[Music] [Music] if you wish to speak to any item on the agenda or during the public comment portion of the meeting please fill out a speaker card each person addressing the board shall have three minutes to complete his or her comments on each agenda item for which he or she has filled out a card the chair has the discretion to determine or alter the time limits on any agenda item the board of County Commissioners requests that speakers appearing under the public comment section of the agenda limit their comments or presentations to matters relating to County Business that are within the board's Control Authority and jurisdiction well I'd like to call a meeting the order welcome to everybody here for the February 6th uh County Commission meeting um Pastor Tim Franklin are you here if you would come up please and give us an invocation I would appreciate it father we thank you for your presence in this place we thank you for your strength and how you bring order to our lives and a sense of security and I pray that in this place tonight as things are discussed and hashed out I ask that the peace that passes all understanding would rule our hearts I ask for the spirit of wisdom and counsel to fill this room and that your heart would be found in every decision that needs to be made thank you for your Amazing Grace and may it be evident that it filled this place tonight when every one leaves I give you all the praise in jesus' name amen amen thank you if we could all rise please for commissioner felner who will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation in posterity indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you um do I have a motion for approval of the minutes from the last meeting please there's a motion by commissioner pritet is there a second second commission by commissioner TOA any discussion all in favor signify by saying I motion carries now we're on to resolutions Awards and presentations and uh we will turn the mic over to commissioner Goodson for a minute please if you would sir thank you uh chair uh today this might be appropriate it surely is appropriate in our world today kindness all around so maybe tomorrow we should all try a little that and see how far it gets us now anyone here prepared the lady here is here to prepare to speak please come on down M Willcox y okay please thank you chair thank you uh chairman Steele for letting us do this kindness symbol um I do have a couple students with me today um Rosalie and Tommy right there who were part of our efforts to start this um kindness symbol when they were in my kindergarten class and they've continued to be kind throughout these years and um they're the epitome of exactly what we want to happen is to learn it when they're young and keep it going as they get older we'd like to encourage everybody to not just be kind but also um to see the kindness symbol and share it and spread it and so that it helps remind other people to be kind also thank you so much hold on Miss Wilcox if you would please sure I'm going to go ahead and read the resolution for you and then uh I think uh he'll present you with the formal resolution and take picture okay perfect can my kids come up yes absolutely everybody should come absolutely please all right a resolution uh recognizing the fifth year anniversary of the kindness allaround symbol whereas on February 7th 2019 The Bard County Board of County Commissioners in a proclamation recognized the kindness symbol as the official symbol of kindness and whereas this kindness symbol was an initiative started in the tk1 classroom at Tropical Elementary in Meritt Island and this kindness Proclamation was the first official act recognizing the kindness symbol and whereas since then the kind of symbol has received many recognitions including proclamations from most cities in Bard County Coco cap Canaveral Satellite Beach Palm Bay Melbourne Rock Ledge and Titusville as well as many businesses and entities including the Coco Beach Chamber of Commerce Meritt Island library and the Veterans Memorial center to name a few Key West was the first outof County Proclamation on July 16th 2019 followed quickly by Green County Ohio to become the first County outside the State of Florida to adopt the kindness symbol and whereas on February 19th 2020 the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate both signed resolutions recognizing the creation and promotion of the kindness symbol and whereas representative posie submitted remarks into the Congressional Record recognizing the kind of symbol US House resolution 509 submitted by rep posy was referred to the committee on education and labor now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Bard County Florida that the fifth anniversary of the kindness allaround symbol is hereby recognized with all parents students community members residents and visitors of bavar County Florida encouraged to use and promote this official symbol of kindness done ordered and adopted this sixth day of February 20124 there's is there a motion please to motion I'll second it's motion by by commissioner Goodson seconded by commissioner feltner any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I all oppos nay the motion carries thank you so very much now we want to gather down by the front commissioner Goodson all right let's go all right let's go on down excuse me let me get you a picture right over here s let me get one too I'll get [Applause] you good job guys good job thank you so much yes ma'am yes commissioner good you have the floor you um my wife taught at Tropical for 20 25 years it's evident by living with her or married to her 49 years she might want to repeat the kindness so I'm going to put her back in the program okay thank you chair thank you so very very much okay uh we are now going up on the consent agenda and there is one card in the consent agenda and it's for F2 and it is for for Victoria Connor are you here Victoria come on up please I just got clarification so I'm not going to be speaking tonight but I got clarification on what I wanted to find out okay you have no comments then my only comment is that um on the I guess the uh you're approving for funding for uh the f2d agreement uh n m34 it's on the Flamingo Drive it's a um I guess it's funding for a swell to prevent erosion and in doing so on North Flamingo you would be taking out trees which um are there as a screen for the motel that's directly across Flamingo from my home in many homes and uh it's a big concern for me because um number one there's a lot of traffic that goes in and out of that motel and sometimes not a very good traffic if you know what I mean so to be able for them to see into my home across the street without that