working on that yesterday. Uh, let me get you the exact number because, uh, we're still working through that the total. Yeah. I think the question was, how much have we collected in Suntrail and then how much have we expended in trail development, right? Yes, sir.
>> I I have that. Let me get my hands on it later in the evening. I'll get back to you. >> That's fine. Thank you. I appreciate the effort, guys. >> That's all. Thank you. >> Good job, Ted. I
I was just just for discussion, just for the record, I'm not opposed to this. I think it's great. I think it's wonderful that we're providing outdoor recreational activities for the public and for their benefit. I think it's great um that we've offered 200 miles to
the public. I just want to highlight the fact that of the 200 miles of asphalt paved road that's going through the wildlife, 30 miles of which goes through wetlands and wildlife corridor.
Um, I've heard no opposition to this and I just would like to make note of that and I appreciate your time everybody. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, So Tim Bailey again. So we collected
22 million uh510,339 and echo. We expended 18,714522 That's for echo set aside. Echo set aside, >> right? 18714522.
>> That spend is only our portion though, correct? There's other monies that go along with >> grant monies. >> You'd like to get to the bottom >> matching dollars, right? Suntrail monies all that was we use that as leverage to build trails >> right
>> I didn't want to put words in your mouth on >> I'm just to refresh my memory from previous meetings this these trails involve putting a potentially 30 foot wide path through the wildlife corridor and a 12- foot wide
>> right >> paved asphalt road. >> Yeah. So, let me let me elaborate a little bit on that question. Okay. >> So, uh the east west or east central regional rail trail which is from Green Springs east to Bvard County line and
north to Cow Creek was on a railroad corridor. Yeah, >> we put it right on a railroad corridor. No clearing of trees. Right. So uh and then other sections of trails are in the road right away and then a spring to spring trail which
goes from Deleon Springs State Park down through Deberry and then East Green Springs Park. A large portion of that is on road rideway. Okay. >> And just for clarification, you've received no public outrage about any of this, have you? >> No.
>> Are you receiving any outrage regarding the motocross park? that's proposed >> only from what I see in the in the media. >> Okay. >> Right. >> And we're not talking about putting any paved asphalt roads anywhere in the motocross facility. Correct. >> No. >> All right. Thank you for your time.
>> That's all guys. Thank you. >> Thank you. We will move on to item three which is a proclamation uh that will be presented inside chambers which is unusual but it's an important one. It's the encphilitis
awareness day and I'm going to uh hand it over to Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt. >> Thank you, Chair. Uh last year we started this process. Uh this results from a commissioner, former commissioner in the city of Port Orange, uh Cat Atwood. Cat I've known since seventh
grade. I've known her for years. Very active in the community. Um she unfortunately after being sworn in probably less than a year had to leave office because of this terrible disease. Um we miss her doing that type of work but she tries to stay as active as
possible. She was to be here tonight. However, encphilitis if you're not aware is the disease that just keeps on giving and she's battling her own battles right now. So our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family. But I did want to take the opportunity and I I appreciate the fact that we are able to
do this because we do uh only present proclamations in chambers for certain uh situations, special uh occasions and whatnot, I think this is to be one that needs to be recognized as such. So thank you for your latitude, gentlemen. So I'll read it real quick. Um whereas
every minute worldwide nearly three people are diagnosed with in I'm sorry. Yeah. Nearly three people are diagnosed with encphilitis and more than 1.4 4 million cases annually, making this devastating brain inflammation a critical global health concern. And
whereas encphilitis strikes with the infectious agents, autoimmune disorders, mosquito and tick bites or other factors trig triggering serious inflammation of the brain. And whereas symptoms range from fever, headache, and light sensitivity to more severe
manifestations including stiff neck, mental confusion, and seizures. And whereas some forms of autoimmune encphilitis can have mortality rates reaching 40% in severe cases with survivors frequently facing acquired
brain injuries and long-term neurological uh complications that transform lives. This is what she's going through. And whereas nearly uh every or early recognition and swift treatment are paramount to saving lives and improving patient outcomes. And
whereas world encphilitis day launched in 2014 and observed annually on February 22nd uh unites communities worldwide in raising awareness saving lives and building better futures. And now therefore, we the county council of Valia County, Florida, do hereby
proclaim February 22nd, 2026 as World Encphilitis Day in Valuchia County and join in commemorating and and commending Port Orange resident Cat Awood for champing and sephilitis awareness with dedicated uh with
dedication and uh courage. So, thank you chair for that. Um I will say that uh normally most of the cities I think every single city has done an uh proclamation in their chambers uh for this event as well and many are lighting uh their buildings in red. Uh I would uh
just curious if we were like we did last year with the pond out front if we could do the same on Saturday for sephilitis day. And that's all. Thank you chair. >> Can I get a motion to approve uh motion pro to approve? Motion to approve
by Vice Chair Reinhardt and the second came from Councilman Robbins. >> What are we approving? The proclamation. >> We're just approving the proclamation that was just read. >> Got it. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I.
>> Any opposed? And the motion proclamation is approved. Seven to zero. Item four, retirement of fire lieutenant Jeremiah Great House. Chair Council, my name is Michael Ryan.
I'm your community information director. I'm here today to introduce item number four, which is the retirement of fire rescue lieutenant Jeremiah Great House. And with that, I'll hand it over to council uh excuse me, county manager wall. >> Yep. Uh thank you, Michael. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair, honorable counsel. These
are always a little bittersweet because uh we're going to uh say goodbye to a valuable uh member of our team. Uh but today we are recognizing Fire Lieutenant Jeremiah Grey House who retired at the end of last month after more than 25
years of Luca County Fire Rescue experience. Lieutenant Grey House began his career uh in October of 2000, committing himself to the safety and well-being of our residents and visitors. Throughout his career, he served as a member of the fire walker
team. Uh, which I just want to expound a little on that that people don't know what that is, but that's an elite group of firemen that have the ability to walk a fire right through a neighborhood without uh burning the house down. And it's something that uh uh, of course, in
our county, it can be very valuable. And uh, he demonstrated exceptional skill, teamwork, and dedication under demanding conditions. In uh September 2013, he was promoted to lieutenant where he continued to lead with professionalism and integrity uh
both operationally and within the organization. And he also served as union president uh for many years during his career where he was a strong advocate for his fellow firemen. And I'd like to thank him and wish him the very
best in his well-earned retirement. All right, real quick. I can't get away without saying something about this guy because we've known each other for a long time. Um, I I I think back in 2000, if we had the opportunity to ask Jeremiah about retirement, he'd probably say, "That's too far away." and today
he'd probably laugh and think this flew by. His wife probably disagree, but we're here today to recognize him on his 25 years of service as and retiring as a lieutenant, but I personally want to thank him as chief of the department
and a peer. Um, I I appreciate your commitment to the fire service, Lucia County, and the leadership that you've given this department. >> Thank you, sir. Mr. Attorney Great House. Hold on one. I think Matt might have a question for you.
>> Not a question so much as uh um I was a former neighbor of Jeremiah and lived right down the street. I have never seen and to see these young men now growing up. I saw them when they were just born. So, um to see uh what a beautiful family you've had and one one thing being in
fire services uh what a commitment to your to your life that you have to give uh for the protection of others in Valia County and we deeply appreciate that. But to know that and to see that and to see firsthand what type of family man you are, I commend you, sir.
>> Thank you. >> Great job. So, well done. >> Thank you. Go >> ahead. Please take a minute. just uh I won't I won't take much time, but um normally when I I've been in the past in these chambers, it was like something
contentious, right? It would be some contract hold out thing. We've had we're like out here in our yellow shirts or an labor practice charge grievance thing or something. Um but they were always fair and they're always professional and they're always honorable the way
everything ended. Um, today is a different feeling and uh the the room feels a lot smaller. It feels closer and um you know walking around as a firefighter and and people who served you hear you know thank you for your service everywhere you go Publix or
Walmart wherever you're at. Thank you for your service and um it's appreciated but the way we feel is thank you for allowing it. you know, we we were able to raise our families, um, retire with some dignity, and, um,
it was a real pleasure serving the citizens and working with people like Chief King, working with the finest county manager I've ever been allowed to work with, guy who came up through the ranks, was a road and bridge guy every time we ever
had a grievance adjustment board. um he never voted our way but but he resolved the matter um afterwards you know in a fair and honorable way and I always appreciated George for that. So thank you and uh thank you for allowing me and thank you citizens for for allowing me
to serve you the last 25 years. >> Yes. on your office. >> Yeah. >> Okay. County council, take a step that way. All right. Bottom row is Don't hide. I
see you ready. Thanks. >> Congratulations. >> Okay, before you leave, you might want to hear the uh the vote. Uh, can I get a motion to approve the retirement?
>> Motion to approve. >> Motion to approve by Vice Chair Reinhardt. >> And the second came by his wife and who else? By Jake Johansson. Uh, all in favor of the retirement, please say I. >> I. >> I.
>> Everyone who is opposed. Only the chief and the county manager. Congratulations. And the vote is unanimous 7 to zero. That takes us to item five, a proposed draft ordinance and proposed amendment
to Valuchia County Charter regarding Blackwater. And we're going to Thank you. We're going to split this up into uh to two votes. One for the charter amendment, one for the ordinance. And um uh
contrary to the speaker who is a friend of mine that said this was a a shiny object, I think it's uh I think it's not. I think it's incredibly important that we discuss this uh with our constituents and um so I'm glad to have
the opportunity to do that uh today. >> Question for procedure. >> Okay. >> Um >> what is your question? Why are we taking it up as two items when it's agenda as one item? Couldn't we just have the discussion and make a discussion based on on that?
>> We could, Mr. County Attorney, we discussed doing it as two two uh votes. Are you uh comfortable with taking it all as one? >> I I think ultimately it'll be council's decision on what you want to pursue on
this item. So, I think that's fine. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> So, the uh agenda item before you based on the discussion at your last meeting includes two items uh proposed charter amendment and an ordinance which they
both have the same effect um on the ground. Um the charter amendment that's attached um is in a format that um any proposed charter amendment whether it come from your CRC or something that you propose
what it looks like and includes a ballot title uh a summary of the ballot measure and the text of the charter amendment and there's caps on the amount of words you can use in a title and the summary. Um, I'm joined here this evening. I know
you know Paulo but and Ben, but also Dr. Erin Reid uh from public works who helped put this together and navigate uh the state terminology. Um, water is a heavily preempted
subject. So, our focus on a charter amendment or an ordinance is to not create a conflict with state law because that could be a basis to invalidate that language. So what's attached to the agenda as well uh are definitions from a
Florida administrative code which is the rules adopted by state agencies to implement statute and some terms are defined by state law that we're navigating. Um, in essence, um, I won't repeat all
the language in there, but, um, the effect of the language would be to prohibit the county from approving the use by its water utility because that is what we have authority over, our water utility, not the city water utilities.
cities would have control over their own of reclaimed Blackwater's direct source water for either an underground injection well into the aquifer or its portable public water system. Um I know Ben and Dr. Reed and Paulo are
here were happy to answer any questions uh you may have on these proposals. If you did decide to proceed with the ordinance um by state law, we do have to uh advertise it for a certain period of time. So, we would return that back to
you for consideration of adoption. >> Thank you. Before we begin with comments or uh a motion, does any council member have a question for staff? Councilman Dempsey. >> Yeah. Um Paulo, in our briefing last
week, um I asked about whether or not we have the ability to let unincorporated area property owners be able to opt out of mandatory tapping in of this municipal water supplies. For instance, in Deleon Springs along 17, that's all
unincorporated, but the city of Dan has a main that goes right through 17 up to McInness. If an adjoining property owner wanted to tap in or you know build a property or change uses and want to uh do they have to tap into the land's
water supply or could they opt out and stick with a well? >> So that depends upon the size of their proposed development um and how close the water line is. So um essentially it's all driven by the utilities. So and that that statutory definition of
availability. So depending if you have a single family house, availability is defined as a line has to be completely adjacent to your property. Um and then the utility department or the city can force that connection. Um but if you uh
but if it's further away from adjacent then you know it it's not technically available to that single family house. the more um the larger the proposed development is the uh the larger the area where availability starts to factor
in. So if you have a very large development of uh 100 single family houses then uh you know availability reaches out to something like half a mile or even more uh in which case the the utility department can force that
connection under the statute >> and we have no way of giving them the option to opt out of the city water supply. >> It's it's the no because it's it's development driven um and based on the the type of
utilities that are you know mandated. So >> what about um just a change of use? If somebody has a current structure commercial and they want to change the use, um do they have to tap into the city's water supply at that point or can
>> that depends upon what you changing the use to. If it um if you're changing it such that there is no uh change in the water demand, that's up the utility. You know, it's basically fine. Um, if you're
changing it to something that requires uh increased demand such as fire sprinklers or anything like that, then you need an accredited water source. You either provide an accredited water source or you have to tap into the the proposed utility water.
>> And do do we as the council have the ability to change that or is that state law? >> That's the fire code. That's the Florida Fire Prevention Code. >> Okay. So, there's nothing we could do to change that. >> Not not that I'm aware of. That's that's completely kind of building code and firecode driven. So those that's your
life health safety codes at that point. Those are not your land development type codes that you have control over. Okay. That's a state code. >> All right. Thank you. Appreciate you looking into that. >> Councilman Robbins. >> Thank you. Uh Chairman, do we have Ben?
>> Ben, I just want to clean up uh and clarify just a couple things. I didn't get a chance to speak last meeting, so thank you. Um, just want to clear up some messaging I saw kind of out in the the public and on social media. Um, it was said that at some point um, Deltona
was looking to inject sewage into the aquifer. Is that accurate or correct with the permits that they had, >> I guess, pull pulled or >> correct? So, Deltona's been awarded two permits and they've received funding
based on our information for one of those permits. Um the most recent permit that they uh have obtained is for what we call a nonASR inje not we but what the state calls a nonASR injection well and that's basically a permit that would
allow them to test the feasibility of constructing an injection well where they're going to pull surface water from the St. John's River and treat it to a drinking water standard, a primary drinking water standard and then inject it into the aquifer. That is one permit
that they have received and that is the the grant funding that they have received to move ahead. Now during the testing phase um they can only inject portable water which is drinking water treated to not just the primary uh drinking water standard but also secondary drinking water standard is
what goes out into our distribution system. So there's a process. It's really just a a testing phase that if everything checks out and the well meets the parameters, they would then be able to move forward place that well into operation which would by their permit only allow surface water from the lake
to be injected in there. Now they've also received a second permit which is an older permit which to our knowledge they have not funded for construction. That permit is for an ASR well, which is an aquifer uh supply and recovery well.
And in a sense, that's where you can take various types of water, including surface water treated to a drinking water standard, portable water, and treated reclaimed water. you could potentially inject that into uh into the
aquifer, specifically the lower Floridaan aquifer, and it can remain there and then they could extract it out and use it to supplement uh an irrigation irrigation reclaim system. Um before they would be allowed to put any
treated reclaimed water into the ground, they would again have to go through a testing phase where that well would have to meet all the requirements. they couldn't during the testing phase inject treated waste water. But if it were to
be um moved towards an operational phase, then potentially they could based on their permit treat or inject reclaimed water into that well. To our knowledge, they have not they've received the permit to do the testing phase on that well. They have not funded it. They're only moving
forward, as far as we know, with the uh the nonASR injection well. Is there any other wells like this throughout the county? There was three or >> um you know when this came up we did some research and we have seen um wells
that have been permitted for ASR in four other locations which include Daytona Beach, Orman Beach, um the utilities commission of New Simra Beach and the land. To our knowledge, the only well that has been constructed and tested was the one in the land and that one uh did
not meet parameters and was not placed into operation. Why why hasn't the county um ever put in for this? Is there a reason why we don't meet it or we're not exploring it or is there other options? >> Sure. So
um these types of wells are uh a type of what the state would call uh an alternative water supply. So the St. John's Water Management District is charged with managing our water resources, including the underground aquifer from which we get our drinking
water. Um, every utility has to get what we call a consumptive use permit, which allows so much water to be withdrawn on a daily basis. And in order to protect that resource and minimize the amount of water that's getting withdrawn from the ground, the uh state through the water
management district through the consumptive use permits has encouraged um uh utilities to pursue alternative water supplies. um and ASR wells and and injection wells for aquaer recharge are one of the
methods that they have deemed um uh reasonable to to use to do to achieve that goal. Specifically for our county um we have chosen to go with other uh uh types of alternative supply. We have um
pursued heavily uh reclaimed water system where we the treated waste water that we receive at our wastewater plants gets sent back out uh for irrigation purposes. Um we also have rapid infiltration basins which are uh
essentially uh large percolation ponds um because we have land available uh to to utilize that. Um we also store reclaimed water above ground and above ground storage tanks. Um all to in an effort to provide an alternative water source that reduces the amount of water
that we withdraw from the aquifer. Um typically what you see when utilities pursue ASR wells is for whatever reason they don't have land available um to to do some of the things that require large amounts of land. For instance, Port
Orange stores their reclaimed water in large retention uh line ponds out near Tammoka Farms Road. Um so if you don't have a lot of land available to do something like that or rapid filtration basins, ASR is considered a viable alternative for recharging the aquifer.
We have not pursued it because we pursued other alternative sources. >> Has it ever been on the radar? Is this something that we would encounter here? What would lead us to to ever go this route? You know, thinking of the ick factor as many other people, but what
would lead us to this point? Are we there? Are we close? Is this a 100 years out? Are are springs uh still >> pumping enough water out of the ground here in in our utility? >> Sure. So, um, you know, uh, what I would
say to that is, um, I can't predict the future, but in terms of specifically recharge through wells, there's multiple alternatives versus reclaimed water. Right now, our reclaimed water is in high demand. um we you know when it's
dry we typically run out and so we can supplement it through uh we have agreements with other municipalities to to to supplement that. Um we're constructing more storage so we can get that water out to the folks that the the
demand that we have. Um if there was ever a situation where the demand for the reclaimed water was you know less than the amount we produce then we would have to have somewhere to put it but we have the rapid infiltration basins to do it for that.
So I I think for the the future for Valuchia County utilities this is not something that we would see. I think the only way we would pursue any kind of injection well would be if um for our consumptive use permit. The state came in and said, "Hey, you really have to
look hard at some alternative water." They really got strict with uh with with the consumptive use permits. But I think we would probably propose more of a surface water uh injection where you you pull surface water from the St. John's
River or some other source and inject it into the ground. Um because our reclaimed water is in such high demand for irrigation, we we make money off of it. We get revenue off of it and and frankly, you know, we we'd like to generate more because there is a demand
for it. >> Thank you, Ben. And would this in any way you listed some alternative water supplies and I I read social media, I read the emails and all this stuff. Is this going to end any way
uh by possibly adopting an ordinance or or charter amendment, is this going to stop growth or stop development with all these other um reclaimed, you know, uh projects that that are out there or methods out there? >> Well, with respect to development,
development is dependent on the ability to provide utilities in some sense. Um so there's you're always limited by the resources you have. um if for whatever reason the state came out and said nobody gets any more water uh than what
they already get. I mean theoretically you could run into a situation where you wouldn't have be able to provide >> that. I don't foresee that occurring. Um uh you know in this specific instance I don't you know absent just some sort of
massive you know 20-year drought or something like that I don't foresee a situation where the state comes in with that hard of restrictions um the the one of the main concerns in in in Valuchia County specifically West Valuchia when it comes to aquafer what you're pulling out of the aquifer is the minimum flow
requirements for the springs and those are something that we monitor um here at the county on a pretty regular basis. There's a minimum flow that they set uh that the state has set to make sure there's plenty of water coming out to to support the the wildlife and everything
in the springs. And so they actually have raised it um within the last couple years, the minimum flow. Um and and that's mostly dependent on the amount of rain we get. This is why the state doesn't want us to pump storm water to the river. They want it to stay lakes
and and places like that. The way I understand it in most simplistic terms, as long as we're still getting rain, Florida's still being Florida, and the sun's still rising, there would really be no reason we'd ever have to go this direction. The way I kind of understand
it, you don't have to really answer that, but um it's more of a statement, but thank you, Ben. Uh Paulo, just a couple follow-up uh questions on the legal side. Uh I just want to clarify it's projected uh last few months in the community um uh across a lot of
platforms that that the county has rule over the city's utilities and we can mandate that. Um I know the answer to that. Can you just uh brief us real quick? >> Yes, that is not correct. Um the county has regulations over its own utility
service area. Um so there's you know your your charter and your home rule authority is uh valid to the extent that it is consistent with state law. So there are state provisions. Um for example you cannot uh potable reuse
cannot be excluded from the regional water supply. Right? That is that is one of the the new uh state provisions uh regarding potable water. Um so when you prohibit it through a charter amendment through the entire Valuchia County the to through through the entire region you
start conflicting with that express prohibition saying pothole reuse cannot be excluded from the regional water supply. Additionally uh utilities um operate under uh chapter 180 of the Florida statutes which provide that you
know uh municipalities with their own utility system have the supervision and authority um to operate their utilities. So that's an entirely separate process. >> Paulo, it's being said that it's it's imminent that we do this, that we ban
this or the state will preempt us. Is that a a valid statement or I mean the way I understand it is we can put all these regulations in and as soon as this session the state can say nope, they're they're gone. Is it imminent?
