##VIDEO ID:Ndb6ZopuOxo## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e it is now 5:30 the bre kind commissioner for braffett county is holding its public hearing on the adoption of fisal year 2425 this will be our tenative budget um a tenative millage rate and the tenative budget okay the meeting is now called to order and we're going to stand for our advocation and Pledge of Allegiance Heavenly Father we thank you for the opportunity to gather before you this afternoon and we ask that you bless our meeting um bless our decision and help us to do those things that are good for our community we ask this in the Blessed name of Jesus we pray amen amen to of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all and let the record show that commissioner Thompson um is not here with us today so we have four Commissioners present meeting happen in call to order we'll now turn over to our finance director miss lefal good afternoon board afternoon uh the 10 mills needed to fund the budget is greater than the roll back rate of 9.51 78 by a margin of 5.66 3% 10.0 Ms is expected to generate adval tax revenue of approximately 14,45 335 an increase from the prior fiscal year of $1,134 314 this is due to an increase in property values at this time I'll I'll call for public comments um hearing and seeing none um mic um if there are any comments from the board on this tenative millage okay all right you can continue Miss Leon okay uh now I will read the title of the resolution into the record a resolution of the Bradford County Board of County Commissioners adopting the tentative living of adorm taxes for Bradford County for fiscal year commencing on October 1st 2024 and ending on September 30th 2025 and providing an effective date okay Mr leic has read the resolution and then I call for a motion for the adoption of the resolution as presented make a motion to approve the adopt or the resolution as read motion by commission Ador adopt excuse me adopt the resolution as read okay um a motion by commission Ador is there second to the motion second second by commissioner any further discussions or questions all in favor may it be known by the sign I I any oppose we for okay okay the total operating tentative budget including interfund transfers and bond reserves for fiscal year 202 24 2025 is 93,7 714 thank you I'll call for any public comments at this time hearing and seeing none I'll call for any um comments from the commission okay um hearing none Miss before like you want to do the presentation a resolution of the Bradford County Board of County Commissioners adopting the tentative budget for Bradford County for fiscal year commencing on October 1 2024 and ending on September 30 2025 providing an effective date I just have a call for a motion for the adoption of the attended to budget resolution um presented by Miss yes I'll make a motion to approve the tenative budget for fiscal year 2024 to 2025 uh is there a second motion by commission Ador is there a second to the motion second second by commissioner already any further question no discussion all in favor let it be known by sign I I I 40 okay lastly I just need to announce the date for the public hearing to adopt the final mill rate and budget for fiscal year 2024 2025 it will be on Tuesday September 17th 2024 at 5:30 p.m. here in the commission meeting room thank you m m thank you any further business yes ma'am uh we have a couple of items that we need to take up U after morning's after this morning's meeting I requested that Amanda and Heather get together and pull all the data points for work that was performed by the public work works department for the entire month of July and August and then they uh categorized it into districts and you have that report in front of you and as you can see the work was evenly distributed across all five districts um also in front of you you have a public works request for equipment purchase um we discussed briefly this morning about the possibility of purchasing two new batwing mowers and bringing on three additional Personnel so uh the chief Deputy clerk has requested that we break uh take up that issue tonight so you guys can discuss it and make a decision so that it can be properly uh put into the upcoming budget all right this is um open for discussion I'll be glad to start off but uh I at this time I don't see you know spending extra money into the public works department for additional equipment um nor hiring additional staff at this time like I said we keep going back to cutting the budget uh the clerk has made it very clear and so it's his staff that you know we're slowly going down a road that uh we don't want to be going down and you know this is just an additional cost that's going to be on the county and right now um mowing 6 months out of the year um it might not happen as fast as everybody wants it but it does happen and so therefore my recommendation would be uh to not approve this purchase any other comments yeah I'll just say one thing and um and and I I know it's tough to spend the money uh but at the same time if if we don't do this then we need to get off Jason's back about Mullen uh because he's he's only got 13 men working for him um again like I said this morning they do they do the roads the ditches the mowing um they uh uh trash on the side of the road they take care of all that they they do everything for the county and um so by agreeing with commissioner Adry um that you know I hate to spend any extra money but at the same time if if we're not going to spend the money then we don't need to bring it up anymore to Jason about the mow we just need to let them mow what they mow and and go on with it and and you know that might be the cut we need to make um you know cuz like I said otherwise um you know and I'll just throw this up we didn't vote in nothing to support fire and now we're throwing another expense on so since we didn't we didn't vote in anything for that we're at 10 m were maxed out so um again that's our two choices either stop complaining about the mowing or buy two Moors to help the guy out and put the county father in debt that's why I'm looking at it in the comment and is that really what we want to do we don't want to what is your opinion well I I don't I'm report that you gave me which shows that I'm conserv a fiscal conservative as well I I get it the clerk and I are on the same page um we we can't keep going down the road we're going when it comes to spending uh but commissioner rck is absolutely correct when he says that if we're you know if we're not going to increase our spending to cover an additional level of service then we need to be happy with where we're at because where we are is where we are and that uh I think that pretty much sums it up can I say something may make you feel better about this Miss Andrews my friends I have a lot of friends live in the lowline areas this County Graham being one of the main ones Hampton ly on a daily basis I call and say hey what are you doing just praying it doesn't rain today I need a motor yard it's about two foot high huh so can you imagine being the road department and trying to figure out when the ditches are dry enough that you won't tear the ditches off pieces when you go out there to mow and on that one I've noticed it's been unusually wet especially in the Graham area your area is always dry now your road out there that's always a nice high dve spot but rest of County's not that lucky yeah it's a lot the ditches stay wet most this summer yeah well and I agree and uh apparently I'm the only District that has a problem with it um and this can't wait to get out tomorrow and check these areas that got mowed because um like I said I I encourage every one of you that thinks that what I said this morning was not true to come and and and ride in my district please come and ride in my district take a look at the weeds that are probably 12T High and um then come back can tell me Miss Andrews is all mod what are you talking about because um I have no reason to lie never I have been a supporter of Jason and his crew ever since I got here and will continue but the truth is the truth and right now um it's a mess it's a mess and and no we we're not wet and it could be mowed but it's just not now as far as this again I think this was done to um to show that we can't do anything and um this this morning I I mentioned to him several recommendations that we've talked about is getting inmate squads not the sheriff's the sheriff's is the sheriff's but you get we should have people that mow every day that's what they do just a couple of people you don't have to have 15 people mowing but put a couple of people that that's what they do every day they don't go anywhere they get on their mowers and they mow the county at the same time we could have squads that have five inmates and one supervisor that could go and do massive amounts of work in the county but we refuse to do that um we refuse to even talk about it um also recommended that we take a few staff and have a few that works on Friday have have Saturday Sunday and Monday off we can't do that that would cost us more money so um obviously I'm the only one that has a problem with us and I I I can't say that um okay I'll never say another word about my Road's not getting I can't I can't do that and I mean how how would somebody even ask me to do something like that because I have to do my job whether anybody else does their job or not and um so I can't I can't make that promise Mr Ric but um I'm not I I don't I mean we don't have to buy this how many lawn mowes do we have since Jason's not here but have two bad Wings yeah and riding lawn hores I have no idea so we have the equipment um I just think that scheduling um is is not done the way it it could it could produce a lot more um work and um so anyway that's my comment well I'll share my thoughts um I I don't disagree with you miss Andrews in terms of the condition of the roadways um I and maybe you all others do the same but I drive through the whole County not just my area but I I've look at other areas too sometime I get call from somebody from Mr Ric area sometime Miss Andrews sometime Mr dor who ever area it is I may just ride and take a look so the condition of the roads is uh not unique in terms of their need for mowing in your area I can count you at least probably six roads in my district that are just terrible um and it's not from um the lack of a care to get it done is from the lack of being able to schedule that to get done based on the situation that we've encountered with the rain and the weather and all of those things by the time they mow me over in district one and go to two or District two or three my are is already grown up before they can even get to five so it's the circumstances in which we find ourselves in and I don't feel like Mr do has enough workers in terms of mowing the roadways sometimes we look at it and in one way that is just more just the roads but it's more than that it impacts our health and safety Health being that if the roadways are up to a certain height that makes it a dangerous situation for the children makes it a dangerous situation for flooding for snakes and anything else so it is a serious problem but I think it's one in which if we um put our heads together and come up with a strategy for um working through it we can come up with some ideas that that can work I think it's an excellent idea and I've made that suggestion too in terms of uh inmate labor we have what four major prisons uh that we're surrounded by that was a time due to co where we couldn't get that help but I think we're at a different place now that maybe we can access some of that help that is available right in our own um backyards so I do agree that we can do some things differently in terms of getting some help without a overbearing Financial cost so we have to look at outside of the box in which we we looked at roads and that kind of thing and just put it to one side that it is an important piece because if we want to attract people to our community if we want to improve our economic base we need to have our communities in a condition that people would want to come and we need to be able to sell ourselves and be able to do but I but uh In fairness to you Miss Andrews I um I don't disagree that the condition but if you took a driveth through right now and went over to Lincoln City on um Southeast 45th or 46th you'd see the same condition that the grass is up to here if you drove through peasant Grove on some of those roads you're going to find the same and some other areas down in Hampton um the only one that's really in good shape pick on my brother right here that's because he's in the city and the city helps um what if I wrote through Mr Thompson I'll find some of those same conditions what I'm saying to you is not just unique to District 5 it is the same situation in all of our districts and we do need to address it um whether we need to address it with um buying more equipment that's the one thing but we can address it and how we attack that issue um to see what else that we can can be done so if Department of Corrections is willing to help and engage let's engage them um and and do something in that regard um but I do think that he needs a few more Moors people that can do it on a shortterm basis not the you know entire year but it's particularly during the summer months leading up to the fall to take care of that um so and his up coming budget perhaps that's something that he could take a look at um and hiring some part-time people I'm the one who did I did make the suggestion about the kids in the summer and and doing some of those things so I know you need some direction in terms of what the board wants and need to do yes ma'am and let me just say uh to clear up the the question of the inmates we have a contract with the prison that allows for us to get up to 10 is it 10 inmates per day it's close it's close to that but we haven't gotten 10 in probably two years so I talked to Jason earlier today and he said that we typically get two to three is all they'll give us L's the only one right now that's worked with us every my term is clerk anyway as far as getting inmates from all he's the only one okay so maybe it's time to have that discussion with them again to see if they can assist us um if we can get up to 10 per day that will have a great impact um remedying this [Music] situation guard [Music] rail he did a really good job on mine because you couldn't see it at all I know so he's been he's been doing that the other met work Squad and what's funny to this is we had our other work squads which Mar know in cemeteries we have 30 something place we take with our side in Department I go to breakfast and I get beat over because they seen our inmates mowing the side of the road with zero turns when do we start using zero I we're trying to catch up grass gr everywhere we and then I get beat up over because we're using Zero Turns to Mo I mean there's always be something but that's what these commercial people are doing for the state they use it we've got the nice turns and we're not and we use a lot of them for like sidewalk areas going the Brooker where it's nice you Zero Turns there it's a little better than just the right way going down the main road in regards to it and we just in the storm just my yard but it is end of September October once the love boats coming then we you St the extra help's no place now commissioner our out there FL Road picks up all the TR but and they still need they still need help I mean they do I mean there's a lot of it I can't get to our always mess with it is tough right now we try toit in and help and then you get why we using zero ter if it's not too tall we still cut it Zer I'd be glad to see somebody pushing the lawnmower right now because U it's horrible well I think into all these points and and and commissioner Andrews I please don't think that that I'm disagreeing with you because again I can take you down some of the roads that are in our district and yes I do have a lot of the city but there are roads down there that are just full of trash they're full of weeds and and they're wet and but I mean a good example is you don't see do out mowing a lot of even the state roads because for the same thing the clerk said they're wet and they don't get in there and they you know if they do they tear the ditches up and then you have a drainage problem and it just goes back and forth and back and forth and and just like I said in that one meeting you know at some point you know just like you know we need we need fire you know nobody wants to pay a fire assessment well you know now we're talking about people wanting their roads graded and mowed and ditches cut and everything else I mean at what point are we talking about a roadway assessment you know so it it again it's all about you know everybody wants certain things but they certainly don't want to have to pay for it and I don't want to have to pay for purchasing two more mowers when we're in a situation that we're just you know not good financially and if I may add because even like you just mentioned 301 I was looking at it coming in it's not mowe as high as it can be yeah all down 301 from here to Hampton and u right yeah and and also too if I'm not mistaken I thought Jason said uh every Friday for sure I thought he said Friday and Saturday Friday and Saturday that he's he's got two men on mowers yeah we we've been mowing on Fridays and Saturdays for the last well since the storm yeah yeah that's what I was thinking we have I mean some of us had got an update so we wouldn't know that so the the the point is that we have to it's it's something that we can't ignore um and um or not bring up that it it needs to be addressed but we need to look at how we can do it and what resources that we can do that are less costly than this um because if we have the available resources within our counties with our County then let's try to work out some kind of plan um um some agreement with them um to to help us to do and um if you look at it it's about um 4 to 6 months in which we do need some temporary help with the the moing um well I do know the Work Camp at RMC they have opened back up now I don't know how many they have and I don't know and of course UCI had well I think maybe that went no it's probably back to UCI the and I had talked to them um a few years back and um of course they said you know they look for places for the inmates to come out and work and um so I mean and that's just right there at Rayford so I mean it's not that far to to be able to pick up five people to come and work um so there there's options we just have to we have to try we have to talk to people and find out what we can find out and um and and you know um it's very simple to get our people qualified to work the inmate squads they take a class and they're certified and then you've got I mean like I said you quadruple your Workforce and it's just I mean it to me it's no-brainer but I mean I'm just one person for a lot of it maybe something we at some small us and like I said my area is dry so it can be mowed um so it's it's not a a point that it's too wet to mow but um and I fortunately my district is a wet district and so it stays wet a lot uh and it grows fast and quickly um but perhaps um Mr connate if you the sheriff Mr Don and um some you know engage with some of the members of DLC um to see what what we can do um to get some help okay yeah and when I was with this city DLC was very um responsive and Cooperative we were able to get five inmate Crews one was assigned to each of the of the five districts so that you knew at least one time a week somebody's going to be coming into your area to you know to address the growth cleaning so but I don't think that it's something that we we dismiss I mean I I know those two live in my district and to just say well we're just not going to mow the yard mow it anymore when they come they come and I mean I I think that's irresponsible of us and um and and not trying to find a way to make this work um I just and to some people that might not be important to me just like Miss Spooner says we all talk about Economic Development and it's important what they see on driving down 301 um but it's also important um Brooker has has houses going up in a lot of areas and when they come in and it looks like it does right now now um I turn around and drive out because it's it's disgusting I mean it's it looks horrible and so we do nothing for economic growth when we allow this to sit and look like this so you know I know that we can moow around the places that we're trying to um to push and and all is well and good but there's other other places in the county that is trying to do their own Economic Development and I think that they deserve they deserve consideration and and some help so okay and our s motion and telling our stories about Ric County we we want to tell a story of being problem solvers so when we are confronted with an issue that needs our attention we don't just