[Music] [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e e e [Music] if you wish to speak to any item on the agenda or during the public comment portion of the meeting please fill out a speaker call each person addressing the board shall have 3 minutes to complete his or her comments on each agenda item for which he or she has filled out a card the chair has the discretion to determine or alter the time limits on any agenda item the board of County Commissioners requests that speakers appearing under the public comment section of the agenda limit their comments or presentations to matters relating to County Business that are within the board's Control Authority and jurisdiction thank thank you very much and welcome to the May 21st regular County Commission meeting we welcome you all if you have not filled a card and you plan on speaking please do so before we get started uh we'll have a invocation this morning by Pastor Brian Moore Pastor are you here thank you so much sir thank you let's pray well heavenly father thank you for your presence here and what we get to do together and we just thank you for wisdom from Heaven you say you'll give it to us liberally if we'll ask for and so we just ask now for wisdom from heaven and we're thankful for your peace it surpass all understanding God would you just be present thank you for leading and guiding this community and uh our leaders thank you for your blessing in this community that makes rich and adds no sorrow to it we trust you now and uh we lean on you to lead and to guide and through we your people would you do it your way in Jesus name amen thank you Pastor very much uh commissioner toaya will you lead us in the pledge please flag of the United States of America and to the for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay I'd like to call a meeting to order uh do I have a motion to approve the minutes of the March 12 24 regular April regular meeting and the April 4th 24 zoning meeting is there a second second all in favor signify by saying I all oppose nay the motion carries uh resolutions Awards and presentations resolution honoring the academic and athletic achievements of Jada Williams goings District 3 commissioner toaya please uh thank you Mr chair and uh with your permission I'd like to go ahead and read the resolution absolutely yes sir thank you uh a resolution on behalf of bravar County Board of County Commissioners honor Jada Williams go whereas Jada William go in her senior year at rockage high school and whereas Jada Williams go is has a history of significant and impressive accomplishments and awards and whereas these successes clearly show our dedication intelligence commitment determination and passion which are necessary to to attain such high levels of performance and is commendable in its own right and whereas Jada whims goin's academic accomplishments includes 4.4 weighted GPA and a 3.8 unweighted GPA plac near in the top 20% of her senior class and whereas her work including Cambridge program classes and whereas J go is completing high school and an honor student also while having concurrently earned an associates degree from Eastern Florida State College and whereas Jada wh Goins also earned certifications in Microsoft and small business entrepreneurship and whereas she's also demonstrated excellent leadership skills as the BSU founder and president and whereas in addition to Stellar academic performance Jada William gos also has excelled as an athlete whereas she uh is the Junior Olympics 80m hurdle Champion the Sunshine State Games champion in 100 hurdles 200 turtles a two-time middle school Champion an eight-time K Coast Conference Champion a seven time District Champion the state runner up in the 100 meter hurdles and the rockage high school and Bard County record holder for the 100 meter hurdles and the 400 meter hurdles and whereas Elite level athletic performance and documented academic prowess has led to a track scholarship to the University of Memphis now therefore be it resolved that The Bard County Board of uh Commissioners takes this opportunity to honor the achievement and look forward to the future success of J William Goins who's a source of Pride to the county and shows uh promise as a future leader done order and adopt a regular session 7th day of May 2024 I'd like to ask her to come up unless you want to vote for it first but a motion well do I have a motion to approve the resolution so moved second all right thank you very much all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose n motion carries J where are you Jada and I I'd like to point out her mother uh Shantel Williams is here and I've been told uh that her wonderful father a councilman come on up Jada Jada before you get started I I need you to help me a little bit with some training for Speed because a lot of the decisions that I make around here I got to run out of here real fast so you going to have to help me out a little bit will you okay your dad said he wanted to be here but I guess he's at uh uh a VPK graduation so he's got so much success in the family he's got a split time before you get up there will you show us how high a hurdle is on your probably like right here stars and GS that's that's pretty darn amazing come up here and and it's it's we're we're lucky to have you yeah we're sorry to lose you to to to Memphis but we're lucky to have you now all right you got the mic oh I have to say something you don't have to but would' love for you too because I'll tell you what you're impressive um I just like to thank you all for recognizing me at this meeting okay thank you so much you you the picture joh what you want to take a picture with J sure I I just wanted to point out you have a wonderful father who who does great work for citizens of Coco and it's it's it's great working with him and clearly he's got some some great kiddos so thanks all right we just get a picture here Jada commissioner TOA will be down there with you well that's impressive thank you so much all right commissioner felner I believe you have the next resolution uh Chief voler hold on one second is that your mother J would you like to get a picture up here with your mom too real fast if you don't mind I think that's important thank you ma'am yes sure sorry I apologize John I just didn't recognize that she was out there thank you so much sorry commissioner go ahead Chief voler I sure hope there's no fires going on any place all right I have a resolution uh for Emergency Medical Services week so we'll go ahead and read that and pass it and and then Chief will speak all right now do the hoochie coochie there you got that going all right here we go whereas emergency medical professionals and volunteers provide medical care to victims of sudden life-threatening injuries and illness often under stressful condition I conditions and in high-risk situations to save lives and whereas 2024 marking the 50th anniversary of National Emergency Medical Service week theme EMS honoring our past forging our future reminds us that bvar bvar County's residents and guests benefit daily from the knowledge skill and Judgment of paramedics emergency medical technicians firefighters dispatchers Educators administrators emergency physicians emergency nurses and others who Encompass the Emergency Medical Services System and whereas emergency medical personnel must rapidly assess manage and effectively provide care in unpredictable situations requiring life and death judgments and whereas Bard County's EMS teams unselfishly serve on the front line of Health Care when responding to man-made and natural disasters at the local state and National levels and whereas a recognition is due for Emergency Medical Services System for its accomplishments and contributions to improve Public Welfare through Health Care Medical Transportation injury pre prevention education Disaster Response Homeland Security and other initiatives that reduce health care costs and save lives now therefore be it resolved that the board of County commissioners of Bard County Florida does hereby unanimously proclaim the week of May 19th 202 4 through May 25th 2024 as Emergency Medical Services week done order and adopted in regular session this 21st day of May 2024 and with that I'll make a motion Mr chairman thank you is there a second second all in favor signify by saying I I all oppos nay motion carries okay Pat it's up to you man good morning everyone and thank you very much for recognizing uh Bard County workers for EMS week and appreciation uh again we appreciate you all and the support that you give us and allowing us to do the things that we need to do to make Bard safer uh I'd like to turn it over to Chief Dominguez our EMS Chief uh just to let him say thank you and appreciation for what we allow him to do to stay on The Cutting Edge and increase our survivability rates in Bard County and that's our main goal in uh keeping our community safer and doing things to uh you know keep everybody happy and healthy in the county so Chief thank you so much uh Commissioners uh we truly thank you for your ongoing support uh I would also like to take the opportunity to thank our dedicated men and women who do this uh work day in and day out uh and to put it into perspective uh last year they responded to over 990,000 requests for emergency services and transported close to 57,000 um Community residents uh to the hospital uh that's that's huge in addition they're doing treat m modalities in the field that only a few organizations are doing across the country just to let you know that the average Cardiac Arrest outcome nationally is about 11 12% these folks they they mov the needle here in Bard from 16% to 32% so a great Deb of gratitude to these individuals and to all those that are Staffing the front lines today uh thank you again for allowing us to do what we love to do so much thank you Commissioners thank you briefly I I just want to I know I'm speaking for the entire commission when I say this each and every one of you means so much to us and we appreciate more than you know the dedication that you have out there under very very hard situations sometimes so God bless you all and thank you for what you do okay commissioner feler you got something I I'll just say real quick you know I tell residents all the time I hope that I'll never have to take a ride in the big red box um but uh if I do I'm I'm glad that uh your folks are there because I know we'll get the appropriate care um I think we should all go down and take a picture okay let's go all [Applause] right okay got Lisa you're not getting the picture ready [Applause] great work gu great thank appreciate WTH are you here today oh right there in that black hat come on up here stand in front for a minute if you would uh I want to tell a real fast story just to tell you the generosity and and things that happened in Bard County that just really I think are Miracles I very good friend it's a friend of a lot of people on the commission his name is um attorney by the name of Malcolm kersin bom and he was at my house one night for dinner with his wife and and we were talking about lifeguards and we were talking about a variety of other different things and Malcolm said to me he said do you realize that two floors below you in your condominium the woman that owns the that takes care of the foundation for Ron John's would be more than happy to support and give you guys some money to to put together Dr zero program and I said what and he said I'll text her and I'll have her right up here so he texts Jacqueline Young's Jacqueline comes up she looks at me and she said what do you need from us the foundation will take care of it and tonight today we have an opportunity to uh show you some of that stuff but I can tell you in addition to that Ron John's gave us $80,000 for a facility to take care of these this equipment that's out there and I'm telling you now we absolutely need it you see a thing of it over here but let me read this resolution I'm sorry to get sidetracked but I just thought it was important to uh do that whereas the beautiful Coastal and Inland beaches of Bard County represent a world renowned Recreation resource that millions of residents and V and visitors alike are drawn each year whereas the Aquatic environment has dangers particularly rip currents that can be effectively managed through public awareness in the villag of professional lifeguards and whereas lifeguards do an excellent job of preventing drownings but there are many areas of the beach that do not have lifeguard protected nearby and swimmers can get in trouble at any time sometimes before or after a local lifeguard CHF arrives whereas in those situations a drown zero flotation station provides a life ring on a stand that can be used by someone on the beach to safely attempt to rescue a swimmer distressed by throwing the Lifeguard and the life ring or by swimming out with the ring whereas more than 200 Ground Zero International flotation stations have been installed in Florida beaches including 183 in Bard County thanks to the continuing partnership with surfing Evolution and preservation Foundation now therefore be it resolved that the board of county commissioner to Bard County Florida does hereby recognize drown zero International and his surfing Evolution and preservation foundation for their efforts to prevent drownings and expanding water education awareness and Rec recreation equipment availability on vard County beaches I'd like to make a move that we accept this resolution you want a motion yes please I'll make a motion that's great second I got I have a question before yes sir yes uh all in favor signify by saying oh sorry you want question now go ahead yeah if that's okay please okay thank you Mr worth uh supposedly the goal of this organization is to reduce uh and prevent drowning deaths uh at the March 7th Coco Beach meeting you said I quote uh I fought this battle with the county when I was life guard Chief to get more guards and I can't believe the state of lifeguards were in you further went on to say we should not pay for an organization that's providing us usla professional lifeguards and quote is not meeting USL usla standards my question is this why have you moved away from valuing lifeguards instead of working to increase lifeguard funding effectively removing them from the most popular beaches in the county now encourage them to replace them with a ring on a post thank you first I'd like to thank uh chair Vice Commissioners uh where you at the county manager or County Manager County attorney and staff as well as your Public Safety Services and uh let me reply to that that was a very passionate uh presentation I gave U maybe some things that you know came from the heart and outside of professionalism to you guys I know I could have done things better and and I have apologize to the people for that but let me make clear in no way am I replacing lifeguards I still Advocate lifeguards just today Beach this is actually Beach safety week as well as EMS and I reached out to the lifeguards and I want to provide the lifeguards a prestigious membership that a lot of them have never seen or heard of it's called the usla membership each individual lifeguard has it I offered to pay for that I I I Foster lifeguarding what we're doing if it hasn't been clear is a force multiplier we have 210 beach accessors in Bard County we at at at the at the peak of the Season we have like 25 towers that still leaves a huge gap when I was lifeguard Chief I spent my whole career trying to fight for the year round program that we have today and I'm very honored with that it just what I was very disappointed is for one I hate to say this loudly again we had a drowning in front of a lifeguard Tower the chance of drowning in front of the Lifeguard are one in 18 million we were that one regardless how you slice and there's a lot of Investigation going on it lifeguards do a preventive job we do victim recognition we do dry land guarding if you have to go into the water Something's Got by you on that day the tape showed that the lifeguards were not very observant and I was upset about that because I saw the tapes on that and if you understand understand where I stand I pulled out as lifeguard Chief 26 people from the ocean did CPR and they didn't make it so I'm very passionate about this what I've done is again created a force multiplier in areas where we don't have lifeguards during times that we don't have lifeguards from 10 to 5 I want to report of something I was very excited of reporting today since you guys approved Us in April we've had 50 assist with these 50 that means that there's 50 people there were no lifeguards around there there was no EMS needed to be responded because a lot of the times people take care of it much like Surfers have in the past and they're called undocumented rescues we're also working to to improve this by providing technology and we had a meeting yesterday with the city of CUO Beach the c's next as well as melbour Beach to implement technology that when it's pulled it's no different than a fire extinguisher in a building the an alarm will go off dispatch will go and it's a fire alarm and we roll out and that's in the in the absence of lifeguards when they're not there or we we don't have them but I tell you we did not by any way replace that first of all you had me at at when you apologized I I hadn't heard that I understand sometimes we say things when we're getting passionate and stuff so that that is I I appreciate you doing that I'm sure you did that before I had not heard that so thank you for saying that unfortunately it went a little Sideways from there I just want to make something extremely clear because your facts or your perception of reality and facts are completely different I'm I'm going to stand up for uh the lifeguards and say what I'm not going to say it I'm going to pass it over to voler you should know this stuff as a former lifeguard uh I did not know this I've never been a lifeguard I don't I know darn well I couldn't pass the darn test but there's a field of vision that lifeguards work in my thought it was 75 ft either way the field of vision is 150 ft I can't imagine watching the number of swimmers God knows how far you have to watch out but 150 ft is a long and you you said that someone drowned within that field division of 150 ft I'd like to pass it over to voler because my recollection and yours are quite different um Mr have you seen the tape sir yeah M Mr chair I I'm I want I'm very passionate about counting employees here and when we disparage one I think that that's uh kind of a travesty so Chief how was the person that drowned unfortunately it's terrible were they in that 150 there was out it was north of that uh how much North do you recall I believe it was almost a block but I'll say the uh I've gotten the preliminary I think KGO Beach did the investigation and uh from The Lifeguard chief that was found well outside of the you know reasonable means of the Lifeguard Tower to be in their Visual and and it's a terrible it's a terrible situation but to say to characterize that someone drowned right in front of a lifeguard I is is is not helping the situation not only uh it's not factually correct and and I think that's extremely extremely unfortunate and and I don't appreciate uh disparaging the hardworking men and women that are out there doing their best to make sure that people are safe W I don't think you we need any more comments in regards to this uh other than re commissioner pret has her light on would you like to say something commissioner yes I I heard you say that you're working on making those so that they activate emergency medical and I I think that is a wonderful idea I love it when people come along with new innovative ideas and um I think that's great and and usually it's the public that has to help come up with some of these things and there's a lot of us so I really want to thank you for that I heard that and I think that's a really good thing thank you thank you commissioner tobia did I cut you off did you have any more questions all right Pat or or Matt do you have any comments at all look no sir thank you wyth uh I think as soon as that happened the county manager called me in his office and we talked about it and I told him that you were very passionate about this and I recognize your passion but I also recognize what you're doing here and this is going to protect lives on our beach and we thank you for it there's a motion on the floor that's been seconded all