good morning good morning Welcome to our big c meeting today uh my name is Cookie Kennedy I'm the mayor of Indian Rock Beach and the president of the big sea I'm so happy to see everybody here and at this time I'd like you to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all we'll start with roll call and uh Miss Beckman would you like to start sure Kathleen Beckman city of Clearwater Tyler Payne mayor of Treasure Island Dian the shear vice mayor of Indian Shores Chim Roost mayor Mader Beach I already told you Cookie Kennedy mayor of Indian Rocks Beach Rich all right it's on okay Rich carelo I'm the commissioner of Readington Beach and I'm fing in for Dave will who is the mayor of Readington Beach Steve Bloom mayor of Beller Shore good morning Dave gtis mayor of b beach Lisa Hendrickson mayor Readington Shores Bill Queen mayor of North Rea Beach and let me take this opportunity to thank madir Beach for hosting the meeting for us and thank Mary and Keith for setting up for us thank you you're very welcome we have one more person sorry I'm a little tardy I I'm vice mayor of St Pete Beach I was filling in and so I was in the cheap seats didn't know I got a special chair thank you what's your name Rich Lorenzen thank you and we're going to go out in the audience Beach Mike Howard um Indi insurers Council elect give it to let pass it down test test test Tim Johnson Tampa Bay Beach's board of directors and Waterfront realy good morning Gina Johnson Waterfront realy good morning Eddie mcen Commissioner of madir beach good morning anarie Brooks commissioner madira Beach District 4 Jerry Newton resident Indian Rocks Beach Janet Wilson commissioner Indian Rocks Beach Denise hasberg I'm currently a commissioner in Indian Rocks Beach and next I'll be taking Cookie's position as mayor of Indian Rocks speech Tavi Lawson commercial real estate Polaris realy Jill silver board penel county Barry Burton penel County Lauren cornu city clerk of Indian Rocks Beach hi Jess kamaro um new Aid to commissioner Kathleen Peters BCC good morning CJ Hoy town of Readington Shores commissioner Christy herig town of Readington Shores M mlin Town Administrator Readington Shores Larry Shear commissioner Panela Sun Coast fire and rescue District Ray Kerr uh vice mayor benir Beach Phil Hannah resident Indian Rocks Beach ARB Johnson resident Indian Rocks Beach Ron saer president of the Historic Museum in Indian Rocks Beach Fred Irwin uh San key civic association good morning chaita Clark Duke Energy Joe frell panel's realt to organization Kathy cookie cousin here to watch my amazing cousin from Chicago awesome he yeah Vince siki candidate for pelis County Commission District 3 at large and I guess last but not certainly not least Barry Rubin treasure Al Mader Beach Chamber of Commerce oh not I'm sorry Chief Clint Bel fire chief de Beach Fire [Music] Department John Bishop pel's County Public Works oh Robin Gomez Mader Beach city manager jogger this morning thank you thank you that was great okay uh real quickly uh we're going to do a recognition of Mary Beth Henderson who was a our one of our Mayors for quite a long time um and I have a plaque that I'm going to give to Lisa Henderson and what it says is thank you for your leadership dedication and many valuable contributions throughout your tenor as mayor of Readington Shores from 2014 to 2023 the Barrier Island governmental Council and if you would give this to her I would appreciate it [Applause] okay we have Barry Burton our County Administrator here today uh I had asked as many of whoever could come from the County Commission today if they'd like to say a few words and I know that you have another meeting so if you want to jump up and say hello and tell us what's interesting going on hello um I didn't know I was going to speak um you know but you know I'm certainly available to answer any questions obviously um Beach nourishment on top of everybody's mind in our mind too we have John bishop and Jill silverboard here um there there there is activity just so you know there's there's a lot of different paths we're taking because as we've we've seen over the last several years no one path has you know really been successful so we've got multiple prongs we're trying to address this um including you know Senator Rubio and Scott both sponsoring modifications to the word of language um that usually is a bipartisan package it always scares me when they say that it's going to be dependent upon Congress passing something um but it is typically a bipartisan package there's modifications in that that would help with this issue um we don't know where that's is there's also a modification to an appropriation bill that would then again help part of this issue so we've got a couple of different Avenues we're working on we're also working with both Florida Association of counties and the National Association counties making this a far bigger issue because it it just it it impacts so many people Nationwide um there was a recent um article where a general for the South what is it South Atlantic District um made a made a comment that this has to