dismiss it and say don't bring it up but we can bring it up but in a constructive manner we we working on a resolution to it and so that is what I'm asking um Mr car and the sheriff and Mr dos and whomever else um that have some suggestions for us and so because we're at the brink of our budget I I wouldn't recommend that we move towards this amount of purchase at this time but as uh Mr dos has his new budget coming um for the next year perhaps he can engage some um part-time or seasonal help with the Mowing and weeding and Madam chair just to think outside of the box I'm glad that you brought up seasonal workers because that is something that in the county we have done historically in the past um you know explored that option but also and this just came to mind and I don't know if it would be something that could be you know a partnership could be created maybe between the county and the north Florida Technical Center if they maybe could offer a program for heavy equipment operation and maybe some of those folks could come in Shadow with our public works department and learn some of that equipment and could also you know work in the summer months you know on some of these pieces of equipment I mean that would be a whole new programming I understand and and that's really thinking outside of the box but I figure that's what we're here for we're thinking AB absolutely and the young group that presented on the EAS group that's another group that engages the high school um well men and young men and women but there are groups um and opportunities that we have in our community that would be willing to to help and engage with us so one thing that we used to do at the prison and um we we had a lease program and we leased lawnmowers because we couldn't afford to constantly be buying them so we had a lease program where we we leased the the the things and when when it was broken we took again got a new one and or not probably not a new one but got a different one but that's an option that we could look at where we're not spending hundreds of thousands of dollars but and I don't know what that would cost any I mean that might be some but it might be something that we could look at that would be a lot more um doable than than this I didn't catch were you talking about contract Mo lease no oh lease equipment lease equipment yes contract m is rather expensive it would probably be my best estimate from the old estimate would be over 100,000 per mowing but um with the equipment instead of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for it then we might we might could go into a lease program and I don't know if they even still do that do you know Shar a lot of our stuff is leas okay the slope mowes leas big loaders graders but even the lawnmowers I mean and when I say lawnmower I mean Zero Turns and stuff like that that um where we could I I mean I think that we could save a lot of money instead of but it might be something to I agree we and but the thing is to the best of my knowledge is like the guys that run the Moors are the same guys in offseason that run slope MERS the ditchbank moers the ones that mow the feet ditches and all that stuff so I mean yeah that's that that more that slope more is $1,000 a month in leaste WoW it's like a $300,000 piece We R it all year long uh yes it runs most of the year it runs most of the Year okay any other thoughts and ideas Madam chair I don't know I'll have to ask the clerk's office if we could get consensus tonight uh to authorize um I don't know three four five parttime positions during the peak season could we could we build that I'm sorry could we build that into this coming upcoming Year's budget yes it won't it won't do anything this year but right I mean if Jason explored leasing equipment and if he wanted to do it from June or July through September and figure the Manpower staff for those couple of months but then again I mean you leas this equipment then you don't know if it's going to rain every day for a month yeah I mean it's of like a we can take the equipment lease up as a separate as a separate issue but if we can go ahead and get consensus to hire three or four part-timers during the peak season then that would give the clerk's office an opportunity to budget for it that makes sense Madam chair yes and Mr corn um M rodden brought this up earlier about you know having you know more budget workshops you know going into the next year yes and I think these items that we're talking about right here need to be a part of that and I don't think we need to make any decisions on that now because here we are right at tenative budget and we're trying to make all these decisions that I think need to be thought out more as we go through the budget as we go through next year and we continue to have these workshops and then we can have that discussion at that time well I I think the the the discussion is good to have it won't impact the budget for this year as you're indicating but at least for his for the next year he would have the well withth all to possibly have her a few um seasonal positions if if I think what I'm hearing Mr corn ask the board if there is a consensus that there is an interest to move forward in next budget year the one that we've just adopted um I think that's what he was looking for if there's a consensus to hire in that budget year um and if that's the case we would need action tonight so that way we can build it into the budget so that way your September 17th meeting that budget will reflect those new salary positions um we already have an idea far as what a full-time at $16.50 what that would cost three employees so I think it wouldn't exceed that but I think what I've heard commissioner dhy just say um is that the board can go in that direction certainly or does the board want to take a beat and maybe not include that in fiscal year 2425 budget and when you begin to have your budget workshops next year after you've adopted this budget starting you know anywhere between April and July to build your 2526 budget do you want to talk about it then building into that budget and taking the time to really explore you know the cost of seasonal workers where we can maybe work with Doc maybe what that lease program really allow us to take some time to explore all those options so that's certain ly I hope I no you FR it you clarify that and if we engaged or did it it would be the 67,000 right if we did those if you did do it I think it would not exceed that amount wouldn't exceed it would I believe it would be less because without having a conversation with Jason I don't know if he'd want to structure it part-time or what but I yeah it would be less than 167 okay well again the reason I brought that up with what Mr Roden said is during those discussions and these budget workshops then at least that way each department is aware of what their needs would be for the following year so therefore if they know that they need these extra people then where else would they cut spending out of their budget to be able to put that in their budget and still be within you know a good number to where we're not again just draining the general fund or going through you know all the other contingencies and everything else that we tend to do yeah and fairness to Mr do says he isn't here to give his input about it then um that would make sense um you know to to see what he also says yes ma'am but despite that I would um ask that you all um still engaged to see what we can do um with theot or others who can help us with the the road side the issues any further discussion thank you all right we do have one other item we need to take up uh Chief Carter's here and the question about uh transfers uh we need to make a decision on that once again so we can make budget Corrections if need be so Chief Carter if you want to want to go into that absolutely so uh Madam chair board thank youall yeah um do want to bring something before you that's that's going to impact our budget and that is the fact that I met Friday with North Florida uh HCA hospital here in Stark and they're at the point where they are looking at um taking their own transfers now we've been in contract with them since May of 2020 um this is something that I know Alan Parish myself and and Mr Thompson have all said you know to to not rely on this Revenue um but we're at the point now to where they are uh ready to start standing up their own transfer service here in in the county and so that would that would look like us still being first for uh time sensitive transfer so anything that's emergent heart attack stroke uh things of that nature would be still with the county uh things that need to get out of there emergently would still be our responsibility um but the routine transfers you know hospital to hospital um you know if it's a 24-hour observation or things of that nature would uh would go toward towards HC would handle those on their own so again anything time sensitive we would still handle at this time um and then anything that is non-emergent they would they would handle this does coming a time also where you know we've we're we're really having to look hard at do we bring before the board the option of adding a fifth ambulance back because there are multiple times throughout the the days where uh people are having to wait for ambulances and that's a reality and so um you we're at a point to either how do we reduce our call volume to keep ambulances available for our citizens here in the county more often or uh how do we go about adding another another unit back and so um the the timing is again North Florida is wanting to to take over their own transfers and so that is is kind of where we're at so that does if you want to look at it in a positive light it does help that situation of leaving our units available more often for our our people um again with still uh capturing the mission of getting the people that need to be out of that hospital to a to a definitive Care Facility uh more quickly and so what that looks like is is just a decrease in revenue for our department for next year so there there's clearly pros and cons for for this um probably the the biggest reason for discontinuing transfers is to keep these rescue units available for the citizens and residents of Bradford County um another Pro is also the uh to reduce the fuel cost and the wear and Terror on on our rescue units not to mention the wear and Terror on our people um the downside to discontinuing the transfers is obviously the loss of Revenue so we need to make a decision on on which way we want to go with it well and I think that it's it's not necessarily our decision to make I think the hospital is making that decision for us uh you know I I know that as of May 2025 is when our contract expires they have no appetite to renew that specific contract of us being the primary uh transfer service um they indicated that as soon as October 1 they were ready to start taking their own transfers I asked them if we could hold that obviously um and and they agreed to that so um as far as when that that date will be of when that transition happens we're not exactly sure uh what that looks like and that's hard to for us to project Revenue based on a lot of wh ifs but the bottom line is that's coming down the pike of uh of those things are are the transfers are eventually going to decrease I won't say they'll go away because I don't I don't foresee there being a time to where we're ever going to say we're not doing transfers at all um but they are certainly going to decrease over the next year did you finish the analysis that you guys were going to do on whether or not we were C our s money because that was a discussion that we had yes ma'am and so if you look at it from uh our Florida the EMS cost report uh that was we discussed that during the community community paramedicine program uh proposal in that state of Florida recognizes that our cost per transport is about $730 uh per call is what uh our our rescues per transport cost and so now is overtime figured into that yes ma'am that's that's the total overall all overall budget is everything that's captured in that number and so in fiscal year 23 we ran 1,682 transfers uh that's an average of four 4.6 per day so if you look at what our gross revenue was from again fiscal year 2223 was around uh 1.2 million and so it's actually that the number that we had was 1,2 $ 47,2 so we we took that overall uh gross revenue and divided that by the number of transfers and showed that per transfer uh we're we're netting or I'm sorry gross revenue is $741 51 per transfer and again looking at our cost per call is $730 um so if we're making $1 $1 on a transfer now um so if you if if you do that math out basically and you take the number of calls times or the number of transfers multiplied by the $730 uh you are at $1,227 th000 I'm sorry $227,800 um and so you subtract the 1,247 219 minus $1,227 1860 uh and looking at it that way our net revenue is $9,350 now if we lose revenue from transfers that doesn't necessarily mean that we can decree so let's just say that we reduce our Revenue by a million dollars that doesn't mean we can cut a million dollars out of our budget because again we're back to where we started from in 2019 2020 whenever we started taking over these transfers so we're back to four ambulances because in April of 2020 we added a fifth ambulance that ambulance was removed from service in I believe it was March 17th of 2022 um and it's been out of service since that time but that was there was a countywide hiring freeze um and there were it was we were at a point to where we had five vacancies six vacancies is a is a unit so uh the board at the time made the decision to uh not hire and to just remove that fifth ambulance from service with the other understanding that if we needed that fifth ambulance back if we were having the issues like we're having now to come back and for this board um again I think that we're at the point to where if if these transfers are decreased we don't need to look at adding that fifth ambulance back right now which I think is is the best case scenario um it is unfortunate we're losing Revenue however we're not adding we're not adding staff we're not increasing Staffing levels so again I if you look at it from from the math done here it's $1,359 is what we make per annually is our net revenue off those transfers but again we can't look at unless we were just to say we're going to take a unit out of service now that we're losing the transfers we're moving back prior to whenever we even started the transfers so I think looking at it from the it's going to be hard to calculate exactly how much um savings there will be and so in talking with miss rhen and miss lalet this afternoon uh or this morning actually after our meeting it was uh I think best probably to leave our budget the same for this next year see how much we can save you know what that savings actually looks like in fuel cost auto repair and maintenance overtime things of that nature to be able to say okay look now we have an idea of what we can actually Reduce by or not have to increase by the following year so I think that's where we're uh that's where we're at right now again this just was made aware to me on Friday um and wanted to bring this before you as we're discussing the budget obviously this is an adjustment that they're going to need to make in the finance office so it's uh it's unfortunate however it does address uh a massive issue within within the county of people having to wait significant times for ambulances so that's where we're at we we do have fire three fire trucks now that can respond and stabilize a patient till they can be transported correct absolutely because we had this talk a a long time ago when I said north Florida's getting their own ambulances yep and we're not going to have this Revenue coming in all this time for this fourth ambulance right and and it was a point made at that time was that the three firet trucks could more than handle and go out to a call stabilize a patient wait for a rescue rescue to get there and but now we're talking about keeping fourth ambulance yes sir well I don't know that it was ever discuss of getting rid of the fourth it was very clearly that that was I don't remember that if it was I I certainly don't remember that but because I was I was worried about keeping this fourth ambulance on with North Florida already having six or eight ambulances parked over there at the Gainesville hospital and now we're here and we have the extra ambulance and not the extra income but I wouldn't look at it as an extra ambulance because we added a fifth again we added the fifth to take those transfers the fifth went away so we've already done away with that ambulance that was Co too right that was in the middle of Co and we had the one for transfers well no that was that was 2022 is when the the fifth ambulance went away because Co was over right but uh but that ambulance was put on for the for the in facility transfers the fourth one the fifth okay okay so Chief my question then would be if North Florida's going to provide that that service then wouldn't that essentially be the fifth ambulance um what do you mean I'm sorry I don't understand that so you're saying right now we have four that running right but then North Florida is going to start running their own patients back and forth so wouldn't that be a essentially a fifth ambulance that's providing services to the hospital right and that's what I'm saying we don't that's why I'm saying we don't need to add that fifth ambulance back okay yes I'm saying we're at a point to where if we keep the transfers if we if we we're to continue to do those transfers we would have to look at um adding a fifth ambulance back because we're not taking those transfers or because they're they're coming in to take their own you're exactly correct it is that is essentially that fifth ambulance and so we can maintain at four um and not not have to worry about increasing but again we've had four ambulances for as long as I can remember we've had we've had four ambulances I mean it was very early on in my career whenever we had we're down to three um and again the the fifth ambulance was brought on to take those transfers uh and then as a matter of fact I pulled the dates it was May 21st of 2020 is when the board entered into an agreement with North Florida with an effective date on May 1st 2020 um on April 15th of 2020 we had added a fifth ambulance that was placed in service to accommodate the anticipated increased call volume due to the inter facility transfers and so again that that truck went out of service on March 17th 2022 the fifth ambulance went out of service on March 17th 2022 has been out of service ever since and the original anticipated income in 20 20 was right around right around a half million just a little over a half million I'd have to take a look at that I I don't recall the STP of my head and then it increased you right around a million right you because of the call volumes right and CH did HCA seem to be in such a transient situation with everybody you know not just you guys but with insurance companies right with everybody for the various services and I know you said that they are looking towards taking care of their own transfer but you don't have a definitive date maybe in May or maybe you know everything is I would anticipate prior to that but I I would think again May is when the contract expires and so um they have every right even within that contract to take care of hand transferring their own patients um the main point in that contract was to make sure it wasn't bid it out to an outside agency like a private Ambulance Company to come in and handle this transfer so uh but they have every right to to transfer their own patients certainly so certainly Chief would it be safe to say that this would be another item that we could start having in our budget discussions that you know as we move forward you know and if we're looking at a fifth one then you know we can discuss that as we move through you know these uh charettes or you know little workshops that we're going to have I I really think that with the way that our call volume is right now um again if if North Florida takes these transfers I think we'll be in good shape um on again I think we'll have less of those instances where we're somebody's waiting for for an amulance to show up Chief Carter my own clarification sure are we saying that the four ambulances that you have currently in operation of those four is one of those doing your transports for HCA or are you saying that there's a fifth ambulance that was doing your transfers for HCA and now that they're re or or not no ma'am so right now again after March 17th of 2022 that fifth ambulance was placed out of service so we've been doing those transfers with the four ambulances that we have they rotate through right so okay medic six will take one and then medic 5 takes one and so on so forth they rotate through those transfers so each truck