e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e County Commissioner meeting is now called to order we're going to stand and have invocation and PL of Allegiance Heavenly Father we thank you for your grace and your mercy and your love thank you for everyone that is here today and bless our board as we carry out the business for our County help us dear Lord to make those decision that are pleasing in your sight and that'll benefit to our our community uh as we Ponder um issues with our budget and those things that are deemed important to us and to our County help us to make the right decision ISS um bless each and everyone that is here and let us all thank you dear Lord for blessing us and our community thank you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen amen States indivisible and Justice um we need to um just let the board know that we need to make a slight adjustment to our consent agenda we're going to pull item C and also under the county manager's um report we need to um add an item for um uh for a resolution um that he would present on behalf of our our County it's going to save us some money on the um DT project um any concerns about that okay at this time we're going to um entertaining the public comments and we do have a few okay um Miss Carol Mosley and if you would speak directly into that mic and Pull It Forward so that they can hear us outside good evening commissioners um Carol Mosley 10121 Southwest 104th Avenue in Graham thank you um good evening Commissioners it's been a while since I've been here so I've got a variety of topics to touch on today first I have to comment on the fact that we tried to update our comp plan last July and it's now may of the following year kores asked for time to get with their experts before we continue but instead of bringing their experts to the table they hired a PR firm it feels disingenuous and in fact insulting delay delay but to be honest no one representing Bradford County has bothered to find out what the holdup is I don't understand that if someone wants to hold up a process with a request for time my immediate response would be to ask how much time they anticipate needing what would be reasonable to the commission 3 months a year 7 years what's your limit of tolerance to delay we've been trying to update the mining regulation since before kamor has even submitted their application I hate the game playing speaking of the kamor advisory committee what's the goal the lunch and learn was about telling all the things they want the public to know about themselves no surprise that's what company PR is all about spinning the narrative in the direction they want it to go but the job of the scrutinizers the decision makers and the public is to ask about the things the company prefers not to talk about I have a lot of questions about the recent radioactive R uh radium and about the recent burn break and spill and about the why the company didn't file their SEC filings for investors when they when while they had internal board shakeups and why are they mining titanium under FC fluorocarbon division with all the lawsuits over forever chemicals instead of under TT for Titanium Dioxide but I don't want to spend all my time on that stuff I want to talk about the value of small scale tourism and event opportunities not everything tourism related needs to be large scale and big bucks small but meaningful opportunities matter I recently organized groups from Bradford and alatua counties to chip in and bring the science bus from from Gainesville to visit the Brooker community school afterwards the students wrote thank you letters because of the location the school serves Northeast Gainesville as well as Western Bradford we share two rivers in that location in the past Bradford environmental Forum held an easter event in Brooker and the Sierra Club brought canoes and kayaks and got families out on the New River and they collected six bags of garbage while waiting their turns later a parent told me their kids couldn't stop talking about it she said she thought they had a better time than at Disney World I recently helped organize a history of black cowboys and cowgirls which was a two-day event at the Cotton Club there were historical panels con uh compiled by the Florida Agricultural M Museum on display the hundreds of attendees were multiethnic and multi-generational there were horses line dancing youth Rodeo Riders barbecue and Fish Fry participating groups worked with equin eoin therapy and summer youth camps there were constant requests to do it again next year I want to bring the whole thing to RJ small is beautiful and riches come in many forms thank you thank you and next we have on Dr Ste ALS still 14167 Southwest of 100 First Avenue start um I wanted to address the issue on your agenda item 10 which is the uh a grant funding for a uh the Water control structure on uh that's attached to County Road 225 uh I don't believe that uh Grant will actually mitigate or prevent or cause any Improvement in flood mitigation for the people who live around Lake Samson and Lake Crosby it will make it easier for Emergency Management to open and lower the gate but the real issue with uh preventing flooding on those two Lakes is removing the plants the aquatic plants that have accumulated at the point where Lake Samson drains into the Samson River Canal uh Kathy and I went out there uh yesterday in our canoe and that area has uh shrunk to the the actual where there's free flowing water U to less than about six feet because of cattails and other plants so if you don't get those plants out then the water can't get down the Samson canal and leave Lake Samson it was actually that situation has contributed significantly to the flooding that we had in Irma around Lake Samson and lake frosby and it's really important to try to move on this issue because supposedly we're going to be moving into a uh very active hurricane season I think it's really worth the effort for uh Bradford County to try to come up with funding to do that plant removal uh I think it the cost would be somewhere between probably 50 and $100,000 to remove enough plants so that water can freely flow out of Lake Samson I think a better piece of equipment for uh a grant of this type would be uh the piece of equipment that was used to clear uh trees out of uh the canal under the USDA Grant and I think Bradford County actually rented the piece of equipment to remove trees from that same Canal uh more recently it's a very interesting piece that lets you drive in the lake in the canal bottom pick up stuff and put it up on the shore and move it about and that's the entire uh drainage infrastructure of Bradford County is impacted by trees and brush that have accumulated and making blockages so we really need a mechanism to keep those that drainage system free of debris and flowing freely so I would urge you to maybe think about an alternative to spending money on the three pipe structure thank you thank you and the uh last one is Miss V strong good evening I want to discuss um the financial situation that's on the agenda uh that involves well let me do a disclaimer first personally I like Mr corn I really do but and I say but I have listened to this board talk about for several weeks how they don't have any money you don't have you don't have any money you can't afford to feed the employees you have to collect the money uh amongst yourself get donations what have you um you spent money out of contingency to buy stuff buy equipment for the road department you're um looking in the budget to uh for next year you're tightening your belt etc etc we're looking at taxes we're looking all over we we we can't continue to Kick the Can down the road that's what you've said many times and then I look at this form that's at the end of the agenda how you're going to evaluate him well I've done some evaluations in my job over the years I worked for Fortune 500 company and I've had to be evaluated before I got a raise and I've gotten uh bonuses and I had to prove that I provided a service I had to prove that I there was something that I provided to the company before I got a raise that that there was there was something that that I was giving that I had provided I I haven't heard that did I save the company a half a million dollars was there something Innovative that I did in the previous year I haven't heard that if I had heard that in the county I wouldn't have a problem but I haven't heard that and everything that was shown I I haven't heard that so why are we giving a raise when there's nothing that has been shown was there something that was shown to you guys and not to us where he saved a million dollars somewhere was there I mean was there where over here where he saved $2 million thank you all right U we're going to move on now to our approval of the consent agenda with the exception of uh C that we're pulling um that out all right uh have a motion for approval with the exception of C I'll make a motion to approve the cons agenda without item C motion by commissioner dordan second by m commissioner Thompson any further discussion questions all in favor and a sign I I I for and let direct record show that uh commissioner Andrews is is absent okay um next the um consider the cost of a living uh adjustment uh for the board for fiscal year 2425 and Mrs Thompson or Mr or um Rachel want to speak to to that I think the county manager asked for that to be placed on the