be fixed um well you know that's at least it it's got attention because you know we're just kind of the first ones out of the gate there's others that have their projects coming up and so it's you know it's gaining momentum but you know we're still waiting for that fix so I don't have an answer here for you today obviously you know we we got that as top of our mind obviously with the beach nourishment funding provided by our tourism development tax those funds are there um you know you've seen what we you know what happened with the uh the Dune restoration and and um you know what we've been able to do but you know we've got we've got a lot more to do we got a lot more we got to talk about on easements we've got to talk about a permanent solution having gaps in the sand serves no one and and we have that today you know with the dunes and I and those are those are big ISS isues or controversial issues because they impact people whether you're a business owner and or or a condo that has a view um but your neighbor down the street if that water comes through it's going to be impacted so we've got a lot of work to do but it it'd be nice to get some clear Direction out of Congress before we have those types of conversations and and collectively come up with solutions that we can all live with um but you know that's a that's a little bit i' i' I've got people that can answer technical issues here um but be happy to answer any questions that you have any questions yeah Barry overall so are we prepared is the county prepared if this doesn't happen on a national level are we prepared to do it ourselves on a county level yeah that's a it's a great question mayor um you know the expense okay would be astronomical so could we do it yes um the question is is how many storms are we going to get and nobody can answer that so you know could we do the beach nourishment deplete the reserves we have very strong reserves thank you for tourism because um you know we do have strong reserves but if if we got hit two or three times and we and we saw what happened last year to our dunes and that occurred three or four times you know then that model goes out the window you know and so we really have to these are some tough conversations that we're going to have to have um and and I and I think it's best to have those conversations once we have a direction out of the federal government um because I you know and we've talked about this with the Commissioners commission and and we're on sync staff and Commissioners in terms of once we get some clear Direction Let's have some Community conversations let's invite the residents to be part of that and the Mayors um and Commissioners up and down you know the GOL and and and let's talk about the options we have because you know we really are in this together and and um but there's no reason in scaring people about this alternative that alternative until we get this issue solved at the national level I mean you know I don't want that to happen but even if they would allow us to fill in gaps where we don't have easements well then that reduces the cost by over 50% I mean um you know so th that changes those financial forecast models significantly uh you know the the question is you can't necessarily use the data and the storms that have occurred over the last 20 years as a forecast to the Future and that's that's that's the unknown right I guess what I'm looking for is in between the the National being fixed and where we're at now so what you're saying is we're going to wait to see what happens on a national level first well first we didn't wait you know and Kelly leevy and John Bishop busted their rear ends and and got Dune Restoration in record time right record time you know um but you know as as we've seen you know we but we're also doing the design so s ke is under design right now okay full full Beach nourishment because we want to have the design ready when we solve this at the federal level okay okay so we're not waiting we're we're moving and and even if we even if it was solved tomorrow we still have to do the whole design which takes over a year and so we're we're moving forward on all the fronts and hopefully inside this time period we'll have some some better clarity about where we're going to go you know in the future thank you anyone else yes Kathleen I have a question it's not um it's not about Beach Tre nourishment but sort of tied into it I want to applaud the county for all the work you all have done to reduce your community rating system number to a two one of only four in the nation it is phenomenal and I would like to know uh number one how you are oops spreading that word throughout our County about how other municipalities um can work to get their uh Community rating number lower and so I have freder when is there from San Civic Association that wanted um the name of someone at the county level that might come and and give a talk about that I know I was on a webinar and it was phenomenal um but the lower your number the lower your uh flood insurance is for cities for businesses and anyone who lives in that