will go take one um so that way it spreads it out but there is not a dedicated truck for those transfers that dedicated transfer truck was added on April 15th of 2020 and went away on March 17th of 2022 and at that time the board said we understand that we're in the middle of a hiring freeze we have these positions open if it gets to a point to where you need this truck back I remember this very vividly this board said come back before this board and tell us what you need and again we're at that point of we either need to look at a fifth ambulance or we're out of this transfer business and it just so happens that these transfers are are going away at some point in the very near future so I think we're in good shape again to not add a fifth truck we're not adding talk about adding anything back we're just saying we're not going to cut anything it's just a matter of maintaining status quo but our trucks are going to be available for our citizens more often okay that makes sense okay sure I just want to make everyone aware of that situation yeah I would really like to look at this more in our budget workshops because for $19,000 profit a year we're probably losing money if you add in start adding in the wear and tearing the maintenance on that ambulance I I bet we're actually losing money every year than than make because 19,000 that's nothing as many trips as y'all make I I bet we're definitely losing money well and if you think about that's our you know the $730 that's the cost for our average transports that includ cost or calls that are going here to start um you know these are more expensive because they are going to Gainesville every single time or Jacksonville or we had two the other night that went to Okala um you know so we're we're driving 61 miles one way to go take an in facility transport and taking our unit out of service for you know four hours total so it's uh it's I think it will be a significant um benefit to taxpayers of Bradford County to have those units more available here in Bradford County please go ahead oh yeah but I can tell you we had many many meetings where people have legitimate questions yeah the fifth one went away if we had the fifth one right now we'd be dearly old what it cost transport I think the chief's in the right direction they're probably doing us a favor HCA is doing us count we need a hospital Ral rural hospital every HCA has done us no justice and I'll be find to tell in front of anybody our community needs our Hospital our community needs those services that have been taken away and when people call for Rescue Services he gets beat up I get beat up it's it's a how would you I don't think we made any money wear and tear on our vehicles and tear that's the reason when you see a wreck and they say there's injuries our deputies don't work direct I don't have three hours for a deputy to run to Gainesville middleberg Jacksonville whereever they like transp so we have to turn it over to FP now soon say we don't have a hospital myties can't run down there and get the information needed for the accident so we've had to turn those over because we one Deputy for three or four hours creates a workload for the other men and women involved Chief Carter has realized this a while back he's done everything I'm just I'm talking about professionals not friendship besides all that ciens and explain exactly what explain to Y and maybe they're doing us a favor maybe there's ways to cut he won't know until he gets into next year I don't another thing that is worth mentioning is several weeks ago we started billing for wall time at the hospital and that has produced uh an additional Revenue source and and had a chance to ask the chief but I'm I'm barely am I correct in saying that that Revenue would probably come close to offsetting the 19,000 uh it will it will more than offset that 19,000 for sure we we build 12,000 the first I'm sorry 1,000 the first month uh in June July we build uh right at 12,000 so we're looking at over 10,000 a month off those wall times so and that's another issue when we take these inter facility transfers you would think hey they've already got a bed over here at the hospital they're ready to go well when we get there that doesn't mean that they're going to a floor that means they're probably going to the emergency department and they're still sitting there holding a bed so even if it's a transfer it doesn't mean that they're automatically going to be placed in the bed so now we've taken this unit that's doing an in facility transfer from one hospital to another that's still sitting on the wall when they get to that other hospital so um again there's there's plenty of instances I have photograph a whole folder full of photographs of our call screen whenever you know times like y'all have seen it to where you know we have a truck on a transfer and there's a 911 call holding or there's no trucks available and two transfers holding and so it's just a it's become a bit of a monster and that's that's the the status that we're at right now the situation we're in in is looking at you know hey do we need to add back this fifth truck or you know these transfers are going to be going away again I think they're they're I don't want to say doing us a favor because we will you know we've definitely we've certainly made money off these transfers I don't want to make that a uh a statement out there that say we haven't made money off these transfers because we have but at what cost to the citizens right okay by um sure because it is such a a financial impact I didn't feel comfortable making that decision without talking with these five first and so um again I think that within our contract is a 90-day termination Clause so at any any given you know again they'll be able to to pick up some of their own if that's the desire of the board we can go ahead and start having them work that process as of October 1 um and kind of move that direction but as as far as actually terminating the contract and renegotiating a new contract and that would be my proposal as well is that um you know not only do they take over their their own transfers uh for the non-emergent calls but the ones that we do respond to is at a much higher rate than what it is right now and perhap Chiefs when we have is it um the 10th of agil when we have our Workshop yes um we can continue the discussion you know um from you guys after you had the chance to maybe digest you need to know now right um no well I know you've done a lot of research on this I know you've done a lot of work on it and um it it is nervous letting that go but at the same time um I think that that we're going to be better off I mean I honestly do um more units here for our citizens and now you said that and what did you say we're doing now the wall yes ma'am about six or seven weeks ago uh the board authorized us to um move forward with billing for wall time at the hospital okay okay I that means if we get to the hospital and there's they don't have a room ready and we hold the patient on our stretcher which happens often uh we bill for those that time now whereas before we were just eating that cost and so well I know I ended up in an emergency room I told you a couple of weeks ago and it was at Shan's and um those gentlemen stayed with me for an hour yes ma'am because there was no beds and um so it was a long time that they were out of service just because of of me so right well again I think it's going to be a benefit to the citizens I know it's a a blow financially for the county uh but I do think it's going to be a benefit for the people who are are utilizing our service um while still capturing the ones that we need to uh from that hospital that need to go that are time sensitive still helping out in that regard are because those are those are our people down there in the hospital right okay thank you so I guess what I'm hearing is we want to wait until the 10th to the workshop to to have more discussion as far as the October 1st date or just to have more conversation and I know you're saying they're looking at spring time before the termination of that actually not October 1 right they're they're ready to go October 1st again we we've asked to hold that off and again with that they have they have the right to move their own patients so I don't know that we can say no to them you know but I think at some point that will come that's why I don't think it's our decision to make as far as do we get rid of them or not it's it's happening it's just a matter of us time this was more to be informative rather than yes and for Budget purposes for us as been mentioned as Chief Carter mentioned we're not going to decrease his Revenue side of his budget because we're not sure yet we have an idea but we want to have a a full year fiscal year to see what that's going to look like but what we're going to do on the internal side after he's made this presentation to you is we'll decrease the transfer budget line item but we'll supplement it over here with the general fund uh Revenue side that's more internal on our side just so we kind of have an idea of what we think that decrease is going to be but we don't want to set him up for failure with his budget because we don't really quite know the the financial impact so but he knows and I'll state it for the record not to spend that money sure because we do know we're going to lose some of that Revenue but um the purpose for you tonight was more of the FYI to be aware of it there's no action item needed for us more than we just wanted yall to know so we can do our internal adjustments well and I think this is probably just one more example of why we need to look at diversifying our revenue for fire rescue because right now our revenue is strictly off avalor and our fees from service so um you know I'm not much of an investment guy but I do know that a diversified portfolio looks much better than a than a non- diversified so I think that again having those discussions and looking at those fire fire rescue workshops as far as um Revenue options for for our department would be I'm ready when you are thank you for sharing with us Chief and um we'll continue the discussion thank you that's all I have Madam chair I promise thank you if nothing move for the good of the order the hearing is now Clos --------- ##VIDEO ID:6QFlLhJnlgI## e e e e e e e e e our September 3rd rapid County Board of County Commission meeting is now called to order if you all stand for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance Heavenly Father we thank you for the beautiful day that youve given us that we had not seen before thank you the Lord for everyone that is here today Lord help us as we engage with one another to be civil to be loving and to be kind and understanding Lord we ask that you bless this meeting that we're about to have that we engage in such a way that it's pleasing in your sight that is helpful to the citizen that we're supposed to be taken care of and Lord Lord bless each and every commissioner that is here for their willingness to serve and to help lead our community bless us all in mighty name of Jesus we pray amen United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all at this time we will receive the public comments we have one um card so far if there's others that we have missed please let me know at this time we start to still if you come and again speak into the mic uh so that it might good morning all still 14167 Southwest 101st Avenue St Florida um I'm uh coming this morning to talk about an item on your agenda it's the approval hopefully the approval of the aquatic plants from the uh Lake Samson where it drains into the Samson Canal uh this is a very important uh part of preventing flooding around Lake Samson and uh Lake Crosby uh it's my understanding that you have one bid uh only one bid but it's my understanding that that's the only company that provides shredding services uh the other company I understand it uh was uh proposing to harvest the aquatic plants this is a much more expensive operation it needs uh you need to harvest the plants and take them to a site to dispose of them which would have to either have been the old Cypress Run boat ramp or the boat ramp at the under at the end of 75th Avenue uh that runs the cost up significantly we had a a bid for uh harvesting a few years ago and it was 70 ,000 so uh an $8,000 bid is I think well worth uh proceeding with and it's very important to proceed with this now because that work has to be done or should be done with the gates closed on uh County Road 227 225 and as I was coming in this morning the crews were just closing those Gates so there's a window of opportunity we have that we need to take advantage of so I would hope that you would approve that contract and also urge staff to make that work happen as as soon as possible because it's really important uh as we move into what may be a more active hurricane season thank you thank you Dr steel did I miss anyone else thank you next on the agenda is the uh approval of our consent agenda has everyone had a chance to R it review the consent agenda and um forther record please note that commissioner Thompson is not here today um if you've had a chance to review is there a motion for [Music] approval I make motion sorry a motion to approve the consent agenda the motion on the floor by commissioner reic for the approval of the consent agenda is a second to the motion and second second by commission Ador any further discussions or questions if not all in favor by the sign I I and oppos 40 approval and at this time we um I have to hand with us a um proposal from a ran Behavioral Health um they will come forward um to do their presentation good morning morning and if you just introduce yourself to um the body my name is Ashley toer I'm the senior vice president of medical services at murine Behavior Healthcare and I have Sarah milfield with me and I have the uh Vice present overall of our medication assisted treatment programs okay okay so today we're going to be talking um I think there was a little bit of an error there it's actually um not additional monies from the opior baitman dollars it's the $887,000 from the county that we're looking that is correct that is correct so I just wanted to to point that out um so just talking a little bit about um ourselves and I think everybody here is familiar uh with Meridian Behavior Healthcare we have been open for 50 years um we purchased this property here in Stark um in the 1970s and have um been providing Services um ever since so a majority of the services that we provide right now um in this area are strictly mental health-based um we do not have um a very robust if if at all um substance use Services uh program so that is something that um we would like to start here and we've been working um with the fire rescue um commissioner Spooner um and some others to try to kind of come up with a plan um to get this going if you want to go to the next slide um today I'm basically just going to go over um a a variety of services that we can offer um and some of the Partnerships that we've created here so uh we have our office services a jail bridge program Hospital Bridge um our relationship with the community paramedicine program and then talking a little bit more about funding so office uh Services um here in Stark what that would potentially look like um is having a a counselor and that is what we are going to be requesting the funds for um the $87,000 and I'll go into funding a little bit more but we would need a counselor in order to actually do the full intake for the individual um that person would be um here in person at our Stark office and do that intake assessment um an addictions medicine physician um which we look to use our existing um staff that we already have and would do that via tella Health um and then um a peer support specialist which we are going to be utilizing our own um sore funding which is through lsf um that's the state opioid response dollars so um again we would provide an office services to assess the need for mat services for those of you that aren't familiar with mat services that is medication assisted treatment for those that are struggling with substance use um disorders or or diagnoses uh the counselor like I mentioned would complete the intake assessment and provide ongoing individual uh Andor group therapy in person um and then we would have um our existing uh addictions Physicians assess the individuals for ongoing medications via tella health and that would be for medications such as Vivitrol or um orine if someone wish to take those medications um and then last but not least um a peer support so that's somebody who has lived experience um with either mental health Andor substance use um struggles um and that individual would be available to provide support resources and referrals and would be here in person uh the jail bridge program so this is where uh the peer support specialist would actually go into the jail and um educate individuals on the services that we have um to see if if they're interested and those would be specifically those individuals who are struggling with some type of substance use um diagnosis um and that would be done through communication uh with the jail we have met with major McKinley um and her staff um and talked about the level of services to be provided in the jail um basically it all depends on what the jail wants and it sounds like in the discussions that we've had uh we would start um very minimal at at minimal when I say just a basic jail bridge program um that would at least have the individual coming out of jail with an appointment which is basically that bridge um to Services whenever they are released um we're currently implementing this in other areas uh working with Gilchrist and putam um it is something um that's rather new um and uh and seems to be so far very beneficial for those um struggling with these substance used um difficulties and then of course um we have a letter of commitment from uh the Bradford County Sheriff Smith who um has agreed to um participate in this program should we be able to roll this program out next slide please um the hospital or emergency dep Department bridge program so this would be where we would potentially partner with local hospitals um or emergency Department such as HCA Florida Stark emergency to intervene when an individual with the substance use um indication is admitted um this would be separate from when Ems for example responds um maybe somehow we would be alerted prior to them um or the person would go directly to the emergency department rather than um coming through an EMS call and so the peer support specialist would go into the hospital to meet with the individual and educate them on substance used services and then Bridge them to the appropriate level of care um and that could be detox uh perhaps the individual um overdosed or um experience some you know episode um and they need a period of time to medically detox off of of the uh drugs that they were using um so they would then be transported to our detox facility in Gainesville um they could also go on to our map program of course which um Sarah overseas and um is again medication assisted treatment uh they may go to bridge house which is in Gainesville which is our um shortterm substance use uh residential facility and so on just maybe just outpatient services it could be whatever um they are assessed to be appropriate um to do and again we are currently providing this service in elat and Columbia counties um and it has been very successful so next slide um the community paramedical medicine program I just wanted to talk a little bit about that um so this is of course I I think as most of you know when um there is the EMS or medical Outreach to individuals in their home or other community setting which we are not in the business to do nor do we have the licenses to do so um so we have uh partnered with the Bradford County Fire Rescue and put an MOA in place uh for um once these individuals are seen um and potentially stabilized Maybe even had some induction of some type of medication started that they would then be referred to Meridian here in Stark for that ongoing um service um to be seen by counselor for intake um Again The Physician for medication um if indicated and then the peer support for those um additional resources supports referrals and so on so ultimately it's meeting individuals where they are at to encourage engagement and treatment and again that bridge to services um so last but not least I I want to talk a little bit about funding of course because that's why we're here um so Meridan has funding uh sources to support limited initiation of these substance use Services as I mentioned we have um the sore dollars through lsf uh which we are going to be utilizing to um employ a peer support specialist and we have already um posted that position to hopefully fill pretty quickly um and then we will use billing of Medicaid other insurances um lsf or DCF funds for those that are in uninsured