[Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] m [Music] if you wish to speak to any item on the agenda or during the public comment portion of the meeting please fill out a speaker card each person addressing the board shall have three minutes to complete his or her comments on each agenda item for which he or she has filled out a card the chair has the discretion to determine or alter the time limits on any agenda item the board of County Commissioners requests that speakers appearing under the public comment section of the agenda limit their comments or presentations to matters related to County Business that are within the board's Control Authority and jurisdiction good morning I'd like to call the February 20th meeting to order and uh is Pastor Tom Porter here yes sir good morning Pastor please come up give us your sir prayer this morning sir father God we thank you for the privilege it is to live in bavard County we thank you for Law and for order and we ask for your leading in this meeting today and may it well be productive beneficial to the betterment of the people of Bard County and it's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray amen thank you so much Pastor stand please for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you uh can I have a motion for approval of the minut from the December 5th meeting please there's a motion by commissioner Pritchett seconded by commissioner Goodson any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I motion carries we're under resolutions Awards and presentations this is uh commissioner pritchetts but I believe commissioner felner is going to be reading the resolution or you can do we have the representatives here today for the women in construction maybe they're out building something maybe um can we move it maybe later to the bottom or something AB so give them time to maybe be here later absolutely no problem sir okay we're on the consent agenda there are no cards for the consent agenda is there anybody from the commission that has any comments or or cards they'd like to pull for the consent agenda motion to approve there's a motion to approve by commissioner pritchet second commissioner Tobi second it any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I motion carries all right let's go to development Environmental Service Group Planning and Development who we got over there we starting off with you mark yes commissioner uh good morning um G want a petition of vacate a public utilities mint uh in Barefoot Bay uh District 3 uh vacating part of two Public Utilities mins uh to combine a house and a garage with a Breezeway no issues okay there's no issues on that is there any uh motion on the floor motion to approve commissioner Taya moves to approve I'll second commissioner felner seconds any discussion all in favor signify by saying I motion carries go for it Mark G2 is an ordinance amending Geographic boundaries in District 1 uh for the rod and Bridge Municipal service taxing unit uh in 2017 the county entered into a stipulated settlement agreement and on January 9th 2024 the city uh of Coco and uh the county uh entered an Ila this is a requirement uh to uh adopt an ordinance is there any motion on the floor to approve commissioner Goodson is okay I'll sorry about that I will second the motion all right second the motion and we'll go into discussion with the cards thank you so motion to approve by commissioner Goodson second by commissioner pritchet uh we have Katie Delaney who would like to speak on this and Katie guess what yes sir three minutes thank you I've learned thank you uh good good morning commission I uh as I was looking at this I didn't see anything about storm water conveyance systems and from what I understand that is also a piece of this that that um we need to be uh funding um or taxing for I guess uh as I've been talking to my neighbors in this community they are very upset about how this is all going on how little um public knowledge is going out about this um most people don't even know this is happening and so of course I've been I've been telling them um but we already have a major uh we already have major flooding issues in canaval groves and if this neighborhood goes through and connects to the county storm water conveyance systems as it's planned right now it's just going to up the burden of our systems as is um so I hope that you guys push for another plan for this um figure out a way to um if we can't stop this development from going in even though this this piece of land has a crazy amount of wetlands on it I believe it's 70% is Wetlands um we got to find another way to do this because it's going to flood people's properties and I understand that you know this this group who who owns this property they have their property rights for their property but what about everybody around them who has their property rights and we've been there far longer than this group has owned this property they bought this property knowing that um access was an issue they bought this property knowing that wetlands and were an issue so at what point is it buyer's responsibility and why do we the people have to pay for that and why do our investments have to be at stake because they didn't do their due diligence so thank you thank you very much Katie um s Sullivan you have 30 seconds I'm kidding Sandra good morning Sandra Sullivan uh it's so nice to have the cameras on again thank you so much for that uh decision to uh fix that um first of all I want to say that this uh agenda item goes back to a May 23rd 202 2023 meeting with uh an access route to Gom Parkway I had spoken to commissioner felner on this item because I had seen the lobbyist for bright line and uh he had uh told me this was about uh uh burrow pets uh so I felt like when we're talking about putting an egress that is going to impact and turn a Rural Road into a through fair to a major road that at least the people who live on that road should have been given within 500 ft should have been given notice this feels like a lack of transparency in hiding things from the public because under the stipulated agreement that governs this you're putting a rural a road through a rural community to a large development rather than the option for the county was to put in a road down here near in the um uh it that would require um eminent domain uh and that was not done you chose a cheaper route but the problem I have is the lack of transparency for the public now on the second part the stipulated agreement includes two things it includes mstu for Road and Bridge and mstu for storm water and so this was brought up when you guys approved this about the storm water issue I want to read from when that stipulated agreement was approved what the assistant County manager and former Planning and Zoning director said he said this piece of property it's recognized as being fairly wet just the way it's laid out in your package you can see what's uh White area that is proposed for residential development pretty much everything that's not white is pretty much retention in open space so they're already recognizing a fairly constrained property he say goes on to say uh if who's the developer of this property to the greatest extent possible to keep all the storm water within the property to avoiding th those two permits if they choose um we'll be ensuring that they're not exasperating and already poor condition that exists in Canaveral Groves and certainly not creating a new one the issue here is flooding um and when I talked to after the last meeting to the um County attorney he said he was going to go ahead and issue a storm water uh conveyance permit for them to move forward and I questioned and felt that this should come before the public and have the public in those areas with some transparency weigh in on this very important decision since it very likely will flood their properties thank you thank you very much okay we'll be moving on to oh we have a vote on this do we not yes uh do I have a motion for approval all right all right thank you very much I'm 75 and I'm getting a little cognit deficient all right there you go just don't start calling me Joe Biden okay I'll be upset with that all right uh all in favor of the motion signify by saying I I'll oppose nay motion carries all right let's go to new business and I would like to try to get a little bit of the mundane portion of the new business out of the way uh so we can get into a meat of some some of the things that we need to discuss today so I'm going to go to miscellaneous on new business and 1.5 resolution declaring the intent of the board to not make a finding of critical need pursuant to section 2.9.3 point1 who would be handling that that Mr chair that's that's mine are we talking are we talking uh uh I5 you said yes correct uh thank you Mr chair uh 2008 73% of Republicans Democrats and non-affiliated voters voted for a referendum putting a cap on annual increases in county and advolum revenue I've previously brought forward resolution seeking the board support in intent not to bust the voter cap uh approved Charter cap there's no fiscally responsible reason outside of a declared emergency why would be necessary to do so uh while the charter provides the county manager is in control of the County's budget it's our job to give him directions therefore being uh fiscally conservative I ask the board's support uh and not busting a uh citizen approved Charter cap uh for the 2024 2025 uh uh budget uh the motion would be moved to adopt the attached resolution declaring the board's intent not to bust the charter cap that's the motion M uh Mr chair okay thank you um there's a motion on the floor and I have a card on this but let's see if we can get through a second and End discussion anybody's going to second this second commissioner pritchet has seconded all in favor oh okay one more card uh Sandra solivan please you've got a card please the problem I Sandra Sullivan South Patrick Shores the problem I see with this is the county has been kicking the can down the road for for so long it's nice to say let's let's not bust the cap but the reality is we're not being very fiscally responsible and being proactive manag management versus reactive management so case in point back in 2016 there was an impact fee study done on Transportation now we have a budget Workshop coming up hopefully that doesn't get cancelled um like it was last year uh but going to that that uh 2016 it was recommended a 65% increase on impact fees for single family homes to meet Transportation needs we're now at point of order Mr chair hold on please let me hear the point of order for BCC 9731 any person addressing the board on an agenda item shall limit his or her comments to the agenda item that has been specified in the card filled out by the speaker this item is dealing with a charter cap it has nothing to do uh with impact fees I'm more than willing to listen but these are two totally different subjects according to well they're related because if you're not proactive then you have to bust the cap because you're not being fiscally responsible we get we won't get off on the sidetracks today let's continue on with what commissioner Tay is uh so I'm going to be refused speaking on the issue that's going I'm not refusing you speaking I'm going by the rules and regulations okay as you at like whatever thank you very much for your comments did you have sit down or she get she doesn't have to sit down she has to continue on with what we're talking about which is the agenda item without getting off subject well it's not getting off subject to say that the reason you're busting the cap and the reason you would need to bust the cap is not being proactive fiscally for example by not raising impact fees on on the transportation we have a $699 million deficit on capacity needs in Bard County according to your budget last year which I paid over $50 for a records request on because you canceled the meeting so unless we're not proactive we have impact fees for transportation not increased in 23 years and for other impact fees not increased in 32 years and we're kicking the can down and you guys took a really sneaky vote before Christmas