jurisdiction and so our County residents and businesses pay lower flood insurance rates than those that are not in unincorporated is it 40% lower what is it think it's about says that's not my era so okay it was 40 it was 40% lower when we were a four now we've got that down to a three so I don't know what that is it's Lisa Foster that that runs runs that program and um we're very blessed to have uh really good technical staff at the county to be able to you know work these programs and you know improve that rating because it does help significantly for our residents Barry what is her name and what's her what's her position in case anyone wants to get in from it's Lisa Foster she's our flood plane manager is that her title yep okay flood plane administrator um and and she works for Kelly Ley out of Public Works okay I have a question Steve Bloom B Shore uh mayor um regarding the beach nourishment have they done any uh has the either the core done any uh research or studies regarding installing Jetties perpendicular to the beach or or anything to that you know rather than just do everything parallel and then have the first storm take out half of it or Beach re nourishment is there has there been any studies done well we we can do studies okay I mean you can do a study we can do a study it no I didn't know if any had been done no um no and they they just there have been can I interject there so for our project in Treasure Island in St Pete Beach I'm I would assume it's the same for San key as part of the core Engineers designs and um process of Designing the recommended project they do talk about all the alternative methods that they could use and those are explained in those in the bid packages or what the the studies that are published I have a good summary of those from my um Public Works director that I'd be happy to share with everyone and it talks about Jetties it talks about groins it talks about everything and why they recommend not doing that as opposed to beach nourishment I I just look at the the erosion that we have with just the winter storm and you know nobody knows what will happen when a hurricane comes but uh um we know it's not good but just just longterm looking at a a combination of things that might um you know anyway just mayor said is correct Jill was yelling me in at the background yes the aptum study so I I forgot all about that thank you thank you anyone else thank you bar okay Jill did you want to say anything at all today okay all right thank you thank thank you Jessica did you I want to introduce you today you are our chair Kathleen Peters Aid and I'd like you to come up and if there's anything that you want to add today I did invite some of the County Commissioners some are coming today and some are coming hi next month thank you so much um this is day six for me so nothing to add immediately we're still getting everything settled um we are working working internally with your team cookie um to see you know it the representation from pelis County um Commissioners here but projects for me um I'm happy to stick around after and make sure you guys all have my proper contact information but um we'll we'll keep you all posted and I like you already thank you for coming today much okay any questions for sorry Kathleen good I mean Jessica okay good she Kathleen Peters eight all right okay thank you thank you all right uh we are going are there any changes to the agenda move to approve second so that was mayor Queen and mayor gatis as a second all in favor motion carries uh we will move now to um the approval of the minutes and I will give give that to you're going to do those today correct the treasures report I mean no Jim just move to approve the minutes move to approve the minutes second or yes motion to motion to approve second okay now did we get that bill Queen and Rich carello okay all in favor I motion carries all right now we'll go on to the approval of the January 2024 treasurers report okay I I'll present it it's in the packet you can follow along with me uh so this is the big SE Treasures report January 2024 opening balance as of January 1st was $967 51 we're not sell any expenditures or dispersements and the closing balance is $967 51 and I have the uh information from the bank and the account information and what we show on our books is uh correct so okay move to approve is there a second all in favor i i m Queen okay uh we'll move on to new uh the digital correspondence uh would be digital eel invoice 33181 in the amount of $99.50 for updates on the website okay uh next we're going to um so because I have a short time as the president uh of the big sea I decided that I would love for you to see uh a killer video um that was made and I'd like to at this time it's nine minutes um have our previous RB was very gracious but RB was one of our longest serving Mayors in Indian Rocks Beach who was involved with this and we have Phil Hannah who was also a commissioner in vice mayor of Indian Rock speech and Ron uh Sacura I'd like you guys to come up and let's move this along with our our video of the shifting Sands and give