to fund our addictions medicine physician using existing Meridian staff via tella Health um which could be at any of our uh locations um they would still come into the office in Stark um they would be uh you know worked up by a nurse and so on uh but they would then just see the doctor um via tella Health on a on a tablet or or a screen um if you will um just to for us to you know cut cost as much as we can rather than having someone full-time perhaps the program would grow at some point and we could see us um being able to um fund you know a doctor full-time but right now we would do it via tella health and then I put of course other ways to fund these Services um of course the reason that we're here is to request the county funds um the $887,000 to um fund a counselor right now we do not have in our budget a counselor are dedicated to substance use Services here and that really is is crucial to get an individual enrolled in the program and further continue continue those services in person um I had sent over the budget uh to show for those $887,000 and in addition to the counselor position we also allocated some dollars for medications specific to mat um services and then of course we can look at Grants um in the future we even talked um um with fire rescue about that um to see how we could keep this going uh once we get it started any um any questions um for Miss TOA or for Sarah one of the things I know that they met with Lieutenant weeks and this seemed to be a winwin for all that they both the jail could benefit our County could have a local impers uh counselor here to provide these um sub abuse counseling plus the medication assisted um treatment so it would be a win towin for everybody and bring those Services locally any questions or you actually answered my question um I just wondered if there was any communication with um Mr weeks to see if um kind of paired up with where you're wanting to go and if the two were are working together or yes very closely um we we've signed an um MOA um and we work together quite often um whenever he's out in the community and um working with a client he might text me and be like hey this person is in need of detox or can I get this person into residential treatment or um you know whatever that may look like so we work very closely with um both him and chief Carter okay re uh it sounds like a good program and uh I thank you all for coming and doing the presentation um I guess my question is uh with hiring a new counselor what's going to happen next year when we don't have the 87,000 well and that's why I kind of said looking towards the future we need to look at Grants um once we build up perhaps enough um clientele if you will for substance use Services um you know we can look at billing if they have insurance or Medicaid um we can also potentially look at other funding sources we have and so on um but I think it's something we'll see that will really grow here um and that the census for these Services would be able to um hopefully once we have this initiation of the program be able to support itself okay so so youall won't be looking to us for another 87 next year not at this time I mean I'm not planning for that if you will um I guess we'll see what happens next year and just kind of how the the program goes okay all right thanks mam chair I guess it was my understanding that the 87,000 was coming from the uh surplus of funds that was left over from the opioid abatement and so and that was in an effort to bridge just like you mentioned Miss toer with bridging with the jail and and um that was a suggestion that was made earlier on to use those funds for that but it sounds to me like we're we're looking for additional funds in funding Meridian more than we currently do for their extra position is that right this this would Mr cor go ahead no I I was just going to say that what you just articulated was my understanding as well I don't I don't know Chief Carter May yeah Chief Carter is here but they answer that question the the county had its uh LSS funds that would directly coming from DCF and these uh 87 is from the Count's fund there are two pools of uh opata BAS monies and that's what it is correct for for last fiscal year uh for the state's fiscal year which ended in the end at the end of June uh we ended that year with 87,000 left over uh from the combination of the lsf funding and the city county fund um so that's this pot of money that we're talking about is the two funds were combined and so there's 87,000 that was left over from that combined pot of money so the 87,000 that we're talking about here is from the op fund correct corre it's just the city county fund not the lsf funds is what's left over from it it's all op bement money correct okay okay just want to make sure it appeared we were talking about two different pots of money and I just don't I guess the confusion it were two parts of money but they were put together so one was from lsf the other one is DCF and the other one is from the county correct and we we have already in in that funding we have already um we'd already spent all of the funds that were allocated from lsf so what would be remaining would be what was left over from uh the city county fund and just um for for information from the perspective of the the sheriff was asking like how many client they have sometime up to 130 uh clients that include the federal and County um inmates and that this will be beneficial to help um with the Jael Services providing the substance of services that they need and then also having a person available to provide outpatient services for those that are being released or discharged and just to double check Miss Dana Miss Rachel I did state that correctly is that I just wanted so it is a combination of lsf and the county funds that makes up that 87,000 what I just wanted to note for the record for the board as you're making this decision considering the action you're going to take the community medicine budget budget has already been prepared and submitted to our office if the board takes action today to spend that 87,000 by you know a transfer to Meridian that's fine but what that will mean is we're going to have to reduce the community param medicine budget by 87,000 because that budget was built with the understanding that that money would roll over so you have about a $677,000 reserve for contingency that you would likely need to zer zero out and then look for another 17,000 to zero out or take from somewhere to make up that difference and I just wanted to make sure that I made that point to you all as you're making this decision any other questions no and again and and just for you know again clarification purposes you know that's that was the way I understood it and that that money was a separate when I say separate that that was the only funds that were available for Meridian and and nothing else so I guess I'm just making sure that we're not increasing meridian's budget as we give them I don't recall the number right off hand right now that we give them annually I don't know that that's my understanding I believe what I'm understanding is this is above and beyond your this is separate that's not the Baker Act match dollars okay that's just separate okay yeah I just don't want to step off into another $887,000 is what I'm saying here yeah no and this is to initiate will do that if I'm sorry I don't mean to interrupt if you take action to give them that that will be an additional money outside of what you already annually give them right correct but that's coming from the opioid abatement no that's coming from County funds the money that we give them annually comes from County funds okay okay but the the additional money the money that we're talking about today is the opioid is the opioid abatement yes in addition to the the county money that we've already agreed on correct and again this is um a program proposal that Mr weeks and the paramedics program supports and see that's beneficial to the county well even in year say year two the the amount of funds that are coming from the opioid abatement Council or from lsf are is considerably less than year one correct yes so again I think the struggle for Meridian is going to be trying to figure out how to fund that position next year what you know and you mentioned about grants and things like that so we just need to get the sensus up get this going get individuals enrolled in services and and so on um and and key to that is getting a counselor um which right now we we just don't have in our budget um so I absolutely see us growing this and in the future um not needing to come back to fund this particular position and and Madam chair one of the things that Chief Carter and I want to make really clear and and and go on the record is that this is in no way uh to be considered as recurring funding that was clear and they understood that this was not a guarantee for any recurring um funding um but this would provide the counselor at this time for the much needed uh substance counseling and if I may go ahead have have you already checked to I mean as we know that we have that lump but do you know what the cost is actually going to be for I submitted a budget she did oh okay submitted a budget that was um take care of the um cost for the counselor and benefits and also they would in addition to that from their own pool of fund from the sold funding they would be providing services in the jail uh for those we're going to fund yeah we're going to fund the peer and then the physician okay because I I I think that the program in the jail is a really good idea um I think that definitely that if we go somewhere to um find those that need it that would be a good place to start so and and we've met with major McKinley and like I said Sheriff Gordon has Sheriff Smith has um signed the the letter of commitment um and and we're just going to be starting with a peer going in there so um you know we have a plan in place to get all of that going and that position again has already been posted because those the funding we have for that all right so any way I encourage the board to support it so ask for a motion for for approval I'll make the motion that we approve the 87,000 for the meridium Healthcare of is there second oh commissioner Andrews made the motion is a second to the motion before a second should we just um make the motion for this one year only that way everybody super clear we fund it for this one year only the 87,000 so you can you can ask for a friendly Amendment to the motion and uh specify that it'd be for this year only okay and in the motion I will add that um that this be only for this year only okay and not a reoccurring um cost right second all right motion by commissioner Andrew second by commissioner Rik any further question or discussion all in favor by the sign I any oppose for thank you um and let's see um an item where on the agenda t the um the purchase but that one is being deleted so we're going on to um item six um where we have an a presentation from our wonderful IAS extension program welcome hi commissioner Cindy Sanders ufi fist extension director here in Bradford County interim director for about 16 months now so time flies when we're having fun um I just want to in your folders or your packets you have today you have our year in review for 2023 that we were not able to present and then since we're ending the FY 2024 year soon upon us we just wanted to come to you and present to you some of our impacts that we've um made throughout 2024 thus far are um I just also want to say that when I started um 16 months ago I came to an office with two agents extension faculty and that was Lizzy Whitehead and Luke harlo Luke's not able to be with us he's a little under the weather this morning so he's not able to be with us um and in that time well in a short period of time we also filled two staff positions so we have a great team now at the extension office working together on serving our citizens of Bradford County we just recently concluded our extension Professional Association of Florida meeting in Daytona Beach last week um and I just want to um recognize some of our agents and their accomplishments Lizzy Whitehead presented two abstracts um she and I together won a team award a Communications award for Repro beef cattle Repro school we do yearly um she also presented um at the national meeting in July two pres abst abstract presentations in Dallas Texas um bayy Scarboro our 4 agent presented two uh peer-reviewed abstracts at our state meeting last week and also was a winner of a Communications award as well as a an achievement award um and then Luke harlo presented one peer-reviewed poster presentation last week so I just want to say there we're a small office but they're doing great things um not only at the state county level state level and National so at this time I'm going to introduce bayy Scaro our 4 agent to present a little bit about her program thank you Cindy um my name is Bailey Scaro I am the 4 Youth Development agent sorry I'm a little shorter than everybody else I'm gonna pull it down um I let me pull it up on my phone on screen so first I'm going to talk about our last 4 year so 4 year kind of runs um from September 1st thank you to August 31st of each year so for the 2023 2024 4 year we had a very successful year with eight Active 4 clubs and 119 club members I do want to say that I started around November so I cannot take credit for getting the year started up but um we had a great year in those clubs um we had a variety of program areas uh specifically in livestock beef swine poultry ecoin um but we also have a few clubs um focus more on community service and leadership as well um we also if you don't know 4 is in the schools as well last year we're kind of getting the program back back up and running so we had one in school program in Stark Elementary um so we do an embryology program and third grade classrooms so at Stark Elementary we had five third grade classrooms um with about 66 students across across those five classrooms and um next year we plan to expand to at least one other Public School uh Bradford Elementary in the fall so we did that one in the spring last year and we plan to continue that and hopefully expand to all elementary schools public and Charter and private wherever we need to be um moving forward we just don't quite have the capacity for that yet um also in addition to what kids did in the clubs we had many county level programs and events um just to name a few are holiday Bake Off hay Bell decorating contest County events context photography we have a lot of things going on in the county I don't have to list off every single one but we have a lot of things that our um kids participate in outside of their club meetings um in addition to that we a lot of our youth even though we're a small program they still participate in many district and state level events which we're very proud of um for example we had a handful of kids participate in our Florida 4 in sexathon um Florida 4 stay at the capital which is where they get to go to the state capital and U meet with different legislators and see what they do for our state which is really awesome um a district events public speaking contest uh we have a pretty good horse program so we had a lot of kids participate in our area um 4H hor shows in addition to our regional 4H hor show in Perry Georgia where um they did very well as well and um last but not least last month we had uh two um for members participate in Florida 4 H University which um sound was kind of what it sounds like they go to the University of Florida and get to kind of act like college students and do a lot of educational things in addition to a lot of fun things but that's also where competitive events happen so we had um one youth shanea Durance that uh qualified at County events and District events um to compete at state level public speaking contest and she actually placed third in the state we're very proud of her and placing third she actually qualified to go to the National contest in um Colorado Denver Colorado in January we're not sure if she's going to go yet but that's still a really big accomplishment um we also had summer day camps and for those of you don't know um our 4 summer day camps are kind of an extension of our 4 program so we allow kids that aren't members of 4 to still get the 4 experience by participating in one of our day camps so we had one two three four five day camps this past summer uh had to count on my sheet we had a blacksmith camp that our horiculture agent Luke Carlo did which was awesome we I think I have a well pictures on the screen but I did have a picture of these really cool copper roses um that they made we had a group of all boys I thought we'd have at least a couple girls but they had a lot of fun um and uh entrepreneurship Camp which we help with Union County and Lizzie and I helped out with um we had a meet Master's Day Camp which Lizzie may talk about a little bit more um and animal Adventures camp where we kind of got to introduce the younger kids to 4 and what we have in 4 as far as lifestyle goes this was what mostly kids that didn't really know anything about animals so it was kind of like a beginner course where they got to see all different kinds of farm animals and learn all about them which was a lot of fun um we also had two very successful 4 fundraisers this past year um which was our um annual B County 4 auction which we have coming up October 10th so um I'll mention that more about that in just a minute and our bafford beef bash which Lizzy will go into a little bit more um across our 4 clubs 4 clubs are rained by volunteers and a lot of our programs are also assisted by volunteers so we have um over 500 volunteer hours for the past four year which is awesome which really couldn't do it without the volunteers that help our program and we also were able to give from our um Bradford County 4 Association two scholarships to graduating seniors this past year um so upcoming because two days ago our new for H year started um we plan to have a couple more clubs we have the potential to start a shooting sports program um I don't want to say for certain yet but it's looking very positive that we will have a Shooting Sports progr program started up in the next couple of months we have a lot of volunteers willing to help us with that and a lot of kids interested in that so I'm very excited for that um we have an interest meeting for that on September 18th for any um youth or adults interested in helping or participating in the program um National 4 H week is coming up on October 6th through the 10th and like I mentioned before our Bradford 4 annual auction will be held October 10 so if you have any questions about that or how you'd like to contribute to that just reach out to me before you go my de the young um qualifies for the national what would it take for her to be able to go that's what we're trying to figure out okay probably a lot and unfortunately though we don't get any funding from the state for that um so I I don't want to give a number yet because I'm not quite sure if she wants to go or not but but if she decide that she wants to go maybe we could you know yes ma'am okay thank you thank you and all the Commissioners has the presentation in their packet so I'm sorry we didn't get it um up on the screen but um I'm going to present Luke harlo Luke harlo is under the weather today he's our horiculture and small farms agent um and if you have any questions about his program contact him directly because Horticulture is not my background but I will do my best um he does programs in Florida friendly Landscaping uh he partners with the libraries here in Bradford County he does commercial beekeeping he does um landscape certification of course he does site visits to Farms he does this Master Gardener volunteer program um in the Master Gardener training um as well as certification and education there uh he works with producers as far as Diagnostics of um diseases weed problems issues they're having in the fields um and he also does um food production Community Food production whether whether it's vegetables or fruit trees um and he also works with some schools here in the county on school Gardens um he recently uh completed his master gardener training um which we which he graduated those and you might have seen those in the telegraph recently um he also has 47 homes in Bradford County that has adopted Florida friendly landscaping and when I saw his impacts I thought that was pretty good um so that is right plant right place as well as low water impacts and fertilization so he's had 47 homes qualify for Florida friendly Landscaping um he's had um eight of 12 early release inmates attain their fngla that's the Florida Nur Nursery Growers landscape Association certificate so when they're released they have that certificate ready to go into the nursery industry um and he's also still working in that program with some of our local uh inmates he has a program going