you guys ready oh man good morning let me get settled here sorry all right um we're going to call the Tuesday March 5th commission meeting to order we're going to start with a moment of Silent reflection for our First Responders and members of the Armed Forces followed by the invocation by Mr Wesley Davis our indan County property appraiser and the Pledge of Allegiance by commissioner Moss if everybody would please stand let us pray our heavenly father we thank you for the opportunity that we have to live in such a magnificent spectacular Community we know that that doesn't happen by accident we know that happens by leadership we know that happens by your wisdom your guidance and your divine intervention may we use those that today in this meeting to protect this place for the future and to keep it a spectacular and divine place in your holy name we pray amen please join me in pledging allegiance to our beloved Nation special thank you to our veterans in the office I see mayor Dodd of Sebastian who a veteran M Johanson president of neighbor associations vet and of course allei 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 all right Commissioners all right um we do need to delete item 5B from the agenda we have rescheduled that for April 9th which is um the presentation of the Boys and Girls Club junior of the year and youth of the year they had a conflict for SAT prep so I think that's a good reason not to be here yeah um is there any other additions or deletions to the agenda M chair move approval second thank you I have a motion on a second all in favor oos opposed motion carries and with that we will move on to proclamations and presentations uh today we have a presentation of proclamation designating March 2024 as a month celebrating March for meals is Hi how are you all right Miss if you want to come on down I'll read the proclamation this is a proclamation designating March 2024 as a month celebrating the older Americans act nutrition program whereas on March 22nd 1972 President Nixon signed into law a measure that amended the older Americans Act of 1965 to include a national nutrition program for individuals 60 years and older for more than 50 years this Landmark law has helped to fund community-based organizations like Meals on Wheels and it is still the only Federal program designed specifically to meet the nutritional and social needs of older adults and whereas each year Meals on Wheels programs from across the country join together for the March for meals awareness campaign to celebrate its success and Garner the support needed to ensure these critical programs can continue to address food insecurity and malnutrition combat social isolation enable Independence and improve health for years to come and whereas Meals on Wheels programs in indianer County have served our community admirably for 50 years volunteers for Meals on Wheels are the backbone of the program delivering nutritious meals to seniors who are at significant risk of hunger and isolation but also caring concern and attention to their welfare now therefore be it proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of indu County Florida the March 2024 is designated as a month celebrating the older Americans Act nutrition program and the board urges every Community member to take this month to honor our Meals on Wheels programs the seniors they serve and the volunteers who care for them adopted this fifth day of March 2024 and signed by all five County Commissioners and Miss Miller I just want to say thank you for bringing us forward I was a volunteer for Meals on Wheels for many many years and what um this Proclamation States is absolutely true many of those um seniors depend on on on the food but they also depend on just the checking in and the social aspect of having somebody come to their door every day a lot of times that's that's the only kind of check-in that they get and um you know being able to address those needs as well as the food and I know you have the congregate sites also which is a great social opportunity for seniors to get a nutritious meal but also to catch up with friends and things like that and I think on Wednesday some of us are going tomorrow to um volunteer and deliver for Meals on Wheels for March for meals so that'll be fun as well thank you chairman Adam I appreciate that all [Applause] right oh oh come on we'll take a picture excuse me we'll take a picture and then you can you know verify that you were here you're here right thank you so much all right yeah if You' like say Ken did send me with a few remarks if I may and I I have um I will abbreviate because chairman you have hit some of the high points that are so critically important about this program first of all in your in your opening remarks you did mention that Senior Resource Association is celebrating its 50th year of service to Indian River County this this year and the 50th anniversary of Meals on Wheels in Indian River County so we're very proud of that in Karen's uh absence I am Liz Bruner I'm vice president of philanthropy and Karen actually is at March for meals today as we speak so she sends her regards and her gratitude for this recognition it's so important to call attention to the needs of our seniors March is the time of year when we join with thousands of Meals on Wheels programs across the country to raise awareness of the plight of seniors in our community the hunger the food insecurity the isolation that a lot of us don't see on a regular basis so we're especially grateful that you all have and continue to take the time to see the needs of those in our community by participating in community Champions week today and tomorrow we're greeting guests at Vero Beach location and then on Thursday we will have our March for meals activities in Sebastian and we are welcoming guests there so anyone who is interested who has not already signed up is welcome to reach out to us after this brief program just a couple of notes in 2023 we served more than 106,000 meals to to seniors in this community who need help with meals they need Monday through Friday hot meals weekend meals and as you said so well that human contact that our volunteers provide we have on any given day another 350 seniors on the weight list for Meals on Wheels and 10 new seniors join that list every month so it's it's an ongoing Challenge and we're grateful for your support in battling that sadly for so many of our seniors it is the only meal of the day they have as well as the only human contact they have until the volunteer arrives the next day so it is difficult for many of us to imagine living in that kind of isolation and we're grateful that we have 250 wonderful volunteers who enable us to deliver 450 plus meals every day and to make that connection so that our seniors know that they're not forgotten in this community we'd like to take a moment to share a brief impact video with you Kim if you would help me out thank you my parents back then were getting sicker and sicker I decided you know it's time to go look after them and so I started looking around and I saw this apart these apartments they were only 575 I've been here 8 years and the rent is now almost 1,200 takes half of my pay I have lights phone cable you know I have a truck it's paid off but I have insurance on it I have almost nothing left and um I have prostrate cancer I've lost two wives so I'm here all along home I was already living on a tght budget and all of a sudden I just didn't have enough food to eat I lost 10 lbs and Meals on Wheels was magical they came to the rescue they brought food that day I'm really grateful that Ms on Wheels is available that Ms on Wheels is here to help people they helped me you know it's like a family you know I look forward to seeing them every day Ms on Wheels is a LIF [Music] saer as John said Meals on Wheels is a lifesaver and we could not do this important work without your support the matching funds that Indian River County provides to our program that enables us to draw down all the available state and federal dollars enables us to nourish folks like John there with with food to nourish their bodies their hearts their minds keep them connected with the community and we're very grateful for your continuing support we simply must as you said chairman continue to mitigate senior food isolation and food insecurity we have to continue to enable their independence to improve the health of those in our community and keep this up for years to come as I said today tomorrow and wednes excuse me Thursday we we are handling March for meals and we would welcome anyone to join us at that activity so again if you are interested in signing up please let me know and thank you so much for recognizing meals and wheels and Senior Resource Association and I'm just going to touch on two things and then make a Shameless plug for you that you didn't mention Meals on Wheels also has a program for emergency meals for seniors that may have had a medical emergency and are coming home from the hospital and are unable um to cook for themselves you can call and I think it's 30 days um worth of meals be deliv delivered um for those seniors that are recovering and one of the reasons is it if you're recovering from something you need that nutrition um and those that food to help you in the recovery process they also um found after a couple of years that some of the seniors were giving their food to um their pets you know their pets are one of the social uh things that they have that their companions were very important to them but that was kind of missing the point of the Meals on Wheels so they also have a program where they will bring pet food to those seniors that have pets um that aren't able to feed them and I think that's a wonderful thing and they partner with some of our other nonprofits in the community to do that and then lastly a Shameless plug for Meals on Wheels they always need volunteers whether it's one day a week five days a week an hour here two hours there either preparing the meals or delivering them um they could always use the extra help so if you guys have any extra time out there please give them a call um it what they do in the community is fantastic and it really is a Lifeline to a lot of our seniors and we appreciate everything you do thank you so much thank you all right Commissioners the next item we have is the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of January 9th as well as the meeting of January 23rd M chair move approval of both all right all right I have a motion and I will second that all in favor opposed motion carries um there's a couple of informational items of course our venue event calendar there's all sorts of fun stuff going on and high on my list um for that is the firefighters fair and um the Livestock Show and auction so that's where I will be next week if anybody needs me under the barn yeah 10 10 days of fun all right consent agenda M Madam chair um since we have the mayor of Sebastian here may we invite him to talk about the Sebastian Centennial it's an important event for our County sure do we need to add that officially to the agenda we can just invite them okay come on up mayor DOD how are you doing today I'm doing well I did didn't come intending to speak so but I will um the bags that I passed around are Swag Bags from our Centennial it's the 100th year 100 Centennial anniversary for the city of Sebastian uh December the 8th is the actual day of the Centennial we're going to have a special parade fireworks Clydesdales are going to be here uh the Clydes the Clydesdales uh with their stage coach and their wagons and they're going to park in the park and let the kids come in and play with them and I don't think they'll let them play with the horses but they'll certainly let them climb on the on the wagon and so forth um we are going to celebrate this at least once a month all throughout the year the next celebration is our what used to be call the shrimp fest now it's a craft brew Hollow blo or something like that and that's on the weekend of the 15th uh it's a nice event three-day event in subastian uh we'll have a special tent with Centennial swag and so forth that we'll pass out um the calendar of events is actually listed there's a centennial magazine that's in your bag and it's a second or third page in that magazine and it's also on the Sebastian website City sebastian. org uh we welcome anybody to come out celebrate the sentennial with the city uh and help us uh celebrate our 100th years in in uh 87 people voted to create a city in uh 1924 uh there were 115 people I think in the city at that date the numbers are actually in a magazine are probably much more correct than what I'm saying but it was a small number of people that voted to do that so we're very proud of where we've come from from then to today so thank you thank you and good luck with the Centennial we look forward to all the fun events you'll be having and the history you'll be sharing yes fantastic the the magazine is actually a historical record of the city it starts to beginning and walks through with founding families and fathers and who's there and and it it gives a great history of the city all right thank you thank you you all right Commissioners consent agenda anybody wishing to pull anything from consent yes um Madam chair um a T is in Tomahawk T is in Tom M okay anything anybody else anybody from the public wishing to pull any item from consent seeing none commission chair move approval as amended I will be happy to second that thank you so much all in favor opposed motion carries commissioner Moss item 8T yes thank you um item 8 has to do with any Boulevard improvements uh that with regard to pedestrian and bicycle access improvements in utility relocation project and my question is uh this came up a couple of years ago when this came before us originally which was May 10th uh 2022 uh the width of the bike lanes because 7 feet now it's considered safe and under 7 feet is uh pushing the the safety limits and I had a question regarding that um whe what are the what are well what would be the width of the bike Lanes at this point I didn't see it in the backup material uh yes commissioner I did speak with uh public works or acting Public Works director Sean and he's here but uh they are the five feet that were previously approved and although they do seek to do the larger 7 ft subject to the availability of the RightWay there's some conflicts there's some other utilities there so they cannot do the the uh the 7 feet here they're going with what was approved previously the Ft okay yeah I was hoping with all the the different utility conflicts that were being addressed here that perhaps some of them had to do with the width of the bike lane Sean leisi acting Public Works director um and unfortunately I was not here during this time but my understanding of the the situation was that the width of the ride of way did not was not wide enough to accomm at 7 foot bike lanes that there was some drainage issues um other kind of conflicts that would not allow the 7 foot bike lanes and therefore we put in what we could and five foot was was what we could accommodate given the the width of the RightWay and the other conflicts and that's going to be how we continue to proceed is with the five foot bike Lanes yeah so but in the future we'll be considering seven foot correct I think that was my understanding as as projects come up and new projects and provided we have the the the right of way width to accommodate 7 foot bike lanes that will certainly be something that is is evaluated and and as long as we can accommodate that I believe that was the plan was to and if you if you know I think in on other projects we've gone to six foot uh widths for bike Lanes I think the goal is to try to get SE to get the 7 foot where we can but where the design precludes us from doing that for multiple different reasons as big as we possibly can is what we try strive for this particular project as I recall at our last discussion was just very very constrained um but Public Works and the No when we design these projects and work with even do and those types of things have advocated for the larger bike Lanes I think they've heard that message loud and clear throughout multiple meetings that we've had on this so I think this project is just kind of finishing up um that ongoing project and then moving forward as we can because I know you've been an advocate for that as so as everybody else between the bike lanes and The Pedestrian access is important to have those complete streets yeah because I I think in the last two years since 2022 and we've all seen it if anything uh the traffic has uh increased and we see more accidents uh not not less so certainly and as we can accommodate I I know that that's the intent is to evaluate and and if we can accommodate the 7 foot is to to approach it with 7 foot bike lanes and I think that's the the standard that that people are trying to achieve It's just sometimes there there's constraints that you you know you just can't get around there's there's canals and there's only so much right of way and and when you're dealing with a constraint like that you can you can accommodate what you can accommodate so and that's kind of what happened in this instance right the other option is we could go out and do imminent domain and try to purchase RightWay and triple the cost of the road project which isn't so I think our our policy has been where it's where we can do it do it if we can't this particular Road Project as you know is very constrained so yeah I think getting five foot is we're lucky in that regard to be honest yeah if I remember right it was because the constraints of the boulevard the uh you know the canals on both sides because the road is built way up it we didn't have to right away there were some other issues with that I remember clearly we all like commission the chairman said we all advocated that but we were happy at the time with um just out of curiosity with the uh utility conflicts um how how do you address that what what is or what are some of the UT as for example what are some of the utility conflicts and how do you address that well I mean utility conflicts would be if there's a conflict with um you know other utility agencies such as cable or electrical um often there's conflicts with drainage um and so drainage boxes culverts things like that um and you have to do deflections and you have to build around it or under it or or um you just have to kind of address what you can given what's what's currently in the ground um you know there's often kind different types of things that you have to work around depending upon who's been there prior and and put in in infrastructure in that area okay very good yeah and I I know you weren't here in 2022 and I appreciate that you're aware that you know where the issue is safety and 7 foot is considered the standard anyway I voted against this this in 2022 so I'm going to stick with that okay well does somebody want to make a motion I'll make a motion all right we have a motion by commissioner Erman and a second by commissioner flusher all in favor opposed uh opposed n all right the motion carries uh 4 to one with commissioner mosa thank you Sean with that we'll move on to public notice items Mr Dew I think you're up thank you m M chairman uh there will be a public hearing for a budget amendment uh coming