in favor signify by saying I I all oppos nay motion carries all right Wy you have something you want to say other than talking about Beach lifeguard situation yeah again there's apologies thrown all over the place on that and I think what needs to be taken consideration last thing about that is lifeguards know lifeguards know and with that I can't I'd be remiss to recognize the volunteers that we have this program is a 501c3 and it's run by volunteers and I some were uh gracious enough to show up today and they represent the rotary clubs and the rotary clubs Have Been instrumental in helping us maintain and monitor and and keep them alive we have Indian Atlantic and we have Melbourne Beach Rotary Club as well as I'm Coco Beach and if you guys want to come up too we go get a picture so thank you guys thank you [Applause] thank you so much very very much for all your help thank you God bless you all thank you so much Kim did we have two plaques for them we need we if we didn't we need one more so that we can give that to Jacqueline Young's please when you get a chance thank you so much all right let's go to the next resolution Public Works Public Works Mark bath is Mark not here he's here oh are you bringing the rest of the the Public Works folks or your delegates okay all right hey Mark how are you this morning buddy nice to see you again all right everybody bear bear with me there's a lot of details in this one I have a resolution for National Public Works week whereas Public Works professionals focus on infrastructure facilities and services that are a vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and public health high quality of life and well-being of the people of Bard County and whereas these functions could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of Public Works professionals responsible for rebuilding improving operating maintaining and protecting our nation's transportation drainage water supply water treatment water quality and Solid Waste Systems public buildings and other structures and Facilities essential for our citizens and whereas the year 2024 marks the 64th annual National Public Works week sponsored by the American public works Association and whereas The Bard County Public Works Department's mission is to plan and Implement projects and services that create and maintain a comprehensive transportation and Facilities infrastructure the department maintains 1142 Mi of paved roads 82 Mi of dirt roads 717 Mi of sidewalk 98 Mi of curb and gutter 947 miles of drainage ditches and swes 19,000 drainage pipes 50 Bridges 65,000 signs 354 tra traffic signals 667 street lights 190 traffic warning beacons and school zone flashers 4.4 million square fet of County buildings and has more than 750 projects in progress and whereas The Bard County Solid Waste Management Department mission is to protect Public Health by providing an efficient an environmentally sound solid waste management system the department handles 4,000 tons of solid waste per day disposing 1.2 million tons of waste per year in add in addition to diverting over 1 million tons per year for recycling and whereas the mission of The Bard County Natural Resources management department is to Foster sustainable use and stewardship of the County's natural resources through coste effective science-based and consensus-driven management actions the department sweeps 6,000 Lane miles of curb streets maintains 485 storm water treatment facilities removes 4 million uh removes millions of pounds of nutrient-rich aquatic vegetation from storm water ponds performs 350 illicit discharge inspections and 500 inspections of petroleum hazardous materials facilities and whereas The Bard County Utility Services Department continues to invest and renew assets for the benefit of Public Safety in the environment for generations to come the department assures that all federal and state environmental laws pertaining to water sewer and reuse are met staff assist all of our water sewer and reuse customers by mobilizing onsite and providing administrative assistance and whereas we recognize and celebrate the important contributions the Public Works professionals make in advancing quality of life for all we encourage community members to join activities and ceremonies that are designed to pay tribute to Public Works professionals now therefore be it resolved that the board of County commissioners of bvar County Florida designate the week of May 19th to the 25th 2024 as National Public Works week in Bard County Florida done order adopted in regular session this 21st day of May 2024 and with that Mr chairman I'll make a motion to approve motion on the floor is there a second any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I all oppos nay motion carries Mark I do want to ask you one question after all that stuff on Sunday or whenever your day off is there and you have a day off and your wife asked you to cut the grass what do you say to her we've contracted it out uh commissioner all right okay Mark go ahead buddy all right uh well thank you and uh good morning Commissioners I want to express my sincerest gratitude to the board for supporting us um Public Works uh week has grown into an International Event and in this context it's not just the department that I lead for the county uh but rather a broader community of professionals to help manage roads we drive on to the efficient Waste Management Systems we rely on and many critical lines of efforts uh in between I'm speaking on behalf of the primary County departments and directors that lead these tasks and nearly 750 County employees that we collectively represent the theme this year is advancing quality of life for all underscores the vital role that Public Works professionals play in enhancing the well-being and safety of all individuals within a community it promotes the idea that the work carried out directly contributes to improving the overall quality of life for residents by providing essential services and uh infrastructure by recognizing Public Works week you are acknowledging the hard work dedication and expertise of these professionals these are unsung heroes and First Responders who work tirelessly by behind the scenes to ensure the communities function smoothly and efficiently and their efforts dedication expertise support our daily lives we are also reminding ourselves of the importance of investing in infrastructure and the people who maintain it once again I want to thank the board for its support of this resolution thank you very muchad else going to take picture I don't know if we have wide enough lens for this one great job guys ladies gentlemen thank you so much [Applause] [Applause] okay thank you so very much we are moving on to the consent agenda and we have some cards here on U items four items six item 11 f11 uh f19 f23 f25 uh that's on the consent agenda so before we go into those cards uh does the commission have anything they want pull to discuss U Mr chair I'd like to vote uh no uh on F22 okay no vote on F22 thank you yep all right so uh consent agenda number four Sandra Sullivan actually I put the wrong number it's five I apologize if you don't mind changing that um so this is pertaining to the um grants from the um Florida D um specifically $10 million for uh the Grand Canal project and the the issue that I have with um this item is the health concerns and the impacts of potential liability for the county in moving forward with this so our residents have communicated some issues with concerns with hydrogen uh sulfide which you've been testing there are some exceedances of the of the residential at certain times but not overall 8 hour but it does raise a concern um they also tested for flammable voc's but why not voc's the the fire department has this equipment uh they came to my yard I know they do to test for voc's and we know now that posos contamination is a more of a vocc than they previously thought and is an inhalation Hazard so that's a a very big red flag that they had the equipment and they only tested for flamable voc's and not not the vocc of concern as you know Patrick is the third highest contaminated base and forever chemical in the entire country of military bases and here we are drudging mck that we know is contaminated with it it recently got Circa um designation as a hazardous material I'd also like to add to this that um there are issues in other areas of the country where they're putting sewage sludge on on uh agricultural land we had that uh as well here in Bard testing and found it elevated um and so the mock would be additionally another source of that and I want to bring your attention to a article here from St Petersburg this was arsenic which is also in that contamination arsenic at the residential cleanup Target going on agricultural land Bard county is putting arsenic at the commercial cleanup Target which is six times as much the problem with Grand Canal is that there's much more organic material in the mck which means when it goes out just like this article when it goes out on the fields it decomposes and it it it concentrates the contamination whether it be posos or whether it be Arsenic and we're not testing those fields and I I have advocated very strongly since the very beginning that this mock for the health and safety which is primary government role that this mck be tested for posos that these fields where it's going out on the flood Plaines of the St John south of our drinking water source that we should be testing these materials and I'll just mention finally there are ranches all across the country we don't know what agriculturally this is being used for cows eating it is it growing either way these chemicals uptake into the plants or in the cows and farmland is being contaminated and made worthless across the country country thank you very much Sor um William cochlan item number six F6 good morning William good morning yes my name is William cogin 3710 bashore Boulevard Northeast I'm here today representing Gator dredging as its owner thank you for allowing me to speak this morning I'm here today regarding consent and G item f six which is the proposed rejection of our bid for the ugali Muk removal project uh this project includes very important components uh for muck removal and Disposal as well as return water treatment uh those three facets of the project are very difficult to perform in concert and require a very specific knowledge in order to prepare an Engineers estimate which is what our bid was compared against uh Gator dredging is spent over 300 manh hours precisely evaluating all components and the specifications of the project we have applied an Innovative uh our Innovative proven proven methodologies experienced and are recently completed and ongoing Indian River Lagoon uh muck removal and our proven Technologies for DeCamp water treatment we understand the constraints on the Consulting Engineers and County staff related to estimating the costs for such an intricate project given today's ever increasing costs in Manpower materials chemicals equipment need and Disposal Site cost escalations that said given the opportunity to collaborate uh with Gator dredging and an open and transparent post bid communication process the belief of Gator dredging then we can substantially reduced a contract award amount can be achieved achieved during our intense evaluation on this project we have identified several value engineering opportunities that I do not believe have been considered during the bid process given the opportunity to communicate with County staff and their Consulting Engineers we believe a successful completion of the ugali Muk removal project can be achieved with that we respectfully um excuse excuse me uh I respectfully request that this board consider tabling item F6 until the uh next available board meeting so that we have time to collaborate with County staff and their Consulting Engineers thank you for consideration of this request okay thank you um number one I believe your bid was twice as high as the original thing Virginia do you have any comments that you'd like to make on this or would you like to see this tabled or I know I know you need some time to look at it because the bid was so high but if you don't mind make a few comments i' I'd appreciate it thank you um thank you commissioner we we would normally um go back and and attempt negotiations with the the sole bidder before asking to reject bids uh we move this one quickly onto your agenda because of the June break um the the bid uh tells us that he thinks he has a way to um make some some modifications that would get it within our budget and still achieve the nutrient load reductions that are the intent of the project um the question is whether those changes are um significant enough that the board would actually prefer that it be rebid so okay you can you can ask us to go ahead and and negotiate you could table this to July and ask us to negotiate or you can reject it now um the choice is the boards um commissioner P would you take the chair thank you very much uh look I know we've done business with Gator before and we I SRA I recognize that you got time to speak I I have a comment to this gentleman first if you don't mind thank you um we appreciate all the hard work that you've done but in this particular case at least on for my opinion we need to reject this now and then you're going to have other discussions with the county then but that's going to be up to this to the board real again now sura Sullivan do you have comments you need to make so um Sandra Sullivan South Patrick Shores so originally we did the original oali project I looked it up in the lagoon plans they're not online but I keep copies of them in my repository so I can refer back to the information that is not in the current one but so I have here a graph so the original oal project was 750,000 cubic yards of of mock for a little over $26 million okay so we're talking this project is about $330,000 cubic yards of mck so about half okay of the amount of mck now that previous project we did at Sarno okay the Sarno lands that we want to give to the city of Melbourne um and so I think the issue with this project and I've been lamenting about this is we're now sending mck 8.1 miles via a pipeline with transfer pumps down to bb52 and Palm Bay imagine if we used the other site and I think I would encourage that you go out for a bid and utilize the Sno site and see what the bid differences as a change in scope and specifications and it raises a question that also on what are we going to run into in Satellite Beach and Indian Harbor project which are 13.1 miles to pump mck so literally with 40 almost $50 million on this oal project for half as much mock you're talking a fourfold increase in cost over what the project was uh for the 2017 and two 2019 oal project I hope you reject this bid and revise the specification thank you okay uh you might as well stand up there you got several more consent f11 sandre Sullivan please yes this is permission for the Space Coast Transportation Planning organization to applied a rail Crossing elimination Grant Sandra Sullivan um yeah so this is regarding uh improving safety on the Crossovers and utilizing money from um the the gas tax now quite frankly we have a fiscal crisis uh Transportation wise in Bard County uh as presented in our budget Workshop a year ago because this information is missing from this year's this here 7 $699 million that's how much we're funding if we utilize all four of our funding sources which we chose none this year we kicked the can down the road for another year we don't have enough money to fund our needs for transportation we have no business taking $1.1 million from the very small amount of money we have for towards transportation and putting that to Bright line responsibility for these Crossings it is their responsibility for 18 years upon which after that the county will be responsible for these Crossings in the meantime maybe it's about lined about time to take a private entity and hold them accountable for their own rail crossings while they still have that responsibility thank you okay um f23 Michael Rodriguez good morning Michael Rodriguez I'm the chief Deputy City attorney for the city of Palm Bay I only put the card in just in case the item was pulled and you had any questions I really don't have anything to sit right over here in the corner we might want we get to it then I think you're fine that was it all right Michael thank you so much um f25 s Sullivan so this is uh Sandra Solan this is about using this is about uh ship and sale which is uh uh uh housing assistance and my request is that and I don't know if the county can do this or not uh is to put a limitations on who gets affordable housing or housing assistance to people who are US citizens or are legally here in the country we all hear about Florida has a lot of illegals coming into the country there's concerns in other states and certainly here on using public funds to provide housing to illegals and so I had written um uh Ian golden about uh what are the requirements here for checking and um he said that for ship States funding and Home Federal funding projects we have valid ID as well as Homestead established for res residency which means they check that your driver's license as you live here essentially and that's not enough I think we should be we should be being fiscally conservative and and actually um America first if you want to I hate to interrupt you but I think I think here the card that you feel that was for topz oh the topz one okay well I just covered another one that's way you for okay so I think we just cross so the topz one is only this we're $1.2 million for a topz um uh under the north Bard Economic Development Zone this is public money I think that saying that we're not going to say where this project is or any details about the project when we're using public money I think a public disclosures are appropriate the fact that this project is veiled veiled in secrecy I think think um that's one thing that's their prerogative but when you come to asking for public money I think that um there should be uh disclosures and further the it's like magic numbers some of the numbers I've read the reports previously before and some of the quotes unques employees that they are generating are in fact uh service members with with uh Patrick with with space force that's not generating jobs those are positions that would be there anyway working in that in that position so it's just like a a a a handout to you know wherever we want to uh put funds but not being um I don't know fiary responsibility to the taxpayers of Bard thank you thank you real quickly uh Troy did you have any comments on this at all did you want to say anything no you're fine okay uh s just a quick comment and this is not being disrespectful in any any way but I want to tell you that some things the United States of America has to keep secret and this is one of those things so I'm sorry this is not going to be released to the general public period thank you all right um let's go on to the let's go on to oh yes we do is there a motion ENT there's a motion by commissioner Pritchett second in by commissioner felner recognizing that commissioner toia voted no on F22 all in favor signify by saying I all oppose nay the motion carries thank you very much all right so thank you for helping us get through that quite lengthy consent agenda but I think it was all well done all right so let's go to um public comments page one right uh Heather eeko Elco yeah we're on the public comments now I think this is the 15minute period that we adopted the last meeting with commissioner Goodson yeah well we'll take us a little bit of time hi he how are you good morning fine thank you okay um I want to speak briefly about nna Nixon hammock a couple weeks ago there was a bit of a panic because people learned that there is no full-time staff there now there's only the rotating maintenance people and I wrote to my commissioner Mr steel and he directed my inquiry to the Parks and Recreation supervisor who said the positions will be filled um I hope they'll be filled in a timely manner uh Erna Nixon hammock is a very popular park near the mall I hope many of you have seen it has a fabulous boardwalk and that Boardwalk is used by people who have difficulty walking on uneven ground so that beautiful nice smooth Boardwalk is particularly attractive to them as well as people that come from lunch for lunch and after work from a lot of the contractors