Does that make sense to you? So the state has previous has retroactively and they've done it before with SB180. They can retroactively affect whatever laws and charter provisions that any local government can put into place unless they carve out a
grandfather provision, you know, in the actual regulation itself. They can completely preempt something that um has been in existence for years. So if we hypothetically maybe adopt something today or in the next few weeks, the state can still come back and say, you
know what, guys, no moss. Yes. Okay. Um, is there a bill, Last question, actually two. Is there a bill currently that could preempt us uh in the Senate uh for water water quality and quantity? >> Yes, that would be SB718.
Um that's the one that this county council has previously sent a letter um expressing its concerns and opposing it. So that would basically uh preempt to the state all regulations
on water quality, water quantity, pollution control, storm water of things. >> So we can ban this today and in 60 days it can be wiped off the >> depends upon the wording of the bill. Now, that bill has specifically has an
exclusion for, you know, your the the local government's own water system, the local government's own wastewater system, the local government's own storm water system. You can still regulate those perfectly fine. You just can't regulate anything else. So, that just
kind of um adds to don't touch other utility provisions, >> right? Thank you, Paul. And last one is for the county manager. Uh, County Manager, can you talk to us a little bit about uh current FT projects and our relationship uh with that state agency
and kind of what we're up against? >> Well, we currently have two major projects uh that are in construction right now. Uh um one being uh the uh the Berry sewage treatment plant and the other being the
Beacon Light sewage treatment plant. and they're being upgraded uh to advanced water treatment standards and there's some expansion uh of their capacity as well. So uh the one in deerry
that's a $67 million project 42 million of it is from the D uh in St. John's Water Management District and the remaining is from utility and ARPA funds. And then the uh the Southeast, excuse me, the Southeast Regional, the one down in Beacon Light Road near
Oakill. It's a $34 million project, $18 million from the FD. The remaining is also from our utility in ARPA. And for that, uh just specifically in my district, I don't know about uh Mr. Santiago and and uh
and and Berry does that take uh pretty much affluent and and um pretty much keep it from going in you know mosquito >> right we don't our utility has never now we're a newer utility I so just you know
we were formed a lot later than the cities but uh none of our utilities have ever done uh water discharge they always have discharged uh to either uh you know, ponds or uh land like in the case of uh in your area
down there in Oakill. Uh it actually was discharged into a grove for a long period of time until I think the orange greening got our grove, but we still use that land uh to this day for land
applying uh the uh treated water. And and and George, real quick, just to wrap this up, I know we we depend on D and our relationship that we've built over uh a number of years, probably decades, uh for local support when it comes to
these projects. Um how would how would possibly going down this road kind of shake that tree? How would it uh affect us here? or is there a possibility uh funding wise uh uh
is that something that can even be answered because that's one of the concerns that I >> that's hard to answer but I would just say as long we need to remain I think respectful and in uh constant communication with the department
u I think that uh any attempt for us to regulate something that's not in our purview to regulate would probably cause some issues uh was the department. But as far as uh us self-regulating ourselves, I don't think
there's any issue with that. But I do think that uh again, I'm very proud of the relationship that we have built with our state agencies and our staff and in this case, Michael and his team. uh they've worked very well with D and I'm
sure they'll be in communication with what whatever else we're doing. But yeah, we would never want to jeopardize uh that relationship because they are a major funer of our of our projects. >> Thank you. Nothing further. >> Okay. Before I call on David Santi, for
for all of you young people in the blue shirts there that are here today to to listen and learn how we function, what happens here is that staff will tell us about the item and then we have an opportunity to ask staff questions and
then we hear from the public and then we debate it. So that's that's what you're that's what you're witnessing. Uh, Councilman Santiago, >> gracias, senor, chairman, >> that's proper way to speak your Spanish. Thank you. Um, I have one question for
Ben. Ben, as it pertains to the entire water providers in Valuchia County, the utilities, all of the entities, how much water do we provide for the entire county as a percentage? Um, as a percentage, um, Valuchia County
Utilities provides in terms of customer total customers. Yeah. We're about seven 7% of the entire county. >> 7% of the entire county. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Gracias, >> Councilman Dempsey.
>> I'd appreciate it. Get your exercise in today. >> I got to get my steps. Um just to make sure I heard you uh right when uh when Danny was asking you uh it's my uh understanding there's no intention of the county right now to do any type of
deep well injections into our aquifer or below it. >> Correct. There's not that's not in our plan to do any uh injection well injection for recharge. >> Okay. If it happens in the future, maybe not in our generation, but in a future
generation, is that something that would have to require council approval or is that something that your department could just start doing without any fanfare? >> So that would be a major capital project undertaking. You would any construction
design and construction a contract with a consultant or a contractor would assuming the the manager's signing levels are what they are now versus in sometime in the future. Those those would have to come before council for
approval um for you know if we were to pursue that type of um method for you know alternative water sources. Would that be Well, okay. It's hard to predict how this would play out,
but there would not be two public readings of your intent to begin deep well injections or anything like that. Correct. >> Well, there's, you know, there's multiple I believe when before permits are issued by the D, they have to do a public notice. So, that's one way any type of
we would have to obtain a permit from the right from the D. So, that's one way the public could be informed of any activity like that. But, um, you know, any major construction or capital project, you know, you've you've seen
how we plan those kinds of things out. You see a 5-year capital plan, those types of things would show up um in in in that type of situation. Then obviously before a contract's issued, those kinds of things have to come before council. >> Okay. So, if we were to pass an
ordinance tonight with no deep well injections, okay, >> utilizing reclaimed black water. >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. >> Okay. I just want to be clear. >> Yes, sir. Um, if there was an ordinance tonight passed, then in order for you to do it, it would require more public notice and more public debate before it
could happen. Is that fair to say? >> Right. And I would defer to to legal, but my interpretation of the as being the public works director, if there was an ordinance prohibiting us from doing either of those two things, we would not even pursue it. Um to the point where if
there became a need, and I'm not saying there ever will be, but if there became a need to do it for whatever reason because of that ordinance, we would have to come back to council and ask them to change the ordinance. And I would defer to Paulo. He seems to be nodding. I I don't I'm not a lawyer. I don't play one
on TV either, but I gave it my best shot. So, >> um so just to be fair, let's say let's fast forward a 100 years from now and we do need to begin this process. Um if it was an ordinance now, there would have to be another public meeting debate and
that council at that time would decide whether or not it should be done or not by vote of the council 100 years from now. >> That is correct. Yes. So assuming that the state hasn't preempted us and that's we still have authority over our own utilities, um future council would have
to amend that ordinance first and then provide direction to staff or the utility department to explore this. Um and assuming the rules are still in place, that's still you still have to go through the state permitting process and the state noticing process. And then if
the future leaders and scientists maybe prove the the safety of this even more than what's been proposed today, they could do it at that time if they decide to do so. Correct? >> Yes. >> Okay, that's all. Thanks, guys. Thank you,
>> Councilman Johansson. Uh, first question for our guest Paulo. Um, Mr. Santiago asked you a question that that that makes me curious. Why
if if an amendment a charter amendment would would take the entire count the entire county would vote for that, correct? Everybody. >> Yes. >> Everybody. >> Yes. >> From every city, every county, every everybody in the county. Yet it only
applies to the the people in unincorporated. >> Yes. >> Okay. So everybody >> I want to clarify >> everybody would be voting for >> it would control the county's utility service area. >> Correct. Which is a majority of
uninccorporated in some some portions of some city. uh not that well versed on the utility service area but yes >> probably have more we probably have more customers >> in the cities of Deerry and Deltona >> Yeah >> then we do in the
>> west side but right >> but none on the east side >> we have some >> some on the east side all right >> um I guess I'm over to Ben I want I want to put this in simple terms but I'm not sure I'm doing it
Right. So, you know, from from my old days, I I considered it as there's there's black water, which is what comes out of the toilet and enters our water treatment plants. And then what comes out of there is is
treated. I call it a fluent, but it's reclaimed water. We send that wherever we send it. Then we have water that you can make to a a minimum drinking standard. And then you have the water that you
make that we drink. Is that basically the strata? The four different kinds. >> Correct. I mean that's essentially it. Black water is raw waste water. treated effluent can be treat I mean reclaimed standards because it goes out where the public there's different levels of
treated effluent to where if you like put it out in a public place which is what we do with reclaimed water versus maybe some treated effluent that you just use in a perk pond there's some differences >> so the treated water you put in the perk pond is it not as treated as the stuff
we put on our grass >> in our case the treated effluent that we put in our rapid infiltration patients is the same it's all treated to the reclaimed water standard. I'm saying you can have some wastewater plants that maybe don't utilize their effluent for reclaimed water. They don't have to kick
it up to that high standard. It it is um goes into a pond or something for percolation and it's not required to be as treated to as high a standard. And then your second part of that which is you were talking about drinking water, >> right?
>> So, um there's two standards. There's what we call primary drinking water standards and secondary. And so when you hear about specifically to injection into the aquifer, what they're talking about is the primary drinking water standard,
which is a drinking water standard where you're basically removing uh the kind of stuff like the microbes and the bacteria that will harm you in terms of if you were to consume it. Secondary drinking water standards, which is what goes out in our portable water system. So
portable water drinking to primary and secondary. Secondary is more what we would call like aesthetics. So color, odor, organics, things like that. Things that not might not nec what what might not hurt you but might not make the water pleasant to drink. So sulfur,
things like that. So when they talk about treating to drinking water standard for ASR and injection well they're talking about those primary standards which is the uh the the kinds of things that could you know the bugs and the bacteria and things like that.
What would you say? What would your water treatment plant say? The water that we pull out of the aquifer right now to treat to drink. To what level is that in that strata of Well, actually, you'd be surprised. Um,
but you can have um, uh, different types of water coming out depending on your well. But what I would argue is most of the water that we pull out of the upper floor aquifer requires some level of treatment. You still have to do some disinfection to get it to the
primary drinking water standard. You might have some contaminants that you have to remove um, you know, whether they be halocyic acids, trihalomethanes, things like that. You might have to remove some other stuff like color and odor to get those secondary
requirements. So, it can depend, but you're going to have to do something to treat the water that you pull out of the aquafer. >> Got it. Do I I'll save that one for Paul for later. Um,
right now does does the I think it's the federal government in the state both of them have guidelines on what is considered drinkable water. Correct. >> The federal government sets the standards and the state enforces those
standards. >> Got it. Uh, okay. And and you said we send water, reclaimed water out to percolate,
>> correct? >> So that water isn't treated to the primary drinking standard yet? >> No, sir. It's treated to a uh the same reclaimed standard. It's the same water that would be used for irrigation on somebody's lawn. Some But when it's raining a lot, nobody's watering their
lawn. So we have to have somewhere to put it. So that's why we have the rapid infiltration basin. >> Got it. And and we send it out there as reclaimed in my old school treated effluent >> and and it filters its way to the
aquifer. >> Correct. Much like a septic tank in a drain field. Um any waste water that goes through any wastewater plant if it's not being discharged to a surface water at some point works its way through the ground.
Do we consider a septic tank that with a with a uh a leech field that drains, do we consider that treated by the time it starts percolating? >> It's considered treated to a certain extent. It's probably the lowest level
of treatment that there is acceptable in today's world of utilities. >> Got it. Um and and I'm going to ask another question u based on Mr. Dempsey's line of questioning. that string of events that would get us
there that that obviously he wants to make sure we have precautions. How far out does our CIP go? >> Our conceptive use permit. >> No, our our um our capital improvement >> capital improvement uh five years.
>> Five years. So five years in advance. If old Ben Bartlett gets a good idea, we we'll know about it five years in advance. >> Correct. and be able to start the shutdown pro process or tell you take it off. Um,
and that's just the start. And he he gave a lot of others. Okay. Um, I'm I'm that should be it. That's all I have. Thank you very much, Ben. That's all I have for Paulo as well. Thank you, sir.
Who do you have down there on the front row? Aaron. >> Okay. I don't know if either one of you know that we get a we get a water report every month. And I don't recall the last time that we saw
one of the tested wells, Blue Springs, um uh I think it was Blue Springs is consistently falling below the minimum standard that the state uh has set for us even during the rainy period. It was
coming up, but it's still below those standards. Is that Do you remember that? you know, I get the same report you get which shows a series of monitoring wells throughout the county and they record the groundwater level. Um, I recall uh considering the amount of
rain we've gotten in the past few years that it's actually been above the minimum flow requirement, but we can double check that. I usually check it every month. I think there might have been one or two months where it dipped below. Um, but for most of those months since we've gotten I mean the amount of
water on the surface since hurricanes uh Ian and Milton has been tremendous obviously and so that water takes time to percolate through and it seems to still be having an effect on the flows in the spring. >> Yeah. Okay. But check it because I I remember being um surprised because the
amount of rain that we had that it was um still not up to stuff. Okay, that's all the questions that we have right now. So, we're going to hear from the public and then uh the council will
discuss this uh issue. Uh the first person is John Nicholson and everyone as I call you just come to the front. You have uh up to three minutes to talk about item five only.
John, Daytona Beachside. Basically, to me, this is coming down to the ick factor. Um, and I first encountered the ick factor about 70 years ago when we were playing in the uh what was a cattle
field back then, about a block from the house. And like most kids, most guys, you just walk behind a tree if you had to go to the bathroom to take a leak. And my sisters would go, "Eek! That's terrible. that water is going into the aquifer.
And I looked at her, I'm like, there's 2,000 cattle here. Where do you think they're going to the bathroom? Where do you think their urine's going? Right into the aquifer. Couple blocks away is Herdsdale. They had about a thousand horses. Where do
you think their urine is going? So, all the animals are taking a leak. All the humans at the time, especially historically, when they went to the bathroom, they went in the aquifer. And I just was surprised tonight to hear that that nice aquifer that we always
thought was drinkable water is not drinkable water. They have to treat it. So, at what point are we really talking about the egg factor? All of what we drink is not drinkable. It all has to be treated one way or the
other. So, and she's not here tonight, but I wish she were. There's a woman that comes in and she has problem with the um co Oh, she just walked in the door. She brought up something that really had me
think and I am asking you to think about it. Um, I've heard about plastics. Plastics are so small. They're in our water and we can't get them out. And so now they're in our bodies and they don't know what's going to happen with all this plastic building up in our body like mercury was
when I was a kid. They didn't know was mercury was going to have happened to the body with all the fish that we were eating. So now she has a disease and they tested the disease by looking at the water treatment plants and from the
water treatment plants they could tell how much of COVID was in any city in the county or the nation. So if that disease is tested
and they cannot take it out of the water and they cannot take plastic out of the water and they cannot take medicines out of the water, this uh toilet tap has me worried. Okay.
Um I don't think we're even actually anywhere near it. I don't think we're talking really talking about it. What we're talking about, if anything, is the Atlantic Ocean, which has plenty of water, expensive, and it is. We have
a huge river, not too far from our border called the St. John's, which has a huge amount of water, less expensive to do, but more expensive than groundwater. It all goes down to uh expenses
and we we have to go very very very far in the future to go to toilet to tap. So technically I'm not worried about it, but if you want to pass an ordinance I'm fine with it. It's not going to matter one way or the other. Thank you.
Melissa Thorne, Ched Live, uh Amy Manzi, Amy Munzi, De Leon Springs. Um, in the mid 1980s, one of the largest underground fuel plumes in the state of Florida was discovered in the downtown area of Deleon Springs, and it tainted the water with gasoline for almost
everyone in that downtown area, the commercial properties and the land owners. Um, when I heard about it in 2006 when I came to the area, I got together with a couple of other people and we pressed the FT to clean it up. They spent about 5 years, did a fourphase cleanup, and they trucked out
over 63,000 tons of gasoline laden soil, and they took it to CMI. And that's why we work so hard, Mr. Dempsey, to get water and wastewater services to the downtown corridor. Um, it gave safe drinking water to our elementary school and that
was important along with everybody else. But all the rest of us are on wells and septic systems. Mr. Brower and I both have wells and septic systems. All the residences have wells and septic systems and the older uh locations have wells and septic systems that are too close to
each other. So many of those people on smaller lots with older wells and septic systems are drinking what you're calling black water unless they treat their water. But for all of us, no matter where you are, if you have a well, there's no guarantee that the water that
you have is safe and clean. And that's the reason why all of us need to look to treat our water. Um, no matter what, whether you're municipal or whether you're uh just on a well, it's important to check your water. It's important to have a a cleaning system on your water. But what you're talking about here
tonight is portable reuse water. And you're talking about one utility service provider named Valuchia County Utilities. And it only covers 7% of the population of Valuchia County. You don't have jurisdiction over anybody else. So,
um, if you were to ask your great phenomenal utilities director, Mike Olrich, if he has it in his 5-year or 10-year plan to use portable reuse water, he would tell you no. So, this is something that's not even being used anywhere in Valuchia County. But the one
area that you do have jurisdiction over, Valuchia County Utilities, which serves 7% of the population, does not have it in their five-year or their 10-year plan to use portable reuse water for drinking. So, I feel that a charter
amendment for something that is not happening and not being used is very much akin to what um Mr. Johansson said about maybe needing a charter amendment for um autonomous hovercraft because someday that technology might happen and
we might need to put something in the charter right now to make that stop. Um it's about the same. Thank you, >> Wendy Anderson. Good evening. My name is Dr. Wendy Anderson and I live in District 1. It's
been a very interesting conversation so far and we're just getting started. Um, it seems to be pretty widely known that I have absolutely no fear of drinking highly treated water from any source. I would be perfectly fine with drinking
water that has gone through an ion exchange micro filter or reverse osmosis which could take out in fact even COVID particles, even paz, even microplastics, all those things that we fear. Um, I am deeply deeply concerned about putting
any kind of untreated water into the aquafer. I don't think that that's what we're talking about. But in fact, we already do. Several times tonight, we've talked about rapid infiltration basins. The rapid part of that infiltration basin means that that water is slipping
through rapidly. It may or may not be cleaned in the process. Last fall, you all, every last one of you, approved $15 million in transform 386 funds to to do two miles of pipe from Mil Lake in
Orange City to a hole in the ground right next door to Blue Springs State Park. dirty storm water, possibly reclaimed water, not treated to a drinkable level, put a thousand feet from a first magnitude spring,
and you did that. You funded it and you thought it was a good idea. Why? Because your utility staff told you it was safe. Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Olick, Dr. Reid, they said it was safe. You have great experts here and I would encourage you if you
need to know more and understand more, spend more time with them. Bring more experts in. Don't take my word for it. You often don't. But do not make a decision based on emotional froth and a bunch of hype and
make good decisions for the short term and the long term for this county. We do not need an ordinance. We do not need a charter amendment. and we're not going to get to this point anywhere in the near future. So, I would just put an end to it right now. Thank you,
Lynn Peterson. >> Is not here? >> I think she might have left. >> Okay. Mike Ponyattowski. Mr. Chair, members of the council, thanks for having me today. Today, Blush County, with your help and leadership, will take a giant first step in
preserving our fresh water supply for the future by preventing the ejection, addition, or mixing of processed black water with fresh water. If allowed, this will be a drastic attempt to stretch our fresh water supply, which would continue a vicious destructive cycle of drink,
flush, clean, clear, fill, build, more drink, more flush, more clean. I guess you get the picture. as well as these folks behind me. But this is just one arrow in the quiver that we can use to protect our water supply.