on now um let's see what else he has over a hundred trees that were given away to residents at Arbor Day 2024 and he partnered with the alligator Garden Club is that the Alligator Creek Garden Club as well as the Bradford County Soil and Water District on giving away those trees um and his C gardeners has donated over 560 hours of service back to the citizens of Bradford County um and his current project that we're working um with uh the county on is a demonstration garden in a greenhouse he's going to start that construction very soon he was waiting for a little bit cooler weather if you've been by our office if you've noticed um that they have actually cleared out a lot of the front old landscape and trees he's fixing to put in a greenhouse there on the north um West corner of our office and then his Master Gardeners will construct that and have a greenhouse actually to grow some of those plants that they do at their plant cell every year and then he's going to also landscape all the front of our office there so you'll see it's already looks better you can actually see the building um but he's going to be working on Landscaping that as well with his master gardener volunteers Lizzy thank you last but not least good morning Commissioners um I'm Lizzie Whitehead I'm the livestock and natural resources agent and I kind of just want to give you a gist of what I do cuz that's a common question I get and if you guys know anybody that we can help please Point them in our Direction especially for Luke and I um I help improve livestock production so anyone who has cattle small ruminant horses swine I go to visit their farms and see their operation and try to help them save money um I also do field days I do educational Field Days um you can see in the picture on my presentation with me in a pin of cattle um trying to teach producers how to select um the proper female for replacement heers um to help them save money in the long run for longevity in their herd and I also help mend and help um motivate the Bradford Union cumans Association um Co happened and they weren't meeting or doing anything so we are active um Association right now we're active at the state level as well um and so we are doing educational opportunities there at those meetings as well as meeting for networking opportunities for our producers um and getting them together so on the pasture management and natural resources side I do a lot of um soil and Forge sampling um to make sure that they're putting out the correct amount of fertilizer for their pastures make sure that their grass is a a good protein source for the livestock inter our state um we ship a lot of hay all over Florida um to puam County Okala um so we have a lot of really good hay producers that care about the quality of hay that they produce and so I help them with some of those testing opportunities and then I also do a pond management and weed ID section so so I go out to farms and help identify any um invasive weeds in their ponds I also help with um fish health to see why maybe they had a pond turnover those are natural occurrences but what happened here did the auction go down do we have a lot of rain come in um and then I also help with the 4 4 animal science section um we have a huge program in Bradford County Bailey has gratefully um taken on some of those programs like embryology um but I still do a liveop judging team I hope to bring another team to State and win the State title I also um help um head on the Bradford beef bash cattle show and um do a lot of Ed educational clinics for the Youth in the north north Florida region so not just BR County but other areas as well um so this year alone since January I've reached 1391 people and break that up into the different contact sections I had 29 field consultations in Bradford County so went to 29 different Farms so we're a pretty small County and that's a really good um number for us um and I appreciate those people contacting me um I love that's my favorite part of my job is helping those people um and I had 91 office consultations from Watkins that come in and have questions for me and uh 228 phone calls and 869 group teaching since January so all of those people their youth adults um all all generations is um who I've helped since January of 2024 when I got back from eternity leave um our beef B beef bash this past year was a huge success um in 2023 we had 67 youth participate and in 2024 we had 167 so we tripled our numbers and um it was a great opportunity we outgrown um the facility that we used in Union County this year so I'm hoping that this next facility that we're going to try to use this year will work great for us um and then you can see all the workshops that I've done this since January of 2024 um and how many attendees have attended all of those um and I had a ufi intern this summer Miss Michaela quick she's over there in the back she helped me a lot with a lot of communication um things that we have to do for clientele she also helped me with Farm visits she's been to meetings with me so she's been a great asset to the office and I think she's going to hopefully uh pursue a career and extension at some point in her career um I applied for a uh UF professional development grant for $2,500 to send me to a National Conference uh they did I did get it last year and I got it again for this upcoming year so I'm seeking other funding to send me um to these conferences that we have to do and um I appreciate the network that it brings for me um I also am a part of an Australian beer grass IPM Grant um to help with this invasive weed that we know nothing about to figure out how do we control it so any weeds that we have that are very invasive um I try to do some research on that and help the researcher uh Dr Brent sers is the researcher in Ona Florida that's helping us up here figure out how to control it so these issues are from a lot of my hay producers and my livestock producers as well but it's just an opportunity for me to get some research under my belt and help our producers in the long run and that's all that I have and you can see some pictures of some of the camps that we did in my uh national team that went in November to Louisville Kentucky um they placed uh 20th out of 36 teams so not too bad for the State of Florida and I hope to send another team in the near future thank youe thank you uh so much um for all of the conferences and the awards that you all have been able to achieve and um so we look forward to the continued work thank you if thank you Commissioners and I just want to thank you for your continued support um like I said we've got a strong team at our extension office now we got some great faculty and great staff there um and again just appreciate the partnership with ufas and the continued support um the other thing as I did put in your folders is the auction that Bailey mentioned another strong um uh fundraiser for our 4 here in Bradford County so again thank you for your support can I ask just one question lizie you talked about um low oxygen and the water and the fish did you take an opportunity to to go to some of our um our lakes that we're experien turnover no ma'am um I was at the conference that we were at last week I did not end up going out there um but I did see some pictures and some Facebook posts about it and um I have not reached out to the I think that F WC was on top of that and getting that underway um I usually deal with more residential ponds but if they call me for any help I definitely go out there and help them yes ma'am okay thank you okay did you have something L Carlo also was involved in that last week because he came to me when we were all at our conference and and I think he had talked with somebody from FWC on the fish kill probably with all the rains we've been having dissolved auction levels decreased and that's when we usually have a big fish kill okay anybody else thank you and and just one other comment and then and Lucas is going to be helping with whenever they do the RJ um community garden but also wanted you to know that the little tiny tots at the little Head Start they still have their little garden there um from I guess it's been two years now that Luke helped with good thank you madam Madam chair if I may I just wanted to say that as you can see we have assembled a team of rock stars up at our extension office and I just want to publicly thank them for the great work that they're doing up there and uh as always will continue to support you and if there's anything we can do you just let us know thank you thank you all and Madam chair if I could Echo what county manager said uh it seemed like there was a time when things were spiraling in the wrong direction and you guys have brought it back in the right direction it looks like you guys are doing a really good job we appreciate it so thank you very much okay thank you um at this time I'll have a Clerk's report Madam chair just a few things that I wanted to um on behalf of the clerk say um tonight is your public hearing to adopt your tentative millage rate and your tenative budget so you'll meet tonight at 5:30 in here um I also just wanted to acknowledge too for the record that I understand that we're going to have a budget Workshop next Tuesday on the 10th at 5 o'clock 5 o'clock and um our office completely supports budget workshops we think that they're great it's an opportunity to let the public see and understand what's going on with the county budget our only ask is that at this juncture because we're in September at the time that we would adopt our budgets that um you know hopefully it'll just be more presentation and not necessarily any changes to the budget because it does take some time by the time that we get our budgets in July to prepare those for Dana to balance the budget from our current year to figure out what we have left over to roll over into the next year and any changes just like what we did with opioid you know will result in some additional work that we have to do on the back end to make those changes and updated in adg and things of that nature so it's not that it can't be done but if we get at this point um hopefully it'll just be more presentation wise I do just want to say for the record as well that usually in February our office will meet with the county manager's office and we'll go over a budget timeline as far as when we would need um department head budgets to be turned into us um when we're expecting the auditor to make a presentation when we expect to get information from the Property Appraiser's office um so we know what our revenues look like and then also in that timeline we try to recommend um for the county manager and you all if you're going to have a budget Workshop what that would look like and that time frame is usually anywhere between March and July is a great window in future to have budget workshops if the board has an appetite to do that to where you can talk about things like your CIP um having the department heads present their budget to you all to um for you all to review what their ask is to have constitutionals um do the same um and then that way if there's any changes that we need to make we can do all of that before we finalize it and then come to you in September with those prepared budgets so I just wanted to make that note for next year moving forward um so we can kind of be on the same page there what we can o start doing sooner than later um at your August 6th meeting you all expressed an interest in having some workshops to discuss fire rescue and I think we can start having those as soon as you all want to have that because one thing that we're aware of but hasn't actually been discussed as a board yet is you know we've talked about operating at 50% we've talked about um looking at our operations and do we need to um you you know reduce operations we're also aware that there's an Appropriations in Brooker so that would mean an expansion of operations and you know we haven't really talked about that and we really need to have those disc discussions because what we don't want to happen is the data that has been prepared by the consultant to lose that so as soon as we can start having those discussions to talk about operations um are we going to reduce are we expanding what is that going to look like as far as cost we need to get all of that worked out and and and quickly so I just want to throw that out there thank you Miss really that's a reasonable request um and I do think it'll be good for us to get back to our budget workshops of this coming up year but I also understand that we're on the brink of our our final budget here so oh but I think it's important that because we we had requested workshops to be set up um so I think it's very important that at least we do this one and um then next year when you start setting up that schedule um maybe whoever the chair is or that that we can work in giving you some dates to just go ahead and put it on the schedule and um because to me that is that is the proper way to do it because these people out here they want to know what's happening too and it's a good idea for people to come and just and and just tell about their budget tell what they've done and um so I think that we desperately need to get back to that and um the sooner the better with the fire department like we were talking about we want to work with with the people the citizens of the county and taking a look at what might get changed what might not is there any room for Change and um the sooner the better better so that we don't get locked down like we did in in the past so thank you commissioner Andrew and one of the important things that we also need to move forward with is um spending plan a capital Improvement plan um so that we'll have that in this next year coming anything El from the good okay so we know that we'll come back this this afternoon at 5:30 okay U Sheriff Smith it's always a pleasure to get to come before yall U this morning it's something important I know currently our code enforcement officer has about 80 Active cases and an issue that we've run into it's not new it's something I've dealt with my entire career and that is people living in campers and portable sheds now it seems okay until one burns down and we've had that that happen we've lost life it's great until you go and have to help a lady with three kids living in a portable shed in deplorable conditions not all campers are old and dilapidated but I can tell you A lot of them we're dealing with I wouldn't let it use it for a dog house for my dog I care that much about my my animal and it's become an issue I know so economic times are tough but when given the last ultimatum a lot of these people seem to find a way you kind of have to help them find a better location or somewhere to live now it's sad that we have that we're not the only County I've I deal with Sheriff's across the state it's an issue whether you live in a rich predominantly Rich County or a poor County but we have to make some decisions and our code enforcement officer cor ward has has looked at these and he comes to me we try to work these issues out before it goes to a magistrate to put people out when you got extension cords running across trees falling on a portable shed you go there and somebody's living in it or a camper um we just we did a drug raid and and these kids 12 11 12 13 years old living in these deplorable conditions because somebody lets four or five campers move in the backyard of their house they don't want their cousin nephew friend living in the house with them but they'll let them pull a camper in the back 40 and run an extension Court out there it leads to a lot of issues we're encountering and I think this time I'm going to let cor Ward do a presentation he's done a lot of documentation he can tell you more about it than I can but he stays very active and he deals with it on a day-to-day issue he comes to my office says Sheriff what do you want to do it we're just at the uh where the rubber meets the road and I know that yall are going to hear from some of these people we start taking some of the actions that we should be taking some of the one a lot of people have come into compliance but there's a lot out there to just say I'm not going to do anything so I'm G let him present good morning thank for letting me get here this morning um let start off everybody gets a tax bill I'm going to kind of add what I handed out to y'all everybody gets a tax bill you open up your tax bill and you look at it it's going to be a little bit more this year well what if I told you your neighbor living next door in the camp or RV or shed did not receive the same bill as you they're not paying for the house they're paying for the land their bill was a lot less hundreds of thousand doar less us think about that for a few minutes you the homeowners are paying more for the same service as your neighbors getting and using but this isn't about Revenue this isn't about private property issue with the mindset that I can do as I want or please on my property it's more than that it's about safety economic growth and making Bradford County compliant with the state and local ordinances Maran County's reached out to me to find out what we're doing and they're more AFF fluent County they're struggling so it's not just us us safety's a big topic hurricane Seasons here so far this season we've seen widespread flooding loss of power and trees down RVs en campers are not rated for the wind that comes with a hurricane as local homes are this makes them dangerous so they decide to ride out in it we don't know where they are where they at in Brad County they don't have the 911 address and we're trying to reach them it also a tri to come down not trapping them inside these sheds are not built for anything like that for any kind of safety my time as code enforcement I've seen many of them back feeding or IL legally tied into power poles when the power goes out the lineman are working in the wind and the rain the last thing we want to have it happen is a serious injury of death caused by an illegal camp or RV or shed that is back feeding the line that they're trying to repair another issue of come fact is many do not have proper disposal means for sewage some have rigged up a hook up into a septic tank some are dumping it straight on the ground and some are using a bucket for the bathroom this is reality that I see all the time and this includes kids um according to the USDA soil survey for bord County our water table is within 10 feet or less at a surface Bradford County is unique that we have three layers of Aer in our soil most Wells according to survey are the top two aquar layers which means they're higher up you don't have to go as deep both are fed by the seepage of water through the soil that water may be carrying raw sewage from these type of living situations raw sewage can carry many diseases I can't pronounce it but it's there I apologize which is the most common it's it's for of a stomach virus it gets in um this kind of impact was seen during Hurricane Ian when hundreds of thousands of gallons of sewage were dumped into the local rivers in Tampa Bay our County though as a hole feeds into the wed that is a Santa Fe River whether it's through the Creeks lakes or canals eventually this stuff that gets dumped end up there and I've actually seen it where they've run it into the canal directly I for one don't want my kids swimming in sewage that has been dumped into groundwater or local Lake and they were literally running right into the canal that dumped into to the lake over in um Santa Fe all right as we continue on safety most houses have multiple exits in case of a fire most sheds and campers have a single exit maybe a few windows they're very narrow in their layouts if you were a firefighter risking your life to get to a person or child out a burning structure could not fit your gear through the door safely could you make that decision they may get stuck they may the trap with all the gear that the firefighters wear so these structures are not safe or proper for a day in legal day in and day out dwelling in case of a fire First Responders have to enter with gear get a disabled person out of that with all that gear in such a narrow spot was tied up and I think y'all were with me on one we were trying to get the lady out they had a ramp that went up we couldn't get her down the ramp we couldn't get her into the they had her set up we couldn't get her in a chair to get her out it was an emergency situation trying to get her to the hospital and they had room in the house for her to live they just didn't want her in the house next is economic growth circling back to the issue of taxes the tax dollers not only go into our roads our public service but also our schools if you've been a Bradford word of mouth in the last few months there's been a lot of discussion about budget cuts for schools fire departments and Roads needing repairs while these documents paid some florid property tax is Pennies on a dollar compared to what