barrier is a concern for mine also the barrier of trees and sea grapes it also prevents a lot of erosion we don't have any flooding on on that street I know on South Flamingo there's flooding um and I don't know what good a swell would really do honestly I think maybe hooking up to sewer systems and putting in some storm drains from the actual street because where the majority of the funding in that or flooding in that area is actually on Ocean Boulevard and I don't know if it's coming in off of A1A and coming down the little Street there cuz there's a slight decline but that's where the flooding is and I don't think it'll I think it'll be a waste of money to put in this well especially on North Flamingo because there is no flooding and there is no erosion so that's all I have to say all right well thank you very much all right thank you uh does the commission have any U of these com that they want to pull on these uh on the consent agenda there's a motion to approve by commissioner pritet is there a second seconded by commissioner Goodson any discussion all in favor signify by saying I all oppose nay consent consent agenda passes so we now go to new business yeah we're on public hearings in G1 uh who's going to handle that Mark good evening board uh g1's a petition of ak2 public utility and drainage easements 1335 anchor Lane Glenn Isles it's in District 2 uh vacating uh portion of the public road utility and drainage easement for the construction of a roof over an existing deck uh there are no uh uh concerns or complaints okay uh any discussion is there a motion a motion by commissioner Goodson is there a second by commissioner Pritchett any discussion hearing no discussion all in fig favor signify by saying I all oppose nay the motion carries all right we will go to unfinished business on H1 Peter are you going to handle this there you are yes sir uh this is a reconsideration of two sports grants and the total amount of $118,000 for smooth running LLC I believe um Mr vnes is here as well for questions Mr V you might as well come up just in case there's any questions um a question to the county attorney I don't do we need to go back and wave the rules again or they continued from the last meeting in in this case the rules were waved for a reconsideration on this subject and then while it was under consideration it was continued so you do not need to wave again this is just a continuation of the reconsideration okay thank you very much uh from the commission um commissioner Taya yes Mr chair I just had a couple questions with your Indulgence absolutely um Mr vnes so you have some reference here maybe can help answer [Music] these um and I appreciate you updating um your request there were just some things I didn't understand so maybe you can clarify um start with the event budget that you turned in on 129 the last entry you have there is the full price is $103 I went on the website your website and the price there is $113 can you uh was that just an oversight well that was either an oversight or 113 is what happens after um cut off of online entries that's the highest price possible yeah again it's not reflected in the budget that you well it wouldn't be because we only collect online entries is what we really have records up okay so I get a little concerned when there are things that aren't in your budget but let's go to this let's go it would be no more than a handful of entries if so if any if any okay I go to the second one in the initial budget you turned in I I have that reference there you have $3,000 in sponsorships mhm in the EV which event is this for this is the first event this is the uh smooth running the uh Coco Beach triathon do Athlon in 5K okay correct and then in the one that you turned on turned in on 129 that $3,000 is no longer theirs or sorry I said I said $3,000 I apologize $5,000 did you lose those sponsors no no I didn't commissioner tobia you all were focused in the last meeting on my revenues from entries and that's what's f that's what's included here I specifically went back to the entries and revenues and that was that was the whole subject of matter at the last meeting okay so so you could add that $55,000 in and sponsorship obious focus on Revenue entries because the original paperwork you gave me I just wanted I just wanted transparency Mr VES just slow down everything's going to be fine just let everybody talk so that we don't talk over each other okay so let's go to the Third thing here and again you said uh registrant so let's go with that farce um I looked at the budget that you turned in on 129 as opposed to the uh one previous and on the 129 event the shuttle versary 5K looked on your website that cost $45 but I did not see that $45 uh anywhere reflected in the 129 budget that you put in uh there's a picture of the shuttle K 5 five shuttle versary 5K the list price $45 again the budget it's not cluded in there you estimate uh on the 125 one that there will be 300 entrance correct so can you explain why with 300 entrance at $45 or less whatever it was why that's not reflected on the most Rec recent actually is it is reflected right full price entries $108 at $45 each 4860 show me where that is if you look at under shuttle versy 5K the third line on them down I I'm looking at the budget that you turned in on 129 uh so I commissioner here's the budget you turned in on 129 it has a total of 790 entrance you're talking about the shutle versary 5K I believe uh that's what you just referenced I did and the one turned in the Coco Beach triath and duathlon it's not listed there well yes sir it is it's right here this is exactly what I turned into the TDC and what they said on to you this is exactly what I this is I never turned in anything that looked exactly like that so I'm not sure I didn't make these numbers up this is what I got no these are the papers I actually turned in nothing had art or color of any sort on it I mean Peter did I'm sorry commissioner toay Peter did you uh put something different on these numbers not to my knowledge sir I think we included everything that we we received unless something maybe accidentally got omitted but I I don't believe so so you just to be clear so the these blue ones here that I received from my office you did not turn in I I turn in nothing with color this is exactly what I submitted they were two Word documents right here the only color I've ever seen are the ones you submitted at last meeting that's commissioner T you have any more questions uh I do have some questions here is why I'm receiving something that's different than turning in but that may be handled differently uh let's go to profit loss here um on the third one The Profit loss uh initially you have a difference