around there so why was there such a panic in my opinion and I've lived here 42 years and probably in the last eight years been pretty rattled by some of the news that we get by various means um we don't feel the trust that we would like to feel a few months ago we read that Wickham Park was going to be traded off to Melbourne a few months prior to that we learned that um the Arts funding was going to be zeroed out and a few months before that it was um another issue let me see um well it doesn't matter there was another one here's the point those were corrected I saw you shake your head we didn't fund zero out the Arts we didn't get rid of Wickham Park and we didn't um for any number of reasons the same decisions that were made kind of from a power base without citizens being informed but worse than being informed is being considered the quality of life in this County for many of us is Parks is the Arts and is security that the that the commission is looking out for the best interests the trees on Rock Ledge Drive now stand naked with no limbs and is that on the agenda later on that's I'm still on I'm still on um I understand but if it's on the agenda later on trust that has be talking about it the trust that has been broken on there okay sorry sorry Heather go ahead I apologize the trust that has been broken through those kinds of decisions and um kind of a hard edged nonresponsiveness is why we panicked about Erna Nixon Park I hope it will be filled in a timely manner that's my request thank you Heather Heather I think we've responded to your emails quite candidly and quite nicely and Mari Ellen Donner has a respond to your things very Nic I know that you have but we're working on all those things and some of the things that you're talking about where we have to change uh Vats in the middle of the stream are because there's emergency situations that the county has to make decisions on so we apologize if we can't give all the information to the general public sometimes that has to be dealt with on an emergency basis but thank you for your comments we understand them and we'll try to do better thank you okay all right uh G2 Mary Helen King I'm GNA pass thank you how are you today um I'm going to pass them responding to that that's okay you're welcome to do that okay Chuck Sheridan G3 hi uh public comments go ahead I'm Chuck Sheron I live on Meritt Island and uh this is probably one of the last things I want to do is criticize a department or and that's not my intent at all uh I have a friend that lost her husband uh about a year before I lost my wife and helped me with getting my wife home from the hospital she uh recently she lives in a neighborhood close by here gated community and uh recently had well two weeks ago had a roof put on her house the uh I went to look at it while it was during construction and noticed that the dryan inspection nail inspection has already had been signed off and only about a quarter of the roof had been removed well over the weekend she developed a leak with apparently some bad flashing and has to have the drywall removed and insulation replaced and the ceiling painted I don't know if the building department is over taxed or that this roofer does about four houses a week in this neighborhood and but this was a new crew with him that he built up a trust where he doesn't feel he needs a go on the roof which has a general contractor I would have loved uh I've been a general contractor for 40 years I've served two terms appointed two terms by the governor to the building code administrators and inspector's board so that's why I feel like I you know I should say something uh because the reason we have building inspectors is to give that second view uh because it's hot out there people make mistakes and uh the supervisor did get up on the roof and look at it you before they proceeded at different stages Pro progress inspections I guess but but the building department never got on the roof and uh and signed it off how do you know the building department never got on the roof I was there you were there signed off when he signed off one one of the T yes thank you uh she has cameras uh around the house um but something just maybe to look into it probably is an isolated case you know there were storms coming that day and let me make a suggestion to you if I can please sir yes sir you know we can't really do anything about your public comments today but if you ever want anything done probably try to do it with an email thread and and go from there because quite candidly this will fall through the cracks today and I mean yes Mary maybe Terry will hear it but it's always best to do an email thread so that you can track where these things are I'll follow okay thank you so much follow thank you yes sir I think we have two more cards are they one one more card for this 15minute public comments under Sullivan me all right well let's just go let's do Sarah also am I next yes ma'am come on up okay then we're going to do Sarah also even we supposed to do what I want to talk about the Indian riveral Lagoon sales tax and the degreg of trust with we the people of Bard um and uh first I'm going to start with uh some photos so we had a board vote here pertaining to the RightWay um rockage drive and uh you had asked um Mr Berna if they were going to cut trees so they came in and they they chopped trees okay so this is some of the pictures and some of the trees that after leaving stumps like this partial trunks some of the owners said yeah we want them cut down all the way this is not tree trimming this is tree but ing a very scenic drive a state scenic drive a federal Scenic [Music] Drive these are just some of the photos they're more I was out there yesterday it's horrendous what this is done and I just want to say that to me it's it's very uh very concerning to me because this project for a sewer project on this road has been on there since the original Lagoon plant and the residents have advocated a lot on the protection of these trees do you know that the sooro plan has funded five septic tanks Advanced septic tanks nearly $100,000 um so the according to the gis system this this septic putting in sewer is in progress um and then you have Grand Canal you have the Grand Canal issues and I I brought up those and um the trust issues there and then you have Flamingo Drive so we in cpatrick Shores have a CD motel and thanks to to buy a bar that's open up all night and a strip club and the only protection that Sal Patrick Shores has from these influences is a County ordinance that says to have a tree buffer you're going to come in you're going to cut down the trees and expose our neighbor Hood to some unsavory elements and violate your own ordinance um to put in an exfiltration system which where the groundwater which is 10 Ines beneath the ground the project is flawed at the outset and you're going to expose our community and so you have three projects that we the people have stated that we are um in opposition to and yeah you steamroll ahead with them um and you just ignore We the People well maybe it's time for We the People to vote no to the lon [Applause] text I'm going to refrain from making any comments on that good there you go Sarah hjge please hi Sarah welcome back thank you um first I'd like to say I agree with everything she just said um and I just have been heartbroken since those trees have been butchered not cut they have you even gone to look at these any of you and what do you think well I've talked to a lot of people that grew up here with us and they're devastated those trees the mother tree was 350 years old they'll Generations will never see trees like that again you were to trim those trees right you didn't you butchered them you broke them down some of them were down to the the the ground and there was no reason for that and those trees are important for the fil ation for the um erosion on the soil on to the river they're important for so many things and I know people that come here just to visit that River Drive just because they care about the the history they had there I care about it I had family that they would go there when people would pass away in our family because that meant so much to them to to get peace there is an um autism group that was using that road for therapy once a week those those families they don't know what they're going to do now okay why why did you butcher those trees there is no excuse for it and I'm telling you people aren't going to forget it and I've got a list of people that have talked to me about this and they are not happy that I grew up with here and this is not why would you do that I I can't even it's unconscionable you tell people you're going to trim their trees and you cut them down 350 year old trees people that need it for therapy and it doesn't matter to you at all it's devastating it really is a lot of the people for the tree committee did not come today because they're devastated and they couldn't sit up here and talk you don't know what you've done to this County and people will not forget it thank you okay yes stop bring mark back up here please bring him up here I want to ask Mark questions and rebuttal or comments all right Mark you here come on back up this not that it will make a no no sir you go ahead and you you this is your District this is your comment you're welcome to make whatever comments you'd like sir qu question mark yes commissioner 65 total trees correct yes there were 65 four of them were actually done by residents before we uh got there okay out of the 61 left how many did you totally destroy and cut cut down the uh first of all we we didn't uh cut down any without the express permission and a right of entry from the residents themselves there were uh roughly from recollection about 14 that we defined as major Plus+ we sent them out certified mail to the uh actual residents and we uh were very explicit what we would be doing which is cutting it on the RightWay line or the edge of pavement at their option we take you're answering way too much I just really would like to know how many trees did you cut down on our rideway I believe there were uh I believe there were two but it was at the property owner's uh request hold on hold just just let him talk would you and then you come up here and talk all you want cuz undoubtedly we raped pillaged and plundered the whole River Road correct uh that's not by their standards when when you go down rocklets drive there are um a handful of trees that we have um done the major cut cut uh major Plus+ cutting otherwise the trimming um most of them were minor half of them were minor trimming um the others uh were um major trimming but really just limb trimming okay and did did the m i I have Sarah that's enough all right you sir put that down now we're not going to put up with this stuff we're trying to do this in a kind calm fashion and yet you're starting to raise hell no more would you say most of the trimming or could you go down there most of it was above your head it was at the 14t level which is the uh both the county code the state code and the federal uh code minimum regulations it's actually 16 ft 6 in but uh after a technical evaluation by our traffic engineer uh we decided that we could lower it so that we can uh maximize the amount of trees we didn't have to touch now yesterday was there a wreck on River Road yesterday with a school bus that even hit a tree uh yes uh commissioner so is that your tree tree you was it a tree we trimmed it was a tree that we trimmed at 14 ft they still managed to hit it do you do you know why or just it just happened um it appeared that the um tire and the frame were slightly over the edge of pavement while the the uh tires themselves were on the uh pavement it it looked like it was over by about 2 Ines now excuse me commission excuse me for one second Kristen I'm going to warn you one more time no more signs today no more signs today or you will be escorted out of this meeting it's the last warning I'm giving thank you go ahead Mark I apologize apologize trimming is done 100% done yes or no there there was one more tree this morning that was being worked on um and that is a major plus plus and then there'll be some uh stump grinding again it was at the request of those Property Owners to have their trees taken down and we agreed that we would remove it completely so there is some of that clean up today let me can I ask a question sure sure you got written authorization to do this Mark yes okay thank you very much I apologize commissioner go ahead no no well uh there's no other questions I just you know you're done as far as trimming correct other than stump grinding you're done as far as trimming correct and the one tree that I mentioned that uh should be going on now and it will be finished today hopefully correct okay all right thank you that's all I have sir commission thank you very much okay let's yes sir go ahead commissioner now you you had an an arborous come down there correct and they they viewed all the trees prior prior to trimming and said these are unhealthy or healthy and I have a question for you how much retention does an oak tree have as far as holding storm surge because the River Road if you know it is pretty much level as you get further south to the River elevation it didn't like it takes much for it to flood so how much does an oak tree retain in water does anybody know I don't know that that's something that I'm not uh able to answer I I can say definitively though when uh natural resources was up uh here with me we had uh thoroughly reviewed it and um the minimal amount of trees being impacted is not an impact uh to the Indian River Lagoon thank you thank you chair all right thank you so much Commissioners Mark appreciate it very much uh let's go to H uh one ordinances resending the economic development ADV valorum tax exemption for the ENA Corporation hi Karen good morning I guess that means you're up aren't you yes sir thank you so much item H1 is requesting the board of County Commissioners consider adopting an ordinance resending the economic development adval tax exemption for aonia Corporation and seek clawback of the 2023 exemption granted in the amount of $ 72210 make a motion to approve there's a motion on the floor is there a second it's been seconded by commissioner toia motion by commissioner felner any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose nay motion carries got one card on H2 by the way all right H2 ordinance for sending the economic development adorm tax exemption for BK technology Sandra Sullivan you have the floor just very simple comment Sandra Sullivan with all of the adum tax exemptions that have been rescinded including this one and the previous one and other ones and other meetings I hope that you don't bring forth this this fall a a referendum to do ADV valorum taxes and it really brings into question from my perspective the effectiveness of the EDC when we have so many projects not bearing out um with these tax exemptions thank you maybe we should re think about restructuring that to EDS and having some uh accountability there with the internally are these did you have some comments or there was no comments up there okay thank you let's clear those if you don't mind so I don't get any more confused than I already am y all right uh yes sir I'll do that in just a second as soon as I can through this vote um motion to approve there's a motion to approve is there a second second seconded any discussion all in favor signify by saying I carries we're going to take a f minute break please I didn't know the [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] he [Music] H3 John you got uh this one buddy yes sir okay go ahead morning Commissioners uh H3 uh on April 23rd uh the board provided us intent to go and develop an emergency management ordinance uh we we have done that uh we are back with that ordinance as a rem reminder the ordinance uh is focused on making sure we have the operational flexibility we need to swiftly respond to disasters uh that we are structured in a manner that we can both receive and uh I guess ask and receive uh federal and state support in a much more efficient manner John I took a walk through the emergency Senator wow yes we are we are right where we need to be with that thank you so much for all your hard work with that it's incredible the citizens of this County should be thrilled with what's coming up so thank you for all your hard work any comments motion to approve yes do we need a motion on this say one thing when's the open house for the public yes sir thank you uh the open house for the public and we hope everyone comes out is the 1st and 2nd of June right so that's what next weekend from 1124 okay very good sorry all right so uh that was just a report I just wanted to clarify that that point any other comments on this Matt you got anything all right buddy uh H4 public caring regarding a motion yeah okay there's a motion on the floor that's been seconded by commissioner feltner motion was by commissioner pret any discussion all in favor signify by saying I all oppose nay the motion carries thank you that's all right no problem um oh I have an apology to make uh quite I hope not a whole lot but on occasion I am incorrect on my assumtion on signs you are welcome to have a sign in this meeting as long as the sign is held by one person and it's not to be moved back and forth to disrup the view of the uh the people and the things so I apologize to Kristen for making the comment on the warning so I hope you accept my apology and to Sarah for the other one with the sign so I wanted to just make sure that was taken care of in complete transparency so I AP apologize okay um now H4 public hearing regarding Bard County Home investment partnership program um Morris is this something that you were going to talk about or you or this is okay go ahead Ian I good morning Commissioners Ian I'm digging your jacket man thank you appreciate it all right go ahead so this item starts our annual action plan process for the year uh this is the first public hearing there's no vote we just solicit input there will be a public meeting where we solicit more input it's in the notice that was put in the paper um we will then develop the plan and bring it back for the second and final public Hearing in July okay uh no motion required on this no just any if there's any input any cards any discussion oh there's I don't think there's any cards on this one no all right uh H5 approval resolution electing to not exempt prop proper under Section 196 Florida statute commonly known as the live local act Pro property tax I can assure you sound Sullivan's names on this someplace aha I found it but I'm going to go with uh Ted first pardon me would you like a District Two commissioner to introduce this sir I uh Tom would you introduce us and then let that go forward I I had it even marked here thank you chair um I'm going to U move to our attorney to explain this at the time there till the attorney's finished okay because he has more knowledge of it what it's trying to do by state government so please you want to have a seat all right Commissioners as you know the live local act which became law last year established among other things a new advalorium tax exemption for the owners of certain newly constructed multi family rental developments that provide affordable housing opportunities to persons who meet certain certain income thresholds one of the thresholds was for qualified property used to provide affordable housing at 80 to 120% of the area median income uh properties in that category received a 75% exemption from the assessed value on on those affordable units however units in that range are often marketed as luxury apartments uh they're not traditionally what one might consider to be affordable uh during the recent legislative session the house a bill was passed that allows local governments to opt out of that particular exemption um you have to meet certain criteria under a study that's published annually we do meet that criteria which shows that the number of affordable and available units is greater than the number of Runner Runner households in the area in this particular um category of affordable housing so the board is able to opt out of this on under the new statutory provision um if you were to opt out the resolution doing that would take effect on January 1 2025 and it would expire two years later unless the board renews it before that time uh this was advertised according to the statutory requirements