a person living in a mobile or permanent home would pay they're still using our services there's been several that living in sheds that we use most of our services for they call us for medical they call us for drug usage they call us for domestic disputes because of are livings they're fighting and we're constantly going back out there there's been several of those just repeated um one of them was in Brooker which we got taken care of we got them compliant and they sold it which is now going to be used for the new fire station I guess that's where they're putting a new plot for the fire station down there by the uh town hall right so that was successful they're gone and we got for the county got a relatively decent price for it I guess to put the fire place fire station on it so they're still using our services and granted there their kids need to go to school but they're still going to Schools they're not paying the school taxes and they're paying for emergency services they're not paying what everybody else is paying so I don't believe believe it's fair to the other people in the county there's an estimation for me going around there about 6 to 700 of sheds RVs and there's also one man renting out three tents on property at $300 a month to these people so he yes he's charging three people on his property living in tents $300 a month okay he will cut off the power at 2:30 in the morning because he's drunk and we have to send Services out there because he's cutting off their power yeah and I and I've noticed five new RVs in the past two weeks have just popped up one in l two down toward Brooker on 18 and I'm sorry and another one out here off of uh 16 going out that way they just popped up and the sheriff mentioned the fact that they're run down campers some of these things that they're putting up are 7080 90,000 RVs that they're putting up on a piece of property they could buy a tiny home if they spend that much on that RV why can't they start construction do it like everybody else does um it's not a Bradford order it's a Statewide issue our Sheriff I tell you first which I tell everybody I go out this thing is not about punishment it's about compliance which is why so many Mr reic and y'all have dealt with these things they take so long because the sheriff is about getting these people to comply and go along with everything before we start finding them and punishing them we don't want to do that we want to help them get where they need to go but it takes time I've had the option to turn off electricity more than a 100 times because of this situation which I'm allowed to do I've cut off three because that's how much we care about the public and wanting to do the right thing and be compassionate three out of a 100 many of these cases are going on for 5 six months trying to get them into compliance but there's little motivation on the occum part to do so until I put them in front of a magistrate or cut off their electric I've got two properties now that are up probably for forclosure here shortly now I do know some people come here for just a few months to hunt we have a great Wildlife Management Area great hunting leases and it brings a good bit of Revenue into our local economy I propose um I propose that we provide some kind of an exemption out in the agricultural areas for you know a hunting season permit to keep you know to keep it coming in they literally come in they a lot of them keep their places very neat very organized they hook up the electric corle correctly they have a correct contract with the sewage um which is they have to have somebody come out once a month and pump so they have everything properly done um they would have to have a valid hunting license from FWC the time frame to request the invention the exemption a second approve for management stamp or copy the lease for GR they'll be hunting on and the exact dates that they'll be out there hunting this is there to keep it in check keep it deat and keep to where we don't have anything going into the groundwater or anything unsafe again we're about compliance not punishment I'd like to say that we've got a lot of growth I don't know especially Keystone there's more houses going in out there we got more business coming in down here in the city um correct me if I'm wrong I said we're PL another out of 235 another residential was a rumor coming out too over there off 22 235 or something like that but we got a bunch of houses coming in and people it's bringing down to property values when you got an area and then you dump in this RV right there and we got growth and it's stunting and Maring County just contacted me I went outside they're having an issue and they're wanting to find out what we're doing so I'm kind of putting this out there to let y'all know where we're at I'm sitting on about 80 building and Zoning working with me we got it now to where they cannot get a 911 address unless they' presented the proper documents or build a home you know they they've got everything they need to do for building Zone to get a home then they can get a 911 address because what was happen they get a 911 address and they go hook up the elector and do whatever they want we're just about getting everything safe and making sure everybody's doing what they need to do now there has been exemptions that we've granted if you got somebody that has legitimate elderly invalid somebody they need to C take care of we've granted exemptions for that and it's a documented exemption and we make sure the sewage and the electric and everything's proper and safe so we're about being compassionate but we've got to do something about the others there's literally some people making1 $120,000 a year that're putting it on property and living in this nice RV but they're not paying any property taxes so that's what I got if y'all have any questions about anything I'm more happy to answer them and and y'all have all talked to me about the stuff going on or issues in different areas so well commissioner andreww um I do know a couple of people that um is it clo hunting camp that and one and one set of friends that we have they actually have a fenced off thing yes they have a shed they have but they they bring their um pool behind and just park it in there and that's the only time you know that they're there yes ma'am um they keep it very clean and and they're only there for the hunting season or part of it I mean back and forth but um this this is an issue that um I think that honestly you guys have done above and beyond you you've given people opportunities and and you've forced them out of very unsafe situations um I wish that we had more housing that we could possibly offer I mean for people that cuz some of these they have nowhere to go um and I don't know what the answer is but um I do appreciate what you're doing and I know it's a very very tough job because um it it's got to it's it's got to be rough but I am glad that you're there and and doing this and I will say what the sheriff has said before it is a fact that generally I try to do some research a before I shut off the electric I don't want anybody in there on oxygen issues or anything like that so kids stuff of that nature before I even show at all number two a lot of them once you get to that point where they got they find an option yeah that's what the sheriff was saying I'd say 99% sheriff is once they find that option they make it happen it's they don't want to well if someone's paying $300 rent for a tent on a piece of property they are other options for that person definitely so um and I've rep reposessed two sheds in the past week to somebody was living in and it sounds like you um have and show compassion for the people that you you need to but um we're living in some desperate times and it caused people to do desperate things but it sounds like more of those who have the means may be exploiting those who don't and that's where the rubber meets the road in which you nailed it that it's it's we have gotten to the bottom line where actually people when they find out that they're being moved out I can tell you like Lost Valley Campground I go through scenario after scenario they find a much better place to live most of them have some type of assistance and they choose that because it's cheaper but they they can get a nicer housing and relocated to someplace safer I think today's presentation just let y'all know what we're dealing with but in the near future we're going to take a much aggressive stance towards some of them and you may hear if they come forward so we wanted you and the public to know what we're doing is not out it this has we don't make any money off this but this is putting people sometimes forcing change on some people that may not like that change but to get them someplace safer uh just dealt with one here not too long ago that people didn't want their handicapped son living in the house which had several bedrooms that hand they had them living in a portable shed next to the trailer y'all that's wrong yeah and we put these these vices in place and say you're going to do something it's amazing how the majority of them and there's other cases that we've reached out to churches to get people help and assistance to relocate them we look for those Avenues but there's going to be a few coming in the near future that we're going to take some hard action on and enforce it and we wanted y'all to be well aware and informed of what we were doing and and so also those persons who may be living under those shed um conditions if they meet all of the requirements for example for tiny homes and that kind of thing then you look at that um objectively if they're able to do that I I'm thinking Sheriff you remember Miss PE if it were not for the shed he would not have had a place to live so I'm thinking about people like that who worked hard all of their lives but can't afford a place and that's all they can and we look at that and we've made some people have to adjust adjust the way that they've wired things plumed things War sewers running we look at all those options when we're there I get the call from the neighbor it says Hey the Smith house across the street from me's got ex criminal XYZ living in the shed now and we're getting called there for services there's no 911 address we're going to the house the the domestic violence calls the medical calls for service those type issues and they could live somewhere else but they decided hey I want to live down there with my cousin in a Smith house but they won't let me live inside but I'm gonna live in that shed they got out back y'all it's it's it's tough okay mad Madam chairman if I may I'm sorry I just had a question for the sheriff and and Corporal Ward do you feel like our current ordinances are giving you the The Authority you need do you think you're do you need more latitude or your hands tied or is there anything that can be done legislatively that would help that would help you it's right now it's a slow process so I guess not really hands are tied it's just slow going um there was one that there's a one that just came out July 1st that I'm looking at to see if it's something that might be able to help us it's it has something to do with putting like you say they're deceased and the property sitting there and somebody moves a RV on it that doesn't own a property and starts squatting um I'm kind of looking at but we could probably sit down and look at it and see if there's something that might help out I mean to help expedite it um the way to expedite it honestly is if it's in there and it's unsafe and it's 9.2 6.4 and it's unsafe structure we can show off the electric immediately that would expedite it but that's something right there that becomes you know very dicey we're dealing with an array of those people move out of the neighborhood or they deceased and all of a sudden somebody that's somewhere connected in family or friends that know that they're moving in and they they're not paying any rent they just they're leaving lights on in the same name we run into it's it's amazing what he has to run into he comes and say hey Sheriff these people just moved in the house well no other family members to contact they're living it for free or they're stealing everything out of it and selling it on Marketplace those are the issues we're dealing with all the time but I I think our ordinance and all that we have now are fine we just try to get everybody to comply versus a more firm hand we're just going to start taking that more firm hand approach on those that we think need and we just didn't want y'all getting caught off guard if somebody runs in here to you to have a better understanding and we're going to move forward in some of those and he's got to be the bad guy but we've tried not to be okay commissioner Ric yeah just one thing I just want to share this uh corporate reward um if if y'all haven't called him I there for a while I think he was on speed d on my phone I mean yes sir but uh but I just want to say I I appreciate everything you do I mean you always call me back you always keep me informed on what's going on or what you're doing or what the process is and I really do appreciate it Sheriff I I tell you he's excellent Excell besides all his duties he's the Brooker Marshall yes sir well well he does an excellent job I do appreciate it whatever we need to do to support you we just wanted youall to be aware because we know that some of these issues are going to come before you uh with the magistrate passing some things there going to be some you know different stuff we're going to do leans and and foreclosed on some properties that people just we've given them every option they said we're not going to do it well and Madam chair if I may um if there's anything in my district that I can do to help you I mean I know that you don't need me but if there is anything that I can do go and talk to some people or whatever um however I can help you please let me know appreciate okay thank you all thank you thank you Sheriff um at this time we will have our County Manager um report yes ma'am thank you madam chair um I just wanted to make you all aware that we uh did receive approval from the state on the community planning technical assistant Grant award um Miss Amber Shepard with the ebdc will be here at our next meeting to go over uh the the administration of the Grant and what we're looking at doing going forward forward one thing I did want to mention is that as a part of the plan we're looking at uh Contracting with a firm to uh deliver renderings of both The Interchange at 16 and the uh bypass and also the property that we acquired from the state down at the Douglas building um just as some uh planning going forward and what you know ideas of what we might want to see out in those two areas but like I said Miss Shepard will be here at our next meeting to give all the details as we move forward with that uh next Is the aquatic plant removal out at Samson Lake uh site visit was completed last Thursday with um Jason dods and Captain wit and commissioner Andrews and I think it' be appropriate if if Captain wit came up and and talked a little bit about the site visit good morning Commissioners so just to kind of bring you up to speed this is a project that we've been looking at for a long long time and we've just never had quite the right situation to get it done we've put in for Grants before um those have been unsuccessful because a lot of granters view it as a maintenance project um we've taken a look at this through different lenses and of course you other priorities come up but now we I think we've got a real opportunity as real as it's ever been uh so Mr Paul still brought forward a company that does a different type of service like he mentioned in his public comments earlier they do a shredding service which does reduce down the um the the logistical part of doing a job like this even the inine part that the county would be involved in Jason and his cruise with getting that vegetation out of there once it's removed um but in in accordance with uh the request of the board we we took a look at that vendor as as well as um we we reached out to some others not for bids but just for budgetary quotes what are we looking at um or you know expense wise what are we looking at Logistics wise what does your company do and what what do you propose you can do to help us solve um our problem so we reached out several companies we had a few of those respond back and last week um director dods myself one of my staff members Noah tinsler and uh Miss Andrews out with two contractors who responded back that was CLR Aquatics which is the shredding service that Mr steel brought forward as well as Smith Smith Property Management I believe it was something that is Smith I have the information there the only one we've received a quote back from is CLR and that's the $8,000 quote you have in front of you uh they do the shredding services so we still do have a possibility of getting a quote back from um the the Smith Property Solutions as well as we have another vendor who was interested in going for a site visit they couldn't do it till after today's meeting so we kind of put them on hold told them we would let them know um there uh and then we also um have reached out to some others that we have not heard back from don't have anything set up on yet but you know could be other avenues in the future when we went out um we discovered a lot of what we expected a pretty dense growth vegetation you've seen the pictures in the past of that we took some updated photos I didn't get them in into the uh to the county manager's office in time to dat to get included um for this meeting for you but we do have pictures of that um and we receive that quote back so we really wanted to come before you today get some guidance uh if this is something we want to move forward with on on the shredding services if you you know um what what you feel and then answer any questions that we can answer for you about this project project or um the ideas behind it well Captain with thing that's important to me is what it de mention that we can do that would mitigate flooding that would uh free up the vegetation that is there so and when we have impendent storms um that it would not you know add um acerate that problem so yes what I don't know the methodology if it's better to shred better to to extract the stuff I don't know that so I have to rely on the expertise of others who know about um Eric I could speak for for shredding or dredging you know there's a lot of different permits and and um you different uh processes with the state depending on how you do it what I can tell you is this um Samson Lake The Watershed there is is complex there's a lot of water that comes in and it comes in very quickly and then it all relies on the mouth of this canal to get out of the lake into Samson canal and through our three pipe structure that we open to reduce the lake levels and try to reduce that flooding um it it's it's a pinch point there there is vegetation growing in it I I'm I'm you know hydrology is not my uh my field of study I can't tell you um about that reduction but Common Sense does tell me that if there's stuff growing in that Canal that's going to at at minimum reduce that flow of water out um so you know I don't have necessarily statistics um you know working with our soul and water board working with residents about the concerns out there um you know we we are concerned that that growth of vegetation which is is uh been there for quite some time now does reduce the efficiency of that Canal to to let water go to three pipes and thus you know us be able to control that lake level well and like like he said said um I I don't know anything about it but I can honestly say that I think that the um shredding has to Cost Less because with them pulling it out then Jason and them would have to pick it up and move it from they said three pipes is where they would go um and also there's already a tree down in between them where the actual work would be done and three pipes so that's got to come out so um I know that the shredding and I might be totally wrong but I do believe it makes common sense to think that that would be the less expensive method and like you said um kind of have to think if you if you had an aquarium and you put a bunch of of the little plants in there if you went to pour the water out or let had a spout and you opened it of course if there's nothing in a tank then it's going to flow out a lot faster so we do deal with with flooding in that area and everything that we can do to cause that water flow to be unrestricted and to flow through three pipes is what we should be doing for these citizens we've all seen it when it hit bad a few years back where people were pulling their families in boats down the road um it was terrible and and this last rainy season of course was awful so um I just would like to request that we do this because of course for the sake of the citizens that live on that Lake and around that area um I think