Critical conservation efforts to reduce consumptive use countywide. Removal of the current harmful forever chemicals that exist in every drop of water pumped out of the ground in Blush County today. That's a today problem, too. The slowing of unabated growth which
compounds these problems with one of its most destructive facets of being the removal of natural soils, trees and open spaces which for millions of years have acted as natural filters that clean rain, runoff, storm water so that it
does not reach our aquifer. It does so in amounts sufficient sufficient to quench the thirst of existing populations. We need to reduce the storm redu. We need to reduce storm water runoff from new and existing communities into bodies
of water or sistns that may do the trick in making that water more immediately available as a portable water source. Delivering to us in copious amounts on a yearly basis that now allow us to freely flood runoff and in some cases destroy our homes,
businesses, and our habitats. But let me not cloud the issue today. I support this charter amendment and ordinance 110%. But it's not a oneanddone. There are many more heavy lifts ahead. So, it's time to keep your sleeves rolled up as the hard work of economic survival is
as well dead ahead. And one more thing, I believe today's vote, and I hope today's vote will be a 70 in favor of you gentlemen supporting this ordinance and this charter amendment. But let's not make it a one-off. When Valuchia Forever comes before you,
and it will come before you, let's make it a record of 70 in favor of protecting Valuchia forever because it's a forever program. We voted for it. 75% of us voted for it, as well as most these folks behind me. So remember, 70 in
favor today, 70 in favor when Valuchia Forever comes before you later this year. Thank you very much. God bless and keep up the good work. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ted Rhodess. Thank you for all taking my questions. Um, my name is Ted Rhodess. I'm
currently standing up a local news outlet. So, I'm coming here as a resident and also as a journalist. Um, I I'm excited to see grassroots campaigns gain support to influence lawmakers to vote real change. Um, but first I have
to say that I am not at all taking a position on what you have before you tonight. I'm just here for some questions. And one thing I'd like to note is there have been a lot of questions from all of you also. So um,
Mr. Ben has also said that um, all the water that we have, drainage, sewage, uh, irrigation water, it all ends up in the aquafer anyway. So, uh, here are my questions. If we have like irrigation
water and it seeps down into the aquafer, um, seems to me like that water might contain some contaminants. So, I don't know how this ban today would address that. Um,
if um, so I I I really don't know that we need a blanket ban. I think almost what I'd rather see is some sort of a statute that would um that would establish a minimum standards of contaminants or purity before any water
ends up into our soils. So, um you know, I I haven't really been doing a lot of research. I'm not a expert on any of this. I only know what I see. Uh you know, there's a lot of buzz on the internet and I'm seeing a lot of that. um you know I'm I'm just a a dumb
infantry soldier and uh so I need sometime special education uh to understand these complex issues. So uh I guess what I'm saying is I don't know that we're ready yet. All of you have made a lot of questions and I don't know
that we're really ready to make such a blanket ban. uh rather than ban, how about let's get some specifics, set some standards, take a breath, and this isn't a decision uh that we
necessarily have to make tonight. So, uh I'd like to know if we are banning, what specifically are we actually banning? Is there are there specific are there is there data specifics of what we're actually banning? And also, I I haven't
heard much on solutions. I'm I I'm hearing from Miss Wendy here uh about solutions and I think maybe we need to discuss that equally as much as we do um when we talk about bans or setting standards. So uh uh if anybody has wants
to uh educate me on this um they can reach me on the internet on roads news. Thank you. Gary Singleton. Gary Singleton, Valuchia County resident. I can think of no brighter shiny object than the banning of someone else's
treated sewage being piped into our homes. I want to be clear. I do not want toilet to tap. I do not support toilet to tap. I'm going to repeat that. I don't support toilet to tap.
I don't want it. What I want for this council is to address the reasons why there's a search for alternative sources of portable water and why you would need to ban an alternate alternative source. What I want for this council is for you
to address the reason why our source of drinking water, the aquafer, may someday be inadequately inadequate to supply our needs. to acknowledge the effect of unrestrained and irresponsible development on our most precious
resource. To do your sworn duty to serve the citizens of Valuchia County, to do your job and manage our best supply of portable water so there is no need to search for alternative sources. Every square foot of wetlands you allow
to be destroyed is a square foot of aquafer recharge area that is lost forever. Every gallon of water you rapidly dump into our inadequate storm water system is a gallon of water that will be shuttled into the ocean if it makes it past our living rooms.
Wetlands and waterheds must be protected and allowed to hold rainfall so that it can recharge the aquifer and then and discharge the remaining runoff slowly so the natural and man-made storm water system capacities are not exceeded.
Eliminating an alternative source that nobody wants is easy. Doing the right things to manage our most precious resource requires courage. Elana Craft. Good evening. My name is Elena Craft. I am here representing Protect Valuchia. I
want to start by saying how encouraged I am to see Valuchia County taking a proactive step with this ordinance. Acknowledging an issue early before it becomes inevitable takes courage and leadership and it makes me proud to live in a county that is willing to do that.
The reality is that portable reuse is no longer theoretical. Communities around us are already moving in this direction. In Alimon Springs, for example, their Pure Alta program is publicly described as taking waste water and producing highly purified water as part of a
future water supply. And in places like Deltona, officials are grappling with where to put put increasing volumes of waste water as growth continues. These are no longer hypotheticals. This is what happens when development begins to outpace environmental limits.
When we talk to residents about portable reuse, the most common first reaction is surprise. People ask, "Is that even being considered?" And that reaction is completely understandable because most people would never imagine that something like this could even be on the table. Drinking water is something
people consider fundamental and non-negotiable. So, when they learn about it, the concern is immediate and real. And to address some of the comments made tonight, Mr. Robbins said that as long as Florida continues being Florida, we're getting rain. We won't run out of water. That statement is
simply false. The issue isn't whether we get rain. The issue is whether the aquifer can supply it at the rate that we're pumping it out. In other words, pumping water faster than the aquifers can recharge is what creates short. And to address the other issue brought
up about injecting treated sewage versus natural percolation, injection pumps treated waste water directly into the aquifer under pressure. While percolation allows water to slowly and naturally filter down through soil and natural layers before
reaching groundwater. The key term there is natural filtration. So, oh, I I'll also like to mention that a local environmental scientist compared potable reuse to a root canal. Something we may not want but useful to have
available. Well, I see it very differently. Situations that lead to root canals are often preventable and the same principle applies here. Decisions about sustainable growth determine whether communities end up needing toilet to tap. So, we have to
recognize that these systems depend on technology, monitoring, funding, human operation, all working correctly for decades. There's so many uncertainties that must be acknowledged and addressed prior to implementation. And giving the people the opportunity to vote on this charter amendment will bring about much
needed transparency and scrutiny. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Uh, Greg Gimbert. He's spoken opening. >> Hey, Greg Gimbert, Daytona Beach, Florida. Um, so we've covered a lot of ground.
Um, thanks to Jake Johansson and Danny Robbins. On one hand, it's never going to come. Why bother? On the other hand, oh, they're just going to b pre preempt us anyway, so why bother? It's been the whole why bother show all night long if we're just simply looking for excuses not to do it. There's infinite.
We could have just so did no. We didn't have to go through all this. We heard all the same stuff before again and again and again. Yet here we are today. So is it coming? Yeah. Is it dangerous? Yeah. Even your own utility director said might not hurt you. Might.
So we know about preeemption. Is that going to happen? Heck yeah. We all just thought in two years of flooding in Senate Bill 180 they ignored the cities. They ignored the counties. They ignored the counties and the cities when they tried to file suit. You know who they're not going to ignore? They're not going to ignore the citizens. Now, what what you guys do tonight is on
you. But after tonight, we aren't going to quit. We have seen year after year, meeting after meeting us lose more of our local control and our local commons. First, we're not going to change our comp plan. Oh, then
we're only going to change our comp plan once a year. Then you got to wait every six months for a comp plan change. And then thanks to Governor Scott, no waiting for comp plan changes at all. Now we change them every every month. We meet a s in a city and county commission meeting. You wonder how the aquifer got the way it is. It's from breaking all
these long range plans. We talk about it's not in any long range plan, but y'all ain't never stuck to a long range plan yet. Never. So while we're all talking about the future, let me talk to you about a more likely future. So what if we don't do this? Yeah, we'll just be the next community that goes to poopy
water and it'll go on and on until every redneck between Tallahassee and Titusville gets a clue and says, "Oh my god, it's not just a city slicker problem they're putting in the aquifer. Heck yeah." And eventually it will stop. But for the people already doing this, they're screwed. They're going to wind
up drinking it because everybody else is going to make you stop putting it in the aquifer. So, you're right. We haven't done it yet. We don't have any plans yet. And this is the only way to make sure we never get any plans for it. So what if we don't? People are very fond about our kids leaving and economic
development and all kind of political blah blah blah. So let's say day one we don't do this. Well, you're the next community that goes under. What about year one? There's no longer any plans to move here. Not for people,
not for companies. What about five years out? You've rung all the projects out of the pipeline. I work in the construction trades. We got fiveyear plans, too. We stick to them. You know what happens as soon as there's going to be sewage water? Nobody's planning to move there anymore. Not moving any materials, not
moving any companies. Nobody's going to leave to follow their job to poopy water town. It's one way out. All your best and brightest out. BCU, Daytona State, Emery Riddle. How you going to attract people there? There'll be better options. Y'all need to let the people vote on this. They don't want to hear
all the excuses. Michelle Udder. How are you doing today? I know you're blessed to see me today. When it comes to the poopy water situation, I think it's pretty poopy. You know, we have some people in here that believes in the science. They
believe in the government. I was one that believed in the science and the government. And from then, I'm suffering from multiple autoimmune issues. I'm taking $20,000 worth of medicine to stay alive, being pushed into cancer because I trusted the government. I took the CO
19 vaccine. But when I looked during COVID, there was a surveillance going on where they were testing the wastewater to see if CO the SARS 2 was going up or going down and also um Omron. So it just wasn't the hospitals giving you reports.
It was also giving the county, the city, the NIH, the CDC, and as well as the Department of Health of Florida. There was a tracker that you can track it every two weeks. As of now, they're still tracking. And right now there's four places in the state of Florida. Orange County is one of them that has an
increase of CO. It's doing that because they're testing the water, the waste water from what's excreted from us. But a lot of people don't realize that's people that are injured like me suffering. That you cannot get a test here in the US. I had to get it from Germany. And it
shows that the science tells you that you're supposed to be having spike in your body one to two days, maybe three months. I'm 1,600, sorry, 1,864 days producing spike and it's pushing me to cancer and there's nothing that they
can do to me. My blood my blood vessels are I mean uh my blood cells are bursting and everything else. Are you going to take a piece of paper? Are you going to make the constituents sign a consent form giving them immunity you giving immunity and I'm not
saying this right but it's no they shouldn't worry about future generations there shouldn't worry about their health or any kind of immune compromise that's going to happen because if you make them sign a piece of paper saying that it's their problem if they get sick but
you have a consent and say we're safe. If you get sick, it's not my problem. That's not fair to your constituents. I don't care how much that you're going to purify this water. As long as they can still look at the water and they can still see what's going on, it's going to be a huge problem for future
generations. I just found found out I'm going to be a grandmother. I don't want my grandchild drinking this poopy water. If there's any other information that you need, I'd be glad to pull it up. But we've had problems with our water before and I care about everyone in here
and I don't want any one of you or any of you having to live through what I had to do. So trust the science, trust the government. I wouldn't think so. Not because it's not worth it because I'm dying from it.
So I thank you. >> Thank you all who uh came up to speak. I'm going to ask the the council in in just a minute to make uh a motion to approve both the ordinance and the um
the ballot amendment, which is why the county attorney and I talked about splitting it up because the ballot amendment requires five votes and the charter uh the the ordinance requires four votes. Um, but can can you put that
picture up for me? This is uh from the United States Geological Survey. Note the difference between the upper Flidian aquifer and the lower Fidian Flidian aquifer. Note the direction of flow. It leeches up
into the upper fidian aquifer. All lines go up. Look at the confining layer. It's po It's porous. It's shown as a dashed line here. This is the US Geological Services Survey map. So when you hear
any government saying they are going to take the cleaned up sewage and shoot it into or underneath the Florida aquifer, our drinking aquifer, and it will stay there. I would recommend that you be skeptical. It seems to come with very
obvious and inherent risks, at least according to the US Geological Survey map. It seems pretty obvious to me that we shouldn't be putting this stuff in any part of the aquifer. Will the poopy water leech into West Valuchia's
aquifer? Will it flow? Is that a risk that you want to take or will it just sit there and leech straight up? Can you show us the next picture? This is uh also one of their maps. And I
just want to read one line uh from it. The line that's underlined. It says, "The lower fidian aquifer contains fresh to brackish water in northeastern Florida and Georgia. While in South Florida, it is saline and used to dispose of effluent from wastewater
treatment processes. Will that water stay there or will it follow the lines that the US Geological Survey says? Will it go up? Next slide, please. Here's a slide that we keep uh seeing from time
to time about uh uh aqua um here it goes about recovery wells. Look at the uh the reclaimed water and then the native groundwater on both sides.
It doesn't show them mixing. Have you ever poured clean water into dirty water and seen it not mix? Especially with the arrows that we just saw. All this water moves and all the water is has upward pressure on it. Uh next
slide. Just a couple lines from uh the the flidian aquifer system. It behaves as an aquifer over much of extent. Here's the important line. While in South Florida, it is saline and need and used to dispose of effluent from
wastewater treatment processes. That's what's already happening happening. It's not in the future. Does it stay there? Well, uh the likelihood of it moving is small. But in updas, lower units of the
Florida acryer system are hydraulically connected to plastic equivalent units composing the upper part of the aquifer and the degree of water change is a matter of debate. So the our best scientists are telling us it's a matter
of debate. We don't know yet. Next slide, please. So do you feel like taking the chance of poisoning the entire aquifer? It's already struggling. One line will tend to it tends to have a vertical
migration. This is from an independent engineering company tends to have a vertical migration component because of the density difference and greater buoyancy than the target zone. A few wells have been taken
out of service because the seals designed to prevent this migration failed. Out of 32 wells, seven wells have failed. And uh the non-drinkable water full of bacteria. The bacteria is
actually detected. That's 22% of these wells have failed. Are you willing to take that risk? Next slide, please. So why does this happen? Why do the wells fail? Usually, it's because of fracturing by drilling through the
confining layers of stone. But tectonic forces can also do it and the forces that cause sink holes. At sites where fracturing is welldeveloped, such as the Palm Beach County wastewater has eventually migrated substantial
differences in a very short time, 200 meters in 2.5 years. So maybe we don't have to worry about it this year. Do you want your children to be the guinea pigs that this is never going to happen? It's going to happen. I'll come back to this,
but it's been said here that it's not happening anywhere. It's happening in Altoont Springs. They're testing it. They could do it. It's been happening in South Florida for a long time. It's happening in Sanford. It's here. David Santiago.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. on on the information you posted there from the the departments I I don't have any dispute to any of that just so you know I I I I believe it for what it's worth. Um where I am struggling Mr. Chairman is
well first let me just say this to the audience or anybody listening. I don't think anybody up here wants water that's polluted or bad for you to to serve it to you. There's no one up here that wants that. We don't want our kids to do it. Our grandkids, our great grandkids and our great grands. There's none of
that motivation happening here. But I I sit here and I think I said, "Okay, well, we our part of our job is to be problem solvers. It's the role that we play." But and then I start thinking, well, what's the problem for Valuchia County?
I want to make sure I'm very clear. Valuchia County, that's what we govern. That is it. What is the problem for Valuchia County? the governance that we have. I I can't find it. I can't find it because we have no plans to do any of this. I wouldn't support this. I don't I
don't like it. You tell me you you walk up to the average Joe and you say, "Do you want drink poopy water?" Of course they're going to tell you no. That's a pretty easy statement to come up here to the diet saying people don't like this. Well, of course, one in 100's going to say, "I don't want to drink that." But,
you know, our job is to do a little bit more deep dive and and to look into the things and find the real problems because I sit here and I say to myself, this is a county solution looking for a county problem. Mr. Chairman, we're not doing it. We
could only control our own destiny. Now, what what a citizen initiative wants to do on their own, they can go ahead and do it. Go speak to the cities that are considering doing this. Go lobby the legislature. get the leg because the legislature controls the water. Go lobby them and say we don't want this because
they can circumvent uh us anyway if we did something. But Valuchia has zero plans to do this. Don't be fooled by what you're seeing in social media that that's what we're doing. It is a con game as it pertains to county. Okay. I
know the keyboard warriors going to go crazy tonight, folks. You're going to see it tomorrow morning. My name will be in highlights and welcome to all of them. But what I'm telling you is the truth. Valuchia County has no plans to do this. You heard Don, you asked some great questions about the process and I
and I know you know the process for anything like this to come even in the horizon is going to be years out. And guess what? Fill the chamber or the people up here will just say no, we don't want that. But the people will be interacting with us and saying at that
point whether we want this or not, that's the process. but to create a problem that doesn't exist for Valuchia County. And I am very concerned that if we ever put this as a referendum, people can be deceived to think that this would
be solving in a county solution. It doesn't. We are only 7% of the water usage. That's it. So for us to put something like that on the ballot would be doing them a disservice from this dis
from this. it would be a disservice because we would be putting something in there that could potentially have the people think that this is going to affect the entire county when it does not. So, I'll wrap up with don't believe
social media, folks. This is not a county problem and they're going to be out there very vigilant. The ones that talk the most, they get the most attention. But good people that really want to know the facts, they often don't engage. This is one of my problems with social media. Good people often don't
want to engage because they get attacked just like I'm going to be attacked tonight and tomorrow for telling you all the truth. So that's my part. If it were a problem, trust me, I'd be diving in. But I don't want this. I don't want it for my kids. And I'm not going to pull the wool over
your eyes, the other 93% of the drinkers of our water, and tell them that we're putting a solution for you. Thank you, Mr. Sheriff. >> Jake Johansson. >> Thank you, sir. Um uh I apologize for not paying too much attention last uh
last meeting. Um I I thought we all walked away saying we were going to hear this the first meeting in March. So I lined up some um some professionals with some scientific knowledge, but uh they won't be available. So I'll I'll go basically on on some of the things that
that we all talked about when we had a quick conference call. Number one is I I think that the I I think we need to address the the fears of our public and and bottom
line I the poopy water thing is kind of icky. You're right. But bottom line, we and Ben and everybody on the staff wants to give our public
the best, cleanest water to drink. And I know every city wants to do the same thing. Every city in the county wants to do what they can under the confines of our
current Florida culture to preserve the aquifer to the best of their ability. We used reclaimed water, but but we don't stop planting beautiful green grass, right? We got reclaimed water to keep it
green, so we're good for now. We don't catch rain water yet. We we don't we're not very careful about how we use water in our house. Uh until those things happen, uh I don't think Danny's telling
everybody I turned my shower off between the wash and the rinse right now. Um so I I think we need to address that. Um not that we're not, but I think that needs to be the conversation. I concur with most people that we we do need to
protect our aquifer. Um, and I think what we need to do is switch the conversation over or at least in tandem have the conversation about getting everybody off these old septic tanks, especially in our very vulnerable areas,
and get them on the newer septic tanks if we can't provide them sewer. The ultimate would be to provide them sewer because then we're catching that water and we can use it for reclaimed when Ben's running short. Um
what we're trying to regulate we don't have. If we want to regulate these things that have been brought up we can do that. Ben showed us the ways five years out the CIP. Ben take that off the
list. We're not doing that now. and and then throughout the process, uh, we can keep on hitting him till he gets it right. We'll start taking his birthday away. I don't care. What I don't want to do is something we
talk about all the time. I also don't want to restrict future future councils. I want to give them the ability to go, thank God they didn't do that because we're an extremist now and we need to come up with some alternative ways to
take care of it. And no pun intended, but this idea might be a little more palatable in 40 years. I don't know. Last but not least, we don't want to ask
the legislature to help us with this. Every day we stand up and say home rule, home rule, home rule. I don't want to start asking them to preempt just to make it easy for us. So, uh, I'm
inclined to just because this only affects our service area, I'm inclined to to not really want to go anywhere with this right now. Although some good points are brought up. Bottom line, we need good, clean drinking water. We need
to work every day. And if you pay attention to the Fed, every day they're looking at other things in our water that need to be regulated. PAS was what a couple million parts per something and now it's four um uh something we need to
get to here in the county. So I I I I think we just keep on working hard to get the best and the cleanest water we can get. Thank you very much chairman Councilman Dempsey. Guys, I'm really happy to hear you guys
talking about future generations and being able to redress stuff in 40 years, Jake, or future generations, Jeff, because uh I uh I want to address the ordinance first because I'm kind of split on how I
think I'm going to vote. Uh I am definitely in favor of an ordinance uh prohibiting uh deep well injections and potable reuse. And I'll tell you why. Um, even though there's no foreseeable future for this county in using this, as
everybody's testified, I do think it's around us and, uh, it concerns me. So, I guess the question is on what side do we want to air if we are someday going to need deep well injections or potable
reuse in the county. Um, I think that's something that future generations should be able to debate. I want to make sure that the public is aware of when and if it happens and I want to make sure they're able to debate it and I want to make sure that the future council is able to debate it. That's why I'm in
favor of an ordinance because that'll force the county to put public notice out there to everybody to see because now we're talking about changing an ordinance which requires a lot more dissemination of information to the public and what we're going to be
talking about. Then at that point, 40 years from now, Jake, um then the science may have improved. We may have better science and we may have more of a need. And just to, you know, we're not
labeling this ordinance uh no toilet to tap or no deep well injection forever or in perpetuity because I'm not arrogant enough to say that to think that I know what's best for future generations in 40 years. I'm
not a prophet, so I can't sit here and tell you what the future holds for Valuchia County, but I think that if there is going to be a need for deep well injection, I think that needs to be heavily debated, heavily noticed and put before the council at that time and they
can vote. And I think the reason for passing this is because we would heir on the side of no. I think we should heir on the side of not trusting the science because once we put this into the aquifer um who knows what's going to happen now. We've trusted the science with the Titanic and you know how that turned
out. We've trust we've trusted the science with Agent Orange and we know what that did to our veterans. We trusted the science with the COVID vaccine and we see what it got missed uh this has been going on for a while. Bill Gates.