agenda for the board to have a discussion on whether it would like to implement a cola raise something we would definitely need direction on finance so that way as we're receiving budgets we are getting budgets that either reflected or do not reflect it um we have a we have um a document which shows if we did an increase um based on a 3% or 4% or or 5% um for the board to consider I know we're in the in the process of um building our budget for the next year um but we have to consider whether financially we can afford to do um do a raise for um our employees um that cost of living if you consider I guess over the past year um it's been basically I think um 3 and a half% increase for Cola generally speaking across the the nation um our employees based on their the level of income um if we did not provide uh that um it would be basically kind of a loss to them so the board has to consider um whether we did a a three three and a half four or or 5% um increase and doing that based on the current budget that we we have um and that would impact what our overall um budget and contingency funds would be if we did that so it's open for discussion Madam chair if I can just jump in only because I spoke with commissioner Andrews and she regrets that she wasn't able to be here for this meeting because she had some family obligations that were planned long before she knew that this was going to be on the agenda however she said that this is a very important issue to her and mentioned that um she was in favor of either the three or the 5% but she said that she would lean more towards the 5% any comments from the yes I I'll be honest I I know we're tight in our budget but I also know that we have some very good employees and if we don't take care of our employees we're going to lose them we're we're already losing some but we're going to start losing them even more um at the same time with the cost of living going up the way it is um if we gave them 3% it's just they would actually be making less money last year than they are this year with everything going up the way it is so if so my vote would be to go with the 5% um that's that's that's what I like to see us go with because like I said we do have good employees every single one of them does a fantastic job and um I I feel like we should we should try our best to go with the uh 5% any other thoughts about it from the board Thompson um and reviewing the the documentation that we have um to help us to make that decision if it were add a 3% that would be about a th a $90,000 um impact in terms of a grand total and if we did the 4% would be 120 about 121,000 and at the 5% about 151 based um 151,000 but based on our current budget we would be able to manage that within the budget that we have [Music] um and I know um you know from the con constituents um perspective or from the community's perspective you're looking at you're looking at um the board in terms of us evaluating our current status our current budget and what is our Revenue that we're bringing in um to the county and how are we managing that but a part of that management is evaluating the state of our employees um and the thing that's important to me um as we consider um this to ensure that all of our employees that may not be at the $15 an hour level that they're all at that level but this would um be in line with the with across the the state Across the Nation increase of for Cola the three basically a three and a half um percent percent so um I I guess um looking at the state of the situation with our employees we have to also um reward them in some way for um for being here for working with us so I have a couple comments um one I do agree that we have some hardworking employees in this County no doubt but we also have some hardworking uh citizens in this County that work hard every day that go to work every day and I think they like to see the r too so that being said as we start discussing our millage r I know we have some budget constraints but you know just the saying that I've been using lately is that we're going to have to get really uncomfortable before we get comfortable and say that because we're looking at increases in all the way across the board not this but as far as some of the budgets that we seen whether it's fuel whether it's equipment all sort and things like that fact in and you know I certainly think that you know getting to a point to rather than say let's do all this and stay where we are let's consider cutting on millage back and then trying to figure out how we can live it in I I yeah and I I concurred I would love to drop a millage down to 9 at least 9.5 but the other thing that we have to consider is at our current um Revenue that we're receiving for our County if we drop that millage that fund is not going to be there and to sustain all of the Departments including fire and rescue we would not have sufficient funding to do that if we dropped the millage right now we wouldn't have the extra contingency funds so if we had a catastrophic issue um an emergency in which we had to utilize those funds we could easily deplete it so we have to also consider that um so commissioner Thompson but we money I said we are still spending money that this County and not bringing him far as kick and a can we're going in a hole I make one comment Mr clerk I'm not trying to put you on the spot but but I I I talked with you I don't know prob four months back about this and from talking with you you you said that that we would be good with the 5% you thought we' be okay and I've also talked to some and I will name some of the other constitutional officers and and they would all like to see their employees get to 5% um the ones that I've talked to so so are we good this SP with the 5% if there's not additional increases among uating expenditures and such the the difference in the ADV VOR collected this year should offset that by 10 times if we don't have 10 times more costs over what we had I say 10 times it'll cover the raises by 10 times if nothing else is increased for operating but just one I also quoted you something else when you were there that day the Social Security if you feel bad about giving raises for some reason Bradford County has never followed the the cola for what the federal government does and they're the worst the least raises of anybody when they give somebody Social Security increases and such in 2021 they gave a 5.9% cola to Social Security recipients because that's how much the cost of living went up in 2022 they went up 8.7% then last year they went up 3.2% and for years they didn't see raises because costs weren't going up gas was stand pretty much the same thing food was pretty much the same thing everything costed the same but throughout the the few private uh employers I've spoken with they have given colas commiss up with what social security has in a history especially if it was more than half a percent or or 1% they knew they had to keep up with Cola otherwise you'll just get in such a hole you won't ever be able to dig out so we would still be behind what Social Security's given for colas we'd be at onethird of what they've given for colas with this race I'm not I'm not at all saying I threw that in there to say that I'm not saying we don't give the employees a raise I'm just saying that we need to consider as we move forward to be able to do these types of things you know it's it's going to get really uncomfortable but we have to consider the citizens of Bradford County as well correct correct correct that's every aspect not just raises that's an aspect how many people work certain apartments and everything else I mean yeah okay and I I was concerned uh um about it in terms of being able to um to give a rise so I sat down with our finance department just to to see what would be our state of affairs if we did um my initial thought isw we can't afford to do it but going over the budget and our current state of the situation we can afford to do it and when you consider um the state of our employees here I'm not talking about the upper echelon or the the supervisors or the people that are making the larger salaries but I'm considering our everyday employees that are here um that need that and um and if we can afford to do that then I think that we should um yes we have to tighten our our belts when it comes to our budget and looking at what we can do because it is important to our citizens that we be able to reduce um that millage and bring it down to 9 and a half but today we cannot do that um but I'm hoping that in the very near future that we can um we have to figure out a way of how we're going to um Finance our fire rescue Department because it's a service that impacts the safety of our citizens so that's something else that we have to take in consideration but what's on the floor at the moment is whether or not we provide um an increase to our employees and at what percent that we want to consider that or whether we want to do it at all so the consideration is 3% 4% or the 5% so that's is what our board um needs to make a decision about before we move forward M chair if I may and Madam tax collector with the assessed values in the county increasing and with our mill rate being at 10 certainly there's more I mean right I the reason I asked is that well it does help in that department but still puts us around a half a million deficit in that again I I'm just considering all these things and I'm again I'm I'm all for