it's very important that we we do that commissioner R yeah I just got I have one question um and and I'm all for doing it and and I think we should and move move forward with it pretty quickly but but here's my question W with the shred in it then all that seaweed and weeds are in the water is is that going to go down to three pipes and and clog it up and cause more problems where where does you see what I'm saying from my understanding and I my conversations with this contractor were the first time I'd heard um or you know heard in detail how this process works my understanding is it turns it into basically sawdust um it it's not big chunks uh they um they mention no um concerns about it causing clogging or anything like that I think one of the important things that think is we we are doing a relatively small area by just wiing in that Canal getting that Canal cleaned out um you know I know Mr still mentioned earlier doing it while the gates were closed actually being beneficial um I would have to dive into that a little bit more um but no concerns have been brought forth at this point about that debris and any it causing any kind of negative impacts okay like with it floating on the water and all that with the uh with the oxygen oxygen levels for the fish or anything like that so so what what this company told us is they do this often and in a couple days you don't even know that anything's been done because the stuff is dissolved so fine I think it he said it settles the bous no what he said I believe so so it dissipates into the water that doesn't cause a problem for the fish or the health of the fish um is what you're saying it it no no nothing like that has been brought to me of course there will be some permitting through FWC that would have to be done to move forward with this and I'm sure that would be addressed at that time if if there was okay because I I got a call I guess the last week because there were a lot of dead fish and I understand that because of I don't know the flow that the oxygen of the fish was the high yeah the the high inundation of water into the lake um it it was happened not just on Sams and other lakes around the state that were impacted by heavy rainfall through through hurricane Debby experienced that as well the other question I have have you all been able to Benchmark with any other um sister counties um on what they use or what method they use that's affect I have not but you know one of the things in my four years of being in Emergency Management nobody really has a situation like we have with Samson Lake and three pipes it's a it's a pretty unique deal in fact the grant that I brought you um last year earlier this year of wanting to do the upgrades to three pipes just to find someone who had been through something similar we had to go well not go but had to speak to people all the way out in Louisiana it's just that kind of system on a lake like that is not um it's pretty unique I I've not found nearby anyone with that kind of setup okay and and I do support that it's important to to move forward with making some corrections to it because we we're going into hurricane season we're going into a season in which we may get more flooding and other issues uh heavy rain and that we don't want to acerate the the problem for the residents in those local areas commissioner question Captain wh on the uh let's say removal versus shredding would that be I mean I look at it like if I was to remove some sod out of my yard then you know there's nothing left if I shred it like if I was mowing my grass it's going to grow back so is there something to be said about shredding versus removal I know that sounds like shredding is the cheapest option but is that something that would just turn right around and come back I believe that either way there's going to be a maintenance component to it this is something that we're after we do this we will need to work together Emergency Management our public work so and water board and develop a better maintenance plan to not be in this situation again in the future um but with that being said you know we've I don't know that we've ever done a project like this uh before so you know how long does it buy us I don't know again it's kind of a unique uh situation down there um but I do believe that regardless of how we were to ever move forward with this project we could work with um our Sol and water board fish and wildlife and their aquatic um aquatic vegetation uh program public works so and water all those entities to come up with a better maintenance plan going forward okay I've just seen like you know like the torpedo grass you know like in Kingsley Lake you know you can pull it off at the top but it just continues to run but if you actually you know extract all of it out you know then you more or less eliminate it so that's that's just my question you know just as far as you know one versus the other yes so thank you so I just as the consor board to um to ask our manager working with these groups of experts um to see what we can do expeditiously whether that be shredding or removal to see if we can take some action um relatively soon sure and the amount of this purchase is U it's below the threshold so we don't need any board action uh for that what I would like is a consensus on on how to move forward would you like to uh immediately go enter into an agreement with the with the folks that offer the shredding service or do you want us to wait and and and get proposal from the folks that remove it or just how would you like for us to proceed well if you were able to get something fairly soon from the others but if it's you know if it's I don't know how soon then we we do need to take some action to um to mitigate the situation and and assess it as it's being removed or shredd it its impact um on the fishing Wildlife there Kevin what do you have any sense of of when the removal people would give us their proposal uh I do not I can we can reach back out again if we wanted any additional quotes they're all going to want site visits which is you know setting that up coordinating schedules um it's about a half day event by the time we prepare the boat go out go on the boat show them everything get back prepare the boat to be stored again um you go through make sure we didn't tear anything up all that that good stuff uh so you know I mean it was lengthy just to get to these uh get to where we are right now um so if we wanted to go out and seek any additional quotes I think that would would take quite some time I think the biggest question is um is is the company that came on came last week are they interested in giving a quote and how quickly can they turn that one around uh we could reach out to them today and find that out M sh you said have um a meeting scheduled with the third group for tomorrow so we tentatively put them on on the calendar waiting to for any board direction today on on which way to go again since these were budgetary quotes and we had to coordinate those schedules of being able to to go through um you know all the logistics to get them out there you know unfortunately this isn't a place you can walk up on shore and just look out at it you got to get on the boat and it's about over a mile across the lake um you know it's it's a 2200 acre lake so uh so they didn't say when they could come yeah we we we tentatively told them tomorrow but with the understanding that there was a board meeting today and the board May advise us to take different direction but to be on standby so of course they could tell us they've got a job scheduled tomorrow and could be back uh searching for a day on the calendar well Madam chair my recommendation would be simply that we give them the deadline and um just called the second company that was on the boat with us and just tell them that we need the quote by tomorrow or the next day and the same with this company you know give them a couple of days to get their quote into us and if they don't get it then we move on and and hire the the one that that has um and again um we'll have to leave it up to to your your opinion of the expertise that whether or not we we go with the shredding to me that sound like the best but I'm I am not one to make an educated recommendation but um and you may reach out to some other people to see but um what I'm what I'm trying to say is so many situations we we table something and then it just it never gets done so I would really like for us to set it a deadline and um so that this can be acted upon and and get it done Madam Madam chair I might make a suggestion on the consensus what if we said that if we do not have any more information by the end of the week that we move forward with the shredding process yes that sounds reasonable and then once again since it doesn't require board action um if we do get more information then we can dis we can discuss individually on uh on our thoughts regarding the other processes yes I would agree with the county manager and um I mean if this is an effective method and it's proven method and you've seen it in other areas and just like corporate Ward was saying earlier you know how things get bogged down let's not bog anything down if we can move forward let's just move forward with it and the contractor was telling me that they they do contract and do work for state and local government so this is being utilized um by other places uh he actually called our project a smaller project um his words relevant terms but uh you know I think that it offers the fastest solution to what we know is a problem the extent of that problem is is the data that that we don't have we we can't say um how much it's causing the problem but we can say that obstructions in the Waterway are going to slow down that flow of water um so we can you know with uh a a relatively um small project be able to to get some improvements there and then evaluate some more long-term procedures and plans going forward okay so close a business Friday yes I think that'd be great all right I'll let you know anything we get thank you thank you thank you thank couple other things Madam chair um first of all I want to let the board know that uh we Jason and I met with representatives from mhd Rockland on site last week out of the Douglas building just to take a look at the uh what we would consider their property lines um as you know we've got over 25 acres down there and they're only going to need about half that so we tentatively mapped out a uh an arrangement so that they could have the space they need and leave the remaining space for the county to develop um we also gave them the first iteration of the Leisa agreement and they are they're taking a look at that and we hope to hear back from them this week uh the second thing I want to talk about is um our uh public works department you know they have uh they've really been put to the test um since this storm came through a few weeks ago and have done outstanding work and I just want to thank Jason dods and and his team for going above and beyond and and and doing them amazing work that they did and another thing I wanted to point out to the board is and I know you already know this but um Jason has a a particular certification um that is required to perform a particular service when it comes to Road Road building and as you can see up on the screen um these projects that Jason has been a part of have ended up his participation has ended up saving the county over $3.1 million now that is money that the county would have had to pay chw or whomever some some contractor um uh firm engineering firm to perform this service so just by having Jason on the payroll he has sa Bradford County over $3.1 million in the last couple of years so I think that's important I think it's important for the board to to recognize I think it's important for the public to know um what a valuable asset Jason is so uh that's all I have Madam chair okay thank you um uh one other thing well it it'll be a part of your turn and my turn but we'll go through individually but one other thing is the for this coming election since I'm currently sitting as uh on that canvasing board and commissioner reic is the um alternate um the judge will not will no longer be serving also so we need another alternate and I would recommend Miss Andrews if she would be willing to serve on the canvasing board cently okay yes ma'am okay I I can do it now or under commissioner comments but I I just wanted to to add on to what uh uh Mr corn said about Jason um I've been thinking about this quite a bit over the past couple weeks and I ride around and see what's going on and it's it's amazing what the road department gets done I mean that is a well run machine even if Jason's out sick or whatever it just continues to keep going it's it's very very well run and um and the other thing is that that a lot of us probably don't even realize or think about but anytime there's a wreck or there's a fire in the middle of the night it can be 1 2 in the morning whatever the road department has called out and those guys are called and they go up out and redirect the traffic or they get a tree off the road or whatever I mean I got pictures of Jason uh and this is the thing why you know Jason I don't want your head to get too big so you might want to step out for a minute but uh but but this is where you know I've got pictures of Jason being out there in the middle of the rain running a chainsaw because even even though he's the superintendent supervisor head HCHO whatever Jason's hands on I mean I've seen him on mowers you know because we're always complaining about the mowing I see him you know actually driving the mowers mowing uh and like I said I've seen him on the chainsaws and um you know like I said our road department does so much more than we give them credit for um and also what what's pretty impressive is we all know we have seven roads that are going to be chip sealed well they had to be prepared and ready to go on top of the storm that that they that we just went through with them trying to get roads even passable these guys were still out there spreading Lime Rock on on these seven roads to get them ready for the chip sell company uh and as far as I know right now all seven of those roads have been uh prepped and uh whatever that is uh the The Rock has been put on them and they're going to sit for two more weeks to let it pack in from the tra and then the chips company will be back to put the final uh code on it but I'm just saying all that is being done why he's continually um you know taking care of the county and um and if you're like me I can't even hardly keep my own yard mode as fast as it's growing here lately I'm going to get with a hay Bell and Company and get them to come out there make some money but um but anyway I just want to just wanted to brag on Jason just a little bit and and not just Jason but the whole Road Department uh the other thing is I think there's only what 13 guys that work for the road department so all the stuff I'm talking about is getting done is getting done with less employees than we've ever had um in the past I think it was up to 19 20 employees before you got here 23 and and now we're at at 13 and uh and getting more done so just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention um I know yall are probably already aware of it anyway but I I just think it's pretty amazing what what gets done and Jason just wanted to tell you thank you really do appreciate it I con car and um to speak to um going above and beyond about a year ago if he might recall there was a elder lady on um Northeast 19 Avenue with a mosquito problem that you would never could imagine they would just swamp your car uh I was coming from my daughter's appointment stop by the Dollar General got a cup of cash spray and but Mr Doss had also gotten her some cans spray as well until Benny could get out there so it's not just um the those things but it's the Small Things That Go Beyond and I and I see those road department guys um In the Heat of the day in the midst of the day that are doing their job and they're few in numbers but they're doing it with compassion uh in all of those communities so we do appreciate madal and the road department for what you do I I had that on my comments but since you brought it up I had to say um anyways now I'm going to move on to the commissioner's comments and we'll attorne oh I'm sorry I was going to skip over you no you could have um I no comments thank you okay thank you we all appreciate you um Mr Bradley Madam chair just while we have the County Attorney um Mr Bradley I know that in the past uh it's been brought up a couple of times about the private roads and how we are going to you know try to draft up something uh that would prevent these you know private developments from coming in and expecting the services you know from the county and so you know I'd like to see that move forward I'm not sure if if if you know how you know you would look at that or how maybe Rich would look at that but uh certainly something I think that needs to be done at some point to where when they go to a closing or they go in you know to get a permit or something like that there's an understanding or they signed a document that says that they understand you know that that is a private road or a private development and and furthermore and I think the clerks brought it up before that we just don't allow these private developments you know that we move forward with you know having these um you know more you know plann type subdivisions so that you know we can provide services in them and either that or you know the developer that you know puts all that in puts the infrastructure in and then it's up to where uh you know Jason and his crew does not have to go in there and and do a whole lot of Maintenance so so I uh I'll let Senator Bradley answer the first question about the the whether or not we can compel Realtors or have our people um point out to folks about private roads but I will address the part about uh new development new subdivisions coming in Mr Andrews is working with the planning Council now to to uh draft language in the ldrs so that developers when they come in and build new uh that they have to pave the roads so that's we've been working on that for a while now we've not planning Council hadn't been entirely responsive but we're staying on them and uh we hope to get that done very very soon I just didn't want that to slide off the radar I know we've talked about it yes sir it's uh as matter of fact I just met with Randy last week and he and I had a discussion and he's he's making it a priority for that piece but uh to the rest of your question I'll defer to uh Senator Bradley so my understanding is you you would be interested in in um us getting involved in real estate transactions as a county I think there needs to be an understanding that you know however we move forward that you know that that the the the home owner uh understands that you know the difference between you know living off of a pave Road or actually having uh you know living in a subdivision that those Services would be required but you know well the the thing is you know these these transactions happen so many different ways and um you know I I just would caution I mean that that's the law that's what it is and if the realtor and the person is buying property and not realizing that they're on a private road versus a public road they're not a very sophisticated purchaser of property I mean sure you know yeah and um I mean if it's a private road they're in charge of it and they better check up as to what the rules of the road are uh for making sure that can get improved because the government's not going to be able to do it um and if it's a public road then it is the government's responsibility um um but um I I just would I would caution because then then it gets in what is the wording going to be um then then that that's you're going to have to hire people to regulate all of this at that point and um it that would be a very sophisticated operation to add another layer of real estate transaction a document um uh to that and and and sometimes attorneys are involved sometimes they're not what's the penalty if it didn't happen so what if someone says well I never got that letter uh you know does that mean that they didn't get help from the county does that create some sort of I just I would that would be my thoughts on that in general it's well intentioned but yeah question was directed to you because I don't know the legal side of it but you know we have to be able to figure something out to where and again if it's just a piece of paper that's in those closing documents that says you know it's an affidavit or something that they sign and says you know hey you know I I I understand this so that when they do come in here and they stand at that Podium that we have documentation that you know they were already alerted up front because there's a lot of dry property in Bradford County if you hit it at the right time yeah