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Yes sir I'm here Yes sir Got it I wonder about the stars Good good good good Okay good morning It's good to see everybody here We will call
and we have feedback Can somebody please make that stop do I have to use a microphone [Laughter] is that Is that Don we have one member There we go One
member of the council will be participating virtually He got stuck in bad weather on on a flight which got cancelled Um so anyway welcome to the April 1st uh 2025 Valuchia County
Council meeting It's good to see everybody here Um we will start as we always do with an invocation and then uh pledge of allegiance In just a moment I'll ask you to stand Not yet but in
just a moment I'll ask you to stand if you care to for for both And um this morning we have uh Pastor Peter Mner of the Dand Church of Nazarene in Dand um to offer our
invocation So if you would stand with me please stand Let us pray God we thank you so much for prayer It's uh the most essential part of our day to acknowledge you to acknowledge that we're your creation and that you
are wanting to be present among us Lord we pray for this council and for these citizens here today that we would u be aware of your presence and uh ask for your wisdom today in all things related to uh life in this county Lord we just
pray that you continue to take care of this country and uh may we put you first and foremost as this country was built on the very essence of acknowledging God every day So Lord we thank you for your presence We thank you for your strength
in our lives in the name of Jesus Amen I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for
all Yes you got me We do have participation Yes Yes Chrissa would uh would you call the role in just a second do we know if Don
is on yes Okay Uh Don Dempsey can you hear me i heard him over there Is he on somebody's phone he's on the monitors We're working on getting it corrected Okay Uh while we're while they're doing
that um Don Dempsey got stuck out of town because of uh bad flight with airlines or bad weather with airlines Hopefully not a bad airline Uh so he will uh is zooming in So I will ask the
council uh for a motion and vote to allow Don to participate remotely Is there a motion motion to accept Mr Dempsey to report or to be here remotely Yep And I'll I'll second that Okay Motion by Vice Chair Reinhardt second by
uh Troy Kent All in favor say I I And hopefully we'll be able to hear him in just a minute Can you uh call the role Carissa mr Dempsey
He said present I heard it Mr Johansson Mr Kent here Mr Reinhardt here Mr Robbins here Mr Santiago here Mr Brower here Okay we do have some uh public
participation this morning I'm going to start our public participation with a a little more information than what I usually give before we start uh public participation Um I've been doing this I
think Danny and I have been sitting up here for uh four years and three months Um we've always had we've sometimes had lively public participation but for the first time
ever we had a fortunate event uh in our last meeting when one of the speakers used a um a uh a racial slur um that frankly I
didn't hear and I understand from my fellow council members s all except for one that they did not hear and some of the staff and even friends of mine in the audience I asked them and they said we we didn't understand what he said Um
so I'm going to ask you this The uh our rules ask that you uh and I'm and I'm going to stick to the rules because we can do this legally that when you speak uh we offer three times to to speak here We want to hear from you and I don't
want this to be the excuse that your opportunities to speak to your council members is are taken away Um but before the meeting right now or to to start our meeting you have an opportunity to talk at the end of the meeting and then also
on each um and any of the uh of the agenda items you can also speak um at the opportunity at the beginning of the meeting At the end of the meeting uh we ask that you would speak on issues that affect the county that could come
before the county council to be voted on So it's your opportunity as you hear uh people in the public do all the time to give us ideas of things that they think we should take up and vote on that's perfectly appropriate and we appreciate
hearing from you on those If um if you're going to if you wander off uh track I I I will gently pull you back and say "Please stick to the point." Um however if you insist on using foul
language or um of any kind um I cannot demand that you stop that because we all have this blessing called the first amendment And the first amendment protects our freedom of speech It
protects speech that we um not just that we like but it protects speech that we don't like And there's a good reason for that The First Amendment was created at a time when you would lose your head if you spoke against your government You can come here and speak against me or
any of my fellow council members and call us names and we'll take it Nobody's going to lose their head Um but we do ask for the purpose of this meeting because it's a public meeting with women children online and just for public
decorum that you keep um you keep your speech uh friendly and uh your your topics don't have to be friendly to us but please um I'm asking you not to use foul language Again I
can't demand it but I'm asking you to do that However if you do create a disturbance um because of your language in the council chambers um you can be asked to to leave So let's just not
let's not go there We h I've I've seen I think we've all seen from the responses that we've we got on social media from this very unfortunate event that um we we still have a little problem in the
country with just hatred that's right at the um at the surface where different parties hate each other different people hate each other We we need to end that We need to work together to get the things done that we want to get done in
our county One of the ways that we can do that is to even when we disagree uh to do it honorably and respectfully So as I call your name please don't be afraid to come up now and talk You'll have three minutes to talk about any
item uh uh that affects the county that you care to Um and u I I I think I've made that clear and probably belabored the point but it was it was very unfortunate Um I apologize for not
catching it and asking the uh the person even though I couldn't demand that he withdraw it or or stop it that he he not do it again Um and I think I probably speak for the rest of the council members who who didn't catch it um as
well Um so uh we will start off with we just have a few people that want to speak this morning The first um I also have um about the same thing that
you were just referencing a letter from Mr Johansson who asked for it to be read into the record and brought up at an opportune time or under his um council comments But since it pertains to what you were just referencing I thought it would be a great time for me to read it
into the record Okay Says "Dear County Council unfortunately I am unable to attend this meeting but I wanted to ensure we address the recent council meeting where a member of the public used offensive language While we uphold First Amendment rights it is essential
that we maintain a respectful environment The use of offensive terms is unacceptable and I believe our leadership should address the issues promptly I will be working with the chairman during meetings to ensure we respond appropriately in the future and will ensure to become more active in
voicing my opinion when issues are not addressed in a timely manner Thank you for your attention to this matter Best Jakeber to speak Okay Thank you Cararissa Um the first up this morning is Josh Rivera Yeah So I've
got you live Can we Can we stop that background talk is distracting I don't know where he's coming from Josh before you start just test your microphone Let's see if we can Okay Good His microphone's good
Okay Go ahead sir Thank you I'm standing by Josh before you start just test your microphone Mr Riviera has photos and pictures so if we could have somebody else while Jenna gets those up You can just sit right on the front row if you
want It's going to be a long day Can we show the videos first all right If if this works out this way All right Here we go So this is the video of the illegal valve that was allowing all this water
to valve that wall is draining Unknown how long it's been there This is the valve shut when we discovered it This is the weir that's supposed to be in place and water is just continuously flowing 24/7 through here It's supposed
to be right there in that box providing that water You can see the pipe This is another pipe illegal pipe that was back feeding from the pump in the Royal Oaks Professional Center parking lot coming towards us This is where it gets introduced to more lake
24/7 This is what's causing all the flooding This is an area that you guys showed that the water has receded but never flooded last time So there's there's photos and information being shown that is is false It's spreading false information And it's very misleading If you follow the yellow
arrows this is the the path that the water takes to come to Miller Road When you create a highway of pipes and valves and all these things to allow the water to come to us faster that would make the water in Wawwa Lake Wawa Pond would
never make it to Miller Road Miller Lake if it didn't have all those pipes like that I know other people are saying differently but there's this thing called friction loss when water's going through pipes and if it's if it goes into an area where it could percolate down back into the alifer it's not going to make it there So you know we're
traveling it's traveling very far And around Miller Lake there's tons of oak trees that are hundreds of years old that cannot survive in submerged in water So the the trees don't lie It's it wouldn't be possible This is when we got
the valve shut which no one knows how long that's been open draining Next picture This is just a weir without h having the wall in there that's supposed to be for ground water Next picture This is the weir that was
installed that's now holding the water back So there was a straight pipe allowing the water to just flow to us for unknown amount of time at a minimum It was installed in 2017 This is the permit that we're that's causing issues This pump here was out of service
not working but that the piping system that's in there the water was back feeding from Wawwa Pond to Miller Lake causing that massive sinkhole on Tmont Next picture This is the area that you said that the water receded but it never
flooded And there was an isolated picture of that showing that is that the last one And this is just the the water This road was already raised 2 feet You guys want to raise it even more she couldn't
This is a small storm She's already has flooding there from the other day and it's horrendous So we're asking to please turn the pumps back on We appreciate all the help you've given us and thank you and we listen to the videos that you guys are posting So thank you Thank you Josh Mr Chairman
David Mr Chairman may I have 20 seconds you may I've never met this gentleman but I love that he uses three minutes appropriately He brought pictures and in my mind he brought receipts If staff is prepared to respond to this that's great If not I would just like for us as a
council to ask staff to please respond to that at some time Give us a give us your uh your background on it please Mr Chim we have we have two other Miller Lake people that want to speak We might want to listen to them for I appre I appreciate it Chairman I've just I've
not seen anybody come is prepared with pictures and videos and Mr Chairman if I could respond to my friend Troy's request Um you know we've done this twice already and by the way I'm I'm I'm support what they're doing but you know from a protocol perspective
if we start opening this door all the time it just destroys our entire agenda Not that I don't want to hear your issue They know where I'm committed to the issue To me this is a process thing Um because someone else comes up with pictures for someone else or some other agenda then our entire agenda is just
thrown out of whack Chairman Mr Santiago is 100% correct and I withdraw my I withdraw my request from staff right now Thank you David Hill David Hill Miller Road District 1 I watch your comments on YouTube in response to Miller Lake I appreciate
that you hear us and are working on a solution We have a family that has been on Miller Lake since 1972 They say the water has never been anywhere near the height it is now I have been on Miller Road since 2000 My property used to be 3 to 400
feet away from Miller Lake The county bought the lot and and home across from my property They excavated this property raised and paved Miller Road The flooding of Miller Lake started after Royal Oaks got their 2017 St
John's water management permit Those that was the uh weir and structure across Tmont Drive that you just saw pictures of that Josh uh showed In 2018 2019 the county I'm sorry the county gave a letter of no objection for this
2017 Royal Oaks permit In 2018 2019 the water from Miller Lake started to rise In 2020 and 21 the front of my property which used to be 3 to 400 ft away from Miller Lake went underwater
and continued to rise This is why I am here I have a sense of urgency Miller Lake is less than 2 and 1/2 ft from Miller Road For every inch of water received in rainfall Miller Lake rises by 2
in You are correct that Royal Oaks 2017 St John's Water Management Permit takes in a lot of water from properties in the city of Orange City The two grates on either side of Tmont Drive which are part of this permit take in a large portion of Tmont Drive and acres of Big
Lots Plaza surface water Tmont Drive and Big Lots Plaza are in the county of Valuchia I don't see anywhere in the 2017 St John's water management permit that includes Tmont Drive and Big Lots Plaza surface water This permit is for
Royal Oaks As long as this permit stays in place we will continue to be flooded Countless hours of time wasted and millions of dollars will be spent and lost Our acreage community is a diamond in the rough They don't make communities
like ours anymore Acreage communities this close to 1792 just don't exist and can't be replaced We want to keep our community in our great location Please ask St John's Water Management to revoke the 2017 Royal Oaks permit Thank you for
hearing what I have to say Margaret Hill Good morning I'm Margaret Hill I live on Miller Road or Peggy Hill Same Miller Lake is still in my front yard It used to be across the road and far away from my yard At the last council meeting
I showed you some photos of Miller Lake next to Miller Road It's been 2 weeks since those photos were taken And the lake on Saturday had dropped by a few inches with no rain After Sunday's short maybe 45 minutes of rain the lake is now
back where it was weeks ago The lake is not 6 feet below the road In the low areas it won't take much to flood the road then yards again septics wells and h the houses will follow Yes we've heard your comments at the end of previous
council meetings Still no real plan or real solution has been set forth We don't have time to wait for studies or years of engineering Something needs to be done now to prevent the flooding in our area Please take the lake level back to the pre20
2017 and request a revocation of the Royal Oaks Professional Center permit issued by the St John's Water Management District This permit was added onto and modified without the water district's knowledge The permit says it can be revoked if this happens You gave a
letter of no objection allowing the permit to go forward so you can ask for a revocation This permit has created a pipeline for millions of gallons of water This water is not only coming from properties in the city of Orange City but also properties in the county of
Valuchia County We don't have time Please act on this immediately Thank you Thank you for your comments Katherine Pante [Music] Good morning council I want to publicly thank Jeff Brower and Troy Kent for
standing with the residents and publicly opposing the fuel terminal I also want to thank Senator Tom Leak and Chase Tramont for their dedication and getting it moved out of Valuchia County I still wish our legislature would have petitioned the governor to not allow these to be built anywhere in our state so as not to impact our air quality
water supply ecosystem and other people's homes and quality of life Only this is not over The county still has more work to do to keep another industrial project from rearing its ugly head in a location because of inappropriate zoning We request the county purchase the land at 874 Hole
Road with the echo and forever funds earmarked for Councilman Dempsey's motocross track and place this land in conservation The land can have an unpaved walkable trail and be turned into a fruit tree park for all Valuchia County residents to enjoy Picnic tables and grills can be added so that families
using a sports complex can gather If more funds are needed to purchase the land you can enter into a joint venture with the city of Orman Beach They are currently paying fees to the land owner for lines they have running through the property each year This would be a win for all involved the county the city and the residents Really there should have
been a stipulation in accepting the 10 million taxpayer dollars to relocate that property to relocate that property At the very least the zoning needs to be changed to its original designation of agricultural On another topic when is Councilman Kent's
suggestion of banning building on wetlands and eliminating mitigation banks coming up for discussion this really needed to be a county council priority instead of a motocross track that appears to be borderline embezzlement of taxpayer dollars for a pet project of two voting council members The council really needs to get
serious on addressing this as it will be a cog of many to assist in curbing our growing flooding problems associated with overdevelopment In closing if considerations are made for council members to speak via video then the public needs to be given the same consideration especially in light that
we have disabled residents who are unable to attend council meetings and participate Thank you for your time and consideration on these important issues Okay thank you for your comments Uh Katherine uh John Nicholson John Nicholson Daytona
Beachside Uh a couple of things one with regard to Miller Lake It appeared in that picture that there was a small lake just south of Miller Lake and it appeared to be a um un unobstructed access from where the water started to that little lake Is
there a possibility of diverting some of them the water to that secondly when you put in big lots where does their water go i mean that's acres and acres of asphalt and when you put it there they should be required to hold it on
property and if they haven't required that in the past it should be done now because it's too much damage to the surrounding community Uh secondly with regard to the comments made by the gentleman uh two weeks ago I've witnessed four or 5,000 meetings uh the
meetings here at the county I can recall probably six times that somebody used a vulgarity uh three times while you guys sat here Twice within seconds Troy Kent objected to the language You will admit that
Correct This council has never accepted vulgarity Never When you read the article it appears to say you guys don't care And that's what the public hears And unfortunately they were not here Less
than 1% of the population comes to our meetings All right they rely on what's printed And what's printed becomes fact becomes the truth and it's not the truth I don't know how we get it out there but it's not During that conversation I turned to
my neighbor and I said "Did he say the n-word?" and she goes "Um I'm not quite sure." And the lady that always sits behind me says "No I think he did." So the three of us who sit the exact same distance from here that you all sit we
didn't understand him So if we didn't it's understandable that you guys possibly did not Also he comes on occasion and he I won't say never but I never recall him saying anything pertaining to the county It's always the
state It's always the nation It's always whatever He doesn't articulate well His enunciation And he always reads He gets a piece of paper and he goes so fast he wants to get everything said So you really don't understand him And when he
gets lost he mumbles So it's not clearcut And when Cynthia says it "Oh you absolutely knew." No you did not absolutely know And she gives the impression And that impression lasts in the black community and it shouldn't All
right The lady that uh from Stson I'm sorry she hears that language but it is not common It's not uh indicative of of what we normally hear I rarely ever hear a white person use that word I absolutely always hear a black person
because the black community doesn't want it Black community's got to stop it Thank you Thank you Okay I'm gonna try this Jate um J Sujav Sujavan come up here and tell us
what your last name is You think I'd get it down now this is your third or fourth time here Welcome Uh morning Jate Sucha Wanich district 1 representing my mother Um first of all I would like
to respond to the slur that was used in these council chambers Um it was very shocking to me I mean I kind of listened to the speaker and then he I couldn't even tell what he was talking about and then suddenly I heard I heard the slur
and then so I understand how probably a lot of people were tuning him out because he was making no sense at least in my opinion So I use my first amendment right to condemn that and then just moving
forward it'd be great if the council could express condemnation as well Um second issue is the LITC tax credit for the development next to the Sunreil
station Um my understanding is that that program of tax credits is not very effective because after about 15 years there's no teeth to enforcement like if the
developer does not does not um meet the requirements of the law and it's kind of they kind of have to just go on the honor system and then if they don't honor that then then the
government is going to lose the taxes Um and I'm it's unclear to me if if the rent controls are going to be enough for for lowerc cost housing The third issue that I'm here to
talk about is flooding I support the Miller Lake community and then of course my mother's home was damaged in the flooding from Hurricane Milton I I haven't received word of any action by
the county on storm water Uh we're waiting for information I think we're waiting for studies I understand that it's a long process to wait for the engineering firms to do all their studies but we're looking for more
action like pumps uh if there's a lot of rain this year can the county roll the vacuum trucks and then clear out that storm water infrastructure i remember or I received word that after Milton the road itself
was flooded and the county did roll the vacuum trucks and then clear out the roadway in country club estates Um so I'm just looking for more action for that People have lost they people have
nearly lost their lives on Orange Camp Road and then their properties which they've paid for their entire lives they've lost as well or damaged Thank
you David Juel David Juel 2040 Tony Street unincorporated Valuchia County in Orman Beach I started learning about storm water and
flooding about three years ago when they wanted to permit a uh development across the street from my house Uh there's some flooding coming there now from there Uh most of
my most of my um work has been with the uh city council or the the city commission in Orman Beach I've spoke several times before that commission Um I found an article a couple of years
ago written by a St John's Water Management Council His name was E Lee Warsham He had a practice in West Palm Uh he's since deceased He had a coowwriter named
Lesley Cohen I spoke to her for about an hour on the phone one day about the article that the two of them wrote It's a 12-page article that was published in the Florida Bar Journal It's supported by six pages of
case law from Florida Supreme Court It tells this article tells everything one needs to know about storm water and flooding the rules permitting St John's
uh Florida Department of Environmental Protection I visited there on Wednesday last week and found out that they are on a gag order They can't talk about issuing
404s Nationwide 404 permit issuing has been shut down in Washington DC by Judge Randolph Moss It was a 380 page uh letter from seven different
environmental groups about Florida's issuing of 404 permits They weren't following the rules They were doing it illegally Some of the permits were considered permit not required and the judge shut down Florida
New Jersey Michigan and the entire United States That was on February 15th of 24 I checked uh the internet last night It's still shut down The only 404 permit
work that's being done currently is by the Army Corps of Engineers There's two areas where I live That it gone Yeah Okay Three
minutes flies by Thank you Thank you for your comments Um that concludes the opening public participation May I have a motion to approve the
agenda as written motion to approve Mr Chair Mr Dempsey has asked for us to postpone item six until my understanding was the next meeting [Music] Um so
I may I move that we withdraw item six and schedule it for our next regularly scheduled meeting and then approve the agenda and then approve the agenda The remaining agenda Second Okay Motion to approve the agenda without item
six That makes for a quick day Um do you want to skip the dog beach as well Mr Chair absolutely not Okay [Applause] All right Is there a strike strike one Chairman
is there a second to the uh motion yes I seconded it Second by Troy Kant Approval of the agenda absent item six Correct Yes Yes Okay Discussion on the rest of the agenda before we vote Uh discussion
before we vote Yeah we have a a motion and a second Uh so you are free to discuss Strike that Okay I read what I needed to Okay All right Uh all in favor of
approving the agenda except for item six which will be postponed until the next meeting Uh please say I I Any opposed and the motion is approved Uh
I guess six to zero Is Don listening to this it's my understanding he is listening right now Okay Um and that I would assume his vote would be yes for this If I could just clarify probably I would ask for a short recess I know we're having technical
issues If he can't participate in the discussion he's not going to be able to participate in vote So correct Let's if we if let's take a short recess if we could figure out where we are with that if that would be my suggestion Okay I wanted to get past the agenda approval
first but Mr Dempsey it's my understanding that if this is approved to postpone item six he's going to remove himself from the rest of the meeting Okay that solves that issue So the rest of the sound is working
Yes sir You can continue on Okay All right Uh consent agenda Does anyone have an item they would like to pull for a vote on the consent agenda or an item that they would just like discussed after the
vote uh Councilman Kent Yes Chairman I want to pull item H for a vote Okay Okay H for a vote Anyone else all right Then we before we vote on the uh rest of the agenda we have a member of
the public who would like to speak on item L So we will give Elliot an opportunity to do that Uh Elliot Patterson are you here hi good morning county chair and council
members Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today regarding safe digging month My name is Elliot Patterson I am a safety education liaison with Sunshine 811 We're located at 11 Plantation Road in Deerry We are Florida's nonprofit organization that
the law requires people to contact before beginning any digging projects I cover the Central Florida region working with contractors utility companies and homeowners to help make sure underground utilities are protected and safe digging is done properly We're
proud to be based right here in Valuchia County while serving the entire state Whether it's a large construction project sidewalk improvements road widenings or a homeowner planting a tree our mission is to help prevent damage
and ensure community safety And Sunshine 811 is a free service with both a toll-free number and a 247 online system that allows people to notify utility companies before digging work begins This gives utilities time to locate and
mark their underground lines Safe digging is more important than ever In our last fiscal year we processed more than 2.2 million locate requests statewide Florida is one of the fastest growing states for construction And with more than and with
with that growth comes more digging and more risk With nearly a million miles of underground utility lines across Florida we're seeing an average of 73 line strikes per day The leading cause of these incidents is not contacting 811 before digging
That's why April recognized nationally as safe digging month is so important We're increasing outreach and public awareness through a statewide campaign And this year we've added a new safe digging pledge encouraging both professionals and public to commit to
safe digging practices You can sign the pledge and learn more at sunshine811.com On behalf of Sunshine 811 I want to thank you for your time and for considering the proclamation recognizing April as safe digging month We appreciate your continued support in
helping protect Florida's infrastructure and keeping Valushia County safe Thank you Thank you for taking the time to come in and and bring that to our attention having used your service many times and in business it uh it works
well quickly and and efficiently So thanks for coming in Uh so we will vote on the uh chairman motion to approve the consent absent item H Action item absent item H Motion to approve by Troy Kent Second
by Danny Robbins All in favor say I I Any opposed and there are five of us now So that is approved Five to zero And now we will move to item H for a
vote And um the Museum of Art the land request to resend echo grants Chairman may I jump in on this you may I was They're right up front They're sitting up front Oh Dr
Burbal is right there Um thank you council Uh I probably will will approve this This is rare that this comes before us Dr Burbball But my question to you is uh and I'll ask the question before I have just a couple of
very brief comments but my question to you is does this make the county whole because um you know we we get a tremendous amount of correspondence between our our constituents and um I
read every email that comes to me and uh on my way home from work I always usually tend to have phone calls that I make uh returning calls and talking to constituents Mr Chester is someone who um when when I when I get his emails um you know I I read them and then
sometimes I have to go back and read him a second time and I don't always agree with him and I know he doesn't always agree with me but um he he helps make me think He he recently sent the council an email asking some questions Um and I just wanted to hear from staff Uh and
like I said I'm I think I'm leaning towards approving this but um he brings a depth of history to uh to this particular project And I'm I'm just curious I'll repeat the question Does
this make the county whole so the the payback is 63526 The original grant amounts together um11,000 However in the scope of services the museum has provided these
services to our community for 18 years So we look at it it may not be making it whole with dollar to dollar but they have provided services to our community um for 18 years So there is a council approved formula that we use for paybacks Um and if you are if you ask to
pay it back in the first half of the grant you will pay back you know all of the funds In the second half of the grant there's a multiplier and it reduces as you can see here You know they're still from a $100,000 grant um that has two years left on it they still
owe us $20,000 Okay Was there any discussion with the museum because they're selling the property yes Was there was there any discussion um negotiations about making us completely whole financially or did we just use the the formula there that
that's the council adopted formula We can certainly look at that if you'd like us to but um that's in the restrictive covenants That's the binding document Council I hate I I hate to do deals on the fly Actually I kind of like it Um but uh you know I I would I would really
uh enthusiastically approve this if um the the seller of the property were to step forward and say they wanted to 100% make the taxpayers of Lucy County 100% completely whole and uh come up with that how much is it 100,000 and some
thousand 117 170 almost 200,000 117 Yeah it's it's it's a an offering to to the property owner to see if if they are willing to do that And I hear I hear crickets But if there was anybody else on the council
that agreed and and spoke about this then I would uh I would make it a motion Mr Chair hold on What hold on one second Um we we we don't we we can't just all start shouting out from the audience Uh did somebody else somebody else to my
left wanted to speak or No Yes Mr Chair Okay I I just want to say a absent any comment or feedback from uh the property owners and Troy's uh request does interest me I I would move to just table this item to the next meeting and give
them an opportunity to talk to staff see what they come back with I motion Yes sir I like where this is going so I'll second that Have a motion to table to a time certain or next meeting
Table this until the next scheduled meeting And the second was by Troy Kent The is the museum owner here you got to wait till you get in front of the microphone to speak so it can be on
the record On my way out the door to go back to work Um when I heard I thought Troy was asking for the buyers to make whole the 100,000 but you were asking for the
museum to make whole the 100,000 Um we are going by the restrictive covenants that we signed and by the rules of the echo grant That is what we're asking for We are asking to
comply for repayment Um talking about Mr Chester and all of his history I probably have been I probably wrote one of the first echo grants in the area and have been writing them ever since what