the raise I'm not I'm just saying that these are things that we need to consider as we you talk about whether it's this whether it's a fire assessment whether it's a County Manager raise or whatever it is all these things add also we we'll have those numbers from the uh Property Appraiser they come in in June that's when all that comes in he says okay this is what everything assist at we can get a a value I don't know exactly if he or the tax collector calculates the value he does okay and we'll know what the difference between this year's revenues and next year's revenues will be and and you know for the clerk's Department um they need to know what what our wish is or what we're going to decide to do because it would impact on what our budget will look like and also whatever we do the constitutional officers need to know so they kind of you know um concur with what we do so that we don't have an increase in our area and they don't in their so uh I know that happened one year so we don't want to repeat that where we decided not to and then at the last minute we changed their mind I'll make a motion that we thees at 5% okay thank you motion by commissioner dhy I'm second by commissioner Thompson any further discussion the only thing I have to say is maybe I should have waited till commissioner comments to bring this up get this all convoluted in what I'm trying to say as we move forward we just definitely need to be considered all these things all right um the motion and the second has been made all in favor sign I I I I it's for all all right we have an information from University IUS um Madam Madam chair Dr I just heard from Dr Sanders and she has a complex so she will not be here tonight we'll reschedule her for a future meeting all right all right and then we have our fire assessment presentation Jeffrey Rackley um is going to present to us and this is for discussion so good evening Commissioners we appreciate you having us here today um Jeff Rackley with with stantech I also have Chris R here with me with Bryant Miller Olive um we've been working with staff over the past few months on this fire assessment study um Gathering all the data doing all the analysis so we're here today with to to present the board with the preliminary results uh just a little about stantech we do a variety of um financial consulting um as well as engineering um Services all around the the state the country and um internationally uh we successfully implemented fire assessments um all over the state I personally worked on well over 100 different assessment programs around the state um so I'll just give you a bit of a a background I I'm going to try to keep it out of the weeds a little bit but feel free to stop me if you have any questions about anything I I'll try to move through this quickly but but like I said any anything that that you want to dig into deeper we can definitely do that so what what is a fire assessment um fire assessment is just a non-av fee used to directly pay for fire services so the the key there is that it has to be used for fire Services it can't be used for anything else and that it's strictly for fire and we'll talk about that more as we go through this but we're we're not talking about that EMS portion of your budget we're only talking about the fire first responder portion um you can see there a few a list of a few things that you can use assessments for you can't use non avalor assessments for just anything it has to be something something that specifically benefits property hence why you can't do a non-alarm assessment generally for EMS Services the courts have said it it more benefits people than property um and like we said anything that you do in terms of the assessment that those funds have to be used for fire if there's any um excess funds they can't go to pay for Parks or or sidewalks or anything else they have to stay there and be used solely for for purp and just a note you you don't currently have an assessment program so this is something new you're currently as you well know funding these Services through your your Apple tative primarily the legal requirements will'll go into to a little bit um there there's basically what they they say is a two prong test so the property set must drive a special benefit um so there certain properties that they will see are not charged such as right away submerge lands um things like that and then the assessments have to be fairly and reasonably proportionate so that's not saying there's one set way you have to do this it just has to be logical it has to be based on data it can't be arbitrary you can't just make up assessment rates it has to be based on some type of analysis or study and and have data to support um as we already said BMS Services above that um first responder basic life support type Services can't be funded through the assessment and so so we go through and split out those costs um to determine what is that true fire first responder type portion of your budget that that there are some exemptions and we'll talk more about this as we go through and give you some numbers to this but but generally of your government owned property is going to be exempt um a big portion of that is of course your own properties but as well as the city the federal government School Board those types of entities they don't receive a tax bill so you can't put an assessment for them on the tax bill and you can't compel them to pay based on that as well so generally your government property is going to be exempt by Statute as well agricultural property is exempt with the exception of residential dwelling units on those act properties and that's a a fairly recent change over the last few years there's always been some exemptions from non- aalor assessments for ACT properties but now it's it's clearly stated only those residential dwellings so any other buildings on those properties cannot Char some optional exemptions and like I said we'll talk about this some more but but generally what we also see around the state are exemptions for um churches n profit type institutional properties that's something the board has um a decision on there you don't have to exempt those properties you don't have to exempt um any of those charitable organizations um sometimes we see exemptions for disabled veterans or lowincome seniors um different things like that those are optional things with any of these exemptions one thing to keep in mind is that that's Revenue you're not rece leaving but that you have to make up some other uh legally available Revenue source so in your case it would most likely be abalum taxes that you have to basically pay on behalf of those properties that you're exempting with with the government and A Properties you don't have much of a choice there but with these other types of entities you do have a choice um and we'll we'll show you kind of what those amounts are and talk a little bit more rates and exemption um the methodology that that we're using here is what we call a historical demand methodology or calls for service methodology so it's based primarily on the calls for service so when someone calls 911 they have a fire or smoke alarms going off or whatever that issue is that's the data that that we're talking about that we're based in this methodology it called um to all your properties within the county and this is the most widely used methodology around the state out of everyone that I've worked with over the fast past 15 years or so I'd say 90% of them use this methodology or for some very similar methodology um there are some other methodologies as well so like I said it's it's not necessarily one size fits all what what works here you know may not work in uh in you know the city of Miami or something like that so so there there are some things there to keep in mind um there's different ways to do this but this is kind of what I would consider the tried andrue methodology it's been around for I think 30 plus years here in the state a lot of the different pieces of it have been litigated so it kind of reduces some of that risk there so very solid methodology pretty straightforward and easy understand and explain and and those are kind of some of the reasons why it's it's very widely used um it's based as I said on your actual call data that says city data there but it's actually the the city data and the county data so all the fire call data with within the county that that we and you'll see when we get to the rate but your your testment rates for Residential Properties are are going to be based on a per dwelling unit basis so if it's a single family home that's one dwelling unit a duplex two dwelling units if it's an apartment complex with 50 Apartments that's 50 non-residential it's all grouped together here and it's on a per square foot basis of um improvements so and we're talking about primary structures and then vacant plan um is on a per partial basis so it doesn't matter in this this case whether that's you know 10 acres 20 acres 100 acres it's on a per partial basis for the BAC so the the different data that we've used we talked about the the call data and that's kind of the first we we look at the budget and in this case we looked at your 24 budget and your CIP plan a as well as um the budget that's anticipated in in the event that the U start is is included and merge with the department so that's all it accounted for here and we'll show you that and then the last piece of data is