I resent that and you and your suggestions that we're taking sneaky V is out of order well when people are involved with their holidays not paying attention to what this commission is doing I'm not going to put up with this Miss elivan please sit down you can laugh as much as you want but you're not doing this in this meeting Mr Tobias yes uh uh uh I think we are need to remind uh the speaker to adhere to board policies and making uh her comments if she cannot adhere to the board policies and continue to disrupt the meeting uh I think we ask her to uh vacate the lecturn and uh go from there which I just did okay I just wanted to make that point of order so it's extremely clear thank you I appreciate it we have a motion on the floor we've had some discussion that from Miss Sullivan do we have any discussion from the board yes commissioner Goodson thank you thank uh I will not be supporting this because I know the public voted for it but at the same token I cannot foresee the future of what you might need or what might happen that we have to do something we're put in a position where we have to vote so I will not be supporting this thank you m thank you chairman and I understand that thank you so much there's a motion on floor it's been seconded is there commissioner pritchet you have a comment please thank just this is something that commissioner Taya has brought every year and I had the same questions so it's just the intent not to do it and it's just for this budget year and I ask the county manager and he feels very confident that we will not be having to um do anything above what we're um supposed to do so that's what made it comfortable every year for me when I do it okay thank you uh County Manager do you have any comments the only comment I make is that this resolution doesn't mandate this it only expresses the board's intent and then through the public hearing process the board will make the final determination relative to this so this is only expressing intent to give me guidance on how to initially develop the budget but that's it thank you very much any more discussion all in favor signify by saying I all oppose May the motion carries okay so much for the mundane conversation I thought I was going to go through resolution declaring the intent of the board to adopt budget that would not construct constitute a tax increase I6 is that also yours uh yes Mr chair thank you um as you're aware there's obviously a difference with a tax increase and a cap uh increase thus uh requiring two different resolutions this resolution provide direction to the county attorney that the board would not vote uh for a budget that requires a tax increase as defined under Florida statute section 200.0 65 a lot of cities don't raise the millage but taxpayers are still paying more due to an increased in values with the legislature has gotten wise on and and sponsored uh HB 1195 these tax increases have been advertised and we don't want to give any more money to the Florida today uh I want to thank a large part of the efforts of the county manager is clear that we will be able to continue to move through the budget process without raising taxes however I'm seeking support of the board today to commit to our fiscal conservative principles and promise not to raise taxes on the uh citizens of Bard County the motion is to adopt the attached resolution declaring the board's intent not to raise taxes this budget year okay there is a motion on the floor I'd like to get it seconded and then I'll recognize Miss Sullivan for her comments is there a second second I'll second okay thank you motion by commissioner toaya seconded by commissioner feltner uh Miss Sullivan would you like to make your comments please before before you get started I'd like to apologize for being a little an angry with you okay I I don't want these meetings to go this way I I would prefer to just try to do it a little bit nicer and I will try to make sure that all of the rules are followed properly so if you would go ahead with your comments I'd appreciate it good morning Sandra Sullivan again you know it's great to not have an attent I fully expected that we were going to have a budget increase or a tax increase last year busting the cap related to our budget so you may I from my perspective you you got through another year without doing that but I'm just wondering you know I'm waiting for that shoe to drop on this um many counties throughout the state uh have done impact fees and because of growth straining infrastructure have uh implemented uh increased impact fees a very least CPI like we charge you charge the people CPI on uh you know on sewage infrastructure and such but there's none on the impact fees so I just would like very simply to say please do an impact fee study and start addressing what our costs that we're looking at and how we're going to pay to fix them because in the the uh October 10th when you requested to the state you asked for a new water plant for Mims a new water plant cost funding for uh uh Barefoot Bay and and $17 million for Port St John you know we don't have a way to pay for those so when we're talking about not having tax increases we have to find a way to to cover these expenses and be proactive thank you thank you very much uh Miss pret do you have your light lit up there would you like to make comments any other comments by the board okay all in favor signify by saying I I all oppos nay the motion carries all right we'll go to i7 uh are you going to handle us Mr County manager or who would you like to have handle it this was a request that was made would you like me to handle it well I'm happy to do it if you like go no please uh this was a request uh to The Chair by bright line uh asking for support report for the inter city Rail between Orlando and Tampa um the TPO issued a similar letter to the draft that is before the board today for its consideration if the board approves it then the chair will sign it and we will send it off to the governor okay uh is there a motion on the floor to accept Miss pret if you take the floor please I'll make a motion to thank you so much there's a motion to accept ccept is there a second I'll second there's a motion to second is there any discussion I know that uh Chuck wants to make a comment here Chuck come on up make a comment I was hoping this wasn't going to be the first one um I don't approve of sending the approval letter uh bright line is a private company then they receive grants from the state they have they also fund the project with pabs private activity bonds which private activity bonds which are zero interest that serve the public interest and get paid back over a long period of time they built their terminal in Miami and the same parent company built two 38 story buildings next to it so they they're profiting from it if you look at the the train from Orlando to Cisco park it makes four stops at each place where there's going to be Urban growth from Orlando Bard county has no benefit from the train at all other than if you own a funeral home the you know we've it's just it it it until we see a benefit from the train I don't see sending anything for approval if we don't send a letter to the governor it sends a message that that we need you know we we're not going to grow without we're going to have Urban growth spreading sprawl in West just like they did in Miami we've got we're sending two rockets a day up at least once a week now and uh we're going to bring in more business more Industries here and hopefully I'm going to help try to do that and with that we will probably EV eventually we will get a train stop here but the more pressure we put on them to give us something back I mean we've got a Catholic Church in Melbourne that's building a concrete wall to keep the students from walking out to the train tracks and the entire path from the airport to the Indian to the St John's river is fenced on both sides of the track it's not fenced in bouvard County you know it's and I drive across the track a lot and at least once a week I'll see a part of a car sticking over the track and that train goes pretty fast you know it's but I I would I would not send the letter that would be my position if I were on the board thank you thank you very much chuck uh is there discussion from the commission hearing no discussion all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose nay the motion carries thank you very much okay we're going to I8 and I think commissioner Tob is handling this one thank you Mr chair um as many of you aware Val uh Val steel uh chair Steel's brother was a county commissioner for District 3 the one I currently represent from 1970 to 1984 he served as a town of Melbourne uh Beach council person Melbourne Beach mayor and the St John's Water Management governing board uh he was described as the Florida today as a futurist and his work uh with his work he accomplished is still impacting uh the county to this day some of his major accomplishments include moving the main Courthouse to Vieira the building of the speard Holland Golf Course the creation of the Archie car National Wildlife Refuge and he was instrumental in protecting and destroying hundreds of thousands of Acres of Marshland therefore I I find it pertinent that after all his years to service to uh Bard County and the various communities we rename coconut park uh Coconut Point Park in melber Beach uh to valm Steel Park um I'm going to turn it over to uh chairman Steel here I'm in a uh somewhat similar position I to have a brother that has uh done uh absolutely wonderful things and uh I certainly live in the shadow of of my brother and Jason um uh doesn't uh necessarily do that but uh he's following in his in his brother's footsteps and and and that's uh amazing so uh the funding for the signage and the plaque uh would be taken out of the South Bard special Recreation uh District fund um um so the motion there will be two motions uh the first motion would be to wave policy BCC 58 um and the second motion would be to rename the park known as Coconut Point Park to Val M steel Park and give the authority to chair steel to use South Bard Rec uh special Recreation District mstu to to fund to design the memorial plaque and the language to be put on it so um i' like to hand it back uh to you uh chairman steel for um some added color on on on your brother well first of all let me see if we can get a second on the first motion there's a second by commissioner feltner and uh it's going to be difficult for me a little bit so uh all in favor of waving the rules signified by saying I I I all oppose nay motion carries I think you want do second motion yes I do um there's another motion to rename the park to valm Steel park and if there's a motion forward by there already is is there a second for that thank you very much there's a second by commissioner felner once again and commissioner pritet and before we get into a vote on that I just would like to make just a couple of small comments number one uh my brother Val probably his famous quote was he stole it from Ronald Reagan there's no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit and I can tell you as he being my hero since 1970 when I moved here I watched him and so many things happened back then that that man did for this County that he didn't really care about who got the credit he just wanted to make sure that Bard County moved forward in an area that was going to make it the best County in in the entire State of Florida I'm not going to get into a big long scenario today about Val steel I think a lot of you people know who he was and a lot of you people in government have figured out what he's done but today I just want to say that I thought long and hard before I wanted before I became decided on what I was going to to do with this issue myself so I called the county attorney and I said I I think I need to abstain from this vote today because I don't want to see it or want it to be any kind of conflict of interest and Morris said to me you cannot abstain from voting so unfortunately I cannot abstain from voting and I'm certainly not going to vote against it um I loved my brother I think there's a lot of people in this