just a couple minute briefing on uh what it's about good morning everybody yeah so what this is is this is a a project that the Indian Rocks Historical Museum had been planning for a number of years and we finally got around to bring it to fruition and the idea was to put a video video together that talked about Barrier island formation uh sort of focused on the geology so to speak uh a barri Islands how they form uh how they move around the shifting Sands basically of of uh our communities out here and even though it's focused on in Rocks Beach some of it obviously can be applied to uh other Barrier Island communities and uh so we we brought a lot of information together and kind of compressed it into a very small package because this is something could could be way longer and can go into a lot more detail and various elements of it but with the help of Phil Hannah who's uh uh the guy who really did the work with the videos and whatnot we were able to put this together into like a 9 minute and 30 uh 30 second package uh to talk about a lot of different things but like I said this is a topic that I'm sure John could go into in infinite detail and I could as well talking about some of the specific areas uh that we address and little in pieces on this video and I just want to tell John ah ahead of time Maya Cula for any Myer inaccuracies that might crept in during the production of it but I believe it's largely it it covers the territory pretty well and um uh gives you a good sense of something that a lot of people don't know about about how the Barrier Islands move around how they formed over the years and uh you know just think it's pretty interesting we've Gott a lot of good feedback on it from people who have seen it at the Museum pH what he said thank you um we appreciate you having us down today we've been very pleased with how the video has been accepted um it took about six months from the beginning till when it was completed in late October um had a lot of fun doing it and I learned a tremendous amount and the feedback that we're getting from people who see it at the Historical Museum is wow I didn't know that so hopefully you guys will have the same feeling okay I think we'll uh run this over and try it thank [Music] [Music] you [Music] our Earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old plus or minus 50 million years but who's counting about 71% of the earth's surface is water and the oceans hold about 96.5% of All Earth's water roughly 3.5 million miles of rivers and tributaries in the United States connect us to the Sea even if we live far inland so how did Florida get its beautiful sandy beaches the Florida coastline along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico was very different 12,000 years ago the sea level was much lower than it is today and as a result the Florida Peninsula was more than twice as large as it is now Florida's West Coast extended out more than 100 miles than it does today Florida actually sits on a limestone bed that's thousands of feet thick much of the sand on Florida's beaches is made up of quartz crystals produced by the weathering of Continental land masses like the Appalachian Mountains the quartz and other materials wash down America's Great Rivers into the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico where it was carried onto the beaches by water currents and waves at the mouth of a river the fast flowing water slows abruptly and the well-rounded sand drops out larger rocks and Pebbles were already left behind Upstream while smaller sediment like silt and Clay continued to be swept Along by the weakened current and were deposited further from the shore the barrier islands off pelis County are part of the West Central barrier chain a string of islands that hug the coast from and clo key off of Tarpon Springs in the north to Marco Island just south of Naples Indian Rocks Beach is situated on Sand Key the longest of these Barrier Islands by their very nature Barrier Islands consistantly change their shape growing shrinking and even subdividing the movement of sand is the lifeblood of a Barrier Island and that formation would not take place if weren't for the anchoring effect of the growing dune vegetation RB Johnson explains the Dune vegetation that you see in this area is vitally important for preserving a beach because without the Dune vegetation a beach would simply blow and wash away the various kinds of vegetation everything from Sea Oats to Vines to shrubs even flowers Cactus what they do is they anchor the sand in place on a beach essentially the sand blows around the plants the plants grow up out of the sand and dunes form and the plants anchor by putting their Roots out down out around they anchor themselves in place and anchor the beach in place one amazing example of the natural creation of the Barrier island is three Rooker Island located about 5 miles off the city of Tarpon Springs Florida it's only accessible by boat interestingly what began as a small sandb bar nearly 50 years ago has transformed itself into this the Island was built entirely by Nature with