up on March 19th 2014 this will be the third budget amendment uh and it is scheduled for a public hearing and advertised uh for 9 o' at the next board meeting thank you madam chair fantastic thank you um all right well moving moving right along to County Administrator matters 11 a a building a parking lot use for volunteers with Vero Beach Air Show yes this up chair members of the board uh the United States Navy Blue Angels are returning to Vero Beach for the Vero Beach Air Show on May 4th and 5th at the ver Beach Regional Airport uh they've requested as they've done in the past to allow the air show volunteers to parkk and ride from the County Administration complex additionally that building a would be open to help them to get out of the inclimate weather um from 7 to 6:00 p.m. and that would all the other doors would be locked it just the forye area would be open and available for them with the restrooms so with that staff recommends authorizing the use of the Indian River County administrative complex parking lots and building a by the Vero Beach Air Show uh volunteers to park and have access to shelter and restrooms during May 2024 Vero Beach Air show all right I think this is something we do every time there's an air show so unless there's any questions or concerns I'll be happy to take a motion motion to approve I have a motion by commissioner fleser with a second by commissioner Erman all in favor opposed motion carries thank you looking forward to the air show this year all right the next item County Administrator matters Indian County School District use of commission Chambers yes mam chair members members of the board uh we this was an item that was uh brought forward uh if you recall during the discussion last last meeting under commissioner matters and I mentioned that we had I had verbally communicated to the board to the uh superintendent they could use our Chambers uh in light of the fact of the election day activities occurring at the school at the district headquarters and so this is the formal you know request or codifying it in terms of being consistent with the policy uh they have indicated they'll cover costs as well as provide an AV person to work with our av person in advance so staff is recommending that you grant the approval to the school district of the new County for the use of the chambers for the purpose of a superintendent workshop and award ceremony uh a school district's board meeting and a subsequent business meeting approval will you uh include the use of the board Chambers during the hours of noon to 9:00 p.m. and the use with no charge of the district other than the if there we have staff costs and they will include staff to assist in the operation of the equipment fantastic and I think this is consistent with what we did for the city of era Beach when they were not able to use their Chambers so um if there's any questions no Madam chair I I think that it's most appropriate uh County Administrator I believe you made a a uh an early but a good call as this is a governmental entity and it belongs in this governmental chamber ambers and uh with the scheduling conflicts we get that that's uh also the presidential preference day uh that that will be aligned with it uh so that their facility is being used for elections I I I think this is well and good and let's say motion to approve second all right fantastic uh we have a motion by commissioner flusher with a second by commissioner lore any further discussion seeing none all in favor opposed motion carries and with that we'll move on to parks recreation and conservation consideration for a temporary beach access permit for doing restoration work at tracking station Beach Park who is yeah I'm sure staff will be coming in but just to start this off coming in from the Green Room now maybe yeah there's a little delay I think so uh you know the board had previously approved a policy for emergency beach access which required an agreement that would allow private residents to be granted use of County Beach Parks for Dune restoration projects in February March of 23 11 agreements were executed and projects were completed uh staff does currently have a request for emergency beach access agreement for the use of tracking station beach park for the renourishment of 965 Pebble Lane uh the request would close tracking station Beach Parks for approximately one week to be completed and as noted in the agenda item there are some unique circumstances with regard to this request uh one the County's three sector 3 Doom press is currently using several par Parks as permitted and approved construction access points uh the closure tracking station beach park for the request one week overlaps with other planned Beach Park closures and espec especially during a time when we have increased usage of our Beach beaches by seasonal residents in addition to our spring Breck visitors uh currently wabaso is closed for June restoration uh Golden Sands is expected to be open unless there are delays in the Fe on February 28th and the private residence construction is ongoing at 30 Indigo Lane in the immediate proximity of tracking tracking station beach park so they requested one week of closure uh of tracking station for private repair will add significant additional heavy construction traffic or and and Equipment dump trucks and a very congested area uh CVS and 7-Eleven very tight quarters and as of now tracking station B Park is only one temporary access for guests to access the beach due to the en closures Crossovers and were that were damaged during Hurricane Irma and Nicole in 2022 if damage is incurred because of the construction it could cause a prolonged closure tracking Ste tracking station beach park and then we have Beth and Mike here but the staff recommendation is to you know to seek the uh the board to to consider the request and provide direction to staff Beth do you want to add anything uh I would just add that we've received a second request as well which would be uh utilizing another beach access for uh about 10 days um that is a slightly different situation but the main issue here is the recurring request to utilize public beach parks at the expense of closing them even if they're not being utilized for our own Dune restoration or renourishment projects uh which uh staff does not have a process by which to consider those requests and either approve or deny them at this time I have a question what would be their option if they were denied this request they uh could certainly look at um ways to transport the material through their private property um they could possibly by wheelbarrow so that's that's one of the issues when the d emergency permits are issued they're not considering necessarily how the material is to be placed within the Dune system so a permit is issued and then they're looking for uh ways to um complete the work without having Ingress and ESS to the work site which is complicated in last year and this this is from Storm from November 2022 so um these storms have since uh the county uh renourishment work or restoration work is either underway or has already been completed for previous storms and we currently have wabaso Beach and seag grae are closed another issue that comes into play which last year was less of an issue was that the homeowners utilized the County's same contractor and piggy B act off of our existing closures and the emergency nature of that work was imminent to those homes we're outside of that imminent danger you know if you look at it that way and so um the Dune restoration uh would not piggy back on a County uh project or closure and also uh the contractors have not yet been identified to my knowledge as to who would actually complete the work which sets off a whole series of issues for staff in terms of obtaining a Certificate of Insurance uh contractor licensing uh having our risk management review that and all of that's occurring now after March 1st when sea turtle nessing season is already underway so they have to have additional staff to go out and monitor the beach and then avoid impacts to Sea turtl Nest so the timing is really uh and not ideal especially with spring break I've already received email emails from uh people who have reservations at Disney's Fair Beach Resort asking whether or not the beach will be open or closed even for our own project so we're trying to navigate our own Beach closures get those beaches open as quickly as possible minimize the impact to the public to the best of our ability and we're also simultaneously trying to process private citizen requests is there any cost to these types of permits do we charge there's currently no cost and no mitigation contribution for the impact of closure no when did they want to do this immediately immediately but they don't have a contractor correct and I have not yet seen the permit so from D so yeah we did I know Eric we did Eric I may you might be able to answer that we did 11 of these this is the first time that I know of that we have that we have done we have had to close a beach for people to put on do their private renourishment work we did close it is that true no we did close it last year for at least one homeowner one of the beaches but it was in the exact time frame uh when the County's restoration was being completed and there's no way this is out of the area where we're currently finishing up right that's correct so there's no tie in they can't tie in with what's currently being done for the second request that we just received um that request would or could potentially use leaso Beach but again we have a contractor issue the contractors take site control our contractor takes site control any damages that are experienced would be the U responsibility of the contractor to repair before the beach can be opened because the contractor has not been identified and it's also a 2 Mile High hikee to the location uh moving the equipment up back back and forth every single day um if they were to use leaso Beach we Eric we haven't done the we haven't had to we had best say we had to do it maybe on one before but I don't remember recently when we issued these permits at the end of last year that we had to close beaches down did as Beth had mentioned there were emergency permits issued last year that did dovetail on the County's project um we doing emergency measures in some of these Beach Parks and um you know the the uh contractors the contractor was the same contractor and they kind of you know dovetailed into it so when we had shut down SE grape Trail for for emergency measures um the contractor um did uh you know Place sand at other um developments up up the coastline using the seagrape trail did you know alter my schedule a little bit uh but again the beach park was going to be closed because the county was doing it its emergency measures um but again there were emergency meur measures that were performed outside of the Beach Parks and again you said they want to do this right now so we can get it in before the April 1st well March 1st is a start of sea turtle nesting season um so any work that is done at this point here is not done under a county issued emergency permit um under Hurricane's Ian the governor's executive AIT for Hurricane Ian um which was extended I still had the ability to issue emergency permits for similar activities um my permits did end on February 29th though in advance of sea turtle nesting season um no one had placed sand uh this current season under any emergency permits that the county had issued last year um right after the the impacts from hurricanes in and Nicole there were sand placements that did take place under the county issued permits but um right now when I did speak with the contractor uh for the the property that would like to use the tracking station um they did not have a a contractor as Beth had mentioned um and they are aware that a permit issued from me would have expired on February 29th so they are reaching out I believe to the D the D um through conversations I've had with them do extend certain permits early into the sea turtle nesting season so the D would have the ability to issue permits basically through March 15th with caveats on there from Fish and Wildlife for sea turtle protection measures we are in the early part of the sea turtle nesting season but nonetheless it is the sea turtle nesting season and um sea turtles are expected along the coast I mean we have not had one yet um but again if we do have them um it it does trigger a lot of stuff the county just to kind of get come full circle the county is allowed to do um you know sand placement nourishment events for a longer period of time which is why my project is still continuing out of wabaso and seag grape at this PO point but there is extensive sea turtle monitoring and protection measures that take place and all that's written into the joint Coastal permits which are a heck of a lot more intense than these these Coastal Construction Control line permits that are going to be issued from from the D which allows them through March 15th basically so this is something we've done before dob tailing on the County's projects yes do do you all see a big problem because I'm not getting a good feeling about this well I mean from from the coastal standpoint or or you know I mean about closing a beach for for Pur for somebody's private use to to to for their private use to enhance their property as as Beth had mentioned there are potential other Pathways that contractors can look at for placing sand on private property meaning U there are conveyor belt systems uh the volume of sand we were talking for you know specific property is about 800 cubic yards of sand it it's it's a significant amount uh figuring each you know dump truck can probably hold about 20 22 cubic yards of sand or I'm sorry about 18 cubic yards of sand so it's a fairly significant amount of dump trucks but between skid steers and conveyor belt approaches there are other approaches that could be looked at um to play sand whether those options are available now with a a deadline of say March 15th under a d permit to be quite honest I I could not tell you but there are other approaches that could be looked at MERS I'm on the fence on this you know and I am as well uh and thank you for your uh questions uh and I don't know whether this was discussed at the uh Beach and Shores uh as may have or should have uh but in the end we want to close our public beach our one of our strongest elements of Tourism and Recreation uh the big attractor because it needs to be some private work done I I have a little challenge with that as well uh I was uh prefer that they seek other options uh what what SP my thoughts was they want to do it immediately but they have no contract so I is is this being put together quickly commissioner we we drafted plan yeah we drafted this agenda item uh February 20th so I had all of the information at that time and prior to that uh the contractor uh or cons consultant working for the private homeowner had been working very closely with uh our Recreation manager Joe Tilton and uh I can tell you for staff um we don't mind doing work and we don't mind doing a lot of work but this is a lot of work uh in part because um things are very fluid and there's generally a hurry up uh and weight kind of process that occurs and I do think with um some guidance from the board as to how you would like to handle these this particular uh situation and those in the future we could come back and develop a framework by which consideration could be given and a process would be outlined uh because right now it's um a little bit of a whack-a-mole situation especially after a storm event and of course La uh the last storm season when we experienced uh severe erosion uh it did make sense to do that to allow uh private homeowners to piggy back extend closures in the middle of the winter um but these are a different set of circumstances seasonally and also for the sea turtle nesting season uh there are a lot of unknowns here and typically uh I I would say that that it would be ideal to uh for all the Ducks to be in a row before uh requesting permission and use of a county beach park if that's the direction of the board I do believe that there should be some mitigation contribution in order to cover the cost that each you know citizen of Indian River County that they lose access to the beach during that time um or at least something to be considered uh where that the money could go back into beautification of the park or Park amenities like beach access uh wheelchairs Etc and to my knowledge uh there's a little bit of a um a situation where certain permits can be issued or can't be issued and so it's it kind of um one relies on the other which is not a perfect process because we're asking for something that maybe D is requesting as well if they're requesting proof of access and we're requesting proof of the permit but you can't obtain one or the other without the other you know because they're mutually dependent that causes um a difficult process for staff and we don't intend to deny anybody the ability to protect their home on the other hand and we have a lot of other considerations uh that at this point in the year are you know um potentially take precedent over the request Madam Madam chair in light of all the issues and the deadlines and the sea turtles and the unknown about the contractor I motion to deny this request second it is the applicant here the applicant was given notice of the item going to the board today very you good okay is is the applicant here okay all right Commissioners there is a motion by commissioner lore to deny the request or a second by commissioner flesher I have a question before we do that um Beyond this particular application you also want to have a conversation about how to handle these moving forward after we take the vote okay commissioner and if I could because we have a second request of very similar nature for a separate property um would it be easier just to name the property for that it would be helpful to have direction from the board that came in after we had drafted and after the board um agenda had been issued but it would be helpful to have Direction on that as otherwise we may be here on the 19th as well well let's handle this one I believe commissioner lore's perspective is they they don't have really any information they don't have a timeline don't have a contractor we're in the middle of turtle season and there's too many variables that we don't know to be able to issue a permit um any other comments or questions on this is specific to Pebble Lane the Pebble Lane project at tracking station all right all in favor opposed motion carries so the permit will be denied what's the second one that you want to discuss uh the second property uh request is uh called the graph property and it is to install help me with the term Dune cores Dune cores which would require hauling I think again 800 um cubic yards of sand that one's uh also a little more complicated because the permit for that particular project requires Perpetual maintenance so um if this is the only uh if one of our beach access points is the only way to uh complete the work one could assume that it's also the only location uh that would be used for Perpetual maintenance which of course because we don't have a a process right now and we don't understand what that system would require in terms