is it now 22 23 years So I know when I write a grant and we sign it and we go through all of the motions we know what the rules are and we know what the outcome is going to be So that's what I am standing on here
today I can understand if you want to make changes moving forward but right now we have complied for all these years with every echo grant and playing by the rules and um as Dr Burbos said "We have
been providing services to Valuchia County for all these years and have clearly exceeded our value has exceeded $170,000 So that's all I'm just here to
say We have lived by the Echo rules the covenants and we are asking the county to do the same." That's all Thank you I'm here to answer any other
questions The museum isn't being sold It's not something that can be sold It's a consolidation The museum has been here for 75 years and no fewer than six different addresses We adapt with the
community and the economy And we have been doing that for three quarters of a century And we will continue to do that Thank you Uh Troy and Danny do you have you have questions for the director or staff patty Part D I
do not have questions for her Just a follow-up comment I have one question for uh Dr Burbal Does if we table this for two weeks does that in any way affect the sale of the property
when's closing i have no answer for that I I can't answer on behalf of the Okay Uh Troy Kent Thank you Chairman And I'll just say you know I've never met the executive director She uh that I can remember but
she um seems very passionate about this and and I found that money can make you passionate And I'll just say publicly that it's my job as your District 4 representative to be passionate about
your tax dollars and ask these questions and always try to get the best deal for you Council in two weeks I I may um agree that you know this was uh the deal that was placed before and I should
go ahead and and honor it But I love that bringing it up it tickled the buying bone of Mr Santiago to at least want to discuss it and possibly others because that is a win more so for the
taxpayers of Lucia County and I'm all about that every day Thank you Councilman Robbins Thank you Chair Uh Mr Kent I'm I'm absolutely on board uh with the thought process Um something I'm concerned about real quick Uh
Brad contractually is this within compliance are they following the rules yes sir Would obviously delaying that may hinder Would we be in a breach of any any uh
contract um because we had even though we don't probably collectively agree on the terms this may be something council where we have to eat crow on this and then let's let's re-evaluate uh the language in it and maybe add add
Mr Ken's suggestion in there that that there is a some sort of formula for payback But as it stands right now we can wait but it's probably not going to change the inevitable Uh if that's not in the contract it's as good
as the paper it's written on So uh in other words it won't matter Um I'm good for doing anything if it if it means um that we're not going to dig ourselves a little bit of a legal hole Can you answer can you help us i I only play a
lawyer on TV so the county attorney's office on that question We can take a look at the policy piece and compare it to the agreement I just I can't speak to it right now I'll take a look at it Oh good Councilman Vice Chair Reinhardt Thank you Chair Um I appreciate Mr Kent
and Mr Santiago your view on that I I totally do Um contractually they had a contract They signed it They abided by that contract There was a comment made and I'm not trying to stir anything but there was a comment made on several occasions that individuals don't like
the carpet pulled out from underneath them we are pulling the carpet out from underneath these people when they abide by a contract So um I appreciate the the the sentiment Um but I also believe in being fair Uh we are elected to be fair
and I think being fair is to uh the the the museum abided by that contract and then ninth inning two outs full count we're saying we just changed the rules or we're going to postpone it which may ultimately affect the sale of that
property So I I therefore I could not I cannot be on board with that Thank you I I'll agree with you Um I really like the idea of trying to get the $17,000 but I don't feel good about
changing the rules on the on the fly If if you're confirming that these are the rules and they have abided by them then um then we need to follow that and look towards changing the rules in the future
but not not in the middle of the game here So [Music] um we'll see how the vote goes Any any other comments uh Councilman Santiago yeah for I I actually I get where you're coming
from chair and and uh Mr Reinhardt I think two week opportunities why I supported the idea So um you know all contracts are negotiable right um and if if something comes out of it or if the rules come back you know from our legal
department that says "Hey clean cut They're good They're just going to follow through." Then we make that final decision But you know real estate contracts often have delays I mean I don't know this particular details of this real estate contract So I want to give uh Mr Troy here an opportunity to
see if they can bear some fruit on that idea That's why I'm supporting it Okay Yes I can Thank you chairman My last uh my last comment on this I believe I don't disagree with Mr Reinhardt or you
Chairman I I don't and I certainly don't disagree with the good gentleman next to me here Mr Santiago Uh everything you you've all have said has made to me perfect sense and I can I
can get behind that That being said I don't think that a two-week delay when this could bear more fruit for our taxpayers and I said it earlier and I'll say it again on the public record if it comes back or if we were told
right now from legal um with the the comment from staff that this is the best we're going to get and this is the contract I will I will work diligently to make changes for the future but I would approve it right now today for
them Um but if there's an opportunity for us to to possibly um benefit the taxpayers a little more I am uh I'm happy to do that as well which is why I'll support this Thank you And legal staff you don't know
at this point if this follows the contract to the to the letter of the law no sir I just need to double check I've not looked at the agreement Okay Okay And nobody knows how this affects the sale if it if we wait two
weeks No but I would note silence You did ask Yes we did Okay then that may I think that changes my vote then if there's no u no response to that Carissa would you call the role
please and the the motion is to to table this for two weeks bring it back to next meeting to give us a more complete picture of what's happening here Mr Kent
yes Mr Reinhardt no Mr Robbins yes Mr Santiago yes Mr Brower yes And the motion passes 4 to one And
we will take this up in two weeks And that completes the uh consent agenda Did you want to do Q1 at this point or would did we just cover that with the consent agenda you
covered it with the consent agenda Okay Item three proclamations to pre to be presented inside chambers first responders heroes day and public safety telecommunicators week Pat you're going to do this
yeah Let's start with the first responder heroes day Can we ask them all to come down here i want you all stand right about here Okay
[Applause] Thank you all for coming and I'd like to ask Mr Robbins to read the proclamation now Thank you Pat And uh good morning everyone Welcome Uh today we're joined
by some very uh special people our heroes uh right here at home uh who on a daily basis get up put a uniform on and and man a post uh and and without hesitation or second thought choose to put their lives on the line run towards
danger while while many others uh have a tendency to run away And uh the morning of February 4th is a per perfect example of just that And uh if Michael Ryan could play uh the video to show why
we're all here today Thank you We have [Music] sound right now Thought you you're not going to provide your own sound Yeah it's too bus
[Music] Yeah So folks just a quick back over there A quick briefing on what transpired There was a uh some sort of medical
emergency out on one of our lakes It was Lake Diaz Um purchased a person was unconscious Boat was running under power underway And uh we had a tremendous amount of coordination and dynamics and collaboration between um three entities
within Valuchia County at the same time who responded Our evac our fire services and our deputies and uh what a tremendous uh event This is just a little token uh of what they do and and
and save and protect our community and and and ultimately correct me uh Mr Hughes saved this person's life So uh we're thankful for that and today we want to honor you guys You guys don't get it enough and uh we appreciate you dearly zone Whereas the men and women of our
first responder teams dedicate their lives to serving and protecting our communities these brave individuals risk their own safety to respond to emergencies often facing dangerous situations with courage and professionalism And whereas Valuchia Countyy's first responder teams once
again proved their medal on February 4th 2025 when a man lost consciousness while boating on Lake Das And whereas teams from Blush County Fire Bluchia Sheriff's Office and Blush County EMS responded immediately and pulled all the stops to board the rapidly spinning boat and
rescue the unconscious man And whereas riding with VSO Marine Unit VCFR technical rescue deputy team leader John Kip boarded the out of control boat turned off the ignition providing life safety or life-saving care and returned
the man to shore And whereas this valiant rescue also included fire marshal Shane Leno who established command on shore along with Lieutenant Corey Phillips and firefighters Michael Kurland and Giovanni Salass And whereas Valuchia County Sheriff's Office
employees Captain Anthony Shank Sergeant Brody Hughes and Senior Deputy Matt Seltzer who I might ask never ages provided critical support with assistance from citizens on patrol volunteer Charles McCra who reported the
incident And whereas paramedic Andrew Falner and emergency medical technician Harry Short stabilized the patient and transported him to a local hospital for treatment Now therefore we the county council of Lucha County Florida dear do hereby proclaim February 4th 2025 as
First Responder Heroes Day Thank you guys very very much Thank you [Applause] Danny you're right Celzer never ages I
seen I met him like 20 years ago maybe and he looks the same Yeah County council take a step that way And this bottom row take a step that way Wait a
minute Gotcha One more time Very good Thank you Danny would you have jumped in the boat back in your law enforcement days maybe Should we take one more picture i should have done this the first time Everybody show us your
proclamations Okay one more time Mr Santi I'll go take a step that way That's it [Applause] And now we'd like to honor our telecommunicators Do we have some
telecommunicators in the audience [Applause] thank you Pat for the uh introduction of of these fine folks uh here You know coming from uh the emergency response
and and law enforcement uh background I've seen over the years often uh when we think of of first responders and and uh critical employees uh we often think of our our deputies our corrections and uh fire but an integral part of the
system is our is our dispatchers And you know they hear all this stuff coming in They're tasked with doing a lot at once uh under extreme pressure when you have uh critical incidents going down or or victims that need a uh an emergency response And I just want to say thank
you on behalf of the council Thank you uh for everything that you you guys do and we recognize you guys as a a great part of this machine that keeps us uh going and keeps us safe So thank you Uh this week we have public safety telecommunicators week and by
proclamation uh Lucia County Florida Whereas public safety telecommunicators week honors the unsung heroes who answer emergency calls and ensure the prompt response of emergency services And whereas professional public safety telecommunicators are the first and most critical contact our residents have with
emergency services And whereas they are a vital links for our law enforcement officers firefighters paramedics by monitoring their activities by radio providing crucial information to them and ensuring their safety And whereas public safety telecommunicators have
contributed sub substantially to the apprehension of criminals suppression of fires and treatment of patients And whereas professional telecommunicators continuously uphold the highest standards of their profession through training programs Now therefore we the
County Council of Lucia County Florida do hereby proclaim April 13th to April 19th 2025 as Public Safety Telecommunicators Week Thank you guys so much [Applause] And to prevent glare tip it toward us a
bit That's it Yes Okay All right County council go that way Okay We're good Ready one more Good Thank you [Applause]
Hey the ladies and gentlemen before you leave the the room um I I want I want the three of you to know I don't think we've ever done a whole week before We've always done a day So super congratulations But what what I wanted to say really is that I I've been to
your facility and toured it several times I've watched you work I wouldn't do your job The stress level seems enormous You do it well You do save lives You're the unseen heroes in in uh
public safety So thank you for hanging in there and um look forward to uh coming and and seeing you during during your week of celebration Thank you Mr Santiago Thank you Mr Chair I just want to echo a little bit what you said and thank you
for everybody's service That's not a tough job I mean it is a tough job Sorry I said it's not but um I couldn't do what you do So u thank you for your service And Mr Chair I'm a little bit bummed out because I was hoping to take a picture with Mike Chitwood That didn't happen You still can sir
Mr Chair can we have a motion and a vote motion to approve item three have a motion to approve app approve item three both uh both the heroes day and
telecommunicators week by vice chair Reinhardt and a second by second by anybody second second by Troy or David Santiago and all in favor say I I
and it's approved five to uh zero And now I wish I wish Okay we have props Um item four annual comprehensive financial report by uh
Ryan Osowski Move to approve Thank you for your brief comment sir Is there a second you know that actually has happened in the past That wouldn't be unprecedented Uh Ryan Osowski chief financial officer and
uh Zach our auditor told me to tell you that it was a hard audit year And this is why this is evidence of that But uh no none unrelated accident at home Um what you have here is the result of six months of u hard work by the accounting
division coordinating with our external auditors James M company Um the budget is the beginning of the financial process of any year where we set forth the plan on how we're going to um prioritize the needs of the community and projects and and we set the budget
uh and that starts before the year Then we execute that during the fiscal year and then afterwards we compile this report and it gets audited that shows the exact spending that was done throughout the year and our financial position It's very much used by our debt
holders bond rating agencies Um you may recall that we just recently issued a bond and we received a double A rating from S&P and S&P uses this report to continually monitor us and update our
rating as well as to establish that initial rating So this audit is kind of like a a report of what's happened It may not be that interesting because the budget kind of tells you what's going to happen and we're so used to everything that we say we're going to do we do But
this is really the report that shows what we did Um the auditors are going to go through a presentation Uh and I want to uh briefly make one comment on that presentation There is a slide on there that talks about our uh
ending fund balance for the general fund But I do want to preface that that was the ending fund balance for September 30th 2024 We estimate that number when we prepare the budget for 2025 So there was already an estimate knowing kind of what fund balance we would roll into
fiscal year 25 with Part of our plan in fiscal year 25 was to actually spend down part of those reserves That included $15 million for the uh sheriff's facility $4 million for the enterprise resource planning software that we're going to have to upgrade soon
uh $10 million for the Holen Back Building which will save the general fund $700,000 a year and provide that money to the airport fund in accordance with FAA regulations Setting aside those one-time monies for strategic long-term savings like that or capital projects
like the sheriff's office or other necessary capital uh was was factored into the development of the 25 budgets So the reserve number that you see up there and the percentage that you see up there today is accurate as of September 30th 2024 but we're now 6 months into a
new year and the new year's plan included spending down some of those reserves So just keep that in mind Um all in total we've executed already $36 million of transfers out of the number that's going to be presented there Uh so we are still in a good position but I
would not by any means say that we're in an excess reserve position Um with that I' you have would you uh the uh my accounting director Lenny Rice who is the division that oversees this report
has a few words she'd like to add and then we'll hand it over to James Moore for their for their regular presentation Thank you Ryan Lindy Rice accounting director Um I would just like to thank my entire accounting division for all the hard work that they do to put this
um all the work that they do and then put the the uh financial report together Most notably my professional accounting staff who is here if you could stand really quick as well as my admin staff They are who puts the entire report together Thank you very much Thank you I would also like to
thank Brad Harris with economic development He gives us a lot of information on the economic status for uh a portion of this this report Um the finance grant accountants Roger Whittenberg and Jennifer Maidwell Thank you Uh Veronica Black um the new budget
director and her team as well as uh Wanda Lindberg the CFO with the tax collector She is a big part of preparing this report So with that being said I would like to hand it over to Zach Schaer with James Moore Company Thank you Lynn And good evening or good
uh morning still Uh Zach Shallor partner James Morren Company Uh so we do have a PowerPoint on the screen as usual I'll keep it pretty high level Uh but would like to echo uh thanks to everyone involved in the process as always the council for the opportunity uh but your
accounting division all of the constitutional officers and their teams as we also work through audits over each constit constitutional office Um there's a lot of work that goes into this and from just a totally kind of black and white perspective we are 6 months to the
day of the the first day of the new fiscal year October 1st Um but I do want to highlight the fact that from a timeliness standpoint this is the earliest uh your team has had this you know ready to go out the door Uh so a big accomplishment there Just you know kind of evidence of that team
functioning as a high level Uh of the 12 counties that James Moore audits this is the first one uh to the finish line for this audit cycle So did want to just kind of highlight that as well uh for additional perspective of yes it's 6 months after year end but in the world
of governmental accounting and what goes into this report that is a pretty quick turnaround That's about as good as you are able to do Uh so as always uh as mentioned the county does prepare what we call an ACER or an annual comprehensive financial
report Last year's document as always is submitted to the government finance officers association for evaluation in terms of did that document meet the terms of that additional increased reporting criteria beyond what's required by state statute Last year's
document received the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting uh we would expect this year's to receive that as well So the big document you look at those are management's financial statements There are five reports that we issue that summarize the results of
the audit The first is the audit report on the financial statements where we did issue an unmodified opinion that the numbers are fairly presented in all material respects effectively that the numbers can be relied upon Uh we also issue a report on internal control and compliance While this is not an internal
control audit if in our testing we come across any key financial processes that are not designed appropriately or any deficiencies in the functioning of those controls in our testing we would note those here Uh we had no such findings Uh the only item noted this year was
related to the single audit um testing which was really just a carryover We had a prior year comment tied into a technology issue a couple years ago uh had some carryover there but we expect that comment to be fully resolved Really just the timing uh of when that um you
know it issue arose that led into some of that testing So again we had to repeat that this year though it was at a lesser level Um but do fully expect based on what we saw for that to be fully corrected when we look at that in next year's audit Uh the last two reports kind of a catchall from the state of Florida if there's any
financial condition issues uh other specific areas the state wants us to look at we would have to report back on those and we had no modifications in those reports as well Uh so from a fund balance perspective as Ryan indicated I always like to kind of you know look at okay
where are we in the general fund uh and what does that look like as a percent relative to what is spent in the year uh with the separate law enforcement mill kind of had to figure out okay what's the best way to look at apples to apples so I took your uh 001 budgetary general
fund plus the law enforcement fund to kind of get you know the core majority of those operations because those reserves really reside in your um budgetary 001 general fund So here we have summarized your fund balance in those two funds Uh the bulk of those
numbers are in what we call assigned and unassigned assigned basically means there are identified uses or intentional reserves or planned transfers or spend downs Uh as Ryan indicated um not much in the restricted buckets here That's
because you know from a general standpoint all of your restricted funds you typically have those running through special revenue funds and otherwise to really have the transparency and accountability over the use of those dollars in terms of seeing very clearly what restricted dollars came in and how
much went out And we do spend a lot of our audit testing kind of focused on that and came across no issues with regard to anything not being charged to the appropriate bucket So looking at your assigned plus your unassigned fund balance about $125
million across those two funds relative to what was spent and transferred out um you know for debt or other purposes to other funds about 370 million Uh we come to a reserve of about four months a little over 33% uh the GFOA recommendation they have a
series of just best practices benchmarking They recommend that an absolute bare minimum reserve be maintained uh of two months by this measurement Um acknowledging that when you have risk factors such as being prone to natural disasters uh things like that those are reasons to consider
being some degree higher Um so this is one where kind of from what we see very you know middle of the road a a healthy level a little bit over that minimum but still pretty close um you know to that level and pretty consistent uh year-over-year when we kind of go back and look and say you know where has that
number been uh over the course of the last few years I do like to look at your proprietary funds Uh there the the key measurement we look at is your unrestricted net position Kind of just the bottom line to say okay in what direction are these funds moving Uh and some funds such as
the airport there can be fluctuation based on timing of capital projects and things of that nature Um but overall everything as we look at it uh things moving in the right direction and no red flags really that came to our attention looking at the overall financial performance of these funds
And then finally I do always like to just touch on the uh grant side of things in terms of to what extent the county is leveraging federal and state dollars Uh this year a little bit over $75 million spent bringing those outside dollars into um spending within the
county And then the final item that I touch on every year relates to your net pension liability In the financial statements there is what we call a net pension liability presented Uh it's a substantial number but I always like to just echo for the record that this is a theoretical presentation of the county's
allocation from the FRS system The real liability uh you all cover from a budgetary basis where you have your your retirement contributions in the budget every month based on payroll Uh the county and all the constitutional officers are remitting to FRS and that
has been done uh on a consistent basis Um so those are the highlights I'll be glad to answer any questions and thank you all for the chance to be here Thank you Councilman Santiago No question Mr Chair I was going to move to
accept the report Second Have a motion to uh approve and accept the report by David Santiago Second was by Danny Robbins Are there any questions uh Councilman Kent No questions just comments Chairman
Okay go ahead Thank you Chairman Um Mr Shallop always good to see you even if it's once a year It's uh it's it's nice to see you And I I think we've we've done this between the city of Orman Beach my time as an elected representative there and here at least 10 years uh is is what I'm guessing Does
Orman still use James Moore Company yes they're smart You guys are a are a great group and I appreciate um the thorough audit that that you do here for the county of Valuchia With that being said chairman I I want to thank our
accounting staff for their hard work that they put in to this project to be so that we can be totally transparent with our bosses our taxpayers And it's refreshing yet again
And council this is to all of us sitting up here Our financial house is in order And that's hugely important for the public to know And that does not get lost on me that that is because it is my
belief that we truly have seven fiscal conservatives sitting up here making decisions And now I'm going to go a step further with our our management team and our legal team And that is with George Rectenwald and Michael Dyer You keep
tight reigns on the budget of Valuchia County both of you And I've always said it's easy to spend money when it's not yours But I always feel like my votes up here like this is my money which it is
I'm a taxpayer as all of us are And George and Mike I feel like you two also feel like it's your money And those decisions are made not lightly which is why yet again I am pleased to say and we
heard it from James Mo in company Mr Shallor our financial house is in order in Valushia County Thanks for being here Zach Councilman Santiago just want to add a comment to that because I think that's a good statement there Troy about our financial house is in order and I just
want to expand on that Even last year we cut taxes We cut fees We eliminated programs Yeah we eliminated some program We eliminated the communication services tax We eliminated the BTR the business tax receipt And um we're able to do that and still keep our financial house in
order So I look forward to see what we come up with this year George So thank you Anyone else okay We have a uh a motion and a second to approve No more questions Any comments
all in favor say I I Any opposed motion carries Five to zero Thank you for your report Ryan thank you for the work that you do I just echo what the other council members say but um I'm a little
concerned with you You're uh looks like you're working yourself to the just a little accident Okay And
I I just skipped item uh five because I you Okay You had no support for it Chairman that's strike two Haven't voted yet Okay Item five ordinance
2025-15 an ordinance amending section 20-113B to convert the pilot status to ongoing for dogs on the beach in the current designated area Good morning county council Uh Random Matusak
director of public protection And yes just as you stated ultimately the item in front of you is to remove the language that designates the uh dog beach as a pilot program and extends it then indefinitely basically So just a real quick report on the dog beach program So in 23 uh July 23 this council
approved uh the dog beach pilot program which would be an 18-month program So it began on November 1st of 2023 with some funding support provided by the Lmen family and then Dayton Daytona Dog Beach for the LMAN family donated uh $100,000
and then Daytona Dog Beach uh donated $8,000 for the dog uh waste bags Um and then uh so we got to work and so it kicked off again November 1st 2023 Animal services did staff that to monitor and enforce any kind of rules um
there on the dog beach and we were able to staff it for about 31 hours per week So that fluctuated based on the staffing that we had hiring um uh the part-time people uh to be able to work the dog beach and ultimately observed about 35 dogs per day out there on the dog beach
So about 13,000 dogs for the peri for the reporting period So for the purposes of this report also it would extend from November 1st 2023 through October 31 2024 So it's a year um so that we could compile the report Um as far as
monitoring and enforcement goes we experienced abs you know no bites which is great news there Uh the most prominent issue that we faced really were lease uh leash um uh instances and and all of those were able to be resolved through education So we were
able to gain compliance really with everybody out there on the dog beach In addition to our efforts through animal services we also had Daytona Dog Beach providing some volunteer efforts So they provided almost 1,300 hours of service and picked up almost 4,000 lbs of trash
Of those 4,000 lbs of trash almost um there were 86 dog waste uh instances that were uh that were addressed by Daytona Dog Beach And for us for animal control um uh officers only 15 dog waste instances And that was again noticing
that somebody um didn't pick up after their pet They noticed or they uh educated the owner and they bit they did go ahead and pick up then after their pet So um some very few instances and no instances really of aggressive aggressive dogs or anything like that um
that we experienced either through um observing or through reports Other concerns that were mentioned during the pilot program or the discussion leading up to this was environmental concerns or or problems with dogs then throughout the beach So the environmental concerns there were
four complaints that were in the um turtle nesting area Uh four complaints also just north of the dog beach because we did have some people So that was kind of the one concern that we had was people moving into the dog beach and and um having dogs just north of of the
designated area Um beyond that though no notable disturbances of any when they do when environmental um does their uh surveys for um shoreline birds Uh the other concern was the potential for increased animal activity We didn't notice any notable change to the number
of dogs that are on the beach outside of the area We've historically had issues with people taking dogs to areas that were not designated as dog beach areas Uh and so uh law enforcement so the sheriff's office and beach safety continue to educate on that And typically we can gain compliance again
through education Uh annual costs So again we had about $108,000 that were uh donated It did cost a little bit over that So the first year expenses $123,356 Most of that was from animal um animal services uh staff time Uh then we
had coastal and beach safety Coastal and beach safety There was some staff time uh considered with that as well uh to be able to refill the dog bags um and then supplies uh for the dog beach For continued um uh performance here we
would be looking at an estimated around $60,000 because we would propose uh to reduce some of the enforcement strategy because we didn't see a ton of issues with the uh with with following the rules out there on the dog beach we would um we would recommend not staffing
that for full-time officer It's 06 miles on the beach Uh and so we would we would um kind of build that into uh zones that we would typically patrol with our animal control officers Um and then there is a continued commitment that
Daytona Dog Beach has expressed through uh volunteer services and then also to continue to donate those dog waste bags So overall it was a successful implementation that included some collaboration across a number of divisions and departments in the county So very very um appreciative of the
efforts of the coastal division environmental uh management and then also uh beach safety and animal services Uh while we did exceed the initial costs that we had anticipated we do anticipate lower costs moving forward And there's ways that we can kind of um
uh shift that around too depending on what kind of enforcement strategies we want to take the increased volunteer efforts and things like that And again no significant problems that were observed during the uh pilot period Important to highlight here again zero
bites zero instances with aggressive dogs uh out there in the Dog Beach area So with that I'll I'll take any questions Councilman Santiago Thank you Mr Chairman Thank you for a good presentation You answered actually almost I guess you asked all my
questions Um my only followup is can you um and I don't know if anybody from the public's going to talk about this part I'm more concerned on the outside of the designated areas right um how I think he gave an update but are we receiving complaints from individuals of of uh dog
owners taking their dogs outside of the We are and we and and but it's no no more complaints no fewer complaints really than we have historically Okay Okay And I wanted to know you know Troy if your your thoughts as I was reading this agenda I recently was getting a lot of calls from the cat community want to