no human involvement three Rooker is home to hundreds of birds and from this aerial perspective one can see the various stages of its development the accumulation of wind blowing sand around these PL plants allows the Barrier Island to form growing both vertically and horizontally more and more vegetation creates a relatively stable line of Dunes that prevent waves from regularly washing across the island as the dunes mature in size and age shrubs and trees start growing in the wave protected area behind them eventually forming a maritime Forest sable palms Live Oaks Pine and cedar trees are all the main days of these Barrier Island forests this Amazing Creation is nearly 2.6 m in length and it's still growing sand on Barrier Island beaches is constantly shifting to maintain its with seaward of the dunes after hurricanes and other events the beaches we know it can become eroded in the case of hurricane idilia Indian Rocks Beach lost around 25% of its protective Dune system but man money and machines can accelerate Beach replenishment through a process called nourishment this is a fascinating undertaking as sand is typically barged in trucked in or pumped directly from a borrow pit some 10 mil offshore via a slle and pipe [Music] system the result is a new beach nearly 300 ft wide Indian Rocks Beach is the Headland of pelis County a headland is a natural elevation especially a Rocky one that juts out into the sea or body of water here are a few examples of Headlands in Indian Rocks Beach as waves move to Shore and meet the Headland the water divides sending not only the water but the sand it carries both North and South along our West Coast just another example of Shifting Sands barrier islands are separated by tidal inlets usually called passes the width of these inlets and the swiftness of the water passing through them are determined mainly by the size of the water bodies between the Barrier Island and the mainland the larger the water body the more impressive the inlet our Barrier Island Sand Key is bordered by Clearwater pass to the north and John's Pass established in 1848 to its South left to themselves most passes open and close over time and even shift the location still Clearwater pass and John's Pass are artificially kept open and in place by man-made structure to allow for continuous navigation by area boers our Barrier Island was once divided into a small pass in Indian Shores called Indian pass for years it struggled to stay open due to the relatively small size of the Narrows the water body between the island and the mainland it was filled in nearly a century ago to create a continuous travel path along the Island's length the first extensive remodeling of the Barrier Island landscape began in the 1930s when a series of dredging projects transformed the inter Coastal Waterway mud flats and Mangrove Islands were covered and connected with fill material that dredges scooped up from the bottom of the Waterway the result was a network of sea walled land fingers with the joining canals providing room for hundreds of new homes and allowing for a surge of new residents who could live where there was no land before but it also had a detrimental effect on the natural environment of the Waterway Mangrove fish nurseries were eradicated and water quality decayed on the beach side of the barrier islands man-made development was also affecting the natural landscape the earliest structures mainly cottages and houses were built as close as possible to the Gulf of Mexico right on top of the frontal Dunes the dunes are the Island's first line of defense from Storm created waves starting in the 1950s Property Owners attempted to protect their structures by installing seaw walls on the western edge of the dunes the first were made of wood and When Storms destroyed them they were rebuilt using concrete the unfortunate effect of all of this armoring of the shoreline resulted in accelerated beach erosion caused by wave action interacting with the hard unnatural vertical surfaces in many places including Indian Rocks Beach wooden structures called groins were placed at regular intervals perpendicular to the Shoreline to stabilize the beach but this technique met with mixed results our beautiful Earth has undergone many changes throughout its 4 and a half billion plus years it's been home to all kinds of life forms we're still learning more and more about this wonderful Planet each day [Music] but one thing is [Music] constant the Sands will always be [Music] shifting how about that I thought that was great well thank you for coming to today in doing that we appreciate it we can always reach out to them um I did send it over to uh Brian loak at uh visit St Pete Clearwater maybe to put on one of the websites if they felt it was um a good Pro uh program for uh video for people who were coming and wanted to know more about the beaches so we'll see what happens any questions everybody good on that we will move down to um old business is there any old business that needs to come up uh mayor Queen do you want to uh we picked do you want to say anything about um