County that love my brother and I think people that do public service for long periods of time deserve to have the recognition specifically when they did things like move the Titusville Courthouse from Titusville to right here where we sit today other things that he did I'll just mention briefly is we used to have an old drawbridge on 192 when I was a young Republican president we used to go out there and and and protest Melbourne Causeway protest day and my brother intervened with the Department of Natural Resources and the governor and finally ultimately we got the funding for the Melbourne Causeway and then the oal causeway and then the pinita causeway so I hope and pray today that the board uh decides to do this if they don't I'll obviously be a little bit upset not from a standpoint of being upset with them just uh because I think he deserves it so with that I have I think I know just going to get ready to call Sandra up Sandra as for the Sandra Sullivan as for the Merit I have no no comment there but I I just find it kind of odd that you know Meritt Island got raked over the coals for spending money on signs and uh yet this uh item by District three is paying for signs and monies and we're giving away our our Parks because apparently we can't afford them so we keep giving them away to cities and getting taxed multiple times to to go to them so I just this just a very simple comment it's just like why are we spending unnecessary money thank you very much commissioner Goodson thank you thank you chairman uh this is no reflection on Val still or on the chairman but what I don't understand I'm a little confused on is we're naming a renaming a park for a gentleman that served the county very well for 12 years but yet years I'm sorry 20 then okay 20 but yet we don't rename parks for County employees that serve agencies for 30 years we don't rename a park for a little guy I'm no more special than anybody else but at the same token I do have issues with this but uh it's definitely no reflection on your you chairman or on Val seill thank you okay there's a motion on the floor in a second any more discussion all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose nay nay motion carries congratulations just give me a minute call I'll be all right thank you just thank you all right let's get back in order here uh we should go up to development Environmental Services Group on new business the adoption of the Savar River Lagoon protect plan I believe that would be Virginia hi Virginia good morning Commissioners yes this is um uh adoption of the 2024 update to the save our indan River Lagoon project plan which was unanimously recommended by the citizen oversight committee I know there are a number of committee members here in case the the board has any questions um you have the standard list of requested actions associated with this plan so we can hit the ground running and try to move those projects along as quickly as possible um the this particular update adds um $27.2 million for projects nine new projects and modification of five previously approved septic to sewer projects uh $4.1 million to um improve the cost effectiveness of those septic sewer projects um it also updates the revenue growth rates for the 10-year collections of the tax and updates the inflation applied to um the construction projects funded through the plan and it adjusts the homeowner cost share for septic to sewer connections uh where there is a pump involved we've seen those costs go up quite a bit so this increases that homeowner reimbursement cap from 18,000 to 24,000 um and that's my summary unless the board wants additional details motion to approve a motion from commissioner prer to approve is there a second I don't believe there's any other cards how about discussion there's no you want to discuss robt all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose nay oh I didn't see a card from you Sandra I don't I don't have any other cards see any other cards come on up Sandra that's all right I do I don't have any cards on I that's fine if you have if you you can fill it out later that's fine go ahead thank you uh Sandra Sullivan South Patrick Shores so the the bottom line issue for the lagon that I have concerned with this plan and I've been coming up here since I think 2018 each year about the plan so 96% of the seagrass this was a presentation by MRC this a little bit outdated 96 6% of the SE was gone sorry and what we see is as of 2010 it plummeted and continued to plumm it ever since so what changed in 2010 did the mock change did the septic change did the sewer change no but there was something that change I want to just bring up that we used to have a very wonderful MRC Lagoon plan report card this is the last one that was produced and in the year before this was produced the county increased their herbicide budget by two and a half times no no surprise that we degraded from an f+ plus to an F minus minus well other counties improved we're the only County that is tax and yet we have the worst degreg um two counties that banned their own use of herbicides they increase and so what we see in their monitoring is that even where water quality is above the target of the state even when the nutrient loading is above the target we continue to lose seagrass and so I just want to say you know one of our commissioners promised to ban spraying at herbicides entering the Indian River Lagoon but this is the second year for the uh Lagoon plan that that's not done um so I want to go back to my primary issue is we're not addressing pollutants there still not in the lagon plant even though I believe they're required to be according to the NEP ccmp now what is this tax so if we go back to December 2015 there's a Florida Today article that proposed creating a mock tax and here's my request to the county relating to this Lagoon plan since we're spending 37 I think it's 37% now on mck dredging is that we had a legal opinion from the ag office especially since we're looking at renewing it on whether is legal to use use this tax because in 2016 they tried to change the infrastructure Ser tax so that it would be legal to use this tax for mck and that failed in Appropriations and that was the second time it failed so maybe we need to get an AG opinion especially when we're looking at renew it I believe from what's in the minutes that I believe my personal opinion is this is a bait and switch I call this the St John's River Water Management mck tack since they're responsible so I just want to show you a picture of our spraying canals in South Patrick's Shores and the resulting no seag grass corresponding to that time frame so in conclusion I would just like to say we got mocked because I believe the intent of this tax and why we ended up with 66% mck tax that got rolled back is because that's the intent of it all right thank you very much Ron mayor or Meer did you guys already approve this no we're under discussion okay I'm Ron Meyer uh I uh would uh encourage the commission to vote in favor of this I'm one of the uh people involved which I would not be hooking in or even trying to hook in to the uh sewer uh since I'm 350 ft away from the pipe uh but this would uh enable me hopefully to hook into uh sewer from my 38-year-old septic system so I would encourage you to uh vote in favor of this okay okay thank you Ron um Chuck do you have comments today too also thank you um I um I grew up here uh moved up here from South Florida when I was 6 years old and we used to be able to go out in the Banana River and catch 200 trout in a few hours and you know I had my own views on what I thought was the problem with the the lagon system and I watched the uh citizens citizens oversight committee the other day and I've sat on several committees several boards gone through two State Senate confirmations and I found that this committee was probably the best run I've ever seen and looked into the science and and explained it and I would be very much in favor it the only other thing I would like to add is there are other options besides adding a sewer system to replace a septic tanks there's a ozone UVC light systems that you could put in an existing sewer tank and have drinkable water come out of it and uh I mean it's uh I helped develop a hotel in Orlando and it was going to a two mile run for the sewer system for room hotel and it was cheaper for us to put our own system in with UVC light and ozone and and treat the sewage and there's small systems that are designed for septic tank Replacements and that would be a lot better than you know like Milford Point running a sewer system down there for 30 houses when you know each of the taxpayers could put a system in themselves but I I again I want to compliment the citizens advisory committee more committees like that are what we need in this County they did an excellent job I actually spoke to one of the lead scientists Terry Breeden yesterday uh because she had her seventh grade yearbook at my house that I found while I was cleaning things up from so thank you very much thanks chck uh any comments from the board all in favor of the motion signified by saying I I all oppose nay motion carries all right we are now on 1.2 Public Safety group uh board approval of the interlocal agreement between the sheriff and Bard County Board of County Commissioners for fire rescue dispatch service and utilization of the combined communication efforts and we have the two big dogs up here today Matt Pat good morning sir hand us please uh item I2 we are seeking approval for the interlocal agreement between the sheriff and Bard County Board of County Commissioners for fire rescue dispatch services to authorize the chairman to sign the attached combined Communication Center in a local agreement it is also requested the board delegate the county manager authority to approve necessary and appropriate budget change requests addendums agreements transfers or other required administrative actions during this transition period okay we have any cards on this one no cards this one Michael Bramson hello Michael how are you haven't seen you in a while yes happy New Year it's you um thank you chairman thank you board Mike Bramson I'm the president of The Bard County firefighters Union I'm addressing The Bard County as a whole to thank our dispatchers that are currently working as we speak uh for the service they provide Bard County fire rescue uh we' like to thank you and thank them for their actions their call to actions their dedication to provide the essential Service as the TR First Responders to Bard County I read the interlocal agreement and it is absolutely obvious that the culture of Bard County Fire rescue will be forever changed it should be noted that we not only recognize the need for help in Public Safety in Bard County um and that we can understand that uh the progress that we are working towards in said agreement uh will better the workspace of the dispatchers will create a more comfortable work life balance and in Hope reduce mandatory overtime for the dispatchers we also understand and have read the state's out outline the state of Florida's outline in the Florida emergency communications number 911 state plan for the sake of the emergency response Services of rard County we are very anxious for our brothers and sisters during this imposition and remain supportive of our dispatchers as the services they provide are essential we'd like to uh once again thank those dispatchers for their service and their call to action in Bard County thank you for your time thank you very much Michael uh a commissioner Tobi do you have your light on no okay that's from an old one any more discussion from the board all in favor signify by saying I all oppos nay motion carries thank you very much guys all right we are now going on to uh I3 approval of BCC 62 restaurants and changing facilities and County buildings I believe commissioner toaya is going to ask Mr tus to come up is that correct yes yes Mr chair um the policy uh is a change to BCC 62 to effectuate uh House Bill 1521 passed by the legislature in 2023 um I and I want to thank uh um our public uh Defender blae trus uh for his hard work on this uh he had