and I'm happy to answer any questions the board may have commissioner toay you have your light on I I do um and I I want to thank commissioner Goodson for staying on top of this stuff I know he follows what's going on in Tallahassee he has a unique uh uh Insight here in all honesty I wish I would have jumped on this one but uh you certainly uh certainly beat me to the punch um so I I strongly support this what I'm really curious to hear I hope you know the the the bright Ministry is here because you know those folks are really on top of affordable housing issues and they're constantly calling us to to uh meet uh at our offices so here it's on the agenda I really look forward to hearing what they have to say about this since they've you know come together and taken this as as as their ma major issue I say that sarcastically because I don't see any of those folks out there they haven't contacted my office via phone letter or email uh that being said uh commissioner Goodson I just wanted to many times you know you and I don't see it eye to eye and this time hats off to you thank you for uh thank you for being on top of this one Mr chair yes sir um I'd like to compliment anytime John Dev says anything nice about me I'm I'm nervous I thought he was going to change his mind but no but is this the answer to everything no it's not so be patient with this with Tallahassee be patient with us because affordable housing is a just a terrible thing to try to get your hands around that we can can make it work because of affordable to me is totally different what might be affordable to you that's always the the kicker so bear with us as we go through this thank thank you thank you Mr chair thank you sir Ted Ted Mr chair while while the commenter comes up I should have noted earlier that this is will require four votes of the board in order to pass pursu to the statute thank you so super majority vote all right hi I'm I'm Ted mcer I'm just here to request that the commission vote Yes to the opt out option of granting Ed laurum uh property tax exemptions to developers on the live local projects I thank you very much okay thanks Dad uh is it Lenny king or Looney okay hi come on up lenx King from West M Florida um I'm the same as Ted I'm just asking you to vote that we don't give them this benefit uh Susie kerki I'm sure all of you have gotten different uh emails from her in the past she lives in her neighborhood and she's been on top of this from the beginning I think she spent probably hundreds of hours talking to talking to everybody uh she was going to come up today in fact she was going to ride with me because she's not very familiar with viea but yesterday morning her husband passed away so if anybody was looking for her CU she she's come to any of the meetings that have had anything to do with this but obviously couldn't make this one so I just request that you uh do not allow them to have this benefit our condolences and prayers too thank you a lovely lady okay Sarah hjj I mean to support opting out sorry tah hodj and this would be if we don't opt down there are people that aren't going to be able to afford their taxes these are local taxes 75% we the people here are going to have to pay for their luxury apartment and we've also you know impact fees we haven't raised those since like 82 and here we're going to pay all the developers impact fees and I've heard the developers are coming from other areas and also out of country so why are we subsidizing rich and developers um I support everyone that votes to uh up out today thank you thank you SAR Sandra I know you're waiting with anticipation on this is one of your hot issues Sandra Sullivan South Patrick Shores so I call the live local Bill the you will own nothing and be happy law isn't it funny how Tallahasse gives names to bills that is what it's not live local you think it's local rule right but it's a bill that takes away local rule to circumvent local planning and zoning laws in addition taking away the um the T this automatic 75% tax exemption so I'm grateful for the change with HB 7073 that at least gives the local government the right to do this tax exemption and hopefully protect some of our citizens here from losing their homes because with the combined effect of inflation insurance and then obviously we're going to have tax increases because their tax exemptions are tax increases we're going to see especially our elderly our veterans and people on fixed incomes increasingly having to sell their homes and that's why I call this that you will own nothing and be happy lost so this is a first step I commend you if you vote for this as a super majority vote to opt out to help Safeguard our tax increases I that would be being a fiscal conservative right so um I just wanted to just say say that uh there are other ramifications related to this bill as you know 7073 also increases the density even further Beachside you know you guys just passed the Emergency Management ordinance evacuation becomes an issue because we're we're we are um critical evacuation deficiency so as we we look at this I hope that in other ways our County will push back on government overreach I believe that that this bill live local is a violation of our state constitution which guarantees the local government for Planning and Zoning it it hides this from the Planning and Zoning process and is exempt under public records to even be able to do public records on existing and what is the fiscal impact if you don't do this I noticed that was missing from the agenda item what is the fiscal impact if you don't exempt these taxes and I would really appreciate if this commission would revisit the tax exempt the the the impact fees on waving the impact fees that was passed at the end of the last year because the impacts to to We the People are great with this Bill thank you do we have a motion uh got one more card Katie Delaney K good morning Katie Delaney um I am here to wave and support of this item um I we definitely need to be exempt from these tax exemptions and um I hope that uh as we look at this and uh look forward towards the future we also look again at our impact fees we shouldn't be exempting impact fees from from these local projects so um but again I'm in support of this thank you okay um going back to the commission any commissioner Goodson I'd like to make a motion to approve this resolution chair there's a motion to approve second by commissioner feltner discussion um commissioner pret would you take the floor please certain uh I'd just like to add that I am not voting in favor of this issue this this this bill the live local bill is a good bill and the reason for the bill is simple it's to get permits done faster so that homeless PE uh low-income housing people can get homes you can laugh all you want it's Governor's bill president of the Senate's bill it's a good bill so I'm voting uh not to to accept this just wanted to let everybody know where I stand so you're voting not not to opt out correct correct that's correct okay uh any other discussion could I say something to that sir with all due respect um the committee bill that allows us to opt out is also a Governor's bill I mean he signed that bill to allow us to opt out and we have few opportunities to undo a preemption and so I think we should support this today thank you there you go anybody else commission to buy any any comments All in uh anying discussion all in favor of the motion signify by saying I I all oppos nay nay okay passes passes 4 to one all right let's move [Applause] forward all right let's go to um H6 deance of the United States Department of Housing Urban Development section 108 loan 1 billion or 1, 64646 77 Grant funds who is taking this that's mine again commission morning again so we have a two section 108 loans this is for deing one of them we did a 30-day public comment period that ended yesterday uh we received no comments on it excuse me this is the final step for board approval uh this will allow the community that has that 108 loan to come back and start submitting projects 13 years sooner than they would normally be able to as well as help the department uh with its uh part of its regulations under HUD relating to timeliness of expenditures okay uh is there a motion to approve moved motion by commissioner pret is there a second second commissioner Goodson seconds any discussion from the board all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose nay the motion carries thanks very much sir all right we're moving uh into to 8 87 and I'm turning the floor over to Morris Morris thank you thank you Mr chair this item is a little unusual procedurally so I'm going to spend just a minute here talking about the procedure to hopefully save some time and answer some questions on the front end um this is a consideration of a vested rights petition uh being pursued by air laqued large Industries uslp uh the nature of the vested rights determination regards noise emanating from their business business operations on North Courtney Parkway in Meritt Island U ER laqued was served with a notice of hearing and statement of violation in uh code enforcement proceeding which is has been stayed pending the outcome of this vested rights determination today the board is asked to consider a recommended order prepared by a special magistrate after several days of public hearing and consideration of argument of both the county and a laqued and the board today has requested to either uh uphold the special magistrates order which denied uh vested rights or did not find vested rights um reverse the special magistrates order essentially in Grant vested rights or Grant vested rights with conditions in so doing you may either adopt the special magistrates proposed order or direct the County Attorney to prepare an order for the board to enter uh after the motion's voted upon I should note that in this case the county is going to be represented by outside Council Cliff rer due to the nature of this proceeding in order for me to be able to uh to represent the board in your capacity is the decision makers here I can't also Advocate on behalf of County staff so uh Cliff reper is going to do that he also did that at the vested rights Hearing in front of the special magistrate today under our rules of procedure for the vested rights determination each party is going to be allowed 10 minutes to present their case beginning with air laqued um no new evidence will be taken by the county commission this consist of argument about the Magistrate's proposed order and the findings of fact below we're Bound by the record below um no public comments or consideration of comments from citizens under the code they had uh 14 days prior to this hearing to submit written arguments and alltimely submitted written argument was provided to the board as part of the package and um and with that I'm happy to answer any questions or if you desire you may call ER lquid to present their case let's move forward ER lquid presenting your case how much time do we give Morris 10 minutes sir 10 minutes okay thank you very much procedure before that uh chairman and board we have previously made a request to table this in the hopes that we could reach a resolution with the homeowners that was acceptable to all the stakeholders and then bring that to the county in essence we've spent a lot of time developing a 400t 14t tall noise buffer that we are proposing we'd like to have a county meeting with the residents and so we've asked to table it we got on this agenda because it was the last one before the break but our initial request was to table it to allow us to have a community meeting to see if we could get buy in for the proposal to then bring back to the county and see if that resolves the issue before everybody spends a whole lot more money fighting in court and rits of proceedings and code enforcement and takings claims and all those things so I I was wondering if we could just address that quickly before we go to the meat and potatoes because I don't want to waste your time Morris I I would suggest that if the board's going to consider the request to continue or table this to a future meeting that you do so before receiving the argument uh of the parties is there a motion to table can I ask yes absolutely uh typically I'm always in favor of tabling because it gives everybody an opportunity to come to a conclusion so um that kind of I didn't know anything about it so commission I would I would love what your thought is on that and I think uh in In fairness too I believe believe staff may have a position on that so you may wish to hear from Mr refer on behalf of Staff as well absolutely Cliff thank you chairman Steele uh honorable commission members my name is Cliff rer my business address 2101 Waverly Place I'm going to attorney with the law fir of white bird um and we represent the Planning and Development Department as Mr richson said based on the conflict um as a special outside Council um uh as to the request to table um the issues been pending since 2020 um and when that was when er lquid initially filed its initial petition for uh vested rights uh staff does not dispute the fact that um the air laqued facility provides a critical function and is essential um we also recognize that they have made a proposal related to uh trying to resolve the the noise violations um however what's before you today is the determination as to whether they are vested from the noise standard at all um and so staff believes that um we need to get a resolution on whether and what standards actually apply to the plant um there are number of opportunities to uh stay the matter in the code enforcement realm after this proceeding today is done and so while we recognize that um that air Leed certainly wants to work on a acceptable resolution um and I think staff is more than willing to consider that after today's proceedings are done um um staff is asking that the board not approve tabling and and move forward um based on the impact of the facility to the neighborhood and the fact that has been going on for as long as it has been and you can take this against my time Mr chairman but I if you give me two minutes just to explain why I think ta one's a good idea I'd be happy to Morris you little L that additional two minutes no you can take it from my tent no I'm not talking about that I'm just talking about anything that might might Prejudice the commission no that's within your discretion if you want to hear if you want to hear out thank you yeah because I I wanted to go ahead and point out to the plant something this plant has been there for 56 years which is obviously older than anyone on this fine panel and it's been providing both life supporting facilities of oxygen and nitrogen that is absolutely essential to the the Space Center without the nitrogen from merid Plants Rockets will not launch they cannot launch because the nitrogen is inert and it blankets the launch facility and prevents inadvertent explosions this facility has been there for 56 years and back in 2002 when residential was rezoned there the commission stated that it was like buying next to an airport and complaining about airplanes so first the the plant is just a large compressor takes ambient air separates it out into oxygen separates it into nitrogen nitrogen goes to the pipeline the Kennedy Space Center n this isn't working it goes to the Kennedy Space Center and the oxygen then is put into canisters that's sent to the hospitals it supports four out of the five largest employers in Bard County which is the hospital system and the NASA systems as well as Lockheed Martin and all those other people without the nitrogen it's not going to launch without the oxygen the hospitals aren't going to work this is the pipeline right here that goes from Air facility all the way to every one of those launchpads so we're passionate about this we believe that it it is vested because it's been there for 56 years but we're also passionate about trying to work something out uh we actually came up with this proposal we didn't think it was possible because there's oosha requirements to specifically State how many line of sites you can have what you can do things of that nature at our hearing we had public comment which was was great and the public specifically asked us to see if we can find a workaround we spent months engineering a workaround which is the wall you see there uh we haven't had time to be able to sit down with the residents I've sent emails to to the residents asked them if they'd like to speak with me before this hearing we haven't had time to have a community meeting to sit down with them make sure this is what they want because we don't want to spend a million dollars building this if it's not what the residents actually want some of them might want it some of them might some of them might want it moved we we don't know we're asking for just a couple of weeks to be able to meet with those residents and this will show you what the wall will do right now when it's running full boore you've got 70 and 75 DBS and that's when the LSS is running because NASA tells us we have to the pumper trucks are running which are very loud if we get the ability to sit down get a Buy in with this create the proposal we can knock that down to 59 and 65 which should alleviate everyone's concern if we don't if we have to go forward with the vested rights we're going to have to file a petition the County's going to have to respond we're going to have to move forward with code enforcement we're going to have to fight that fight we're going to have to move forward with takings claims all of this is very expensive both for us and for the county when all we're asking is to just give piece of chance right now because the more money that a l has to spend fighting the less money we have to devote towards a resolution and and with all due respect expect it to everyone here you never know what a Court's going to do and if air like wins they certainly aren't going to build a noise buffering wall with the courts so all we're asking is to put a pin in this give piece a chance let us meet with the homeowners make sure this is what they really want and then bring a proposal to the county and if everybody signs off it resolves the issue without a whole lot more lawyer fees legal fees and taking so we're asking to table we staff's pretty much stated its position um we're in opposition obviously the board it's the board's discretion as to what to do as far as table all right do I have discussion from the board on the motion to table or move forward pardon me yes he still gets his time are you are youing ready for a suggestion commissioner Goodson okay chair thank you I'd like to make a motion that we deny vested rights no no no table all right yeah I'm ready just get over all right so and then board just very briefly before the argument because this is a quasi judicial matter if you have any disclosures to make that weren't already made in writing prior to the meeting regarding contacts uh about this matter outside of the meeting now would be the time to make those I already sent them in okay I drove by I know where it's at all right so Morris would you direct us sign who should go first I think you should hear from he ke's Council yeah this time you have six and 6.8 seconds 6 minutes and 8 seconds to do your thing this presentation should have animations in it and it doesn't so for instance are you sure it's not this one no that's Cliffs so for instance when this comes out sure sure that's fine buy those aren't yeah we're going to put it on record sorry as the heart of this I'm not aware okay normally if it's like that you should be able to click on it yeah well it's not doing it that's all right we we'll do the best we can with what we got the presentation isn't working so we'll have to wing it a little bit chair okay if you would be kind enough to state your name and address for the record I'd appreciate it yeah yes your honor James Rogers and two fam from acran here on behalf of a Le business address is 1300 Post Oak Boulevard 23rd floor Houston Texas thank you very much you may proceed thank you um let me go back to the beginning that the plant has been there for 56 years doing essentially the same thing it it is only a compressor that takes ambient air turns it into oxygen and it turns it into nitrogen it's worked hand inhand with NASA to ensure that there are safe launches this was never an issue until Ariel was rezoned in 2002 to residential every one of the complainants moved