picking Jim as our new Treasurer yeah the uh the committee uh met and recommended that Jim rosac be the new secretary treasurer so that's our recommendation okay and congratulations on your new position on The Big C Jim thank you kindly also um does that not need to be voted on yeah you got to vote on it now okay uh I'm going to need a motion I'll make a motion that we uh make Jim rosak our secretary treasurer for The Big C I'll second it okay any questions why was that not on the agenda I don't have any issue with it but I'm just well it was on the agenda last month to have a committee um and then the committee met picked it for our have the recommend and so then the recommendation is made today okay I just didn't know why it wasn't on the agenda yeah it was on last time all right well this is our agenda for today not last meeting okay and so that there isn't any problems we um we have a motion to Second yes all in favor I I I maybe then we should um we will be needing to have another group meet um and instead of doing it um for next month maybe we should put the group together that'll meet uh for when my replacement you know let's do that we'll do that okay we'll do that uh let do you want to put a group together so that we know who will be meeting you don't have to now we've got plenty of time to do it so you do it in March yeah okay all right uh is there any old business to come before this board uh hearing none discussion items uh is there any legisl of updates I did see Tony walk in from commissioner Long's office did you want to come up Tony is there anything or you're good okay all right thank you any other comments made all right and with that um with there isn't any other legislative updates we'll start with City events mayor Queen everything's quiet North rodina Beach Lisa ditto all quiet in Belair Beach Beller Shores quiet also St P Beach not so so quiet I'm sure everybody's heard by now that we had a uh a pretty uh interesting vote last night after another Marathon session on the sarata hotel uh conditional use permit which was approved 3 to2 um but I can tell you a lot of hours were spent on that a lot of Agony and a lot of thinking so here we are uh Readington Beach uh we have a modar event which was rescheduled for this Saturday that'll start about 9:00 am they have a cookout and a uh golf a golf cart parade around town so walls welcome to attend well it's never quite an in your rock Beach but all is well your turn Jim mere Beach we're kind of busy uh let's see today we have the madira beach Market that runs from 10: to 2 please stop by on your way out uh and that runs through m on 32 we have the trash Pirates monthly Beach cleanup 39 we have the citywide garage sale 311 we have kite day at the mandira beach Recreation Center I believe the first 500 people get a free kite on 314 it starts the golf beaches rotary spring break Festival please come out here to Rock Park 3:21 we have the 13th annual Great American grunt hunt and then 3:29 we have final Friday John's Pass something else I'd like to say just for a second uh with what happened with the beach re nourishment and the beach communities up against the wall I think Mr Barry Burton deserves a round of applause for backing us up and helping us [Applause] out Indian insures is having its annual St Patrick's Day Festival on March 16th 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. lots of music Irish beer and vendors of all of all Stripes uh so please come and join us thanks um in Treasure Island we have something going on pretty much every Saturday uh the first Saturday March 2nd we have the Isle of Palms it's yard sale season so we have the Isle Palms yard sale on March 2nd and then March 9th we have a concert in the park called spring it on with the black honkies at 6:00 p.m. on March 9th and then we have the Paradise Island yard sale on March 16th and the Sunset Beach yard sale on March 23rd so if you're trying to find some Treasures come on down to Treasure Island pretty much any Saturday in March great so there's a number of things going on in um clearw certainly we have ruthard Hall in the sound uh and Capitol Theater we have uh Joe bamasa coming coming March 16th air supplies March 23rd Alabama's April 5th the Sugar Sand Festival a 17-day Festival begins March 29th um and goes through April 14th um the theme is sands of time and it's the 10th anniversary we also have at the Clearwater Historical Society Museum uh for March's National Women's uh history month we have the trailblazing women exhibit that opens for the 7eventh uh manual uh exhibit where we uh profile women in the greater Clearwater area pelis County that have made uh a significant difference and the Phillies are back they won their first two uh games opener on Saturday and Sunday um and I think that's that's it thank you CL Kathleen I would just like to remind all of you that our next meeting is March 27th at 9:00 a.m. of course 8:30 breakfast um we hope that you will all be able to ATT I thank you for coming and with that I'm looking for a motion to adjourn all in favor I I thank you thank you for coming