quite a bit of uh uh opinion and and time that that went into this I think we all have a a um uh a copy of that um since he's much more familiar with State Statute and clearly has dedicated quite a bit of time uh certainly would like to have him come up there uh as you mentioned and speak to this more eloquently than what I could to be clear there are two versions of this one from staff and one that came out of uh District 3 so um with your absolutely Blaze come on up please good morning chairman steel and board of County Commissioners I'm Blaise trus elected public defender for Bard and seal counties this is the issue is the policies imple imple implementation of policy uh for the safety and private spaces act which passed by the legislature in 2023 effec of July 1 2023 this act makes it a first first-degree misdemeanor crime for a person to use the restroom or changing facility of the opposite sex uh that's the first thing it does however it excludes County city and state employees from that criminal conduct in other words it would not be a crime for a County employee to use a restroom or changing facility of the opposite sex the ACT goes on to say however that the city county state government shall enact policy of discipline for County state city employees who in fact use the restroom or changing facility of the opposite sex so human resources department of our county has written policy to implement the uh safety and private spaces act I uh looked at that and disagreed with the HR policy in two important respects the first respect is that the HR policy says that when a County employee sees a person using the restroom or changing facility the opposite sex they shall notify the department director their Department director the department director they may then may look at this and may call law enforcement if appropriate I would argue that is terrible policy it's terrible instruction forther a warrantless arrest to be made for this crime law enforcement has to witness it in person what the HR policy says is to go away not call the police not call the sheriff but inform your department director by then the person is long gone there will never be any apprehension or prosecution if that policy were enacted the commissioner Tobi a policy eliminates that instruction with its elimination it's simply left that law enforcement is to investigate it the employee will know that they shall they should call law enforcement and on scen arrest can be made as a result the second uh area in which I disagree with the HR policy is that the HR policy says for a County employee who sees another County employee use a restroom or changing facility opposite sex uh they shall be subject to the Merit systems policies of bvar County which is a progressive disciplinary policy which can leave up to five uh violations before someone is fired so I submit that is totally wrong as well a a County employee who is using the restroom or chaining facility opposite opposite sex has a serious problem a I would say a serious mental problem there should be no second third fourth or fifth chances that employ should be fired and that's what commissioner Tobias policy says terminated from County employment those are my recommend changes I hope you vote for John Tobias policy changes thank you okay thank you so much blae appreciate it uh Morris did you have comments that you'd like to make on this or how would you like to proceed here I'm happy to answer any questions the board may have um I think the policy that the staff has proposed that I reviewed is in keeping with the statute and there are certainly reasons why we adopted the policies we did as far as Personnel to make it consistent with our Personnel policies and our collective bargaining agreements also it should be noted that the Personnel side of this applies only to Bard County government employees so the public defender will still be able to supervise and instruct his employees regarding this issue and the way he feels appropriate okay so just for my understanding did we merge both of these proposals at this point in time as is that what we've done there are competing proposals there is the one that's Advanced by staff and by HR and the county attorney's office and then there is the revision is proposed by the public defender and forwarded by commission seeing that on the on the agenda I'm only seeing John's on the agenda no it's an attachment Comm so it's under the same item the initial attachment which is it pages on your agenda numbered pages I got it all right thank you so much all right so discussion with commissioner Goodson yes question why U then would we would Mars explain his version of what he wish or what sta what staff wishes well that's what I was hoping was going to happen Mr chair can can we ask the County Attorney to explain the difference between the two to bring to light what yeah because there are some substantial differences with the uh initial proposal as well as does Melissa have something too I'm sorry available to okay thank you I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you John go ahead thank you yeah go ahead please Morris this is something that I think is very important that we need to get straight yes sir so I think most critically the version of this uh forwarded by staff is consistent with our existing Personnel policies it provides that an employee who violates the policy may be subject to discipline up to an including termination as with all of our policies there are the chance for uh you know mitigating circumstances there's due process and hearing rights involved so we would treat this as any other offense under our Personnel policies and obviously as serious offense could be subject to termination on the first time but that may not be appropriate in every imaginable instance of a policy violation for example the policy also governs things such as designation of restrooms so if the AV verion forwarded by the public defender was implemented uh if something maybe signage isn't apparent theoretically that could be a termination offense um so we think it should just be in line with our other Personnel policies and our collective bargaining agreement as far as the reporting of the criminal aspect of it it's important to note that the first thing a governmental entity employee is required to do when someone's in the restroom who shouldn't be a member of the public in the wrong restroom they're supposed to ask them to leave only if they do not leave then does it become a violation so the the whole idea is that they are supposed to leave the idea that we're somehow going to detain them until law enforcement arrives is beyond what any of our employees should be doing we don't want employees attempting to detain someone in a restroom until law enforcement arriv we have other ways um to to address people who have committed a violation like that and have left also because there are a number of exceptions under the statute and when you read the statute some of them are quite complex we wanted to delegate to someone with some supervisory responsibility the decision to make that call when it's an area where mistakes could be made and I'm happy to answer any questions Frank let me add one more point Point um consistent with our Merit system policies which you know I've been uh over for 34 years now um the progressive discipline that was discussed it's different than what you heard this does not mean that someone will get a slap on the wrist uh oral reprimand written reprimand Etc if it's a violation of a existing policy which this would be an employee would be subject to insubordination that could be a dismissal offense at first offense dependent upon the circumstances that are involved so I think it's important that we stay this way with the policy the way it's written because it is consistent with the board's policy and it only applies to board employees okay I have a question for Melissa Melissa how are we going to once we pass one of these get this information out to our staff and our people that are in the field do you have any idea sure once the policy is adopted by the board that would be communicated uh first at the director's level uh and then subsequently we can provide whatever communication and training is necessary to make sure everyone is understanding what their roles and responsibilities are commissioner toaya do you have any other comments sir no I think Morris is and and Frank has done a have done a very good job explaining the difference uh between the two policies I think both of them meet the statutory guidelines it's just a decision that the board wants to go in uh can I ask a question absolutely commissioner Felder commissioner tar are you aware of any other Municipal County constitutional office or any other governmental offices in the county who have taken up the alternative um version as as their policy input in their employee handbook today Mr chair yes sir absolutely I have spoke quite extensively with the public defender on this one I have spoken I have not spoken with any of the other constitutional officers um on that but um should it go in a different direction I may have an amendment that may uh give them the opportunity explicitly to go in a different direction okay just just to clarify nothing we do here today imposes anything on the Constitutional officers and how they run their offices is that correct that is my that is my understanding that's correct yes okay then let's go with commissioner tobias's proposal first and commission and blae tris's proposal first is there a motion to approve that uh I move to approve the attached District three language option for the new Bard County policy BCC 62 restrooms and changing facilities in in in County buildings is there a second hearing no second The Proposal fails is there a motion to approve staff's proposal I make that motion sir commissioner Goodson moves to St to move staff's proposal we'll get to you get you you want to do an amendment before okay yes go ahead thank you uh I I believe this would be a friendly amendment I spoke with this in the uh uh unforeseen uh uh instance of not getting it and it was it was speaking to what uh commissioner feltner uh was dealing with so the amendment I think would be friendly a motion would include authorization but not a requirement for elected County officers the clerk of the court property appraiser Sheriff supervisor of elections and tax collector and any other government agency is occupying or collocating in a county building to install signage on or near the doors of restrooms under their control indicating that such restrooms have been designated exclusively use by males or females I want to thank the county attorney for helping with the language on that but this my understanding is this would give the Constitutional officers uh the ability to go in different direction if they were U if they were so inclined okay let's go with the amendment first is there a motion to accept the amendment question on the amendment commissioner Goodson does um the County Attorney agree with the motion and Frank do you agree with it let's go with County attorney first Morris I it would only affect those restrooms under the control of those officers uh so it seems reasonable that that's under their discretion okay Frank yeah there's no issue from a staff perspective we're we're happy to follow whatever that board direction is given discussion from M commission being said I'll second the the amendment okay there's a motion by commissioner Tobias second by commissioner Goodson on the amendment uh you want to read back the amendment please John sure uh motion includes authorization but not requirement for the elected uh County officers again Clerk of the Court property appraiser Sheriff supervisor election tax collector and any other government agency occupying or collocated in a county building to install signage on or near the doors of restrooms under their control indicating that such restrooms have been designated for exclusive use by males or females that's the motion or that's the amendment okay great um all in favor of the amendment signify by saying I I all oppose nay the amendment carries now let's go back to