of longevity and maintenance uh it requires a lot of equipment to set those cores in the Doom again very similar situation to my knowledge the uh permit has not been issued and a contractor has not been identified a permit hasn't even been issued from D that one the D has issued a a Dun cor permit and for that project there is a contractor that has been uh reaching out to trying to trying to determine when they can do an installation again this is a d permit not through the county or anything but as Beth had mentioned though it does require ongoing maintenance uh basically with the Dune cores it's a protection are measure that some people are exploring uh I believe this is going to be the first one permitted through the County under this approach uh but it does require that three feet of sand cover the Dune cores U at all times um as we know we're in a high energy environment um sand comes and goes so uh there does stand to reason that as Beth was mentioning they would be required multiple maintenance events to M for the homeowner to maintain the permit required coverage over the Dune cores and thatc what beach access point are they looking for golden sand Golden Sands was the original request um and they did offer to utilize W baso beach however it's a different contractor than the one we're using is that correct correct correct and and and in the past this property had performed emergency measures out of the the treasure Shores Park so where it's located is is is pretty much you know equidistant from you know treasure Shores or Golden Sands so this doesn't really relate to this but I mean it does but when we have how do you deal with the liability of any impacts to any of our Parks if you have two separate contractors performing work I mean in the past if they piggybacked with our contractor the one contractor is responsible but now you're going to get into a finger pointing situation of I didn't mess that up they did uh more than likely the contractor that's completing the work would not allow another contractor to come onto his work site because again they obtain site control uh even any damage is the responsibility of the contractor and we're talking about cracked pavement cracked sidewalks uh any Dune damage any damage to facilities or buildings on site and so what would essentially happen is our contractor would have to release uh site control and then this contractor would come in again the timing is very questionable because I think we're looking at uh late March before wabaso Beach would be open uh and so even if we waited till the project was over we're going to be well into sea turtle ning season at that point so um uh the well in weasa was a TW mile hike for for this particular project the all the other option would be to close Golden Sands which was just restored uh and close it to the public which would mean that we would have three public beach accesses out of eight closed and they were looking for 10 days I believe for Golden Sands Eric do we have eement on these two property yes we do yeah that's a good thing yeah but again you know looking back to Pebble Lane um that nourishment event is scheduled for you know tely scheduled for the 2025 2026 time frame um the current sector 3 project that we're doing did add nourishment to the property that is looking to install a dune Corp so and we've already come down the coast from there so we have already placed sand they're looking to remove the sand uh install the Dune course replace the sand and then replace the Dune vegetation on top of it so was this brought forward due to the time time frame because I would you know I wouldn't mind running right running this by the beach and Shores the um the Dune core one is it's an extremely lengthy process for permitting so um I I you know I I I have to go back to figure out when the permit process started uh but that one there does involve an engineering firm design plans uh submitted to Tallahassee Tallahassee does reviews on it and then they they issue the permit so um again that's a that that process probably started quite some time ago um as Beth mentioned though for the Pebble Lane one um that process did start in in mid to late February um when they actually approached the county to see if we could issue an emergency permit um when I told him that my my permit deadlines would would lapse on the 29th of February um you know at that point there if he needed something beyond the 29th of February you know please reach out to the D and see what they would allow because my permits will not go into sea turtle nessing season I'm not I'm not questioning the form I'm just questioning you know how we get it there during the peak of the season this close to Turtle nting we've already voted on yeah I think we need some more clarification on this in the future Madam chair yes did I hear you say that they want to remove the sand that we just put on there and the vegetation we just planted yes that would be and then they restore it you know once they put the Dune cores in there then they would restore the sand back to what the county had just placed but they did receive uh nourishment and protection are measures um with our current sector 3 project and and they were aware of the project that was going on beforehand yes but again the permitting process for their ding course is a quite lengthy process so I'm not sure when they actually started that U but it is a very lengthy process so who coordinates with d on these things like if there's something like this that's going to D by I mean is anybody communicating with us that these are going on because it seems like we we're kind of getting it at the last minute and there could have been ongoing conversations to try to align their permitting with our permitting and our projects and that happen answer that I mean in unincorporated in nurva County um we do uh we we are requested to issue a letter of no objection um you know uh so when a permit application comes through or is going to the D the D does reach out and say County can you review this process make sure it doesn't contravene any of your u rules and regulations and then issue a letter of no objection that at that point for these Dune cores is the County's only input on it I guess my my question is outside of the normal D permitting process is anybody having just conversations about hey this is this is what's going on or we're expecting this before you have to get into the official notice of non whatever he just said right um is anybody reaching out to see or we reaching out to them to express our concerns with the process and the conflict that it's creating because that seems like a conversation that should be happening at some point to the best of my knowledge no I mean these these property owners who typically for for an engineered Dune core system these Property Owners would reach out to an engineering firm to draft up the design plans and so forth and then we'll find out about it typically when they you know submit to the D um it just sounds like a good opportunity for some intergovernmental conversations that could probably help fix problems before they get to this point of confusion but beyond that for this par this isn't on the agenda so we can't really do a has an application been made so we don't have an application process within the parks division in terms of uh requesting that's that's part of our issue is we get a request uh via phone call about being able to utilize a beach park for something that's tied to um either a permit emergency permit or to the D permit and I think that's that's part of the issue is I'm not sure and Eric you can answer this when D is reviewing whether they're issuing a permit looking at the Ingress and egress that's required may not necessarily be considered is that a St okay so they're looking at can the can the work can they issue the permit and they're not looking at whether the project in itself is uh you know has access for the work to be completed Mike did you have something I I I guess my my question is you know what is the point of entry for these people is for the Property Owners to come to us and say hey we would like to use this access point unfortunately you're going to have to close the beach park for period of days is there any sort of application other than a phone call or email to to do this aside from the uh previous uh request to piggy back on County contracts to my knowledge this has not happened before where would that application come from Bill I I I I I don't know you certainly don't want your Parks director being the subject matter expert on beach nourishment it's very complicated than never we just want to know whether to open or close the park and cooperate with the project I thank the Commissioners for their insightful questions today my recommendation would be to consider a policy that requires U dovetailing or piggybacking on an existing project with the same contractor with a reasonable period of notice so that we can do this right right that's kind of where I was going with the conversation about this in general but my concern was we were going to take a vote on an appli on a project that we don't really have notice and the applicant hasn't been told beyond that for a process like this there needs to be some kind of payment if they're going to use access for our beach park I'm not against providing the opportunity for somebody to try to renourish their Beach it creates a better SE Beach system in general and you know we want to try to be helpful for people that are trying to protect their property however you can't just come in with no information and ask to close things without all the details that we need to even make an accurate determination and I think we're going to get into a lot of problems if we start allowing private things to happen during sea turtle nesting season um because there's other there's just other monitoring things that have to happen and if you don't have a contractor that understands that or a property owner that understands that we're the ones in the end that are going to get dinged for that by D and Fish and Wildlife and all those I mean they don't take messing with sea turtles lightly um so my suggestion is to put anything that you're getting on hold until you have a process and an application process and whether that needs to go through Parks or it needs to go through natural resources I don't know what's easier there but you can't just we want to close your Park we don't have a contractor and we don't know when it's going to start and how long it's going to go can you go ask the commission well I can't reasonably make a I don't want to be onerous but I can't make a decision without information either and they shouldn't expect us to be able to Madam chair the my my concern would be one of due process if you've got a land owner that's going to invest in engineering permitting etc etc and they come to us and we say yay or nay or there's no process to go through I'd want to make sure that we have some sort of application process that they can go through and be either approved or denied based on a set of facts that that would be my only concern I think that's staff's issue as well if if we were to look through 205 of the county code there's no provision that other than a special event permit that I have to issue such a permit which is part of the reason I'm standing here today is because if you look at that there's there's no mechanism for me to even entertain the request or to create an application at this point in time without uh some idea of how of what that process um would look like U from your direction I think Eric how many times have we done this in the past for private land owners there were numerous emergency permits issued last year under the Hurricanes Ian and Nicole um several of them did act upon a lot of them did dovetail in to the County's projects um so you know at that point it was the same contractor placing sand um so some of the the uh you know condo associations would place the sand out of say SE grape Trail as my contractor was you know mobilized into SE grape Trail um that did take place there was a a a private use of treasure Shores beach park u in which it did close down the park um you know so there had that does has happened um we also do require that if it is an activity such as that then the the person accessing the park does you know mitigate the actual damage to the Dune and so forth so um it does require uh you know actually at this point a coastal staff Works closely with Parks um on the use of that so when when the contractor's done we would make sure that the park is uh brought back to the conditions that would be you know acceptable for um activities you know east of the coastal con Construction Control line so um again these are when permits are issued to from the county the D also does have the ability to issue permits uh typically we we do you know try to reach out to the department but we also track their Oculus system um and are notified when permits are issued and then we do a little bit of research to figure out what that permit entails um could be as simp something as simple as a a dune crossover repair um you know in which some of the parks are looked at for Access for uh contractors to bring equipment on the beach for those um I I do just want to you you know extend a little bit of caution with regards to you know having the need for a a contractor to potentially have to uh for a property owner to potentially have to dovetail off of the County's contractor and project um right now my beach nourishment projects are construction projects in which I I'm it's an earth moving project basically sand is brought into the site sand is sloped into a permitted template and we move down the beach as we're seeing you know people explore different potential protective measures for them to employ uh I'm not sure the same contractor could actually be involved in uh Dune core installation um you know right now like say they're Earth moving people I don't know whether they'd have the expertise necessary that's the only reason I want to kind of toss that out there so let me just make a suggestion obviously there seems to be a bazillion questions about how this is even going to work and all the different things involved in it my suggestion would be that anybody that's calling right now for these things tell them they need you know we're just going to put that on hold until we can create a policy and then we'll bring it back utilizing that policy but if this is something that's been going on since 22 and blah blah blah it's not a life safety my house is going to fall into the ocean and we're all going to die kind of emergency scenario that would be something different but I don't see how we can vet these with all these variables today or anytime soon to give them definitive answers I agree we need to have some process in place um but talking about dovetailing and then that brings up you know I'm sure purchasing and the bid requirements and then people are going to get all freaked out about that we're going to make a wrong decision there and blah blah blah blah blah do proc I mean I just don't see how we can make I would just tell them that we're not going to be able to make a decision until we come up with a process and then bring us back a process and if you want input on the process my input is there needs to be an application fee there needs to be some kind of mitigation there needs to be um some definitive answers about the date and the time frame it needs to happen before Turtle nesting season and um you know I know like Sandridge sometimes people use Sandridge for golf tournaments and it's not open to the public because they they're taking up the whole thing so from a Parks perspective if there's some kind of verbiage in there about the fact that you're utilizing it solely for yourself and blah blah blah you can utilize that for the parks aspect of it but I I mean we're going to go down a rabbit hole here without answers and keep talking in circles so that would be my suggestion and if and if it takes a little bit longer it takes a little bit longer because the reality is neither one of these projects is going to find a contractor and get it done before March 15th because we're at March 5th today Madam chair I'd like I'd like to add one last thing on this maybe we can close this conversation up to me this this falls upon the applicant and the contractor to look for Access some of these that we've done of the last year that we' that that gives you permits they've done it through private access whether it's the side of their house or something else I mean they they were able to do it I think it falls upon the contractor and and and a applicant to find other access but to ask us to close a county beach for your personal gain unless your house is falling into water is just is is just not the I I can't accept that because uh when we do Beach renourishment during the season and we close Golden Sands down people know that's what it's for that's know they know your tax dollars at work the count is redoing the whole Beach it's a different scenario I don't want to be on the end of the phone call somebody wan to go to the beach and said you close the beach for private use you know I could say yes because her house is fallen in the ocean that would be okay so to me I think this process falls upon the contractor and applicant to come up with a way to find access if they don't then approach the county and give us a good reason to the application that that's where I think this in lies it falls upon those the people that want to do it themselves just like if you're going to build a house get a building permit same same same scenario that's all I got to say all right anybody else gentl anything else all right thank you thank you Mr Zoo all right with that we'll move on to Utility [Music] Services County Road 6128 Street utilities relocation at 74th Avenue Bridge notice of intent number six sewer line delay good morning commissioner Sean lekei with my other hat as utilities director um you know this this agenda item is associated with a Florida Department of Transportation project um to basically relocate and expand a bridge at 8th Street and 74th Avenue um this project started um for us even back in 2019 when we when we originally had an approval to do the engineering necessary as part of that project we have to Rel relocate a force main a sewer Force main that was actually buried below the canal um and as part of that we we in 2019 we approached the commission before my time to get approval for design to relocate that Force M um in 2021 we actually finally got those um that design work um and started kind of working into to permitting it if um permitting at that time um you know the project kind of has been on again off again I guess a little bit over the time but around um 2022 um we were asked to provide a utility work schedule on what it would take to relocate that line and as part of that we suggested that we would have our line relocated and moved 40 days prior to them commencing work on the bridge and what happened is is I don't know there's probably some breakdown in communication I don't know that we ever actually received notice of when they were going to start that relocation a during that same time frame we were working with um D Department of Environmental Protection um and as well as the US Army Corps of