the um property dat so that we're we're using the property appraisers aborm tax roll data so they go out and they they examine all those properties they know if there's a house there they know the square footage of those um commercial buildings that are out there their you you know their data is for valuation purposes so I will say for fire assessment purposes there are some some slight differences but we use that data because it's readily available it's the most reliable source of data and and really the only other option would be someone from County staff or hiring someone to go out and look at every single property and try to determine what's actually there when the property phaser is already doing that albeit for a slightly different per so we use all that and and and to calculate your rates and everything you're going to see in here is based off of projected 25 budget so we we did look at a a five-year budget actually we we ran it out 10 years and but here you're going to see a 25 budget and you're going to see 100% funding of that so keep in mind the numbers you're going to see are are 100% funding your fire budget for fiscal year 25 we're just showing you that for the calculations that's not something we're recommending that's going to be the board's decision to determine what percentage of that budget you want to fund and it can be anywhere from zero up to 100% of that budget um but for purposes of the presentation we're going to show you the full budget the 100% rates and then we'll also show you some other scenarios just so you can get a feel for what things would look like at some some different funding level uh we mentioned that call data we looked at one year of data generally we'll look at anywhere from maybe one to five years of of call data um what I generally found is that there's not a whole lot of difference um there was change in some systems tracking the call data so we determined that really one year of data was the best data that we had um I I I don't think it makes a big difference and also some of that earlier data especially during um covid when there was lockdowns more people at home it it did kind of shift that data a little bit so we probably wouldn't have wanted to include that data anyways so one year data gives us a good look at where the calls are going anyways and we also look at it on a month-by-month basis and a year definitely lets you take into account any seasonal differences if there's you know winter visitors or or different things happening during the year that might Spike some of your Falls we capture that by capturing that full year worth you can see here that Residential Properties account for about 68% of your calls non-residential about 24% and vacant land about 8% that's pretty typical of what we' see you know in different areas of the state it may be a little bit different but but generally resident Residential Properties it's your primary um type of property so you'll see more calls to residential property just about everywhere um somewhere between maybe 50 75% is pretty pretty typical this is about what we would expect in terms of the budget um we we looked at that 24 budget and that including starts and we built in some escalation factor for that 5year period And I think they were fairly modest I think it was 3% for personnel and 1 and a half% for for all of your operating um but looking at your budget Personnel cost almost 4 million operations and maintenance over $500,000 we net out any revenues you're receiving um on the fire side there's really very minimal revenues I think it's for inspections and things like that um on the EMS side you'll tend to see larger revenues with transport fees stuff like that but it's fairly typical on the fire side there's not a lot of of of revenues that are coming in um for fire we add in um what we're determining the assessment cost so that would be the cost to collect the assessment on the tax bill um the early payment discount um under collections things like that so we add those costs in and we come up with a net revenue for about $4.8 million that's 100% funding that next year's budget with those increases and including $500,000 or so um as a result of of stock we talked about property classes here the residential dwelling units you can see there um 10,656 non-residential footage approximately 5200 and this is based on the 2024 property data so there will be some slight increases we anticipate um when the new data comes out in in June but pretty pretty recent data I know this slide's a little bit busy but I'll just try to walk you through the calculation look at that residential line there um the the residential calls were about 68% you see that allocation so basically what that means is the residential property group as a whole is going to fund approximately 68% of your budget see that $4.8 million budget we're just splitting that up amongst the property classes based on their calls for service and then dividing by the number of allocated units to get your maximum rate per unit so fully funding that 25 budget at 100% the residential rate for the this is an annual rate going to pack be $39 corresponding non resal rate be 20 cents first put for develop primary structure and then the vacant per partial card of the um exemptions we talked about earlier the AG exemption accounts for just over $200,000 and then all of those other exemptions account for about $450,000 that does include those churches nonprofits charitable type organizations which are are optional um I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head but I think about half of that $200,000 or so is attributed to those optional so those churches nonprofits those types of so you can see that that net amount there take out a 4% discount because this is going on the tax bill if you do like to go forward so those property owners would get uh the benefit of paying their taxes early and get that 4% so we account for that come up with about $4 million actual net revenue that you would collect and realize at these rates um just a couple things about the the exemptions as I said on on those optional exemptions a and the other exemptions that's something you have to fund from General Revenue sources so those optional exemptions are important I I will say that out of everyone I've worked with around the state over the past 15 years or so there's probably a handful of clients that don't also exempt those churches nonprofits and institutional type so um they they generally are providing a public service you know food banks um polling places things like that that if they weren't there the county may have to step in and provide in the few cases where I have seen them charged they generally have have come up with some type of um process where they don't just jump in and charge them 100% right off the bat maybe they they charge them something so that everybody's contributing but but maybe something less than the rates that all of your other properties are are being Char once again that's a Bo decision on those exemptions you can charge all of those properties if you want to um but you don't have to and you can charge them at something less than the rates you're adopting for everyone else just keep in mind with any exemption there is loss Revenue there that you have to make up from some other source so these are just some different scenarios and and you're not locked into any of these if if you wanted to do something in between these numbers you could anywhere you know like I said from zero up to 100% And we could give you those those rates and and corresponding Revenue numbers this is just for illustration purposes so you can kind of get a feel for what you know 100% 50% 25% you know and and try to hone in on what your your Revenue Target is for this assessment this is is something that we generally provide I'll give a few disclaimers here so these are some select counties around the state and they're fire assessment rates for residential single family residential property keep in mind that some of these departments that you see here particularly some on the lower end are are doing volunteer services or maybe some mix of paid and volunteer um they may have other revenues sources they you know it's it's not an Apples to Apples comparison so they're also some of them are fully funding their departments some of them are funding at a much lower level so it's kind of all over the place I'll also say that um I've worked with clients over the last several years that are down below that bottom number of $83 you see there I think as low as like 20 or $25 up to uh I think the six or $700 range in some parts of the state um up at the top so so that range is kind of all over the place it it really depends on the services you're providing so you know that impacts your budget what other funding you have um whether you're just buer first responder you're also providing other services um your the class of service your response times I mean all those things are going to go into your budget and then the determination of of how much of that budget you want to fund is going to play into this as well as the methodology that's used and a number of other fact so this is just to give you that information um I think around the state last year there was about a billion dollars collected um for these types of Assessments around the state just on the tax bill so it is very common and you'll see rates that are all over the place depending on