to the facility the facility did not move to them I understand that that times change and Residences change but they all moved and bought a house next to the airport without the nitrogen you can't launch rockets you have to blanket each one of those launchpads with nitrogen or else rockets explode we we get a mandate and a call from NASA that says run the LSS and when they do we have to we don't have a choice without the LSS the Rockets don't go up I believe firmly that the the issue here is that there's just more space activity going on and we can't control that but we've been doing the same thing for 60 years and now we're being penalized because people moved to that facility so we've asked for vested rights to allow them to continue to do that and this is the standard as the commission probably knows it's an actor omission by the county that we relied upon in good faith to substantially change our position now with respect to the act of the county it it's all in this document right here and this is in the record as well there is a file for air Leed with a specific note in it that says air Leed would be considered under the old loud and rockus noise standard not the DB meter readings that was an act by the county that went into A's file and it was followed for more than 20 years people would show up whenever a complaint occurred they would determine whether it was loud or rockus and they would dismiss complaints County officials specifically went to air Leed at their facility and told them time and time again don't worry you're grandfathered under the loud and Rocket standard you don't have to worry about the DB standard that's the act that ER Leed relied upon and it relied upon that act this is just testimony that will show you that it was an act these are some of the code enforcement actions that were closed there was at least five of them some of them closed directly at the uh at the zoning officials Direction because air leid was vested under the loud and Rocket standard they were grandfathered under the noise complaint now the state of policy was not to hold them to a DB standard but to hold them to the all and Rocka standard for 25 years and that's all we're asking to continue at this point in time what did air Le do to rely upon that you can see in the record and there was significant testimony about this they've poured over $20 million into that facility in order to increase the ability and the pipeline system to provide that nitrogen and to increase the oxygen output particularly during Co because during Co Air Leed supplied 90% of the oxygen that was used in the hospital systems that kept people alive it is an essential facility the actor Omission was they were told they were under the loud and Rocket standard they relied upon that act or Omission by investing 20 some odd Millions dollars into that facility and continuing its operation uh and this is kind of important as well in a Moment of Truth uh when asked everyone that was questioned at the hearing was asked whether or not the C the cars on courtet Parkway were louder than the facility and everyone admitted that the cars going down courtet Parkway are in fact louder than the facility which again has been there for 60 years doing the exact same thing when asked about concern of compatibility with air Leed when people were asking to rezone they filed letters that specifically said they weren't worried about compatibility because they knew the facility was there when the residents who are now complaining were asking to reone ER Leed filed a letter and said hey this is a bad idea because there's a facility here and we're going to get complaints that it's loud those concerns were overruled and immediately after this the note went into ER leed's file that specifically said don't worry about it you're under the old lden rocket standard it's not a coincidence that the resoning occurred that air Le objected that the resident said we're fine with this and then a note specifically went into a ke's file the act that said you're vested with respect to the loud and Rocket standard you don't have to worry about the DB meter so at the end of the uh the day uh our only question is what's fair air Le's been there for over 50 years it's quieter than it's ever been it has to operate more than it ever has because NASA is making us NASA can't function without us the hospitals can't function without us we don't want to be that loud we have to be we have no choice we're trying our best to make a proposal that we want the community to buy in on we want their support because while we're passionate about this facility and we're passionate about the Space Coast we're also passionate about being good neighbors we simply want an opportunity to try to resolve this we don't want to spend a bunch of money here because if we spend a bunch of money here we win there's no incentive to do anything more about it so we respectfully request that a ke be held under the loud and Rocket standard as a vested right thank you very much sir Cliff thanks Rita oh that that's just the note that was in our file there great thank you thank you very much I don't know how to take that down I can't even get it to [Laughter] work minutes do I have oh do you want a question if you want to inquire that'd be great hold on one second we got 10 minutes right all right commissioner Goodson you have a question yes sir you stated that you had spent $20 million on upgrades right yes that in yes Comm but you didn't state that you spent any on noise reduction in fact your honor as part of those upgrades not your honor oh I'm sorry commissioner it's my my fault in fact commissioner as part of the agreement that we made in making some of those upgrades we installed a large swath of Shrubbery that covers the entire northard of of courtet Parkway um and we were the trees were specifically specified of what we had to plant and we we followed all and planted all that and we've offered to plant more trees if uh if anybody that that proposal was shot down so that's where we came up with the the wall proposal but how much did you spend on noise reduction for trees or Shrubbery so we spent and we also installed a second wall directly on the other side of this board may know that as well we installed a wall directly next to the compressor as a result to the First Code Enforcement action that we received about 3 four years ago we spent $470,000 I think on building that wall um that that changes the tone of the compressor in order to to to meet the DB standards but we're still getting complaints and I I don't know the final number of how much money was spent on the the trees but it it's the wall that we've already put in is substantial and the wall that we're being asked to put in is a million dollars or more thank you chair yes sir any other questions before we go commissioner Spa thank you um according to the sheriff and the special magistrate uh quote the sound emanating from the plant has serious negative effects on the Health and Welfare of families in our community the sound levels are in fact excruciating unbearable unbearable stressful horrendous and unnatural uh my question is do you believe the sheriff and the special magistrate have the ability to make those determinations um I'm not sure how to answer that question because I don't know what their individual abilities are but we presented an expert who went out and did significant noise read and does this for a living and he said listen if anything is excruciating and terrible it's when an 18-wheeler goes down courtin because that exceeds this by 25 DB that that's the thing that's excruciating so uh Mr go ahead uh my understanding and I think you mentioned it you filed for vested rights in 2020 is that correct cor yes commissioner um Co so the during Co what uh so um how many debb have you reduced you know for the part of three best part of three three plus years how many decb have you uh you your mitigation we talked about $400,000 but I'm just for for sound levels how much was decreased so the installation I wish I had a picture of it the installation of the noise barrier that goes around the compressor the loudest piece of equipment in on the plant is the compressor because it's a very large compressor takes aient air it I'm just looking for decb right CU that's a measure yeah so so and here's the interesting part commissioner I'm not trying to be difficult tone is as important as uh uh the volume of the noise so certain tones even though they're lower are more excruciating to human beings than louder tones if they're just flat so what the wall did was change what was a very shrill tone into a flat tone and then also brought the ambient DB down by a about five or so so it it it lowered by five by putting that wall there but it also changed the tone um on the decel scale so that it's it's more palatable to your human ear so it's like a hum as opposed to a a more shrill tone thank you okay uh commissioner felmer is noise a form of pollution I'm not a pollution expert commissioner um I I would say think most people would consider noise a form of pollution it it it's possible but when you move to um to something like that that that's where I have a problem with you suddenly calling it pollution commissioner I don't know if I'm suddenly calling it I think that uh you said earlier that their business has increased greatly over the years was that fair to say the dura the the number of times that we're required to run because NASA tells us to run has increased but the the plant does exactly the same thing that it always has okay but but it's there's more activity going there they're producing more because there's more Rockets going up I get I get that part do you would it be fair to say that homeowners have uh a right to peace and quiet inside their own home if they meet certain requirements and and don't necessarily move to the nuisance commissioner felner so I'm just trying to understand where the line is because I understand that my rights end where your rights begin and I think that's what this discussion is so so where is that that line is it Courtney well I I'm not sure that I understand that but where we would be building the noise barrier would be on the north side of courton a Parkway to mitigate the noise your your ability to uh you know have noise coming from your property I'm trying to figure out where where does that end where is that line well the the the code the code that we're asking to be vested under loud and rockus um says that that the loud and rockish noise I believe that the the perimeter it's taken from uh a certain place past the right of way if that makes sense you have to be a certain parameter away from the right of way of the property in order to determine if it's loud and rockus but all that is in the code I have an understanding that homeowners have a right to peace and quiet inside their own home in the middle of the night while they're trying to sleep so um I think that that line ends at their bedroom wall at 10:00 at so that that's all that I'm I'm trying to establish here you said that if we uh move forward with this today that would impede you working with the the nearby neighborhood to try to make things better I don't I'm not sure I understand that I don't believe it would impede us working continuing to try to be as good of Community member to that community and the county as we possibly can be it's not going to imped it what it's going to do is drive up the cost on everyone um which at some point in time creates uneconomic situations so us moving forward with this today will will cause uh litigation well we'll have the expense we would have to appeal and then we would have to also uh deal with the code enforcement action and then we would also have to proceed with taking claims if if if that happens as well so there's just is reduced and an agreement is made with the nearby neighbors that's possibility that is our Ardent hope and all we are asking is to give peace a chance okay Morris your name's up here on this board are did you want to comment I'm sorry that's an old request sir you can thank you thank you all right thank you very much I think it's Cliff's turn now oh we go what now don't we have to hear from Cliff or did you have from you I didn't see a light from Rita down at the bottom okay Rita question just um for Mr Richardson could you for people that are listening give a summary of the special Magistrate's opinion for us just so we can clarify that what we're thank you Rita that's very good question so to summarize briefly the the special magistrate found that a lei did not meet the County's requirements for determination of vested rights she made specific factual findings and conclusions of law which I'm sure Mr reper will elaborate on a little more but she did not find specific Acts or emissions made by the county on which aired substantially changed its position in Reliance thereon that justifi a determination of vested rights further she found that granting vested rights um would be harmful to the public health safety and Welfare or really the converse of that that air Le did not establish that granting vested rights would not be detrimental to public health safety and Welfare so those were those were her findings and the the order as you know contains extensive findings of fact and testimony on which that was based I have a question Morris I don't know whether it would be to Mr replinger or to you but I know that Aaron P had produced an expert witness in regard to this did the county Pro prove any bring any experts in Cliff we didn't bring in an expert witness because we felt like that was an issue as far as the noise component to be addressed at the enforcement stage this was so this proceeding was solely related to vested rights and whether the petitioner had established a entitlement to vested right so we didn't believe that that was necessary you're up then Cliff oh no do we need a mo we don't need a motion for anything to hear Cliff first now no sir you're able to hear argument from Cliff I was just going to say what Cliff had said that uh establishing whether or not there is a noise violation or a violation of County standards is going to be an issue for future code enforcement proceedings uh depending on whether or not the board finds vested rights in this case enforcement people have experts there well they they have equipment to measure sound and they can put on testimony and that'll be determined by special magistrate at some point in the future and all that equipment will be up to date and able to receive proper readings correct correct but again that's not before this board today okay got it Cliff it's your turn did you want to take five or you don't want to take a break through no let's go we got a lot to do today awesome uh got more after this great uh thank you again again my name is Cliff rer attorney with white representing uh Planning and Development Department staff um if I can access I don't know if I can can I access that Don Lo able to fix that there we go or you got it how do I move through this uh let's see bad SL here we go maybe this is it oh you got me hey look at that all right ah so I know there's a lot of information here um this was a 4-year process that played out um it culminated in a public hearing that occurred over two days uh November 30th and December 1st uh where the special magistrate took testimony um heard uh uh considered evidence and so there's a lot of information that's in the record um I don't want to belabor it and go through the whole uh uh proceeding and everything if you if you all have questions obviously we will address that um but essentially um the proceeding was a proceeding under 6257 um of the county code which relates to uh vested rights there are three things that the applicant or that the petitioner needs to prove to establish vested rights uh one is an actor omission of the county um two is good faith Reliance on that that actor omission and uh three is a substantial chain in position of the petitioner uh based on that act or omission and the good faith Reliance on it um there's a fourth component of emminent Peril to public health safety and Welfare um that was also addressed by the special magistrate as part of the uh consideration um essentially the uh the special magistrate issued a 23 page or uh proposed order which you have in your agenda package uh which goes into great detail about the factual findings um that were made over those two days of of hearing um and then concludes that the uh petitioner did not meet its burden of uh establishing those three elements um under the county code um just to go into a little bit of the facts um related to some of the things that you all have talked about um whoops if I could can I go backit the back right just go back like that okay cool oops we go oops there you go so um what you see before for you the picture the circle that's the wall that you were talking about that was installed um this plant has been around since 1968 I believe it went through a number of different expansions and a rezoning the critical uh Point here was that in 2002 um the owners needed to rezone the property to heavy industrial and they needed a conditional use permit in order to continue the plant operations and expand the plant operations and what you see on that picture um uh to the I guess looking at it the left of the circle um was where an area was and behind the circle is uh where the plant was expanded um and if you look this this was the um the uh site plan that was submitted in 2002 with or at at or around the same time that the cup was applied for and granted um and so there was a expand a plant expansion that was done there were several plant expansions that have been done since that time time um but in 2002 when the applicant applied or when the prior property owner applied for the conditional use permit um they had to get a binding development plan um in addition to the approvals that they obtained um for the conditional use and the rezoning and at that time if you look at um paragraph six of The Binding development plan which is up before you uh the developer owner agreed that it shall comply with all regulations and ordinances of Bard County um the we went through great detail at the hearing um of a stablishing the legislative history for the noise ordinances of Bard County um there are they are found in various places under chapter 46 is the loud and rockus standard um the decel standards are under 62 2771 and then there are the same decel standards that were in that section also referenced in the conditional use permit uh criteria under 62901 C2C I believe and so the applicant at the time that they filed this application for the conditional use permit um and obtained the and and submitted The Binding development plan was well aware of what the standards were that there were decibel standards that were applied the County's position was that not only did the Not only was the applicant aware of that but the application itself um had language on it that indicated and you can see here I'm bringing up a copy of the page of the application um where the applicant is advised that it needs to meet um all of the standards including those under 62901 um related to uh the decibel standards that were in place at the time um and there were there are numerous sections in the cup application where the applicant is advised um that those decibel standards apply now the deciel standards did were modified over time and the most recent change to the county noise ordinance uh was just recently in 2023 um but the applicant was aware at the time that they applied for the cup that these decibel standards would apply um to its facility now um the petitioner made reference to the uh the acts or omissions of the county on which the petitioner relies um there were five of them that were cited to um by the special magistrate it's on page 15 of the proposed order one was the note um for the file on performance standards um that was found to be the special magistrate found that that was and and the County's position and assertion was that was an informal um uh uh policy of C code enforcement that uh your former uh code enforcement manager had written into a a notebook for himself um as far as how to uh interpret the code um that note was not specifically and the County's assertion was that it was not specifically related to air leid um it was however included with a letter from the county code enforcement staff Mr long to one of the complainants when a code enforcement case