Engineers on what we call 404 permit so that gives us authority to actually be working in the Waterway or a jurisdictional Waterway um and there was some back and forth between D and the core of who would take responsibility for that and we were having some difficult time actually getting approval for that 404 permit at that same time and so um we never really got notice of when they were going to start the project and then around June of that of 2020 actually it was April of 2023 we finally got noticed that hey we're going to start this project here within the next so um within the next couple weeks you guys aren't out of the way um doesn't look like you're out of the way you haven't moved your water line you haven't Reed your water line um you know so you you're running the risk of liquidated damages at that point we did you know really initiate a pretty hard concerted effort to to get the project moving um we had gotten some bids from corn Main and CK contractors um for the project of approximately $1.9 million um to do that relocation uh the relocation started as quickly as we can uh we got as you know we got the company out there doing the work uh unfortunately we did delay the project so we delayed them starting the the bridge work as a result of us not having relocated that line um so what's what's happened is we we came across liquidated damages um and for that delay and so the contract that we had with them that we had signed with fot um would have liquidated damages if we did not get out of the way prior to them starting the the work that did occur um when we initially got completed with the project we received notification from the contractor of a of a liquidated damages in the amount of around $320,000 um we embarked in some negotiations and some um conversations with them um we felt when we we were looking at what they had put together as far as the the the issues they had identified as part of the the the liquidated damages we kind of had thought it was going to be closer to around 200,000 we also were working with the Florida Department of Transportation um and in those conversations they felt that they could support around a 235,000 and change um liquidated damages payment um and we felt we could settle on that one thing to point out is um while the original cost estimates were 1.9 from CK and cor main the project came in at about 1.3 um almost 1.4 million dollar so we did have some cost savings associated with the project we kind of re-engineered and redid some things to to kind of reduce the cost a little bit um that's not to say that we we shouldn't have been out of the way to begin with but we were able to save some C costs on the construction side um that should help offset some of the the liquidated damages but what we're asking for today is approval to move forward with pay payment um we received a letter from uh the Florida Department of Transportation uh recently on February 20th asking for payment within 30 days um so we have basically by the end of this month that we have to receive we have to submit that payment so we are asking for approval to remit the the payment of liquidated damages the amount of is that amount 235 32581 all right anybody have any questions questions chairman when this this this bridge of raised going over over this bridge and this spr the same Bridge all my life until now and I knew it wouldn't be an easy project to do and I guess there was some miscommunication between between parties on this it's the bridge is done it uh it looks good uh there's some other issues maybe with the rest of the road that we were going to address I talked to the administrator about yesterday but uh overall it's in good shape and I think it's actually part of doing a restoration that that was pretty tough so I'll make stff recomendation all right we have a motion by commissioner irman with a second by commissioner lore any further discussion all in favor opposed motion carries thank you commissioner thank you all right the next item is County attorney matters beachfront litigation update Miss prodct are you taking this welcome welcome good morning good morning commissioner Susan prto Deputy County attorney for the attor county attorney's office um this morning I bring forward a update on the 22 beachfront customary use litigation case that was started back here in Chambers in October of 2018 um after a long and lengthy process there has been a final order issued in this case um at this point in time due to the final order issued in this case and how it was was rendered and issued um the county attorney's office is seeking um guidance from the board as to how they wish to proceed um I will tell you that as far as from the county attorney's office and from um speaking with our outside Council on this matter um we are not recommending that an appeal be taken at this point in time as it would not be um advantageous to the county um in this current case um so we asked to seek guidance from the board if you have any additional questions or information I am happy to speak there is a copy of the summary from our outside Council attached here too with the just summarizing what um kind of occurred as well as a copy of the final order that judge K issued on February 12th 2024 Madam chair uh I think we all met with Miss pra and outside Council recently I think it was uh described to us uh very precise uh which sometimes doing business we have to make these decisions uh so with that I would move that we allow Council to settle this case and move forward all right we have a motion by commissioner lure with a second by commissioner fleser any further discussion the motion was to allow Council to settle the case and did you want me to explain to settlement of the case Bill thank you settling of the case would be just not filing the appeal and paying for just the costs that are awarded in the order to um the particular respondent in this case which I think were roughly $35,000 around their give or take okay everybody all right with that all right so there is a motion and a second all in favor opposed motion carries thank you all right the next item is manufacturers and Retail opioid class action settlement payouts Mr de thank you madam chair uh when the whole opioid crisis started there were lawsuits of Plenty flying around all over the place what happened was that the judge in in Ohio that had the majority of these cases turned it into a class action lawsuit and they started settling with the different entities as far as the retailers Distributors and manufacturers of the opioids the Attorney General's office jumped up and offered their assistance to cities counties Hospital districts and other others affected by the opioid crisis and offered to act as a broker if you would in negotiating the various deals that would be available to the public entities the first settlement that they entered into was with the retail and Distributors these are the CVS Walmart Walgreens type folks this was aimed this settlement this pot of money payout as if you will was earmarked for local governments cities and counties affected by the opioid crisis we went ahead and submitted information from our Sheriff from drug court from all kinds of Hospital District EMTs all sorts of different information that was used in order to Fashion this settlement and if you take a look at the Ledger that I gave you this is exhibit a entitled the retail settlement you see that we have received a chunk of that money last year we received another chunk of that money this year for the $3,000 $300,000 plus allotment that we allotted last meeting to the drug court for inpatient treatment and wraparound services that comes from the retail settlement it pays out over a period of 18 years and so if you see in uh 2039 we will receive our final payment from the retail folks in that pot of money aimed toward local government Madam chair and it's coming direct this pot comes directly to us not through somebody else correct okay that is absolutely correct this comes directly to us on an annual basis and the board has elected to give this funding uh to the alternative Court program the drug court if you would to uh provide for the inpatient treatment Outpatient Treatment transportation to and from meetings doctors appointments etc etc housing if you will those are all the wraparound Services later on the settlement was made with the manufacturers Purdue Pharma if you would this is the second pot of money that we are dealing with again over an 18-year period again it will last to through 2039 we will receive that annual allotment because we are a small County under 300,00 ,000 this will be distributed from the state to the southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network and we will re we have uh agreed to allot this money to the various local agencies that are combating the opioid crisis in the various methods whether it be treatment at the jail uh supplies for our paramedics uh and and EMTs different uh studies that would be done etc etc so as you see on exhibit B this is the manufacturer settlement this was struck after the retail settlement it is a separate pot of money again this is the one that we had our Public Safety Council make recommendation to us to uh pay out the allotted sums so as far as clarification you asked for something that you could put your hands on I hope I have complied with that request as far as this exhibit that you have I've given a copy of it to the clerk and you can see how the payouts are going to be structured over the next 17 years just one question on exhibit a that 3% uh reduction where do those where does that 3% dollars go as far as the 3% yes so right below the yellow line I I I got it 3% I I I I'm sorry I I I don't know the answer to that question maybe it's administrative the drug court doesn't charge anything for an administrative fee to my knowledge I think it's whatever money goes in uh goes out uh in the same amount I don't think they keep a fee I can check on that for you and let you know right and just know also the problem solving courts we mentioned drug court but also know that if there's a a veteran with an opioid problem that as well and it it all goes in all the problem solving courts not just drug courts participate in that exhibit a retail settlement thank you this is much easier to understand than than before so I appreciate that and it gives us a kind of an forecast of what to expect year-over-year as it starts to decline yes it will so Madam chair members of the commission uh Kristen shares it's a discount applied by Finance for the purposes of the financials so in other words is a safety net estimate that 3% reduction all right so from home is there is there no action questions on this this was more the requested information yes yes um so if there's no questions on the different pots and I guess I do have a question now can they be used for the same things or is there parameters for each pot as to what it can be used for the only parameter is that it must be used to combat I guess if you would opioid uh related problems S as far as whether it be um what is it the the drug that revives you if you have an overdose that's allowed anything associated with opioid uh use disorder but that's the same for both pots that's correct okay and we have since learned that this can roll over so any money that that is allotted to under uh exhibit a or exhibit B the manufacturer settlement or the retail settlement if it is allotted to us it will be able to roll over to the following fiscal year if an agency that is allotted funds under the manufacturers settlement that the board uh paid out at the last or in in in in January I should say if they don't use all those funds or if we don't use all those funds for exhibit a the retail settlement it can roll over to the next fiscal year without clawback awesome okay so like for TDC if you give a grant and they don't spend it all on the reimbursement basis it just rolls over into the fund balance correct awesome okay the one question for exhibit B annually are we going to look at these um five it looks like five or five entities that we disperse these dollars to or are these five set in stone they are they are not set in stone the process that we decided on was to have them come through the Public Safety Council make their presentations there Public Safety Council as an advisory committee goes ahead and makes the recommendation to the board those things can change as you know the the as as treatment options a might differ or be better that we would Target our our funds toward One Direction or another nothing is set in stone we'd be able to be very fluid year toe in our allotments and payouts to the various agencies right because treatment may change in five years 10 years 15 years correct okay okay awesome I think that answers my questions I have a better understanding so I appreciate that very much anybody mam chair today's issue is the the $999,000 balance right that's the next I thought it was the same one I I I separated the two one first was the informational item if there are no other questions or any comments from public we can go on to the $999,000 does anybody have any questions on just opioid settlement in general hi Cynthia Ryan executive director of the veterans Council um my my job is to Advocate and and speak for veterans in in Indian River County uh over 10% of the population is Veterans and so I did reach out to um everybody here um via email with just our concerns and I would like to just address that today um understanding that there probably won't be an answer but I wouldn't be doing um my due diligence if I did not um we're we're asking that the um County Commission consider veterans in in a greater detail um for the um remaining and upcoming um opioid settlement money uh many veterans suffer from complex issues encompassing service related mental and physical health concerns pain management substance dependency as well as ongoing hurdles tied to housing employment food and security and interpersonal connections this combination significantly amplifies the susceptibility to drug use and overdose statistics regarding opioid misuse among veterans is alarming Studies have shown that combat wounded veterans are particularly vulnerable to opioid misuse with rates of opioid overdose uh deaths increasing by 53% from 2010 to 2019 while advancements in Battlefield medicine and protective gear have increased survival rates compared to past conflicts they have also led to the rise of chronic pain among those who have served one significant contributing factor to Veterans opioid use was the Pharmaceuticals industry's Target targeting of them as a population as a consumer base for opioid treatment coupled with the return of the service members from active duty this resulted in the widespread promotion of opioids as an effect as effective in managing pain and improving quality of life consequently many veterans initiated opioid use as a result of service related injuries leading to long-term dependency and heightened overdose risk moreover veterans experience High rates of mental health disorders such as depression anxiety PTSD and suicide the 2019 National survey on drug use in health found 1.3 million veterans approximately 6.2% had substance use disorder opioid use often serves as a coping mechanism for emotional pain and Trauma exasperated by the risk of addiction and overdose additionally social isolation further compounds the issues as veterans facing mental health challenges and chronic pain often withdraw from society increasing their vulnerability for opioid misuse and suicide due to these challenges we must provide accessible non-judgmental Holistic Solutions to address opioid addiction and prevention among veterans the veterans Council provide has I provided you all with a proposal and the programs that we that we provide to veterans from case management to emergency financial assistance and Veteran advocacy and Outreach these programs aim to address the diverse needs of our veteran population and connect them with vital resources and support by fostering these these Partnerships we ensure that veterans in all circumstances receive the assistance they need and address underlying issues contributed to opioid use and prevention I'm asking you to consider beyond what you have and really focus on Veterans as well as prevention a lot of what the um the money has already been funded to is really um a reactive stance as opposed to a proactive stance we do work very closely with veterans court as well as the um sheriff's department and um we you know have now access to veterans that are in jail and helping them um make a plan for when they do come out um but I I just wanted to um state you know in front of you that we are we are here we're we're serving veterans and they are one of our most at risk populations for opioid misuse thank you thank you um all right Commissioners are there any more questions on the information um money allocations processes any of that at this point before we get into the 99 cuz that's separate okay go ahead I just I just wanted to confirm I'm looking at it the um in River County Mental uh excuse me 19th Judicial uh circuit drug court that encompasses also the veterans uh Court it would it would Encompass anybody that that qualifies for the alternative Court program so we we just qualify different names then but it it encompasses that there is a yes correct okay very good thank you did you have something all right so if we're good on that and I again appreciate the information Bill very much um we will move on to the additional allotment of op class action lawsuit settlement payout from manufacturer settlement and this is an action item and this is the 99 I believe so Madam Madam chair a couple questions one is um the Public Safety Council uh who all attends that and is it open to everyone uh I understand that uh you know there could be other entities that want to uh receive some dollars that weren't in the first batch if you will uh so we're this board is dependent upon the council uh recommendations to disperse these dollars and I'm just wondering who all is in these Public Safety Council meetings I think commissioner it would well uh any answer a question there commissioner U Sheriff uh the Public Safety Council is comprised of an appointed committee however attendees are also there and we heard presentations at the Public Safety Council of members and non-members of a a want for a need for addressing the opioid settlement and uh we we did hear all the presentations and it was open to any and all uh who are participants in in the community who address the concerns related to the opioid settlement okay so had the veterans Council been at your last meeting would they be would it have been considered for the balance of what's proposed the 60,000 going to our friends uh and they could have they could have uh come to the meeting and and requested as well uh and applied again these this was not a closed application uh once uh the settlement was established and discussed that we would need presentations uh the it went out and I don't know if we did not do a door to door gotta I I I get what you're saying you know were they invited to the come to the table uh so the answer would be probably not right and and I'm impressed with with subance awareness because they they seem to be very proactive yes and have already indicated that