on all those different um so just to kind of wrap up basically you know I know I've walked through this fairly quickly but but you know these are the rates based on the information we provided the analysis we conducted and you basically have that option now to to decide what rates you want to fund if any if you want to move forward with this and then the exemption as well and whether or not you want to adopt maximum rates and we can kind of talk about that as well as we go through the process um there are some some notice requirements so the the thought there on providing the rates you want to actually fund for this year as well as maybe some higher rates so you don't have to mail first class notices to all your properties in future years if you decide next year that you want to increase that assessment by 2% or something like that or or some other amount that you don't have to Ren notice everyone each year and bear that cost of Ren noticing every single property within the Mr rley just um just if I can ask that question now I know you use the call the call analysis to determine a projected uh amount for for fire so how did did you extract es EMS out of that to come up with that number yeah so we use a number of different factors um we we look at the personnel and their primary re responsibilities um we we look at the calls for service and then we also do a lot of direct allocations as well so something like uh Fire Marshall or bunker gear we would allocate entirely to fire something like um EMS equipment stretchers or um medical supplies a medical director things like that we would allocate 100% to EMS so it would be excluded so so we go through the budget and make those determinations um it's it's kind of an art to it like I said there's not one exact way to do it we try to be a little bit on the conservative side um but but as long as you go through that process and make a good faith attempt to split out those EMS costs you're you're you're generally in in pretty good shape but uh the other question I have is why was it um determined to um charge a I guess a flat rate for um a lot because I could have a 500 acre plot which is one and then somebody else can have a 50 ft long thought and your Char would the charge would be the same so I I I don't quite yeah there's a there's a number of different ways to do it and that's one of those other things that you know you you could charge per acre you could charge per parcel up to five acres and then a per acre charge after that um I I've seen it done a number of different ways around the state with the agricultural exemptions what ends up happening if you're charging for acre a lot of your larger Parcels are agricultural so so it's shifting more of those costs to those Parcels that are exempt and decreasing the revenue you're receiving and increasing that buy down so it forces the the general fund basically to to put in more money for those tag Parcels that that are exempt as well as your your government partials as well tend to be your larger partials um but it's also you know it is something you can look at in terms of acreage or some different options there you can run into some other issues as well with trying to determine what portion of those um properties are maybe submerged or inaccessible um there's a whole host of issues there contiguous Parcels you know under a joint ownership should should they all be charged and so there's a lot of different things that to take into account there it it also simplifies things um but you know that's not to say that this is the only way to do it you know you could look at it different ways we just felt looking at it and and kind of walking through it that this resulted in the kind of the best results for the county overall and lessen the impacts of that agricultural exemption that that's kind of one of those unfunded mandates from the state when you when you implement wanted okay any other questions yes um and I I know I asked you a bunch of these the other day but I just want to run over them real quick so on the um it doesn't matter if it's a $2 million home or a $50,000 home let's just say we we'll go with the um the what the 309 it doesn't matter it's residential is 309 correct no matter what size of the house corre okay also if it's agriculture no matter if they got 5,000 Acres they only pay the 309 for the for the house for the living quarters for the home correct 309 for the house yeah okay and it doesn't matter how many pole barns they have or garages none all that's Exel correct so um couple things to keep in mind generally you're not going to see a partial bigger than 64 ACR yes sir we we have to keep an order allow if any yes sir okay yes yeah that's that's what I'm trying to get to so let commissioner re I can answer that yeah if you like but that's that's the question I was getting to so so for agriculture they only pay for the residents the same thing to 309 right it doesn't matter how many pole barns or garages or whatever they have on that property so generally whole Barns and those type of structures aren't primary structures so they wouldn't be included anyways on on any property okay it does depend on how they're coded in the property data but generally speaking a a pole barn lean twos things like that aren't classified as primary structure aside from all of that whether or not their primary structur are not on a Parcels if it's designated a and they have an A exemption they can they're only going to be charged for that residential what whatever it is whether you elect to go with 309 just use that yeah $75 whatever that is that that's what they're going to pay okay and then now for a regular um say just a regular homeowner that has he'll only pay the 309 for his house but if he has like a big three car garage or whatever separate he would still only pay 309 generally once again it's going to depend on how the how how how the property is coded but a detached garage is is generally going to be uh an ancillary or secondary structure not a primary structure right so he'd only be pay closures things like that aren't going to be pulled into that if they did have um I I saw one not here in another County where there's a single family home there's a mobile home and then there's also a shop which was actually a commercial business as a motorcycle repair shop out in front of the other two homes and in that case if there's something like that where there is an actual primary structure of a business a place of business on that same property they would pay for that commercial building as well as those two resal dwellings that's going to be the exception most of your properties are like you said a single family home maybe a backyard shed a carport something like that they're not going to pay for for the okay and commissioner Thompson uh say for instance you got a commercial Sawmill with a six or eight Lumber storage or storage and lumber what about those Lumber sheds if if they're not not primary structures they not going to be chared I mean they're open whole bars my my my guess is they're not going to be charged they're not going to be primary structures but I don't I don't I can't say that for without knowing the particular property and being able to do some research on it but it's going to be the same across the board if there's primary structures there which like I said generally pole barns things like that that aren't enclosed they're not heated and cooled they're you know they're they're just storage aren't going to be on the property tax rooll and aren't going to be charred and they're definitely not going to be charged if it's an a ex in Pro okay we can't speak from the audience we'll let them and we we can you know try our best from the board to to include some of your questions but we need to uh allow them to finish and allow the board to ask their their questions thank you I don't I don't know what the question is I mean there's also a process by where the board or the board through some design works the county manager or whoever that is can make those determinations where if there's something that's on the property tax role that is like a pole barn and you look at it and say okay for some reason this pole barns on there but all the other ones aren't you can make that call that and and make a correction there's a correction process in the legal documents that that you'll get there's a process laid out for those Corrections and like I said we're using this property data from the property appraiser a little bit different than what it's actually intended to be used for but it's the only data source there is so I can guarantee you it's not going to be 100% there's going to be a few Corrections there that you're probably going to have to make but overall it's pretty solid data the other thing I'll say is I mentioned those notices so the male first class notices that you have to send to every property owner are going to list their type of structure the square footage or number of units the rate their total assessment amount it's going to give them all that information it's going to give them a phone number to call it's going to tell them when the public hearing is to come here and and address those concerns to the board so that's a good point as well in the process that that through those notices it it it will allow you to see if there's some issues there and make those Corrections before the assessments are actually placed on the tax bill once they're