see if we can amend this and add cats Mr Santiago it is a really good thing that I like you Matt It's on leashes It'll be more entertaining Actually I'm just kidding That's an April Fool's joke to all the cat folks and and the dogs Okay so thank you for what you did He hasn't heard about my calls from the
equestrian community We used to allow horses on the the beach and we even had a bull on the beach you could get your picture taken with Yeah I think that's a different station That's a different way station uh for for those
So fair point Councilman Reinhardt Thank you Chair The the equestrian thing would be I can just see people cringing out there about picking up that waste I don't know that that might be an issue Bigger bags needed Oh much bigger bags Much much Um it's no secret when this
first came up you know I had questions about it and um I will tell you I'm a big supporter of it now Um so it's gonna get my vote regardless So that's that's a gimmick Um I know that something was said and and I'm I'm going to ask this
question and yet you have my vote but I am going to ask the question Um being that conservative you know you gave the expense annually about 60,000 Is that general fund are we using the the parking fees on that and I know Troy had
addressed that once before and um so I'm I'm kind of curious Uh again it's getting my vote I just uh I want to I just want to ask but I have I have gotten overwhelming support We have gotten so many emails I tried to answer everyone This will be the first time I
will tell you that late last night trying to have dinner my wife said "Put the phone down." So because I'm I'm just constantly answering the email So um thank you everybody that showed up Thank you everybody that that showed their support for it uh it makes us unique
even more as a county I do believe and I know that we have some individuals out there that are wanting to see this successful for many more years to come So uh once we get past this obstacle today which I think we will um I I think it's nothing but success from that point
but the question still lies So thank you Yeah So So the funding really was in the in the beach fund which is is essentially kind of your general fund that was that was carved out for the for the beach I think Ryan would probably be a better way of of explaining how that's carved out but it was it's it's in our beach fund So 178 I don't I don't think
I want to make Ryan come down here again They put but yeah we'll figure it out Okay Thank you It's general fund I'm looking for uh you had cost I think you said 59,000 for enforcement
Well so the 59,000 was overall So that would include our uh some some salary for animal control officer and then the equipment that's uh related to that and then also the um uh making sure that the uh waste stations are fully stocked uh
with bags and uh then there's some contractual um uh expenses because we do remove those waste bag station or coastal removes the stations uh when when we remove all the assets from the beach for storms and things like that and then it costs to to re replace them
or put them back in basically So those types of expenses would still be there again the operational uh expenses then for the acco but we would share that um uh expense or that's what we would like to do uh so that we're not patrolling that 6 miles uh full-time What what is
animal control um doing what are their So they're out there They're monitoring So they go out there and uh monitor So they have their um there's two two different kind of vehicles We found that the truck was a little bit better um for visibilities purposes but they go out
there in their um animal control truck that's uh marked uh pretty clearly for animal control They educate uh folks on um uh dog safety issues for instance making sure they have um equipment and uh water and things like that Should a a
a dog look like they're overheating we have had instances where dogs will overheat and they'll and they'll help take care of them And then also educate people on the you know the regulations for the dog beach So um all of those leash instances that we had where people
might not have their dogs on a leash because they think it's maybe a dog park and they have them off leash but we'll get we'll gain compliance pretty quickly And then also there's a uh restriction for six-foot leashes and so people might have them on those retractable leashes that kind of extend beyond that So
they're out there to help educate um and uh they track if they have to talk to people more than once and things like that But again with the with the very few overall uh number of instances that we saw um you know that's that's a that's a lot of resources for6 miles
Thank you I'm I'm getting along with everybody else a lot of email in in support of this but I'm curious because I got an email yesterday from a a hotel
owner not directly in that vicinity but the owner said uh she's actually getting guests from out of town because of the dog beach I'm wondering if you have any idea how what the breakdown is of local
people that enjoy it and how many guests we're were drawing in from out of town We don't have a breakdown of that Yeah We don't go and and ask or or or survey Uh we do count you know so they count the number of dogs that are out there I can tell you for the people that work
out there they to they they they see regulars so you start to get to know the people that are out there They get to know our animal control officers So we've had a really good um uh kind of relationship with the people that are out there especially those that are out there in the mornings and walking their dogs on the beach and things like that
Um are seem to be um residents uh more so than uh than tourists but we don't have we don't collect that data for the breakdown of of who's on the dog beach Okay Right Does that No don't don't answer from there but you
can you can come up and and speak in a minute Um don't mean to be rude but I I shouldn't have called you out Uh okay Uh Mr Kent chairman thank you I All of my questions have been answered I just have comments and I don't know if
you want them now or you want me to wait until after the uh you have a question Comment Go ahead You okay with comments thank you chairman Um listen I'm I'm going to say that the dog days of summer are almost here
And my first comment will will be to staff and um I want to thank you for your professionalism I want to thank you for the data that your hardworking employees have done to come back and give us you
know real data And uh you know I in the beginning and and I'll I'll say this and if you went back and watched the tape I think you'd see it I mean I I felt like staff was was fighting me on this and I don't
feel like that now So thank you publicly Thank you council We've received letters of support from the entire Orman Beach City Commission the Orman Beach Chamber of Commerce the Daytona Beach Regional
Chamber of Commerce Daytona Dog Beach has received over 3,600 petitioners that have signed this Daytona Dog Beach numbers are a little bit different than ours Um and they've talked about picking up over
5,000 pounds of trash in this half mile stretch There is no doubt in my mind this is the cleanest stretch of beach in all of Valuchia County because of you volunteers that are consistent persistent hardcore and you want this to
be successful and I'm so appreciative of of your efforts with that might just an estimation but of the emails we received I believe we're at a 97% I might even say 98% um where the emails are in support of
keeping dogs on the beach permanently This is proof council that we can set up a common sense program with reasonable expectations for our
community members to do and it can work This was a 36-year ban This is a big deal And this is part of why I ran for this seat to start to give the beach back to the residents of Valuchia County
And this program is not only given it back to the residents but to our visitors as well as we've heard in the testimony chairman of you where people have been writing that they're coming to stay here because there's a dog friendly section of the beach Councilman Robbins
I've I've got to call you out on this I rarely feel like um I learned something uh extremely new up here and um you knocked my socks off with your letter of support I never thought of doing
something like that You taught me something new and I'm appreciative of that And your letter I thought was beautiful Um so thank you Thank you for that and to Mr Reinhardt as well To me
this is and I I appreciate all of your comments but this is proof that we can we can have um an idea come up and people not be supportive of it in the beginning and then allow it to play out and then turn
those minds around and get support So I'm I'm very appreciative of that uh he's he's not in the room and I wish he was for this because I give a ton of credit to David Santiago for this and
I'm going to tell you why There he is Good timing I'm going to tell you why David you have an uncanny way of getting something across the finish line when it might not have even had an opportunity
to get to the line and your idea on this and also our locals driving on the beach In my opinion they wouldn't have happened without your idea of hey let's do a trial period And because you did that it's I'm going to tell you it's
something I will never forget And um I'm I'm excited to support whatever you have coming before us Go ahead Just don't like the cat idea [Applause] Um animal services staffed this and I'm pleased that they did I was a I didn't
think we needed to do it chairman Um I'm glad they did because this wasn't just Daytona dog beach data This was animal service data and I'm glad we did that but I I would be even okay come backing off of it even more council just so you know to save some
money And my idea with the driving on the beach by the way my estimate was a six to9 million windfall to the county I think the county says that it's a four to six million dollar windfall Either way it's way more making up than that 59,000 we talked about Um Daytona Dog
Beach Nanette and your team Paula Nancy and LOL Lomen angels in the community and uh all your volunteers Uh just absolutely incredible
With that um I'll make a motion to approve this to be a permanent um fixture I'll second it Kent makes a motion in the uh in the
item here it says to convert the pilot status to ongoing You just used a different term I did I I said permanent but I'm I'm okay with using staff's recommendation I just struck uh ongoing and and wrote in permanent permanent I
love that Thanks Everything's permanent until you change it you know I mean anything can be changed So let's not let's not have to deal with it every year I mean it's it's working u and it's working on in a great part
because of all the volunteers in this room Uh Councilman Robbins Thank you Chair Um real quick a couple comments you know when this originally came up and we see it time and time again uh with with obstacles or or issues that
are that are thrown at us where we get kind of the flashlight under the chin um uh on on some things and Nette and her group in in this instance is actually kind of humbling for me uh and maybe
some others but uh it's it's proof that um if you have the right people in place if they care if they have uh sweat equity in it and skin in the game it can be a very enjoyable um experience for
for not just us but for our tourism as well And uh I I wrote a a letter to Nette and her team and it says "Since day one your self volunteers and the Ton Daytona Dog Beach organization has shown tremendous dedication and have proven to be an
exemplary model of how a true partnership should be." And that's very important This is a partnership In order to make things work we have to have that partnership Throughout this pilot project you and your team have successfully maintained a clean and safe and welcoming environment for our residents visitors and all of our
four-legged friends You've also elevated the bar for others to follow when it comes to your volunteer efforts positive environmental impacts educational efforts and your financial contributions And I allude to to some other things in this letter as well It is with great pleasure that I write this
letter of support for taking this temporary pilot project and recommending to council that we make it permanent I am also open to support your efforts to expand the program if council so desires in the future Look forward to working with you in the future and giving you
the continued support that you deserve Thank you So u you know where I'm at You made a believer out of me and u behind you 100% So thank you [Applause]
Councilman Santiago Thank you Mr Chair Uh two things I just want to see the pictures I see these dog pictures out there Nobody's got Bad Boy Dudley out there Mr Troy's dog I don't see Bad Boy Dudley out there Um there you go Well thank you
for your passion Um and um I want to say to the to the group of uh individuals that rallied around this effort y'all did it the right way um doesn't always happen that way but I want to compliment you as an organization or a group or of like-minded individuals I like the way
you went about it Uh it was in a very respectful as the chairman alluded to earlier today Um sometimes we had disagreement here as we came through this process but we did it and you did it in an honorable way and we got to a good solution So I want to compliment everyone that's out there and I know the
chairman's got all those cards but um was it three minutes each i think we got a vote right we have to vote Let's listen to the public first I'm wondering though if we flip Don Dempsey cuz he was a lone vote against it wasn't he he's not here
He's not He's not We We'll We'll ask him at the next meeting There there's a good reason for that I I won't I'll let him say it but the uh we do have members of the public who wanted to speak if you still would like
to come up I I don't know how the vote will go I think I do but I'm sometimes surprised We can be talked out of it you think yeah So yeah we could be talked out of it So be careful Uh Debbie Keys
Mr I mean we could tell them they wave in support You You could wave in support and say "I like it." Wave in support or deny Okay Um what's your dog's name ohana Uh Deborah
Corsy What duchess Okay Cynthia Amaruso Good Okay If you're going to if you're going to speak yeah because nobody outside of this room can hear you and there are
people watching so thanks for the opportunity to speak I am kind of wordy so I'll keep it brief But yes this is my dog Logan Um literally found him in the middle of the road last uh July a rescue right yeah And um I've been volunteering
as a POW ambassador That's what we call our group Um met a lot of people from all over the state and all over the country even some from out of the country that are specifically coming because of the beach I've met disabled
people who like to go and drive on the beach but they couldn't really get out of the car with their dog and spend a day there Now they can and they're very appreciative of that We have all the statistics and all the numbers that people talked about um and they're pretty impressive Some things
aren't quantifiable and one one some of the things that we experience at the beach you just can't measure There's a good feeling of camaraderie out there There are people from all walks of life and it's like you mentioned at the beginning chairman Brower about people
just learning to speak to each other We communicate with all sorts of citizens out there and we're not worried about who you are or where you came from It's just obey the rules have fun enjoy the sun There are 47 miles of coastline in
Valuchia County This is only 610 of a mile We are keeping it really clean We are finding all kinds of interesting little things on the beach toys and things like that 99% of the things that we find are left behind by people unless
dogs are bringing Red Bull cans and Dunkin Donuts cups I don't think they are Um so we are really in support of it Thank you for allowing us to do it in this manner to do a pilot program so that we could show you that it could
work and it is working and thank you for considering appoint continuing it and Logan thanks you too Thank you Nancy Lman [Applause]
Chris Smith Come on up Yeah So I moved down here in May and um I just wanted to say that I took my dog over there every single day for three or four months because it's too hot to take the dog anywhere else Um and it's just
cool enough for the dogs over there in the winter time I take my dogs to all the parks along the river and inland and there's dog bags over there and I don't see any dog feces over there I see everybody's just very good down here about picking up And my suggestion is I
live in Daytona Beach Shores It's very quiet down there and it would be great for another spot down there that's right in the middle between Pon and Orman Beach and we can do another pilot program for that Thank you Thank you
Lesie Lee for gotta come Yeah you got to come to the mic If you're gonna if you're going to speak come to the mic please And following Lesie will be Nanette Did you want to speak then come
sit on the front row please And then uh Kimberly uh and then we have one negative response from John Nicholson I had a little bit more prepared but all I want to say is I just have to thank
everybody and um we've been working with Nette and um her husband Bert for three and a half years four years by now for this all to um come to fruition and all of these fantastic volunteers just
incredible incredible people So I just want to thank all of them and thank all of you for your time and your support So that's it Thank you very much Janette Okay And I have the original Daytona Dog
Beach Dogs here with me Three of them Three of them Yes And their names Don't take my time though This is Delilah Samson and Mac Mac doesn't fit in Yeah Macaroni Mackle
Mac Samson and Delila Yeah Okay Okay So my name is Nanette McKill Petrella I'm with Daytona Dog Beach Inc as the president today You do have all the data in front of you from the pilot to justify moving forward with the dog friendly beach You've heard those
personal stories You've heard from the business community government bodies and nonprofits Just this morning we sent you an update with 3,678 signatures in support And actually while we were sitting here we just crossed over 3,700
signatures Thank you I want to share I believe something that is just as important And I want to talk about dreams and working diligently to bring them to reality Four years ago Daytona Dog Beach began as a dream One
shared among residents in our beachside community Freedom for people to simply take their dog for a walk or drive along the shore or relax in their beach chair with their dog by their side seems like a really simple dream one easily obtainable But we found the pursuit of
that freedom was going to require significant effort We learned that people had pursued that dream unsuccessfully in the past since the 1987 ban Locals who had lived through those disappointments were skeptical afraid to attach their hopes to the
dream for fear of being disappointed again They told us they didn't think their government had listened to them in the past and they weren't sure they would listen to them now But we believed in the dream and inspired by the growing support of those who shared it we were determined to make the dream come true
First and foremost we were committed to staying positive Our strategy was to confirm facts demand support and benefits associated with the dog friendly beaches and to deliver on our commitments along the way Our grassroots community-driven pursuit of the dream
strengthened community bonds promoted health and welfare of people and their pups increased environmental stewardship demonstrated enhanced economic impact and inspired people to once again believe in their power and potential to improve their community Your vote to
approve this ordinance will not only make our dream come true it will also restores people faith that you are listening to the community It will serve as an acknowledgement to the many people who were willing to give of their time talents and gifts to bring a dog
friendly beach to reality They represent the best among us those who volunteer to step up and take positive action to contribute to our community enhancing the quality of life for all I am humbled to stand with so many are here who are
here today So many who couldn't be here but are watching or waiting for word And I do hope you will please vote yes Thank you Thank you And is it Kimberly is it Strus or Strubs strus We can see you We can't see the
dog I know So this is my dog Sugar I am Kimberly Shus and I have been a resident of Deltona since 1992 when my family moved us from Long Island New York Uh the dog friendly section of Orman Beach
has become one of Sugar's sweet last adventures It was such a solace for her and me when we needed a place of calm amongst the storm of cha cancer chaos I'm grateful that Sugar was able to experience this several times before her cancer became too much of her I'm here
today also to speak for the future And I want you to envision in addition to all the wonderful things that have been said what it could potentially look like financially And so this might help with your questions earlier So reviewing what
we've shared so far the pilot cost $123,356 The maximum annual operation cost is $60,000 The number of dogs observed on the beach so far is over 12,000 And the numbers you might not know yet are the approximate number of human visitors
that we have here of 6,198 That's the number of people that are actively talking in our dog beach community on Facebook and that split of visitors from Valuchia versus outside of Valuchia 60% Valuchia residents and 40%
outside of Valuchia So I want you to imagine business-wise taking it a step further We always love to use the analogy five bucks for a cup of coffee So say if a Valuchia County resident does a quick trip to the beach five times a year for f and purchases a $5
cup of coffee that would bring 92,975 potential dollars to local businesses Furthermore the dog friendly stretch only 6 milesi right now is now cleaner for all humans and visitors alike and animals as well Thanks to the
efforts of the Daytona Beach Inc um Foundation the numbers that were provided earlier the 5,470 lbs of human trash that has been removed so far That's as of end of March And this makes it safer for marine life as well as wildlife as well The revenue
opportunities continue to grow with group members visiting outside of our county With the recent launch of the beach pilot program we know these visitors will pay at least $20 off beach parking fee which translates to $49,580 directly to Vuchia County Not to mention the other expenses that they
would incur for an overnight trip Again this infuses more money into Orman Beach businesses In conclusion the data collected presents us with a promising future This potentially yearly revenue of having the dog friendly section of Orman Beach far exceeds the annual operating cost This benefits are not
just financial Residents of Valuchia County and beyond along with their dog family members will enjoy a permanent friendly dog beach And local businesses and Valuchia County will also reap the rewards with a potential infusion of at least
$142,550 a year Sorry I'm nervous but I wanted to get it out under the three minutes And sorry for not dinging me You You did great Okay so hopefully these numbers speak numbers Yes What part of Long Island what part of Long Island oh Long Island Uh it's central Iceland Oh I was from Brenwood
Oh okay Smithtown So that's where I was born Where'd you two stop [Laughter] okay Uh John Nicholson And I have no idea if he's for this or against it I just we we teased
John because he's a frequent flyer here And yes I did oppose it last time and I opposed it because one for 37 years we had a dark free beach and four or five times it' come before the council over and over and over again and you get tired of people doing it wasting time
All right And um Joy was really adamant and I'm adamant that we not have it because they were talking about putting it in front of the band shell our busiest part of the beach having these dogs just running around where there are just no room to walk let alone have dogs
running around So that location was absolutely ridiculous I like the Centennial Park and I'm wondering whether you could expand it in that direction next year Uh Centennial because actually Poninland is really too far when you think about it for everyday
use Uh or is ideal for everyday use It really is Centennial would even be better All right Uh secondly um I don't like getting bit and all my friends have dogs and they say "Oh don't worry He's dog He's friendly until he bites you on
the arm Okay And that's happened like five times So I'm really shy especially big dogs All right Uh Doberman's It's not the dog's fault I know It's me It's all that sugar right um but thanks to
Mrs uh Mr and Mrs Lman when they put their money where their mouth is it is really great to have active I mean it's not only the dog beach They put money everywhere which is great for us And I know you guys are fiscally responsible So when when they came forward it really
took the onus off you guys And it really worked out All right I'm very big on the cities having rights And if Orman wanted the dog beach what am I to say no all right I if if it the county had not taken over the
beach Orman would have had a dog beach years ago All right So to me it's worked out well I've never had any complaint I've never heard of any complaint I'm sure there must have been but I've never heard of any And yes dogs are still on the beach There shouldn't be there This
morning dogs came I was at McDonald's having coffee Sure enough guy walked in with his dog All right They are constantly everywhere You can't uh say it's never going to happen But basically it's been a success and I don't see any reason why extending it Thank you Thank
you Did I miss anybody who came to speak on this okay Uh Councilman Kent Thank you Chairman We haven't voted yet but I I just publicly want to thank this council for the support that I've heard so far
And to Councilman Robbins comment to Daytona Dog Beach about a nonprofit doing it right I just want to highlight we we have a lot of nonprofits come before us and their their hand comes out
for taxpayer dollars and you all are the poster child and I hope that other nonprofits are listening to this and pay attention to this because Mr Robbins brought up a very important piece um when when he stated something to the
effect I'm not going to quote him exactly but that you all did this the right way You did not come before us with your handout Instead you came providing dollars and the manpower to work this area And you all
have now stated that you're going to continue to help fund this and that if I've I've heard from you Nette that if this council were to open up another area say in Daytona Beach but not near the band shell because I'm listening to
you Mr Nicholson but if if the county were to do that I've heard that Daytona Dog Beach has even more funding available to assist and help in that area and and that's that's wonderful and and it I can't let this moment go by
without also um and I've mentioned it earlier but LOL and Nancy Lman were in the audience that day and the the $100,000 was making some members bristle
up here and I believe it was LOL that looked at Nancy and said tell them we'll give them the $100,000 it was on the spot and you know the proof is in the pudding and they stepped up and did exactly what they said they
were going to do And last but not least chairman I know that you you tried this in the past and thank you for your steadfast support Mr Brower um to make this a reality because I truly
believe we have made our community better by doing something like this And with all of the nonsense going on in this world there's something about providing a wholesome experience for our community members And
to the volunteers out there thank you for policing those that need to be policed with it And and Nancy I think was quoted in the paper as saying it best and that is we only want people that are following the rules I'm
paraphrasing You didn't say that but but people that aren't following the rules if your dog is not on a leash if you're not picking up after your dog you need to be fined You absolutely need to be fined and and and thank you for either addressing it
and or calling the number so that our animal control services and or our sheriff's department can address it because we want this to be dare I say continue to be wildly successful Thank you chairman Good Be careful We're trying to make the 12:00 news I think here to report it So I was going to tell
we'll get you out here Yeah Uh I want to piggyback on what he just said I want to remind you of of uh what Don Dempsey said last time Um Don is is a great guy He loves dogs He has beautiful German
shepherds Um the reason this worked is because of Daytona Dog Beach and and the Lommans first of all coming in and and soothed the bristling with with the seed money
Uh but y'all did do exactly what you said in keeping that beach clean The the reason if you remember that Don wasn't for it then I don't know where he is now is because we we have one of the most popular parades in Valuchia County right
here in Dand It's the dog parade and Don has an office just up the street and it has a little patch of grass in it And the people that come to the dog parade who always clean up after their dog in the
parade for some reason stop on his little patch of grass and they don't clean up there And so he has to go out and do it And it he didn't think that it would work because he didn't think you would actually clean up after after your
dogs and somebody else's dog So it worked because you're responsible And um I I I think that's a good lesson um for us all to keep in mind about things that we try to do in the county And I'll I'll I'll say one
last thing I am getting requests for another dog beach They said "Well you've we've got the inlet now We've got one in Orman and uh so I'm for some I think somebody's I don't know if it's you people Nette that are generating these
calls but a number of people are calling and saying we need one in Daytona Beach Shores So it's it's so um we'll we'll see what the future holds but right now we've j we've just changed this to uh ongoing to permanent If this is approved on a very
close vote Carissa would you please call the the role please mr Kent yes Mr Reinhardt yes Mr Robbins Mr Santiago no cats Yes Mr Brower
Yes And motion carries Well done all of [Applause] you Okay Can we take a one minute recess so I can just speak to these people uh yes
Daytona Dog Beach and and supporters Stay right there I want to grab a quick picture with you Please stay right there I've got about 40 seconds left Hey Okay Um let me let Ready to go again
Okay if everybody wants to find a seat we will get started again If uh did the did Daytona Dog Beach carry Councilman Kent away he'll be back
Okay All right We will proceed to item seven ordinance 2025-10 paid off beach parking amendments related to commercial fishermen Thank you Mr Chair Paula Sorya senior assistant county attorney This
ordinance 2025-10 So um January 1st 2025 the paid uh parking program on the Luchia County owned or leased properties went into effect Um about a a month uh ago Um you know you had a commercial fisherman who kind of addressed some
issues Um so historically um we have uh hours of operations on our off beach parking It is 5:00 a.m to 11:00 p.m is the area is the the time to park Um historically um commercial fishermen have been parking outside of those hours of operation uh with no enforcement by
the county Um you know commercial fishermen are accommodated in our ITP and our HCP Um you know they can access the beach on a on through their vehicles um after turtle season but before the general the public So we accommodate
driving on the beach We just haven't formally codified accommodation of commercial fishermen on county-owned property So what this change does is it it accommodates the after hours parking of um our commercial fisherman When I when I say our I mean bonafide um
residents who also have a commercial fishing license from the state who uh register that license with the county and who registers their vehicle with the county Um and you know we can accommodate those vehicles to be able to park after hours without um uh getting a
fine or a penalty since these are already our you know Valuchia County residents Um you know their their tax dollars or their tax pay their property taxes have kind of accommodated um that parking um per the policy of council Uh
we do have some other cleanup items um pursuant to Florida statute uh those disabled persons who have a disabled parking license or who show you know prominently display the the handicapped uh permit um you know they kind of park
free of charge So we're just kind of codifying that that provision um and also accommodating um you know government vehicles uh when when in the line of official duty so we don't you know accidentally um site a you know under emergency vehicle um you know our
vendor you know looks at all those to make sure that we're we're following it properly properly But those are the particular changes accommodating commercial fishermen accommodating disabled persons Very good Um questions of Councilman Santiago No Mr Chair it's going to go to
a motion approve Second Okay Motion to approve by David Santiago second by Vice Chair Reinhardt Yes Guess uh before you call the vote I already filled out the uh form 8 for the uh abstain on the vote
Okay gotcha I had to think I had to think why for a second but artificial intelligence fishing doesn't count as a fisherman I think I've seen some of his pictures They look AI Well and so Mr Robins rationale is you have a commercial fishing uh license right yes sir Just for the record Um and I'm
available for any questions Jessica Fenders is available for uh questions if you have any questions about statistics or the actual usage Okay Uh are there any questions any comments then all in favor of the motion
of paid off beach parking amendment say I I Any opposed and motion carries four to zero with one abstension Item eight ordinance 2025-12 repeal of transportation license fee and