I I challenge everyone in this room to Google Bill Gates and Jimmy Fallon poopy water. January of 2015 on Jimmy Fallon, Bill Gates challenged him to drink two glasses, one poopy water,
one bottled water. And he drank it. Mr. Gates was pushing this new invention that his uh foundation was proting uh propping up. The omnirecessor, basically telling us 11 years ago that
this reclaimed water is somehow safe. That's fine, but I don't want to do it and then figure out later on it turned out to be the uh the next biggest mistake in science. If you ask the parents, the mothers who use thermal th
h a l i dalmadide where it was marketed in 1950 as being completely safe to treat uh pregnant women for morning sickness and as a result over 10,000 children received severe birth defects which in included
shortened or no limbs at all. Um, I just I I don't want to trust uh dees uh caused all kinds of birth uh birth defects and heightened cancer, cervical cancer. I don't trust the science. And before I
think we just go ahead and make our entire county a guinea pig by just putting it in there and let's just see what happens. I I think we should air on the side of no. I think we need to go ahead and put an ordinance in place, not in perpetuity, not forever, but in place
so that when and if it becomes necessary to implement this, then it could be debated hotly based on current science and current conditions of the county. None of us, I would think, dare to say we know what's going to happen 50 years
from now or 100 years from now in our county. That's why I think we need to put this in place and let future generations deal with it because I keep hearing over and over, it's not an issue now. It's not an issue now. So, why are we dealing with it? Well, you're right. Maybe we shouldn't deal with it. But I think we need to put in place a
presumption of no until proven otherwise in a future council meeting. That's all. Thanks, guys. >> Councilman Troy Kent. >> Thank you, Chairman. And I was gonna start out by saying I really respect what David Santiago had to say, but I'm
not gonna start that way because I actually respect everything that you six gentlemen have to say on all of the issues that we have. Even if I disagree with where you are with it, Don, to kind of end or begin where you were ending,
you know, many of you don't know, and I don't blame you if you don't know this, but I spent better part of 15 years in the city of Orman Beach fighting to get fluoride out of the water. I mentioned that to you because of
what's happened in the past year. But I was railing against this and trying to teach my fellow commissioners that flu fluoride florine is the promiscuous element. It's the only element that will leave what it's with
for something it likes a little bit more. It has some great bonding abilities and it might have some medicinal purpose in a topical usage, but to drink this stuff.
And when I saw the machine turn against me and they marched the health department in and that doctor from the health department at the time and I said to the good doctor,
will you sign a piece of paper that says the health department is responsible for all medical issues from childhood, infancy, to old age because they want to answer the question about what happens if you
drink twice the recommended amount of water every day. What if you drink 16 glasses instead of eight? What does that do? And you're cooking with this stuff, etc., etc. I only mentioned that, Don, because it it took the good doctor in
the state of Florida to come out with a statewide ban against fluidating water. And I railed on this for 15 years in the city of Warman Beach. And we're talking about trusting the science. And you know, they say, "Oh, you know, trust trust what we're putting in in your
water." I'm also against fear-mongering. And I've people get upset with me because I'll call them a fear-mongerer. You're not going to like this many of you, but there's no water problem where
we are. I I can meet you at Silver Glenn if you want. We go swimming at the at Silver Glenn tomorrow. It's 72 degrees year round. There's 35 million gallons of water pumping out of that spring head every day. You couldn't swim down there
and hold on to the spring head. It'll push you out. There's so much pressure because there's so much pressure. That water has to go somewhere and it's getting pushed out of the aquifer up into the St. John's out into Jacksonville in the Atlantic Ocean and
it becomes where you can't drink it. There's no water shortage issue that I'm convinced of at all. And if you still don't believe me, come to my house on Orman Beachside. My house is on the top of a sand dune and if you want, you and I can take
turns with a shovel and we can dig down to about 6 and 1/2 ft and you're going to hit fresh water. We can put it through a filter and I'll drink it with you. there. No water shortage is what I'm saying here. But that being said,
council, I I don't see the problem with an amendment, Don and putting this out to a vote in the charter. So, it might not be happening today, might not be happening tomorrow.
I've always I don't ever have a problem letting the people vote on any issue. It's obviously talked about in other areas. We've heard about other local counties. We've heard about Deltona keeps being brought up.
So, the discussion is there. I just I haven't been convinced that there's what's the harm in in not only passing the amendment, but allowing people to vote on it. So, I voted to make a motion on on combining them. But Don, you kind
of scared me a little bit because I think you want them separated. So I will make a motion right now to approve the proposed amendment only. I'm going to break this up. Chairman to approve the proposed amendment.
Yeah, I'll make that motion on the ordinance. Yes. Sorry. On the ordinance. And then after that, I'm planning on making a motion to allow this to go uh for a proposed charter vote.
>> Second. >> So, you said you split them up. >> The first one was a motion. You said amendment, but now you just said that the ordinance. >> Okay. So, that's that's the motion is to approve the
ordinance. which takes uh four votes. And Don, you seconded that. >> Yes. >> And Don seconds it. >> Okay. David Santiago. Um, do you need to speak before David speaks? >> Uh, try. I'll be quick. And Mr. Chair,
you said it. So, the ordinance votes majority vote. A charter amendment by charters a vote of five. Yes. >> Yes. >> And then he had I believe you had a followup >> after this >> before this >> after this first vote. Chairman. Yes. I
will >> uh Councilman Santiago. >> Thank you, Don. I had to do a little research because the uh you know, you you referenced the Titanic and and it says here the the builders of the Titanic did not claim explicitly that explicitly that it was unsinkable. Just >> Yeah. It wasn't designed to hit an
iceberg. Um that being said, you know, Troy I didn't know where you were going there till the end. I was like, "Okay, all right. I see you." But but aren't you concerned that citizens of the 90 93% of the other
people that will vote on this are going to think it's going to solve or protect them from whatever this amendment says. >> May I answer you and and thank chairman? May I? I I appreciate that. You know, we gave ourselves a time limit of five minutes and I went on a tangent about
fluoride in the water and I used up a lot of my time. Um, but David, that's something that I wanted to touch on and I didn't. So, I appreciate that. I look unfortunately or fortunately, I look at our nation's capital as the
leader and then I look at our state and then I look at our county and then I look at our cities in that order and I feel like us doing this, we are leading the way for our cities. We are we are showing them, hey, this is how we
feel about this. You I I started with I wanted to applaud you for your comments because I respect you and I respect what you say, even though we might not agree 100%. That's healthy. But yes, I'm still okay with it. Even though 93%, you know, we're dealing with 7% of the water in
the in the entire county. you know, Orman Beach, Dayton, Day Daytona Beach is the largest one or or Deltona, you know, with the most people in it. So, you got those those three giants with the water or New Simra and Port Orange. Um, but I look at us as the leaders of
our county and I think the cities look to us as that leader like, okay, they're taking that step. So, that's why I'm okay with it. >> And I would subscribe to that, right? But an ordinance alone can do that. It doesn't take a referendum to do that. My
biggest concern I I may I may be okay with the ordinance, right? Because it's a statement from us >> and that's a leadership statement, right? Um so where my concern is where I'm trying to change your your thoughts and don't put us on the board for is
the fact that 93% will think it's for them and it's not. But if it's about leadership and sending a message to the other 16 cities, I'm okay with that. And we can do that without a referendum. I'm not saying the citizen initiative can still
go on, but it's us. When it comes from us, it's endorsed by us somewhat, >> right? Um and and and we I I don't want to deceive the people. If it passes, it will pass. The way the question is is is written, it will pass. And I don't have
a problem with that. But 93% of the people are going to think we did something for them and we didn't. Um that's all I have for now. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Councilman Johansson, a >> quick uh quick question for the chairman. We're we're voting on the
ordinance right now. >> Just on the order, >> right? Um and so I I want to give you my my reason that I'm going to say no. And and that answer is I am a less government, less regulation guy. We're
not doing anything. We're not going to be doing anything. I don't want to put something on the books for something that's not happening. That that's I'm If that's going to happen, I'm going to do an ordinance a week on some other stuff
that's not happening. It's just beyond me. Thank you. Okay. Uh David, I I agree when you said, um here's the truth. Control our own destiny. And that's what we're doing
here is controlling our own destiny. Um Jake, you you've said numerous times, it's not happening. We're worried about nothing. And you've heard over and over again that it is happening all around us. Prevention only works before it's in
your own house. And so we we are taking preventative action to protect our own citizens from a science that from the reports I just showed said
is not settled science. Um and the wells the wells don't work all of them. They leak. So do we do we want to take that risk? I'm not willing to take that risk for our constituents. The state of
Florida thinks we're gonna have water problems. That's why they have approved this as an alternate approved clean water source. It's being done in Altoont Springs as a tester. It's being done for
real in Bvard County. It's being done for real with horrible results in South Florida, in Miami, and and beyond. So, we do need to control our destiny. I don't know who will be here uh after the
next election even or after in 10 years or 20 years or or a hundred years. Will our citizens think that we've done something for them? I hope so because we have. We've protected them from having to drink uh cleaned up sewage water into
our aquifer or direct consumption into their portable water supply. Even at the I I think you listened to the Deltona meeting last night. Their own utility director said it's not really uh drinking water. When it was asked, can't
why can't we just drink this? Um you can't drink it. And then he admitted that the injection process was injecting um uh cleaned up sewage water, reclaimed water. Black water started as black
water. it's treated. You he said you can treat it to drinking water standards and then inject it. Um so the the veil is off. We know what's going to happen. No, we're not we can't outlaw
um Deltona or any other city. But I'll tell you what, they are looking for leadership. Daytona Beach is going to vote on this tomorrow. They're looking to us for leadership and then the city of Edgewater or Orman Beach. Um, I don't know which will go first. They're all
putting this on on the agendas. Not because they were forced to, but because they believe the state when they say when the state says because of the amount of development that's occurring, we need to make sure we have a future water supply and out of all the things
we could do, this is it. Cleaned up sewage water. You know, there's a lot of talk about conservation. I'm all for conservation and we need need to deal with that. But there's not going to be anything worth conserving once we put this in
hypers speed and inject sewage water into our aquifer. What are we going to preserve at at that point? So, I'm I'm a yes vote on the ordinance. I want to see the uh the ballot amendment also, but right now we're only dealing with the
ordinance. And again, I'll just say prevention only works If you start it before the project is in our own house, does our county manager want to do it? No. Does Michael Olrich
want to inject this into our aquifer? No. I don't know if how long any of our staff will be here or how long any of us will be here. So, let's give our own citizens local control and say no. Um,
Don Dempsey. >> Yeah, Jake, just to kind of um counter what you were saying earlier about what's not an issue, so we shouldn't create an ordinance when it's not even an issue. And I agree, there doesn't appear to be an issue in our lifetime, maybe, but we do enact land use codes
for instance, not because there's a fuel farm in Orman, but we do have zoning regulations that if somebody wants to put one in, you have to have public hearings. And as we saw last time it was attempted, it brought out the public in the masses. So all I'm saying is this is
just a way of saying you can't do this until we have public hearings on it and the council votes on it. I think this is a way of setting it up so that if they want to do this type of uh science and technology a
100red years from now, it'll be publicly noticed. It'll be debated. I'm sure the public will turn out for that just the way they turned out for Belvadier. And uh I just that's why I'm in favor of this as a protection. And I always like
to heir on the side of no until I'm proven beyond a reasonable doubt, so to speak, um that the science is safe. I'm not necessarily convinced now it's moot now because we're not even putting it in our aquifer yet. But when that happens, I want to make sure the public is
adequately noticed and the council at that time votes on it. And I would assume it would I don't know how the vote would go, but at least it would be an issue for later generations that they can deal with it. We're not making this forever. We're not making this in perpetuity like some things in this
county. >> I just leave this available for future generations to vote on. That's all. >> Want to do a quick reply? >> Yeah, you were next. I think David very quickly I understand your point.
I'm begging to differ. That's all. >> Councilman Santiago. >> Yeah. Don, I wanted to to just respond to you because I I know you you referenced the ordinances and the comp plan, right? Those are used those are tools that we put out for people that
that that want to do things in this community. What we're talking about is what this body governs. And this body and its leadership have said that we have no plans to do this. We don't intend to, but I I I think you did ask
some good questions about the process and the timing of this. Um I don't know how this votes going to go, but I I don't want the public to leave with the if this vote fails to leave with the pretense that this will not be on a public if it ever comes back again that
it will not be on a public docket somewhere. We said there's permits in D. There's processes there that are public notices. There's funding cycles that are typically 5 to 10 years out. This will not go under the radar for whoever's governing up here at the time to make a
public statement and deal with it. So it it the boogeyman's not there. >> Thank you. Thank you. You can stay over there. >> Please. >> Yeah. Going to have to restrain yourself. >> Keep that stuff on Facebook. Um what?
So, so Don, I I respect your piece, but I don't we're making laws where it doesn't need it. That's really where where my basis is. It just it's it's not necessary right now, my friend. And again, if it were in front of me today saying Valuchia County wants to do this, I'd probably say no. More than likely
say no. And I think most people will at the time depending on what the public sentiment is and what the science is. So, we're just looking for a problem that doesn't exist for Valuchia County. Thank you. >> Other than Deltona. >> Well, Mr. Mr. Chair, since you said Deltona, you know, I represent Deltona and I know you do to a certain extent
and I've start I've stood quiet for a while there because there was a lot of misstatements that have been made and and and you you kept talking about the drinking water. You you forget to you neglect to mention the two parts of drinkable water that Ben clearly stated
and the surface water that was going to be pulled from the river was at the stage one which they don't make it as a drinking water. That's what they were going to use. I'm not defending them, but please, I I've stood quiet, but and I've read your social media posts, and I'm sorry to the public that has to read
all these misstatements that are out there, even from our chair. I was staying quiet, but I've had enough of you falsely accusing Deltona. >> Okay. Well, I'll just repeat what Deltona's city uh their utility manager
said that they will clean up that river water to drinking water standards. And when a commission member said, "Why don't we just drink it?" His answer was >> it's not drinkable. That's why. >> Okay. >> The full truth.
>> He didn't Well, he didn't say that. I just told you what he said. >> We just learned it. >> Okay. >> So, just be intellectually honest, >> Councilman. Oh, I'm I'm being >> No, you're not. No, you're not. I was being calm and you took me on my shelf. Just let's leave it there and vote, please.
>> Okay. Uh, Councilman Robbins wants to speak. Go ahead. >> Thank you, Chairman. We've all spoke two and three times uh except for myself, Troy, and Matt. Um, let's uh Yeah, you're you're good, Troy. It was a long long one. He's you're
saving it up. Uh, let's uh call for the vote. Okay, I don't see anybody else on the board. Uh, Cararissa, um, I'm going to ask you to call the role. I want the P, we've got two two ladies in the blue shirts that are still here that are trying to learn of how we operate. So,
what we're voting on is just the the uh the motion on the floor is just for an ordinance um that could be changed by a a future council uh pretty easily. And the ordinance says that we cannot add uh
any kind of treated sewage into our portable water supply or inject it into the aquifer. That's what we're voting on. Carissa, would you call the role for the ordinance, please? >> Mr. Johansson, >> no. >> Mr. Kent, >> yes. >> Mr. Reinhardt,
>> no. >> Mr. Robbins, >> no. >> Mr. Santiago, >> no. >> Mr. Dempsey, >> yes. Mr. Brower. >> Yes. And the ordinance uh fails three to four.
>> Okay. Mr. Kent, now we have the question of the um ballot amendment. >> Yep. I'll make a motion uh to uh approve the proposed ballot amendment regarding Blackwater. >> Okay. The motion is to approve the
proposed ballot amendment that would prohibit uh treated blackwater into uh the drinking water or the aquifer. And I would just say that this is the epitome of local control because it would not be
any of us preventing this. It's not us saying you can't do this. It's allowing the people that are most affected, the people that that drink the water in unincorporated Valuchia's uh utility areas um they get to vote on
do they want this in their water system anytime in the future. Can it over ever be changed, Don? Yeah, it is harder. It's harder to stand. It's like way up on the top shelf. The council can't change it. It would have to be voted on by the people. I really like that idea
and I think it's um it's appropriate for us to um make it difficult to inject this uh if in 20 or 30 years we have science that says it's absolutely harmless to drink cleaned up sewage
water. Yeah, we can use reverse osmosis. For every gallon of clean water, there's five, six, seven gallons of toxic waste that we have to deal. Where are you going to put that? Are we going to inject that into the aquifer? There's just no easy answers. Let's give our
residents the benefit of the doubt and not make them, not force them to have this come up. The states approved it. the states approved it because of the amount of of uh development that goes on and it was a uh a dangerous compromise I
believe with the de development community to allow them to continue to build just one more house past our clean water supply. Every land has a carrying capacity of what life it can sustain. that if we're going to we're going to
allow uh treated sewage water into the aquifer and pollute the whole system, your well, my well, I'm I want to give the residents the opportunity to vote on that. Uh Don Dempsey. Yeah, I was just
curious in light of the fact that uh there's a lot of municipalities that are going to be voting on this issue in the near future and I for one am a uh I don't like preeemption on any level. I don't like the state trying to preempt us and I don't believe I could in good
conscious try to preempt cities from doing what they want to do. So, I that's the reason why I wanted to split the vote because um I'm just not comfortable with us doing to the cities what the state is attempting to do to us and tell us what to do with our own water through
718. So, I didn't know if it's possible to continue this or table this issue to a later date so that we could see how these cities are handling this issue in their commission votes and then maybe I don't know when the latest we could address this at a future date.
That's That's my question. >> Okay. Uh Jake Johansson, is this is this for the amendment? >> Yes, >> the charter amendment. The I need help. >> There's no
>> the charter amendment. >> I'm just asking. Don's asking for a continuence because he doesn't want to preempt the cities. But this amendment doesn't apply to the cities. >> That's right. The charter amendment does not apply at all to anything other than
our service area. Yet, we're letting the entire county to vote on what would affect our service area. Is that correct? So, so the we're not doing anything to the cities other than other than
allowing them to vote for water that isn't part of their service area. And and that's that's what David had mentioned earlier that that and and
I haven't got a lot of emails saying I want to I want to influence what the unincorporated service area is uh or the Valia County service area is um uh is trying to do or not trying to do because
we're not trying to do it. Thank you. >> Go. Do you want to respond? >> Yeah. I just wanted to ask Paula then there's this in no way is attempting to preempt the city's ability to control their own water. >> That's correct because we wrote it uh so that it only affects the the Valuchia County utilities and the utility service
area. >> This in no way is going toffect >> it it it affects the it it applies to your service area. So um as we stated before your service area includes some municipalities and vice versa. So, municipal service areas include the
unincorporated areas. So, we're talking about service area. >> So, there's no >> order. Chair, we're we're having a discussion. We're being timed. We haven't even got a second. There's a motion made by Mr. Kent. There is no second at this as of yet.