proposal number one of uh District 3's amend no that F that died Okay cool so we're on staff we're on the staff's approval as amended is there any more discussion all in favor of the staff's approval as amended say you have just approved it right have to make a motion I think we I think we need to approve it let's do it just to be safe all in favor to we need a motion okay we need a motion motion to approve it's a motion to approve by commissioner pritet is there a second I'll second it sir commissioner Goodson second any more discussion all in favor signify by saying I I I I'll oppose nay the motion carries I don't know where I'm going to go change my clothes after the meeting but that's all right all right Mr chair Mr chair can I can I please go back to uh I2 I think uh I we do something in I think we probably missed a motion there so I with your approval I'd like to go back and make a motion uh for board approval of the interlocal agreement between the sheriff and Bard County Board of County Commissioners for fire rescue dispatch service and the UN ization of a combined Communication Center that's the motion it's the one we discussed uh previously there's no changes second okay there's a motion on the floor on the changes of I2 and it's been seconded by commissioner pritchet uh all in favor signify by saying I I I all oppose nay all right we're all cleaned up on I to now commissioner toaya yes yes sir thank you commissioner pret did you have something you wanted to say no sir okay um all right so we are now on County attorney proposed amendment to the bravard county home Rule Charter adding term limits to the officers of Sheriff property appraiser tax collector Clerk of Circuit Court and supervisor of elections thank you Mr chair this was a request by the district one commissioner for board discussion and Direction regarding a proposed amendment to the rard county home Rule Charter that would add term limits to those constitutional elected County offices of Sheriff property appraiser tax collector Clerk of the circuit court and supervisor of elections as proposed uh the term limits would be three consecutive full terms or full year terms no terms commencing prior to the November 5 2024 election would be considered for purposes of calculating the term limit and the request today is to approve legislative intent it's not to adopt this resolution itself to put the item on the ballot which will ultimately require four members voting in favor to do that today is just to approve the legislative intent to move forward with uh with the resolution give any direction regarding that resolution and then authorize staff to submit the proposed amendment and ballot language to the three attorney panel required by the charter which reviews proposed amendments for compliance with the Florida Constitution Florida law and the bravard county Charter okay um I think I'm going to go to the cards on new business first I make discussions first you want you want to talk first okay go ahead thank you that's obviously this is yours so I apologize no no worries last year um I had mentioned I was going to bring this forward sometime this year when we did the um discussion with change in the charter there was a lot of information that came in about people wanting term limits I'm a proponent of three term limits but I think what's been discussed is two term limits many times so when I brought this forward my thought was not to affect anybody that's currently in office is no reflection in them but after this maybe correcting something that could potentially be a problem down the road once you get somebody in an office as an incumbent it's it's really hard to beat them so I thought this would help that situation and there's such a strong support of community uh Nationwide of wanting term limits on elected officials so again we're not voting to put term limits on them this was just to perhaps put it on the ballot and let the people decide what they would like to to do do you want to make a motion and then see if we get it seconded and and then go to discussion or would you rather go to the cards cards okay Chuck you're up okay living in Bor County my whole life uh when I got my general contractor's license in 1970s 8 I think I used to have to go to the county commissioner's office and get my covert pipes and you know he'd been there for years and years and years if we' have had changes in term limits you know that it's not one of these offices but the property praiser stayed there for years and Sheriff as well but if we' had changes then we may have had better Drainage Systems uh you know if you're an elected official you're doing it you're a public servant you're you're there to serve the public it's not a career choice it's you know it's to serve the community and one once you've served a couple terms new people bring new ideas and new thoughts and you know it shouldn't be a career choice and you know in an incompetent is hard to be and and some people get into it to be half a career choice you know so that's my view on it I I would be very much in favor of term thank you thank you Chuck Ian sep good morning good morning Eileen SE from Palm Bay Florida I've lived here for 33 years and I'm here in opposition to this and not that I'm opposed to term limits but I think term limits apply when you're talking about policymaking positions the administrative positions that they're proposing I think would be a great disservice to this County we have outstanding people in these positions who've been there they've worked their way from the bottom up in many cases and I'm seeing that right now we have a highest the highest level of Integrity among that administrative staff that than I've seen in all the years I've been here and I I like I said I do believe in term limits but policy is different when someone comes into a position making promises to make the changes that we need that's one thing but in an administrative position and I've been in those positions I've been in seite positions when you take somebody out who's really effective um there's no replacing them and and there's a significant drop in productivity as a result of that we need people with experience in these administrative positions they're not making decisions they're following the guidance that's given to them by this commission and by the laws of the state um so I would prefer not to see this on a ballot mostly because sometimes people don't really read between the lines and they don't really know the people who have earned those positions they should be able to stay there as long as they're able to do their job we do elect them every four years and I think that's sufficient thank you thank you I Katie Delaney hello again um I am against this uh to have gone to every single one of those meetings three years ago and the only time that term limits were brought up um was when your appointee Robin fiser tried to extend the term limits from 8 years to 12 years for County Commissioners in B County the people were adamant against that but none of that had to do with constitutional officers it had to do with like the last speaker spoke about policy makers um so I'm I'm very against this I our constitutional officers most of the time run unopposed because they're doing a great job and um so this is just very disheartening to to see this um and I I want to say that I appreciate Mr toaya for putting in his form 8B um because of his conflict of interest with running for that office um I would appreciate miss pritchet doing the same thing since you're now running for one of those offices is this needs a a four person vote we don't have that this is a this is a m a mute point um so in my opinion this should just be a a dead proposal thank you okay then wait a second we got Richard coming up and did you fill out a card s okay great Richard come on up you've been so quiet today I've missed you that's over now all right meeting's adjourned uh Rick hefflefinger uh 2000 Juniper Drive Coco Florida beautiful district one um I guess are we asking for three terms on this and if three terms why not two terms um I guess my question is conflict of interest was interesting I had not uh even thought about that but I I guess this would not if this would go in the ballot on November and if it was approved we don't boot anybody out that's currently in the office right was that okay so you're not booting anybody out but is it three terms or two eight years or 12 12 I I don't know why it would be any different for I don't know why it would be eight 12's an awfully long time could do a lot of damage in 12 you can do a lot of good in 12 too but I just uh I don't know why it's not consistent with the County Commission so uh yeah that conflict of interest is interesting isn't it I don't think you can get a vote right that's all had thanks wow Richard you have two minutes left too this is like a first all right well oh no no no all right let's go on thank you Richard for your comments Kristen Lori where are you okay so you're not going to yell at me today you got your three minutes and the newspapers are back the television's back on and we're friends again right chairman still thank you you're welcome we are friends again good Kristen LTE Coco resident and the founder of bravard cares citizens Coalition on Facebook where we are commenting about this we're having some rigorous debate on this current proposal I uh stand against it I'm opposed to it I want to um agree with of the two female commenters who articulately um spoke on why the Constitutional officers are so much different um than the uh commission officers because I'm wholly supportive of the commissioner officer term limits but the public is not always aware of this I became aware through the Citizens Academy last year when I heard two excellent presentations from our current tax collector who is now challenged by commissioner pritchet and I heard an excellent presentation from our current chief Clerk of Courts who took the time to give us a tour of the whole County courthouse and give us a presentation to citizens who are interested enough to find out more so um I am passionate about some of these positions and I am in total disagreement that these chairs need to be up sat every 12 years for every reason case in point if we went forward uh 12 years to we we're sitting here 12 years from now then what would happen is is all the Commissioners would have an easy chance to get into these chairs as Miss pritchet just said commissioner pritchet said makes it really hard to beat them and we would be literally dumping people out of their seats who might be doing a fantastic job as has already been ascribed I also appreciate the comment that in the charter review commission the the individual who actually went went to all the meetings uh and who it was reported on on social media never saw commissioner pritchet there but she pointed out that at those meetings there was no contest about the the um Charter positions but miss priten in the paper said we got information during those meetings that the voters wanted this there was an overwhelming consensus from all the voters that they want term limits on all the elected officials and I just believe there's a conflation happening here between the two types of positions you all are making policy these folks are implementing policy I sleep better at night having good people in these seats I will be now petitioning for at least two of these candidates because I know they're doing a rock solid job and I can attest that the the rest of them maybe as well and even my comment to you because I've already written to all of you saying with some questions about the sheriff's position I thought through that further and realized that I don't even support term limits for that that will not solve our problem so I'm opposed to this in both the premise that commissioner pritet stated for this and the content and I appreciate that the conflict of interest was called out by commissioner toaya commissioner pritet should not even be voting on this matter so I've attended this meeting you've inspired me to come to this meeting You' inspired me to found a Facebook group in order to be able to talk about