of $11,400 on your 123 is it fair to say once um once the revenue of the sponsorships is put in you will no longer be losing money on this uh eventure you'll be uh that's certainly the intent I would say yes yeah okay I no problem it's just making money and then receiving more from government May draw some ire from some folks that's that's the intent yes I like your honesty uh us say Beach running Championship there same issue here but you uh willfully admitted it it sounds like the you put down $3,000 in scholar uh in sponsorships in 123 but your 129 budget does not have that 3,000 uh is it fair to say that uh you still have those sponsorships yes that is still there it's just not reflected in the budget yeah and again the focus of the last meeting was on Entry revenues okay my just I'm sorry if I was unclear my my my uh Focus was on full transparency okay clearly there are uh thank you Mr Barnes I appreciate you going a little bit more clearly there are some inconsistencies here um I mean even if we find one we on the website it's $113 today and it's not reflected on on the budget um so I I appreciate that but still not a a good uh representation of what we have here I Mr VN just stay there for a few minutes please if you would commissioner Prett do you have any questions thank you I think um Mr crannis if we could next year um I think we discuss this if maybe them turning in after the project their financial statements and then we could maybe compare to the budgets and help them with Better B budgets turning them in and and what we're looking for so they're a little bit easier to read yes ma'am that thank you I'm I'm fine with you making some money my um question would be is how many people do you have that come in from out of bevard County that are participating in your races well for it depends on what it is ma'am um the cab Beach Triathlon over 60% over 60% coming from out of Bard County largely um Orlando St Petersburg Tampa we draw straight across the I4 Corridor we also get a lot of residents for the Coco Beach Tri that come from out of state because basically if you're in the Northeast it's too cold to be doing triathlons they're not doing them then and that's why this race is so popular too one of the reasons okay um I had a little um struggle with you last week but um commissioner steel and commissioner Goodson um seem to be very fond of this so um commissioner still and Goodson I'm going to vote with whatever y'all would like to vote with I think I got a lot of questions answered commiss Goodson it's kind of up in your neck of the woods even though it's like all TDC but commissioner still you brought it in so I think I know what you're doing commissioner would you take the chair please please yes I would I'd love to hear from commissioner Goodson though commissioner Goodson you have any comments com I'm sorry is I'm for it they're going to get rated at the end how much bed tax they get so I'm for it and going to vote for it and I'll make a motion to accept it second all in favor say I I I opposed nay passes 32 thank you sir thank you very much thank you commissioner pritet all right new to BU new new to business okay how about some new business development Environmental Services Group uh Community Service Group uh L1 who is handling this okay Mike you hear me okay there Mike Knight endangered lands program manager um uh we have before you today uh some options to consider regarding the uh future funding of the endangered lands program um I know you've seen this uh presentation uh already had a chance to review it so I'm going to move through it pretty quickly um so this slide uh highlights a little bit of uh program history I'm not going to go into a lot of details here but the main takeaway Point here for you tonight is that for previous referendums in the county utilized an acquisition contractor to handle the uh land acquisition uh efforts of the program and they were the primary interface with land owners during the acquisition process and this issue is going to come up uh a little bit later uh in the presentation um next slide uh is the ballot language for the two previous and most recent uh referendums uh the most recent has some specific language related to the protection of lands uh that directly protect the Indian River Lagoon and the St John's river since the program began in 1990 we've acquired a little over 28,000 acres of land and the program directly manages uh only 19 a little over 19,000 Acres of those properties the land maintenance uh activities of the program include uh prescribed fire um we maintain 102 miles of fire maintenance lines fire control lines we maintain a variety of public use Trails for a variety of activities 49 mies of access and maintenance roads 61 mies of perimeter fence lines 33 Trail heads and parking areas and a lot of effort in dealing with exotic species both plant and animals this slide highlights the recreational uses of the lands that we manage under the program um main points here is that we have uh three Environmental Education Centers the Enchanted Forest in Titusville Sam's house and North Meritt Island and the barer island Center in South Melbourne Beach and the program also maintains over 81 miles of public use Trails for activities such as hiking biking equestrians and paddling as the board considers its options moving forward we have ident ified some Capital Equipment and Recreation projects for the existing lands that we manage those are highlighted here I'm not going to go those but we can bring those back up later if there's questions historically lands have been acquired using three main methods uh fee simple acquisition or direct purchase from the land owner and two forms of donation either donations from uh develop the development community for mitigation or donations from Individual citizens that are non- mitigation related the key areas we're seeking board Direction on are noted here um funding for ongoing maintenance of the existing lands and centers acquisition for lands that include out Parcels within the existing lands that we have that are surrounded by the conservation lands and potentially lands that uh directly benefit uh the Indian River Lagoon and the St John's river and to improve the public use improve and expand the public use opportunities on the lands that we have as identified in the 2022 ballot language lands providing protection to the Indian River Lagoon and the St John's river were ranked based on the criteria noted here um the lands are included in the overall land acquisition list recommended by the eel selection and management committee our goal here tonight is to ensure that this aligns with the interest of the board moving forward this slide