on the tax bill there's also a correction process we we would want to try to minimize those or catch them before they're on the tax bill but sometimes you can't and over the first first year or two you'll probably see a few more of those and once the program's in place you kind of get everything ironed out it it'll move pretty pretty smoothly overall though I'd say that the data is is very accurate I mean especially for the purposes the property appraisers using it for but even for non- aalor assessment purposes they they know what's there they know if there's a single family H in there they know if there's a commercial structure they know the square footage it's it's pretty straightforward you may have a few you know strange or or atypical properties that are on the road that are coded a little bit differently and and we can address those you know one off if we need to and there's a process question so then what you're saying so in July and August that's when that public notice will em mailed out 20 days before the final hearing I'm reading it up right off your yep feet here so that way when the when the people get the notice it'll have exactly what their assessment's going to be period that's right it'll have exactly whatever the board decides so you'll have an initial resolution where you'll set your preliminary rates right that's kind of your maximum rate just like you set your your initial preliminary millage rate that's what'll go on the notices then you'll come back at a public hearing and set your final rates those final rates can be lower than the initial rates you can't rate on just like your mleage okay or they could be the same but but you're correct they'll get those those notices in the mail they'll be able to see exactly what the what we're saying is on those properties right and you know if they come in and say oh no that you know I'm being charged for two dwelling units it it says I have two homes I only have one I used to have a mobile home it burnt down 6 months ago it's no longer there the the county can make that determination and and that and make a correction so there's a process that's laid out to to handle any of those Corrections just uh for the public this is for information and discussion no decision is being made on this assessment this assessment but to hear um the information that is being presented to us and this board would have to make that decision but there are a lot of things to consider um some of the scenarios that were mentioned and how the board might um you know decide on on that um but given our state of our situation now we're at 10 mills it's no way we're going to come back and ask the citizens to pay $39 for an assessment in my opinion I'm just one opinion but this is something that the board will have to determine but the citizens will be able to provide their input how they feel about it as well so there would be a process not that we'll make a decision tonight and then you're get getting this sent out to you in June that's not going to happen so the board would have to make a decision about what how it would like to proceed um and there are different scenarios that we would have to consider like the example that he gave with the pole Bond where the V of the property is very little so that that assessment wouldn't be um charged to a person or if it's an agricultural area U that may be exempt or a church may be exempt but those but this for tonight is for a discussion and what is being proposed if we were to collect um the amount of Revenue that he's indicated here for 100% 80 60 50 or 25 but it's left up to the board to make that decision on how it wishes to proceed so I just didn't want the um Community to be up in arms that we're making a decision about that at this time correct yeah you you you'll have that opportunity to make it that decision I think tonight the goal is to present you with this information and kind of get some direction on whether or not you want to move forward with this there is and and we have Chris has put together a very detailed schedule of the events but there's a number of things that have to happen with different notices with the cities that are involved and their consent and so so there's a number of different factors there everything has to be done your final decision made and the final role submitted to the tax collector by September 15th if you can see on there this is kind of just a a high level sample but to hit all these steps you know you you don't have to make any final decisions tonight it's more of is this something you want to move forward with and kind of what what type of of rates Revenue scenario exemptions those type of things should we put in these preliminary legal documents keeping in mind that at your meeting where you're actually adopting that initial resolution in I think we said that June early July time frame is when you'll actually make that decision and those are the rates that'll go on the on those notices is that that go L any further questions U from Mr R cheer lady spinner I could uh I just had one I think this is the public some of the Public's too uh some of their uh what they worry about okay on a business say you have a business that has a 2,000t office and then they have 50,000 100,000 foot of barns is that going to be taxed like I said generally barns in those type of structures aren't I have seen cases where where they are charged so I've seen um in in Central Florida Cal there's what they classify as barns horse barns are you know multi-million dollar race horses they're nicer than than my home they have tile floors they have you know hot water the electric air conditioning you know I wouldn't even really classify it as a bar those types of things are are going to be Char if it's similar to to a commercial structure it's enclosed it's heated and cooled it has you know water electricity those aren't the only determining factors but those are the things that kind of think about if it's a pole barn with a dirt floor no power you know I can almost guarantee you that's not going to be charged and if it is I'm I'm assuming the board's going to want to not charge and is going to give the county manager Direction hey don't charge these type of structures and we can make those Corrections most of those structures are going to be on a properties anyways and regardless of what type it is they're not going to char but if it's on a commercial parcel with a business like you said probably not going to be charged but I can't 100% guarantee it the intent isn't to charge hold I I'll tell you that that's not not what this is about that that was big contention last time the board reviewed this that was the biggest contention so the businesses are going to be treated the same as the primary structure the one that has the air conditioning the toilets the bathrooms the the those type of items air conditioned heat that's yeah that's generally correct okay okay and I I know that in the um one of the previous meeting Mr Tatum came from um ly concern about the pole bonds at his lumber mill and things like that those kind of situations so that those kinds of structures would not be yeah and I I specifically looked at some of those and made sure they weren't on there on some different Parcels I don't recall who the owner was or what the parcels were but I but I know after discussions with with staff that was a big concern and we went and looked at a number of those and verified they I didn't find any that were on there but I may also not know so if there's something that you know the property appraiser has decided is a primary structure and needs to be valued and is taxable and it you know it it may be on and um but you know you don't necessarily have to follow those classifications the the board can can decide no we're going to treat these particular ones differently than the property appr appraiser is treating them for avalor tax purpos so so there is that process there available I would caution you not to just grant tons of those exemptions and undermine the methodology but if it's stuff like that that truly shouldn't be charged and it's just on there because of the way it's coded currently then then we can address that and like I said that's not the intent is not the Char commissioner Thompson excuse me so all the barns all they would be charged would be on their office facility correct that's the intent yeah correct it it depends on your definition of a barn but generally correct open structure generally not going to be Char any other questions from the V just going to say there's if anybody from the audience wants yeah one of these packets there's a bunch of them right there on the table and there will be uh an opportunity you know for public hearing and to hear the comments from the um the citizens so it's there's no decision being made here tonight just discussion the other no okay from the proper the appraisal office that or there's other companies I don't know if you have someone locally perhaps or close by that does that type of thing in Jacksonville or somewhere but if not we we work with a company to mail out notices from time to time different areas around the state so we could assist with that okay there's a lot that has to be considered in this whole situation so again um there'll be an opportunity to hear from the citizens about their concerns and questions um put toight is not that Forum okay thank you um we're going to proceed on to the um item