>> Okay. Okay. I'll withdraw my question then. >> Is okay. >> It's Is there a second on >> just trying to say procedure? That's all >> on Mr. Kent's motion. >> Well, I'll second it just so we can have a discussion. >> Now, we have a second. >> Okay. Thank you. Sorry, guys. So, Paul,
just so I'm sure, there's no chance of us by doing this is going to preempt the cities in any way. So, so we are not preempting their utilities um because we're only affecting our utilities to the extent that a city is in the
Valuchia County utility service area. Then I don't know like it's not really a preemption because it's our utilities, but we we are affecting municipal residents because they are in the Valuchia County service area and they're under Valuchia County Utilities.
>> Okay. So that's so I I just want to give an accurate answer. >> Okay. I'm ready to go forward then. >> Okay. Thank you. I I would just add uh to your concern, Don, is that we're not only we not preempting the cities, alls that we're doing here is letting the
residents vote on whether or not they want it. It's the ultimate in in uh the government in a republic where the people get to make a decision. And um it's uh
the cities would will do it if they want to, but they are looking to us for for leadership. They're watching us. Um Daytona goes tomorrow and then at least two other cities. Um I think we need to show them the leadership that let their
own residents vote on whether or not they want to add treated sewage water to their drinking water or aquifer. Um, Councilman Santiago. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we delay labored this point quite a bit and I call the question. >> Okay, you're cleared.
Chissa, would you call the vote? This vote is for a charter amendment. This council has the uh authority to put the amendment directly on the ballot for the citizens to vote on. Um not us to vote
on the final outcome, but the citizens. >> Mr. Johansson, >> no. >> Mr. Kent, >> yes. >> Mr. Reinhardt, >> no. >> Mr. Robbins? >> No. >> Mr. Santiago? >> No. >> Mr. Dempsey? >> Yes.
>> Mr. Brower? >> Yes. So that required five votes and we only got three. So the motion is not uh passed for the charter amendment. And that concludes item five.
Item six, appeal by Clayton Beno of the Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission's approval. >> Good evening. Carol McFarland, Planning and Development Services Director. This is an appeal of a Planning and Land
Development Regulation Commission decision for a variance at 5076 Central Avenue in Deleon Springs, which is the box in yellow on your screen.
There were two variances that were applied for and were approved by the PLLDRC. Variance one was for a dog shelter. Um the setback there is supposed to be 5 ft. The dog shelter was
built at 1.8 ft from the sideyard, which is what you see in the black circle on the plan. Uh it's 383 square foot structure, so it does not need a building permit. However, they still have to meet zoning setbacks. So,
this is an after the-act um situation. Variance two is for a barn. It was approved and that is not part of the appeal. So, we are not discussing variance 2, only variance one. This is a picture of the uh subject dog
shelter started as a code enforcement complaint with uh included the structures not didn't meet setbacks as well as a hobby breeder um operating on site without a license and without a special exception approval.
Since um code enforcement has been working with the property owner on this, they have ceased the puppy breeder operations and have reduced the number of dogs on the property so that it's it's five and under. So that um they are meeting the maximum number of dogs
allowed in the unincorporated area. So there's no longer um an issue with the number of pets or the use of the animals. The variances uh require to meet three of five variance criteria.
I'm not going to read these, but these are the five criteria required. If we need to refer back to them, staff found that they did not meet criteria 1, 2, 3, and four. And the planning and land development regulation commission voted to approve uh the variance for the dog
kennel four to three. for public input. There were two letters of support of opposition that were submitted prior to the meeting. There were two people who spoke in opposition. One is the appellant, Mr. Clayton Beno, and the other is his attorney who is also
present. There were four letters of support that accompanied the variance application. Um, and also a form listing the neighbors who stated they were okay with the dogs. And I would say a lot of the statements that we got from both
support and opposition really focused in on the dogs and whether they approved of the dogs. Need to be clear that this is a variance to the zoning setback structures for an accessory structure.
Um this is the property in question is in yellow kind of in the center. The property in red on the left hand side of the map is the appellants property. Um, not really great on those screens there, but some of that very light yellow, it's
actually green, meaning that we received letters of support from those properties. The appellent statement discusses um a lot about the business of Hobby Breeder being on the property and that keeping the kennel could allow for that to to be
used as a business. We also talked about um following the staff's recommendation of denial and discussed um the dogs getting out and and biting people. The applicant did say in the meeting that there were times where the dogs escaped
and chased people on bikes. Um, and that's why she wanted the kennel was to keep the dog secure on the property. Um, so the council in front of you is to uh reverse
affirm or continue the case um for the the appeal. Um, we do have the appellant here, but we do not have the property owner. They were properly noticed. Um, but we've been unable to get in hold of them by phone. So, we do have the appellant here though. And if you have
any questions, I'm here. >> Okay. Questions for staff. Uh, Councilman Dempsey. >> I have to excuse myself from this vote >> because process issues. >> Okay. So, Don is recusing himself. Councilman Robbins. >> Thank you, Chairman. Carol, >> our attorney is telling us I have to
announce that it's quasi judicial hearing. So, you don't need to disclose any communications. >> Yeah. You didn't let me get to that. >> Though, um before Danny asks us questions, does any council member have any exparte that they need to declare? >> No.
>> No. >> Okay. Councilman Robbins. >> Carol, real quick, the current setback you said is 5T. It needs to be five feet and he's at 1 point >> 1.8.
>> So we're dealing with >> uh 3.2 ft. >> That is correct. >> Why are we here? I'm I'm not being a wise guy. >> Yeah, the the appeal was or the variance
was approved by the PLLDRC. So um we're here to the appeal. Oh, I got plenty of comments. >> Made a motion. >> Well, we need to hear from the applicant and the appeal. The applicant's not
here. We have uh um two members. Uh the appealant and uh the attorney for the appellant who would like to speak. Is there there no more questions? Okay. Uh Martin uh Padella, do you want
to go? >> Pata. Padata. I'm sorry. I see that cross on the on the L now making it a T. Hey, my my name's been butchered a lot worse than that. Uh I'm at I'm located at 120 East Rich
Avenue in the land and I represent Mr. Beno. And a few comments that I'd like to say is that I heard her say that there was conversations about the them
uh reaching some type of situation where they're not selling the dogs or breeding the dogs anymore. But we provided evidence at the hearing that that was not in fact true because there were advertisements that we put in there uh
showing that they advertised for breeding and they don't have a breeders's license. But here's one here's a legal argument that I really want to make because you in the letter that was presented. It says that the board uh base the decision on the
following findings and the second finding is the special conditions and circumstances do not result from the actions of the applicant. That is completely not supported by the evidence
that was put in there. the the the applicant testified that they built the structure and they built it without a permit. Uh that's under that's not in dispute. As a matter of fact, we attached
uh exhibits um that showed on the variance that she admitted on page uh two of the the first exhibit where
she made an application that the structure was being built, that they built it. So, I don't know how the board ever made a conclusion that there was no evidence saying that the applicant had no impact. the the applicant built
something without a permit and then not with without getting a variance and not following through and and that I think by itself uh should have some merit here that this should be reversed um because they're the ones that caused
the problem by not following the process like everybody else needs to do. And so that's why I think the board made an error of an and of a a fact in in their position on granting the the variance.
>> Okay. Thank you. What where's Carissa? >> Okay. Uh if you would just note that you have some time reserved if you'd like to come back after the discussion and um cuz you as the attorney you get 20 minutes. You've used 17
>> or you've taken 17 minutes. Uh Clayton, did you want to speak now? >> Uh excuse me one second. Councilman Robbins, did you have a question for I'm going to wait. Okay. Jake Johansson, did you have a question for the attorney?
Okay, Clayton Beno. >> Uh, yeah. I'd just like to say that, uh, as far as for the breeding and the selling of the dogs that were stated, they said that they're not doing it. They are. They're still on Facebook. She's still breeding. She's still selling. Uh, the dogs bark all hours of
the day and night. Secondly, it poses a problem with the surrounding property owners, of which we sent all of the information out to. Uh some of the people that we actually looked into to see who signed those uh different statements saying they were
okay with it. They're not even property owners around the entire area. So they were set up. It was something that was rigged on it. We looked into it. They don't even exist. Secondly, I had a private investigator go there and
actually go onto the property where she attempted to sell two puppies to him. said that there were more on the ground and they're there right now. Second, uh another issue that raises once this is gone through, what is it to stop her
from doing what she does? She her mother said that it was for making her money on the property. This passes, it goes to another person that's allowed. the entire integrity of the area goes downhill from there because who wants to live in an area where you hear dogs
barking all hours of the day and night. Set another issue is the noise ordinance. There's a noise ordinance set in fact by county council and it it should be a something to look into even further when you call the sheriff's department. Sheriff's department says
that's not our issue. That's animal control. Animal Control knows about the dog bites, but yet no one even followed up to take the dogs from a woman that was court ordered to spay and neuter all of those dogs. And to this day, she's still breeding every one of them.
>> I rest. >> Okay. Uh, Councilman Robbins. >> Thank you, Chair. Um I just Are we in the comment um section or? >> Let's make sure nobody has a question first and then we can Jake Johansson for
questions. >> Carol, can you can you go back to that map? I saw it when I was coming out of the restroom. So the the yellow the 5067 central is where the dogs are
>> and 5075 is the person complaining. >> Um one of the statements of opposition is 5075 which is just north. Mr. Beno's property is 5040 Commerce Avenue. Is that correct? >> Yes.
>> Over there. >> Mhm. >> Got it. What's what's the distance, Carol, from >> 300 ft? >> Approximately >> 300 >> and and the variance that the PLRDC gave was
got it after the fact. Number one, about 3 ft >> um >> 3.2 3. >> Right. Right. The the variance between what's allowed and and what they got and it's also on the uh east property line.
>> Right. Got it. All right. Thanks. >> Do we have anybody here from animal control or >> vote infor? >> No, we do not. >> We do not. Okay. >> Uh, okay. If there's no more questions,
uh, Councilman Robbins, uh, for comment. Uh so ju just just so I understand this uh the uh was it the PLLDRC upheld uh the variance and this agenda item is to I guess reverse that.
>> The PLLDRC approved the variance and so the appeal is to reverse it which would result in a denial of the variance. >> So if we want to keep it the the same as uh you know approved what what do you need from us? You would um want to
>> motion to refer >> deny the appeal. >> Motion to deny the appeal. >> You you just made that motion. >> Second Hansen. >> Councilman Robbins makes a motion to
deny the appeal and the second was by Jake Johansson. Any other comments? Then I'm going to call the attorney if he wants to say anything. You've got I think you've still got three minutes in
reserve. Um and I'd ask you while you speak to please tell us how does how is this affecting um Mr. Bino? Well, I think if you have a kennel and with the noise that that affects them
and also it brings down the property damage, who wants uh property values? Who who wants to live around dogs that are barking through all the night and nobody does anything about it? And there also uh were circumstances where where
the dog bit somebody. So, uh they're breeding without a breeder's license. And that that's a that's illegal. So essentially she's violating the law and
didn't get didn't jump through the legal hoops to to build what she wanted to do and the county is now going to say it's okay. You could break the law. I mean some of this needs to be some kind of common sense too. So, you're going to
approve somebody that is in violation. And not only that, but the staff recommended that it it shouldn't be it should be denied. So uh and finally I think when you make
findings of fact that are not supported by competent substantial evidence in the record as the reason why you're going to approve uh the variance is a error as a matter of law
in their own writings. they relied upon uh that evidence and that evidence is not in the record. They caused the problem. So the whole reason that behind them granting the variance is is an
error. It's a legal error. And so that's our that's our position. And I I'm going to ask that you uh approve the appeal. Okay. Uh, county attorney.
>> So, >> so, um, here's what you're you're reviewing. Um, and the level of review of a variance. So, this council changed the level of review of granting a variance. So, you do not have to meet all five criteria. You meet three out of
five criteria. And as long as this council finds in the record that there's sub substantial evidence for at least three of those five prongs, you have the authority to um deny the appeal and uphold the PLLDRC's determination. If
you find that there is um not enough evidence such that you know they do not meet three out of five, that gives you grounds to approve the appeal and essentially deny the variance. >> Thank you for that clarification. Uh, Councilman Robbins. Uh, Councilman
Johansson. >> Yes, sir. Um, I I I know the answer, but I'm going to ask it anyhow. Carol, um, denial of the variance doesn't mean the kettle or whatever it
is goes away. It means that they have to get within the limits. Correct. >> That is correct. >> Doesn't make the noise go away either. It does not affect the number of dogs on the property. >> That's so and and noise I know to be a
code violation. Um and and the the illegal dog activity if there is any is animal control in the sheriff. So >> right >> this whatever decision we make isn't
going to bear any fruit on those two issues. um uh other than maybe stopping it for a few minutes while they get rid of some of the uh uh excess barn if you will. All right. Thank you, >> Councilman Troy Kent.
>> Thanks, Chairman. I uh I cannot um go along with that motion to um deny the appeal. Uh I I would want to approve the appeal because um the attorney and the um gentleman he represents
are just um speaking with too much common sense. Why in the world why in the world would we uh applaud bad behavior? Why would we say it's okay to uh break
the rules otherwise? Get rid of the rules, man. Okay, we're going to do that. Get rid of the rules. Some I hear I hear council members up here talk about, you know, you're freeing up. You know, do whatever you want on your land. It's your land.
Do what you want. It's all good and well until you got a dog barking in your ear all night long. Doesn't feel good. It's not enjoyable. And then you can hear, well, what do you have to do? Just move it over five feet, eight feet. You're still going to listen to the dogs?
Follow the rules or get rid of the rules. But I'm not a get rid of the rules kind of guy. I'm a follow the rules kind of guy. So I will emphatically be voting against that motion.
>> Councilman Matt Reinhardt. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Um, so I think Jake had asked a question. I actually had it written down and just realized he he's already answered it for me. So, what we're here for today is the motion uh about the appeal. The dog
activity we cannot decide upon. The noise activity we cannot decide upon. So, all it is is if they tore down the structure basically, they can move it over and they're right back at square one. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Uh Councilman Danny Robbins. >> Thank you, Chairman. to to Matt's point, we're here over 3 uh2 ft and and and Mr. Ken, I I uh respect and applaud your your your stance on this, but the reason that
uh there's after the fact permits is stuff happened. I don't know what what hap happened. I don't know and I don't need need to know, but there's always a process uh to this. That's not a green light to break the rules. Uh none of us, I don't think think really support that.
Um, so you know, at the end of the day, uh, council, there's several instances here. I'm not basing my, um, my decision, uh, on these, but you know, agricultural setbacks. They can build it right on the property line. If they wanted to have hogs, a couple hogs, they
can have hogs there, right on the property line. We just approved chickens. Uh, we just got rid of shed permits. Um, what else? So, we're here about 3.2 ft. Um, the
rest is code violations. So, say call the question. >> Uh, one quick question for the county attorney or the county manager if either of you know, have you received any complaints on on the dog biting, on
breeding or noise? >> I have not I don't know. I could not answer necessarily for our uh animal control people who are not here. >> Okay, Michael. >> They Yeah, they're definitely going to investigate.
Paula, >> are you aware of any? >> I'm not. >> My understanding is that there was a code enforcement process on this property and from my understanding they are in compliance.
um and they're no longer breeding. But I don't want to provide that as factual information because I have no firsthand knowledge of that. But that's my understanding. And and through throughout the PLDRC hearing process, it was re reiterated that they were there
for the location of the shed. If there are any for complaints about continued dog breeding or hobby breeding or noise complaints, that should be settled under the code enforcement provisions. um because the PLDRC does not have jurisdiction over those particular
matters. Um but >> so we're back to the placement of the shed. >> Yes, one question. >> Okay. Uh Councilman Reinhardt, >> thank you. And with respect to what Paul just said, if there is an issue, like you said, you have no firsthand knowledge of it. It's already been investigated from a prior complaint. If
there is yet that activity as being suggested here, another complaint could be filed, be investig investigated by code enforcement, and follow the process. Correct. >> Of course. Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh chairman Paulo, was the uh was the shed was the
shed built with a proper permit? >> Uh this council removed the requirement to construct um at the time it they did not pull the permit, a proper permit, but this council has removed the requirement to
pull permits of an accessory structure. I I believe I voted no against that. But regardless, was the shed built before the council made that decision? >> My understanding, Carol stated was built in 2024, so potentially. Yes. >> Yes. >> So, the shed was built before. And did
they pull a permit to build the shed? >> No. >> Not following the rules. >> Follow. So, the >> Maybe we can send them a cake afterwards after we approve this. We can send them a cake and some treats. >> Is a problem. We could have avoided all
this if if the owners would move the shed. Is a problem that the shed can't be moved easily? Is it sunk in the ground? Is it sunk with concrete? Is it do you know? >> There's a concrete uh slab. There's in the packet I believe there's a picture. >> Yeah. >> And it has a concrete slab. I mean they
>> Okay. >> There's ways they could move it for sure, but not easily. >> Okay. Okay. I don't see any more questions or discussion. Uh the motion was to uh
um >> deny the >> Is that your motion to deny the appeal and uphold the decision of the PLDRC? >> Carissa, would you call the role? >> Johansson, >> can you skip me and come back later?
>> A yes is a denial. A no is a move the shed. >> I wasn't confused who said that. Please say that again. >> A yes vote is a motion to deny the appeal.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Kent. >> No. >> Mr. Reinhardt? >> Yes. >> Mr. Robbins? >> Yes. >> Mr. Santiago? No, >> Mr. Dempsey. >> He recused himself.
>> And Mr. Brower. >> Uh, well, this will make it a tie. Uh, if I say no. And a tie
means that the motion is uh is failed because it wasn't voted by a majority. So the uh >> Paulo, do you need a motion to approve the appeal now or are we done with this issue? Uh you would need a motion to
approve the approve the appeal uh because we need basically uh an affirmative statement from >> I'll make a motion to approve the appeal. >> I'll second it. >> We have a motion to approve the appeal by Mr. Kent, seconded by David Santiago.
>> No >> questions. Councilman Robbins. Thank you, Chair. >> I I understand everybody's standpoint and >> Mr. S you didn't say much, but if if we package this all up, we're talking about 3.2 ft
on something that he pulled after the fact permits for. He made a mistake. We're all human. Uh he paid the double the permit fee fine, right? Which is standard. Uh he didn't get off scot-free. Uh and at the end of the day,
I think you voted for us. we got rid of um this ordinance uh uh for the future uh ahead of this. So, as we sit here and look at the totality of this stuff and priorities, although I mean, some people want to crucify this guy for probably
being human. Uh, but at the end of the day, if he were to do it today, he wouldn't eat anything or >> I'm sorry to interrupt, but you do have to meet your setbacks even though a permit is not required. So if he were to
build it today, he would not need a building permit or a zoning clearance, but he would have to meet the five foot setback. I'm sorry. >> At the end of the day, it's still 3.2 ft. There's other measures to cover to cover any possible u violations, but as we sit here and in dick over 3.2 feet,
we're probably wasting thousands uh and thousands of dollars in staff time. I just I did this person pay the the the double the permit fees and get his hand slapped. >> Yes. It's an after the fact variance application fee.
>> How much was that? Doubled. >> So it's doubled. >> How many times did he pay that? Once. Twice. >> It's he paid it once and it's after the fact so it's doubled. Does that make sense? >> Okay. So he paid $669. >> That's what it says here. fee paid
>> times two >> times two,300 bucks. >> David, do you have any suggestions or chair or Troy? I mean, what else what other punishment should we give them? Um, >> uh, I'm trying to land somewhere.