you know they could even expedite their their dashboard project and others uh so that's refreshing but uh you know as Mr BR said we can we can roll over the dollars as well so I mean that's something this board probably should think about well for my two cents on it um I think that doing the needs assessment is really of I mean that's kind of something we've been talking about since this conversation came up is having some type of assessment of where we actually need to be putting our money that's that's kind of driving those decision processes and setting that process up um I have no problem with the rolling over of what's being recommended by the Public Safety Council um I but I thoroughly appreciate and would support the funding for the needs assessment and Expediting that because that's going to give us that data that we that you were talking about about treatment and that kind of thing um and I agree with you wholeheartedly that we need a defined process that people know how to interact with that has some clear steps of what you need to do or what you needed to provide similar to to TDC or seesac or any number of kind of Grant committee that that review that so I would definitely agree with that and I would agree that we probably maybe after the needs assessment is done um need to re-evaluate where and how and what those decisions are looking like because there might be the need and I know if if you look at what other states and counties are doing around the country to create a committee specific to this and these allocations with I mean I I think the Public Safety Committee has stepped up and done a great job very quickly with very little information um but I'm not sure if everybody on there is if it's reflective of the entire community that needs to be part of that discussion if that makes sense not to downplay what they've done the funds were the funds were made uh available uh through the settlement uh we were tasked with uh looking at uh expending those funds in the most appropriate fashion with presentations uh it was well discussed that uh we would need a an assessment uh a monitor uh performance Factor because the funds are going to diminish uh they have to be uh carefully appropriated and we have to look at the impact the very intention of the settlement so we will need that uh uh tool to ensure that we're doing the right thing in the future and commissioner and and commissioner flesher I agree and I I think that the public safety commission did a very good job again very quickly with the limited information and parameters and the everchanging let's face it ever changing information they were given um and he's available it's not available be delayed we can't roll it over we can roll it over very hard to make decisions with changing information but to commissioner Lor's point I think in my understanding of what will come out of the needs or the needs assessment process is they're going to bring in a lot of these different Community agencies like veterans Council and and other things to really try to get at where's the need and where are the holes and where where are those safety nets that we need to put in place that we can with these with these dollars um and I'm sure there's other groups in the community too that would love to be part of that discussion so I I agree that we probably need to look at that but the needs assessment from what how it's been described to me as being anticipated to move forward and and maybe you guys want to talk about that is to create Community conversations and bring everybody in to really look at it more holistically and from an umbrella perspective so we're trying to capture all that information from those groups and then put a pro a process together Madam chair yes Ju Just to kind of Rec or give you a little bit of background the Public Safety Council meets quarterly they met a week ago last Friday there was a presentation made as far as for the uh substance of awareness Council to go ahead and expedite their needs assessment study to provide the dashboard the council recommended an additional $60,000 be allotted to expedite that study and to uh create the dashboard and that they would go ahead and roll over the remaining 30,000 $39,000 in change to the next fiscal year um and to to miss Ryan's point the process that was uh undertaken by the by the council was that each of the various entities that were asking for a share of the payout made a presentation to the council and the council then acted on that you are certainly welcome to make a presentation based on whatever program or information you'd like to share with the council and uh participate from here on out for the next 17 years you are a welcomed person welcomed entity at the table and I turn it back over to the chair thank you um did you guys want to describe kind of or yes I so my name is car Lester I'm the executive director at the substance awareness Center and I appreciate um Miss Brian's remarks and I I think the needs assessment I keep pushing the importance of Expediting it and having this live dashboard because I think it's what the missing piece really is we didn't have that back when the Public Safety Council was doing its best to allocate These funds and we really needed to have a coordinated organized intentional effort moving forward um it really being able to do this will help us look at and monitor in real time make data driven decisions and you know hopefully for the next 17 years that these funds come into our community but ongoing we can put a system in place that really elevates what we do when we look at our substance use problems in our community the way we address those issues in our community and our larger Behavioral Health um Continuum of Care and so I I see this as a real opportunity for us to change our system and the way we do things in our community and to help bring lots into the fold as an organization we already do a lot of this work in prevention we followed the Strategic prevention framework um we we we do very well at trying to coordinate and have an action plan and goals on prevention and we can fold this together um and and bring the community together on it and and make sure that the Public Safety Council has good informed um data to look at pull down and make those decisions as you can see there's various pots of funds and those are just for the opioid settlement dollars but there's a lots of different pots of funds that our community can also be looking at and once we have a good organized system in place I think there'll be a lot more that we can do for our Continuum of Care and so that's why that's very important to me um as I lead our organization in Substance Abuse Prevention and Recovery awesome thank you any questions any questions mam chair move approval I have a motion and a second all in favor opposed motion carries and just to my fellow Commissioners because we're probably going to have a conversation about this in the future um there and at least yeah for the next 18 years um there is a there is a toolkit on the National Association of County website that kind of gives some different examples of what other areas are doing um as far as how they're processes um and some best practices and that might be something if y'all are interested to check out um so when it does come back we kind of have some ideas of what others are doing not that we can't do our own thing as we always do IND River County but see what others are doing um okay well that brings me to my matters which is the ongoing County recruitment attorney County attorney recruitment process so today you guys wanted to talk primarily about a salary range so in anticipation of that Mr de bra was very helpful and providing me with a salary study that had been done by the Florida Association of County attorneys um I have a copy of that for everybody at least the part related to County attorneys um which is kind of tiny but if you put on your glasses and magnifying lenses you will possibly be able to see it oh I don't have any back up in there I'm giving it to you now um to highlight for this discussion Indi no County right now I do yep I can share another one um IND County our attorney is paid $22,000 we have three attorneys two paral leals and one Administrative Assistant if you look at comparable counties I tried to kind I'm just going to highlight some comparable counties by amount of staff and then some counties that are surrounding us so Citrus County has three attorneys and One support staff they're at 173 Clay County has three attorneys one pargal and one assistant they're at 223 Flagler has one Deputy one assistant and one legal assistant and they're at 275 Nassau has three attorneys and four support support staff at 196 Oola has four attorneys and four support staff at 218 Bay just has five employees I'm not sure how they're broken down but that's there 179 bravard um has eight attorneys and five staff members and they're at 265 Escambia has one Deputy attorney County attorney two senior County attorneys two assistant County attorneys and then um six other office staff and they're at 203 so that kind of gives you and then of course everybody else that answered that is listed on there so that kind of gives you um the range for comparables you know could be anywhere from 179 to 275 we're sitting at 202 so whatever you guys want [Music] to discuss as a range there is that I'm open to to whatever you guys want to do with that I also um told you guys that we would be discussing a possible um use of a recruiter so we had hopefully everybody went ahead and read the projection or the proposal from strategic government resources which is 2700 or $ 27,1 15 um is their proposal for the whole process um there is another option with the county City attorney selection assistant service through the Florida Association of County attorneys that does require more um input and engagement on our part and they help more with um suggesting where to place everything putting some job description you know paperwork together but where they really come in is in that um vetting process and the review process um they cost so they're not actually a recruiter they're more a of helping you through that process their cost is much less at $5,000 flat fee um and then those are our options for recruiters my concern is we can continue to do this and I I have no problem bringing this information back constantly but when we get to the vetting process I really want to make sure everybody's given the same information and our ability to vet is like on an even field because I would hate to get into a meeting and you know we we've kind of who's who's doing those background checks and that vetting and and all making sure all the same information is given to us so that is the information that I have to bring back Madam chair do we know how many openings Statewide there are for County attorneys is there wa find that out yep I was on the um Florida Association of County's website um this morning updating that um looking at their governmental openings there was not a specific opening for a county attorney there were several Deputy or Assistant Attorney positions um with a handful of cities primarily and one County I believe so there is not a lot of open openings being advertised in that venue in that venue anyway I did not look in other venues like indeed or anything like that commissioner Moss I just wanted to confirm and I'll confirm this with the County Administrator that the um to retain the services of a recruiter would be approximately $27,000 then they would for Sr for this one it's $227,450 I I and I've I've stated this before but I I believe very strongly that we need to take this to the outside I don't want to leave it a chance it's one of two uh key positions um you know for the community the County Administrator um all departments report to him and for the county attorney all legal matters will report to that person and those are the two key positions within the county those two positions report to us and we report to you so that's the chain of command since this is such a key position I feel very strongly we need to go to the outside I don't want to leave it to to chance commissioner Ean do you have any comments on the salary range or the use of a recruiter I do okay good information thank you for supplying it I would say um follow pretty much what the what we do with the County Administrator with most of the the requirements but I would say the salary range could be like anywhere from 190 to to 220 um based on experience but not higher than the County Administrator salary um must live in the county within six months because we don't want to go through the same issues with getting a permit do we sir but U and of course the evaluation will be up to the board of County Commissioners raises as County employees get raises at least um I would say 10 years experience as a lawyer three to five at least three to five with government we went over that we went over those that stuff yet last time I'm just I'm just I just wrote it as I thought of them and then you know obviously they prefer they be a Florida resident and know Florida law if they're local attorneys if they're from any River County uh this area I would think they would be given preference a little bit that's that's really all I have but as of my thought is this we yes I'm in favor of using a recruiter without a doubt if somebody local wants to apply or somebody that we advertise it through various Outlets f or whatever whoever applies and if they're local they give they get they get they should probably they should get preference if they have the experience but it's still all done through the recruiter so it's all divied into one SN one pot and then they vet those people and send it back to us kind of like the process we did with the County Administrator I'd liked our County Administrator process until the day till the final day that we sat here that we got decided we got but the information we got beforehand the information we got beforehand was great information the way it was done was good we were able to look at it and and and and vet them appropriately and then we brought it down to the last five I think that was all good so so that is kind of my thoughts on this that yes I'm for using recruiter and everybody ends up going to the recruiter for their applications if it's somebody local here that you know hey apply to the apply to the recruiter okay I appreciate that that's where you're at all right commissioner fleser no uh I do agree it's a it's a it's a small cost for uh a very significant uh position initially I felt that there was uh ample amount of uh individuals that would love to be working in Aline County and uh after looking at the the amount of postings and I I guess it's it's not as uh available or abundant a field as we would wanted so a a recruiter most certainly um I I appreciate uh commission Erman uh given a replay on the uh the uh information uh as far as where we want to go how we want to go salary is is uh important uh I concur with uh what you've outlined as well uh because uh I I believe it's most appropriate we are also currently doing a a salary study and we don't want to cross that line as well so I I believe that uh we if we go forward with a selector at 2 what is it $27,000 it's not a a huge investment for the yield okay I appreciate that commissioner lore reluctantly I'll go I'll go along with the recruiter I think we have uh other sources we can use but I'll go along with that I think with respect to the salary range uh and I think commissioner man said something about not being above the county administrators pay um I think that's all negotiated negotiable uh we can have a range of of whatever we want but when we negotiate his or her contract that's when the salary set okay um I appreciate that so real hold real quick um one thing that um I will say is it sounds like everybody and we would obviously need a motion for this isve it is in favor of the sgr proposal the good thing is is we've already done a lot of the homework by getting all this stuff together and having multiple M conversations on it so if we were to engage with them and bring a contract back we should be able to move that forward pretty quickly um and I and to y'all's point about local people and and in-house people I know that they are working on some of the uh openings right now and we've had several um in-house applicants for those positions that have have made it through so I think that they look for that um so you have a motion to approve the sgr contract or to ask them to bring a contract back yes I'd like to move to approve the contract or the proposal right now we have a proposal okay okay so we have a motion in a second Susan just really quick um thank you for bringing everything back um thank you once again for bringing this up for discussion so early um just want to point out that um thank you for looking for the different salaries in between the counties but I just want to make sure that when we're looking at the other counties that we're looking also at Cost of Living as we know our county is precious and it's beautiful and it's wonderful but a lot of PE it is a higher cost of living County than for example our neighboring counties so when we're looking at that we're looking at Cost of Living um and also and I understand in with all due respect to Mr tanich and his position as a County Administrator also I don't believe that the county administrators or you know the manager managerial positions in local government have to take on a normally they don't have to take on a $100,000 plus dollar debt for a education that's required to sit in this position so just want to take those two into consideration when you're looking at that because if if you're looking at hiring someone you know that you that they be able to afford to live here because if it's going to be a requirement to live here that they be able to afford to live here and still be able to pay that debt off because that is essentially a second mortgage if any of yall know what I'm talking about um so just thoughts for whoever may come in or whatever may come in that's all on for informational purposes all right thank you so much Madam chair yes who would the point of contact for the consultant be the chair very good um yes uh I'm not in favor of the having to be a of Indian River County you may have someone in North Fort Pierce or South bravard that is a star that doesn't want to move here and I think that um what will happen is the once they're engaged they'll come in and talk to each one of us about what we want and don't want and then put something together um to put out there um I don't think that I don't know what our current contract says as far as residency for attorneys um but that is definitely something that could be negotiated as long it's not in the application right right okay all right so there is a motion by commissioner moss and a second by commissioner Ean to approve the proposal from sgr all in favor opposed motion carries and then the other thing I'm just going to put in put a little bug in y'all's ear is when you look at that salary study look at how many attorneys are in the attorney's office we are on the lower side of that um all right so back to our agenda thank you guys for that I appreciate it um and we'll get that going commissioner flesher request from the TDC Council well thank you madam chair