resolution amending fee schedules Ben Bartlett Good morning Mr Chair council Ben Bartlett public works director Uh before you today is a repeal of a uh fee on businesses in keeping with this council's goals on uh reducing
regulations on businesses and and and and fees and such that when we had our uh audit of the uh landfill u collection and and scale house Uh we also took a look at some of the fees that we were charging One of them is this
transportation license fee which was uh charged to businesses hauling uh solid waste within the uh county It was a $10 fee annual $10 fee per hauling unit Um the uh total revenue generated by this fee was approximately $17,000 per year
Uh which in terms of the overall landfill budget of just over $45 million is a pretty small amount Um and so what we're proposing is to eliminate the fee modify the ordinance to allow our solid waste inspectors to continue to inspect the vehicles to make sure they're in
compliance with tarps and safety items and ensure litter is not being spread out over the roads Um and I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have Okay Uh Councilman Santiago move to approve Love getting rid of fees Second
Motion to approve by David Santiago second by Vice Chair Reinhardt Any questions at this point any comments all in favor say I I Any opposed and motion is approved Five to zero
Thank you Thank you Uh item nine requesting a review of updated echo direct county expenditure plan and Dr Brad Burbal Yes sir Council members um what what we have before you is an a request to
update the echo direct county expenditure plan Um this is for projects that we would like to start in this fis current fiscal year and we will bring back our five-year rolling plan as part of the budget as we work towards um that over the next few months So some
projects we would like to request to add um to the DCE is um in district one a Spring Hill uh new basketball court and improvements to the park there Um this is supported by council member Dempsey This is his district Um
the Stson went through an extensive planning process with the community um to de identify these improvements um to the park Um and this is why we have individuals here today supporting um this request Next the the Carter Quail
Ranch property we bought or Florida Forever bought for us We'd like to get started on developing our recreation and amenities plan Hence the request Also in District 5 looking at the Deltona Amphitheater um in terms of design and
engineering to make it a a a place that's really a community showcase or community gym um as we work into the future And then um there's a $2 million request for um off- beach parking land acquisition So there's various spots
across the county that we continue to uh review and analyze Um so that's why the request is in There is one adjustment that we're requesting and that's for uh the playyard at uh the land uh library Um the request is 200,000 100,000's
coming from the library fund 100 from um the echo There's also two projects being taken off that FEMA covered One FEMA covered um and one was due to insufficient space So with that this these projects if implemented will have
an operational impact of around $21,000 um annually Here to answer any questions you may have Thank you Uh Councilman Santiago Good job Brad Move to approve Second to approve by Councilman Santiago and a
second once again by Vice Chair Reinhardt We do have uh three members of the public who would like to speak on this Uh Megan Brenton Good morning Thank you all so much Um I did uh so my name is Megan Brenton Um
I'm with Stson University and president of West Faluchia Ottabon Um I work for the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience at Stson And um I I actually emailed you all a video on Friday uh 328 So I appreciate uh for all of you who have watched it that provided
some background and gave some of this uh more to the story Uh there um we do have a picture of the poster um of this project on screen Um um so I've had the privilege of working with the members of the Spring Hill community since 2018 when I worked
with Valuchia County Environmental Management and um uh it was through a grant titled community resilience through green infrastructure We um uh we worked in the community of of Spring Hill and that grant saw the formation of the Spring Hill resilience team and um
that was in partnership with the Dr Joycem CUAC resource center in the city of Dand and um this resilience team has continued to meet uh think through and act on their community's uh resilience and the team actually played a role in the formation and development of this
project concept Um uh we held a series of town halls for this project Um and it's been a truly collaborative process of envisioning what this uh basketball court that you see here a full court with a half court as well as two small pavilions um would
look like in Spring Hill uh Park um u this will benefit uh of course the multiple stakeholder groups within the community of Spring Hill which uh you will hear from after me Um I'd like to to actually do some give some thanks as
well Um uh so we have uh in the audience uh we have Althia Shavers who's the unit director of the Spring Hill Lacy Family Spring Hill Boys and Girls Club Um not present here today but but probably listening in is Shiltha Dixon who's the
um director of the uh Dr Joyce MQs Resource Center in Spring Hill Um we have Terrell Johnson who you'll be hearing from after me uh he actually initiated the idea of the basketball court um which gained momentum also through um Rollins College public health
program Stson University's public health program We actually have quite a few partners as you can see in the logos at the bottom of the poster um that have been uh working to um um with the community to hear what uh the vision would be that would best serve this this
community Um and so uh that's all I have Thank you so much Thank you Terrell Terrell Johnson And you will be followed by Dr Allan Johnson Good morning Um my name is Terrell
Johnson Uh like Megan said we have been advocating for changes in the Spring Hill community Uh I'm currently a business owner out there at Spring Hill Barbecue and Soul Food I didn't been to the county council's meeting before I'd like to see some I know there's a
process but it be taking forever for it to come to fruition Meaning like we need to get some help out there I know y'all the ones who can get us some help out there So I'm here asking for help for the spray hair community Get the course Let's get some movement Let's get some action Let's get some juice out there
Some live out there It's dead out there So I'm asking that y'all come on jump on board and let's get some funding out there Let's get some change out there because the properties are out there Y'all own some of the properties out there It's like if y'all can develop the properties or come with some plans with the property for the people could know
then we could come to these meetings and be supportive of what's going on when no one knows about these meetings And then when we get here it don't be clear on exactly what's going on It's be kind of in a gray area here So we need to get some help on spring here So I'm here
advocating that this part come and it comes kind of in a rapid fashion because we got staff review meetings They not going to come to the staff review meetings I have been in a lot of them I've been having a project down here with the crab stock for four years now I come to the staff review
meetings It's a lot of more extra extra extra in the staff review meeting The county council say "Okay let's go We out of here." But then we get to the staff review meeting and we got to stay on a lot more stuff So I would like to see this project move forward The staff
review meeting we get updates to where we could be included in the staff review meeting cuz the county council get approval Everyone leaves but then there's no action 6 months a year from now we still talking about what's going on So if we can get some clarification
to get some help out there some support from everyone out here cuz there's a restaurant out there If you can come out there and support it we welcome you out there But at the same time we need some help out there cuz like I said y'all have a property like straight across the street from me There's bushes there's
leaves there's trash on it I'm like "Hey man when the county going to clean that up when the city going to clean that up?" But no one comes and cleans it up It's just sitting there So it's like no one cares but I care because I'm out there and I know stuff has been done personally by me myself and Missil the
Boys and Girls Club Megan Stson Dr S Dr Johnson they have came and helped but we need more help We need more voices We need more dollars So that's all I got to say and thank y'all for taking the time to listen to me Terrell before you go
where is Spring Hill Barbecue 905 South Adale right in front of the resource center Okay I didn't know if that was your personal address or the business address No that's the business address Okay Yes sir Cool Thank you Uh Dr Alan
Johnson oh you brought your own fan club Um I I won't take too much time but I really appreciate you know the opportunity to speak on this Um uh I'm here to support uh the uh the courts at the Spring Hill um and this overall you
know proposal Um I just want to um just emphasize I guess um so I'm a sorry Alan Johnson I'm with Rollins College but I'm Dan resident I live here in Jan Um and just to uh I'm a professor of health
health science and just emphasize uh I think the the importance of the health implications of this Um right now there's a a quarter court there that really just doesn't get used It's just people don't really want to use it It's
so tiny Um and I I you know the location of this being right next to the Boys and Girls Club I think provides a lot of opportunity Um and uh a lot of thought was put into this by the community and uh I just am here to support that and
it's again health implications really for the the young boys and girls of Spring Hill community Thank you Great Thank you Councilman Santiago We have a motion We have a motion and a
second Any any questions any comments all in favor of the updated echo direct county expenditures uh say I I Any opposed and it is
approved Thank you all for coming in If I may one of the things that I I would like to share with you as as Carmen Hall our community assistance director and I have talked after um being out in in Spring Hill as part of these meetings as well as Tim Bailey being there is um we're going to have a
meeting with them at the resource center soon on going over ways how their community can engage with government serving on advisory boards Um N Carissa will be there to help us but just want to let you know that we are um Nicole's coming to talk about the citizens of Canada but other ways that they may be
involved in county government Good Thank you Mr Chairman I got a question Okay go ahead I know that the next item can't be heard until 100 p.m Um would it be permissible for us to do uh county
council comments now it would be Um I was just checking to see if lunch was here yet but it's it's really early for that We could do council comments It is here Or uh staff comments You want to do
staff comments sure I actually have something Uh county chair Could you hand those up or county uh what is his title yeah April Fool You want to No I don't want to change positions Okay Hey I what I'm handing out uh and
it worked out a very uh applicable day Uh we received a uh a letter from the uh executive office of the governor regarding the EOG Doge team
Uh and that was uh the letter was dated March 18th Uh out of that office they asked several questions Uh I think this is the beginning of their program for uh the Florida Doge program And
uh as you see I attached what the the questions were on the back but basically uh we're answering back uh we're pleased to inform uh the Doge Committee that Valuchia County is not experiencing any
uh financial emergency or distress conditions as outlined Uh in fact Lucia Countyy's strong financial position was recently affirmed by the S&P global ratings which is assigned a double A rating to our $9.1 million series of
non-advelor revenue bonds So basically uh regarding their inquiries we can affirm that we are have not experienced any of the conditions that they uh were asking about nor do we anticipate any of those conditions or
issues in the next six months Our bond rating maintains uh our bond rating uh is high County maintains sound financial management practices and has demonstrated positive operating results
uh as basically reaffirming everything that you heard earlier today uh from Ryan and our James Moore uh team there So a great day to do both things So this is being sent today back to the
governor's office uh and we so we will be in compliance with their request and just wanted to share that with everybody Uh we had a couple other things as well
Uh we had let's see here uh the veteran services stand down was a big success Uh we wanted to go over what we assisted but uh grew from over 450
last time to 668 veterans assisted Uh we had uh over 21 volunteers at the ocean center We had resources on site of over 55 different resources Uh we had resource staff on site of over 230 people We provided 200
lunches Gave away uh food to 300 others Gave away 10 10 bicycles We gave uh 67 CMP exams We enrolled uh had medical enrollment of 10 more people and we
raised uh donations and sponsorship So it was a very successful day out there I wanted to make sure everybody uh was aware of that Uh another thing that's happening and this will tie in a little bit with the storm water you'll hear
later on today Um but we had to bring forth as part of this transform 386 rules that uh there's been some updates uh and storm water study requests uh that are in addition to what you
originally saw So as long as I report these here today we'll be in compliance with the the federal rules So basically we had 28 requests uh totaling $ 8.6 million As you see the four watersheds that we already opened
up with Spruce Creek Little Hall Creek Deep Creek and the Dan Ridge wershed And then Daytona Beach added two more and Dan has added three So with that uh just wanted to make sure that that
information was um reported out so we'd be in compliance with that Um we already covered uh Mr Johansson's comment so that is taken care of Uh
let's see We also have a uh um we have a a job fair that we wanted to report out on too The Port Orange uh it's going to be at Port Orange South Daytona Chamber job fair Uh and we'll be
attending as well uh trying to pick up uh workers for some of our positions out of the beach And that's I think covers all of my items Okay Thank you Uh county attorney Sure I just had a list of about 30 things Okay
Good Go through Just one thing Uh I sent out yesterday something we have not done before I just did it for information for you as you speak to your constituents or you field comments and that is uh we're going to start sending out a quarterly
report of our county ordinance violations So these are some violations in your code do not go to your code board because they do not involve property They involve conduct Most of these are beach related violations like
alcohol on the beach So it broke down most of an overwhelming portion of these are beach related violations but just so you know get an idea of the ordinances that you have Uh if you get complaints it puts in context
I would say for a non beachreated item really the one that stands out are noise violations You know so you have two different types of noise violations one where your sheriff's office because these are generally after hours they response and non-emergency call and they
use a a decel reader Those are the easier of the two Then your ordinance also allows for violations There's loud and disturbing noises All those are going to be citizen-driven and processing of complaints But I just want
to give you an idea of kind of what your staff's involved in All these are generated but from a sheriff's office affidavit that's submitted to the county but they go to county court not the code force and board because they're conduct related So if you have any questions about it let me know because I know
oftentimes you get complaints Sometimes it's a neighbor dispute as well Um but happy to talk to you about it Thank you Are the noise complaints all from the autobon area of Don Spring actually
there's a couple others Uh I guess in the past quarter we had 12 cases filed Um not all there but that's certainly one of them Okay
Thank you Okay Thank you Okay I will ask for um council comments but before I do I noticed that uh the mayor of Daytona Beach Shores
Nancy Miller is here Are you um going to speak at the end of the meeting okay Well welcome to our our meeting I hope you got to talk to the Daytona Dog Beach people cuz they're going to come after you
now Yeah it didn't work Okay Uh council members um Troy Kent Thank you chairman Council I have just a few items I'd like to share I I publicly want to thank staff
You know a little over two years most of us have been sitting up here I had an opportunity on Thursday March 27th to meet and and spend some time with three staff members out on Buckskin Lane off of State Road 40 in Orman Beach They had
an issue and a concern and I wasn't able to meet until 6:00 p.m Let me tell you who showed up Nick Ventura our building official Chris Hutcherson our code compliance manager and Carol McFarland
our planning director These three individuals were top-notch on top of their game They came prepared I sent George an email and I copied those individuals because I wanted them to know how appreciative I was of their
efforts But they are hardworking dedicated people who make Valuchia County look good And I publicly wanted to thank them for stepping up and participating and helping to solve a
problem out there So I wanted to make sure I got I got that out there George I need a tour of Miller Lake You and I are going to have to do it So let's get that on the calendar within the next 10 days Maybe you and I get out there in Miller Lake I need eyes on that Um John
Nicholson you know we don't always agree I think we agree like 90% of the time I might even say 95% On on some stuff but um you know you're right You said earlier when it becomes printed it becomes truth and fact And thank you for
stepping up and and sharing that I certainly appreciate it Um the fuel farm you know chairman you're you're able to put things on the agenda Uh and and so is George we are with with a majority vote But I got to
tell you I think Cat is spot on when you know I I just want to say we heard some great news a couple of days ago about the fuel the possible fuel farm being um that was going to
possibly happen in Orman Beach out at Hall Road not happening And publicly I want to thank this council I want to thank the elected leaders in the city of Orman Beach And I want to give a huge
thank you to State Senator Tom Leak It is not lost on me that without that leadership without those relationships without Senator Tom Leak making this happen from a budget standpoint and I personally called him and and thanked
him for this this would not have happened And Senator Leak I give you mad props from the District 4 County Councilman in Valuchia County And I would be remiss if I didn't also thank state representative Chase Traymont
who's been a dear friend of mine for at least 15 years and uh I thank him for for his support as well But back to what Cat mentioned council now that that has has passed for
the moment we need to do something either a zoning change or purchase that property from FEC And I love the idea of turning that into a passive park And um just for a little fun and giggles you know you talked about barbecue grills as long as they're not
gas barbecue grills but charcoal would be great out there But I think I think it's a it's a great thing So I I'll come back to that in just a minute And then um my my second to last comment is I I rarely mention this person but I feel
like I need to George was out for a week and I've got to tell you um Suzanne I I I think we have a a great working relationship We've not always seen eye to eye but I got to tell you I there's a few um qualities about you that I truly
admire and I want to state them publicly You are taskoriented and you're no nonsense and your staff knows that and you get the job done And I've had like three meetings I think in two and a half years where you've been involved And I
look forward to every single one of them because I know that you're coming prepared with the receipts and if you say it I always feel like it's as good as done And uh I just publicly wanted to thank you um for for your
professionalism And again you got George making that decision on who he's got put in those places And you know he made a he made a good decision there back to the fuel farm Um council I would I would like to make a motion to get this on um
agenda on the agenda within 60 days so that we can have a discussion about either purchasing the property or um changing the land use Second Thank you sir That's my goal Okay And chairman if this doesn't Can we
comment on that no If if the chief if it the vote doesn't go good I was going to say I was going to hope you'd put it on the agenda but you know hopefully it goes well If the vote doesn't go good I will but I can't imagine that everybody wouldn't be willing to discuss it I I
was I'm glad you brought it up I was going to bring it up that we approach it two ways One that we discuss uh changing the zoning to light industrial um and the same time pursue
uh purchasing the property outright Uh I got a call from the mayor of Orman Beach I hope I don't get him in trouble here He he kind of stays in trouble lately but he uh he called and said he's he's talked to the city manager they would
like to work with us on a possible um uh purchase which tells me that that means they're willing to spend money Um at least that's the way I'm going to take it Amen Um so I don't know if we need to wait that I'm kind of afraid to
wait that long because I don't know what they might do I also don't want to um I'm asking everybody in the public to kind of be silent about this because I I don't want to poke right poke them in the eye Um I want to wish them all the
luck in the world where they're going but I think we need to move quickly and see if we can uh either purchase that would make a perfect place right across the street from Orman Beach's uh athletic complex uh complex Um it's a
beautiful productive uh um uh freshwater um uh wetland very productive a lot of wildlife otter things that you don't
normally see be great for the public to see that and see the value right of our of our wetlands and and yes we could have um we could have passive uses there So I'll just I would be willing to to do
that So we've got a lot of members that want to talk Let's see what their feelings are Can I can I just add one thing to what you just said um I I hear what you're saying about moving quickly I want to as well since we've already got a motion in a second I think staff uh can pick up on what we're laying down
as far as we want this more expeditiously um than not And and chairman I'll just say you know relationships matter and I'm pleased to hear you share with the council about what the mayor of Orman Beach said because I think that's a relationship
you've worked on and you know um it's a it's a good positive thing when that happens So so thank you for sharing that Okay You made the motion Um who made the second i did Oh you did almost
immediately That's so a motion to bring this back for for both for purchase or andor just changing the zoning Okay that's the motion The second by Vice Chair
[Music] Reinhardt and um Councilman Robbins Thank you Chair Just a couple questions for staff Um do they still have an open site plan with us conceptual They have a conceptual
Conceptual Mhm Have we had have we had any contact with them and do we know if they're even a willing seller we we have made multiple attempts to contact uh including certified letters
telephone calls uh they have never returned any of our calls or acknowledged our letter So which leaves us us where council what I what I want to do and I hear what everybody's
saying What I want to do is and I think we can all relate to this um that we could have probably handled the process a little bit differently in the beginning Uh and there were several results Uh that
stemmed from the the way that we handled it Uh uh to the tune of of $10 million where the state had to come in and and make an offering uh to the tune of a a a lawsuit that was rightfully so in my opinion dropped in our lap where several of us were were named because we were
out of bounds uh on on on several things And I get it Um it's an important topic Uh but I want staff and legal to give us legal direction so we don't make these
mistakes again uh that were were made and we all we all know you know So um I don't want to be nailed to the wall again and step on ourselves Uh I think there's a way to do this um uh if uh we we work together Uh but at the end of
the day we need to do it within the proper process And I want to make sure too if this does come back which I'm not opposed to talking about it I want the the council members uh and council to think about how much we're willing to pay for a
zoning change on top of the $10 million that we've already uh taxpayer money Um cuz we will find that um present whenever we take away zoning and [Music]
um and and where we go from here Mike on on the legal process So if you have any insight now that can help maybe better direct us collectively uh I'd surely love to hear it Now we'll work on bringing something
back if this passes And uh one thing that jumped out at me you know because George is right he has not they have not communicated back after repeated attempts that he has made Um if I'm understanding the situation because I'm not I'm just reading this from a press
report they have not withdrawn the application for the Orman site It sounds like it's not the backup plan you know that they're going to pursue the uh Flaggler site first And that's all I and I'm sure you've read the same thing So
Mike are we still bound by some of the rules that we faced with earlier uh because I'm looking I'm trying to think ahead of time for the board You have a piece of property hypothetically maybe worth 5 million 2 million We're already we're already at 10
million How much more are we willing to pay for it um and if not if they do come to the table how much are we willing to to pay them for the zoning change but meanwhile they're already laughing at the bank Uh
so I think we just need a sometimes slow is fast and and I learned that in law enforcement and that unfortunately is how a lot of things go in government but it's because it's like Mr Santiago Mr Kennet mentioned earlier it's with taxpayer dollar We have to make every We
have to be surgical with this one We're not going to get shafted The public's going to get shafted cuz it's going to be on their back So I'm going to wait to hear before I make a decision on anything I I need to have and I think it's beneficial us to have better legal guidance on how to uh approach this uh
better Okay I think that's what the motion is is to send it to staff to bring back that information So we're we're not asking for a vote tonight um or today Uh Councilman Santiago Thank you Mr
Chair Um I'm I'm never opposed to a conversation Um Troy I want to rewind back Sure When you first brought this to us it was a late night meeting I recall And um I think I seconded your motion right away You did You see how that all turned out
for us The end result I would say was good for Valuchia but did you see the whirlwind that we went through i shouldn't say win but the chaos in some cases that we went through as a council Unfairly beat up Unfairly beat up Thank you for saying it You know Mr Chairman
I'd like your opening comments today I wrote it down You know we talked about we need to learn to disagree and do it honorably Not only us but I think you were addressing members of the public also this particular topic was not handled that way on many levels Um and from an
opening comments today earlier today I think you were complimented Good for your work I agree You should be You were complimented Good for your work Staff was left out of the picture The the torture that you all took and were
still very professional I commend all of you George and your team That was probably one of the most difficult items from uh I'm going to guess that you all had to deal with right with the attacks that you all got Some of us got the attacks and that are still occurring to
this day But that doesn't that doesn't I will say this that doesn't change my decision for support or not support But it's unfortunate that people can't do that That's why I commended the dog people today They did a great job in their advocacy But I'm cautioned Troy
because I think along Danny's line I'm not saying I'm against or for I'm just worried that we have a pending application We jumped fast last time turned into chaos Um I I would like to see Orman Beach City Council step up and
let them vote and say "Hey we want this property It's contiguous to their city uh limits." Nothing's to stop them from doing that We've talked about that in the past But at first we have to see if we have a willing seller right um I I would prefer either a conversation with
George and the city manager in Orman to have a conversation Hey let's ask these people if they're a willing seller They still have a pending application I just don't want to muddy the waters there just yet Um and again I'm not saying no I just let's be careful Let's be careful
and do it the right way the end result I think what is kind of playing out right now is what the constituents wanted for the most part Um and um I I just prefer that Troy we just I'm going to ask you don't put us in that spot again And I didn't think
you did it intentionally You did it for good reasons That's why I seconded it right away Right Um but I would rather give direction to George and say "Hey George get with Orman Beach see what their pulse is uh as a city commission and then maybe we can come up with a good plan because what's going to happen
is if we vote for this right now that's going to be the next we're going to fill the room you need to vote I hate you and all this and without having all the facts I just need more information and I know it's just a research thing I don't want to jump again right away I want to I want to get more
information because this is still hot off the press this topic happened a few days ago I caution my colleagues Let's just do it the right way I'm not saying no I'm not saying yes Let's be calculating and things are kind of working out I think for the most part in
our favor Um that's my thoughts Mr Chair I think I'm just looking out for everybody at the same time and what the end goal could be So thank you Mr Chair Vice Chair Reinhardt Thank you Chair Good comment Dave Very good comment Um
in the two years since occupying the seat there has literally and my family can attest to this one topic that I really actually when you say you lose sleep on something I lost sleep on this one It was the constant you know we talked about all the hundreds of emails
we got on Dog Beach I was okay There were some nasty things said I mean downright And and we lost some sleep on that So I I said second right away because I think it does deserve a conversation It does deserve hearing
what you can compile and bring back That doesn't mean we're saying yes go purchase the property It doesn't mean right now tonight That doesn't mean yes go ahead and change the zoning right now but get that information to us so we can at least have that uh intelligent conversation That's all I'm asking Um I
I get what you're saying I respect that Um but I also don't want to sit on our hands and uh not do anything but I also understand the the method of of slow is fast I get that Um I I I think we've all read the same
thing Um Palm Coast from the from the chairman down are all in favor in this So um that speaks volumes to me uh in an area that uh is not like Hall Road in any way shape or form So and they talk
about the economic impact that it'll bring to their community Uh they're far below what Valuchia County is So it's going to help them financially So they're they're bringing all that They've already done their they're doing their homework So that's all we're asking is do the homework Bring it back to us Let us make a a conscious decision
about this with all the you just said it We want all the information in front of us Bring us the information before we make a decision I don't think that's moving fast Just saying That's me If I could respond to him Mr Chair I know I'm queued up but I just want to respond to if you don't mind Who's next matt Oh
Danny can you yield i don't mind Go ahead Danny gave me the wink Um I think um Matt I I I don't I don't disagree with you I think maybe it's the way the motion is spelled out for me I was gonna turn and maybe that that's what do you want um maybe we can read it back
because I don't remember the sea because you know I got very little hair but a little bit of hair stood up right away on the motion and maybe we can clean it up in a way that is basically doing staff without any real staff knows Staff knows the moment we put it in motion
with specifics it's out there Yeah Okay Staff knows they they're very competent And I had a I had a suggestion David Yeah I'm sorry Anytime for you brother Nice tie by the way I'll give it to you And and
Troy's got a matching one Um M Mr can't would you be open to um restructuring uh the motion possibly to give um you know we can put it on the agenda but if we don't know what we
don't know can we restructure that motion to reflect just let the city manager coordinate with Orman you got con the best contacts in Orman um and then once they get that we can kind of see what pages we are on to
stick our toes in the pool to see if it's something we can collectively do once they get that information I'm sure the chairman and I'll support it putting on the agenda to talk about but I just want to have substance like like the other guys say Um um getting everybody
here again and going through all that it's was very toxic and and not healthy Um and yeah you got the point Thank you Chairman Councilman Kent Thank you Um the short answer to that Councilman