highlights the uh ranking sheet that's used to prioritize these particular lands uh just a quick reference on the colors the blue essentially represents Wetland largely Wetland properties that are primarily wet green represents out Parcels that are within the existing conservation areas that are primarily Uplands and red uh shows which of those properties rank the highest based on this criteria it's estimated that of those red Parcels on the right side uh the estimated cost would be in the neighborhood of about $28 million to acquire those historically we've typically had a success rate of about 50% so we would estimate that cost of you know splitting that in half down to 14 million a subject to change according to any input we have from you folks tonight the next uh few slides are just some slides that represent those red Parcels in relationship to the lands that we already have acquired so lands that are bordered in green or blue are already conservation lands within the Holdings of the program so there's I won't stop on any of these but we just had four examples here for you to uh to review oops sorry all right this slide shows the actual operating expenses for fiscal year 2023 it also represents the anticipated operating needs of the program moving forward of course depending on the direction of the board related to land acquisition um we have uh currently 23 fulltime staff members and six part-time and I believe you also have in your packet a um Financial condition report uh of the program that was prepared by CRI uh that's been reviewed by the chair of the audit committee and uh was approved to be here with you today and that the findings in that report are consistent with the U information here so looking at uh potential uh bonding options for you to consider um uh this first slide focuses on uh bonding specifically uh and uh related to debt millage associated with that and depending on the direction of the board that the board would like to take there are additional corresponding operational costs and millages that that are on the next slide that would correspond with these option one is issuing bonds to fund primarily Capital Improvements to the existing facilities lands and Equipment um and to fund annual program operations uh at the same level uh it was stated in our in the previous slide um and that's a 3.2 million in bonds um option 1A would be uh is added to that so this would include option one um and this would be to issue bonds uh for uh some initial land acquisition that would focus on lands directly protecting the Lagoon and the St John's river um that would be 6.2 million in bonds option two is to focus strictly on issuing bonds for a new education center and field office um on the existing lands that we have and fund the annual operations of the program at 4 million in bonds option three would be to issue bonds uh for some additional land acquisition in the same criteria um so to expand the acquisition efforts um again focusing on the Lagoon and the St John's river um and it would include those options uh those those lands within option 1A and fund the op annual operations of the program and of course option four would be any uh further direction we received from the board or how you would like to mix or match or or address those uh the next slide um is the uh operational costs uh related to those so depending on which option you chose uh the corresponding millage here for operations would be added to the bond um uh the bond millage I'm not going to spend any time here uh uh but we can come back to that if you have questions and the last slide I have for you today relates to uh some additional direction that we would need if the board wishes uh to move forward with some land acquisition historically it's always been handled by an acquisition contractor and uh so we would need some direction on on how you would like us to approach that whether it would be uh you know going out to an RFP for for a contractor and how you would like a contract like that structured if we did go down that path um keeping in mind that all purchases always come back to the County commission for final approval um so you're the final stop for any any acquisition that would be considered um and this would come back to the board uh you know depending on what options uh you you chose to look at tonight so with that I uh am through and if okay thank you very very much Mike I assume that all of the people that filled out cards tonight are in favor of us doing one of these options is there anybody that's opposed to us doing one of these options as a result of that I I think probably we've got a lot of cards so we're going to leave it at two minutes instead of three minutes because I'm sure the same thing is going to be said over and over again tonight but we do want to hear what you have to say so with that uh Phillip sastic good afternoon Mr chairman and fellow Commissioners it's great to speak with you today I'm Phil stask North Meritt Island uh and I am speaking on behalf of the Space Coast Progressive Alliance we strongly encourage you to adopt option one two 3 and open it up to four please this is your opportunity to use that money that the the citizens of this County have asked you to spend to protect our wildlands our River our Indian River Lagoon our Beaches they need protection and they need protection as soon as we can possibly do it the best way to do it is to set this the lands that are still available aside as best you can protect the lands that you've already chosen to protect we know that I Le tell you my personal experience I've had the pleasure of doing oyster gardening I've uh cleaned up our Rivers both uh under under underwater and on the shore with keep rard beautiful uh We've adopted a spoil Island we've done many things over the years all across this County to to help protect uh Bard uh I first came here back uh 45 years ago as an aerial photographer and when I flew over Bard County the Indian River Lagoon was clear the St John's river was clear and healthy over the years we've seen that change my wife and I moved here 30 years ago the population by way it's very interesting to see the correlation population when I first flew over this area was 273,000 people back in 1980 30 years ago it was 400,000 people today there are 660,000 people living in Bard County and we are depending on you to please do the right thing protect our County please Full Speed Ahead on all options acquire land protect our River protect our lands does anyone have any questions thank you very much Tom thank you very much excuse me okay so this is a kindness night I would kindly request that we hold all of the Applause on each one of these or we'll be here till 2 o'clock in