and people come and they look at it and they see it and then you know they purchase it and then we go through a rainy season they realize you know they just bought a flooding you're talking about flooding now well I'm I'm just talking about the nature of and there is flood disclosure with the bill that just pass this year that is required uh that requires Realtors to do that um flooding is a different animal the private P public road I mean it's what if you buy a I'm always happy to I I want to solve problems I'm not trying to throw up roadblocks I'm just saying that in this particular case those types to real estate disclosures um are very specific in how they're worded um they have certain legal ramifications and um for just one County out of the 67 to start going down that road on this particular issue which realtors that they're doing the job should know anyway and tell their tell their person who's buying the property that's a public road or or um well I mean that's I can't we don't regulate Realtors we're not in charge of regulating ating Realtors you don't want to pay to regulate Realtors if you're the County government and some um that's a different ma'am okay I mean whether you do taxes or impact fees or do correct um if that's what happened um but uh the completely different issue is the idea about in in future subdivisions making sure that there's proper infrastructure in place that's another issue sure completely separate from the one we're talking about with disclosures and and perhaps in in these development um site plans or these plans that are coming before our zoning and that come before our board would be some of the questions that we would be able to ask um before it's approved um but case in point Brandon Road is a situation now that I've gotten a call from it's a private road in LED off of Carter a road um as I think of of this week they will no longer have garbage service or male be able to run because the condition of the road is in such horrible condition that they can't get down it but it's considered a private road when the people bought it I understand it was some small print or information that they were not necessarily privy to or didn't really understand that they would be respons resp for it um but there's nothing now it's not a County Road it's U so the city doesn't have they also paid a lot less for that yeah because the the cost of having the lot prepared for their purchase did not include the cost of building all the proper infrastructure that is that is um required in 2024 to to you know get people where they need to be so there it puts them in a PR care situation where you know they're they're stuck oh it's and it's and it's what we talked about at the last meeting it's incredibly frustrating and um it's something that everybody deals with as Florida evolves and becomes more you know we got thousand people day moving in affecting this County as well as the other 66 counties and um you know I do think that it's a it's a reasonable next step for for the county to expect that of new development that's that's certainly something that's common uh in the State of Florida that's a reasonable expectation of uh of the county to have for developers going forward doubt about it I can just take a step forward um so there's nothing in the law just like I I've seen where on 235 this big section of trees that I thought was um belong to rer they cut all around it and so I'm assuming now that that's going to be a another housing no one said anything but um so there's nothing in the law that we can we can require that person owning that land that's about to Plat it out and sell it to pave that road going down in that there is no law we can do that um you're you're that that's what we were talking about you need to put that your law okay that that's what we're working on with the planning Council right now oh I thought it was just that we were making them aware that those are two separate issues separate issues and that's what I was trying to be clear about um that's there were two separate issues one is the idea that you you you build your Land Development regulations in a manner that when someone comes and goes to develop a virgin track of land that they provide the proper infrastructure before they start selling lots including Paving the roads okay okay that's one issue very completely separate issue is if someone is buying big track of land or buying a something where they're on a a road and uh and the road happens to be private do you have to tell them I would say if a realtor doesn't tell them the realtor is not doing their job they've got a bad realtor if they haven't figured out that it's a private road they're not doing their job as a as a sophisticated buyer these things happen in the world I understand it's sad when it happens they're being sometimes there's people who who a lot of times it's just people just don't don't understand you know what they're getting into but that's we we live in a free market Society where there's free exchange of property and there's risk that's that's chair spinner yes could I say something here I only mentioned that disclosure I didn't know if it was legal or not I I didn't but since I mentioned this for commissioner Andrews is the reason I brought it up because the same people or different people are now coming from Riverbend that have bought the property since the last people we y'all were having to listen to all the time so that's the only reason I just wanted to have something about disclosure because that's what the emergency meeting was about the other day was the people back in River bin yeah and how many you've been commissioner have changed and sold their lots and new people are complaining now yeah that's the only reason I miss there there are Vehicles by which people can can put T things on the on the you know taxing districts they have to agree to do it they all have to get together and say we're going to tax ourselves and do this and and fix this road there those are vehicles that are available under Florida law it's just not the rest of the taxpayers jobs to do it because um you know somebody got their their lot for a lot cheaper than it would have been worth if the proper infrastructure was put into place right right okay right okay thank you anything else all right we're going to move on to the commissioner's comment we did talk about that too Senator Bradley I think with u rich as far as like an mstu or an msbu or something something we've done those before I mean I've I've been a part of many governments over my career where we've we've done that and it's not even just with roads maybe it's a drainage particular drainage situation where all the infrastructure is owned by a private maybe the HOA or or whatever it may be it's for any type of collective infrastructure in places where the government has not assume control whenever the the the thing happened right okay right good thank you okay all right Commission of comments um M Anders um yes and I just want to say thank you for that information uh Mr Bradley because it it is a it's a problem yeah um I just want to just mention um the ACC accolades that we just gave Jason um is very deserving in many situations and apparently in in the districts that you spoke of I have pictures actually on my computer that I was going to share today but then chose not to um of District 5 um I just completed um an election and before the election started I called repeatedly asking for them to come out and mow some of the areas and nobody came so I would call again and again days turned into week weeks weeks turned into months and um because I was trying to get out and go door too I saw many of my roads um the road I live down not that I deserve any special treatment please don't read it that way there are weeds in my ditch that I took a picture of that are probably 3 or 4 foot higher than my head there I had a sign that was on 12T boards that the weeds covered my face um they haven't mowed in Brooker and I don't know how long but at the last few days of the election I did have one road that got mowed and that was um Bess Highway it got mowed and so I begin that there were areas as my election was going through that I would walk I would go into houses and areas I wouldn't even ask people for their support because I was so ashamed of the condition of those roads and I knew what I would say is you're asking for support and this is what you think is acceptable of course I don't but there was nothing I could do because nobody would come so I'm asking maybe you need to ride in Brooker take a look at the District 5 and and um like I said I have about 16 20 pictures that I was going to show um it was so bad that um Raymond rode down my road and I have a little creek there and it has um the little the the um U the the metal that covers the sides of the the the the brook it was completely covered up and you could see it so he went and got poisoned and sprayed it so that the weeds would die so that you could see see it so that nobody would crash into it um I don't know why it why this has happened um like I said it was in the middle of an election um I was kind of wanting to put my best foot forward but of course what got put was not my best foot um but like I said on the last week Bess Highway got mowed um I'm not sure why this is what is going on or why this happened and um I understand that they're very busy but to you and to Jason I've both recommended hiring new EMP or more employees if we had 23 we need to hire 23 because we can't keep up with the work that needs to be done we can't keep up with mowing we definitely can't keep up with with cleaning out ditches and carts and he needs help if he if and I and I have to wonder if you've sat down with him since you're the supervisor and looked at scheduling different things different methods of getting this done and I I really want to recommend that maybe um getting out into all the districts and looking because um it's not being done in District 5 like I said I do know um yesterday I rode down the road um where the Sportsman's Club is someone's cleaning out a ditch is that y'all Jason cleaning out the ditch there yep there you go so that that has been done and it was like4 Miles um and the water was flowing great that's right down from River bin where the water doesn't flow but um anyway I have always supported Jason and um and I continue to support him what I do would like is for you to take a deeper look in what's what's going on because District 5 is part of Bradford County too and it deserves to be treated the same way if everybody up here is just in perfect shape then I I would hope that somebody would come and mow my roads in my ditches because it is worse than I've ever seen it people in town are asking me why isn't Jason coming and I just have to tell them all I know is I've called many times and I thought maybe after the election was over that maybe somebody would show up um not as of yet but I would appreciate it sometime when y'all can and um obviously what we're doing now and I know that we're quick to explain that there's 300 miles a road and is that aone yes but you need to find out what we can do to change that we need to help him I have recommended inmate work squads where you can quadruple your Workforce in one motion by having four or five inmates with one person then you go down a road and you clean that road but it's always been ignored and nobody has ever mentioned it talked about everybody's off on Friday Saturday and Sunday put a couple of people working on Friday and give them Saturday Sunday and Monday that was shot down so to tell you that I have the answer apparently I don't but I do think that we need to find a way to help him get what he is he should be doing done because he he's struggling and we all know that we've all set up here Mr rck has said I don't even call Jason well I quit calling and I need help and I need someone to do something to help Jason and I thank y'all for coming and that's all I have than you commission Andrews umy yeah the only thing I have uh just want to make mention on 911 at 9:00 at Bradford High School they'll be U recognizing uh the 9911 um Memorial so I guess that's uh how many years now that's been 23 23 years yeah and chief Carter and his folks do a good job at at going out and and um you know doing the walk at the stadium and they walk all the flights of of the uh twin towers and uh anyway it's a and I appreciate the uh the brochure that you have still has my face on it even though I haven't been out there in a while so but uh anyway it's a it's a it's a fun time a neat event and um I Know Chief Carter in the past he may still does it with his equipment on as probably as well as some others so so if you get a chance to go out to Bradford High School at the stadium there on 911 at 9:00 a.m. okay all right thank you that's all I have and and I I I do want to say um Mr dods I know you do what you can with you know what you have and I know that every year this board sits up here and talks about Cuts cutting cutting cutting and so I know with those Cuts Like I said I know you you you try to do what you can and I know that there's areas that you know I know there's areas in in my district um that that could you know use some attention too but you know we have to prioritize you know what we're talking about you know just getting the roads graded to where you people can drive down them and then you know picking up trash you know cutting ditches uh you know whether it's mowing or whether it's actually you know Excavating and and you know getting those ditches flowing uh I know it's a lot of work um but again you know year in and year out the board talks about making cuts and you know without uh adding you know 12 more people to that department you know I think that would somewhat go against you know what the board's saying when we asked to make Cuts so that we can you know stay in our budget and be uh you know you continue to operate and and do what we can with the services we have so it's just like when we talked about you know fire earlier if we talk about you know 50% U you then we're talking about less service in that department you know and uh until we get to a point to where you know we talk about these subdivisions and we talk about economic growth and development those things where we increase our tax base to where we'll be able to do things like that uh you know hire more people and um we're still as uh County manager says not physical constrained but another word for that is broke and so you know we have to be able to have the funding to be able to do that so um anyway that's all I have thank you commissioner R yeah um first I just want to thank everyone for being here today and um second I just want to clear up a couple things um no I didn't call Jason at all during the storm hardly none but I do call him quite often you know and now that the storm's over I do call him but also you know even though it's called the the go Gold Coast and I I I get hints thrown at me all the time by this board and uh just wish you would ride down there and look at it your own sale but but I've got a lot of roads in fact just last week there was still another road that hadn't even been graded since the storm so so don't feel like that your district is the only one being ignored because it's not uh in fact I even the guy that called me is a good friend of mind I even rode down there I'm like wow I can't believe we haven't got to it but and I I called Jason I said hey man what's what's up but I but I also understand and and I just want to make this real clear again because I was talking about the chip seal I hope this board understands that those roads were prepared two different times two times because those roads were totally prepared and ready to go the fog seal or the chip seal company came out and said that they couldn't use it the way it was so the road department had to go back and redo all of it with lrock and everything else and correct me if I'm wrong but so I mean look at all that time they spent to get these these seven rows for chip seal and uh so you know I'm just saying there's there's tons of ditches in my area that that aren't mode there's drainage that isn't cleaned out I understand but but also know and I'm going to go back to what I said before the road department works as hard as it can and they do a great job and when the um when the mowing season is over if you notice that's when they come in and they start doing the ditches and stuff like that and then they get it ready for the for the next year but but right now with the mowing season and especially when we threw on the seven roads for chips you know I mean and and you know if we could afford it it'd be great to get Jason's more employees more help I know he would like it but uh but all I'm saying is don't think that that I have some special bond with Jason and get everything in the world done in my district because I I don't it's it's not that way um even the comment that was made after the storm that yeah he was in the Hampton area uh doing some roads to be honest I didn't even know what road it was I called Jason and asked him and it was 66 which was right behind the Jiffy store there that is probably a mile and a half long maybe two miles and there's one widowed woman that lives at the very end and but for that whole two and a half mile and a half 2 and a half miles there's nobody nobody and that road is is bad but he but that's why he was back there so I did call but it I you know I just don't want everybody to think that you know I call him and he jumps it's it's not the case and uh and I don't ask him when I call Jason to jump if I just tell him straight up look get to it when you can and and that's the way I leave it and um you know and I mean I'll record the conversations and play them for you but I don't ever tell him Jason I need you down here today period I I never ever do that I say where when you get to it put it on your list but I'm getting calls on this road and that and that's that's the way I handle things all the time period so just wanted to kind of clear that up but um anyway so that's all I got to say than you Comm ready and my turn now um I wanted to congratulate um commissioner Andrews on getting reelected and being a part of the board continuously um we appreciate her good work I also want to um say congratulations to Amber Shepard and helping us to obtain the um grant that would help us with our Economic Development um for our County and for our surrounding communities uh and I appreciate this board's support in that grand application so that it will help us in the future um to help develop our infrastructure um I want to say a thank you to car um Carol saak um the residents of Lincoln City had an issue a week ago after the storm where the power line was actually still intact with power to the to the residents but the line was on the ground and created a very dangerous situation immediately they got somebody out there with floida Power and Light to remate that situation and make it safe for the community so I appreciate that and also to um Mr J Benny Jackson from Mr dos getting in touch with him after the rain we have a collection of moed forest that creates a terrible mosquito uh issue and so they were out several different times spraying and I really appreciate that and making it safe for our community and ask that they continue to do that as often as they can and the other um concern was the again the mowing um and the Weeds on the road side right now because of the limited number of of workers that they have all of the areas not um all five of the areas need uh some attention and it's not from the lack of effort but it's just the the whole overwhelming amount of uh work that needs to be done so I also concur that we need to get some help with the roadside weeding um while we can and to make that safe especially with the um issue with the mosquitoes and other um bloodborne pathogens that dwell there um I want to um also expressed and I did mentioned earlier we have concerns from Brandon Road which is a private road so if any of you know of any resources um the residents on that road could um could be provided um I've asked them to see if the residents there could donate some Milling some line walk or whatever they can so that those persons uh could get help uh so that they can get uh services like their dump trucks or or mail delivered to them um and I reached out to chamor to see if they have any material that they could donate to them but if you know of resources um let me know so that I can pass it on to them and also wanted to just remind you of course we have our um budget meeting this afternoon at 5:30 um and then in two weeks we'll have the second hearing of our budget um and also remind the community this is the end of the taxfree week so get your um wears for the storms and for your kids or whatever um but must be done by the by um this week and with that uh if nothing more um this meeting is ajed and I'll see you all this afternoon