and uh appreciate the opportunity to uh present this and hopefully if you're uh consideration and approval uh during the February 21st 2024 uh tourist development council meeting uh we were approached by the play Treasure Coast Sports tourism uh for uh additional funding uh from the contingency uh in the tune of about $220,000 for a a very a exciting opportunity that was unplanned that came about and we have the opportunity to harness as you aware the uh tourism dollars uh that are allocated are exactly that from heads to beds and generated from tourism and so we want to redirect that uh they did make the request for $220,000 H we did hear the presentation uh the uh presentation uh was uh exciting as exciting as you'll see it now uh and uh we're looking at taking uh the opportunity to allocate $20,000 to play Treasure Coast Sports uh to harnesses uh with u an understanding that the contingency fund has $128,000 uh doar 81 uh available for distribution that was the reason why that fund was created and we're about halfway through the process uh at this time I'd like to call upon Mr Rick Hatcher uh to uh present and I believe we have a a PowerPoint to show the uh the coveted great program thank you thank you good morning Madam chair Commissioners uh Rick Hatcher president for play treasure Cod Sports tourism as well well as I do have Ryan Strickland our vice president of Business Development and Kevin green our Director of Events and stuff but uh as we as commissioner uh mentioned I made the request at the last TDC meeting we had several events come to our attention that we could be that could be hosted here in Indian River County uh this was after our budget was set and approved and uh and then we learned about these events and so the first event I'd like to share with you uh is the event of the ajga U it's an event that we have been trying to work with the folks at ajga for several years uh they reached out to us and reached out to B at San Ridge uh this is a tournament that's going to be here in June you got 150 of the top uh high school players around the country that will be here in the event and they've actually move this event up a day because it will then be followed by the fsga the Florida State Golf Association is going to be played out at Orit Island and they'll have another 150 players so you'll have a combination of this but you'll have about 10 days of golf junior golf here in Indian River County and you can see the projected economic impact and the heads and beds as we uh like to say you're in sports tourism world that's the really the the drive of events the next events that come to our attention is the Cal Ripkin baseball event that's going to take place July 18 through the 21st uh at Jackie Robinson training complex uh we have been working with this group uh trying to Source venues and Facilities on the Treasure Coast uh working with this we uh we appreciate the work at relle and Jeff Biddle at Jackie Robinson training complex and working with us they were able to find an open date that worked with uh with the Ripkin Factory and again the Ripkin Factory is a combination joined together of the C RI in baseball and the baseball Factory uh that the baseball Factory has been here for but this event but it also leads in to two other events in November and January that will also be hosted here so we're really looking at this event for the money for in July because our next fiscal year will start October 1 and then the other event uh is uh very different to a lot of people the Special Olympics State swimming championships take place at North County Aquatic Center uh we hosted this event uh back after a three-year Hiatus uh this year uh it's always occurs the first week in October but after the event was over with they alerted us that the event do due to travel dates uh moved it up a week when they moved it up a week that then now falls into this fiscal year that we were not prepared for it and so that's why we had come back to uh for the request of the $2,000 for these three uh major events as well as bid fees that we are in discussions with with the uh a national championship uh from freshwater fishing that's going to take place in felmer we have worked and had conversations with Major League Fishing they were in here approximately five years ago and did a commercial and I think commissioner Adams you were part of the TC when they were doing this they have reached out to us and want to hold their national championships for their team series that's going to be here uh the top Anglers uh and uh across the country country uh will be here it's Unique because they uh draft their teams based on this the distinction it will be live streamed and then it will definitely be a destination marketing opportunity we've already sat down with uh Ben IR uh there with uh discover uh Indian River uh or discover visit visit Indian River and uh Lord to them because we feel like it's not something that we would promote the sports commission about but yet it's more of what we've have here leisurely uh that we could benefit and then the other opportunity I want to make sure everybody's aware of and again working with the folks at Jackie Robinson training complex they have put us in contact with USA softball and just to remind everybody Jackie Robinson training complex with the upgrades has now been elevated to a USA softball training center and so they are looking to bring in approximately 450 youth players in December over about 5 day period these are 12 you 14 16 18 youu the importance of this they will select their national teams from this event that's going to be here these national teams are laying the groundwork for when the softball returns to the Olympics in 202 8 in Los Angeles it was in in Japan in 22 or 21 uh it is not in Paris this year in 24 baseball North softball it's coming back in 28 so this is starting their process of identifying players and it's going to be done here in verel beach in Indian River County so that's the the purpose of the request commissioner flesher thank you for allowing me to come before the BCC with this president presentation and I'll be glad to answer and address any questions Commissioners are there any questions of yes commissioner Moss what is the annual amount that you're allocated I'm sorry what is the annual amount that you're allocated currently budget I'm sorry what's your current budget oh my current budget yeah for the use of event Grant is $155,000 155 so your asking for an extra 20 over and above the 155 for the grants yes within the 155 is are there funds that you could redirect to address what only if the events get cancelled or rained out right now every event and we are looking at 56 events already on our calendar for that use of the $155 or $155,000 uh there could be some allocation but again we're looking at at a bid fee that's going to have to be paid a portion of that this money will be paid for the bid fee for the for the fishing as well and that bid fee is excess of $50,000 do you yourself as an organization do you have a reserve that you can draw from for this $20,000 no we do not and we actually do not hold the money ourselves the money stay within each one of our County Partners we invoice and then they write the the checks to the event owner is per se we don't hold the dollars yeah I was just going to follow up on that so commissioner Moss the Treasure Coast Sports commission the way their Grant works is it's primarily for bids for sporting events or different events in that world they don't just come here because they love you I mean they do but there's also a bid associated with it um to even have them consider coming here so if you're you're if they decide to come there's kind of a fee that goes to that organization that puts it on um the thought being that what the locality gets in in economic benefit and heads on beds and that type of stuff offsets that so they have a program in place for the Pro or for the events that they want to bid on and then and it's happened in years past the one I remember most distinctly was the shooting event yes the Masters that would come up mid year as an opportunity because we have great resources that's outside of what would normally be in their um calendar of events or program per se um I think that's what the fishing and some of these other baseball things are and I will just just on the fishing one alone the last time they were here it was amazing for the North County area for the businesses and hotels in Sebastian um for the businesses in felsmere and I will say that that event and for blue I mean they were out at Blue Cyprus they were they went to five different um fishing locations they were here for five you know five days five rounds and each day they would go to a different um fishing location so uh Lake Garcia blue Cyprus Kenansville Lake which I just want to point out you can't even really get there unless you know where it is and I think they did the final round there and they don't tell you where you're going because they don't want these guys to go and fish it and find out where all the sweet spots are um but that event really put Headwaters Lake on the map it already had a great reputation but I can confirm for you that since that event it's like a parade of bass fishing boats going to Headwaters Lake on a daily basis because they come by my house at like 6 o'clock in the morning and you can tell between the dump trucks going to the sandmine and the bass boats you know we're going to have to start talking about Babcock Street expansion but it really put that event put it on and you wouldn't really think of fishing as something that brings a lot and those guys come and I only know this because you know they'll stop at the restaurant or you see them at the gas station they have their boats cost more than my life does but they stay for a week or two weeks at a time and commissioner lore's always out there he could probably give you more information on that than me but I mean that's their big time guys so for that event I definitely think that it's it's a great opportunity to Market what we have from an ecotourism perspective that we don't often get the opportunity to Market and to answer commissioner Moss's question that I didn't mention all of our grants are post events with the exception of two to three events we have to use bid feed so we put the responsibility back on the tournament directors event owners to track their room nights provide that feedback to us and if those rooms are picked up in Indian River County County that's how we allocate our funds at that point only bid fees that are approved by our board only go out in front of those events Madam chair yes one other thing I wanted to clarify these are not local citizen tax dollars yeah these funds are generated from tourism the earmarked for tourism and this is uh reactive if we go forward these funds will are not incumbered until they're necessary to be encumbered so once again the they'll be if there is an allocation uh I don't I don't think Mr Hatcher is going to out and start buying a bass boat or whatever uh this is all for the good of the program and the program is if it does not take place so does the funding not take place so it's very clear and we're just returning back tourism dollars to tourism so you you need to be able to have this approved so you have the option of putting in the bid and in the event that we're awarded the bid the money is clearly available if we're not awarded the bid and the money and the event doesn't come here that money rolls back into contingency yeah of of and not all of it is associated with the angling angler event uh based on the three events that we have that are occurring in our current fiscal year what it does is then alleviates and opens up a pot that we can then look at the fishing event okay office management budget must account for uh what we have what is is taken in uh each period which is then presented to the public uh in the form of our meeting uh to ensure that the funds are are properly accounted for and uh the timeliness is even more significant as we're about ready to to finalize the future budget so with that uh Madam chair sir like let me may I add please pardon me and thank you madam chair um so the fishing event is really unique and deserves special consideration the the other events are um I will I want to you know they are um events that generate venue fees for our facilities and all these events pay the venue fees to San Ridge and the pool and the uh Park system um all of the grants that are submitted uh by the sports commission or play Treasure Coast as we call it now are vetted through the budget office after they go to the county administrator's office and to me for review and sign off and then it's done on a reimbursement basis um so it's it's a really tight system and it's been working well for us um I will add the golf event I will let you know that um that bid fee that is one of the few events that does require a bid fee as Rick mentioned a lot of lot of them do come here because they've been here before they like it and they there's a process to be uh apply for and receive a grant and they like the venue but the bigger events do have a bit feat in that particular case of the American Junior Golf Association uh that is a $50,000 bid fee so we are Sandridge staff we are raising those funds through private donations um but the sports commission is also a resource to supplement that effort so we're looking forward to it and the Jackie Robinson business model um also obviously charges for their events um that are helped to be uh incentivized by this system and quite frankly their business model is what is what allowing them to place all of those um profits if you will back into to the facility and are going above and beyond their legal obligation under our facility lease agreement to make substantial improvements out there Madam chair with that uh I want make a make motion that we move forward to allocate the funding and satisfy the request of play treasure Co Sports uh at this time all right I have a second by commissioner and you have a comment thank you um I can tell you all you know being on the board the Biser board for the sports commission that this is money well spent feel good about it you're going to get a big return on your investment they also work very closely with the Chamber of Commerce here so it's very very good I can tell you from personal experience being out at Dodgertown Jackie Robinson and umpire in games I talk with some of the people that attend for each kid that shows up that plays there's normally two parents or more that are that are there you know the grandparents come friends come to take a little vac here in Florida whether they staying in a hotel or an Airbnb Mike's a good point about the swimming they pay the venue fees so I mean this is a this is a huge return on investment commissioner fler thanks for bringing it Forward um we can't go wrong so just to let you know positive all right so there is a motion and a second any other discussion seeing none all in favor I opposed motion carries and with that Commissioners you guys have let me go on for like 2 and a half hours now so we are going to take just a 5 minute break before we wrap it up back to order we're back we're back for the for the final inning of the IND County Commission meeting all right next item commissioner commissioner Moss yes thank you take away thank you madam chair uh bringing this back um as you know this was a to be continued item and staff is revisiting the uh administrative policy on this however um that has not been concluded therefore we are still operating under the current uh policy which is case-by case basis and does not preclude uh non-governmental use uh we've just been discussing tourist tax and I certainly appreciate the money that sporting events uh bring to the county but cultural events also uh bring considerable uh tourist tax dollars uh to our County so and well also in the interest of not um you know pulling the rug out from under these folks since they have used the facility for the last two years and that's the be Beach uh Film Festival they've used it the last two years there haven't been any problems um it's uh it's been a benefit to us in terms of the tourist tax we've already discussed it so unless there are there's new information or anyone wants to make additional comments um I'll just move to approve it it for this year and uh go from there I Madam chair I'd like to make clarification uh was pointed out that this generates tourist tax dollars uh at no time was there an assessment by the chamber or any other entity as to the tourist tax dollar tourist tax dollar is heads to beds I say it again it's heads to beds it has nothing to do with what's generated may have been an anomaly during that week uh there was uh an increase in uh tax dollars uh it was estimated that there was a 177% increase but that could have been when the truckers came out out west of town uh it could have been from anything that happened during that time frame there was no organized uh estimation uh or calculation or accounting of tourist tax dollar uh and that was verified by the chamber Comas as well um I I had the opportunity to discuss that and it it it's you know we could we could state that well that that was because of us or that was because of this but truth be known and once again the Treasure Coast Sports uh commission or play treasure Co Sports was brought up they actually have a dashboard and they are in contact with each and every hotel and they take those numbers and present them it's something they started in 2007 and it has been the uh a point of discussion that all entity should be doing something of that nature because they show you where the dollar are generated and what the outcome is and why the outcome is uh for the exact time frame I just want to clarify that that those numbers were not tourist tax numbers well that's fine and at any rate they're not they're not requesting anybody misled that this was one of those events that was directly related to tourism in any way shape or form they're not requesting tourist tax dollars and I have no doubt that there are people who come from outside our County and stay here uh to enjoy this and I I agree with you it would be convenient if every single organization that received uh tourist tax dollars did have that kind of measurement system but I believe that the sports commission is the only group as I recall unless it's changed since that time they are the only group that actually has that kind of uh or that level shall we say of of measurement so correct I don't think it's that's incorrect that they're not the only ones within within the groups currently they have a dashboard yes that we it's easily accessible right uh but all of our Community Partners uh do an evaluation as to their impact and that's how they appeal for the dollars okay well without tying this into tourist tax um there haven't there have been no problems the last few years this request may not come before us next year because if the policy changes then uh we would not even receive the request so in the interest of uh meeting their current request uh my motion STS I move to approve the use of the facility by the film festival yes commissioner M chair um yes commissioner correct I read the same thing that but um we want to solve this I think it's time to that we move