the morning so it's going to be an interesting night and everybody's going to be kind and we're going to get through it as quickly as possible Tom unrath please thank you for this opportunity Tom unrath uh live 1170 ID away here in Melbourne uh District 4 uh under Mr felder's uh protection um I'm going not going to speak so much to to say what to do you've already alluded to that Mr steel um but let me give you a little bit of the why I'm a pastor U Lutheran specifically and the way I see the environmentally endangered lands program is not just to protect and I'm I'm very much for it protecting the wetlands and the Indian River Lagoon St John's river but also uh to enhance the opportunity for us and and others not just in the county but outside to to be part of what God has given us uh God's creation is wonderful and I'd like for us to maintain it as best we can I would like to see us not only maintain the beauty that God has given us but then to use it for a purpose that others can also enjoy it um some of what Mike put up there uh uh and how that can happen totally totally behind all of that so again that is part of the the reason I see for why to do this to be good stewards of God's creation thank you thank you very much lilan lilan Liber oh okay I just didn't know where you were I was trying to find you there you go this is impromptu um I just my name is Ellen Liber uh Coco West and um I just want to present the missed opportunity that you guys um are faced with and that is the James Road Extension uh this is fragile endangered land has not been identified as such we know different we know that it's probably um very important to the ice Community um we've seen evidence of it and we're waiting to get approval for more investigation um it has many nests of the of the endangered goer tortoise uh couple of bobcats were seen yesterday roaming the property um and we've had um sightings of the um of the scrub grass of The Scrub Blue Jay couldn't get pictures cuz they're pretty fast and they're and the the the plants that grow there are um are are so has anyone been there has anyone seen this parcel of ground at James Road I would encourage you all to view it before it gets destroyed by ground CLE clearing and by that new development I understand where it is I understand you don't have that ability but you do in the grand scheme of things you have the ability to take whatever property you can purchase and I think it needs to be put into our hands where it can remain as a Preserve in terms of the nature preserve not in Windward preserve so please please give that consideration we need a valuation of this property before it's too late thank you thank you before we go any further I'd like to just remind the audience that please keep it specific to our agenda item that we're having right tonight I appreciate lilian's comments in regards to a particular piece of property that the eels committee might purchase but that's not we're on tonight we're on to the County Commission making a decision on which option they're going to take so with that I'm going to go to Josie how hi I'm Mrs Hal um West Coco area and um piggy backing off at Lam but in a New Direction um missed opportunity has taken place multiple times with endangered land in the county um lyen um we're at with the state right now about an agricultural I mean archaeology survey that excluded possibly if anyone took fourth grade history they would have known where to have dug on this property but the thing is in when going forward with the E contractor versus committee I really urge you as a board to discuss using a local contractor with a committee oversight from afar because with this property back to 1959 60 no one ever locally owned the property until recent it's always been this is the example of a l go aride because no one knew what the land was so with your considerations moving forward it it's very important and imperative that it be committed out for searching because Bard county is a huge County I grew up in huge County with historical prevalence in Texas I grew up in the city that was the first capital of the Republic for Sam Houston died and and and they are just now getting everything back in order because too many people moved in and the first 300 families which was my father's branch of the families and actually part of the fifth and sixth cousins at Bard in the 1800s after the split and the move from Barbados and so the thing is local looking to not have any more missed opportunities because the land in which Lillian is talking about the County held in a fiveyear rideway trust that there should have been archaeological surveys done with the state there is no archaeological survey on the master site file until the year 2021 and this is what she's impl implying that the missed opportunities don't miss another opportunity to to preserve deer liking that's endangered um anyway thank you have a day thank you very much Richard come on up my friend Rick C finger 2000 unip per Drive district one um I don't want to throw a wet blanket on anybody but i' kind of like to understand when you guys sell bonds investors buy the bonds and when we pay interest on the bonds so what is the cost impact to the taxpayer we're no longer doing anything on non-ad valorum tax we're not collecting right we stopped doing that as I understand if somebody could discuss how this impacts because you made a statement in the text that you would talk about the options and the cost of the taxpayers and the bottom line gets into it it's like we are asking to spend money of ours and somehow we are the people are going to pay for that I don't know you know it's a great idea to buy property and but at what cost I mean I'd love to tell you to buy the wind we reserve buy it back they're going to they're going to try to preserve some of it anyway why couldn't we work with them to help them preserve that property maybe offset a little bit of the cost maybe maybe ask them for compromise to reduce the housing slightly because they've got a problem with the wetlands in there so but uh still we're asking to and I'd like to hear what the options are the newspaper said something about 50 million is that the max that you were allowed to go what would the cost be to the taxpayers on $50 million worth of bonds cuz you're going to have to pay for it out of tax dollars right nobody's giving us this money for free I'd like to hear what the tax implications are thank you thank you Richard is this Wade Olsen is that correct come on up Wade hello oh thank you for the opportunity to speak here today um kind of the same subject to a certain degree uh however um a lot of these properties Wetlands that are being developed like we have going on throughout