these prior to our elections and I will have a strong opinion come election come the referendum and the tax collector election thank you all right thank you so much Nathan Slusher where are you good morning Nathan good morning Commissioners uh for the record my name is Nathan Slusher up in Allen Street in Titusville I found it wise to come and speak today on this topic it's a topic that I've pushed on for years I am a huge proponent of term limits for every elected politician in the United States of America from president to Congress to state house to County to Citywide elections I don't believe there should be a single politician that does not have term limits none of them so I want to come and and share my support today but I don't want to do it on a basis of not knowing what the public wants uh so on Sunday afternoon I released a poll to the people in North Bard just to kind of get a quick idea of whether or not they support it two polls on two different platforms uh one of them received 58 votes with a 95% approval rating uh I did verify three of those voters are not Bard County residents so out of those 58 votes I'll take three away and it's still pretty high uh the other one was 100% Bard County voters and they had a 94% voting rate the citizens want term limits but the citizens can't put term limits on ballot but you can you have the option to give them a voice no one up here is deciding to put limits on the people that are in office do I agree the people in office are doing a great job yes some of them are however should they do a job for 12 16 20 years no I don't think so that creates a lot of problems none of these positions have a requirement for any knowledge or a resume they can be won by anybody in the field there is a reason that we hire experts to help in these departments I fully support this motion and I hope uh however I would ask for an amendment to it if somebody would please make it 8 years instead of 12 12 is too long I would fully support an amendment to make this 8 years please and thank you I I know the time's not going so I lost track that's okay thank you so very [Music] much you're up Sandra good morning Sandra Sullivan you know first of all I just find The Coincidence of an ing you're running for the tax collector at the same time you put out this item as just being like a great way to get publicity which is probably what the result is sandre please please don't get into that while I am a proponent of term limits I am not for for the Constitutional offices and I'll say I was at most of the CH at the charter review meetings um and the the discussion about term limits and those terminal limits were about constitu about not about the Constitution officers they were about the Commissioners and they were prompted by uh District one's appointee twice one at the beginning of Charter and one at the end proposing extending term limits which would benefit uh District 3 and district one potentially and so um I just think the timing of this is is is off um this should have come forward if this and have discussion in the way that Charter review works at the time of the charter review and I do agree that it it is for the voters to decide but the the time to have done this would have been during the charter review I think the timing is off and and and is just very political thank you all right I got it I was just we got Rachel too so you want to come up Lisa come on up and then we'll have you all right all right come on up Lisa and and uh you go ahead to the podium if you would thank you thank you chair steel you're welcome congratulations on the park by the way thank you very Beau very meaningful what a beautiful way to memorialize your brother's hard work in this County um I'm here to advocate for the charter review process which I do think is uh very effective I would urge each of you to allow this to go through Charter review where the citizens have multiple chances to come speak on the subject I've I've been through several of those Charter review commissions and I believe the public does get engaged we live in a wonderful County where Bard County Citizens they get it um those primary AR voters a lot of them do their homework I think you can look at your officers that serve this County and see that so my ask of you today is to let the charter review commission handle this and if it goes through that then let's let the public vote on it thank you thank you very much Lisa all right Rachel how are you I'm good how are you I'm goody goody two shoes some times I got to take my glasses off to read my phone because I've gotten to that age I get it so I apologize maybe I can do it first I want to thank everyone for allowing me and the others to have a few minutes to discuss our feelings on this topic I try to be accessible to the citizens of Bard County at all times this did not start when I became the clerk of court this started when I took the oath to be a deputy clerk in 1997 as I've moved throughout my career in different positions and then today as you're elected Clerk and controller I have learned a lot and continue to learn it is a career I've dedicated myself to just like everyone in this room everybody that stands here as a county and state employee have dedicated their years of service and we did not expect a date to tell us when to leave so those of us that stepped as the leaders did so to do the right thing by this County I can tell you that many leaders of this County would be discouraged to run for office with term limits for an office that is not a policy-making office but a management office we would see a decline in the services we would see a decline in the Forward Thinking of the these offices I am not trying to dispute some of the ideas that you have about this and I am not trying to discourage this to not be brought to others to discuss but I ask you kindly not to vote on this for today I did not have any idea what the tax collector was going to say but I Echo what she said about bringing back to Charter view that was a good point that I had not thought of so I leave you today just asking for you to consider not doing this and I 100% respect however you vote today that is it so thank you thank you very much Rachel you're doing an excellent job thank you all right uh we have anybody else here oh we have our property appraiser good morning Dana thank thank you so much good morning commissioner Goodson Dana ble 3425 here in Lane uh Titusville Florida 32780 I have to disagree that you cannot take out a constitutional officer that's doing a bad job I did a pretty good job of that but I'm coming with a different Spirit not just necessarily the institutional knowledge to do the constitutional duties that were prescribed to do but once in a while it's having enough institutional knowledge skill set to be able to read the law wherewithal to know that you have to follow the legislative process when they're making changes that affect what you do or maybe what you guys do and to be able to catch those mistakes so our property owners and our constituents don't pay a price for that that's the spirit of cooperation that I think commissioner pritet was hoping that we would continue after the budget Series last year and one that I know Frank and Morris depend on thank you for your time today thank you very much Dana all right uh commissioner pritchet do you have anything else or commissioner Goodson you want I have a question yes sir is it my understanding today she would need um commissioner pretard three votes for this to move on not four is that correct yes sir that's correct three votes today now uh commissioner Pritchard why do you think Tobi commissioner to doesn't want to vote but you want to vote what is is there anything re any reasoning there I um I think commissioner taya's reasoning is because he felt it was conflict of interest with him um I talked to the county attorney um a little bit and I have no plans on being an off office more than two times if if if this opportunity did happen but the the real thing with this and again I thought this was worthy of a conversation and I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea for the charter review either but I had mentioned we were going to ring this up and there is a strong consensus with people Nationwide want term limits so I just thought we'd just put it before the voters and see what they'd want to do again I made it so that it was exempt for the people people that were in office currently on this um round so I can't imagine the sheriff wanting to be the sheriff into his 80s so um there's they're kind of almost exempt with this but again and I loved what um Miss blickley said and she is a great property appraiser she had to unseat someone who had been doing the job for 2024 years which wasn't a great property appraiser so it was it was a tough battle so I think this might help with um offer opportunities for somebody who's not doing a good job in an administrative position because nobody can really do anything with it the employees can't do anything with it you you can't come against your boss you lose your jobs and it's just nothing on the ones that are already in position but I I think it's something I agree with Mr uh Slusher I think every elected official should have limits on their terms uh chairman yes commissioner Goodson um I find it a little bit not knowing the questions the gentleman asked people in North Bard but if you think about it we hear about term limits all the time term limits are bad term limits are bad now if you know anything about Talahassee what that has done is you've started electing 20 year olds to make decisions for you that haven't had a family haven't lost a job doesn't have a mortgage but they just left moms and now they're State Rep now then if you want to talk term limits what amazes me would this be term limit liit uh I think he's represented now Alman house senate house senate house senate I mean is that term limits I guess it is because he's been doing it for 20 something years okay now the other issue I find funny about term limits on these people would be that if you want to run for an office and you pick those then be prepared if they're of a quality that we have be prepared for a fight because they're good they're they done a wonderful job and I'm all for term limits I betch about them all the time but you know it seems to be America wants term limits in Washington that ain't going to happen because they're a member of the best country club in the world so why would you want to give up that now if we want term limits there's where we need term limits and I'm happy with eight I'm only going to serve four I'll give you another example of term limits representative posie said I'm going to do this one time he's been there 18 years so uh commissioner Pritchard I want that signed in blood okay that you're only going to do it for two terms you have that sir but um thank you for your comments and I absolutely respect well what you're saying you know I'm a little different than everybody else thank you um but again we're not voting today to put term limits on them we're just voting to put on the ballot for them to choose but again it's a good discussion um so have to see where you guys want to go with it and uh how we're moving forward I have a legal question for Morris Morris uh with the tentacles of this thing going to potentially a u referendum how many votes are we going to need today to pass this so ultimately you'll need four to put it on the ballot but today to move it forward to uh direct staff to draft final language or accept the language proposed and move it to the three attorney panel you could give that Direction with three and then we could bring it back to you with the decision from the panel and you can decide at that point whether or not to adopt the resolution and place it on the ballot okay thank you so much anybody else have any questions or any comments motion on the floor is it's been seconded no more discussion I have a second yet we don't have a second yet motion dies for a lack of a second okay let's go uh if we could please to I think we got most of that stuff done M Mr chair sir before we do that we skip the resolution for the