forward to this have you like you said with have County staff director policy and I I think the policy should be that these Chambers are used for government use only whether it's just what we did with the school board or the city of R like we did or the state we have our legislative days state or federal government and wants to use it for something or or a commission needs to use it for information to the public governmental you know of that thing but yeah I mean I guess I want to say these are these are kind of hallow ground and I think we should move in that direction but I would think in the interest of doing the last two years maybe we could and should let the uh film folks use it and this will be the last time I'm okay with that if you all want to do that I'm okay either way but I have no problem letting them use it one more time and and let's leave it at that then after that the policy sticks it's government and government use only and that's it existing policy include the chambers it is opposed to it was stated that it doesn't preclude the chambers it does not include this particular facility the intention was for the available facilities that we had and as I stated at our last meeting the availability of facilities has grown since the Inception of that original policy we did not have the IG Center and that or we did not have expanded uh Fair Ground accommodations as well again this is uh less than this about a thousand people that are going to be dispersed throughout various sites and venues including a church including uh the theater including uh does not include the city of ver Beach Chambers as well uh but it does include a variety of venues uh I I think it's very exciting but I don't think the excitement leads me to believe that it should be in this facility okay um do we have a prospective policy and what does it so we don't have a policy completely revised yet we're currently researching other counties and seeing what they're doing uh and I've shared this with with all of you uh and I know it's a board decision you know when I look at the just looking at other levels of government you I don't see the US US capital being rented out their their house or Senate chamber the Florida capital their house for Senate chambles and I kind of do believe I heard the comment there's a certain level of sanctity with this chamber and that it should be used for governmental uses uh we I will tell you the proposed policy will be looking at precluding the use uh but for governmental agencies or or agencies or organizations uh associated with a government agency that that would be the future policy that would be coming forward within the next let say month I don't think it'll take that long but it'll be coming forward okay thank you um anybody from the public that wants to provide any input two microphones all right seeing none there is a motion by commissioner Moss which has not been seconded is there a second to her motion if not the motion dies for lack of a second is there a substitute motion or any other comment or questions I would make a motion that the policy should begin after after this event we can allow them to use this events we've used it the last two years and it's coming up in 30 days that we allow them to use it this year but after this event and nothing in between this event or for today and in between this event can be held here that we that we allow this on the April 12th to 14th and after that it's strictly government use period I'll second it okay we have a motion by commissioner irman with a second by commissioner Moss any further discussion seeing none all in favor all opposed I motion fails to to three all right do we need does any want to try anything else does anybody want to try anything else or does that that's good Bill yes all right I can do we need to come up with a policy on this or we they're bringing a policy back working on we need to give them direction that we want this govern use or you understand that you understand we have yeah okay with that we'll move on to Solid Waste Disposal District approval of the minutes of January 23rd is there a motion chair move approval all right we have a motion by commissioner flesher with a second by commissioner lore I heard all in favor opposed motion carries next item is 23rd Amendment and extension to rep Public [Music] Services approval have a motion by commissioner flesher I'll be happy to our commissioner Ean will second that thank you all in favor opposed motion carries next item is final pay to kimley Horn and Associates for work order number 56 fiscal year 2022 full cost accounting and financial Assurance reports M move approval have a motion by commissioner flesher with a second by commissioner lore all in favor opposed motion carries and our last item which Haman is actually going to talk on request for a special call meeting for the solid waste and recyclables collection services this will be a very exciting meeting no doubt and we should all bring our snacks good morning Commissioners for the record manuma managing director for the solid waste disposal District um want to uh sort of bring up the same presentation that that uh I presented here last year about the request for proposal process uh related to the solid waste uh and recyclable collection service franchise and um I've updated a few slides I wanted to give you kind of an update on where we are in the process and then uh ultimately make a recommendation for a for a special call meeting um I know the chambers are empty today but I I from past experience I can tell you that uh I I'm hoping this to be a very Dynamic process an inclusive process as we move forward with with uh you know um the new franchise agreement in 2025 so hopefully we'll have uh more more input from the public and the Chamber will be a little more full than right now um with that um next this okay so this is um the timeline that I presented back to the commission back in July of 2023 it was just kind of laying out you know that we were starting the process of the RFP um we did provide uh a board update and got some direction from the board in July of 23 our plan was to release it in October of 23 uh open it in January and then we were going to make a recommendation for a ward uh contract by July of this year and then contract starts in October 1 of 2025 and the goal with with the timeline and we started so early is we wanted to provide a a sort of a a a transparent process in what we're doing make sure we have public input uh we give the haulers enough time to to give us information provide proposals get a competitive process going and at the same time uh once decisions decisions are made we wanted to make sure that there was ample time for uh depending on what direction we go if there were new trucks that needed to be done new carts that needed to be purchased that we provided ample time uh to to whatever potential hauler for the for the next franchise uh process um so I've highlighted the the couple things in in white and and I'll show you here in the next timeline so this is an updated timeline if you will um one of the things we did is in terms of going from from left to right is we did come back to the board with a an additional RFP update back in October 2023 uh that was related to the scoring if you recall we had 65 points originally for their financial proposal uh based on staff's recommendation and board's approval we've reduced that uh from uh 65 to 45 and we wind up increasing um 10 points each to uh qualifications and references uh so that went from 15 to 25 and the technical proposal also went from 15 to 25 so that was kind of an interim update that we did uh in in October uh and that resulted in the RFP not getting released until the following month in November of 2023 um in the process of once we uh issued the RFP back in November we did have a non-mandatory meeting with potential haulers in December um we over the course of of that time period we issued 10 addendums uh staff and purchasing and legal we answered over 177 questions uh that that that were part of the process and and there were some great questions I think there were some uh I'm I'm happy about the process because it is a lot of questions and answers uh it it it we felt that the haulers were engaged they wanted to understand what we were asking we wanted to make sure they understood and and were clear about what we were asking uh so that so that there is no confusion on what they're proposing on and and all the various options that we we laid out for them so so I feel very good about the process that that uh we we didn't rush it we gave we we provided an extension originally the the proposals were supposed to be received in January we gave it additional time uh they actually opened up a couple weeks ago in on February 21st um going forward uh one of the next things and that's the purpose of this agenda item today is to I'm going to continue to kind of give you overview of what what what was in this RFP what what are some of the things that you'll be be looking at uh down the road and coming up on March 20th is is um basically setting the stage that from here on out what what we're looking at is a series of public meetings uh to to basically uh you know we have a a selection committee that that has been established by the County Administrator I'll go into that a little bit uh next but uh the selection committees is doing our process one of the things in in the RFP is the selection committee is only looking at uh the technical uh proposals the uh you know the uh qualifications references and sort of a recycling growth participation elements of it everything except Financial so right now we know who the companies are there are five companies that responded I'm happy to share their names that is public information um so so I'm happy that we didn't just get one one response we got five so so there is there's ample competition and interest in working here in IND County um and um so we we as a selection committee uh the five folks we know who the vendors are we don't know their pricing okay uh we are asked to just look at the the other everything except the the financial purchasing and our Consultants are reviewing the financial aspect of what they've submitted when we meet the selection committee meets we once we've sort of determined and and evaluated the technical techical side of everything then then we will have information about pricing that we will factor in but but in and since the way the RFP was done is I I'll put it simply this way that if if a uh company you know five out of the five companies the lowest bidder was say $3 million they would get the full uh 45 points and say another proposal was $6 million they're they're they're double the price so they would get half the points so uh 22.5 something like that is is kind of what uh what what that se Company B would get and so so the financial proposals if you will based on the pricing between each other the point system is allocated based on what their price is compared to the lowest bidder and so us as the selection committee sort of won't be evaluating the points allocated in in our total uh you know calculations however once we see the pricing once we look at all the technical techical evaluations we we'll be able to kind of uh as a team be able to come through as to what staff and our selection committee is going to recommend to the board uh at some future board meeting um so again what we're looking at and I'll I'll go into it in a little bit but we're looking at a series of couple meetings where the first meeting we're looking at is a special call meeting on March 20th uh we want to basically invite the public uh present the County Commission with all the information that that we've gotten so far um and and not make any decisions that day I think that's that's kind of the direction we're going in as as if you've read the agenda item one of the direction we were looking to go into was to also that day uh we were potentially going to ask for some decisions about the options but after talking to purchasing talking to Legal talking to our consultant we feel that we need to give public and the commission some some time time to digest all of this information we've been close to it we been working on this this for over a year uh we want to give the the commission and the public sort of basically the information that we've received present that all to you and to the public uh not ask for any decisions that day and and then we'll come back at at a future meeting um we're looking at probably next month April sometime where we are going to be asking for some decisions uh we have four options which I'll go into in a second and we want to narrow that down to one option uh at that meeting in April and and then uh from there uh again I'll describe the process we want to basically try to negotiate with the top two rank firms uh and uh and try to get the best pricing we can uh for for the commission and for for our residents um overall again the timeline we still feel originally we said that we would get this done by July we think we can probably get this done by May or June of this year and again it's the will of the commission as to how fast or how slow you want to move on this uh we're happy to support it but we feel that we're going to be able to give them 15 to 16 months uh upon award to have ample time to you know whoever is the is the franchise uh awarded to that they'll have ample time to get ready to service our residents um again I'll go through these slides really quick uh basically this is these are the same slides I had provided to you before we want a competitive procurement process we did it through a request for proposals and what we're looking to do is is our purchasing manual does allow is is do the RFP process which we've initiated with also some sort of comp competitive negotiations it is is it is a standard practice uh that that's being done across the State of Florida for these type of franchise agreements um again overall we want to maintain the quality service increase efficiency increasing recycling rates uh and and manage cost for for our residents I think I've shared in the past that we right now and our residents in unincorporated in County uh are are probably experiencing some of the lowest rates around but our contract is nine 10 years old so when when residents are paying about $111 a month for subscription service that that's that's kind of the lowest if you will find around the region and probably around the state for subscription type of service so uh and again I don't know what the new prices are so uh I can't even tell you where we're going with that but from what we've from what we've heard from looking at other uh regions and other commun unities that prices are most likely going to be higher um but we want to manage those as as best as we can through this process um franchise you know area Solid Waste area um the as I mentioned the current subscription service once a week garbage once a week yard waste on call bulk pickup we have about over 70% participation right now in unincorporated indiv County and um through this franchise RFP process we were actually able to um uh you know reach out to our municip Municipal partners and Indian Shores is actually actively participating and has actively participated in this RFP process um so again right there uh city of Sebastian they just entered into a new franchise in 2023 uh city of Vera Beach provides their own Solid Waste Services so they weren't interested in participating the town of V Shores is actively participating uh city of felir is currently using our piggyback contract and they're kind of you know watching what happens here and they may consider piggybacking in the future same thing with the town of orchid uh we work with them to sort of update this piggyback Clause uh this is a new piggyback Clause compared to what we had in the past it allows the basically our municipalities to reach out to our holler because they're they're in our recycling franchise area that they can reach out to them and and have a separate agreement for the services that they're looking for uh in in in their community and so overall the approaches economies of scale the more customers that we can provide the holler the the better level of service the better rates that we can have for our for all of our residents uh recycling franchise area basically it Services all of indan nura County so unincorporated and all the five municipalities uh would be uh serviced by our franchise hauler for recycling um again this is these are slides I've kind of mentioned in the past we have continue to have issues with contamination on our recycling carts and uh i i w wcome any any commissioner or staff that wants to come out for audits with Sue and Jill uh they they go out uh numerous times a month to to basically audit carts uh they they you know put out we actually have a campaign where we if if somebody's recycling really well they look in the cart they actually live you know give them give them a really a good uh you know job well done you know on a tag if you will and then otherwise we have these oops carts like okay you you know you shouldn't put plastic bags in here or you shouldn't put diapers in here sort of sort of thing and then some are really like no this is contaminated fully contaminated and we reach out to the hauler to not even pick up that cart so this is kind of an example of some of those carts that we basically refuse um to pick up because people are using them for garbage service one of the new things that we've added to this franchise process uh we see this in Bard staff reach went up the bravard they actually have carded yard way service so uh out of the four options that that we mention uh two the options are actually looking at if if the board wanted to go in that direction of of a providing a third card to our residents where they would have a carted yard waste service and here it is in a nutshell the overall four options that will be coming to you later down the road um option one is basically our current subscription service so this is what we currently have in unincorporated Indian County um uh and and again the town of Indian shs is part particip I ating so option one would be once a week carted automated service in a 96 gallon cart uh yard yard trash would be once a week the customer provides their own own uh own bins and then bulk trash um in this new franchise would be once a week it' be a a committed route no more on call service there'll be a committed route for bulk service throughout our community uh we do have a limit of four uh four approved items if you will per week uh and this also has been extended to multif family currently multi families do not have bulk pickup so in this new franchise for option one of subscription we have added that feature that bulk service will also be available to multifamilies yes what what are the approved items so so we we we we don't want car engines or anything like that but the standard bulk items would be white goods what we talk about like refrigerators stoves those type of things uh couches um and we we have a whole list of items there but uh we we try to exclude anything that would be chargeable like like you know rolls and rolls of carpet or things like that but but anything that wouldn't typically be garbage but would not fit in their cart so if it doesn't fit in their