>> You asked, so I'll go ahead and tell you because Suzanne, I think, said it very succinctly, and that was this. Even now, after someone on this council decided to just willy-nilly, in my opinion, get rid of the permits you have to get, it would still have to be within
the sideyard or rear yard setbacks. So, basically what I hear you saying is, Wild West, do what you want, pay the pay the fee, put it where you want, just pay the pay the fine, you'll be okay. Just pay the I'm not okay with that. I I I
don't want to live next to that. and you know, follow the rules. That's where I am. This isn't about punishing somebody. I I I I regret you use that term. You know, this isn't about punishing people. I'm not a punisher. That's not what I
want to do. But this guy who I've never seen a day in my life before, he's punished every single day. And to willy-nilly let this go, I think we're punishing him. And I'm I'm not okay with that. I I continually put myself in the
shoes of the person up here talking to us going, "Hey, this isn't a fun life experience listening to this all day long." And then we can bicker over the or dicker as you used. It's 3.2 ft. What are we going to say next? It's 23.8
ft. >> Well, it's not Mr. >> 19.4T. I mean, what is it? You know, follow the rules. Don't pay your way out of it. Follow the rules. Move it to where it's supposed to be. That's where I am. Okay. The motion on the floor is to uh approve the appeal. Uh Carissa,
would you call the role? >> Mr. Johansson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kent? >> Yes. >> Mr. Reinhardt? >> Yes. >> Mr. Robbins? >> No. >> Mr. Santiago? >> Yes. >> Mr. Brower? >> Yes.
>> The appeal is approved. >> Does the applicant get his money back? >> I mean, the builder That was an expensive mistake. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Item seven,
ordinance 2026-04, update to the 5-year schedule of capital improvements. Ray Tiner. >> Good evening, council members. Um, this is an update to our five-year capital plan. It's a pretty much a house cleaning item. uh you prove your budget
every year and state law requires us to add our CIP or capital improvement plan as part of the comprehensive plan. I'm here for any questions. It's it the plan you all you you have already approved that. >> Move to approve, Mr. Chair.
>> We have a motion to approve uh by David Santiago and the second came from Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt. questions for staff. I've I have one question. I'm not sure who's going to take it. I think Ryan
Osowski answered it in my email, but there is a line on here of a million dollars and it says on on the line for motocross, but I believe there's more to it. And so I' just for the public consumption, I'd like you to explain
what that really is. Yeah, Ryan Oowski, chief financial officer, as I uh replied to you today after some research, that million dollars was uh put in the budget for uh trail uh riding that would have been at the same site, not for the motocross
site uh with a plan to try to apply for a state grant. That is that is no longer the plan. So, the million dollars is not currently slated for anything. If it were, it would have to return to council. And if it is the desire of council for us to move that back to reserves and not explore the uh trail
riding or which we're not really looking at right now anyway, uh that could be done. >> Okay. So the trail writing is off the table. >> I'm not going to say that. That's uh that's a Brad Burbball question, but that grant is not being pursued right
now. >> Okay. >> But the the budget is just a budget. It's not executed until there's an actual purchase that's tied to it and that would be brought to council. >> Okay. Was the decision does anybody know if the decision to remove just trail
riding, not motocross, but trail riding, is a result of the consultant or >> that I may have even made a misstatement. What I'm saying is that the the million dollars is not currently being planned to be applied for a grant for that. I think there might be a
possibility. I don't know where they're at with the project itself, but it was not for the motocross track itself. That's the the key thing. >> Okay. So, if the million dollars is spent, it comes back to the council >> for a decision. >> Yes. >> Thank you.
>> All right. Uh, Councilman Kent. >> Motion to approve. >> Second, Johansson. >> We >> We already have a motion and a second to approve. >> Well, we did two of them then, Chairman, because that's how excited we are about it. So, >> okay. >> Now, I'll make comments when you're ready for that.
Okay, we have a motion and a second to approve the five-year schedule. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. 720. Um, economic development and public works mini budget workshop.
Too many people coming down. >> Brian, are you starting it? >> I am. I'm waiting for the slide to click forward. I don't know if this thing's battery dead or something. Maybe. >> Oh, now it's working. All right. Once again, uh Ryan Oowski,
chief financial officer. This is the first mini budget workshop in a series of five similar presentations like this that will be concluded with a final wrap-up. Uh that wrap-up presentation is critical to what we're looking at here. As we go through these presentations, we
are definitely looking for feedback from council of programs or services that you're looking to make changes to, make reductions to uh because those will be the programs and items that we bring back at May and the conclusion of everything to be looked at for uh for a
final uh roll call of these these things that we come across for this uh for these five sessions. absent direction to include them in May, uh that implies that you're okay with what we have today, which is what's being presented to you, to continue on being in the
recommended budget. Uh so what we're going to be talking about today is economic development and public works with the exception of a few areas. Um we'll be covering the development engineering function of public works with the growth and
resource management presentation because it is tied to to that function. And then we have a whole separate presentation coming at the next council meeting for beach related services. So the coastal division actually will be up here today to talk about the port district but in two weeks they'll be talking about the
core beach management function that Coastal works on. Uh, with that I will turn it over to Lou Martino, economic development uh, division director to go over the economic development. >> L, sorry, Lou Paris. Who did I say? L Martino.
>> Lou Martino. He retired the other day. >> Good evening. Um, thank you for having me, county chair and county council members. I Is this working, Ryan? Okay. All right. I split the presentation in three parts. Uh first I will tell you a
little bit about the background of economic development in our county. Then I will tell you a little bit of what we do. I'll give you some highlights and I'll wrap it up with how much it costs. So with that said, jumping right into the background. You the county council have been
supporting local businesses for years and years. Okay. And uh we have had different shapes and forms over the course of decades. And the version that you see today as as it exists uh today for county uh for Valuchia County is was
implemented in 2001. Now the context in which we operate is that there are about 20,000 businesses in Valuchia County out of which almost all so 19,000 approximately out of 20,000 are considered small businesses. These are
businesses that have 20 employees or less. Now, what's interesting and good in a way is that most of the jobs in our county come from those small businesses. And at the same time, what's scary is that those small businesses tend to be
the ones that are more susceptible to changes in the economy and more susceptible to failure. So that's why it makes sense for the county to support small businesses to retain a strong economic um power and uh be able to retain and support those jobs in our
county. So what do we do? I'm going to highlight for you some key programs that we have. I'm not going to cover everything, just the the key ones. Starting with what we're probably best known for, and that is supporting bringing businesses into
into our community. We do this work through team Valuchia and here you can see on on the slide on the left hand side probably you recognize all three but the newest one is insert. Uh this company uh once it finishes its uh plant
it will be the largest metal plating company in the United States which is kind of a big deal because that's a key service that aerospace and aviation require. So once we have this company here locked in, we'll be able to attract more businesses in this industrial cluster. And of course we have Aura Aero
and Boeing, which I'm sure you have heard of before. Thousands of jobs, highpaying jobs uh that really support this economy and and aerospace and aviation happen to be a very interesting and and excellent uh industry for us.
We're also tasked with uh administering and working with state and federal economic uh programs. On the left hand side we have the FTC which is a foreign trade zone. Lately this has been a hot topic. In the last quarter we had about three or four um conversations with
manufacturers in Valuchia County that are looking to implement an FTC in their business. Uh one of them is actually moving forward. It's probably the farthest along uh that is Blight what used to be Radon phenomenal company. So they're looking at uh right now they're being inspected so to make sure that
their facility is compliant with the FDC regulations. On the right hand side you have the Industrial Development Authority IDA. Uh this program has been active for uh decades in our county and has helped dozens of manufacturers in Valuchia County to be able to expand
their operations. It is a kind of a cyclical program in that when interest rates are low there's less demand for the those uh finance uh uh bonds and uh when the interest rates climb there's of course they become a lot more appealing.
We also help businesses that are in the county and uh and business that want to launch in the county. Uh you may recognize the Evolution Innovation Hub. We took on the management of what used to be UCF's business incubation program.
And uh we wanted to make this program more readily available to the entire business community. So not only tech scalable businesses, we wanted any person, any business that needed help in the county, we wanted to support them. And so we built a program called Launchpad Valuchia. It's a nine-week
program where businesses are helped from anywhere from launching their idea to, you know, even small business to advance. And basically we help them overcome any challenge they may face in the future. We make them more resilient to uh to be able to make it in the market. And uh since launching uh the
launchpad revolution, we're in the second cohort. We have had 41 businesses involved. 21 have already graduated. 20 are currently in the program. And our goal is to service 80 to 100 businesses a year. And uh we believe that the more
businesses go through this program, the better off we'll be as a community because these will be individuals who are trained now to be able to make their business succeed. On top of this program, the the Launchpad Valuchia, we have Orbit, which is resembles a lot what you uh UCF used
to have. Orbit is a program that we are a little more selective and I'll kind of move on to the next slide to talk about orbit. Uh we look for businesses that are scalable and they're going to attract and generate u more jobs. In less than a year, we have recruited
eight businesses to u to the orbit program. And these eight businesses have generated shy under $2 million in revenue. And let me say something, some of these businesses are pre-revenue. So they haven't even started selling. Okay? So just a handful of business are
generating that that $2 million. And more interesting or just as appealing as revenue is number of jobs. 34 full-time jobs accompanied by a ton of uh part-time jobs and internships from the local uh higher education institutions. Now, what I call the the sprinkles, the
icing on the cake for from an economic development perspective is that these businesses are looking for funding and they're bringing money into the county. And to date, these eight little businesses have brought about $3.3 million in investment from the outside
the county. And some of these businesses have uh government contracts to the tune of a little over $7 million. These are not municipality contracts. These are not county contracts. These are federal contracts. So se uh 3 plus 7 that's more
than $10 million that these small businesses tiny businesses at the innovation hub are bringing into the county. It's money that was not here before. Our goal is to double that number. So capacity may be about 15 16 businesses and we're kind of building
that pipeline to get these business uh uh with us and to the extent that they all actually make it to revenue these numbers should be exponentially higher. What I want to highlight here is that how eight little businesses have generated that much impact in our community. So huge bang for the buck if
you will. We are also tasked with disseminating sharing economic information and we do a ton of things. Okay. And I'm going to just going to talk about two quickly. One is the economic scene. Uh you probably received this newsletter on a weekly basis. We offer businesses information that is
relevant to them here in Valuchia County. One example of how this is impactful about a month ago I was talking to a um a very uh wellto-do startup in Orman Beach and she was saying how uh this details flowers she
um had seen an award opportunity through the US Chamber of Commerce on the newsletter. She applied for it and got it. So our business are getting recognition and they're able to find those recognitions and get exposure through the newsletter. And the other one is the Q breakfast. The Q breakfast
is of course it happens on a quarterly uh uh basis. On this event, we typically talk about economic indicators for the county and uh to begin with and then we transition into topics that are of importance to the community. The example that you have on the screen is one in
which we talked about aerospace and aviation and how it impacts our community. We also provide support services for sister divisions and and departments. And uh one of the things that we do is the Valuchia uh county and unbuttons
permit and code enforcement concierge service. Um since its inception about 18 months ago, we have serviced uh 550 businesses and residents. Now when you grow a business it requires
a lot of resources, a lot of effort, a lot of knowledge and that's why in my line of work we depend heavily on partnerships and we over the years we have had strong partnerships with Daytona State College with the SBDC and I want to highlight one of the most important ones for us today which is the
Valuchia business resources which is a partnership of about 42 entities in the county that some in some way shape or form assist businesses in our community and what we what we do is we look for gaps in support, business support and we close those gaps. So here you have two
examples. On the left hand side you have the uh funding readiness center. The funding readiness center was created after COVID. It was a situation in which after all the grants were exhausted and we noticed that businesses still needed assistance. We talked to banks and we
found out that banks have the money and they said we want to lend the money. That's how we make money in the first place. but they're not ready when they come to us. So what they did was um what we did was create a program that would prepare any person in the county if they go through the program to be funding
ready. And so that program has been widely successful. A lot of people have gone through it and and shared with us their their success and getting uh funding after going through it. On the right hand side we have the Innovation Challenge which actually will be the final competition will be taking place on uh March 25th. you're more than
welcome and invited to join. Um, put aside the fact that it's a business pitch competition. This really is an opportunity to get people in our community to share their innovation, to share their ideas and get feedback, to get support, to connect them with the right resources to make it happen. And
and again, a very successful event thus far. To kind of summarize all this uh all these services into a story, I'll tell you a little bit about Limitless. on that photo. The tall gentleman, very tall gentleman with a tie in the middle, his name is Alex. Alex is an Embry
Riddle student who won the innovation challenge about two years ago with like a drone idea that had military application. And one of the things that he won was one-year membership in the innovation hub. Now the business when he entered had to endure three changes.
Okay, like subsequently we call that pivots. Usually a business cannot survive one pivot less so two or three. And because this company Alex was getting the support from the hub and the resources that we had and the mentoring and
coaching that that we offer there, he was able to go through this those three major changes in his business and landing an idea that now has multi-million dollar contracts a year. And the reason I tell you this story and I get goosebumps when I tell the story is that about a month and a half ago, he
came to our office and said, "Hey, uh, home for me is Sarasota and I was planning upon graduation to move my operation to Sarasota, but you guys have been so good to me. Valuchia County has been so good to me that I want to keep this company here. So, I want you to
find for me a building that is 15 to 18,000 square feet so I can start production and that company will generate about 20 jobs." So, it's a really cool story that kind of tells a little bit of everything that we do in a single, you know, showing. Um, and it's the essence of of our job in economic
development. We do all this, as you can see, I grayed out. This is our operational u organizational chart. Two positions are grayed out. U they exist, but we haven't, you know, hired anyone for them because we want to operate lean. We want to do the best that we can with the resources that we currently
have. And that brings the question, what does this cost? So the one thing you should know is that you invest in us through the general funds. Okay, general fund. And here's a snapshot of our budget. Now hopefully you have detected so far in this conversation that I've
mentioned support and partnerships a lot and that is reflected on the budget as well. There's two items here uh that we support uh one uh being government affairs and the other one team. These are two things that we're proud to to to participate and support. And the only
reason why I bring it up is because all the internal charges of my division really account for a little less than $800,000 a year. Here you have our top expenses for the division. And here's a snapshot of our revenue
for the year. And to wrap it up, I'll give you two quick notes on efficiency and and how hard we work to be fiscally responsible. The first one is uh partnering with a VBR, which is a Valuchia business resources is a huge deal. And let me
explain that um the two things that I just showed you, the business pitch competition and uh the funding readiness center would not be possible to do by ourselves. It will be too costly, too difficult to to pull off. And so leaning on that partnership has done wonderful
things for us because really has amplified uh the the things that we want to accomplish without really increasing costs. And last but not least, when we took on the management of the UCF uh business incubator, we did so for many
reasons, but one of them was really to be able to save money. And when we made that transition, we saved the county $250,000 a year. So with that, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh questions. Uh Vice Chair Matt Reinhardt. >> Thank you, Chair Lou. Great
presentation. Thank you very much. A couple takeaways I took. Uh they that gave me goosebumps to hear about the young guy that wanted to stay here keeping businesses here. And we said it at many events when we talk about uh graduates from Emery Riddle uh from many of our local universities, but to have
them walk across the stage, get their diploma and say, "You know what? I'm going to stay right here in Valuchia." Well done. Um, also, and I said this before, when we transitioned from the UCF incubator, uh, and then creating, keeping it in-house, I wasn't aware of the amount
of money till you just pointed it out. I had to write that down. $250,000 savings. If that isn't operating lean and bringing in revenue at the same time, I don't know what is. Um, I will say this, awesome partnership with team Valuchia.
Could not be done without them. I think personally I I really don't and so I I thank them for for helping us uh many businesses that were brought uh when we saw and I'm not even going to try and pronounce or arrow >> or arrow. Yeah. >> Yeah, I did. All right. So, thank you so
much for that and and what a great already opening doors. I did visit that facility, the facility down in Edgewater, uh and listen to that gentleman and the excitement just from him and what he's going to bring is phenomenal. One quick question. And I don't mean to put you on the spot. It's
a business that you mentioned in the very beginning of the presentation and I was I've always been curious. I see less and less cars in the parking lot, but you say they're turning the corners by light. >> Mhm. >> Uh I know that they were at one point manufacturing computers um or not
manufacturing, setting them up, I guess, if you will. Uh they have veterans that were working on and all of a sudden that program went away. And I know that's government cuts far above us. Um, and I I know that impacted them in a negative way. What are we doing to help them
because that's a huge business uh that to that area in Port Orange. So, I'm just curious. >> Yeah. So, so that contract uh it it really went away for them and since then they have found other areas to be uh competitive. Um I don't remember the specific
>> reinvented themselves a little Yeah, they they they did and and they they last last last time we had a conversation uh it seemed like they were very active and the fact that they're looking for an FTZ tells me that the volume that of product that they need to bring into the country is is significant
and if I can elaborate on that >> uh the FTC is really a tool uh for uh cash flow improvement. So in other words, when product comes in and it goes into their facility that that is part of the FTZ, they don't have to pay tariffs
uh when the product is as long as the product is there. When the product leaves, then yes, at that point if it stays in the US, then they pay tariffs. So that window of time helps them tremendously with the cash flow. So the fact that they need that right now tells us that the volume of activity that they have in that building is either about to
increase or is already uh significant. Yeah, >> that's awesome news. Thank you very much, >> Councilman Santiago for questions. >> Um, just a comment. >> Let me see if who else. Jake Johansson, do you have a question? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay.
>> Lou, what your offices are at the airport, >> correct? >> Is there any other opportunity to save money where we don't have to pay rent? Um, another place to be. >> Okay.
I know it's only 67K, but >> gentlemen of the council, Cyrus Kellum, Aviation and Economic Resources. We are definitely looking at new locations for the economic development division. Um, of course, as the airport is getting busier and busier with all of our
passenger traffic, where they are currently located right now is an area that we're looking at towards expanding the security checkpoint. Uh just for instance, yesterday, which is probably our busiest uh time period in my tenure that we've had with the exodus uh of the
Daytona 500, we processed just over 3,500 passengers and our security checkpoint can only handle 300 passengers an hour. So, as we get busier, we're going to need that space. We've talked about consolidating economic development into the space that
is the innovation hub right now. And as soon as we get some planning and some designs and some funding and we have a consultant right now that we've tasked with designing and laying out what our alternatives are with that security checkpoint, then we'll start the process
with moving economic development into where the innovation hub is. That consolidates cost initially and then we'll look at other opportunities as well. >> Great. What um out of the corner of my eye I see uh um
team Valuchia guys here ready to answer this question but what what percentage of of uh team's contributions public and private do we pay >> yeah I don't know don't know the percentage off the top
>> yeah if Keith if Keith wants to come up sir do you mind if team comes up chairman 23% is what what I heard. >> 23. Okay. So So we're at about 23%. Is there any move to
decrease that through time? I know when I was on that board, we were we were trying to get public participation above 50% and I know they got >> Is that trend continuing or are we stagnating there? So, in the conversations that I've had with Keith
and they're in the middle of having a uh a study completed with trying to determine increasing private investment and and how they operate. Um I know that they're going to be on a
council agenda potentially in May and they'll have a full uh presentation that kind of describes those details. >> Good. So, so in May we'll get a good idea of before budget season. Yes, I think that's important. Not not that I
>> am in any position to say anything about it other than I I I'd like to see where we are and where we're going. Um and and you answer my question about the innovation hub. It sounds like you're making uh making amends there. The marketing and public uh relations that's
65k out of the general fund. Correct. >> That is correct. and but that is not the overall marketing and public relations bill uh >> per se. >> So yeah, the title of that account it doesn't do justice to all the things
that are in it. Uh and and part of it for example running the the quarterly breakfasts and and other events that we that we operate and and promote. Do we get does does any of the marketing and PR money here come from other
revenue sources? Is there more going into that or is 65k all we spend? Ryan's coming up like he knows the answer. >> Go ahead. I I'm might not have a direct answer to your question, but I think I'm detect this is just the marketing and PR
budget for economic devel I know for ED not for I know I'm not asking about the the lodging stuff for the airport. So this is it. All right, that's all I have sir. Thanks. >> Councilman Ken, do you have a question? >> I do. Just a a brief one, a quick one, I
guess I I should say. Uh thank you for your information. Cyrus, you might want to come up for this question as well. Um, I appreciate the the 20,000 number of businesses, 19,000 of which are small business, which leaves a thousand large businesses. And I would be remiss if I
didn't mention one of my favorites with Charlie Lie Decker and Foundation Risk Partners in Orman Beach. But my question is this, and we never want to turn away, you know, businesses coming into our community, but
how important is it to keep the businesses that you have here? And and what kind of focus are we putting on that priority to keep businesses in Valuchia County?