women in construction thank you so much are they here yet yeah now I got a uh texts are not coming but they ask that we go ahead and read it go ahead and make an approval on it okay so we're back to resolution number one thank you so much commissioner felner you going to read it for commissioner pret yes sir resolution for women in construction whereas the Space Coast chapter has distinguished itself for over 26 years as the voice of women in construction in Bard County and whereas the work done by the Space Coast chapter has benefited Bard County through Community Development scholarships and educational programs and whereas the Space Coast chapter has unceasingly promoted the employment and advancement of women in the construction industry and where whereas the construction Community represented by space Co by Space Coast chapter has been a driving force in fostering Community Development through renovation and beautification projects promotion of skill trades careers and positive vision of the future now therefore be it resolved that the board of County commissioners of Bard County Florida does hereby recognize the Space Coast chapter and its many dedicated volunteers for its steadfast work on behalf and support of women in construction and proudly proclaims the week of March 3rd through the 9th 2024 as women in construction week done ordered and adopted in regular session this 20th day of February 2024 motion to approve and I'll second there's a motion by commissioner preet seconded by commissioner felner for the resolution all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose nay we're good I'd like to make uh commissioner feltner the um the commission reader moving forward uh you they have they have term for that in Tallahasse a good job in Tallahassee they call that Mary the Auto Reader don't they all right exactly there you go all right so let's uh go to board reports I believe County Manager do you have a board report yes I do we only have uh two items that are scheduled for the upcoming March 7th uh zoning meeting these items uh were advertised before the staff discovered that there were deficiencies that are going to prevent the board from hearing them at that time since the board can't hear those items would the board want to consider cancelling the March 7th zoning meeting and direct staff to re advertise uh the public hearing for a future date once those uh have been addressed I'll make that motion sir commissioner felter has made a motion to cancel meeting and read advertis seconded by commissioner pritet all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose nay motion carries anything else sir that's it Mr County attorney how are you I'm well thanks sir and I have no report for you commissioner pritchet do you have any reports just real quick um County Manager when's our budget meeting is it this month it's uh the 29th wonderful looking forward to that looking forward to seeing you guys up there too and it's I think it's going to be a great meeting thank you commissioner Goodson do you have any reports commissioner felner do you have any reports I have an item so inspired by renaming uh Coconut Point park today after uh commissioner steel I was thinking about another commissioner a park is named after his name is Joe Wickham and so I have a letter here that I propose that that we give direction to the chair to sign to send to uh city of Melbourne and I'd like to read it real quick and then ask that we approve it go ahead sir The Bard County Board of County Commissioners is writing to express Bard County's commitment to maintaining Wickham Park as an integral part of the County's Parks and Recreation system as we recognize the 60th anniversary of WI Park's dedication the park stands as a testament to providing exceptional recreational opportunities and Community spaces for our residents Wickham Park has long been established as the regional Urban Park in our County its importance as a countywide destination cannot be overstated as evidenced by the Myriad of uses and Facilities available to our residents the Park's diverse offerings including Trails multi-use Fields Pavilion an Amphitheater a dog park senior center community center camping grounds disc golf courses archery ranges and horse riding areas ensure that there is something for everyone to enjoy furthermore Bard County remains committed to investing in the future of Wickham Park to ensure its continued relevance and accessibility to Residents projects such as the construction of the new disabilities program building and the importance of continuing to maintain maintain and upgrade Park infrastructure such as the replacement of bathroom and shower facilities as well as Park Road improvements are essential for ensuring the safety comfort and enjoyment of all Park goers Wickham Park our Count's Central Park holds a special place in the hearts of our community members and we are committed to preserving its status as a Bard county park for generations to come we will continue to work to ensure that wiam Park remains a vibrant Hub of Recreation relaxation and Community engagement that is my letter Mr chairman very and I would appreci uh I would like to make a motion that we give direction to the chair to sign this today to send to the city of melbour there's a motion on the floor to direct a letter to the city of Melbourne to Mayor Alfrey in regards to Wickham Park it's been seconded by commissioner Goodson and U before we move on commissioner de you have any comments that you'd like to make uh yes yes Mr chair and this question would be for commissioner Goodson on this one uh commissioner Goodson in the past you've mentioned uh you have been in favor of uh County parks that were in the jurisdiction of cities about the transfer of that property um is there something unique about Wickham Park or has your opinion changed and the only reason I'm asking is we go as we go further on this one I'm just trying not to waste other people's time understand um you're referring to the city parks in Coco which yes I'm telling you uh we pay about $1.3 million a year to maintain them they only kick in 400,000 I just want them to sign their agreement to us which said they would pay 50% that's the only issue I have with Parks I don't think our park at Wickham does that we F we pay for Wickham's maintenance that's and it's a county park we're talking about maintaining city parks they even charge us for the water up there commissioner for their own Park we have to pay a water bill they charge us for TV uh for internet they don't pay half the cost to rebuild the buildings which they should by the Intermodal agreement that we had but they haven't signed it in seven years that's my with Parks up there Mr chair sorry yes sir go ahead thank you thank you thank you for making that extremely clear I just as we move forward I was just trying to get the lay of I'm always with you commissioner I'm I always protect your back no I appreciate it I hope I hope we can stick there when we deal with lifeguards here coming up and paying for half so just just throw that out there thank you for making that clear uh as we as we move forward and uh uh uh commissioner uh feltner I appreciate this uh if the board votes as I suspect they will uh four four to one on this one I think that sends a pretty clear message uh to Melbourne and saves my staff for moving forward uh on this so I do why I can't support could be 51 or 5 Z it could be 5 Z so I will be I will be going the other way on this one thank you all right fair enough oh boy all right there's a motion on the floor to send a letter to the city of Melbourne to Mayor Alfrey and R Wan Wickham Park it's been seconded all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose Nay n motion carries all right I have no report and I think we can go to your vice vice chairman unless I missed something thank you Mr chair I do have a board oh we got public comment oh sorry you want to do that first oh we do that after we normally do that afterwards that's correct go ahead with your I do have a real board report and uh I think I think commissioner Pritchett started this uh before we uh wrangled the county attorney's office with uh some work I wanted to see where the board was on this um currently Bard County code section 74102 B section 7 grants an exemption for sex offenders and predators to enter into uh a, foot uh radius of a park quote as a result of fulfilling legally allowable duties uh imposed by gainful employment uh this was deeply concerning me on multiple levels uh therefore uh I would like to bring back uh to the board uh two things number one an amendment to Bard county code 74102 restrict the exemption so that offenders Predators who have committed an offense where the victim is a minor cannot work in a school Child Care Facility park playground or other place where children regularly con congregate this is consistent with Florida statute 77521 section 10B the second item coming forward would be a change to our grant applications uh add into the application for All County issued Grant programs including but not limited to sports grants major event grants cultural grants the application must certify that they will not employ sexual offenders or Predators directly or indirectly through their subcontractors if they choose not to do so then they would be ineligible for the grant um while I don't have specific language on this uh it will require a little bit of time of the County uh attorney who got me most of this language and said it was permissible under statute I I wanted to see uh whether the board would be uh willing to move forward with those two things uh and give the County Attorney the leeway to uh investigate that a little bit further I would support that absolutely I would support it okay I I will bring that back uh I will bring that back at a later date once the County Attorney has um has has moved forward with that okay on a lighter note uh vice vice chair today is National comfy day I'm not sure what a comfy is but uh it is uh useless for the fact the concept of spring break began in 1938 when a swimming coach from Colgate University brought his swim team to the Florida to train at the new olympic size swimming pool in Fort Lauderdale shortly after this idea spread to other swim coaches and became the annual tradition for swimmers Nationwide by around 1960 however students had begun to come to the towns in great numbers and local businesses took advantage of the influx by offering specials such as all you can drink beer for $150 eventually Town gained the nickname Fort liquor Dale and became the primary destination for students interested in partying during spring break for years to come uh this day in Florida history and I'd like to thank uh yavon minus uh for kicking my butt on this one I uh and pointing out that it is uh black history month on February 20th 1960 students at Florida A&M University and others from around the uh country held a sit in at wwor lunch counter in downtown Tallahassee when they refused to leave believe 11 were arrested and charged with quote disturbing the peace by engaging in rius contact in an assembly to the uh disturbance of the public Tranquility rather than pay Their fines eight students opted for jail F jail time effectively launching one of the first jailin of civil rights movement among those jailed was Patricia Stevens and her sister uh Priscilla while in prison uh Patricia wrote a letter about their experience and her thoughts on civil rights which reached uh leaders like Martin Luther King and Jackie Robson King wrote back to Steven's quote you are suffering to make men free uh uh important stuff and County employee recognition is Larry little uh reper graphics and scanning specialist 5 years of service um about the employee uh Lance uh uh Larry assists the public county agencies and other government agencies in reproduction scanning and research of historical Maps uh Aerials subdivision PL plats survey books Road plats and and various other types of public record uh employee interesting fact Larry has appeared uh in uh background roles in various movies most notably 1990s protester and uh The One and Only Ivan Larry loves animals