Robbins is yes I'm I'm I'm amendable to that And I I'll just say this I've not said this publicly before but two things I've always been on the side of on on this issue of stopping this from happening
But what you all don't know because you you don't attend my district dialogue is I had a district dialogue in Holly Hill right after this thing popped up in our lap and even the guy that was like helping to take the lead with the chairman about trying to stop this I got
skewered at that district dialogue and and to the point where I had to say to a couple of individuals I don't understand this I'm on the same side of everything you're saying but the heat and daggers were coming to me and and we've all done this
a little while you know um some of us have held office in other places so you know my wife will tell you my my husband has pretty thick skin so it didn't bother me as much But the second thing I was going to say that I've not said publicly
is that wasn't a good feeling and that's okay I asked to be in this seat and I felt like several of you were skewered up here and I know it didn't feel good and I felt like it was unwarranted
because my belief even right now and back then was that all seven of us if we had a magic wand would have not allowed that to happen and fix that right away um a little different I think for
myself the chairman and the atlarge individual because we represent that area and I think you gentlemen get that you understand it Um I do think that it is definitely trending in in the right
direction and my goal is to for this council since it's still unincorporated county unless Orman wants to take it over I like that is to stop it from happening again
with same company or a different company We're in the same boat again like we need to fix it and right now it's it's on our shoulders and I am I'm okay if Mr Reinhardt is actually of withdrawing
this and Suzanne you're you're hearing me I know they're in a conversation but you're hearing me You'll share with George I'm okay withdrawing that motion and the five of us here today directing staff to say have please have that
conversation with Miss Shanahan reach out uh have the same meeting with Mr Hayes Mr Dyer the city attorney over there So the four of you get together and um come back with an update for us and
then I I firmly believe if we voted if I didn't withdraw my motion which I'm doing right now Mr Robbins with your request um I believe it would be a 50- vote to at least have the discussion Chairman I say that for your ears because I feel like after that conversation happens
with our joint staffs that you can then put this on the agenda for us to have that healthy discussion um with a couple of options for us to to do So Mr Reinhardt are you okay with me withdrawing that that motion and just
giving direction to staff staff shaking their head yes that they see at least Yeah Can I c can I also just try to help hope help here Uh also I think we should just expand it slightly to uh not just
that property but remember you have multiple properties along there that are uh zoned that I2 So I think what we need to do is go back and uh have that same conversation you're talking about with the city and come back with options on not only the property that started this
conversation but all of them that are zoned I2 along there I think that would help us for some of the other issues you guys have brought up is if we talked about it a little bit more holistically rather than on one property Uh that's good Um
I'm okay with that statement Troy I'm I'm uh I'm disappointed that you withdrew the motion for for one reason I think I the way I took it that what you're asking for was information and I think we can increase that to um what
has been said that uh the um county manager talk with the city manager see if there's um uh any agreement there um on their part or desire on their part to even
talk about a purchase agreement Um but I I want to hear and you know we they heard us they'll bring it back I would kind of like to hear a date and when we can bring it back to talk about I want to hear from the county attorneys It's
their job to keep us uh keep us out of unnecessary lawsuits I want to hear from them what the probabilities are what the possibilities are if we change from heavy industrial to to light
industrial Um you know a lot of that is looking in your crystal ball and trying to to guess what they might do Um and then for the county manager to be able to come back and say "Yeah there's some agreement with the city on buying this
but there's still no um information coming back from uh Groupo Mexico." Well I think we could reach out to the owners not only the city I would attempt to of course the city first but also I think we should attempt to talk to the all the owners of
those properties Yes we and we had talked about that at a and months ago about talking to those properties and and seeing you know there's good businesses there that I don't want to hurt Exactly Um and we want them to stay
there but we also don't want them to um I don't want to end up with a Clorox plant in that area Um so anyway I I don't know if you're if if you're comfortable with that Troy just leaving it kind of open Any any idea how long
that might that might take uh George to bring back some information i think the original request of 60 days is more than adequate I I I we'll try to beat that by Okay a little bit as well And chairman
to to answer your question I am I'm sensitive to what I heard from a few of our members on the council here today I know whenever you touch a hot stove and and you get burned you you're not anxious to do that again And which is why I shared the sentiment and
comment that I felt like I got skewered at one of my meetings and I hold those meetings every four months and I'll continue to hold them as long as I'm in elected office And that's part of it I'm I'm not shying away from that I'm not afraid of that to the media that's here I welcome all comments I just wanted you
all to know I too was on the receiving end Um so chairman I'm I'm sensitive to the comments that we heard and I would just say to George you know I had mentioned 30 to 60 days and and my hope is that now that you've heard from this
council it would be quicker Gotcha and and to and to and I love that you brought up the other parcels as well I think that's a smart um decision and it will help this council also And I think Mr Robbins brings up another good point which is you know hey what's the dollar
figure that we're willing to do this because X amount from the state of Florida taxpayer money has already been spent on this But Mr Robbins I'll just say if we do nothing and it comes up again oh my gosh I mean it's it's way more than what I think it it would have
been but it's a discussion we we need to have Um chairman there's nothing that says that I you know myself or any of us couldn't bring this back up again for a motion if we feel like staff's not moving quickly enough Um but I wanted you to know I I think you and I are um
and this whole council really I think is in total agreement as far as trying to fix this from ever happening again Um but I think we can get there Uh and the motion is making a couple a couple members uneasy And I know it's not my
job to to make them feel easy but it is my job at the end of the day to get a consensus and get a majority and get a good vote for the residents of Valuchia County And that's that's what I'm working on now I'm just helping water
those seeds Thank you Okay And I'm good with that I think the the county manager already acknowledges that he he hears us 60 days is is reasonable in his mind Uh Councilman Robbins Thanks Chair Uh I'll make this quick U county manager in in
um legal if we cannot get in touch with them like in in years past and there's nothing saying that they have to um and if they're not willing to sell
it and then what then what well I think that's what we need to discuss right before and bring back to you because that that I hesitate on saying that here now but we'll talk about what the options are and just to avoid in the
future just in our dialogue not singling any particular parcel out We learned from that So okay cool I'm good with it Okay that's all you had Okay
Uh Vice Chair Reinhardt Thank you Chair Um first off first thing I want to do is is thank you and commend you for this morning's comments Um I think that's the way everybody up here feels Um you know most of us in that line of
work that like Danny had or I had used to hear it all the time Um and there are a lot of people I think we're all kind of skewered also with respect to or those who were here that um that did not respond And I I'll be honest with you I
I had to catch myself Did Did he say what he just said and I think Mr Nicholson said it correctly He mumbles I tell him that to to his face right now He does So he's not here thankfully Um but I do not condone will not condone And for those of you that
that are out there that thought that we just ignored it I disagree wholeheartedly We did not ignore it It was not understood A lot of those things like if I would at one point you catch yourself saying "Well if he said it do I
give it oxygen?" If there wasn't that was said and then make something out of nothing So and before you know it while you're thinking of that he's walking out the door So no to the media to social media to those individuals that are hearing this
uh even as of uh comments that were made just recently on social media No we did not And I think uh I know I can speak for myself but I think I speak for everyone up here that was present that day That's enough said Are you saying social media doesn't get it right they
didn't this time Okay Um Mr serve and welcome back and happy birthday Where's your sling amen So I just want to welcome Clay back So thank you Very very valuable resources we have at the county Thank
you Glad to see you're doing better I saw Scott Olsen earlier Um sorry he he stepped out He does a phenomenal job with our veteran services I attended both days at the standown Uh thoroughly enjoyed it That's the first time Uh I think last year we did it at
the fairgrounds It was kind of competing with our other event and I felt like a ping-pong ball trying to bounce back and forth and I really couldn't take advantage of of what there was to offer Um so I I made a made it fact that I'd be at both I I loved when I heard that they were going to hold it every year at
the Ocean Center or we're going to try for that So I think that's a great place to do it Um Lynn you do a phenomenal job out there You just did it again So thank you to you and your staff Um I was going to come up and say I wasn't going to say anything about the
jail April Fools I I did want to mention his mic Yeah cut off my mic Actually I'm not going to It's related to that Uh I talk about the second chance initiative and the work that we're doing with Barbara Anne
Heaggan with the Port Orange South Daytona Chamber Um where we had the job fairs We did our third one it was very successful Uh she is expanding that and and there was something mentioned about a job fair with respect to the county But I did want to mention this
Um we were asked each time and more so the last time we did the job fair out of the jail We actually had at least I know of one individual that showed up that was on probation showed up at the jail because that person misunderstood the criteria that it was just to those individuals that were
incarcerated due to be released So there will be a job fair at the Daytona Beach Shores Community Center on Wednesday April 9th from 10:00 to 2 Uh with the focus being on those individuals that are on probation or just recently
released Uh I've been a big advocate of that you know uh seeing that door keep closing on individuals that cannot get employed Recidivism focuses around two things jobs and housing You can't get the housing if you don't have the job to pay for the housing So uh those local
businesses out there that participated in the second chance initiative and had the opportunity to participate in this one I commend you Bring more on We'll we'll take you Um other than that that's all I have So thank you very
much Yes Councilman Robbins chair would uh guys do you would want to I got tapeworms waking up in my stomach uh hungry You guys want to take a break before we uh proceed forward or
I I can come back to mine It's not a big deal Okay So we would have uh you Councilman Santiago and myself and then a long item uh 10 or nine 10 that I don't want to I
don't want to run through So that that's I'm fine with that Everybody's ready They're already getting up 12:28 we will be uh back at uh 105 because we can't start this before 1:00
Check one Check two [Music] All right Oh we will finish uh council comments Uh so next would be uh Councilman Robbins
Thank you Chair Um council I've been reviewing um at ways um that we can kind of shield our residents from uh runaway taxes um and and uh things
like that U not just present but but in the future and and one one thing that caught my mind I don't know really the right way to go around it because I think we're limited on what we can do at the local level but um lowering so we have a 10% cap on on
millillage uh at the state you know that the state brings down to us So I was thinking how can we lower that ceiling i don't think it can be done from what I understand through Ryan How can we lower that ceiling to
prevent maybe taxes going uh or hitting that that 10% how can we lower it to like maybe six that's something that that we can talk about or maybe send next year put on the list for maybe a legislative uh agenda maybe to look into
after we investigate it Um just for just for future you know we don't know what the future's going to hold but obviously the less the better right um that's number one Number two is can I ask a follow up on that yeah Yeah You got So you're suggesting to set a Thank
you Mr Chair If we are legally able to set our own cap lower than what the state cap is and by ordinance or something like that we if we can but I don't think we're we're able to I don't think that from what I can recall from uh from
Ryan Zowski I don't know that that's in our purview but we can follow up on that But if it's I like the idea though If it's not we can always lobby our state legislators and make it a legislative priority Well if the governor is successful he may not he may get rid of
that problem for us Yeah If he's successful And then um the the second one is uh Mike Dyer and his team did a good job back on the uh Well they always do a good job but they uh it was on Wednesday I believe of last week Uh they
sent all councils I'd asked um Ryan and his team to look at uh exemptions uh where we can additional uh offer additional tax breaks And there's um several that we don't do in in
Valuchia County The ones that that that kind of caught my my eye um there's some tax breaks in here that we don't participate in like additional historic property exemptions for public access you know if we want to preserve some of this stuff just just like um some other
things we have to do we have to incentivize it you know um a little bit and then it gives us a little bit of control There's economic development exemptions This one here has to go on a referendum but we do a lot of uh or some
of this already uh just like we did with like Aello and some of the um economic programs revenue guarantees and stuff like that But if we want to uh go in a direction this county I think it's what this what this board wants to further
diversify our um tax base and create jobs and do all this stuff There's there's ways to do that in my opinion Uh and looking uh looking at number five on that sheet as well which is economic development
exemptions Um also two that other two others that caught my mind and then I'm or caught my eye and then I'm done is um one that I think we can help out for our our seniors or our our
parents or grandparents um keep them closer to home too is number 11 on that sheet It's reduction in assessment of living quarters of parents and grandparents Uh and that is under our purview That's something we can enact you know Um and in the notes
here living quarters must be homesteaded property not more than 20% of total square footage But it gives the the land owner a higher ex you know an exemption rate for keeping their folks there Can I ask a question From me Mr Chair Sure Um
are you saying like within the existing footprint or like an accessory dwelling unit ADU existing footprint And there it's not to exceed more than 20% of the total square footage So that exemption as I think of what it says here living
quarters must be on homestead property but not more than 20% of total home square footage Yeah Just as an FYI too the legislature is moving forward an ADU bill for accessory dwelling units to preempt uh cities and counties and make them permissible Just you know Well
that'll be good for accessory dwellings But yeah this would be good I got you But uh and then two um high water recharge lands assessment is another interesting one and that's number 12 on that on that sheet Um pretty much council allows us to adopt an ordinance
which uh establishes a assessment formula and um property owners must apply and enter into contract with the county But it's design designed to preserve and protect high water recharged lands But also it could deter
people or alleviate people from that tax burden and being forced to sell it or even entertain you know maybe development or or whatever to further protect uh maybe some of those areas So uh I'd like to uh make a quick motion to
bring back uh information on numbers uh 5 11 and 12 I believe Let me just double check that real quick Or excuse me four five uh 11 and 12
And um David if you're you're interested too staff can we bring back some information on on the feasibility of addressing that cap and see if that cap can be lowered which I don't think it
can be at a local level Um but maybe put on our legislative agenda if so if council so desires Is it the homestead cap you're talking about or nonh homestead cap U non homestead cap but we can you know we can look at
homestead stuff too So whatever you guys think is fine I'm just looking Danny I like the idea If if I may I'm sorry for interrupting you Um I think to our attorney you know I think it depending how the language is written in state law I know we can't exceed a certain number
but I'd be surprised if if the legislature says that you can't self-impose a lower limit I'd be surprised if that's the case Well you guys do that every year way right i mean you guys are setting the millillage and you're telling us where to go and I
don't at least I'll have to defer to them but I don't think you can do it to the future That the key to this is you be tying the hands of a of another council Yeah I get it's everything's permanent till you change it I get So but you guys could say to yourselves I
mean this is all we're willing to do And to a certain degree you're doing that when you give me direction right you know on where to go So the other thing to keep in mind is again that's the county and then you got cities uh and that's where some of the
action really is And you have cities that are approaching 10 and struggling with the 10 mil cap So it's we've had to make changes and things like our contract with Lake Allen for instance uh in order to keep them under a 10 mil
cap So small cities that don't have commercial uh really struggle and sometimes cities are not naming any specifics but they're their own demise by not allowing commercial Right Exactly
Um and uh so I like where you're going I love conversations around how we tax people I just want to tighten tighten or or see if it's if it's even possible put any limitations to for us or or future boards I don't care countywide to to uh
set some limits so it just doesn't run away or or when administrations change So that's it I think Oh one more thing This is for you Troy I had a uh that light bulb come on We had a young lady up here and it and it works pretty well
in in in uh New Simra Beach Her dog passed away right i'd be I'd be willing to support support you cuz I think it's good and it might help that group raise some money But in our dog park areas where there's
an access instead of putting pavers or something like that down south in my we do bricks in memory of Rosco you know cuz you obviously can't have a pet cemetery or something down there but they can raise money and I think they charge like $20 a brick whatever it is
and they do it for graduations pets but it's all along Flagger Avenue the whole for a mile you can buy a brick every year if you wanted to So I'm going to buy one for David actually for his cats For his cats But uh you know to put some of those at those little dog things I I
I'm going to try to do it down to my side but the gals might be interested in doing something like that for memory of whoever You know Danny I I not thought of that I I'm sorry Chairman Are you okay if I respond i I have not thought of that but I think it's a really great
idea on a couple of fronts And is that something maybe with you know if you make a motion and I'll be happy to second it that we could uh ask staff to bring something back and and this is something we could possibly implement here Um yeah I'll make a separate motion to
bring back information on if that's feasible for uh the memory brick We'll call them memory bricks I guess uh on in and around our our dog parks or beach accesses or something like whatever you think I'll second it
[Music] You got to use No I'm I'm getting emails from people that are saying they can't hear any of us and they can't hear the public and talked to Michael about it and he said it's because you're not using your mics
You're right Thank you Mr Chair I'll try and use my mic Danny can we look at it more so from a pet perspective and not just exclusive to dogs whatever you like David It's fine I'm open to whatever Sure And I'll I'll second that still as well Let's just open up to pets Yeah I
had a parakeet the pet ponies Okay Danny Robbins made the motion You made the second Troy did Okay All in Matt did you want to talk
speak yeah just a quick question Did we ever get a second motion or a second on the first motion you made about bringing back information on your No we didn't So I'll second that I thought we left it that staff under that staff heard him But no I I think
that's appropriate to have a vote on but I think if you want to take up the paper idea first and then we can have that vote Yeah Okay Sounds like you have questions No I just wanted to make sure we had direction That's all Okay Uh the
memory brick pavers for dogs Motion by Danny Robbins second by Troy Kent Uh all in favor say I I This is to bring back information Then uh chairman just to repeat the the first motion Bring back
information on U number five on the the sheet that Mr Dyer sent out And I believe the other one was um it said 45 11 and 12 45 11 four five 11 and 12 as well as the um
any local taxing options with that cap if there's any future uh anything we could do in the future That was your motion and Troy Kent made the second Okay All in favor say I I
Is that a hold over your name oh yes sir Is that Are you hung over okay [Music] Um Okay So the county attorney has that
one Is that it for you are you Was that a wrap okay Uh David Santiago Thank you Mr Chair If I can get staff to pull up that map uh that I requested I have an ask of my colleagues here Um so I had
let me move this I had uh I've been having conversations with some of the city commissioners in Deltona and a couple of parents This here is Howland Boulevard Uh that's Deltona High School toward the bottom Um and then uh this
area has just been exploding as far as commercial growth This map's not quite updated And I had uh concerns from parents and and commissioners about the children crossing um that very very busy road I think it's
I think it's the busiest road in Deltona Um and I wanted to see if I could get consensus I met with staff about opportunities to make this more pedestrian friendly for our students Um from what I understand you know Valuchia
still has and and Deltona has a pedestrian problem I think a few years ago we were rated I think the number one in the state at one time for pedestrian deaths or injuries But that being said I don't want to wait for a problem to happen an accident here I wanted to see
if my colleagues would support I met with staff about ideas Let me see if I can get this here Um Rhode Island and Yeah Yeah Rhode Island between Rhode Island and Wolfpack Run Here's Wolfpack Is it showing now oh I got to do annity
right wolfpack Run here Is it showing and then Rhode Island We got the racetrack here We got Starbucks Burger King We have a couple of more fast food uh locations here And over here is the Wawa So we have these kids crossing both
sides during lunch and during the day But what I was asking for because I think we had put in the budget uh for a study to look at this whole uh intersection going to Catalina if I'm correct right Ben Yes Oh Tad But I wanted to see if we can do something for
the students to enhance this and specifically I first asked for an enhanced crosswalk You're familiar with Mainland High School over there and Daytona State College Those that was something I did when I was in the legislature to enhance those crosswalks I don't think it requires that kind of investment here especially since we're
looking to do some improvements here in the future In talking to staff they had some ideas uh to to channel One of the problems we have is we have to channel the students to go to the crosswalks right um and one of the ideas was to um
put railings along this side on both sides to send the students to the actual crosswalk Um Tad gave some good ideas that we can go in some low cost instead of having enhanced crosswalks right now is to do an improved concrete overlay or
like colored concrete and then maybe some additional signage or something like that over here and over here for the students Um so I I know we're not in uh in the silo right now of approving or looking at uh projects but I I want to
see if there's support from my colleagues to to direct staff to go back and look at what they can do here uh to enhance this Um don't want to wait for an accident and I'd like to see if they could do it for the next school year because I know things take planning and
time So there's my ask gentleman is if if I could get support send staff Oh thank you Well that was a motion Yeah direct staff to look at uh improving this cross area in front of the schools Um yeah and a second
Danny and then obviously they'll come back to us with um what the cost will be and then we'll make that decision That's okay Yeah Vice Chair Reinhardt Yeah Just a quick question David Is this this is something more than a a school crossing yeah it's going to do more than that
Correct I sit on that board that you convinced me to sit on Um there's pedestrians going back and forth not just pedestrians period Yeah because it's going to get a lot more restaurants and stuff here So there's going to be a lot more activity happening here really really soon There this area that I got the X here that's already been cleared
They're already doing the underground and the road uh uh um preparation for the parking lot for three restaurants to go there So it's going to it's going to increase So again being the busiest road I want to do something before a tragedy happens Yep That's a good time to do it Yeah
Any other questions all in favor just briefly quick question Um Mr Santiago will the school district have any skin in this game you think you know I think it's worthy conversation So I'll amend my motion if the second is okay to see if the the school's willing to participate and they have resources
that they can tap in for that when we come back to the council Perfect That's a good question So we ask the Valuchia County School Board Yeah Yeah Yeah They would participate Yeah Make sure they know it was Troy's idea
You want to show Uh any other questions all in favor of that motion say I I I And this is to come back at give us proposals what it's going to cost and see if it you know if
the council approves it to start to have it by the next school year start if we approve the the finances Okay Later on When do you want the finances back well if they're going to try to get it done by uh school year I think they're gonna have to move pretty quick right so I I
think they're pretty competent They'll figure it out right it's your birthday too Ren So do you want to share what what what that would entail you're going to have to wish him a happy birthday Uh we're not going to be able to use any
of our continuing services contracts likely for this So we'd have to bid the project out So there's the 30 days of bidding time then the analysis get it in front of you all unless it happens to come back underneath the uh county managers 125,000 What I'd ask is if
you're you got an upset limit we just start moving forward on this thing and start the process If we have to develop a price for it bring it back to you all get your approval then prepare the plans then get it bid and do all those things we're not going to make it for school year So what
are you asking you said you got a a price that you're comfortable with you I think that the improvements that we're talking about with regard to fence and uh doing some work at the uh intersections putting in the concrete for the uh uh crosswalks as well as adding some enhanced signage for it You
know I think we're below $200,000 If uh the council's comfortable with that if we go over it for some reason then obviously we can bring it back but I prefer that we do that just to to uh to avoid any loss time and try to get that uh try to meet your your
goal So you want it up to 200,000 Yes Not to exceed Okay Uh Danny Robbins chair and Mr Seno a few months ago we approved just shy of 5 million for road
safety upgrade projects Yeah Do we have any of that money left uh and I believe that was from was it from ARPA or was it from uh general fund was it you guys programmed it a previous meeting I mean if you direct this
we could take it out of there But I think if what what Tad's saying is if you just direct 200,000 we'll find where the money We have money in reserves We've got sidewalk funds we can use towards this We've got other safety money It's not a question of where would I pull the money from so much It's just
having your authorization to move forward so I don't have to come back I will update you as soon as we've got a number Um but we lose a lot of time trying to meet that before the start of school year Okay Well thank you It looks like my colleagues are okay with that unless things Okay Thank you Thank you
It's just Mr Chair can you clarify who the motioner and seconder was uh the motion was by David Santiago and the second by Danny Robbins Thanks guys Oh we got a vote So right So
we kind of pre uh preliminarily voted but let's vote on it with this figure of up to 200 thou not to exceed $200,000 All in favor say I I Any opposed thank you Mr Chair Thanks guys Um the other thing I have is I wanted to bring
back the road designation If you remember uh like three meetings ago I brought forward a proposed road designation for a former sheriff in Valuchia County I still support that initiative but I I wanted to put a different twist to see if uh if you all think it's a good idea Um in I remembered in the legislature I did a
few of these and it's a I think it's a better process from the perspective is we do a road designation When you go to the legislature you take an area you'll say from you know Smith Street from the corner of you know first and Smith all the way to 50 and Smith you can put a
sign on either end This is what the legislature does And we dedicate that section to the individual And there's a sign that says this road dedicated uh to Troy Kent by the Valition County Council on this date Yeah Yeah Later on we'll work on
that But those signs you may have seen them the the the legislature does them like in an orange and brown They're pretty nice So I think that would be more memorable for the individual because you get to spell it out that you know the county did this for this individual with their full name And then
we don't have to change any street signs or anything like that as far as um people where they live So um and basically the cost would be the poll and the print of the sign I think we do that internally I like that And adopt that type of program for road designations So just call it a road designation program
Um and then um if you guys are okay I'll get with staff and figure out where that road is and bring it back for approval for this former uh sheriff Is that okay okay Or it can be orange and blue I don't know what color but it'll be our colors right yeah it'll be our county
colors right that's a good point Did you say garnet and gold all right Do you want to vote on that Mr Chair i think we got consensus so it's up to you Yeah Anybody opposed all in favor say I I Thanks I think it' be a long-term better program Can you clarify
who the second was on that i don't know Troy can't say that And the last thing I have is that you talked about the veterans event that you attended in the uh Ocean Center It sounds like it was a great event Yep It looked good I just want to throw it out there We have a lot of veterans on the
west side Am I listening over there okay What's her name she's the one that coordinated it right oh Oh Scott That was Scott Olsson And we have held it most recently at the fairgrounds here on the west side So we
are trying it on the ocean Perfect Yes that's great Okay Thank you I did not know Thank you That's all Mr Chair Okay Um I only have one thing left I had uh the fuel terminal but Troy took care
of that Um I had uh after the last council meeting and having several meetings with the uh with staff and Mr Booker about what's going on in Tallahassee um worked with staff to send a a letter
to our Valuchia delegation and um few other members mostly on Senate Bill 11 um 18 and
um it's it's RA it the last I heard this morning it still wasn't calendared for next week I I hope that's the case So we the public seems to have slowed it down a little bit Um maybe not You might be able to update us on on how that works
but um so I let a sent a letter uh just under my name that the county attorneys um help me to prepare Um and the suggestion was to bring it back today to see if the entire council would like uh