>> So, yeah. Um, I think the the county council made a a a smart decision years ago when team Valuchia when we started contracting team Valuchia to do let me back up. Economic development comes in two flavors. One is to recruit, the other one is to to help the business
that are here. And in essence, when you help them, they shouldn't leave, right? And so the flavor of recruiting is something that I I I commend what you have done, which is uh now outsourcing that to to team Valuchia who I mean they're doing a phenomenal job. The the three examples that I showed you are
great and that empowers us to focus on the other side of the equation, which is to help the businesses that are here. Now there's a a gigantic spectrum there. And so we we have we noticed that there was a significant gap for the small businesses that was not covered by any
other organization efficiently. So that's the first thing that we that we where we plugged ourselves in. Uh throughout all this time we continuously have conversations with the big businesses to help them in some way shape or form. uh and as an example by light or germfree we meet them we meet
with companies of that size regularly and I I foresee in the future being able to implement more uh you know uh standing programs that assist also bigger businesses but we have to start somewhere you know so and that's where the gap was
>> um thank you for sharing that because yeah I learned a long time ago it's actually more impactful to keep what you have you know we don't want to lose anybody we want to keep them and and try to help them as much as we can. Thank you. >> Keep and grow them. You know, we want we also key part is when they come in for
expansions, uh we kick in a toll team for that as well. So, it's not only keeping them, but it's keeping them and having them grow here. So, absolutely agreed to what you're saying. >> Okay. Look, that looks like it's the end
of questions, comments from uh Councilman Santiago. >> Thank you, Chair. Um I guess today Ryan oh Ryan disappeared but you're just looking for guidance from us. We like what we've seen. Any suggestions tell can you give us clarity so we can
move along and what you need? >> So if you want to know the cost of any particular sub function that they're doing you're of anything that they're any program you might want to consider making a reduction in. That's the type of feedback we need here. We need to know
if you want if it looks good other costing estimates or anything. If you are okay with what you just saw and you want to continue with those programs and have them in the budget. Uh no feedback is what that's what that means is. >> Gotcha. Thank you, Ryan. Um and just from my part, Mr. Chair and and council
members, I think this is a great team. They run lean and they bring results and it's an investment in our community. So, I'm happy with what I see as a me individual member. >> Councilman Johansson. You're done. Okay. Um Lou, oh, there you
are. I I just want to add what to what he just said. The for for your budget. It's not a huge budget, but you have a tremendous effect on Valuchia County, not only um on keeping businesses, but
helping entrepreneurs create business. And that's invaluable. Small business is the bank backbone of America, not just Felia County. So, I think your your budget is a really good investment from
this council uh to the future and your um your partnership with team Valuchia. Um for a little bit of money, they add a lot to what you do and what happens here in in Valuchia County. So, uh, I'm I'm
happy with the with the budget. So, thank you for your presentation. Okay, >> honorable gentleman of the council. >> You don't spend a lot of money, I think. >> Ben Barlott, public works director. Um,
so we got a couple presentations here. We're going to start with um uh one of the uh shorter ones which is as you know public works is responsible for maintaining the county's transportation road network. Most of that um m maintenance and construction associated
with that is funded through uh gas tax or transportation trust. However, we do receive property tax uh revenue that goes towards uh the maintenance of our road network. specifically the uh we get $5 million from the MSD for local road
maintenance and we uh get um uh the general fund road transfer which has been a recent ad uh of $5 million. So what does that fund specifically the MSD funding um local road maintenance so these are your non-thoroughare roads in the unincorporated areas these provide
uh you know all the kinds of typical road maintenance that we do it also contributes to resurfacing of local roads. Uh we have uh roughly 90 miles of dirt roads that we maintain. And then we have our emergency maintenance roads, which are roads that were never really accepted for maintenance by the council,
but they exist in public rightway and have had homes built on them over time. We do provide a level of service for those roads to ensure that emergency service vehicles can traverse them and folks can get down there. Uh the newer funding that we've received um from this
council is much appreciated and that goes towards uh like we've t talked about before roadway safety projects. It allows us to safety projects aren't funded either through you know one of our main construction funding sources is prop fair share and impact fees which
funds our capacity. Um gas tax mainly goes towards maintenance. We do have some money for uh gas tax for these projects, but um we don't have much. And so this funding helps move those projects along and gets them done. We have a lot of roads that were built
prior to current safety standards and we bringing those up to current safety standards is is beneficial for the traveling public. Pedestrian signals and sidewalk projects, these are uh things that council have spoken greatly about about and wanting to do. Uh bridge repair projects, he just approved one
today. the crutch bent for Taylor Road, which was something that came up as a result of a hurricane and and we're able to uh quickly move forward with that. Um, and we have other bridge repair projects on the horizon. And then uh dirt road reduction is something that
that's funded. So, as Ryan alluded to, if there's any questions or anything you want to look at in terms of this funding, um, happy to answer them. Otherwise, we can move on to, uh, mosquito control. >> Councilman Robbins. Thank you, Chairman.
Ben, how do we get some dirt roads paved? >> Uh, well, we got to get some asphalt and throw them down, but we're working on it. We're going to get some dirt roads paved. We've, you know, uh, Mr. Rectenwald done a great job when he was road and bridge director getting roads paved, and we've, uh, revived that program. So, we should be getting those
done soon. >> I got to throw you some every year. >> Yes, sir, we do. We budget every year for those. And we're with this money, we're hoping to accelerate some of that. I know we're using up uh that MSD fund. Is there any more that we can pull out of there or is that kind of a
>> We've gotten the uh MSD funding for quite some time and that is very very helpful for our local I mean I can tell you um you know during the the downturn when budgets were really um uh tight. uh
the resurfacing program focused mainly on the thoroughares and the local roads were um were were you know deferred and so we've actually focused a lot on resurfacing local roads that has a major impact if you live in a neighborhood the house or the your house you know the
road you drive to your house on every day so um we've really focused on some of those roads and getting that resurfacing done so we definitely value the the money that we get for the MST >> All right continue.
>> All right. Um, mosquito control. Um so mosquito control is funded through a dedicated millillage uh within the m east Valuchia mosquito control district that has existed since 1936 I believe and uh mainly on the east side of the
county and we also perform work uh for the cities on the west side of the county and we do receive some MSD funding um about $300,000 uh from the MSD to fund disease response in the west side of the county. Um, so we utilize
those funds to provide limited mosquito control services on the west side of the county outside the mosquito control district. Um, we do get some revenue like I alluded to when the cities on the west side of the county request service. We charge them through our in our municipal services
agreement. They pay the bill and we also uh surplus equipment. That's mainly the source of revenue. We have uh org chart. We have uh 28 full-time employees FTEES. Um and uh you know we run a pretty lean
ship as well in mosquito control. Um we're aware you know uh of the restraints that we have and we work hard to to make sure that we um make use of those resources uh as much as possible. So what do we do? So I've talked about this before. Um two things in Florida
made Florida or two things have made Florida habitable. Air conditioning and mosquito control. And so what what's M mo Mosquito control's mission is to provide relief from mosquitoes that carry diseases as well as nuisance mosquitoes. And we spend a lot of time controlling those mosquitoes through
various methods whether it's larvaide you utilizing organic material to get the uh mosquitoes before they turn into flyers. And then also adulticiding which is where we spray uh uh material or chemicals to either get them to get them while they're flying either utilizing
trucks or our helicopter. Um this is a public health uh service that we provide. Uh we provide you know uh defense against mosquitoes that carry a tremendous amount of different types of
diseases. Um I would urge any of you to to Google um some of the outbreaks that have happened in other countries recently. Cuba and China from chicken goona and and other diseases. And you know, we work hard to make sure that
that doesn't happen here. We do get occasional travel related cases where someone comes and and and contracts a disease because they were traveling and then comes back to Valuca County. Uh the health department notifies us of those things and we go out and treat and the whole goal is to prevent locally
acquired uh diseases and make sure that that doesn't occur. So, we do all the all the things we do to to make sure that that the citizens of Valuchia County um aren't being exposed to those types of diseases. And another part of
what mosquito control funds is the 137 miles of canals on the east side of the county that we've spent a lot of time talking about and are pretty famous on Facebook these days in terms of uh how we uh making sure everybody knows we're going out and cleaning them. That $800,000 from mosquito control is
allocated to road and bridge where we have all our drainage maintenance crews and things like that to handle uh those ditches. So operating expenses, chemicals, canal maintenance, like I talked about our aircraft maintenance. So we have two helicopters, uh service
charges, um insurance, you got to have pretty significant insurance on aircraft and then the remainder of the budget is split amongst some other items. So um the future challenges you know inflation chemical costs um we work hard
uh the mosquitoes can become resistant to the chemicals we use. So we spend a lot of time or I like to call them our science folks on that side of the house spend a lot of time studying to make sure that we're using uh the pesticides in a in a manner that prevents uh resistance growth. As more people come
in we're going to have more people exposed to mosquitoes. And then like we talked about the mosquito control canals. What I will say is, you know, the the millillage rate for mosquito in within the mosquito control district is it's it's a tax. People pay the taxes. It's on their property tax bill.
>> It's got bid by one >> on the uh on the you know on a 300 thou on a house that's valued at $300,000. Um you're looking at about $40 a year is what that person would pay. So less than $4 a month for a a pretty important service just to put that in perspective.
happy to answer any questions or about anything we do or if there's any ideas y'all may have regarding what we do in terms of mosquito control. >> Councilman Johansson, Ben, you you say $800,000 for canal maintenance. Um and and that's all out
of the U mosquito budget. Uh do we put additional money into canal maintenance from the other budgets from from a >> So we have other ditches and canals throughout the county that are um funded through other means. Um if they're
alongside of a road uh we can use transportation trust gas tax money or if they're in the west side of the county and they're for storm uninccorporated we can use storm water funds. for those 137 miles. Those mosquito control canals were dug specifically for mosquito control purposes when they
started the >> and we don't use them for storm water. >> Yeah. >> Well, I mean they're you I mean they've over time become conveyances for storm water, but their primary purpose is flushing and mosquito. >> That's so so that's my point. If if
we're using for storm water, couldn't we be using some storm water funds to >> uh well not? >> No. And the reason is because uh the utility which is the other funding
source, storm water utility is in uh is in the unincorporated area. Most all of these are in cities >> and so therefore that's their only main source there the there could be some cases and there are a few where there would be un in the
unincorporated and be a mosquito control but for the most part it's the uh and it's a quandry we get into I'm glad you brought it up because you take like Reed canal and some of these ones that are very major really true drainage canals
but were they originated as uh mosquito control canals which were dug to of course uh control the mosquitoes but also of course drain the swamp so to speak so that uh um things could be developed many years ago.
>> Thanks. >> Thank you, Ben. This may be an unfair question for you. I don't mean it to be, but if the Florida legislature decides that we don't have property taxes or just property taxes on on homesteaded uh
properties go away, that leaves that leaves businesses and and renters. How do you how do you plan on paying for this if that happens? What? >> Well, I think that speaks to the larger discussion that we have about core services. And you know, I know Ryan said
it many times, you know, um you have two choices. You can cut the service level that you provide or you can increase the revenue or the millillage to account for the lost revenue. I will say um you know
in terms of what we do in mosquito control it you know nobody's above and we look every year and Mr. Rectenwald and you know charges us every year when we do our budget to to to try to make sure we find cost cutting and things that we can do. I mean we came you know
when we looked at reducing we eliminated a division in public works traffic engineering to save cost. So we're always looking at those things but it would be difficult. I mean the things that we do have direct benefit and direct costs um in the services that we provide. It would result in a service
level reduction. I mean you know a lot of what we do and a lot of our efforts focus on the mosquito lagoon. They call it that for a reason. Those salt marsh mosquitoes are are vicious and and extraordinary. Uh um you know if we didn't treat that marsh we probably
wouldn't be able to go to the beach in New Simrna. Um uh uh so you know it it's a service uh service level that we provide to to meet the demands of the citizens and I think that would have to be a discussion that we would have to
have um with you all to decide what level of service we're comfortable with versus the the associated reduction in >> we could wait for minor disease breakouts uh I you know and
I don't mean to be flippant about it, but I mean this is obviously is a very important area in other areas of the state. It's often found in a different portion of the government uh where it's was more closely associated with the health department in a lot of ways here
because of all the big infrastructure that was put in like the canal system we just talked about is probably why it landed in public works uh many years. But again, uh this will be one that'll be a very hard one
we'll have to look real hard and think real hard about be very uh cautious. Um one thing I will say is a good friend of mine who's worked in mosquito control for a long time and has traveled the world and and studied other operations,
he would say um the mosquito control operations in Florida are the big leagues or for a better analogy the SEC. So, um, you know, what we do down here is, you know, people come from all over the world to look at what we do and it
there's a reason because we have a lot of mosquitoes and we have a lot of uh folks around, you know, urban populations that are exposed to those types of diseases and we work real hard to keep them in check. >> Yeah, Mr. Chair, the only thing that I would add is I went back and I looked at
the chart. The mosquito control fund in the last six years has been at roll back half of them. I know. >> So, it is a fund where the the financial due diligence has been being done all along. So, if you were to red uh have a
reduction of 40% of your tax base, you would have to have either a service level change or you're going to have to adjust the military to not only offset some of the rollbacks you've done in the past, but probably pass that if you wanted to keep the current service level. This being a self-contained fund,
you really only have those two choices. um a property a special assessment I I don't believe would be something that you could do here. So you're really limited in this this area. >> And and the key thing you said I believe both of you said it is that we might
have to raise a millage rate to who? To whoever's left um which is going to be a much smaller pool of people. We just built uh we had to replace the facility. Correct. >> Yeah. We're just fixing >> and we did that while going to roll
back. Yes, sir. >> Uh Matt Reinhardt. >> Thank you, chair. Um Ben, you pointed on the org chart I was looking. Um you said you had 28 employees. >> Yes, sir. >> But I counted 23. Is there others that are not?
>> Um >> forgive me for >> 28 unless there's something wrong with the chart. I actually counted them up earlier, so I I I don't mean to. >> Said UCF math. >> Maybe that's it. Oh, I I just hope you were as good as counting the when you counted the uh inmates.
>> The inmates trust your judgment. >> That there there you you just pegged it right there. There's me counting. I just It's occupational hazard. Um I noticed though also the vacancies. Um how long have they been open? Just out of curiosity. Like I I'm particularly
interested in the vacancies of the uh what was that? The one that actually works on the helicopter. Um, no, actually we have we have a the office specialist is vacant. We actually have a chief >> I thought you were getting ready to say the office specialist works on the
helicopter. >> The chief the chief u mechanic is um we have a chief mechanic. Okay. All right. So maybe they don't >> they have some uh kind of different name. The aircraft maintenance supervisor is filled. The assistant is not. >> Okay. >> But we do we have uh >> titles are deceiving.
>> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. Unless there's any other questions, I'll move on to the port district. Um, which again is a uh another uh taxing district um pretty
much uh the same as the um mosquito control district. It resides on the east side of the county. Um and it resulted through a a millage rate tax on those folks within the district. Uh, I will say going back to that $300,000 house
example, $300,000 valued house, uh, you're looking at about $16 a year is what someone with that value of a house would pay. Um, this is the total amount of positions within the coastal division. Port district funds three, which is a supervisor and two maintenance workers that basically work in the parks. And then we got some split
funded positions which because some of our administrative folks that provide services to both the coastal side of the house and the port side of the house are are funded proportionally out of the port district. What does the port what does the Pon Inlet port District do?
Well, the main uh role is we are the sponsor for the uh Ponellon Inlet. We are the federal sponsor. So, um, we coordinate with the Army Corps on their dredging activities and we support those. Um, we also support public waterway improvements within the
district. So, there's many like fantastic uh, uh, waterway access projects that the port district has helped to fund, including like the swoop boat ramp and other boat ramps along the water, as well as fishing peers like the one at uh, Wilbur Boat House. So basically we
fund um uh through grant program with the cities we fund access to the waterway and then obviously the I'm a little partial but two of the best beach parks I've ever seen are uh Smyrna Dunes and Lighthouse Point Park are both funded through the port district.
And you know what are our what are what do we what are our cost? Um we do uh because Park Valuchia does operate the uh booths at the inlet parks. We uh we contract with them through the overall contract. We do invasive plant removal.
We maintain buoys. Um we also do beach profile monitoring that associated with the inlet that kind of tells you where the sand's going from whether it's going from the beach to the inlet and it helps with the dredging operations. Then we have typical indirect cost seasonal staff and maintenance of our facilities
and grounds. Um so future challenges is you know managing the beach going forward funding of that. We uh I will also throw in we haven't had a uh increase in the uh fees associated with access to the parks. Um
it's $10 a day and $20 for an annual pass. That's been the same since 2015. Um but you know that provides a majority of the revenue to offset some of those costs. Um, that's basically it for the port district. Happy to answer any qu
Oh, Ryan's got some words. >> I'll add one more thing just because I added it for the last one. This fund has been at roll back five out of the last six years. Councilman Jake Johansson, >> I think he answered one of my questions,
but so I haven't been in a while, but in order to go, our parking fees don't apply. We we still have to pay to get in. >> Correct. So, we've actually seen quite
an uptick in people um getting annual passes to the parks because they go on and register with Park Valution, get their free resident pass, and then they see that for $20 they can have a year pass into the parks and they check that box, too, and pay their $20. So, yes,
sir. >> Got it. I just want to make make sure that and I think I know the answer, but I want to make sure that we're not giving the whole county access to something that only some of the county pays a tax for.
>> Correct. Sounds like there's no free for anybody. >> Thanks. >> Future challenges, you say funding of beach management plan in future years. Describe the beach management plan. I'm gonna let Jessica handle that. She's
>> Good evening, gentlemen of the council. Jessica Fentress, coastal director. Uh, so we have an excellent partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Inland Navigation District to ensure and maintain navigation through the inter coastal waterway and the Ponellon inlet. If the sand and the
inter coastal waterway and the ponellon inlet is beach compatible because it most likely came from our beaches through the inlet then we can put it back on our beaches. So the partnership in beach management plan if we have uh
we're researching the the ability to permit the removal of some of our shaw islands immediately in the inlet throat that was not addressed during the army corps duding project. the funding of moving those shaw islands onto the beach in a recurring nature could be offset by
the port district because in theory we're reducing the sholing in the navigation channels where I can't put it in Norman because it's not the right sand material but for a portion of our our beach management plan we could fund it through the port district. >> We cannot we can't not keep the inlet
navigable. So the federal channel is the obligation of the Army Corps to maintain. The inter coastal waterway channel is the obligation of the Florida Inland Navigation District to maintain through the Army Corps. Outside of those navigation channels, basically the white
lines that you keep the boats in, they're shrolling outside of that. That area is still beach compatible when you're very close to the inlet itself. Right? >> That material, that's where the port district can come in and remove it as advanced maintenance, but it's also beneficial material that we can put back
on our beaches. >> Okay. So, we're okay this year. >> We are we are currently, as part of the FT recovery grant, we are in the process of permitting approximately 1.7 million cubic yards in the throat of the inlet right now that we can put on our beaches. It's being called the Scholes
to shore project. It's basically going to be our third project from a hurricane recovery grant expected to go on the beach in 2027. >> Thank you. I I just want to make the point that these you we're okay this year. Next year this whole conversation
is going to be um could be a lot different and a lot tougher. Uh Jake, no. Matt, you're done too. >> Okay, go on. Um I think that's it. >> That's it.
Okay, thank you all. Um, you don't need any other vote. You just heard direction from the council. Um, item nine is a res is the appointment to the educational facilities authority. The person currently in that position is
termed out. He does wish to continue on. But you have >> move to nominate Randy. Have a motion to by Jake Johansson to nominate Randy. >> Sorry, I lost it. >> Randall Howard.
>> Randall Howard. >> Randall Howard. Second by Vice Chair Reinhardt. Any questions on the applicants? All in favor of Randy uh Howard say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? And he Randy is reappointed
seven to zero. And that brings us to the uh final public participation. >> And first up is John Nicholson. What grade do we get for today, John? A, B, C, or D.