garbage cart they they can put out put out those items um right now you know the on call service is about four days so you can contact you know our current hauler and they have four days to pick it up but then you know person a has their couch out and now they got a 4 day wait and then two days later somebody else puts out the refrigerator and they have another 4-day weit this new you know service that we're adding is basically a bulk truck will be routed Monday through Friday throughout the community and whoever's put out their materials on on the day of their pickup up to four items they'll get picked up no I think having it on a designated day is great I was just curious what's maybe when we talk about this future I'll provide some more details exactly on all the B I get I don't know about everybody else but I get that question sometimes I'm like I always say like a couch or some big item but I don't want to with my luck I'll tell them the wrong I'll tell them carpet one day and the carpet's not in the list or something and then I'm in trouble so right right um and then recycling is what we have currently with 64 gallon recycling card so that that's pretty much the option one which would maintain the subscription level of service that we currently have with some enhancements uh I think that that you know after 10 years we've learned as to what some of our residents want what some of our multif family uh communities need and and so that that's kind of what we've gone to uh We've have a lot of HOAs they've actually on their own designated uh one day a month for bulk pickup because they don't want all of these things throughout their Community throughout the month option two is is exactly as option one the the difference being is we would put it on what we call Universal service so uh every resident in unincorporated Indian River County would have garbage service uh it be it' be Universal instead of the benefit of that is um uh in terms for the hauler if you will they they they have a fixed customer base uh all residents are are provided a garbage cart they have a weekly pickup uh uh my feeling is that in terms of that recycling contamination now which we have predominantly a lot of rental properties by having a cart uh in front of every home that that hopefully that would uh reduce or eliminate that contamination um so so that's that's the difference the universal service with be put on the annual assessment uh we would work with the property appraiser we would work with the state uh we we we have a good window of time right now once the decision is made to put all those uh you know things uh in play that uh By the time when we look at three months in 2025 October November of December of 2025 we'll we'll have the process uh with the state approved and with the property appraiser uh to to to ensure that uh that that that would that would go seamlessly option three and four are just like option one and two the only difference being with the yard trash uh for the yard trash colum basically the customers if we go with three at subscription they would get a third yard waste cart um option four it' be Universal they would get a third yard waste cart um any questions on the Matrix I know there's a lot of information there but u in essence there're four options in front of you but they're they're very similar uh in terms of maintaining subscription service or Universal service and then either going with carded yard waste or not any questions okay question um some just come up to this Podium and state your name and address for the record thank you I'll give you later because it's too long Maro s nikovic 7575 First Street Southwest Vero Beach I have a quick question about you mentioned that you need to uh confirm with the Florida State and the County Appraiser why know good good question good question so um when when the uh we have an non-ad assessment right now and there's a uh basically a landfill fee there currently if we want to add another line item to the the uh tax bill right we would have a collection price for Universal if the board elected Universal we would add another row to the tax bill so we want to work with the property of appraiser to be able to add that uh if the board elected Universal and then we also need to report to the state that we're going to have a collection cost added to our tax bill uh because because everything that we're doing on a local level does go to to the Department of State so you're trying to copy the contract that Sebastian has with the Mel Melbourne that they do include their service in a real estate tax so you're trying to get the same to Indiana River County yes I mean unincorporated in Ino Beach yes it's very interesting thank you you're welcome um again uh we discussed this back in October but again just just to refresh you uh we we have the evaluation criteria in front of you uh 2525 for qualification references and Technical proposal uh participation growth strategy is five uh and then Financial proposal is 45 the selection committee consists of Sean Lisi the utilities director Kristen Daniels uh office and management budget director uh lease Chris would be an alternate uh in case Kristen is out uh we have Heather Chrismas she's the deputy Town manager and the town treasur for engine Shores she's also on the selection committee uh myself and then uh Ron Jones the assistant uh Solid Waste director uh one want to remind the commission the cone of silence is still in effect um you know we want this to make this an open and fair and transparent process both staff and the squid board are are in the cone of silence provision uh it's been in effect since the RFP was was released back in in November and it remains in effect until the swi board makes an award so uh haulers are not to contact staff to contact the board uh and if if there have any questions or issues they need to reach out to the purch in Department um going back to the agenda item one of the things that that we had had in there uh one of the recommendation we had in there the time that we wrote the agenda item was to have a series of meetings but on on the special call meeting the original sort of consensus was that just like the selection committee is doing right now we don't know what the prices are we're evaluating the companies we know the names of the companies uh but we're just evaluating every everything but their price uh we will see their price at some point uh what we were originally appro wanting to approach the board is on March 20th we wanted to also you know kind of kind of do the same process uh for for two two reasons we wanted the sort of the board to focus on options and cost and not not really the haulers um uh again we we have uh competitive process we have we have five companies that that that do this day in day out throughout throughout the US um so we we didn't want any potential bias or or issues with with any of the uh proposers and so we wanted to sort of leave the name uh the names off uh when we presented that to you at Future meetings so that you only saw the the options and the prices and recommendations as to vendor 1 two 3 four or five um and we wanted to focus on the procurement process minimize impact of any lobbying uh you know against any specific firms in a public hearing process um we again we've discussed this more with with staff legal purchasing and our Consultants um we we we as I presented to the the timeline I think uh the approach we're we're looking at now is let's let's give the public let's give the commission uh ample time we'll we'll sort of bring you back on March 20th at a public meeting uh we'll give you more details about the RFP we'll uh display all the options we'll display all the pricing we'll display all the all the firms um and not ask for any any uh any decisions at the time let you let you and the public uh provide some feedback to the selection committee um we would have the opportunity to maybe ask any ask some questions to to the firms if we want to clarify anything um and then uh the approach is to maybe come back to you in in April uh for another public meeting at that time we would uh invite the public we would uh you know ask the board board at that time to make make a decision on one of the four options and what the selection committee would do is uh recommend the top two firms at that time uh and and allow us to go and negotiate with the top two firms on the option that the board selects in April and then come back to you in May or June with uh recommendation of award so we would present back that hey we've negotiated we've seen from our Consultants that there could be a drop in price uh as a result of those uh competitive negot iations uh so whatever you see the initial pricing from what we've seen across the state that those prices can can get lower so uh we we certainly want to um recommend to you that you allow us the opportunity to negotiate and try to lower some prices compared to what we what we initially get um so that's sort of the the the path um we I do want to mention in this recommendation I think it's in the agenda item there was a irregularity with with receipt of an electric electronic file from one of the proposers basically they sent you know there was a requirement to provide paper uh responses and also an electronic file they they did send it we have proof uh purchasing has verifi that the email was sent to the county to the proper email but our internal spam system rejected it did not allow it to come through in a timely manner uh purchasing has reviewed everything and uh feels that that that that's basically our own firewall system prevented it from coming in it wasn't the lack of the the you know the proposer for submitting it uh and so we've received emails from that that vendor in the past that came through okay but maybe it was the file size or something that occurred our firewall stopped it from coming in and so purchasing has evaluated that and said that we we need to wave that irre irregularity and U and and not consider it as a process for dismissal so I do want to mention that as one of one of the recommend recomendations to the board and then overall we want to basically we're requesting that we uh uh hold a special call meeting on March 20th at 1 pm in this Chambers um it is a Wednesday so we're we're separating it from the regular County Commission meeting um and one of the things that that uh you know we've done is we have these postcards that are ready uh if you will to be sent out to over 87,000 residents in the county uh single family multi family residents uh to basically sort of let them know that this process is happening um the the table that you saw that would be on the backs side of this that that lays out the four options uh again I know that's a lot I hope we don't have 87,000 people show up but uh but we we want to make this a transparent process because you know what this is a potential 10-year contract starting in 2025 and the decisions that we make the franchise huler that that's selected by the board um we will impact our community one way or the other and we want to make sure that that we we inform inform our community as to some of the decisions and changes that will be occurring uh in the chamber over the next couple months with that I'm happy to answer any questions so for clarification purposes you're asking us today to approve a special call meeting for the 20th yes and at that meeting we're going to get the input from the rfps yes and we'll have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions of Staff of the applicants and then hear from the public and they will have the opportunity to kind of ask questions and give input sure no decisions will be made that's fully inform more like a workshop and a meeting we will be given about a month to digest all that stuff and then come back in April where we will be asked to make a decision on the top two first on selecting one of the four options and then we'll have staff will have recommendation based on our technical evaluation the financial evaluation as to who the top two firms are so and then once we select the option the top two you will go back and renegotiate based on can you do better on the pricing best and final offer on the pricing and there would be a separate negotiation team and we we've reached out to the County Administrator on on um that hasn't been decided yet but there would be a smaller negotiation team uh that would be um designated by the County Administrator okay okay um now if I saw on your postcard that it says that they can watch live if they're not able to attend are you guys planning to put any kind of um not well Z or link somewhere where if people have comments and and they're not able to make a midday meeting they can still submit that like on the website or Facebook I'm not suggesting Zoom necessarily but we we our plan is to put this on the County website on the government channel in terms of the postcard that you see so so the information is out there um certainly with the direction from the board approval of the County Administrator we can explore options of a comment I I just feel we could get overwhelmed uh I don't disagree with that I with the amount of input we could get so I don't know um I just don't want since the meeting's in the middle of the day sure and people work I don't want us um to not allow people the opportunity to provide input outside of that meeting sure so I don't know if it's just a simple survey or if you have questions submit them to to I don't know I don't know I'm just throwing it out there I'm not even saying we need to do it but for transparency purposes on you Poss we can get with have over 80,000 postcards going out you're probably going to have a great sample size want to communicate with us whether it be I probably wouldn't put a phone number on there because that would burn it up but maybe some mechanism on the postcard where they can I don't want to say vote but make suggestions because it's ultimately up to the subject matter expert meaning the team that deatu has I don't want to say it's not up to the public but it's up to the experts I I don't disagree I was just reflecting back on the Sebastian process and right I think at some point well it wasn't their City's survey or unofficial poll but there was some way for people that couldn't be at the meeting to kind of provide input we we don't have to decide now I'm just okay what I would offer is what we could potentially do is you can get with we can get with it and come up with a special email address like IRC Solid Waste at indian.com add it to the postcard and then that would be a dedicated email inbox versus it going to somebody else and not then them trying to figure out I think the postcards already made yeah yeah I think we've started the printing on the postcards but we can put that on our website or something like that um maybe it's just something we can announce at the meeting on the 20th okay um and that if people are unable to make it they can submit something I don't know put a link on our website come to oursite M did you you uh pre on the current the current subscription that we have what percent of our residents have that right now we're we're over 70% currently for a subscription service want you at the March 20 meeting will the five proposers make a presentation um it's a public meeting we're we're we're not necessarily in inviting them to present there's nothing in our ordinance that requires them to present um U if the board wants to hear from them I would suggest that staff make the presentation and then if the board wants to ask questions to them we can otherwise I you know I question what their presentation would include that's beyond what they have present you know I guess I'm I'm just thinking that you know of the five I would bet a couple of them would be happy to jump up to the podium brag about their own proposal sure sure so I mean I I guess you would give that opportunity to all to be fair yeah they could be treated just like any other member of the public if they want to see very good um I had a thought and it just left I don't know what it was so I'll come back anybody else have any comments I'm turning into commissioner lore I'm getting hungry and I'm losing my train of thought um so we want staff to make the make the present staff just like a normal I would view it as a normal Workshop staff will start the presentation we will have the opportunity to ask staff questions we'll open it to the public if the applicants want to get up and say something I don't think they need to do Powerpoints and full-on presentations right we can ask them questions and then you know the rest of the public can come we can ask them questions directly yeah yes and it is the workshop so there is no voting right and we will have a robust discussion and the follow will be a month correct one month later oh I know what my question is I'm sorry and I know I'm hungry too believe me my stomach's eating my backbone um what this has nothing to do for clarification for the public and everybody else with closing Convenience Centers Great question great question no uh good disclaimer to make I've said this to the Commission in the past and I I'll say again no this this franchise decision that the commission will make for our community has no impact on the convenience centers that's a separate and uh contract that currently is with Republic Services we are engaging uh with our consultant on an RFP process for for that contract because that that contract also expire September 30 2025 so we will be coming to you for a separate approval or a separate process for uh the landfill other services at the landfill and the customer Convenience Centers and in that RP there is there is nothing that we're putting out about about impacting them or shutting them down uh I think it your we have a separate budget for that we're going to maintain a separate budget for that um I have said in the past that depending on whatever the board decides that we should wait you know 12 months 18 months 24 months to collect data uh and we can bring that data back to you and and then some future decisions can be made but at this time we don't want to uh combine the two efforts at all uh we're going to maintain the customer Convenience Centers maintain our budget for for the for the operation of those Convenience Centers that's how it will be stated in the RFP as well okay solely trash collection absolutely nothing to do with Convenience centers that is in the future just to be clear okay that's correct any questions other than that good question because I remember that conversation that we had that we that we were going to look at this make a decision this see how it went whether the Su collection centers in the next five years need to be out or something that we're doing so good on everything else yeah good good call question all right so this is an action item and I what we are being asked to do today is to approve the special call meeting for March 20th and and we irregularity and weigh the irregularity from the spam all right I have a motion from commissioner flesher with a second from commissioner irman there's no further discussion all in favor opposed motion carries and if there's nothing else for the good of the order are you can't find any adjourned what I'm sorry what I can you want me to else to stretch it out a little bit have a happy lunch everybody