to send a letter they would write the letter send it to us for for your approval on um home rule in general because this seems to be the session that's really attacking
um home home rule not only on that Senate bill but lots of others and and my thought uh and you please correct me if I'm I'm wrong either the county attorneys
or is that what's happening with u the Senate bill is that they're they're pulling things out of the bill that most people don't like and tucking them into new new bills where they might not be
noticed So it probably should be a letter just more general about home rule um asking for protection Um what are your thoughts on that Mike should we do we still with what you know right now do
we still need to focus it on that um existing Senate bill i think if you if council did want to take a position uh and we wanted to go ahead and get something out without bringing it back to you in two weeks um we focus on home
rule uh the ability to enact local protections reference specifically Senate Bill 11:118 uh or or other legislation that addresses that subject um to generally
oppose those measures if council wishes If you give us that direction we can draft something for you to have you have it signed or bring it back for you at the next meeting Your your choice Yeah I I would suggest for their for the council's benefit I don't want to ask them to
uh sign something that they haven't read yet or but just to write it and send it to all the council members and see if they agree if they have additions subtractions any kind of edits Um uh so I'm I'm just asking if anyone is
interested in in doing that Um David Santiago Thank you Mr Chair I I have no problem with the the letter Um I think I think it should be specific to the bill number instead of broad Um uh just saying we're opposed to anything that
impedes on home rule I mean they know it Um uh and they hear it every year but I think focusing on a specific bill and why that bill is problematic for us it'd be more effective Mr Chair um the other thing that I will add um my very bit
limited my very limited intel says that that bill is probably not going to go anywhere but that doesn't mean that I don't support the letter I'm okay with the the letter Okay So Senate Bill 1118 with the Associated House bill which I don't recall the number but we can add
that Yeah And my only thought is I I I had a sense you wanted to go and get the letter out not bring it back in two weeks So if and I I can't have a sunshine issue with you each having individual edits but if you're okay with us writing a bill uh the theme being
protecting home rule local control uh specifically charter amendments that might be approved by voters If you're okay with that I can draft it Uh if have any of you sign it if any of you object to it I'll bring it back in two weeks But I haven't had that come up before so
Okay Okay Uh thank you Anybody opposed to that to looking at it Okay Um David Okay Uh then I'm I'm going to I'm good with with that
Um there was something else I'm missing but I don't want to talk about this morning more Okay then let's let's uh that's the end of council comments and staff
We do have some members of the public Um but one of them's not back You want to wait are you going to stay for this okay then let's move on to item 10 [Music] Good morning Clay Irvin director of
growth and resource management Uh we're here to discuss the seven strategies that the council identified in response to the concerns that the uh public have in regards to some of the flooding that has occurred in Valuchia County Uh this is a report that's coming from multiple
departments and multiple divisions because this is a far-reaching set of strategies that uh spans a variety of different legal and physical operational needs um critical in there is you know first and foremost are there federal or state
uh preeemptions laws or those types of things is there sight specific issues are there localized items that we need to address whether it's a case law on some of these questions and we hope to go through all of those in detail with you today so we can walk away with better direction from you given uh the
directions that you provided us Uh the seven strategies consisted of no impact to wetlands no wetland mitigation banks acquisition of flood prone prone residential structures can um identification of improvements that could be made with canal canal
maintenance and ditch maintenance Uh acquisition of or utilizing public property to address some of our storm water requirements addressing a proliferation of multifamily development that has occurred specifically along the LPGA corridor And
then lastly we were looking at the uh opportunities to restrict or prevent additional fill material being brought on to uh vacant sites that were targeted for development Uh we're going to address each one of those today Um the
first one up will be strategy one uh which is restrict any wetlands on impacts on wetlands I will kind of go over the overview Um Paulo will also come in and kind of provide you with the legal considerations as we go through this In this first slide we really just
wanted to kind of emphasize what the functions of wetlands actually are And we bring this up because what functionality of a wetland is a critical aspect as we'll get into as we talk about this and it shows the benefits
that uh preservation and protection to wetlands provide to uh not just Valuchia County but the entire state as well as the entire United States and that's why you see that there are federal state and local rules that pertain to it What here
locally one of the trends that we've observed and reported to the council is that we are transitioning Um in 1990 we were primarily a rural area Uh back then we had basically 16% of our total lands
were in cities Now you look forward to 2020 we had 32% So it doubled And I would say that number is larger here in 2025 So what you're seeing is that we are transitioning from a uh rural and agricultural form of uh government or
county to a more urban suburban with rural areas And that's why it's even more critical that we understand what wetland regulations are in place and how they apply not just in the unincorporated area but the cities and the state and the feds as well At the federal level
you have the Clean Water Act and this is primarily implemented through your Army Corps of Engineers Um we heard earlier about the 404 permits That is the Army Corps's permits that address uh waters of the United States and those impacts U
there's still some discussion going on at the federal level on how those are going to be enforced with the new administration So that's going to be something that the Army Corps will have to be addressing Here in the state of Florida our state rules primarily are implemented by either your Department of
Environmental Protection or DP or any of the regional water management districts Here we have St John's Regional Water Management District Both of them require if you're going to be impacting wetlands to go through the environmental resource permitting process Um there's uh state
law that's uniformly applied by both those departments and to any kind of development application At the county level we do have minimum standards They're contained in chapter 50 and those are to be uh administered by the local governments
the cities that we have and as as well as the county And then that's where you see at the very bottom of the inverted pyramid the implementation ordinance which is our chapter 72 of our land development regulations So talking about what our minimum standards they were initially
adopted in the 80s they've gone through some changes and the latest version was updated in 1999 They have at the core of it a no net loss of wetland acreage or function And the big thing that has occurred since the 80s into the '9s is
that you see that the state has preempted local governments from how a wetland is delineated and mitigation that is associated with that We'll be able to get into that a little bit later into the discussion
We require in Valuchia County with the unincorporated areas a wetland alteration permit for any wetland on single family lots Uh we have at the heart of all of our permitting and then this is why we emphasize this avoidance and minimization And part of our
presentation today we will get in and kind of show you some real world examples where we've gone through with applicants who've identified conceptually what they would like to do initially and then after meeting with staff what they actually wind up doing so that you can understand what happens
because uh we in the in growth and resource management we have pre-application meetings when people come in with conceptual plans That's when we have the opportunity to say "No this is not consistent with our our uh code It's not consistent with our comp plan You need to go back and retool your
plan and bring it back to us." Um the upland buffer um there is a upland buffer requirement that is seen both at the state and local level Uh the big difference is is that um here in Valuchia County it's a solid
25 ft around the wetland area as a minimum There's additional standards for natural resource management areas Uh the water management districts and DP allow for an averaging So therefore you could have an area where there would no be no
wetland buffer but in other areas it's increased to meet that minimum average of 25 ft Um as with any rule there has to be some sort of exemptions and so uh we do uh talk about that and these are identify
the ones that you see there Um the bonafideed agricultural uses uh maintenance when we say maintenance you do have some man-made ditches and other canals like that which become wetlands and are exempt from the wetland regulations Uh wetlands in a half acre
or smaller These are again consistent with what you see at the state and federal level We also identify that if you have an isolated wetland which does not have any tie to a larger wetland system or any functional capability of adding to that
system Um and what we talked about here was site plans and subdivisions that obtained an a valid ERP from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Again we do not want to duplicate a lot of the effort There are going to be situations though where we will require
the buffering above and beyond what is required and we will get into the avoidance and minimization discussion as part of the pre-application process Um in regards to the implementation through chapter 72 we do require wetland alteration permits Again
we utilize that language of avoidance and minimization and again that will come in We can describe to you what avoidance and minimization is but the fact is is each site is going to have its own unique features which will indicate what is someone is truly avoiding wetlands or if they're just
trying to minimize the damage as opposed to actually trying to work with us on that And as I referenced the natural resource management area which is basically the uh primary points of where we see the best
connectivity of ecosystems and I want to emphasize that because one of the things that I remember as coming up through the planning ranks is discussion about what happened in the SeaWorld parking lot in the middle of the SeaWorld parking lot For those of you who remember there was
a round island of Cypress And that was because they had to save that round island of Cyprus and it had very little environmental function And it wound up getting lost because over time the quality of the wetland died quality of
the trees died there wasn't being able to provide any kind of habitat for native species there And so it was not necessarily serving why you have that That's why you see the concept of having larger ecosystems which have uplands wetlands and connectivity provides a
greater opportunity for a better habitat So we also talk about our comprehensive plan in there because the comprehensive plan is the basis for a majority of these Okay getting into the nuts and bolts of buoyancy and minimization These are actual projects
that have come through your staff Here you see this was an initial application was submitted for a subdivision concept plan Here you see that the applicants have identified impacts of existing
uh wetlands here here and here This one is obvious the one on this over here on the right side of the screen As you can see it's provided connectivity through that system and all the way through in here
Yes Okay Well that it looks great on mine So basically the property the circle to the right you can see that is providing connectivity to a larger wetland system And the two over towards the what would be the left
side of the screen do not have any of that connectivity and depending on the size would actually be exempt from our standards When this came in staff through the technical staff review process identified that these were not acceptable impacts to the wetlands And
so what you see happen is that the final plan the wetland up towards the north part was preserved and that finger that's tied into the larger system was preserved So we were able to avoid and minimize and the impacts that were allowed on that smaller wetland which
was probably exempt from us has been utilized as part of their storm water system So again when we're looking at it what can we do to ensure that whatever is done on the site maintains the function of what we're trying to accomplish with our wetland habitat Here's a commercial site Again
uh this identifies wetlands that identifies the area where they're coming in with some of the trees and those types of things Here again we're showing what we would like to see done what was actually completed and we were able to get additional wetland areas added to
the site to ensure that we maintain the balance of allowing people private property rights to utilize their land as is allowed by our land use and zoning but also still protect a natural resource Here's one that is is critical because when we say we're in avoidance
and minimization the part of this plan that you see all the way on the left side of your screen is landlocked They had no other way of getting in and out to this project So therefore this crossing was necessary So they've designed this in a manner that would
minimize the impacts and also had to do some mitigation for that This is necessary to allow for reasonable use of the land And you're going to hear us talk about that we cannot all um prohibit someone impacting a wetland if they can do it in
the most minimum fact method what possible and still gain access And then this last example reflects what was done in order to address some fire safety issues Um we could have uh basically eliminated that portion of the road and
told them not to impact that wetland However we would not have gotten the connectivity that is needed to ensure that uh you did not have an isolated road that did not meet our minimum standards for multiple access points Uh one of the critical things that we do in
uh residential subdivisions we don't like to have uh culde-sacs that exceed a thousand linear feet in distance because if that road is damaged early on you don't get access to all the parcels This gives you an idea of our actual
amount of wetland impacts that have occurred in unincorporated Valuchia County over about a 2-year period And I want to kind of point out is that you see over in the residential component we're talking about a lot of accessory structures primarily pools fences docks
those types of things These are where we are going in there and it's allowing for someone who owns a single family home on a vested lot being able to utilize their land in a method that is acceptable Um again we're when we meet with the public
we try and me emphasize what are the minimums that we can do in regards to commercial which includes residential subdivision That's where you see that again we're working with them and if there's a greater public purpose we have to allow for that type of uh impact with
the understanding that it would be mitigated for Uh when you see that single family residence over there on the uh left side that residential table the important thing to remember is that um pertains primarily to vested lots in
subdivisions that were approved before we had our standards in place And a classic example is Daytona Park Estates I won't say that all of these are in Daytona Park Estates but there are a considerable number of lots in that area that have wetlands that we have to allow
for some limited impacts but they again have to address the mitigation aspects So now I'm going to turn it over so that my friend Paulo can take you through the legal considerations Yes Clay before you go Yes sir Councilman Santiago has a question for
Can you go back to slide 86 i want to make sure I'm comprehending what I'm reading here Clay On the residential column are you saying here in this presentation that in two-year time period in the county we
have on single family residents we have only affected 4.59 acres of wetlands and 4.24 of the associated up buffer So and the overwhelming majority of that is stuff that's already entitled that we didn't really All of that is entitled
Wow So we're not filling in wetlands It's it Well can you answer Danny's question well again and that's a general statement right no I mean we have um I would say a very conscientious group of
professionals that review every permit to ensure compliance with the wetland regulations that the county council has established for the unincorporated area And what you're seeing is that we've been able to work with the public when they've come in to avoid these things to
the maximum extent possible and any pack impacts that they pro actually occur are the minimal just to allow for reasonable use of their private property Again that that is the primary focus of every application that comes through on that I
I I know it's not zero I know it's not zero but given the size of our county you know I I want to say the words fake news not from you but anybody that accuses the county of just filling in wetlands everywhere is
not a accurate statement Am I wrong there well I mean we allow for wetland impacts We have to allow for reasonable I get it I'm just going with the hard numbers So what what you're seeing is that there's roughly been for commercial development which includes new residential
subdivisions there's been about 26 acres of impact and then with existing residential there's been about 14 acres of impact if you factor in uh upland buffers which we do require mitigation for that as well Sure Sure Well I did
not expect that number Clay because I bought into the narrative that some were saying that we were doing that So I'm glad you're really sharing this and I hope that the public really sees the good work that you're all doing And again it's all part of the process when they come in and if someone is looking to nuke an entire wetland we are the
first ones to tell them that you're not going to be able to do that and that you have to demonstrate avoidance and minimization with any application Troy Kent thank you Chairman Um Mr Irvin welcome back by the way Thanks Hopefully
we don't we don't lose you again in the future We're we're better when you're here So thank you I've got some great people here Um so I I appreciate where Mr Santiago is going with this but I also appreciate where you said we do allow impacts to wetlands
And looking at the commercial and the residential over a two-year period what is that around 32 acres have been impacted a little bit i mean what you're looking at is roughly 40 acres total if you combine both property both columns I was I was trying to be a little more
conservative So over a 10-year period I don't know 150 acres Since we're going by a two-year period here I'm just kind of keeping it the same If it were the same every two years be about 150 acres Um 20-year period 300
acres 30-year period 350 acres I'm just going by the math what we have here And my point with that is and I know you know where I'm going with this is that if you don't make a change this little bit that we're talking about oh this is minuscule This is nothing But you know
it all adds up It's sort of like gaining you know two pounds a year and after 30 years you go what happened or losing two pounds a year you know um because what jumps out at me is on
the way up to see my daughter driving the loop there is a piece of property that has oak trees all over it And I know we had biblical proportion floods I know that But we have standing
water on those oak trees that couldn't have been there because the oak trees wouldn't have grown in that and been like that So I I just wanted to find out and you said it we are impacting wetlands Thank you I I do need to
clarify something If this table had been from 2006 to 2008 when we were in the depth of the recession we probably would have had no impacts whatsoever to wetlands Uh I do have to reference that this is like one of our largest development if you look at the amount of permits that we are issuing So it's
going to be a situation that it it's not a constant growth It's going to be up down those types of things Councilman Robbins don't go anywhere yet Thank you Uh
Chairman Clay if I understand this correctly to because of the county projects here Mhm Uh primarily what we're looking at is that the county impacts obviously you know for for public good we have to have certain services like the landfill like
roads like utility you know any utilities that that stuff comes comes naturally So between that and the single family residents which have entitlements that's pretty much making up there's no avoidance in that In other
words if we added any other restrictions or tried to solve a problem that by the numbers is not the magnitude uh that was has been widely portrayed Uh in your professional
opinion are we below do you think the the the average or where are you do you think we're low or where we should be cuz to me this looks very low uh compared to any other counties or uh again comparing it
it's all very situational Um and so if you're going to redevelop in downtown Fort Lauderdale obviously those issues that whatever wetlands have been gone since the 50s there So it it's not going to necessarily show that we are still
hold you know roughly 600,000 acres of open area that is open to development And I think that what you're seeing is we're showing good stewardship in in how we are applying it Um I'd say that there are you know I would say that we're
probably right in the middle when you start looking at how counties throughout the state are handling it There are smaller rural counties which do not have some of the standards that we have There are larger more urbanized areas that have very very strict rules and
regulations Um we have identified at at the end of our presentation if the council wants us to do so some things that we could potentially discuss with ENRACH as part of their update on the wetland standards And Clay just one more thing And because we have these minimal
numbers I it leads me to believe that we have these minimal numbers because anything if we do anything else because we're above and beyond state and a lot of federal regulations it constitutes a
taking It's like almost when I compare death by a thousand cuts when it when it comes to taking someone's property What is our threshold where it'll make it just ridiculous to own property when it comes to maybe this is more of a
political question and law question but at where I'm getting at is at what point do we just say the hell with land ownership rights and let's just regulate people out of town uh you know I'm trying to figure will provide the details on case law and everything else
associated with wetland regulations Before we go to that Mr Chair can we finish up the questions on this slide oh I'm sorry Yeah No that's okay That way we go to legal after that Councilman Santiago Oh no Matt first Oh Councilman Vice Chair Reinhardt Thank you Chair So if I understood that correctly and I
know we're going to get to that So if if more stringent measures were taken that could be something ENRAC could adj could address Yes sir uh prior councils in this current council have identified as updates to the wetland regulations which we agree as this slide as the prior
slide said we haven't touched this thing in over 25 years we definitely need that's my next question we definitely need to have some sort of update to our wetland regulations and ENRAC is uh got that identified as priority for this year so if this possible it would be
good if this council could provide any additional guidance in regard ards to what they would like to see ENRACH do with our wetland regulations This would be the opportunity Okay So that being said that addressed one question that I have further with that 25 years that you said that it's last been addressed We
prior to to myself coming on council something that the chair and Mr Robins had addressed with ENRACK when they talked about uh well actually no we did it uh we got them away from trees and went on to storm water so we could actually give direction to them to
address that sooner Yes sir Okay so that's good And then you made the the comment um and there's some good questions brought up by my colleague Mr Kent because he talked about I'm like that too I look at yours Okay So if it's this amount this year if I multiply it
at times 10 and I'm like that but then I noticed public projects in that two-year process 23.20 acres is due to the the expansion of the landfill cell Okay Yes sir Had to be done Yes sir That leaves
1.58 acres in two years for for in that public pro project area So if you would have taken out we didn't do the landfill We don't do it every year Say amen So if you would have taken out that 23.20 that number average wise
would be a lot less A lot less if we did that because I'm just like I'm just like Mr Kent I do that multiplying you know Well if it's this much this year it's got to be so on so forth So yes sir Okay So I'm I'm I'm accurate in that Okay Thank you very much That's all I have
for now Thank you when Santiago Thank you Mr Chair And Matt that's where I was going with the public projects because you you're right but it's at that point the public projects 96% almost of the commercial side 96% for a two-year period was a for
that one project Um and and then I want to make sure Clay I didn't misunderstand you On the residential side the single family residents the 4.59 I think you said that the overwhelming majority of that was already entitled properties that you didn't do anything with Well if
you're entitled you would have to in other words like we were talking about Daytona Park Estates If I own a home in there and there are wetlands on site we would have to allow for them to impact it to reasonably use their property If there's an opportunity that they could preserve them or protect them we work
with them to do so But we also realize that if you have wetlands along the front of your property and the only way to get your driveway is through the wetlands So that's what you're reflecting there is the 4.59 out of those properties These are folks that said I have the right to build my house
I want to build my house And so 4.52.5 So it looks like maybe 3.5 acres I'm I'm I'm rounding So in a two-year period outside of the public projects and the already entitled properties it looks like it was about
3.5 acres approximately that were impacted But I think you you did a great job Clay in explaining that there are uh times when we have to because of public access excuse me private access um to private
property that we can't create a rule to stop that Is that correct again and and Paulo will address it You have to allow for private property owners to have reasonable use of their property Yeah Okay Which challen makes that challenging Last I think it's the last question of the subdivisions that
we've approved and I know there aren't very many in two years Can you give me an approximate of I don't know where that reflects on this slide How many acres we may have done wetland impact is.37 in that see where it says
subdivision on the commercial site Yeah Point So in two years things that your department has approved through the process new applications that were processed through here Now again there are going to we brought this as as just a sense of
scale Please understand that this is not a great tool for projections to next year Uh because we could have a situation where someone's coming in um and I'm gonna tell you Tad and Ben have a yman's job because whenever you create
a new road like we're looking at trying to do with the Williamson extension like when you try and do any kind of widening like we've done with variety of different roads there are going to be wetlands there there's no avoiding them at that point in time So you're trying
to minimize uh to steal something from the DOT they do the PD&E studies to try and find the route that does the least amount of damage And that's what Ben and TAD are trying to do with their road program to make sure that we minimize it We could get a a you know a bunch of
road projects and that number could skyrocket Um so I just want to make sure you all understand this is just a snapshot of the last two years as we've done through this It gives you an idea that we're we are working on all of these different types of applications
and we are working to make sure that we are very conscientious in the implementation of our wetland regulations and and Clay I'm not opposed to updating them as an individual Um you say we have to update them to make it more modernized I'm okay with that I'm not trying to make the case to object to
um updating them What I am trying to do with my questioning is to the narrative is very very wrong out there Um the county has done a good job of mitigating the amount of wetlands that have been impacted on projects that we are
involved with So that is that is a fact It's not zero I I get it But there are requirements based on laws that allow make us do it You're doing a yman's job in making sure people don't do that So thank you and I'm up I'm up for updating it So thank you Mr Chair
Councilman Robbins Thank you Chairman Clay you had mentioned they haven't been updated in in 25 years Does that mean that they could that mean that we have high standards and that they haven't had the need to be
updated in 25 years i think the main concern from your staff is that we still have in our rules and regulations things that have been preempted by the state So and that's that's those kind of updates those kind of updates are primarily there in that um uh I you know again
you're going to hear about it later but the unified method of assessing mitigation UMAP that basically set in place how you define mitigation We don't have that in there We need to make sure we update it to address it So there's been um not as much federal but from the state level there's been some changes in
rules regulations that have preempted us from being able to have that There's been changes in some of the technology and terminology that's out there that needs to be updated Um so therefore yes there's going to it needs some updating Are we more stringent there are
standards that we have that are tied to our comprehensive plan that exceed the minimum requirements of the state U Thank you uh like you know I feel like they listen this is a sensitive area for for a lot of people especially in the
rural community um they're they're kind of fed up with government and um my reaction a lot of this is is is natural because for the longest time and I still am uh I'm fed up with with government and I think many of you you
obviously know that that by now because everything that we do is is death by a thousand cuts and when I see numbers like this compared to the hell that some of us have been through in the last four to five years You did a great presentation
back in 2022 Remember the growth management one yes sir Slaying dragons that don't exist but we have to dedicate so much staff time to some of this stuff And we're s we honestly sometimes send you guys down
rabbit holes And I'm glad that this information came up So it gives the public it gives you you guys and it gives uh this board um the real true sense of of reality Um and it's it's not
this um Armageddon like uh like uh we've been sold for so uh for so long And and council I'm just going to make one last statement Uh I'm ready to make a stance on this I I've about had a belly full I understand this is this is all great the
numbers don't lie but we shouldn't just be uh giving direction if that's the decision this council decides to go In my opinion uh just to just to do it when when it may not be be be updated I don't want to
keep slaying dragons that don't exist and making uh um issues out of non-issues now that we have this And that's just my personal feeling Councilman Santiago something just came to my mind uh Clay and it is it possible
for us you know one of the items I think we talked about was the topography of uh subdivisions things like that and fill and stuff on you know preventing a fill Can can we make an ordinance to require stem wall construction that that we only accept that let me go ahead and when we
get to that item I'll be able to discuss what we have as far as options That's certainly a tool Wouldn't it be possibly a tool yes sir Okay Thank you Thank you Mr Chair All right You guys kind of discussed half of what I was going to talk about Um so good news Uh you can if you wanted
to regulate wetlands you can prohibit wetlands through the you know denial of a wetland alteration permit That is completely within a local government's perview State doesn't preempt that Um federal government doesn't preempt that
Um the issue is uh you know a blanket rule of you know no wetland impacts will not withstand kind of constitutional challenge Um there's you know in there are provisions where you must accommodate a wetland impact um for you
know to avoid a taking So these are always analyzed on a case-by case basis you know how if if uh a wetland alteration is denied does it take all economically viable use of the property and there have been cases that have
found that you know the denial of the permit constitute a taking There have also been cases of famously you know one in 2013 against the St John River Water Management District where you the Supreme Court found um an unconstitutional exaction from um the
the denial of a wetland alteration permit by the district So there are certain constraints where every single local government from the state all the way on down needs to accommodate um for um private property rights One of the