was brought in 2018 um at the beginning of that case the code enforcement officer attached the note to a letter that was sent to the complainant essentially saying the facility is grandfathered then we cannot proceed in code enforcement against this facility in the way that uh we would like to proceed under the code again that was sent to the complainant not to the petitioner to the complainant and that the record showed that um the petitioner had not demonstrated that they were ever aware of the fact that the note either existed or of that letter until I think the applicant uh the the witness that had testified on behalf of the petitioner testified that first time he had seen that note was the day before the hearing um so they never the petitioner never established that they actually had seen that note such that they could rely on it um uh the third thing that they claimed to rely on was the notes to the code enforcement file um and we talked about that in the code enforcement officer gave Mr long gave testimony to the fact that he was unaware of the fact that the binding development plan existed that there was a conditional use permit that applied to the facility any of those things at the time that he had written to the complainant advising them that the facility was grandfathered um the fourth thing was uh continued permitting by the county um there was never any indication in the record that the county ever indicated specifically to the petitioner that they were exempt from any code requirement that would apply to uh the permitting um and the lack of enforcement of the county um admittedly there were some Code Enforcement cases that had been opened over time between 2002 and now um that have been closed but there was no record evidence uh no testimony no evidence presented that they were closed for any particular reason that the petitioner had been told that they were grandfathered that the county believed that the facility was grandfathered it was just shown that they were unsupported claims and so the county could not establish those claims and so those Code Enforcement cases were closed and so if you find on page 16 of the uh proposed order uh what the special magistrate found was that the petition presented no evidence that it had knowledge of the letter um essentially that Mr mopin the uh manager for for the facility um had no personal knowledge of seeing the letter of any representation from the county um and he could not explain how the petitioner uh would detrimentally rely on on that on that position because he was not aware of it um the other thing that the order uh found and and commissioner toaya made reference to this was that there is a uh a threat of imminent Peril to the surrounded Community Based on the noise that's generated by the facility there were a number of different uh uh members of the public that came up and gave testimony toward the end of the uh proceeding about how the noise generated by the plant affects them um and so the staff is recommending that you approve of the recommended order today and allow the county to proceed into a code enforcement realm to enforce against the facility okay thank you very much question okay thanks Cliff um thanks I have one quick question when were the houses built uh were they there when the I can answer that yeah uh so the majority of them were built after 2002 there was one or two house the farm houses that were farther away and the plant was there then the it 30 years after the plant was there would be the first house the plant was there for 30 years all right so they built a house recognizing that there was going to be noise there yes chairman got it every one of them it's different though because of all the changes in code and the decb and all that other stuff so I I re I just wanted to get an idea whether or not when they were built and we're not saying no code applies our only reest is understand I just was trying to get my arms around it all right Morris uh should we ENT enter into discussion and try to vote or well we need to I I want to make sure I'm not if there's anything else that needs to be done before we do that yes sir so at this time the board would consider the proposed vested rights order that was issued by the special magistrate so the board can certainly discuss that and then based upon that record and the argument of the parties you heard today uh as well as the findings set forth in the magistrates order either Grant vested rights is requested by a Leed Grant vested rights with conditions or deny vested rights uh and in so doing again either adopt the special Magistrate's proposed order or direct my office to prepare an order for you to enter subsequent to the motion being voted on thank you very much Morris uh do I hear a motion I'd like to make one Mr chairman to deny vested rights and adopt a special magistrates proposed order is there a second commissioner pret would you take the floor please can you want to we're right middle of a motion do you is there going to be a second or not I I I was going to ask for a see if I had a friendly Amendment on this one sure you go ahead uh I I would like to add uh to that motion immediately proceed with code enforcement investigation of noise complete treating the case as health and safety violation to the extent permitted by law should a violation be sustained to seek the maximum fine permitted by law under the circumstances I have no problems with that it's a good Mo friendly motion okay now is there a second second down commit okay motion by commissioner Goodson amended by commissioner toaya seconded by commissioner felner all right discussion commissioner Pritchett I'm gonna I'm gonna vote with commissioner Goodson on this but I'll tell you I got major major heartburn with this and I think everybody on this board does right now so it's in everybody's best interest that even though we're going to do with the special if if the vote goes that way for everybody to get their heads together and figure out what the hell is going on because we got to get this SOB fast it looks to me like there's major major issues there if if they have to stop rocket launches here and the rocket launch capital of the world Bad News Bears if we have to stop oxygen from coming into hospitals Bad News Bears there's no there's no winner here so what I'm asking is I'm begging everybody to please please move hastily to get this done and get it resolved some way I know the magistrates got it saying and that's we're going to abide by that but if the vote goes that way but we got to get this we got to get some stuff done I I I know you have heartburn over this we all do uh I'm sorry the're we're closed on this all right here any more discussion from the board all in favor of the motion signify by saying I I all oppos nay motion carries Crawford thank you very much H h8 all right uh who's handling this uh Mark go ahead h8 h8 Commissioners uh h8 is a resolution Exchange agreement and utility easements between Bard County and aduda and Suns it's uh north of south of uh Charlie Cobble way in Vieira um and it would also provide the uh chair to uh execute the attached resolution uh and any necessary documents there's uh this was put out uh as far as public advertisement and uh We've receive no comments make a motion to approve motion to approve by commissioner felner second secondly by commissioner toaya any discussion hearing no discussion all in favor signify by saying I I all oppos n all right going J J one so Commissioners uh staff is requesting board Direction on the more Justice Center expansion uh study $5.5 million was provided by state Appropriations this fiscal year and another 250,000 was set aside uh by uh bcso budget uh the grant with the state uh requires the chief judge and our board chair to sign off on the project plan I've asked uh Mr Tom pots from ceiling Architects to provide a uh very short brief on the options Silling was competitively selected by RFQ based on their portfolio of judicial Center projects uh good morning Commissioners uh my name is Tom pots I'm a resident of Bard County address is 3072 to trial court um pleased to be with you this morning and uh pleased to present uh the results of the more Justice Center expansion study um it's comprehensive we started in November and uh the work extended through until our early spring uh we had a good particip participation from both the courts and uh Public Works and facilities and so forth studying facilities uh looking for options uh getting to the bottom uh really of what was necessary the initial project objectives uh pretty sound uh to be able to develop an understanding of what the critical space needs and operational uh needs of the facility might be uh you can see them indicated there uh additional jury jury room space that's jury assembly space where the capacity of the jury assembly space is very limited right now uh additional Court facility or courtroom space um there's a security issue with way some of the uh and a demand for court space in a more secure manner uh the third bullet point there was the consolidation of the criminal courts in the more Justice Center uh from the Melbourne and the Titusville facilities because the more Justice Center being the newer facility has designed to better standards for a criminal facility and I think there are some other operational needs uh that that facility met and finally uh the law library consolidation uh resolution of what we would do with the law library so those were the primary objectives other objectives kind of Rose uh during the study uh we studied we started with five and we ended up with fundamentally two options that are were the most workable um Market indicated what the budget was at the beginning we were trying to work within that budget uh and meet the objectives as best we could so you can see the option one versus option two fundamentally they're they're basically the same uh both suggest a new jury assembly space with a capacity of 275 which meets projected numbers U and then we'll skip uh down to law Li Law Library consolidation both of those do that uh we determined that we needed some additional space for clerk criminal evidence storage uh and then the uh we were able to bring online Melbourne and Titusville cour houses for full use and so we go back to the red those are fundamentally the differences between the two so on option one you end up with uh the facility can end up growing with two 720t hearing rooms where option excuse me that's option one option two allows us a 700t hearing room but the difference is that there's a 1500 square F foot jury capable courtroom which requires the relocation of the witness Center that option provides in my opinion uh a longer better value for the County's money a longer life of the facility anytime that you can get get a jury capable courtroom uh added uh it just provides much greater flexibility so you can see the difference in the project cost 5.75 million versus 6144 uh option two takes a couple more months uh to complete as compared to option one uh another way of looking at it is if we go back to the available budget and what the estimated project cost option one would leave about $400,000 on the table where option two would require some additional funding uh we'll say that during our process due diligence we we use professional cost estimators head back and forth with those folks you could see the on the right side all the bullet points what the construction cost would include I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have commissioner felmer thank you Mr chair um really less less of a a question more more of a a comment at this point I I'll just say that I worked on this project uh sort of as the board's representative um to to go through this process where we had the stakeholders um give input and uh just so that you know this all started uh because we received $5.5 million from the legislature for upgrades at the more Justice Center and so we trying to stay within that budget um and eventually I think we a lot of us believe the courts believe that option number two uh looks a little bit further to the Future and for the additional uh $554,000 will get out of that also a jury capable courtroom and uh that's where uh the courts uh and everybody is trying to go so I believe that's the option Frank that we're looking at right manager thank you I do want to say that under the grant one of the uh uh components of the grant is that you have to have the chief judge's approval and we work very hard with the chief judge and to get both option a uh option one and option two something that uh he would be agreeable to however um in speaking with the various other stakeholders including the clerk Etc uh we all agreed that option two from a safety perspective and a long-term perspective would be a better option for us so uh County staff we are prepared to um U uh obtain the additional funding that's necessary under option to if the board so chooses and put it as part of next year's budget we planning to use the cash carry forward that which you already are anticipating being there so uh a financial constraint would not be a concern to the board because we still plan to move forward with everything that uh uh we know that the board is interested in moving forward in next year's budget uh without that being a detriment okay thank you very much uh Rachel your honor are you all in line with all this you thumbs up okay all right sir can I make a motion absolutely for option to is there a second second there's a motion on the floor by commissioner felner seconded by commissioner toaya any more discussion in regards to this all in favor signify by saying I all oppos nay motion carries thank you so very much congratulations all your hard work you prevailed yeah commissioner thank you for all your help here all right let's move on if we could please okay Amanda good morning Commissioners item J2 is the potential expansion of our petroleum remediation or restoration program which has been administered by natural resources for the state for about 37 years over that time we've expanded to include other counties so we overseen oversee cleanup sites for Indian River St Lucy Martin and okachobee counties as well last week we got a phone call from DP asking us to take on valua there are a lot of cleanup sites involution that would more than double our program if it's the will of of the commission we think staff is up to the task that we can ramp up the program our contract would increase proportionally to cover all costs all startup costs Etc thank you we had uh quite a lively discussion in regards to this in the briefing and everybody and staff seemed to think that it's running very smoothly and that uh I think we were all getting Smiles saying we can do this is that pretty accurate yes sir okay is there a motion motion to approve motion to approve by commissioner pritet is there a second second commissioner second uh Tobias seconds it any other discussion all in favor signify by saying I all oppos nay the motion carries thanks for your hard work all right j3 um letter to The Honorable Pete budek and Secretary of Transportation on uh supporting the bright Line train station uh commit commissioner don't do that again Jason Sandra Sullivan come on up that always puts a smile on your face though doesn't it sure does sir Sandra Sullivan s Patrick Shores so I am respectfully requesting a modification to the letter so I'm going to read um the section the letter States as as a chair representing The Bard Board of County Commissioners I write to express my vigorous support for the Coco multimodal passenger rail station and Rail Project and I take exception to that description and I I'm going to allege that there is um misrepresentation to the public on the agenda item when the county did their 5 million and hence in the uh communication to the uh federal government we should be have some specificity so this slide was put up for the approval of uh the rail for the 5 million from the county and as you see the total is 75 million for the whole thing city of Coco Space Coast TPO Space Coast uh tdo state and federal 49.5 million and that's the part I I take exception to because what was presented at the T at the tourism Development Council is that the project which is the rail project is $45 million and not $75 million 45 75 big difference so what this $75 million is for according to their presentation residential and Commercial housing restaurants hotel and a passive Recreation on that 90 Acre Site so about 7,000 ,900 Square ft is the rail station and the rest is mixed use mixed use development so when we're using taxpayers dollars and a presentation is made saying that the estimated total project costs for the station surface parking and track infrastructure needed the total cost is estimated to be 75 million no at the meeting it was presented as 45 million with the mixed use being 75 million so I would respectfully request that this letter be modified to request up to a total funding of $45 million for the project so that we are not using public funds which ultimately we as taxpayers pay one way or other in our income taxes Etc that we that we adjust this to the appropriate amount with some spe specific numbers in there and just as a a little visual you might find it interesting that the rail entities are the ones that have been funding the affordable housing for lobbying thank you very much discussion on the letter motion to approve motion to approve is there a second I'll second it seconded by commissioner Goodson all in favor signify by saying I I all oppose nay motion car carries thank you very much all right let's go move on to uh j4 j4 Advisory Board app pointy background screening um who's handling this Mr chair can I pardon me can I grab it Mr chair yes you can absolutely and uh I I see that uh the clerk and com controller uh Rachel s off is in the audience here certainly want to thank her for helping out with the advisory AB uh board appointees in the screening um Miss sof is able to run these checks at no additional cost of the county and has has volunteered to help out with this is extremely important to run these checks the board requires our uh grantees to follow proper background check procedures and we need to uh be providing uh an equal level of protection over the years we've discovered my office has discovered quite a few appointees who have convictions which make it inappropriate for them to serve on uh certain boards um uh I I'm not going to go over the names but uh some of these uh have been uh battery uh domestic violence possession of cocaine possession of MDMA uh many of these uh being um uh felony uh so these are not just minor um uh minor uh convictions uh that being said if we can get these done at no additional cost I think this is a great solution for everyone utilizing the clerk's office for this function uh with the uh approval of the County Manager makes my office truthfinder subscription redundant and has uh been uh cancelled as of last week so um I appreciate all the work was that's being done the result will be a savings of $324 per month while continuing to ensure The Advisory Board Advisory Board appointees do not uh have concerning uh criminal records uh again this was a great idea and I appreciate the clerk uh helping to uh step forward solve this solution and save taxpayer money so uh I will have a motion here the motion is simple to move uh to approve the proposed board policy for background screen of individuals being appointed to the county advisory boards is there a second I I want to get a second then we'll get discussion is there a second okay there's a motion on the floor it's been seconded by motion by commissioner tobiah seconded by commissioner feltner now I think Miss pritet had her light on first I believe okay did you have light on I did thought you did I um just want to mention that I'm I'm glad you were able to uh Rachel thank you so much for this um it's a good idea I know back from the very beginning when you started actually doing this we didn't think about doing it and I really appreciate your work that you and your office did on catching a few of the um candidates that was not a good fit for positions we were using so I just want to give you that um Kudos on that one so um thank you for that but this is a better route so thank you thank you commissioner appre commissioner Goodson thank you chair we're not going to go after people that might have had minor fractions at Young ages this is only going after felons or those