C, when you look at the time, you're doing really well. John Nicholson, Daytona Beachside. Um, first off, I've convinced David that Daytona Beach is the economic engine of the county. I'm trying to convince the
rest of you that we have a reason to ask you to pay attention to the inside. All right. Um I again ask you to to go to A1A and check out what FDOT has done to
A1A. Um because if it screws up uh our tourist industry, it does affect your bottom line. So again, I ask you to take a look and uh make sure it doesn't keep happening because it will go up to Orand and it will go down to New Tomorrow
Beach if you don't correct it. Um secondly, there's a woman that came in earlier said she uh was from the Democratic Party and she read this little dissertation about um fair voting. All right? and she
wanted uh all of you to uh apparently um do something about uh a fair and honest election. Um that's why I keep asking I wish somebody would find me a Republican somewhere
because Daytona Beach does not have fair and honest elections. You cannot have half of an entire city in one zone and have most of your Republicans in that
zone. So when you put 25 27,000 people in one zone, most of which are Republicans, it means that the other zones are free to elect Democrats. So why are the Republicans not interested
in winning seats in Daytona Beach? It makes no sense to me. So, if any of you know a Republican, try to contact the Republican party to take a look at the voting in the city of Daytona Beach. You know, we're into another lawsuit, right? ACLU is suing us again because we didn't
do it right the second time or the third time or the fourth time. So, please pay attention to that. Um, I also was contacted today, a friend uh was talking about New York Post is again Uh, as you
know, our mayor's wife got pulled over and he instead of just supporting his wife attacked our police department. So, he's not in a very good position at this point. And again, it gives another black eye to the city of Daytona Beach.
They're just, you know, we have a commissioner that every meeting puts the city in a bad light. All right? You cannot have a uh functioning um city if you keep shooting it down. So please pay
attention the city of Daytona Beach. Thank you. >> Gary Singleton, Gary Lee, Michelle Letter I have so many things to say, but I only have three minutes. So, that kind of stinks.
I I can't believe that I lived in Valuchia County all my life. My family, there's eight generations and like no one really got involved to come here and see what's wheeling and dealing and where the money's going and pavement. New Simrna's on 44. That road sucks.
Sorry. It just needs some work. There's a lot of things that have changed over the years and I wish I would have got more involved because, you know, I think I should have ran for chair because I could have done a really good job and I think I'm going to stay
alive long enough just to be a thorn in some of your sides because some of you I really don't care for and some of them I some of you I really like. But if you want to know which ones I don't if you want to ask me if I like you or not, I'll be glad to tell you because I have no problem with it. Um,
you know, thank you. I finally got a house. >> Congrat. >> So, my blessings for Valuchia County. It's kind of hard to be mad at Valuchia County when I can't get doctors. I have to go overseas. I really, can you give
me a citizenship somewhere else? Um, it upsets me that I wish my family got more involved because where all the money's going. It's sad because I've seen New Smrna when I was younger. My parents before that, my parents had
the what is it? First restaurant in New Smyrna Beach, built a boat and ski club. I'm from Calvin Kulage. I raised three sons in the Navy. There just a lot of things that I wish more
housing for people, the income. I mean, there's people that young couples that can't afford their houses. There's so much that needs to be done. And then when you listen to these guys in suits over here talking about where money's going here, there I know I had a smart comment. It's unbelievable where some of
these accounts come from and what you make up. It sickens me because I'm going to do more of an effort to be more of a pain in some of your side than I ever have before. I want people to get more involved. I
want them some of the decision the decision that you made tonight kind of blew my mind and I'm not happy about it, but I'll just put it all over Facebook and all my other social media accounts. That's okay. I'm not here to fuss at you. I'm just I'm upset that
more people need to get involved and I want you guys I don't know to help the community more and some of the the way you act to some of us it's not right. I know I'm not making sense. I'm not feeling good tonight. I need to give myself an infusion.
Anyway, I hope you kind of understand what I'm saying. I'm disappointed in a lot of things that's been happening over the years and I get ignored anyway. But I think it's time for me to cause a little action in Valuchia County and make either like me even more.
>> Thank you. >> Congratulations on your house, Lloyd Bowers. Thank you, Chairman Brower. I was not going to speak again, but I was actually inspired by something Councilman Kent said earlier this evening, and that was follow the rules.
February 18th, 2025. I'm sure you're tired of me saying that date over and over, but I've been carrying these minutes around for the last three months. That's when you set the rules for this year's cultural council grants. Based on your rulemaking, these
organizations all spent the time and the effort to put those grants together. Based on your rulemaking, the cultural council met, heard the grant applications, and scored them for you. All I'm asking now that you do is
follow the rules and fund this year. Council Dempsey, you made on October 7th a motion to fund just the current year and not fund anything else. I think you've made it clear to this arts community where the future of cultural grants from this organization is coming
and that is none. But for this current year, you have really severely impacted these organizations in a way they should not have been if you had just followed the rules. on October 21, I think Councilman Santiago, it was you that made the motion and Councilman
Reinhardt, you seconded it to fund and then also bring up in for discussion uh have staff prepare uh future possible ways of funding. Uh that died by a three to four vote. But I'm not asking you to bring up that motion. I'm just asking you to reconsider the motion for funding
this year just as Councilman Dipsy proposed on October 7th. It's the right thing to do. It's what you agreed to do. and I just ask you follow through and keep your word. Thank you. >> Thank you. And that's the end of uh the second public comment. So, we will move
to uh closing uh comments by the county manager. >> Sure, Mr. Chair. Uh do have one thing. Uh uh I want to give a little shout out this weekend to our emergency management
team and our our fire team and also the city fire teams uh that did a lot of diligent work especially uh Sunday during the race which is of course a spectacular event the community event but uh we they did a yman's job out
there uh as you probably have read there we had several wildfires that have shut down the major artery uh I95 during the race. They worked real hard to get that back open so that we could get our 150,000 visitors there home. And uh I
just think it's worth noting. And related to that, I am going to uh let you know that we're um very close to having a burn ban put on here in Blushe County. It will probably occur things uh the forecast that we're having today,
it'll probably occur this week, maybe in a day or two. So, just letting you know that that's it. >> Thank you. Uh, county attorney, >> I have nothing. Thank you. >> And county council this week, we start
with Jake Johansson. Thank you, sir. Uh, couple items coming up uh the end of February. Unfortunately, in concurrence with our state of the county address, uh the East Central Florida Regional Planning
Council is going to have their diamond awards here at the Brandon Center in Valuchia County, followed by uh Jeff Jeffersonium round table and a resilience council meeting, if you will, uh that Ben
Bartlett and I are both involved in. I encourage anybody that has time the 25th through the 27th to come on out and see what that's all about. It'll be interesting. Uh people from uh all over uh Florida will be here to speak and
listen. Uh chairman, it's kind of like those MRC meetings we go to down in Bard on LI, but it has to do with resilience and flooding and all sorts of of other cool items.
Secondly, uh I've been working with uh Jessica Confentress and and uh John Booker on uh Senate Bill 63 636 dealing with uh uh part of our beach and
and how that's legislated. And uh I have an opportunity to reach out to some of our federal officials to reiterate how important that feasibility study that we're trying to get uh done uh by the
Army Corps in in in preparation for having an engineer beach. So, I just want everybody to know that uh I'm I'm kind of working outside the lifelines to to see if we can get that project approved uh this year federally. And um
um everything I say and do is in conssonance with with what we've all done and promoted in the past. So, uh I'm not speaking out of turn, but but I am uh uh reaching out uh via some of my contacts. So, uh that's all I have
tonight. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Councilman Kent. >> Thank you, Chairman. U just a couple of really brief items. George, if if you could just let Mr. Bailey know, Tim Bailey, um I I feel like he has uh just
been on uh point with his job. Um he was wonderful at my district dialogue. We haven't had closing comments in a while, so I want to make sure I shared that. Um but not only that, but an issue recently up at H Highbridge. Um him and Suzanne
as uh Concin as well have have just been wonderful as far as sharing information with residents that want to know what's going on. Um he's very knowledgeable and I I appreciate that. And then I also wanted to um publicly uh if you'll share
this also with Ben Bartlett and his team. He mentioned it briefly here, but his presence and the presence of of what they've been doing on social media has been very impactful. People need to know
that um the ditches are being cleaned out and it's not a very uh sexy job, but it's great to see the spider in action or a front-end loader or or you know, just the the guys and girls out there
doing the manual labor and showing the results. Those before and after pictures and the the pictures of them doing the actual work. I'm a huge fan of that. and um you know uh people comment on it on social media and I just think it's important that they know what's going on
and with that I charge you with there's tons of other things in public works and things that the county does and I think we and we have a a really good team here that can get the message out but I think if we could enhance that if we could just make sure that you know all of the
good work that's being done if if we can just get it out so people know the incredible hard work that these individuals do because you mentioned it, George. You had the Daytona 500 going on, you have barbecues going on, people are going out to dinner, you know, for
um Valentine's Day just happened, but you had a dedicated team of professionals putting out wildfires. So, and no one thinks about the 150,000 visitors that have to get home. And you have a real problem if you don't open that up. and you had an elementary
school with the fire 50 feet away from it. And you know, it's it's important work that we do and it's important that we share that with the community. Have a great evening, everybody. >> Vice Chair Reinhardt.
>> Thank you, Chair. Um on what Councilman Kent just said with respect to Tim Bailey, um I have to give him kudos what we see here behind the scenes also. He's a lot behind the scenes. um when the young lady this morning uh in the wheelchair came up and talked about or
this morning I say this morning I feel like it was the morning um the Courtland uh Boulevard Trail and I had received an email uh about that sent to Tim right away was working on it um and I noticed after she wheeled away because she made
the comment that it was going to be she believed to be addressed um it was a contractor issue um and Tim went over to pulled her outside and explain explain the whole situation. So that was done without anybody knowing it. And chair, I appreciate you mentioning the fact at the beginning of the meeting that often
times we don't well we don't recognize not often times we don't recognize when somebody asks us a question to keep things things rolling. Um and that being said, I'm glad you pointed that out. Um because uh when the uh other woman asked
about the forever, I think every one of us voted for forever. So I'll say that publicly. I think we all did. Um, I can speak for myself. Back in 2002, back in 2022, I can, but we couldn't answer to that. So, thank you for pointing that out. So, because oftentimes they think
that we're ignoring them. Um, there was another gentleman, and I'm hitting on this. So, so, uh, these concerns that were brought up during public comment are addressed, uh, publicly. Uh, one of the things about the beach access, we are, I'm already
talking with, um, Ben Bartlett. He's going to get with the business owners on that A1A access where the pizza shop was or where we currently have the parking that was all redone. We're going to meet with those individuals and see if we can come to a happy medium or at least Ben and his crew will. So, you gentlemen are aware of that. So, I don't violate any
sunshine by telling you that offline. We can tell you ahead of time that they are going to address that. So, thank you and thanks Ben to his team for that. Um, and if we have to bring it back up later, we we will. Um, John, with paying attention to the city of Daytona, I'm there. I am paying
attention and and I do I see a lot of street signs. I was I was kind of blown away at that. But then every sign I looked at, I can understand why it's there. Um, and and to keep people safe, I get that. But I agree with you on the
same on the other side of that coin. It's very as you're driving you see a bunch of signs you don't know which to pay attention to first. So anyways, but we are paying attention. Um but there's not a lot we can do other than speak to FDOT. That's not our road.
Lastly, listening to constituents. And I know it's going to get a little dicey in here probably, but I am I I've heard it. Um, I've heard the arts community come up and talk and they've
come here time and time again. Um, I am going to make that motion to approve it for this year. And I said I wouldn't because I thought it was going to fail and it may fail, but um, I'm going to make that motion again for just this year.
And that's all I have. >> Second. Matt Reinhardt makes makes a motion to approve the arts funding for this year only. The second was by Jake Joe Hansen >> to go on agenda. Does it need to go on a
future agenda? >> Yeah, >> probably better legal. >> Yes. Okay. Yes. Then go on in a future agenda >> even though we voted for it before. >> Yeah, we did. But we did. I >> Okay. Um,
just put it to mind. >> Jake Johansson makes the second still. And so this will be the motion is to bring it back in a uh in a future agenda. Mr. Chairman, >> uh, Councilman Kent, can um,
>> can can Vice Chair Reinhardt do that since he was on the the losing end of that >> legal? Yeah. Well, the motion I made never passed. The motion I made never got a second. >> Legal. >> My my recollection of you guys can correct me is that you actually didn't
have a motion that passed. >> We did not have a motion that passed and even the motion I presented failed for lack of a second. So there >> we didn't we didn't have a motion that got a second and I think Mr. Dempsey is the one that made the motion to pay it for one year only and it never got there was no second.
>> Yes. So I think you have a clean slate. That's what I had thought when we talked before. >> And you know, I think legally you could pass a motion this evening. I just know >> you've talked about bringing the agenda item back. >> I think other people >> It's up to council.
>> Okay. >> To be fair, I think agenda. >> Well, I was just going to say if we were going to bring it up tonight and then it failed, I was if we were going to do that because I agree with I think Jake that it should probably come back on on a printed agenda. Because if we were going to do that and it failed, then I was going to make a motion to take that
600,000 and distribute it evenly into the sidewalk fund between district 1, 2, 3, four, and five, 120,000 each for each of those district for a core governmental responsibility. So, if we're going to do it that way, then I'll I'll make that motion if it
fails. But if we're going to put it on the agenda, we'll wait and see what happens there. >> Okay. Uh, you could make that motion and it would go on a future agenda along with this. Um,
>> I will make that motion. Chairman >> that it fails. >> Yep. No, I will make that motion that um it can actually go on the agenda right after that item so that if it fails then we can talk about it. If it doesn't fail then it's a moot point. but that we would put um George 100 $120,000 into
district one one districts one two three four and five >> uh sidewalk fund. Thank you. >> And the second came from council current motion on the floor. >> I think you can reserve what Mr. Kent's motion was. Just get through the pending motion first.
>> Will I'm just trying to catch everything as it as it comes. The first uh motion uh by Matt Reinhardt is to bring the arts vote back at future agenda. Uh any questions on that? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed?
>> I and >> Mr. Johansson >> could just can you quickly call the role on that because I'm not >> I Mr. Kent. No, >> Mr. Reinhardt. >> I
>> Mr. Robbins. >> No, >> Mr. Santiago. >> I >> Mr. Dempsey. >> I >> Mr. Brower. >> No, but the motion is passed. So, that will come back in the future.
>> And that's all I have. Thank you, chair. >> And the second motion uh is uh on that agenda. Um, if that motion fails, that the money be split up between all the districts to the sidewalk fund. Um,
Carissa, would you call the role on that one? >> Can you um retell me who the secondary was for that one? >> It wasn't Robbins. >> Yes, it was seconded by Danny Robbins. >> Mr. Johansson, >> yes. >> Mr. Kent, >> yes. >> Mr. Reinhardt,
>> yes. >> Mr. Robbins, >> yes. >> Mr. Santiago, >> yes. Mr. Dempsey. >> Hi. >> Mr. Brower. >> Yes. That motion uh passes unanimously. And Mr. Reinhardt says he is done. Uh
Councilman Robbins. Thank you, Chair. Uh short and sweet. I don't know if uh anybody was paying attention to Let me see if I can pull it back up here. Um there was a couple deputies uh deputies Austin Graham and Nathan Vargas who uh
rescued a woman in Dand from her burning home uh this last weekend. I know this council has made it a a point to uh support our our police and fire or deputies and fire and and first responders. We did it with um a few
deputies uh Royce uh James and um a handful of folks that uh deputies and uh firefighters uh up there on Lake is Lake Das uh boat was out of control or Lake George, one of the two. I'd like to uh
again put uh uh these fine gentlemen in for a um a proclamation and we'll recognize their great service uh and saving this uh gal's life and uh giving a rescue breathing and all that stuff. Uh if chair if you want me to put an emotion >> I don't think you have to. if we could
just agree by unanimous consent. >> And uh two, uh I believe the state for this coming year uh gave uh President's Day or recognized President's Day. Is that something uh the council wants to consider uh for for days off? I know we
just added a few. It may be time to look at everything, especially if we're tightening things up, but we can always readjust it in the future if we decide to. It's up to council. It was uh brought to me and I'm just passing it forward.
>> Councilman Kent. >> Yeah, thanks, Chairman. Um, so this is something around Christmas time that, you know, we it was it was very quick and we went ahead and did it. I I raised a little bit of a red flag at the time. This is something that I feel like if
we're if we're going to do this is something that um I think we need to put in in collective bargaining in George's court to deal with. I don't like doing this from up here because it costs money and I don't I think it's a bad precedent
to set. Um, it feels good, but it's too loosey goosey for me. So, I would rather, you know, it'd be something that George and his team talk with the unions and the rank and file and, you know,
give and take and make decisions upon instead of us up here. That's just me, Danny. >> Councilman Johansson. And so I think if if we're going to do this, what why don't we just have George bring back our our our day off policy in general, all all of
them, and we can pick and choose because next thing you know, another one's another one's going to come up. So uh um with with a recommendation, I I think >> I can bring it back. Probably the easiest would be to bring it back as part of the budget discussion. Yeah,
absolutely. I'll make it I'll make a highlight of of what we're doing. >> How much it cost? >> Yeah. Thanks. >> Is that it? Okay. Councilman Santiago, >> one thing brief for the lady sitting in the middle here, and I forgot your name,
so I apologize. I wanted to uh acknowledge your the murals that you mentioned in the state house. Well, I served there eight years and I used to look at those murals all the time when I was in there. I particularly like the one with the concistador
uh walking in there. So, I just wanted to you brought back memories for me and I wanted to thank you. But those are great murals. I agree. I encourage everybody to see them. Thank you. That's all I got to share. >> Councilman Dempsey. Yeah, I um I didn't really have anything to say, but I saw Randy die here earlier
and uh I don't know if you guys had a chance to watch the uh the General Tire 200 on Saturday at the speedway, but um I just wanted to kind of give a shout out to Randy and his son Daniel. Daniel was the third qualifier in that ARCA race and he actually almost pulled it
off and won. So, it's kind of good. It It's actually really good to see a hometown boy from Dan actually almost pull off a win Saturday at the speedway. So that was very exciting for for myself and my family. Uh his son went to St. Barnabas. My kids attend St. Barnabas.
So it's uh it was really cool. So I just wanted to give him a shout out. Maybe he'll see it on the monitor later on, but congratulations to the family for a a huge success. Thanks. That's all I have. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh just a couple of things. Quick update on the uh IRL
council meeting that I attend every uh every quarter. Um there was uh there was some good reports on water quality from South Florida up to Orman Beach. Uh good reports on on seaggrass and then some
some troubling reports that they're hoping was a blip. But one of the things the most important things that they did is that they I got a unanimous vote uh from the council
which which includes representative of uh the EPA, representative St. John's Water Management District and and representatives of uh the various county councils along the IRL
to um to have a letter of support written to the county and and it was and delivered by Dr. Wayne DeFreeze and his staff um thanking us for the Valuchia Forever program. talked about the
importance of it and specifically the importance of keeping it forever. So I was glad to receive that letter from the IRL staff. Um Michelle Utter, you mentioned that you received housing and I wanted to direct
this to to staff as well as you. I've already said congratulations. It was not an easy process and I I just want to point out that throughout that process uh Dr. uh Brad Burbald, um uh Donna
Butler, um uh all all the staff included in that worked really hard. It wasn't easy because there's so many strings attached with uh state money, um federal money, and it took far longer than what I
wanted, what you wanted. It took far longer than what this staff um wanted. Uh Carmen Hall, thank you for not giving up. Uh took it long time. I'm so glad to hear that you've got not just a house, but safe housing, not in a um dangerous
neighborhood. So, uh that's important. Um, lastly, I just I I want to say something about the vote tonight on the um the ordinance and the charter amendment for
uh toilet to tap water. Um I wasn't going to say anything, but I I think my my colleague uh David Santiago called me a liar without using the word liar. Said I spoke misinformation out. And so I I
will take that up uh with him and as as he requested um online as as well because I have been very I just want to speak to the public on this. I've been very careful that everything I said I have verification for. Um
to say that it's not here is absolutely false. It is here. In fact, at the Deltona meeting, there was a 30% rate increase on water utilities um uh passed
with only about 10 people from the public there. So, Michelle's right, we need more people to participate partially to pay for their um uh injection system. So, it's here. It's going to it's going to affect all of us
and to the public. the person that's the people that have already texted me that said um that the council lost that their protections are hopeless. I want to tell you that um you are not
defeated and I will bring this back um with with the next new council and the council after that. your protections um are not lost because they're voted down uh twice now, previous council and this
council. Um so uh don't lose hope, keep fighting and um let's keep our aquifer clean. And with that at 901, this meeting is adjourned.