things we also kind of um indicate is you know uh well alterations are are kind of necessary and unavoidable uh in order to provide the property access So access is one of those fundamental property rights where you know you can't um effectuate your rules such that
you're denying um access rights to to a property Additionally repairarian rights the right to dock out the right to construct a a dock the right to you know launch a boat onto um uh you know navigable waters is a you
know one of the fundamental property rights if you are adjacent to a navigable uh body of water Um and that's that's a wetland impact Um there are also some uses that require wetland impacts that are water dependent uses So
marinas docks fish camps some restaurants you know some things that that require the water to function and require impacts to the uh surface water and um wetlands to to function themselves So while you can provide your
you can um regulate you know the intensity of how you issue and the rules of issuing a wetland alteration permit You know the caveat is you need to accommodate on a case- by case basis depending upon the land some of these
kind of traditional uh uses that we have Um the only things in terms of wetland impacts that you know local governments are preempted on is one the definition of a wetland as um Clay uh pointed out and also the official the method of delineation of a wetland So those are
the two constraints we cannot have an alternate definition of a wetland and everyone has to use the same rules when determining you know what where the wetland line is Um other than that you know the local governments are given the
uh uh opportunity and regular regulatory authority to tighten up um their avoidance and minimization criteria So that's what we see on the federal level on the state level and on the local levels It's never a blanket uh rule It
is you know what are the formalized criteria of avoidance um what is the formalized criteria for minimization and kind of you know what and and um whether or not the applicant can meet those determines uh whether they're issued a
wetland alteration permit or denied a wetland alteration permit Um so you know within that realm that's you know the local government or the county council can direct us can direct ENRACH to take those rules tighten them up so um that
staff or an applicant when they come forward and they've got a proposal you know it is very clear you know uh how wetland alteration permits and wetland impacts are handled what is a permissible impact and what isn't So you
know you can make a rule saying you know you cannot impact wetlands to create new lots Perfectly acceptable You know those so those are the kinds of uh uh avoidance and minimization criteria that are that are you know completely
allowable and in fact encouraged Um and I think this is for the ENRAT review which is me for stepping out Uh and can I ask the attorney a a question please i've been
I'm sitting here kind of waiting until we get to um the the many pages that that y'all provided us I think you probably had a role in writing the legal documents for the first two items um
which are um extremely enlightening extremely complicated Um so I'll have questions about them but you just touched on something Um you said the state has preempted the uh delineation
and the um definition definition of wetlands Who determines um I read through it and it it sounds like the the wetland what they're calling a wetland is the area that's always um underwater or got water on it
It's it's a little bit more complicated than that Um okay I mean I can read it out but the Before you do that let me let you know where I'm going I already see Ginger shaking her head No Um
the who is is do they ever include um the watersheds that feed the wetlands or the the flood planes that where the water drains into that wetland uh no those can be completely separate the
flood the flood plane 25 year 10 year 100y year is you know a determination based on some other math um the watershed is just is that's referred to Ted and and and Ben but that's you know
that is generally where the water goes you know determine you distinguish between open basins which you eventually go to the ocean versus closed basins which don't then have to percolate down the definition of a wetland and um is not just where it's wet There's like a
multiple paragraph long definition constitutes yes wet things but it also constitutes um you know soils and and plants and things like that That's why you know it's not a it's not that
encompassing in terms of also being onetoone with the with the 100red-year flood plane and it's not onetoone with a watershed or water basin Okay I'm glad you said that because I think that's part of the the problem as we discuss
this and I hear we're we're almost like butting heads because I think we're talking about different things sometimes Um the the wetland is is not just the wet area However there's it's predominantly wet and there's there's
wetland plants there that can be you can determine that this tends to stay wet Um I to I'm trying not to get controversial but to say that we're we're slaying
dragons is just not inacc is is not accurate when we we can travel all over this county and see property owners whose homes have been flooded not just once but repeatedly And I go to those
areas and what I see happen I went to Edgewater and and met with homeowners whose homes were ruined Um one of them was the mayor's uh uh grandmother or aunt or um there was a development
behind it Um there was a what they called a wetland there which was a a small pond lake Um but all of the area around it um about 100 acres that used to drain
into that had about 8 ft of fill on it So when I say we're filling in wetlands um h how would how I don't know who can answer this How would you argue against that if you fill in the area around that
wet area so that the water can no longer drain into it um and then it's backed up to the homes around it and and flooding them That that's where that's where I think we're missing it where the problem
um is Okay Um real quickly is that and and and Paulo said it not all flood planes are wetlands and not all wetlands are flood planes And so what you're discussing is going to be kind of addressed at at the latter discussion
about Phil And I was trying to wait for that but because again our focus was primarily on the the issue of wetlands themselves because they are clearly as Paulo has identified the feds and state have come up with this is our definition
This is what you're going to do This is how and we ourselves utilize that in implementation of our local regulations because we have to So right now I would say that chart reflects the wetland aspect What you're concerned about is
the storm water issue the flood plane issue and how fl how all of that is developed and flows into either a natural body or into a man-made body and the impacts on the surrounding properties And and again it gets back we
were talking about it earlier when you have older subdivisions that were built without storm water regulations and and basically utilized swailes in the front yard to address their storm water or a
pipe that fed out into a body of a lake or an ocean or a river Those are the areas that are going to be susceptible to flooding regardless of whether or not there's going to be a lot of alterations to the surrounding soils just simply
because of the low nature the standards that we've put in place Now um again you're going to be looking at the amount of storm water and I want to reference what Mr Nicholson said earlier When you go through St John
River Water Management District When you go through your county staff here we're requiring you to retain the water on site and make sure that it's dis displaced off the site as it did historically So the pre and post condition
remains So again at that point that's what we're looking at If unfortunately you would be in the lower area anyway it would result in there again And and I I I don't want to sound like a broken record The inordinate amount of rain
that has occurred is has really saturated the ground to the point that there's no way for it to perk as quickly as we would like And now it's got to go somewhere So it's showing up into these lower areas and and and it is it is
devastating to those who are in areas that weren't developed to handle that level But we'll get into more details with the the discussion I I'm trying to wait for that and I I will because
otherwise we're going to talk in circles Um be before you start I'm I'm not sure who uh Councilman Santiago wants to ask a question to Just wanted to follow up on the definition of u You want me to read it to you yeah why
not because I you said it's not very narrow It's pretty broad It sounds like I think I can help Ginger Dair environmental management director Um the the language is very specific but in concept it's it's not as hard as it sounds three things that you look for to
delineate a wetland and everybody has to follow the state definition right but so the state can come out to your site and delineate the wetland Environmental consultant can do that Our staff is trained to do that Three things we look for the hydrarology So are there signs
that it has wet water standing water is it soggy right are there lykan lines on the trees so there's hydrarology There's the vegetation And so we look at all of the species of vegetation on the ground in the midstory and the canopy and are
those species that are there considered wetland species And then the third thing is the soil So there are very specific markers in the soil that identify whether that soil remains wet for long periods of time So um it's a very scientific approach and everybody uses
the same definition You made a statement I wanted to repeat Everyone has to use the state definition Is that what you said that's correct Okay So we can't change it We we can't change the definition Now you could have two scientists go out to a site and have maybe a slightly different line and have a conversation about why they called it
here or called it there but everybody's using that those same scientific standards Trying to make sure we stop I'm trying to help us move along So we can't change the definition We've established it and that way we can move forward to the next thing Find out what we can do Thank you Mr Chair Councilman Robbins
No excuse me Now uh thank you David for asking some of those questions Thank you Ginger and and uh Clay's team You know it it really helps uh separate the the conjecture in the opinion which is portrayed a lot of times in the
community as if it is a a fact Um and I I we really appreciate that I know I I do So uh thank you So you know going to what what you can do as Clay uh pointed out there's some things that ENRAC previously reviewed
that they were in the process of reviewing but you know they um their priority is now shifted to storm water Um so this council has the authority to you know say to NRA you know continue to look at wetland implementation um you know make some recommendations
and you know bring it back to council Um so I think I don't know if we we provided a copy of that Um that would include cleaning up the old language that we're not complying with the statement So I don't know if we're going to go to
strategy two So that's I don't know if that can finishes the the discussion on on wetland impacts Um short story local governments can regulate the allowance of wetland impacts Um but a one-sizefits-all rule um you know will
probably not withstand in fact will not withstand constitutional challenge It it's applied on a on a case-by case basis but you can tighten up you know those regulations Um so if the direction of council is to you know go go a step
further and you know further emphasize that avoidance criteria before you get to minimization or even before you get to mitigation as perfectly allowable and perfectly acceptable So um the second criteria is
uh is to prohibit the use of mitigation banks Um I'll turn to Clay on kind of describing you know what a mitigation bank is and kind of how it functions Uh as we talk about wetland mitigation banks I go back to early in my career and there was a a gentleman named Randy
Brewer who asked "How can you say that there's no net loss of acreage of wetlands or function of wetlands and you're allowing for impacts to occur?" I haven't heard that name in 20 years 15 years Randy Brewer Yes And and the fact
is is that at the beginning of our presentation I want to emphasize the function aspect And so the purpose of mitigation banks are to offset that unavoidable impact We understand that private property owners have the right to utilize their property as long as they're compliance with our avoidance
and minimization So how do we meet that goal of no uh net loss of function or acreage of wetlands So what you see is that we're replacing it We're substituting it And one of the things that was explained is
that when you see a mitigation bank established there were development rights associated with that land That land could have been utilized Um and even agriculture is exempt from some of the
uh wetland impact requirements So therefore there could have been impacts on that property There could have been use of that property So when a wetland mitigation bank is established they forgo all development rights via either
a conservation easement or whatever format to the government that is author authorizing that be at a federal or a state level And that's why you see that you're able to come in and go on and and and utilize that as one of your mitigation strategies There are other
mitigation strategies that are identified in this prowler point You can uh mitigate by creating restoring a west wetland Uh you can purchase federal state mitigation banks Uh those types of things Uh creation is not necessarily one of the more favorable because the
success ratios on that are not as well documented So when we look at it the Florida Department of Environmental Protection um has the unified method of assessing mitigation the UMAM and it's utilized by all of our water management
districts and the DP So when you are having to go through that environmental resource permit process they come in and tell you you've impacted.9 acres that equates to three four five whatever level of
credits that you would have to purchase from a mitigation bank What you're seeing is that the mitigation is above and beyond It's not an acre for an acre It's looking at the function So if you're taking out something that's functioning
at X you're going to get X plus with the mitigation bank because we realize that we can't again no net loss We're looking at function and being able to make sure that whatever function that was there at the wetland you're impacting plus the wetland that's in the mitigation bank
we're able to get an equal or greater level of function out of it So that's where that comes from Question regarding that Mr Chair go ahead point So uh on the mitigation banks are is that um conservation in perpetuity can't be reversed according to the law right now
that's preserved Yes sir Okay Thank you Thank you Mr Chair And Paulo will talk about the legal consideration specifically in regards to preeemption So good news on the wetland impacts You can you know you have the authority to regulate whether or not you allow a
wetland impact That is completely within your purview bad news Um the mitigation is preempted So the rules are if you allow a wetland impact a wetland impact to jurisdiction you are preempted from
establishing the amount and even the type of mitigation So you know while the state does not you know leaves it to the local government to make its decision on whether or not you know this development form is a good idea the moment you know a jurisdictional wetland is allowed to
be permitted then it goes through the state process It goes through the the UAM process And I'm going to quote directly from the statute here You know it is the exclusive method of determining the amount of mitigation Um
and it says that you know UMAM is is the is the sole uh you know sole means to determine the amount of mitigation needed to offset adverse impacts to wetlands and to award and deduct mitigation bank credits So you know that's already kind of a red flag of
what the state is about to say later on Question on that Mr Chair go ahead So if I if I understand you correctly we can't eliminate um mitigation banks either Yes Okay So we can't touch Yeah to make it short but we have three more slides to
get to that very short answer Um here's the here's the issue So the ERP rules and supersedes over anything that we say So if it's if the mitigation method is set in the ERP then it supersedes you know our mitigation rules and
regulations And the state law also says it is the applicant's responsibility to choose the form of mitigation and and specifically includes on-site mitigation off-site mitigation off-site regional mitigation and the purchase of mitigation credits from the mitigation
bank So all right So the the state says applicant what is your form of mitigation the state determines if that's okay That goes into the ERP The ERP supersedes our rules Um more fun news Uh can I can I
interrupt you and then I think Troy's going to interrupt you So state preempts mitigation The Yes Who how is it determined how much mitigation is required that is the UMAL
uniform method of uh assessment So um that assesses the function loss and it also assesses the the credits you know derived from the mitigation bank The um score does a lot of things Who
determines where that mitigation occurs what do you mean where i mean that's what the m So so uh going back to mitigation banks mitigation banks are are used within uh a service area Mitigation bank service area So that's
usually aligned with a watershed or it's usually aligned with a basin Sometimes you know the mitigation bank is larger and includes multiple wersheds Um so you it's and it is broken down into I think freshwater and saltwater and federal
bank credits and you know there's an entire ecosystem um associated with the generation creation um and purchase of mitigation banks um you know the whole purpose is is to preserve um uh whole functioning
wetlands Okay So you know the the bank itself is the site So the site is subject to um financial constraints uh you know uh uh you know institutional controls and
and you know asurances that you know whoever is running the the site or the bank site you know can do so for a very long period of time in perpetuity Um and you buy credits um from that already from that preserved site So the you know
the the mitigation is the purchase of the you know the credits generated from the bank So it's not it's not anywhere but it should generally be in the um the
service area Um there are allowances if you buy if you if your site is outside of the service area Um under the federal rules and I think there's a proposed state rule there's a multiplier effect So if your project is outside of the service area um to purchase that credit
it costs more 1.5 you know more than the usual credits Um and the further away you get the more it costs So you know they've they've created an entire kind of system associated with this So what triggers the need for mitigation
the impact of a wetland So the the wetland is impacted Yes Okay Which triggers mitigation which can be done somewhere else not in that existing wetland True or
false true Okay Thank you Um this we don't determine the wetland We don't determine the mitigation So this is not an attack on on you I'm trying to get to I'm trying to get answers that make sense of why we see so
much flooding Um let me if you can I probably provide some clarity as it pertains to Valuchia County So if you're here in Valuchia County and you're doing a project and you're going through St John's River Water Management District and you're trying to get approval of your environmental resource
permit for your subdivision and you are impacting say two acres of wetlands that they have a great function value In other words based on that you ma'am assessment those are some good wetlands and you're going to have to pay to get
those mitigated and you're given options on how you can do it but ultimately you will have the opportunity to utilize a mitigation bank if that's what you so choose Right now we have Lake Swamp which is one up in near Flaggler County
line We also have the Farm depending on what basin you are in will dictate which mitigation bank you could utilize The proposed bill that Paulo referenced would do away with that and allow you to choose other ones but there would be an
increase in costs or an increase in factor I can tell you this much from our perspective we don't like the fact that you're getting away from the basin that you're from a from a county staff position We think that's really bad legislation We like the idea of keeping
if you're impacting a wetland within a specific basin you need to stay within that basin with your mitigation And that's why you see some projects will have the opportunity to go to other mitigation banks that are out there but they have to be within that basin Does
that help out and then the determination of what is appropriate for that ERP is determined by the DP or St John's staff based on those standards that they have And again like I was saying the function is the critical element And if you have
highly functioning wetlands that you're impacting you're going to have to purchase a considerable number of credits And you're going to hear us use the term credits because unfortunately we have to complicate everything Instead of just being able to say you impacted 2
acres of wetlands you got to buy 10 acres of wetlands over here They come up with a method of assessing what are the credits based on the function And then that's when you go with your checkbook to one of the different mitigation banks and pay for those credits So that that way you are preserving that function
within that basin Okay And and therein lies my my problem I think with the whole idea of of mitigation Mitigation is triggered because we impacted or a wet land was impacted not we
Um so we're going somewhere else to an existing wetland and planting more plants there Um h how is that helping to how's that helping
give any um relief to the wetland that was impacted what you'll see is that in order for a federal or state wetland mitigation bank to be approved by the regulatory agency they have to come in and show what have been man-made impacts
such as roads drainage culverts ditches uh invasive species that have grown on there and there'll be a requirement that they have to go and basically remove those areas And as part of that may be a re replanting plan there may be regrading etc Each one is going to be
dependent on what's out there and there will be an annual maintenance aspect of it to ensure that it's still remaining in a pristine wetland situation So what you're seeing is that land that could otherwise be utilized for agriculture or
some sort of development is taken out of that left in its natural state and whatever impacts have been already happened because of invasive species because of man-made impacts have to be addressed as part of that as well Okay
But my question is does that does are you seeing that given any relief to the wetland that was altered as long as it's within the same basin the whole and remember the whole point of why you see upland buffers why we see this term
connectivity and function is that you want to see large areas of this as you are aware there's habitat or creatures such as black bear the Florida panther etc need large areas for you know being able to roam enforced That's why you see these wetland
mitigation banks serve that purpose because they not only address a wetland issue but they also address a habitat protection aspect of it And so from our perspective of trying to preserve that one acre of wetland in the middle of the
parking lot of SeaWorld is not as valuable as saving one acre of wetlands in the middle of Lake Swamp which feeds between Valuchia and Flaggler County and provides that connectivity all the way up into Putnham and all these other counties So yes it does provide if and
again that's why we believe in the same basin it's important We do not like that idea that have money will travel and you can buy impact you know wetland mitigation in Putnham County or in Seminal County for impacts over here in
Baluchia County So within that same basin if you're mitigating an existing wetland are you increasing its size you can be improving the function of it So in other words if you had an area that was made into pasture and you were able to go in there and replanted and if it
needed to be regraded or other uh amendments you're trying to return it back to its natural state Okay And you see that improving uh Yes sir the basin that that's incurring in yes sir because what you're
doing is you're taking out some man-made improvements like I said again ditches culverts roads uh prairie or excuse me uh uh uh pasture areas and if you return them back to natural uh conditions then it's it's providing a greater lift to the natural habitat
So if a last question if a uh if a wetland is um is altered or infringed upon in in Edgewater they can do mitigation at Farmington Yes sir How does that help
Edgewater on the other side of 95 wetlands don't necessarily know city's boundaries and so Yeah but it does know that there used to be a wetland wetland here Now it's gone and so we're increasing an already
existing wetland I'm just I'm struggling to find out how that helped Edgewater Remember that the land that that was being proposed for the wetland mitigation bank in Farmington could have been developed for ranchets or over those types of things and so therefore
those are not on there So that's development that's not occurring in the same wetland basin that occurs And so therefore okay I mean again it it's it does not look on it by jurisdiction or
block byblock level It looks at it from a uh ecosystems habitat Okay Uh Councilman Kent thank you Chairman Paula wetland mitigation bank did I hear you say that that's um controlled by the state andor the feds
there's Yes there's a federal uh level and then there's a state level What can local governments do to lessen that impact if anything um lessen the impact of well well what Mr Brower was just stating I think Mr Brower's um hit the nerve for me which
is he was talking about Edgewater and Farm I mean why the heck don't we just pay the impact uh mitigation credits down to uh um the Everglades well so or you know North Georgia so or
I mean you know let's just keep going with this You're picking up what I'm laying down here And that's why that's why because he's he's I don't I don't disagree with him on you know this in my opinion is that paytoplay bad We allow
you to have bad behavior and just pay your way out of it And I think that at some point it um comes back to drown you Sure Get your attention that way So back to my question Is there anything local
governments can do to So So remember where the preeemption lies The preeemption lies in the form of mitigation It does not lie on whether or not wetland impacts are allowed to occur So you know the solution is tighten up
your avoidance and minimization standards such that don't get to that mitigation stage right and and I I stepped out um for a moment uh for a personal reason to uh in the back So I I missed the end of the first uh number one Um we were talking about not
impacting wetlands and I'll just you know I'll just briefly uh council tie into that because it it staff did a good job of showing us that our impacts are minimal My whole point with that is that most of the impacts of Valuchia County
are happening in the municipalities That's where everything is going on We know that But as the leading government body of Valuchia County that was my point is to set the tone Let Valuchia County as the leading
government body recognized by everybody let us set the tone so that the others can hopefully follow You know I mean when I when I drive through LPGA or Williamson uh in Daytona Beach and you look at the absolute
um explosive growth in my opinion and and and I'll just state this I know this isn't a question chairman but thank you for the 32nd latitude I've said it publicly I'm not a no growth If you want a no growth I'm not your guy I'm a no- growther unless the infra until the
infrastructure can handle it If the infrastructure can handle it absolutely But when the roads and the flooding can't handle it it's it's very problematic for me So on the on the on the first one you know staff did a great
job of showing that we we have impacts but very minimal ones And on the second one it looks like you know this is a state and uh federal issue but you were you were telling us what we could do to minimize that So um
hi Ginger Adair again Um so here's where the council has the power right we showed you what the wetland impacts are in the county over the last couple years Um your staff works really hard on avoidance and minimization on every single family project that comes in on every site plan every
subdivision where you're talking about the impacts are in the incorporated areas and you have the ability to direct some of that through your chapter 50 minimum standards And the big difference between what we do in Valuchia County and what the cities are allowed to do by the way the minimum standards are
written now is that we do not we require a county wetland alteration permit for all projects whether or not they go through the water management district or the D because in our experience the water management district and the D not take avoidance and minimization as
seriously as we do So if you go to the water management district and this is an oversimplification right but with a with a development plan they're going to likely approve it and just tell you how much mitigation whereas we're likely to say you know what we really think you
can avoid some of those wetland impacts if you moved things around I we think that's our value in this wetland alteration permit process If the cities had the same process Yeah of looking at every project and requiring avoidance
and minimization you might see less wetland impacts in the cities And that's a change you could make to chapter 50 that would require cities to require wetland alteration permits for every project because right now they can say the water management district did it or
the D did it and we don't need to look at it And that's a gap in our opinion That's that was gold right there Thank you Uh Councilman Robbins Thank you Question for Ginger please
Mr Adair if the cities are following our chapter 50 which you uh said that they they were and that we have the power to change chapter 50 and them for them to follow that based on the data provided
which with us is minimum Wouldn't they also have minimum impacts in their cities as well if they're following our chapter 50 the the difference is that um because we're requiring a well and alteration permit for every development even a site plan
or new subdivision we're pro we are using our avoidance and minimization criteria on those properties And that's really where you have the bang for your buck is say a new subdivision So the cities don't do that aren't doing that No they're deferring to the And again
it's not all cities but most cities are just deferring to the state And so they aren't having that same look at those projects and saying "Well maybe you could not have two acres of impact Maybe you could have a halfacre of impact." So in other words the state doesn't really care about wetland impacts I don't want to say it like that but their u focus is
not on avoidance and minimization Their focus is on mitigation Yeah Don't don't say that until after this session Um well what we're trying to do is say we don't want your mitigation We want you to avoid the impact It's a success to us if you don't need a wetland alteration
permit because you avoided the wetland And I understand that but I I hope sometimes I'm sarcastic to get past the the pandering to the the nitty-gritty of the facts and why we're here Because I I hear questions Ginger and and and staff
has addressed this you Clay some of your team you you've had several you've had several great presentations over the years especially after um the hurricanes And when I hear questions um and and and chairman I
actually feel the same way you do I it's hard for me to understand the the mitigation bank concept So I I do have a little issue there but I want to focus on what what's within our control because at the end of the day we're going to be going down
rabbit holes You guys aren't going to be able to do your job and we're going to be chasing a a wheel here But but the chairman had asked questions I'm I'm trying to find answers to why we are flooding We just had a a a presentation and all
of us unanimously want to find answers to why we are flooding I'm going to tell you a couple things that we went over council cuz some of this is getting a little redundant Um we're at a C plus standard for storm water in Valuchia
County right okay On the east side and along the St John's River where we see the most flooding where title controlled storm water systems I nodded the head I'm asking questions I already know the
answer to Okay We're seeing a lot of flooding in closed basins Correct We're seeing some flooding in flood plane areas that have been um in some of these older subdivisions like um Highland and
then um what's the one out there off of 92 clay Daytona Park Estates We're seeing flooding near water Shocker Um then the other one we're seeing flooding in these
instances where the rain is greater than our storm water system That's right at C plus that 100year threshold from between 8 and 11 in So we're seeing flooding when we get over 11 in when in Sam Sula
I had 28 Who would have thought we would have flooded guys we're all searching for answers here but we've gone over this and over this and over this And now every time
one of these comes up it's not in our control but we revert back to what we've already identified out of the things that we identified So we don't keep chasing our tails here council and to staff You guys have identified the areas of where we're
flooding to help uh the chairman any others uh who are still just like me searching for why we are flooding We've identified these things I know we have the studies Which ones out of that can we control out of maintenance can we control that the Lord gave us 28 in of