is that correct uh commissioner uh this just off uh Mr chair sure this just this just authorizes the county manager to do that ultimately that will be up to the uh discretion of this board to make that ultimate I I certainly don't think in my humble opinion that we should go after people that make minor uh infractions driving infractions however again felonies that have come up here I think are pretty serious no matter what age uh they were made but again that would be ultimately up to us this would just provide us with that information without going uh through my office right because I wouldn't want to Ru somebody that had a minor fraction you know and offend them or embarrass them because you know we all have stuff some of us have been caught and some of us haven't okay thank you commissioner all right any more discussion motion on the floor all in favor signify by saying I I all oppos nay the motion carries could we take a five minute again okay let's take a five minute break commissioner felner request and then we will get into reports and uh public comments thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in [Music] all right we're moving on to the uh second phase of public comments and uh Austin wit it you're up good afternoon almost so my name is uh atin wh it from Orange County I'd like to thank you guys for the opportunity to speak today so I'm here to discuss a matter that concerns not only the Integrity of our institutions but also the education and future of our children as the rocket launch capital of the world as it was put earlier uh we must demand greater transparency and honesty from NASA especially regarding the information and interactions they have with students in our County Schools this is especially true when the activities of NASA are being utilized as a primary factor of decisions uh made by the board NASA has of course been actively engaging with our community particularly through activities at Kennedy Space Center as well as interactions with our children in school highlighted in a Florida Today article revered a bravard students participate in Astronaut training so while such initiatives are commendable in principle there are serious concerns about the accuracy and legitimacy of the information being presented especially to children it's come to attention that these astronauts may be engaging in deceptive practices for example multiple instances have been documented where objects are consistently seen dropping in freef fall on the ISS which is of course allegedly in Zerg environment forensic video analysis has been conducted and subsequently proven that the physics observed in these videos are consistent with that observed in zerog gene plane flights and gravity environments on Earth it is thus scientifically impossible they were actually filmed in space further such analysis has revealed the use of augmented reality overlays harnesses video manipulation as well as consistent communication delays inconsistent these an anomalies raise legitimate and important questions about the authenticity of the space activities portrayed by NASA furthermore these concerns are not being addressed openly when citizens attempt to raise these issues particularly through online platforms the comment sections are often turned off stifling public discourse and direct violation of First Amendment rights as a public entity NASA has a responsibility to maintain open channels for communication and accountability this effectively amounts to the children in our County Schools being actively propagandized while there exists an outright suppression of the Public's ability to redress grievances in this country we do not allow our government to forcibly indoctrinate and propagandize our children through the public education system while outright prohibiting open dialogue and Freedom of Information this is America not North Korea our children are being taught to trust and look up to these astronauts they deserve to receive accurate and honest information I urge the board to stand for transparency and accountability as well as the Constitution certainly when it comes to speaking to our children they have refused or NASA must address the allegations openly directly and with specificity providing concrete evidence to dispel these concerns or launch transparent disclosure they have refused to do this for years rather worked with big Tech to hide behind a wall of suppression and censorship if there is nothing to hide why are they hiding you can also go to audit NASA to than much to look into the investigation Justin Harvey try to shave 10 seconds off for my Antics here good morning Commissioners uh my name is Justin I live at 103 South Oola Orlando 32801 good morning Commissioners uh today I'm I come here asking for your help but uh first a little backstory I think we all remember the Challenger explosion that took place in 1986 that tragically took the lives of all Seven astronauts on board it launched not too far from where we're standing here today well the interesting thing is a couple decades later this thing called the internet came about and someone allegedly found almost all of those astronauts alive and well many using the same exact names as you can see here we have Challenger astronaut Judith Resnik and also Challenger I'm sorry Judith Resnik Yale law professor Michael J Smith the pilot of the Challenger astronaut and also professor at University of Wisconsin now retired Michael J Smith Commander dick scobby who is now president of cows and trees now if you'll notice they all have the exact same faces 30 some odd years later the same exact name and they are the same age now we all have a doppelganger out there right right no big deal but to have the same face the same age and the same exact name is extremely rare so where I could only find one case in the last 120 years and we're supposed to believe that three people from one space flight space flight have exact lookalikes that have the same age and same exact names this ladies and gentlemen is beyond statistically impossible Miss Resnik was questioned at Yale by a journalist and she panicked and ran from the camera why Mr Michael J Smith was also questioned and he said yeah we look alike but that's not me you can see both of these exchanges in a film called level with me and you can be the judge Mr only I'm going to have to stop sir this is a public comment I know what it is sir I'm very familiar with the public comment okay and part of the public comment is is that you're only allowed to address things that we have jurisdiction over we have no I have a direct request at the end of this that is in your per sir please can we hold the time please I have a direct request that ju listen to me okay very carefully Mr Richardson would you give an opinion in regards to this please yes public comment is reserved for issues or topics that are under the jurisdiction or control of the County Commission or that are relevant to the business of the County Commission so if your request at the end is going to explain why that falls into any of this make that request now before you continue absolutely so as I was saying I'll just end it with what I was ending with but the ask is that uh Miss pritchet who knows very well about questioning science whether it be Co or fluoride I'm just asking you all to question the science here your uh Goodson and pritchet your District covers the Kennedy Space Center this launched from the Kennedy Space Center you have the ability to help me in sounding the alarm and asking the federal government for help if this is contained in your area I should be able to at least address something that happened here don't you agree that's not within the jurisdiction or authority of the County Commission thank you very much will you let me finish for at least sir you're finished thank you thank you for uh taking away my freedom of speech today in here I did not take away your freedom of speech there's a yes you did I don't want to hear it from you people down here uncomfortable topic officer please remove this man from the room you just violated the first amendment I didn't violate the First Amendment he violated the rules this is a limited public forum and the meeting is for the purpose of the business of the County Commission it's not for this purpose now if you want to go if you want to go to take him out too officer take him out also let's just everyone just calm down they can leave willingly NASA is not our jurisdiction sir the first am thank you very much for your opinion yeah read it out these astronauts are alive by the way look it up you can't have three doppelgangers you can't same face same name same age it's impossible look it up statistically Palm Point behavioral centers right down the street that's where I suggest you go just because you think this is AAL problem I should still be able to talk it's your opinion sir have a nice day to thank you wow here we go Doug Simon tough act to follow pardon me sir tough act to follow uh I wonder if I could address um the the comments that uh Mr pritchet made before I start the clock I I I would appreciate if Miss pritchet was here while you made those comments but I I suppose we can move forward with it uh is did she take a break just a couple of polite comments I want to make polite comments I would really like to hear today okay I would be thrilled with the mood for it all right go ahead sir uh all right thank you thank you okay uh addressing uh something you said about residents requested that the trees be cut uh I've sort of been following around as they've been cutting trees so I'm I'm quite familiar what's been going on uh on foot on bicycle and on my little scooter and um when the trees uh I'll just hold this up for a second look like this uh that's that's when people request that he takes it all the way down to the ground it's not when they have a nice beautiful oak tree and they say just cut my tree down so he kind of forgot to mention that part and that's kind of important uh the next thing that he that he mentioned um was the school bus uh the reason the school bus in the back of it just nicked the tree and it was actually one of these trees it was probably this one right here um oh I have a picture of it I can here you go that's that's the tree the school bus snicked and it did it because it was avoiding the equipment that was being used actually a crane to cut down the trees it wasn't even the um the regular company that was hired this tree was so huge that they needed a crane school bus try to squeeze past it and that's what happened um and just my commentary is that uh if this was a whole tree it would have caught the driver's attention not a stump sticking up all right next now to get now to get to what I was here for um commissioner steel two months ago I had asked you uh for an answer on why uh bernath was looking to take or land with this uh uh adverse possession deal with the uh the maps the maintenance Maps you asked me to he he wouldn't answer my question sitting there you asked me to send you an email you would send an email to him he would send it back to you You' give me an answer I never got an answer never heard I never received an email from you well I sent it to two addresses the public one you have and the private one you gave did not receive either one well too late I apologize but did not get either one okay now now that I have no time left I'd like to I go ahead you you've got some time left what else you want to talk about okay well basically uh I'm very concerned about this land grab I need to know more about the what he's planning on doing he he decimated the trees destroyed them and I want to know what he's doing because from reading the map and I know how to read maps because that's something I do uh blueprints uh he's taking four feet of my property which includes my Advanced septic system which I have and uh if I have no septic system I have no house and if I have no house uh Bard County you break it you buy it so I just need to get a handle on what's going on with that before the same thing happens that happened with the trees okay unfortunat I appreciate your commment and the way that you expressed all this it's very respectful today and I really really appreciate it uh we're not allowed to discuss an answer to your question here uh if you have a legal question all I can tell you is you might want to seek the advice of an attorney so other other than other than that uh thank you thank you very much for your time okay I can say that we did have an attorney and with the trees and we did get an injunction and uh we were told to put up a $100,000 bond so it I I I apologize for that I don't have an answer to your question and I can't respond anymore okay but thank you can I start with my original can I start off with my original Spiel now that I answered uh his questions or his statements I I actually had a prepared thing I want to no sir I unfortunately your time is up okay thank you very much Katie Delaney I I just Katie thank you did you speak earlier in public comments no sir okay go ahead um first of all I would like to speak about um the decorum rules part of the reason why we've gotten to the place where where we are today is because the lack of respect and the lack of trust the people feel in the audience and frankly at home and you all are not above the people and so when people are being mocked as they come up to the stand as people are being told oh you're a good little girl today cuz you're quiet that's absolutely going against your own decorum rules so what do you expect when the citizens come here outraged next I'd like to talk about the gaslighting that's been going on about the tree issues commissioner steel you yourself sat here March 12th and looked at the staff and said to them we're not going to be cutting any trees are we and I can play you back the video basically gaslighting the public and here we are two weeks later tell me how this is not cutting down the Trees of course the citizens want these stumps gone who would want to look at that as speakers came up earlier today and were talking about the therapy that goes on that road the um the importance of these trees for not only the environment but for the road itself the erosion of this road I mean there there's a sign there I was just there this weekend there's a sign there that says caution Road floods so we're going to take out more Oaks because of that and I understand that your arborists say that that um these trees were not healthy but the people who has have been suing you all for the past decade they have arborists that say that they were healthy and frankly from the look of of these stumps they look pretty healthy to [Music] me he didn't get to talk about this it's a healthy tree okay and again this is not solely about trees this is about degrading the public trust this is about demoralizing a whole community Community because they love that street I personally grew up on that street because my husband grew up there and we met when we were in high school so we take our kids there on a pretty regular basis to go down that street and now it's ruined the public trust is eroded and you guys need to fix that thank you and the public disrespect no that comes from this don't tell me what I can do and what I can't do Katie Delany and by the way offic remove her from the room please what the hell is wrong with you Katie look I am not going to let these rooms turn into complete disruption it's not going to happen so if you thank you very much all right stelle Bailey St Bailey Coco Florida whereas the citizens of bvar County Florida have long suffered the plight of living with outdated trees along the shorelines whereas these particular trees have stood for hundreds of years taking up pollution intended for the water soil and air perpetuated weakness in those performing outdoor recreational activities by casting shade on the street and provided shelter to birds and other varment that excrete waste and have made undeniably unpleasant noises in addition homeless Rogue raccoons nutty squirrels and the constant danger of gravity-fed acorn attacks are no longer a threat to constituents whereas the bvar County Commissioners courageously eradicated these nuisances by way of directing a team of Chainsaw wielding contractors to cut them to Mere stumps there thereby eradicating the constant Leaf litter that these now un alive Oaks can no longer filthy our roadways with whereas your evident supportive jobs like lumberjacking and industries like mulch manufacturing has truly provided a valuable service for our community by ridding our communities of water hogging trees along our shorelines we further support the Boating industry by preventing anti-flood measures whereas the act of sprucing up the full view of the power lines promotes a better image of FPL and reinforces the dependency all Floridians have on electric grid during the high heat months by removing the darkness of the shade the heat island effect of concrete in ashalt we have so laborous Le maintained through the years can finally rise to its full potential temperature whereas the citizens stood together and begged them not to do it so they could selfishly protect their aging septic tanks they did it anyway showing strength and honor and unity in the faces of the allergy ridden confused Claritin taken residents whereas the clearly Reckless citizens whom were barking up the wrong tree didn't know what was best for them in the first place and desperately needed the wisdom and guidance of the anti- Tree Experts therefore let today be known as Bard County tree butcher day I'd like to present to you a beautiful trophy that was uh given to you by the citizens of rockage and since I have 42 seconds left I want to read this as well persuant to the First Amendment to the constitution in the Florida Constitution 1838 Article 1 Section 5 that every citizen May freely speak right and publish his sentiment on all subjects being responsible for the abuse of that Liberty and no law shall ever pass to curtail a bridge or restrain the liberty of speech or the Press I am disgusted by the behavior happening in this boardroom it is appalling I'm watching it on TV I'm watching it as I'm sitting in here I I I don't know what has been happening other than the fact your time is up thank you very much thank you Kristen [Music] lordy Kristen LTE I believe I called for Kristen they won't be speaking they're simply supporting me they're just standing can they please just stand Mr Richardson that is not please you started my time comment please resolution to you stop the clock for a minute thank you that's within your discretion to control as long as it doesn't become disorder maintain you can ask nonsense to continue but go ahead and hold your signs up or whatever Kristen go ahead with your talk thank you chairman steel I'm here to read a resolution to The Bard County Commissioners I'm a concerned resident I'm concerned about the rock L trees the resolution States whereas The Bard County Commission has engaged in a multi-year dispute with the residents of Rockledge Drive seeking to protect the Legacy canopy trees along this Scenic Drive and whereas the residents have disputed Bard County's authority to destroy their property and negatively impact their quality of life and whereas County Manager Frank Abate committed in 20201 to the residents to never cut the trees and whereas on March 12th 2024 Bard County Commissioners took a vote to update the county road maintenance maps and where chairman steel asked of Public Works director Mark berath just prior to the vote we're not going to go out there and start cutting down trees and whereas less than one month later on April 9th the public works department and commissioner Goodson's District 2 initiated an agenda item clearing the way for Public Works maintenance that included severe tree trimming of numerous canopy oak trees that are over 100 years old and whereas residents were notified by email only of the tree cutting on April 5th just two business days prior to the item being presented and without adequate notice to prep prepare for the agenda item and where no commission vote was taken following the heavily orchestrated hearing and whereas starting on May 13th the county began these severe tree trimming efforts and which have mutilated and destroyed numerous can trees and whereas leading the way on the current 2024 destructive initiative have been Bard County Attorney Morris Richardson Public Works director Mark bernth and commissioner Tom Goodson