the county um they do mitigation through mitigation Banks so the wetlands but unfortunately a lot of these credits that they're buying they're preserving Wetlands outside the county so I think that this area that most of us maybe are referring to on the North End of uh Friday Road could be an opportunity to establish that as a uh a local um wet and mitigation bank so that way it can be preserved within the community and shared by the community that's my suggestion thank you thank you Wade Debbie POF is that how you say it podor okay hi Debbie come on up thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening um my name is Debbie pottorf and I'm from Coco and I'm also speaking to the uh Jame Jameson Road Extension um I am here to ask for your consideration to use part of the conservation land purchase funds to purchase this uh acreage um from what I understand I I don't want to be going off your topic of your four options but I believe one of your options is to purchase land uh this area was annexed by the uh city of Coco from unincorporated bravard County and it is a uh protected old growth Live Oak area with other uh Flora as well uh threatened the gopher tortoises protected Florida Sand Hill cranes and many mammals the surrounding area is very rural um and it would be a great opportunity to uh purchase land to uh protect our beautiful land for the future thank you so much for listening thank you Debbie Anita unrath Anita unrath 1170 idaway Melbourne but really only about four miles from here uh Vera East I think they call it um yesterday my church Advent Lutheran Church had a Bible study the Women's Bible study in our gather magazine scriptures and nature teachers of faith and we were talking in one of the studies about Noah and there was a very interesting question here about Noah who are some of the Noah in your local community who help protect and sustain creatures or the planet I would like to say that you probably have a whole room full of those Noah here today and what kinds of things are they doing they're doing all kinds of things to protect the environment our environmentally endangered lands program is so important and we the voters recognize that and 70% voted in favor of it I ask you please to go to the $50 million Bond level because say Bard county is something that is so important to all of us here on the Space Coast that we have this wonderful nature that we're surrounded by we have so many Noah here we've got our eel program we've got the natural resources department we've got bravard Zoo we've got a bunch of nonprofits recognized here today and all of us um are in favor of this program because we voted for it and now the question how can you join them that's for you five Commissioners will you please join the other noas in the room and fund this program to the maximum allowable thank you very much thank you for your comments Chris Baker hello hi um Chris Baker um I live in Melbourne but I'm also chair of Space Coast Surf Rider found Foundation we are a big um environmental organization and I agree with what she said and I'm also here um supporting the Indian River Coalition you haven't called on them yet so whatever they have to say we are in support of that as well we we hope that you want to continue with the eel program funding we we need to for for all of us and all our animals and the whole community so that's it thank you so very very much thank you Chris Cindy Olsen good evening Cindy hello I'm Cindy Olen I live in West Coco and I unfortunately I came for that same topic you're not real happy about but um I just I would just wanted to uh I would like to El Els program to consider buying the 212 Acres at James Road Extension and also this is wetland property it has a lot of wildlife that is endangered and they're doing nothing whatsoever the I've been reviewing all the documents on the uh St John's River Water Management where they have the permit you can read all the documents online and they're hiding the wli species they they they submitted a report they didn't even they said they're going to talk about about it then they just leave it at and it's not in there and then they have an environmental assess they had a phase one environmental assessment and they said they found goph for Turtles and they recommended a phase 2 um environmental site assessment done and this was not done so the St John's River Water Management District is not properly processing this application also I looked through the application form they filled out they left out sections that they didn't even fill out they didn't check the Wetland box in their application so this is really getting shoved through really fast and we just found out about like a month ago and so I just wish somebody could help save this property thank you so much it's not that we're unhappy about it it's just that we have to take put the horse before the cart and what we have to do tonight is just make a decision on where we're going to go and then we can study all the criteria and let the yields committee go to work so I apologize if I'm trying to keep you back on track but we can't discuss single pieces of property tonight but thank you for all your comments and at some point in time I'm sure we will be listening to all of them when we get to the point where we have the money so thank you very much Vince lamb hello old friend how are you doing well uh good evening uh chairman steel and Commissioners I I I came of course prepared for 3 minutes and I can adapt uh with the passage of this referendum the voters of Bard County have empowered this County Commission to show leadership in protecting our Waters by purchasing lands and preventing the the pollution associated with development the Indian River Lagoon and the St John's river need strong County leadership in 2016 after the massive fish kill commissioner Barfield and Smith stepped up as Leaders they embraced the save our Indian Lagoon plan developed by natural resources they got community support and they got votes for approval more recently commission the commission simply reviews the annual updates from the COC and approves them with just small changes uh a number of people are here tonight who aren't speaking uh to show support of this bonding and the and the land purchases to protect the Lagoon in the St John's may I ask them to stand sure please thank you thank you all for coming okay today is is your opportunity to show leadership you can vote to initiate the bonding and the purchases of the land that protect our Waters you can you can Bond and authorize the maximum 50 million you can authorize a lower amount you can do nothing the choic is youres please step up to protect our Waters and the life that depends