rain or over 11 in rain can we control people buying near water or flood plane or floodprone areas can we control people from not buying buying or building in flood plane properties can we control the people that flooded near closed basins can we protect the people
that that that uh in title controlled areas that that that do that or can we control the C plus storm water i think we're doing everything I want to make our time count I really do And I see the frustration You can kind of see my
frustration We know the answers The biggest thing is getting through the political nonsense And I say it I got no problem taking the arrows It's my pleasure I want to get through the political nonsense with some of this stuff and follow the math science and
logic that we pay these people to bring us back the information whether we like it or not I I I just I don't know how much more we have to we have to do but I just wanted to lay that out there I don't know what other standards we can
tight tighten up Um I I'm just scratching my head to be honest with you I'm wondering why I'm here Councilman Santiago Thank you Mr Chairman You know there are a few things that I I kind of sort of like that I would be supportive of changing and see
if we have the teeth to do it But um Polo or Clay our our trees I mean when was the last time we updated that tree how it pertains to to subdivisions i mean here's what here's my goal How do we get away from them just clearing the whole darn thing
it Yes we're we're addressing that through Enrach as well They initiated the tree preservation So these were all things that were identified in 2022 as as top priorities for us to focus on We've worked through that We're going through that process Um is that third or
fourth Okay We're working on it So if we did something in trees is that something that you think we could possibly input into chapter 50 i I will get into the discussion I I swear to God if if y'all can hold on I mean right now we're just talking about mitigation banks If you
can give me a few more minutes Ben's going to fly through his stuff and we'll talk about the bringing the field dirt on property I mean it seems like I'll just leave in this It seems like we can't touch anything with mitigation banks and the definition of flood planes Let's move on to what we can do So these two slides are basically more the same You can't you can't touch them Um go
let's go over what we can can do Before either one of you goes on are are you you're going through the uh PowerPoint yes Are you going to go through the 60s something pages
it's a 43 slides We're almost halfway through the Are you going to go through the pages that are not on the PowerPoint that are part of this item that county attorneys wrote and probably you wrote Ginger wrote We we addressed most of
those in terms of they're just examples of you know things that we're already doing or cannot do keep using that clicker Right Okay So it's just just kind of more of the I have three slides Take out two Um real quick just
on the acquisition of flood pl uh floodprone residential structures We're doing this We've been doing this Um we've done it in past storm events Uh last meeting this council approved the acquisition of three properties We're not just waiting on these funding sources that we've identified as FEMA uh
hazard mitigation uh Elevate Florida and Transform 386 We are going to be acquiring properties utilizing those uh funds as well But we also uh have stormwater utility funds which we budget a certain amount to acquire properties every year And um and uh one of the
properties that we acquired went up for sale it it was a reduced price because the home had been uh basically gutted due to the flooding and we actually knowing that there's a road project coming We used our advanced rightaway acquisition funding for that So we have
multiple funding sources to acquire property We're actively looking to acquire homes that have flooded because we know um as as it was discussed earlier um in some of these areas whether it's a closed basin or some of these there is no good engineering solution and sometimes the only solution
is to acquire the property and eliminate the threat completely Um as far as canal maintenance goes um the the the memo wait apologize C can can I actually offer a uh you wanted some direction
sure Can can I offer a uh not a solution but a request to what you just said I I love what what you said what we're doing We're looking at all these uh different properties Can you
bring are you bringing back as soon as possible a list of properties that can be bought that that you have and staff have prioritized which ones we should buy first and then we to find money for them because that that's one little part
of you have to of the solution Yes they are they have to be properly identified through the studies that he's doing right now The basin studies right right that that's where you come up with because there has to be a public purpose right it can't be just you know just
because you know we feel bad or whatever there It has to really be tied into you know uh can we not not defend this area and now we're going to build a storm water facility in there or we're going to increase the capacity of a lake or
something that's around there You know it can't just be willy-nilly you know he just mentioned well we bought the other one because we're building the road and we're going to expand the road and we need it for a pond So we got one project that I think you guys all have uh being
sent the link sent to you uh that where a study's done and it's identified some solutions and some options and part of that will entail probably buying property that has flooded or has been threatened to flood So we'll look at that as well But so yeah we but as far
as compiling a master list all at once they're going to be coming in chunks as as these projects are identified through the basin management studies Yes Which are actually moving pretty quick Yes Quicker than I thought Well some of
them I mean some of them when they present themselves like the one that we one of the ones we purchased last well two of the ones we purchased last week went up for sale and we you know we didn't want someone to buy a house renovate it and then us to have to come
in knowing that we're going to need it later on Um what I will say to piggyback on what Mr Rectenwald said is you know we're focusing on houses that flood And and I will say and I've said this in prior when I've talked about this as a solution buying people's homes and
demolishing them is really a last resort I don't want to take someone's home Um you know but some of these areas are just indefensible for you know to that purpose Now that being said we're getting folks we we know areas that are flooded We're identifying properties um
you know that that we know could possibly be utilized for a potential project We're you know when we do these studies and and kick off these scopes and with the consultants we're letting them know you know we're talking through what we've observed and things like that
and and so we have identified properties We have property owners that have come to us to let us know they would be willing sellers Um I don't know what the number is the latest number on Elevate Florida for for homes in Valuchia County but hundred 100 plus homes have already
applied to Elevate Florida You still have the HMGP So there's a a long list of u properties that because of the two back-to-back storm events and and especially those that have experienced multiple floods uh are highly motivated
to either elevate their properties or to have them acquired Okay U Vice Chair Reinhardt has a question for you Um be before before you ask it let me just ask you something to to see
if it's something you're going to touch on because there there's I'm looking at at the 63 pages that that are not on the PowerPoint that were written and there's a discussion in there about uh Valuchia Forever and Echo um buying properties
for storm water management and there's there's some issues uh with with that Are you going to talk about that yeah I think we're going to talk about actually the the Okay Strategy five is use of public property I'll wait for that Go ahead Matt Thank you chair Um forgive my
ignorance on this question It's probably going to make George's eyes roll back in his head though And And during those basin studies do they look at commercial properties that are abandoned that could be fallen to that area yes Yeah we look at Oh it didn't make it Okay So it was a
good question Yeah Uh I mean if you got a property that's not being utilized I mean because I'm I guess I'm thinking of and I'm maybe way off but I'm thinking of the Orange City area Um that plaza that just sat there Mhm I mean I don't
even know if it exists anymore There was one that was being built behind the old big lots There was a And it's been a while since I've been out that way but it was built they ran out of money and it just sat there and it was right next to that area You're smiling Maybe there's something to that Yeah we need
to talk more I mean that I think I'm just curious I'm just talking about one of the ones that uh gets a lot of airplay here Okay All right So I was just just curious but that answered my question Thank you Mr Chairman I want to make a point of order
Okay Um just want to remind the council and the chair that our rules say at 3:35 we will be done Um so I suggest we pick it up and get to solutions That's just my recommendation We won't be done by 3:35 Is that your name was up is that
your question well my name's up to u bring some suggestions up for solutions That's why I'm waiting for them to be done Three slides have taken a long time Okay Just I'm just reminding us on our rules Mr Chair All right Um canal maintenance was one
of the items that was brought up and the memo we provided was fairly detailed We actually do a yearly work plan that focuses on the canals that the county maintains and talked about the budget increases that we've done to to increase the amount of maintenance that we're
doing Um what I will focus on is some of the uh areas that the county doesn't maintain some of these uh natural waterways or waters of the US As Clay had referred to earlier we've met with uh USDA NRCS staff to try to see about
obtaining funding for projects to clear those canals out They've walked those canals with us We've identified the locations We're waiting to hear back Um obviously things with the federal government right now are kind of slow but um we've used this process in the past to clear these types of waterways
and we're hopeful that we will get a positive response from the federal government from that moving forward I have a quick question on canals So you you've got until Okay Uh going through your canal list and and what you're doing There's there's
several of them that says maintenance will will be conducted in September October November and December of this year That's during and after hurricane season Does that mean that they've they've been cleaned and that's when they're scheduled to be maintained i
mean we have crews that are working through their schedules So are they ready for hurricane season is my question I guess Yes Yeah We don't let them sit there Yeah Yeah Let me let me reiterate again uh before every storm
And he's gone over our awardwinning uh uh program for inspection of our canals which is what eight times the the suggested average or nine I guess Uh anyway before every storm those those
canals are inspected So something and again remember these things are living uh areas You got trees you got stuff going on They go down through them several times a year So before a storm or when we know there's a storm they're out there they're clearing any major
thing out of the way They do it every time And then they go right back out after the storm and do the same thing So that occurs all the time So they're ready They're ready today If there's a if a storm were to come they would be out there just like they've said and they would go clear any major blockage
or anything that's occurred Uh but that what he's talking about is a much more significant maintenance like you see in that picture where they go down through and dig out the silt and other things They're like that It's a a much bigger rehabilitation but it's kind of like
clearing the road or then going back and resurfacing the road So this is a what he's showing is a major rehabilitation of that canal Correct And I mean as Mr Renwald said we put eyes on these canals multiple time every mile of these canals multiple times per year They're
inspected The the vegetation maintenance is done Um and then some canals can be good for six years they don't accumulate a lot of silt Some canals need maintenance every six months because of just the way the flow works and the pattern and and and so there's multiple
different ways we can go in and do what you see there as a mechanical cleaning But every one of these canals is looked at and if they observe an issue a tree down a blockage boom a work order is generated and they're out there fixing it because it preparing like Mr Recall
said preparing for storms is one thing but you can get an afternoon rainstorm We've seen them You can get a 6- in rainstorm in an afternoon that comes out of nowhere from a noraster that that can be just as damaging as some of these hurricanes So that we got to make sure that these things are in tip-top shape
all the time I I think the the primary concern from some of these canals and and we've seen it and we're working through with the cities is who maintains what You know part of what we're working on on with the community information folks is getting that map up the map that was included in the memo that shows
the canals So someone could go online and say "There's a canal by my house Let me go look and see." And then we're talking to the cities and we're trying to generate that GIS system so that we get their data too and we can a resident go on there and look and say "Okay this canal is maintained by so and so or
maybe it's a natural maybe it's Spruce Creek maybe it's Turnbull Creek something like that." And and we got to work on how we're going to do those And that's why we're we're going to the USDA for funding on those But our canals as Mr director said I cannot stress this enough are
maintained well and often and uh they are looked at and if there is an issue it gets taken care of immediately Right But George I asked that question not I'm I'm not pushing him I'm not pushing you but this is a document that's been out
for 10 days And so the public is reading it and and they're reading it and saying "Oh my god they're they're not even maintaining canals until uh hurricane season." So it needs to be made public what what you're doing what your process is That's why I'm trying to give you an
opportunity Thank you And we are putting it on and we'll do more educational stuff on our new flood website which went out went live I think I sent that out to everybody uh two Fridays ago or last Okay Well last Friday Uh but anyway
it it's gone out It's gone live And so that'll be the type of information uh we'll have and more education Uh and again there's a little bit of and there's always going to be someone sees a shopping cart down in the canal you
know and says it's not being maintained Well because a week ago or in between our inspections somebody threw it down in there Proper clay We'll go get it out of there But the fact of the matter is uh one shopping cart in the
canal likely isn't going to be the issue Um it's it's it's a series of things So all right In that same document we talk about all the other the the scheduled maintenance that we planned is like the big stuff but there's all those other routine maintenance items that we do
where we're putting eyes on the canal And and I would always urge anybody if they see something let us know We can't be everywhere at once and I guarantee you we'll take care of it Right Uh Matt Reinhardt just a quick question Ben when we're doing some of these canals and
we're doing the great job that you're doing um some of those canals touch a city canal municipality and I think you just said it We're working with the cities Does that entail the fact of picking up the phone and saying "Hey we're doing our side of it You know where I'm talking about A lot of the B19
touches the city of Daytona and there may be an issue uh about an area particular which I can Yeah So if if sometimes we'll get a complaint or request and there it's a where two of our assets meet we're on the phone with the public works or even a even a
private one There's some private ones that we'll let those folks know Yeah Or go through the code enforcement We do we hold them accountable for that because that their area that is congested with debris or whatever and we tell them "Hey please get this out you know cuz you're going to impact our canal or the the
land that's around you You need to get this cleaned out." If they don't what ramifications can we go in and do it and then well if there's a maintenance agreement for whatever reason we can enforce that Um typically those have a rule that if we can go in there and maintain it we can charge them Private
property you know we can either go through We can the water management district or we can go through a code here in the county and things like that Let me dive in on something too because All right So you see that machine sitting there yep County machine
What do we pay for that they're about $600,000 Yeah $600,000 So how many do we own two How many miles of canal do we have um we have over 150 miles of canal All right So now
you start seeing you know uh again we we put about $8 $900,000 into this And the problem if there's a development problem I'll I'll say one of them is that people come up and we have
to maintain you know access to these canals That machine right there you have to pay because you don't have much access So you have to put the thing right down the middle of the canal We try to use other pieces of equipment other areas where where they've maintained some sort of burm maintenance
area where you can take a cheaper piece of equipment and go in there and clean it faster So we're always working those type of issues uh as well as the work itself and and and if you know we get through this and we decide you want to
have even a higher level of service uh we can look into that and I think we discussed that when we talked about the storm water utility fee a little while back and we were trying to get to a level of service A where it would be even more proactive but it will require
more people more machinery more access along these canals rather than having to drive right down the middle of them uh and clean them like he's got that picture there because if we only have two of those and there's probably only four of them in the entire county Those things by the way are made
in Europe and they were developed to maintain ski slopes Are they going to be tariffed so yes Yeah they probably are We're going to buy them in the US Tesla's making them now Um Okay Uh Troy Kent Thank you
Chairman George Kind of nice to see your Irish get um up a little bit there Um so my question is more specific to the canal up in District 4 What do we do about something like Groover Branch that
literally in the canal has trees growing in the middle of them so there's no way this really cool device that I'd love to get into by the way and make some skills We can make that happen Nice I'll sign whatever waiver I need to sign But um
what what do we do about something like that because Groover Branch last time last time I laid laid eyes on it there were oak trees growing um all throughout the thing and cypress trees and all kinds of stuff Well I wish I had the photo from the the county uh Facebook
page that put up and showed Reek Canal which is a similar type situation where you have a lot of trees and our tree crew had a bucket truck extended over and was in there cutting up and and there was like three guys in the water So to answer your question we can handle
those types of situations as well You got an extra weed whacker for Troy up in there We'll get him up in the bucket One guy does alligator if Matt will do it with me All right One guy does alligator uh uh to to make sure they watch but
that's one that the feds will uh correct That's one of the ones that we looked we applied for federal funding for All right Um last slide Public property So uh council requested hey can we use public property for flood mitigation the answer is yes we can And
every uh every just like uh uh we talked about with the acquiring residents when we do these basin studies we're always always looking for existing public property that could be used for storm water uh mitigation or use Um a good
example is the Taylor Road study uh just completed and the all three alternatives basically include moving water out of Taylor to Lake Moore which was acquire acquired through Valuchia Forever We have to be careful when using properties acquired through Forever and Echo If
there's uh for whatever purpose they were bought for there might be a payback to that fund for the storm water use Um but any type of public land in and around an area uh that that we're looking to do a storm water project on is definitely going to be looked at
through these studies Quick quick question on that and I don't Brad might have to answer it If I understand the issue with Echo and Valuchia Forever um could that still be changed to
add to add to those programs that we could purchase land for storm water management if if if you think it's a viable tool that we could use it for that So for Echo if you
remember a few years ago we added uh green infrastructure as one of the qualifying projects under the environmental category So we like to see the green infrastructure projects as part of a larger project or as a demonstration project for our citizens
to learn about the green infrastructure that we're using in in an area Um it would certainly it would certainly qualify there under Echo Um for Valuchia Forever I think there's a little more nuance to it in terms of you know
um one of the goals or or the the the intent is to preserve lands in their natural state for conservation purposes While water resource protection is a key component um the document or our organizing principles don't address converting preserved lands to engineered
storm water systems um after purchase but such conversion might conflict with the program's core objectives of conservation However a more aligned approach might be to identify properties that naturally provide water retention services through existing wetlands or natural features rather than planning to
construct storm water facilities this would be a better match for the program So again using kind of green infrastructure or purchasing wetlands or flood plane protection We've purchased about 40% in the flood plane or 49% in the flood plane So we are doing our part
in terms of protecting absolutely our our people upstream and and around the water bodies Okay Thank you I mean a good a good example of that would be the property that they acquired down in Edgewater adjacent to Florida shores 1300 acres or whatever it was able to carve out a
portion of that to make sure that the canals where those where Florida source drains into remain free and clear because they weren't essentially being maintained Yeah And you had no access just to what I just mentioned a minute ago Now you've got access through there those canals in a way So u so by
preserving that area got you to an actual uh storm water asset that you could go ahead and maintain Councilman Santiago Thank you Brad C Can can we uh if the rules don't permit under Echo and Valuchia could we if we wanted to change
those rules that allow us to when we buy those lands to sell it as credits also to keep feeding the program and maybe buy more land with those funds expand It's my understanding that in 2012 or in the last six years I believe when um
Governor DeSantis came into office was um the p we were no longer to have any any publicly funded mitigation banks or operated We have a mitigation bank and Barberville um that the county was one of the very first mitigation banks established in the state but is my
understanding that we cannot compete with the private sector any longer Thank thank you Yes sir Councilman Robbins Brad Bradley as Paulo as as always knows
all I guess it was changed back in 2022 so we can certainly um look at as a as an option Mr Chair I'd like to pursue that option to see what opportunities we can do that Okay Thank you Brad A quick question Uh
Brad I know you'll be able to to answer it hypothetically Would we be able to we know some of these identified areas of concern uh Ben and and and Brad when it comes to flooding but
hypothetically could we make a outdoor fishing pond that could also serve as a dual purpose for storm water and have we we looked at as as a
viable option so one of the things that we've tried to get funded through um with Echo Echo forever Echo in a long time as a storm water park Uh there's several of them around um and we believe that would be an eligible project under Echo but it's
really a fishing park But you see what I'm saying there's ways to get to to to make this but it could also serve as a retention area but I'm I mean I'm spelling it out for you but yeah if there's if there's amenities that would make it public the key is
public access that's in the ballot language it's what our voters approve So as long as there's public access um to that amenity and they can enjoy outdoor recreation and there were benches and and things for them to enjoy I'm certain that the committee would give it a
honest look signs fishing here Got it All right sounds good Thank you Turn it back over to Clay One of the items that were identified was that uh specifically along like the
LPGA corridor that we seem to have an an excessive amount of multifamily uh projects being developed along that area and that may be negatively impacting the overall area Uh unfortunately Valuchia County does not have jurisdiction in regards to the land use and zoning there
So what we can do is we can set up if this council feels it's appropriate as a discussion on where are the areas that are appropriate for multif family are and how are those consistent with the adopted local plans of the cities
especially along our thoroughfare road corridors That would just have to be something that y'all would want to integrate at this point um you know realizing that we really do not have any review capacity other than if they're impacting a thorough affair road and and
and to your point council member Kent even with road concurrency there's a payandgo mentality we cannot stop a development because a road is over capacity all we can do is charge their proportionate share and allow them to go
uh that was passed in 2011 by Governor Scott as part of the Community Planning Act and that applies to a majority of the concurrency items that you have out including schools and parks So in this particular situation if y'all
want us to reach out we could um you know if you want us to contact the local governments I would recommend that this may be something that the round table of elected officials may be something that could be utilized through them to identify if they're interested in doing that because this would be a
major planning overtake or endeavor and would require an extensive co you know coordination effort But we have identified one other issue is this Um with the live local
act if you start restricting multifamily in your residential area you're now going to be pushing for affordable multifamily on your commercial properties because by
state law every local government is preempted from prohibiting multif family development As a matter of fact they're mandated to allow multif family development on commercial industrial and office land uses to the highest density
into the highest height in your zoning regulations So can I ask a question on that m go for it There's a sentence here that really is describing what you're talking about says "Lastly it is important to note that the cities and county must address
the provision of housing at all income levels so that we meet affordable housing targets." Whose targets it's uh primarily tied to remember uh our emergency meeting of our last one for 2024 so we could declare that we were in a surplus for affordable housing so that
that way we would not have tax exemptions being pulled on us So those are targets by live local uh their targets established basically through the Schindberg Institute It establishes the amount of affordable housing that is needed by uh metropolitan statistical
area and county So who are the targets coming from the state The state Okay The um I I assume that's what you meant The last council meeting we talked about affordable housing and it was brought up that let's not do anything and we'll
just let the market take care of itself Could that if we did that would that put us in jeopardy of not hitting those targets and if so what does it do to us well I I'll Brad may be able to provide more clarity but the fact is is that we
were able to claim an exemption from the Live Local Act for uh tax exemptions for affordable housing because we had a surplus of a certain level of affordable housing If we fall below the targets that have been established by the
Schindberger Institute for the state then developers of multif family could claim for tax exemption Okay Uh David Santiago I was just going to ask you mentioned about the the highest density for multif family We can lower that number too right or is there a state cap
minimum for multif family well what you would do is then you would go into your comp plan and your zoning it would change it and then you'd be subject to a potential Bird Harris property rights act because now you've impacted those properties which have those land use and zoning categories already applied to it But we couldn't do it for for for
reasonzonings or PUDs or anything like that right yeah But what I'm saying to you is the live local act If I own a commercial piece of land right now I can come in Oh I got you You already have it Yeah It's whatever is existing on your books It doesn't I don't have to go
through a reasonzoning for commercial property to build a multif family site I forgot about that Yes Thank you Thank you Mr Chair I think the Live Local Act is one that's might be getting worse right now in Tallahassy too Um Councilman Robbins Clay real quick Thank you
Um are you able to put together us like a cheat sheet make like a politics cheat sheet you know guys know the hot topics You know what gets thrown in our faces We know what's BS and we know what's not Can you say this is what Valuchia County
has control over this is what Valuchia County does not have control over And say see page 4 see page 10 That would help me out and probably us out greatly Please help me Well I I think
every year when Mike and his crew do a very good job of going through the bills and which have become laws and then show us what has been preempted is your best guide every year because it changes year to year for us I'm just saying on on on these local issues that we deal with you
know why is uh who controls fill and build who controls um uh mitigation banks who the stuff that we talk about is there any way we can somehow alleviate this and just a a cheat sheet
and where in the source to find it is there an easier way to do this i feel like we're pulling teeth here Uh we're from the county Well we're here to help Thank you You're you're awesome Clay And uh council it's it's 3:30 I'd
make a like to make a motion to adjurnn We have we have one member of the public Do you still want to speak public Okay three minutes Yeah 3:35 was the end time He sat here all all afternoon and then we'll finish this up next meeting I
didn't expect it to be three and a half hours Uh Jennite a couple of things One uh with regard to tourism and the questions that you had earlier Evelyn Fine is your uh person to go to She did all the statistics for a hobo board So
if you want anything to know about and it would be great if she came in and addressed you all on the value of tourism for Valuchia County Uh and there trust me we need to do that Uh secondly a lady behind me asked for a bathroom
upstairs I would love to have a bathroom upstairs We used to have one and then you guys took it off So perhaps we could think about re reestablishing that restroom Um what was brought up earlier a pet cemetery uh with the pictures of the
dogs and whatnot Uh we have a landfill 1,600 acres perhaps land I mean it it it's very costly to bury your pets So I'm I'm wondering whether we could do it uh at a very inexpensive rate for those people that can't afford it Uh third
again I want to bring up um Main Street It can't be too expensive Uh Main Street as you come down Main Street it's 9 ft wide You get to peninsula it goes to 20 foot lanes You don't need a 20 foot lane on Main Street I'm asking that you
reszone those for turn lanes because with what happened uh a couple weeks ago with the events of the Peabody and the Ocean Center you get to the intersection somebody wants to make a turn and can't then everybody backs up all the way you know for a mile in either direction So
I'm asking you to look at that and do additional turn lanes because you can make five lanes where you only have two now and you don't have to worry about sitting through two traffic lights to make a left-hand turn Um mitigation
banks I don't like the idea that mitigation banks were the far north and far south So what happens to those in the middle you drowned because your water is now gone and we're saving water for somewhere else You know it it we got
to look at that one I like the idea the area but the area is too far away North and South uh county and half penny sales tax I know you guys don't like the idea of half penny sales tax You think of it as a tax I think of it as a savings a cut in taxes That money's got to come
from somewhere for the roads for the flooding If it comes from the general fund the general fund comes from taxes So you're going to either tax one way or the other I would rather have the tourists pay
40% of our funding The idea that we're we have to sit there and say we don't want any more taxes We don't want any money coming from the tourists We want to pay all of it ourselves is what you're saying I don't want to say I want to pay all of it ourselves If they're
going to give me 40% I'm going to take their money Thank you Thank you And this meeting is adjourned at 3:35