also owner of Goodson Paving and whereas the county actions have negatively impacted our environment our community State and country's beautiful Scenic America byway now destroyed with the support of all five of the Commissioners now therefore be it resolved that numerous res of Bard County Florida do hereby proclaim the Five bravard County Commissioners Goodson pritchet tobiah feltner and steel and County staff members Morris Richardson and Mark bernath the 2024 tree butchers of bravard County and we ENC we hereby encourage all citizens to increase their understanding and awareness of the workings of the County Commission that led to the destructive and unnecessary war against the residents of Bard County and deploying numerous methods of weaponization of the public business it is requested that this resolution be included in the official records for the May 21st 2024 County Commission meeting unfortunately I didn't have a trophy but I would certainly like that like us all to appreciate the one that was made the 2024 tree Butcher of Bard Bard County are you proud of yourselves you probably are proud of yourselves we are ashamed thank you very well [Music] sir Nancy Simon than you Simon I live on 2050 rockid drive we live in a county that many of us felt was Paradise we consider ourselves lucky beautiful parks with special events Renaissance Fairs Country Market music festivals natural beauty state and federal Scenic Road and a responsive and caring government that actually listen to his constituents opinions but no more I would like every one of you Commissioners and the Department of Public Works to go out to this country's scenic route with their families and with B before and after pictures of what it looked like two weeks ago and say to your families look what I have had done cut down Irreplaceable centuries old heirloom trees aren't you proud of me I imagine they will have the same look of horror as the people I have seen walking on Rockland's drive your legacy is one of destruction of natural beauty and history when my grandsons and visitors asked me what happened to the tunnel of beautiful trees I can only answer from a song called Paradise I'm sorry my child you're too late and asking The Bard Commissioners and Department of Public Works have chopped them away I have here the start of a new painting and collage I'll show the trees and road before and after and what has been done all names and conditions will be included in the history that will be shown to go to the galleries all over New York and Florida and to Senators governance conservationist and activists all over the US and yearly before any election it will be handed to all the runners for office enjoy your leancy of Destro ction and infamy thank you very much all right um board reports commissioner um County Manager Frank AB body I have no report commissioner toaya do you want to uh wait till you do yours at the end okay uh commissioner feltner you have a report jimm we go first I if you're doing the recognition don't worry about it we're good okay we we recognized a high school student today who' graduated and and rightly so uh she she's uh she's done well another uh student from Vieira High School uh friend of mine and somebody we all probably know we know their parents uh Sarah and Michael SS uh Braden is graduating and uh I have a few things that I I would read uh for him real quick I wanted to do a resolution but it's really not his way so he uh he sort of vetoed that um Braden will graduate VI High School with a weighted GPA of 4.5 um and as an AP scholar with distinction Braden has served in the J jrc program for the past four years years and this year he served as executive officer uh the team qualified for State his junior year and placed fifth he has led teams of fellow JROTC members and missions trainings and events to inspire and bring about others best efforts Braden has played on the Vieira High School tennis team for the last four years playing as line one singles and doubles for the last three years Braden attended the West Point summer leag leadership experience and the Naval Academy summer seminar as a junior which is when he decided to focus his postsecondary efforts on the Navy Braden has accepted Congressman Bill Posey's appointment to the United States na Naval Academy and his studies there will emphasize Math and Science he will likely work in nuclear submarine in the future Braden was recognized as a top scholar for in Florida today um and this was voted on by his teachers and min trors I've known this young man his entire life and it's just amazing uh to to see him move on and um heading to the the Naval Academy so I think collectively we're all very proud of him and I congratulate his parents that's it's a it's an effort to to help get a young person to this point Thank You commissioner commissioner pritchet do you have a report I just want to piggyback on that we were able to go up to um Lynchburg in Virginia my grandson just grabb graduated from Liberty um we're really proud of him and um it's a great College up there when the co happened the online stuff became very um prevalant I didn't say that right became a big deal and so I was it was just a lot of fun watching that I also want to mention that I really thank the county staff and and you guys and and all the work you do and um it's an interesting day with with hot tempers but the maturity from the staff and and the way that everything's handled and just doing what's best for the residents I just really feel right now at this moment you guys need to hear thank you so much for being good people and and I'm I'm getting to talk to a lot of people in the community and we have the best County ever these people are wonderful so be encouraged and just know that there's more of you out there than there are of them so good job thank you very much commissioner prer for that commissioner toay did you want to just wait to yours or you want to go ahead and do your report now uh it's up to you I don't care go ahe okay um I'll I'll start with I passed out a letter and let me tell you about the letter real quickly uh the 2024 Florida Tax watch budget turkey watch report was just released this report includes $650,000 for the cape canaval light station reconstruction Phase 2 so let me tell you what the phase this phase includes reconstruction of not even the main ligh house Keepers Cottage that was phase one this is the first and second assistant Lighthouse Keepers Cottage uh what is worse it it uh it w it made it through both the house and the Senate uh um with uh additional Cottage alterations which they claim will bring in tourism the house form also States this money will not even complete the project and that separate funding will be necessary to furnish the exhibits um the question is where is this money going to be coming from I afraid it may come from us uh the request may be to us uh this job this this Museum does not create jobs according to the economic impact study done in 2017 for phase one of the project it was granted $500,000 it states that the museum will only have one employee we're still at that number the museum is not drawing troves of tourists and the applic for the 2024 funding request this Museum States their latest data uh as 10,000 tourists annually to to this uh uh museum while the county isn't uh while this isn't a county funded hand County funded handout we we've done that in the past uh it still is funded on the backs of Florida taxpayers and I suggest now this is what's unique here um governments send letters to to the governor asking for things to be funded I thought we'd do a little bit of a spin on this and we would send a letter to the governor asking him to line item veto this I don't want to call it a turkey because someone else already called it a Turkey um so this is no reflection of the hard work that Senator Mayfield and representative soroy those were the two people that I don't know how they put their name on this request but but they did so my request would be for the board to sign a letter to send up to the governor um and the Crux of this uh I I'll read you the the center paragraph As we move forward with your As you move forward with your duties as Governor following the 2024 legislative session the board would like to bring your attention Appropriations line number 3234 the Cape Canaveral light station reconstruction Phase 2 this request for $650,000 is to reconstruct two Lighthouse Keeper assistant cottages at the cape canabo Lighthouse Museum considering the average of less than 28 daily visitors this board feels that the appro appropriation would be better allocated to address the ever increasing insurance premiums again um I would if you guys are not interested in in sending this up I sarcastically had another letter appropriating Ju Just saying how how instrumental this is to not only Bard County the State of Florida but probably the world uh but I'm not even going to put that one out here uh but I wanted to see if I had any support here sending a letter up to the governor saying please do not fund this this this turkey okay commission Goodson about the time I like you about the time I can are you one of the 28 visitors of this darn thing yes yes I am but if you know anything about Talahassee we have funded so many barbecue grills for the Cubans in Miami okay every year there's a new barbecue for Bay of the pigs why don't you just leave this alone let this go through think about it you can go out there one day when you're old and sit on the bench and look at the Cottages uh Mr chair we we don't need to do this Debbie Mayfield and Tyler have worked so hard we need to get this money to Bard County to help them because every they have begged for money throughout the years John they have can I ask a question of Morris wouldn't this need to be under an agenda item items such as this have been raised during board reports but it is preferred that they be placed on a agenda if possible I mean if if if the commission wants to do it that's fine with me anybody have a motion to u to do this commission to buy us I don't I I don't plan on if if there's not the sentiment here I don't I don't plan on bringing it up on a Bo a board report I mean sorry if we don't do this today will you send the second letter to the governor you you don't want to see the second letter right you do not want to see this all I'm going to have to have you guys removed from the room all right I'm Le you're ready all right still got fire to do okay so there's uh no support there I appreciate I look forward to phase 16 of this darn Lighthouse project again I guarantee it we we funded $500,000 for period correct Furniture uh you will see a a similar request okay board report National take your parents to the playground day that's kind of an interesting one now here let me tell you something and I I I really appreciate I want to uh I I was in the community uh and I knocked on a door and I spoke with someone that actually happens to watch our meetings and she informed me that she was uh a little concerned with uh my titling useless Florida facts she said many of the facts are kind of useful and I said I don't can't uh can't can't argue with you there so I am changing the useless to useful uh Florida facts and I want to thank D abs for that uh suntan lotion was invented in Miami a Miami pharmac pharmacist invented the first modern sunblock suntan lotion during World War II he later perfected this formula after the war creating copper tone brand in the process so your useful Florida fact to stay in Florida history the version of the Florida flag uh we use today is from 1985 when an uh the artistic rendition of the uh seal was created the previous rendition was approved in the year 1900 when the Red Cross was added to the background so I did not know was that recent and I would want to thank uh Clerk and controller sadof she is the one or blame her one or the other of those two things so I sent uh requests out to the constitutionals asking them who they were interested in uh uh recognizing and I got back quite a list so uh again this is the clerk not uh not me uh so the names here and there are many of them the first one would be a guy by the name of uh Frank Abate he's County Manager 34 years of service John denninghoff assistant County Manager 27 years of service Mark Berna public works three and a half years and the following facility staff so I want to go over those uh yes there many of them are back here again thank you so so much for uh all of the work but I'm going to go over you guys so you you sat through this very exciting meeting uh eventful meeting I'm going to start with skip Bell facilities manager three years skip oversees the activities and supervisory personnel with a facilities program including maintenance and Construction Division skip was born in Greece and spends his spare time as a taxi driver for his four kids he relaxes Night by turning wrenches on his motorcycle classic Jeep and class Volkswagen Doug Willets Carpenter 2.5 years Doug has retired from his own construction and modeling business he serves as top uh entertainers and athletes in Atlanta uh Georgia Doug is currently a carpenter in the facility South area uh while in reality he fixes everything and does so with a smile after I was Doug enjoys skydiving Paris sailing Woodworking and golf uh Scott Hansen facilities maintenance supervisor 23 years Scott manages the daily maintenance repair and Personnel in all uh facilities from Vieira to Sebastian Scott uh relaxes by sitting in his recliner and waiting for the next emergency after hour's call he is always ready to respond at any hour uh Jerry Richards electrician uh electrician one 40 years Jay started working Bard County straight out of high school this is the only job he's ever had boring resume Jay has an electricity in the facility North Area and knows where all the skeletons are hidden Jay enjoys fishing on his boat golfing spending time with his beautiful wife uh he has two certificates for uh separate holes in one and a tortoise uh with one day one day will hopefully reach 200 lb Tom Horton facility supervisor 7 and a half years Tom is a US Army veteran with six years as a Roa Wing crew chief he currently is in the North Area facilities manager supervisor Tom enjoys saltwater fishing and stained glass craftsmanship Mike mcgu facilities manager 27 years Mike's uh assists the facilities construction manager with overseeing the six construction coordinators and they're at 177 active construction projects uh Mike loves uh music like tulle and panta soft he uh travels all over the state to see as many shows as possible he plans on seeing at least each eight shows this year Shay gracan uh construction coordinator three months Shay joined facilities from the rocket Factory as a construction coordinator she oversees all aspects of project from scope development planning design and construction sh enjoys playing with her Corgi uh Spud three chickens and a monster truck sized side by side Miguel Gonzalez General repair technician 2 years Miguel is originally from New York as a facilities North Area GRT he repairs anything and everything he also said uh he never says no and is always willing to learn new skills Miguel enjoys bowling on a clear day he takes his a mini motorcycle for a ride Miguel is always searching for his next adventure Rick lra plumber 14 years Rick serves as a commun uh communication soldier in the United States Army then as a self-employed plumbing contractor in the Orlando area now Rick is a valued asset taking care of North Bard facility Plumbing needs Rick enjoys cruising and traveling his spare time he cooks bakes and plays with Ward workking tools uh Brian Casey General repairs technician one and a half years Brian maintains all aspects of facilities supports all trades he can often be seen keeping the Water Crystals clear in the reflection Pond uh while Brian repairs things during the day at night he uh tears it up on the racetrack he is a fleet of school buses he races on figure8 tracks interesting Janette Scott uh last but not least Contracting super supervisor 17 and a half years Janette manages all uh bidding and Contracting for public works department including facilities roads and Bridge and transportation construction management Jan's first job with Bard County was a library page at merid Island Public Library shelving books and materials Janette grew up in Germany and relaxes to classical music like tul and panta uh guys thank you so much you do so much for us that we have no idea appreciate it okay commissioner felt another you have any more commission no that's okay cool you another comment real fast at a prior meeting we recognized uh a member from bcso for their service and today we have Lieutenant Scott moleno is it 30 years yes God great thank you I also on that note want to recognize tomorrow's commissioner feltner's birthday ah Happy Birthday Rob all right you have no report Morris you got any report no report Mr Shar okay briefly I this is weighing heavy on my mind because I I'll tell you what I I'm really getting sick and tired of what's happening in this room and I'm I'm going to ask uh Morris to draft me a memorandum in regards to removing people from the room I just the disrespect that we're getting from the audience is in my opinion way overboard and if if anybody here thinks I'm being too heavy-handed with with removing some of these people uh please let me know but I'm not going to let this turn into a zoo in here thank so you know if you've got any comments to me and you think I'm being too heavy-handed please I I'll take constructive criticism but I would I would like to ask Morris if you prepare me a memorandum on what the proper procedure is for removing people from these moovs it's the same 10 people every time it's the same thing every time and I'm not going to allow them to to be rude to you to be rude to Mark to be rude to anybody that's done their hard work here it's just not going to happen so I'm sorry I lost my cool a little bit today but uh I'll try not to very much anymore so with that the only other thing I have is is that I've been requesting by whoer cumber in um Stockton and mayor Blake to at some point in time go to Washington to help them Lobby the $49 million for the bright uh Line station and of course I mentioned it to Frank and uh he suggested that I asked the board if I would have permission to travel with them to do that I'm good it's in your budget so anybody got a problem commissioner good I would just like for you to get the right number I'd like you to talk to Sandra at 74 or 49 I don't want you to go up there and not get enough got it okay I don't think I'll be talking to Senator very much anymore well would you like me to intervene for you that would be great thank you so much all right uh other than that yes sir we need to adjourn but the Board needs to go to Executive session so we need to handle that so what now we have an executive session yeah I know that yeah but I think we have to adjourn and then yeah okay well I he a motion toj and this is not a litigation executive session so it doesn't have a lot of the same formalities you'll just adjourn the meeting and this is notice to the public that we are going to adjourn upstairs to have a closed bargaining session on the union negotiations okay 10 minutes thank you uh for those of you who don't know I'm thrilled to be able to leave tomorrow to go to France to see my wife who I haven't seen for a long time but I am completely uh available by cell phone by email and anything of that nature so uh please don't hesitate to call me or text me or whatever so uh County Business to me is most important so thank you very much for all your service yeah don't lose your cool on the airplane there no put your hey Mark Mark Mark Mark wait who you flying I'm flying Delta and then FL Air France I can't afford those big ones like the opinions expressed by any member of the public during any period of public comment do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the board of County commissioners of Bard County Florida Space Coast government television or the program sponsor and are solely those of the presenter the board of County commissioners of bravard County Florida Space Coast government television and the program sponsor hereby expressly disclaim any and all responsibility or liability for any defamatory or slanderous statements expressed by any member of the public during any such period [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]