upon them thank you thank you Vince thanks buddy Tammy Hoisington is that correct yes sir wow amazing good evening ladies and gentlemen thank you so much for allowing me to come up here and speak um I am also from West Coco um however what I am going to say does have to something to do with one of your measure numbers I didn't get it written down I'm sorry but it is about saving the waters um if our flood waters were to just be let go if all our trees and our wetlands and everything on that property were to be destroyed it would greatly impact the St John's river greatly impact and it's already it already flows slow enough it already stays at flood level for months as everybody knows um I doubt if uh we could keep pollutants out of it if we were to cut all the trees and build all these homes and have pavement on there and everything else it's just impossible um I do have exciting thing and it's about the wildlife um how many of you have seen blue birds pardon me how many of you have seen bluebirds I mean real actual bluebirds not Blue Jays not blue blue Scrub Jays but actual bluebirds they've been gone in our area where I live for over 10 years there's been three spotted in the last two weeks so that's pretty exciting but you know what if all that stuff is gone and our Wetlands aren't protected and our trees our our Pine lies which are also endangered or not protected because there are out there that that's a real shame that's a real shame I've only been here 3 years and I love this County I plan to die and be buried here because it is beautiful but as many people have already said we are asking you to please please be advocates for that property because the property cannot speak on its own so please protect it for us thank you thank you for your comments Martha pizaro good evening Martha good evening esteemed board it's a pleasure again to be here and this evening I'm wearing the Hat of the president of the friends of the enchanted forest for 33 and a third years we have been working with with the eel program and our natural resources to give education uh passive Recreation some conservation and preservation to the lands that we call the eel program the Enchanted Forest was the flagship for this entire program and I wanted to share with everyone I I can't show you on TV the shirt I'm wearing today but I do have the gopher tortoise and some of our scrub uh Oaks are in here and then the beautiful emblem for the friends of the Enchanted Forest our ancient Oak oh cool very well done and I knew I knew we wouldn't be able to see that on TV anymore but I wanted to let people know that's what we're representing and we have those symbols that we take with us uh we're having an enormous amount of impact this is the first month into the year and those numbers on attendance are growing and growing and growing even if it's raining out crowds of people are coming it's amazing and we want to keep that up we want to bond at the maximum so that we can keep this program going another 20 years beyond that we are hoping that our ancestors and will'll be very glad that we've put all this together and our descendants will have something to enjoy I will leave you with the words of our esteemed Joanie Falls who is in chanted Forest Sanctuary Steward for many years May the forest be with you very nice very nice I'll let you applaud for that [Applause] one Ronald jtic J Curtis J Curtis okay there you go a little help one my friends here Ronald where are you there he comes aha there he is you got the big stick I remember the last time you were going to use it on me that's not true roner goodus resident of this County uh you got door number one door number two door number three or Door Number Four to spend money I understand it takes money to get this done hopefully staff is going to be doing the correct job on this but as I remember being a resident of Florida since 1973 actually 72 vacationing many many years when I was a child here it was totally different and my major concern here is I've seen Fort Lauderdale I've seen Miami I've seen West Palm Beach I've seen Tallahassee I've seen a lot of places and we get this going here to save the land and save the land and we need to we need to do that but are they the correct choices of where they're being saved is there enough participation to ensure that it is saved because I'll give you examples in these various communities hopefully this will not happen here but it's already happen happening with rubber dust hitting our waterways not only the Indian River Lagoon but the St John's river uh are we going to save the correct places because at one point in Fort Lauderdale I lived down there for a while nothing will be developed past the road on the other side of the interstate it's going to be saved Everglades nothing is going to happen we've got this land by God and then it happens more money and guess what they developed and they kept going West and West young man I hope this is spent diligently correctly and in the correct spots and there needs to be a lot of citizens input thank you thank you very much for your comments well Keith Keith Winston did you bring anything from the zoo for us tonight one of the endangered species we have enough okay good evening Keith good evening Commissioners thank you for taking up this important topic um I really want to just make one point about what a great investment this is in our community as you know 70% of the citizens voted for it uh to bond up to $50 million and here's two reasons why I believe that's so first the nature of the process as you saw options tonight and I encourage you to bond as much money as possible if you take a look at the actual pieces of property they have low value in terms of the tax Market but high value for conservation they're pinpointed for that purpose and that's well done by the staff to date and the selection committee second piece I want to talk about is the intrinsic in economic value to us as a community as you're probably aware uh the EDC and the TDC just completed a unified brand they literally engaged thousands of people Bard County to talk about what makes life here so special how do we recruit the kinds of people we want to live here Engineers other folks like that and Lally how do we bring new companies here and if you look at the brand it's built about two things space and technology and nature and the two live side by side without the nature people don't move here so when people wonder about the investment this is the best investment we can make about keeping our economy thriving protecting the Lagoon the lands that buffer the lagoons the lands that quality of life the lands that showed up in all of that work on the brand so I encourage you to bond