and cares for two dogs Lance and Romeo and several cats mama baby Bandit Charlie and Max uh thank you for your service to the county and the people that reside within thank you Mr chair for the opportunity I'm sorry I can't get a light on May I yes absolutely okay Commissioners I I thought I am going to I forgot to ask this when we got done with the last one I don't want to do it off of public um but I would like to go ahead um ask the County Attorney how do we go about then following Miss Blick's recommend that we would send that to the Charter review and that doesn't meet for another two years four years so is that something the commission's going to need to bring up later to send it to the Charter review for a review may have a little time to investigate that and send it back out to okay I didn't want to do anything not in front of everybody right now so that would be a good question so okay thank you public comments CER Sandra suiv so before the last meeting I had a rally outside and I received an email from uh Mr Richardson prior to my rally stating Per County uh policy BCC 54 that I was restricted way out by the corner way away from the uh County Commissioner building and um I am going to allege this is a First Amendment violation and I would like to see it corrected I'd like to see the policy my request is that the county correct this policy so uh online on the uh ACLU uh it reads your rights are strongest in what is known as traditional public forums such as Street sidewalks and Parks you're also likely to have the right to speak out on other P public property like plazas in front of government buildings as long as you're not blocking access to the government building or interfering with other purposes the property wasn't designed for if you walk out right now over to DMV you'll see as part of the policy it's not just for protesters it's also for people soliciting there's people in the hallway they're there every day so the question is was this like selective enforcement because of the issue that I had so this is a picture of us protesting out there a lot of the people couldn't find us cuz you know we they thought we were going to be in front of the building so the issue is about the midre and this is another legal issue I have um and then uh per uh policy BCC 97 uh I'm going to read that in the event of serious allegation of misconduct or incompetence are alleged against any County employee the board May Abate the matter and request the county manager to investigate the allegations so on this issue I'm requesting the county to investigate these allegations uh recently on the D Oculus system there's a request the county requests the notice to proceed for construction of beach renourishment it's alleged that the upcoming 2023 25 renourishment is more or less identical in scope schedule and methodology as 19 sorry 2019 um it attached to that is a Florida sorry a um Federal FWS uh document which says if the plan changes it requires a new biological opinion well the plan did change in scope um I had a conversation uh with Natural Resources Director the other day after sorl was told that they changed to fill design the amount of sand is uh horrifically more um the amount of the reef buried um was prohibited from putting it on reaches uh in in significance on reaches four to six and uh it was horrifically buried I will send you more documents and request a formal investigation as well as a First Amendment right uh aspect that policy than SRA very much Richard Richard he finger 2000 Jif for Drive District 1 um you guys are so gracious that you give us these agendas but we don't appear to follow them um the agenda as far as I know I think it came comes out five days prior to the public so you publish it on the ledge Star right that's when we first see it when do you guys see it because this agenda typically Robert's Rule says that you have a motion to approve the agenda so if somebody's got a problem or wants to amend the agenda that's the opportunity to do that um if you had items that you were going to bring up in board reports the time to do that is not board reports the time to do that is when you approve the agenda I mean I don't know how much time you guys get to look at this or talk I know you've got sunshine rules you're not supposed to talk but if you've got something cooking I think you should at least take the opportunity to try to put it on the agenda because if you're doing stuff in board reports and making votes and moving motions when do I get to have an input on that I don't so this is kind of little Robert's Rule sloppy stuff you got an agenda you approve the agenda you vote to amend the agenda I didn't see a vote to amend the agenda we moved all this stuff from I where the big chunk of stuff that you wanted to think was not important moved to the beginning I I don't know what that was about but you guys didn't even vote on that the the chair just said hey let's let's do it first well you're confusing the hell out of the public you're also stopping us from having opportunity to to get some insight into what you're doing and make comment so I I think you guys really need to think about what you're doing Robert's rules because I do try to participate but but but not if I don't know what you're doing I I don't know if that's intentional I some people would say that's intentional I don't think it is I think it's just a little sloppy um that that's how I view that um so I'd like to see you guys do that what and this vice vice chair stuff what is that I I don't John how much time do you spend or do you put staff doing that that's one of your big things I I don't know that sounds like a public comment I think you've got the dis you can you can say that in in anything you want to do I just wonder how much and value that has to the public I mean the chair is in charge of public comment or is it the vice vice chair I that was a previous chair thing I don't know if you still think that that's you don't want to run the public comment says chair I don't understand vice vice chair is that documented somewhere that just seems a little silly um so that was just some of my comments um lot lot of time spent on a lot of stuff that that I don't know that's how important again the focus of where we spend the time you know talking about bathrooms for that long that's a little weird putting things on the uh the board you know the review and coming from the Das I don't know just a little disappointed today but uh thanks thank you Richard Katie I'm immediately walking out and going to mass so say my goodby the last card hello again um so as I've been talking with the public I've been hearing the same thing from the people in North Bard and that is one of the major issues that people are very upset about is the overdevelopment that's going on um or irresponsible development that's going on in North bard we have major flooding issues in North Bard and all of this uh irresponsible development is adding to that and like I was talking about earlier with with the with the property in canaval groves that's just one of many examples there's also Sherwood Forest which is a beloved neighborhood in North Bard people adore that neighborhood and the construction that's going to come in that that Community is fighting right now is going to destroy their homes it's going to destroy the atmosphere of that area people come from all over to the to come to that neighborhood for Christmas and um Halloween and their neighborhoods are going to be destroyed sb102 is another major issue the live local act I've spoken about it many times the thing that I'm asking asking all of you today is you all um waved the impact fees for sb12 projects I'm asking you to to turn that around we need impact fees especially on those projects because they're not going to be paying property taxes and so how are we going to pay for the infrastructure to um to better our community if no one's paying impact fees I is this intentional are you guys intentionally trying to um get rid of the middle class because what's going to happen is we're not going to be able to get insurance and when that happens people are going to foreclose on their homes because they won't be able to abide by their mortgage contracts so we need to look at this very differently and I'm asking you all to take this seriously thank you hi come on up young lady that would be you nice to see you again Kristen Christie Kristen Kristen good morning again Kristen lorte Coco resident founder of bravard care citizens group where we have some concerns and cares I'd like to start by supporting Miss Sullivan's concerns uh that she spoke about a few minutes ago uh one about the treatment of protesters and having to go a specific spot on the property that looked very unpleasant and not not quite right I was there that evening would have liked to have seen that seen them when I was driving in and then on the reach six there's she's putting out a lot of uh pretty interesting data on that and you know drowning a reef with sand uh raises public concerns my topic that I want to speak on today is about the Speak Up bevard program that I started talking about on the uh February 6th so on febru on January 3rd I wrote to you all and I provided a recommendation regarding the Speak Up rard program for anyone that's not familiar um I'm sure that all of you are but it is the the process where citizens can weigh in provide suggestions on efficiency and Effectiveness with our government and which you uh do something with those recommendations and you have to vote on those recommendations so on on January 3rd I sent you an email and it talked about it had a recommendation in it about leaving the speak up Bard County website open all year to receive citizen recommendations throughout the year now now sadly my comment came in 2 days after the website closed because it closes on the on the 1 and so how is it efficient or effective for my input to have to now wait a year because now your own website says that it says speak up Revard is form is not available the next scheduled recommendation form open date is December 1st 2024 so how effective is that to wait a year uh to receive my recommendation so what I did since I wrote you the email is I further reviewed the policy documentation on it and it's policy BC uh 9 BCC -95 and that policy specifically States uh on item number two of directives three that the form will be available for download and submission on the county internet homepage hard copies of the form will also be available I don't care about that I care about the form will be available for download and submission on the county internet homepage now I did follow up I have written to um to County Manager Abate and I look forward to his response with my policy concerns that come on the tals of my recommendation uh to keep the website open all year round I also pointed out that I'm confused on the process itself because in the policy it states that you are required to take that the county is required to take some action within 45 days of a receipt of the recommendation so if my recommendation comes in June why isn't the county not going to do anything about it until right now it looks like it's the whole process rolls from J uh January 1st until 120 days later that's when the whole process now so I have some confusion on that I look forward to the county manager's response and I'll write to everyone once I receive that response thank you thank you Kristen okay um do I hear a motion to adjourn is there a second second all in favor signify by saying I thank you very much the opinions expressed by any member of the public during any period of public comment do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the board of County commissioners of Bard County Florida Space Coast government television or the program sponsor and are solely those of the presenter the board of County commissioners of bravard County Florida Space Coast government television and the program sponsor hereby expressly disclaim any in all responsibility or liability for any defamatory or slanderous statements expressed by any member of the public during any such [Music] [Music] [Music] period [Music] [Music]