seven the ambulance wait time fee schedule Mr Carter M chair board uh tonight we're coming before you with a request that's become quite the epidemic around the the state and Country really for uh when we transport a patient to the hospital the hospitals are using essentially our stretchers as the waiting rooms um so what we're trying to do is just recoup some of that money that's being lost when we're on on wall times at the hospital I've presented you with a uh fee schedule in your packet uh but essentially we would charge a base rate of $168 at the first 20 minutes of a wait time at the hospital and we have a patient on our stretcher and then every quarter every 15 minutes following that 20 minutes we would charge $63 every 15 minutes um once we pass pass the hour threshold we would recharge That Base rate in addition to the quarterly rate so $231 at that 65 minute Mark and then that continues on for as long as we're we're holding the wall there so every hour that base rate would be recharged um along with the quarterly rate put that uh into actual numbers for an example for you for a a 2hour and five minute wait time at the hospital uh we would build a hospital $945 that's no cost to the citizens of braford County it's just a way for us to recoup some of that money that's being uh lost when we're on the wall at the hospital and if you've ever been at the emergency room and waiting sometimes patient might be in that hall for about 23 hours absolutely [Music] um the um request is coming um to Institute this wait time fee schedule and what is the will of the the board um Mr Carter is asking for approval so I'll ask for a motion um or entertain a motion for this yeah I'll make a motion Chief Carter moves forward with those wait times and the fee schedule to the hospitals certainly want to recoup as much cost as we can I'll make that motion motion by commissioner D second by commissioner Rey we got you all right any further discussion all in favor sign I I for and the clerk's report Mr conson I don't really have anything uh this meeting we're uh anticipating getting all the Department budgets in tomorrow constitutional budgets in tomorrow and uh we'll know a lot more about the Outlook just from the expense Side by then okay and we'll know more by June when property appr appraiser presents the all right and the sheriff said he's going to have his own first thing in the morning um but I encourage all of the Constitutional everybody to get your budget in so that we can make some informed decision about our budget thank you Mr couns uh a sheriff report Sheriff Gordon Smith now I come before you tonight uh reference the proclamation for the law enforcement memorial month in regards to it invite yall out next Thursday law enforcement memorial will be at Northside come out and join us that is at 6 6:00 come out and join celebrate uh in honor of the Fallen men and women of law enforcement in our area in Bradford Union counties big Correctional turnout just pay respect and honor to them just a special week we did great for uh Corrections and uh we're doing a lot for the uh deputies as we move forward so with that being said that's all I have I've got it here just for a signature if you'all want to do that yes and Madame chair we'd like to see you there and be able to read it for us if could I would love to do so we'd love to have you there okay be an honor and all the rest of Commissioners y'all come join us get to see everybody in the area thank you at this time we'll um ask for a motion for um approval of the Proclamation declaring um May 2024 as law enforcement appreciation month as well make motion to approve the proclamation all right motion by commissioner dhy there second second by commissioner Thompson for the question discussion all in favor sign I I 40 thank you Sheriff kind of manager report thank you madam chair we have a uh request to apply for hmgp funding and this time I'd like to ask Lieutenant Brad Whit to come up and uh thank you Mr corn and good evening board it's it's always good to see you especially uh you know when we've got some good news we could possibly go for um for the county you know when we start looking at Grants one of the toughest thing is trying to match the right project to the right grant and um when opportunities come along we we want to make sure that we're we're making good decisions as far as that goes so uh this year um because of last year's impact of hurricane Adalia to our our region the State of Florida or FEMA through the State of Florida turned on the hazard mitigation grant program and Bradford County became eligible for those funds uh those funds exist for mitigation activities um now even though it's fairly funded like I said it's managed through the division of Emergency Management uh with the state and there's some special things that are going to come into play with that I'm going get to here in just a minute so generally speaking though hmgp funds carry a 25% non-federal match 25% the county a lot of times for us fiscally constrained counties that that puts us out of the Run um we we generally can't meet that match uh especially on larger projects and so what happens we don't put in for this money and a time period goes by and and other counties that were not initially eligible they are able to come in uh especially larger counties put in for that money and get it um so we we always want to take advantage of that when we can well this year the State of Florida is actually um put into place Appropriations for fiscally constrained counties to apply for a waiver for that match so the state will pay that so what I'm about to tell you about will uh could potentially come at no cost to the county and that's what makes it so exciting so after looking at all the projects that we have going on going through that process uh looking at the very strict eligibility requirements that come with hmgp funds uh looking back at consultations we've had with mitigation Specialists on uh you know previous opportunities of what would and what wouldn't work uh ultimately we come tonight want to ask to apply to do a retrofit an upgrade to the Sam Lake box cover structure three pipes uh three pipes has largely been in the same condition for for many many years um currently it is a manual chain and pulley system uh that requires somebody to go out and pull chains to get them open uh fighting against the pressure of the water fighting against um anything that may have gotten in there and and jamm the system up and then relies on gravity to bring it back down which also uh you know sometimes H uh hampers our ability to be able ble to do that so uh working with our County manager Office along with Public Works um we work County engineer and got a scope put together on what it would actually cost to automate these gates to change the structures to be automated to where instead of taking Crews of people out there and delaying the time that it takes to open these Gates when uh the Swan River Water Management levels are met we could actually go out and uh via the use of of you know electric motors be able to open and close those Gates um efficiently safely quickly uh obviously the quicker we can get those gates open when we meet those levels the better we can manage those water levels and help to prevent flooding on that lake so in working with um working with our County engineering firm uh we got a a spec put together on doing a project like this uh we believe that again upgrading these to a powered system will not only improve the efficiency uh of the gates but also the effectiveness of our flood control measures uh we our aim is to provide a more consistent and timely response to changing water levels so once those levels are met um if that's in the middle of the night if that's over the weekend that uh we're able to get those opened and and let that water start draining out a lot quicker so in working with our County engineer um the project it really took on a lot uh a lot more than what we initially expected and those funds came out to be the expected price about 900 well $953,000 so almost a million doar again without a waiver probably never could consider this in Bradford County however uh the State of Florida as I said turned on that um appropriation for the fiscally constrained counties to be able to get that match waiver meaning that 238,000 some odd dollars we would normally have to pay to get this grant off the table if we get that waiver completely free to the county so uh what I'm here tonight to ask for is the uh blessing of the board to apply for the grant as well as apply for the cost match waiver of course if we're awarded the grant if the state deems this is a worthy mitigation project we're taking on and they award that Grant to us and they award that match waiver to us it would come back to you guys with that contract at that point uh for our County attorney to be able to look over to make sure that we are in fact getting what we want which is um this mitigation project at no impact to the county um so that's what we're here tonight to ask for is just that permission to apply for the grant as well as the match waiver and of course answer any questions about this uh potential project you may have any any questions on the board so I'll entertain a motion then um to allow them to apply for the grant and for the waiver yes I'll make motion to apply for the um hmgp funding second okay motion by commissioner reic second by commissioner dhy any further questions or discussion all in favor by the sign I I for all thank you thank you uh Madam chair Item B is that we walked onto the agenda as a resolution for a supplemental agreement with fdot um we would like to receive additional funding from them in the amount of $800,000 and it has to be it has to be lished in the form of a resolution Mr command you want to read the resolution yes Madam chair our resolution of the board of County commissioners of Bradbery County Florida approving an amendment to the state bu Grant agreement with Florida Department of Transportation for the design construction and engineering and inspection for road construction of Northwest 53rd Avenue Northwest 2 219th Street Northwest 4 41st Street Avenue from County Road 225 to Northwest County Road 225 providing direction for staff and providing an effective date then obain a motion for approval I'll make a motion to uh approve the resolution is read second second motion by commissioner read second by commissioner D any further question or discussion all in favor by sign I I I okay no oppose for that's all I have Madam chair he Mr Commando thank you madam chair so as you know because of sunshine laws y all can't talk to each other um and as commissioner Andrews is not able to be here she had submitted some proposed changes to the county manager evaluation form that I had sent out during the last meeting so at this point unless um I really need some direction from the commission as a whole obviously you can see what the preference of commissioner Andrews is I don't know if you want to take each one of her suggested changes one by one if you want to make a motion to approve or deny as a whole or if you have any additional recommended changes um Mr Commando I I did have some and I I didn't submit those but what I was wondering is if you could um include some descriptives of from the actual duties um responsibilities that they're in section 4 a through Q of the manager's contract um an example being um um this example the physical management uh so if we can just use some of the languages directly from that so that way he's being evaluated on the actual d duties that he's performing the evaluation format and and the the form itself it's it's good but it's more General but generally speaking when you're doing the evaluation is based on the performance of those particular duties that the person is doing some of that is inclusive in um the document that you presented to us um but it's more General um you know it um assesses his individual characteristics which he is a wonderful has wonderful character about um some of those um items from a through Q if they could be put into into the evaluation form big one of those examples is he attends U commissioner meetings those are things you know that he does so if we could put um uh some of those um those in there it would be a more meaningful evaluation if that makes sense I just need direction from the commission as a whole as to what okay amendments if any want us and what I was just referring to is the actual descriptions of what his duties are to be um included in on the evaluation form that way he's getting some um direct feedback um from the board if I make uh I'll be honest with you uh Commissioners um I'm happy with just the way it is just the way it came from the county attorney um again I'll say it again just like I said last time Mr corn already put together what about a half hour presentation on the board that we all have seen um I mean as to all the accomplishments that he's already had uh what these plans are for the future future and um so just with that alone um I could come up with my evaluation just from that but with what the attorney provided it's got spaces on each one of these things to write down any comments you want to write down whatever you got to say so my my vote would be just to leave it just like it is fill it out however you want when you uh read it yourself and evaluate it and turn it into the attorney are you going to make a motion sure I'll make a motion to leave it just the way it is uh make your own comments on it turn it into the attorney and go from there a second there was a motion on the floor from um commissioner reic to leave it as it is for the evaluation and it was second by um Mr Thompson um but for discussion purposes um when we are evaluating a person it should be based on the duties that that person is assigned to do and the generic does clude generally some of those things um but if if we're to give the feedback that it's going to be constructive and useful it would be important to have the language that's in the descriptors of those duties um and so that that would be my concern it it it's when we give our evaluation um it's going to be important to be able to to do that I know we can write the summary uh on the different sections of it but if it were in the evaluation itself it would be more helpful second on the floor any further discussion all right all in favor of going with the evaluation as is um say I hi hi and just one day and the next question I have is um what kind of you already have the evaluation tool at this point what kind of time frame do you need to if you email me back to responses I'll compile them so they can be presented to you I just it would help if if yall would just kind of set a deadline [Music] um we want to get that back within two weeks they just reasonable time for two weeks thank you okay and that's all I have madam what and two weeks from today would be the the 30th anything further Mr CL I'm sorry no Madam chair thank you okay all right commissional comment um yeah you Thompson I have I just want to thank everyone for being here tonight and um as we move forward I know more and more people will be here so so it'll be good thank and just to reassure the citizens you will your input will be considered and you'll have a chance um to answer the questions and then I know in certain settings you can just speak from the audience but we try to keep um in order and so that we can get through our agenda uh if the issue is not um for public comments at particular time and it's not to just you know to just ignore your okay but but we'll be willing to hear it um I just want to um just encourage everybody to um help keep our our students and our kids safe it's going to be graduation tomorrow school is out next week so you're going to have a lot of young people are running around so um let's try to keep everybody safe and U congratulations to our graduating seniors that are coming up this year and um I know I don't know if Mr do he's back there but the rain has hampered some of their work and so we're getting a lot of complaints from citizens that their roadsides need Mo it's not that they ignoring you but when you have wet surfaces and the water in the dit it um impedes the equipment um to be able to get really deep into those ditch areas but Mr Dodge and his road crew are going to be getting back on task when we can get a little drier weather um Al also and I failed to um give recognition to our um late Governor amob Graham who passed away and the family had a service for him this past week he was a strong Gator um um fan and um had a great love for the University um so we keep um let us keep his family um in in um your thoughts and and prayers he was a good Governor um they had a really wonderful grand opening for the Hub and for the art program in Hampton it was well attended and they are going to be providing some great Services there to the citizen um not only for Bradford but the surrounding County so we had a good showing from our um our County Employees the far and commissioner dor and others that were there our County managers so let's continue to support those um those types of services and that was and as we just in employing our board and our our cler Department as we're pondering over the budget we're trying to look at those things um considering all things and how we can best make the right decision for our County um and for our constituents as well um and making sure that we consider all of the aspects of of the budget and what we need to do to um be fair and Equitable to our citizens as well Madam chair yes go ahead commission de you have something no go ahead um I just want to recognize I think we have a new graduate uh in the room tonight not yet it's tomorrow it's tomorrow okay what was tonight tonight was a special award for you thought well when you're getting all of those Awards he's gotten his Masters and tomorrow he'll be getting his degree from the law uh Center and so he deserves a real a roaring round of of Applause Mr Ric's over here kicking me in the leg and he said he just graduated yeah so so you're looking you're looking forward EV what was you you went to something special tonight for for Coulson the Deans award that's a big deal yeah yeah that's that's a very big deal I apologize I I I couldn't remember what you told me I apologize I just want to recogniz but his official graduation is tomorrow you're looking at the future um attorney and judge so the sky is the limit um congratulations thank you yes all right um I think that was it Madam chair I would like to add one more thing I forgot I'd like to remind all the Commissioners that you have to complete your form six and you have to do that online and it has to be completed by July 1st all right thank you anything else with a good order if not this meeting is adjourned