the maximum possible at a minimum to combine you know one two and three and start the work because as this gentleman said you know time's slipping away so let's get at it and empower the teams here and your very able staff to move forward protect the right land build the right facilities Engage The Next Generation and keep this place really special thank you thank you very much Keith Craig thanks Rob good evening gentlemen Craig Wallace I'm representing the chairman of The Bard needan River Lagoon Coalition uh I'm going to just keep our perspective uh on this to uh the Lagoon mainly but certainly also the rivers this is really the the opportunity for us to preserve some of the wetlands um you know as you can see that's become kind of a focus of of looking at at Future lands here wetlands are super important one because that's where all this surface water is going to drain when we develop all the areas around here that aren't uh maybe purchased uh by this bond issue but those are the critical areas where we're going to keep from flooding and we're also going to keep that water from directly going into the Lagoon in uh including the Lagoon so those are the perspectives I'd like to you to consider when you think about this and these are areas where uh as was said these are basically swamp land uh let's just keep it in that state because that's the best way to filter the water keep it uh clean when it gets into the aquifer and keeps it out of the Lagoon so that's my focus and uh thank you you know get get as much land as we can thank you very much thank you sir Sarah roads ory oh there you are good evening Shar good evening uh my name is Sarah rhoni and I represent the Sea Turtle Conservancy um Bard County voters supported the eels program referendum in November 22 by a very wide margin Bard County residents have spoken they see the positive benefits of the eel program for our community the Sea Turtle Conservancy supports the commission moving forward with bonding the referendum as written to keep the existing nature centers and possibly a new center open maintained and staffed delivering exceptional educational programs the nature centers are gems U ized by over 63,000 school children and visitors annually for many these centers are their first exposure to the Wildland Trails the beach the Indian River Lagoon and the positive emotional and psychological benefits of a strong connection with unspoiled nature these centers and trails they're not just places for wildlife they are essential for human well-being to fund continued Land Management and Public Access taxpayers and matching funds of 42 million have been invested in enhancing local biodiversity and maintaining a native landscape for wildlife and people to recreate eel maintains 70 miles of trails including Waterfront lands on the Indian River Lagoon and its tributaries if eel discontinues their land management practices the native landscape and access to it will be lost in just a few years as will the gains of the last 30 years to acquire additional land the referendum specifically supports the county continuing to acquire sensitive lands eel has identified properties that will enhanced Wildlife corridors allowing safe passage for a variety of imperal species many of the targeted lands are wetlands that clean and filter out pollutants from the water before it drains in the Indian River Lagoon in the St John's river both of these land buying priorities are consistent with State leadership priorities to purchase lands in the Florida Wildlife Corridor and improve the water quality of the Indian River Lagoon the eel conservation lands the existing 28,000 acres and the future acquired lands improve the water quality of the Lagoon over time will support sea grass recovery and that is critical food for our juvenile green sea turtles who make their home in the Indian River lagon thank you so very very much SRE Sullivan Sandra Sullivan um South Patrick Shores so in 2022 I did quite a bit of advocating for this tax the pass and so it was uh I was very grateful to see it pass uh I have just a couple comments um a little bit different than some of the other speakers a fiscal one so wetlands are the heart and soul of Florida they improve water quality and more importantly when we have hurricanes they mitigate damage and they give a place for the water to go and what we see with uh with with development we have much more storm water going into the Indian River Lagoon so I just want you consider that it is very much a priority to acquire as much in the way of lands and although you may be inclined to think oh this is going to take it off the tax role as some of our commissioners have stated in the past um the the savings uh to our insurance industry which is in crisis um under the uh Florida sorry the the um Federal flood insurance program the county has obligations as well to protect uh Wetland areas um these areas are not really supposed to be developed but Florida doesn't have a good track record in that regard I would say however that in looking at this I don't see in the referendum language uh supporting new centers nor an office space so I would encourage not to do the option b for the field office but to focus entirely on the acquis position of wetlands um that will have a a fiscal impact um for putting storm water to a place and to work with St John's because they sold off and they a few years ago were getting rid of some of their conservation lands to work with them that they are also combining efforts with with eels to continue their acquisition thank you thank you Su uh Mr Swan I know you got in here a little bit late but would you like to speak if you would on the way after you're finished would if you'd fill out a card Jim I'd appreciate it yes sir sir I'll run a good meeting thank you um I've I've talked to some of y'all before but my my biggest deal is I came here as 180,000 people in this County uh I moved here to get away from all the people that moved into Clear Water where I was raised um now there's 600 plus thousand people and what I ask youall to think about is what happens what's it going to be like here when there's 800,000 people when there's a million people and we just got to have recreational Green Space and protected areas that kind of keeps Pace with that growth and so if you buy a little bit there'll be some for all those new people to enjoy so that was my only real thought thank you thank you Mr Swan okay um uh we are finished with the cards and I'll turn it back to the commission and uh who would like to go first commissioner pritchet you want to take the floor commissioner felner do okay commissioner felner are you ready to go you want throw something I I can be uh so I I think we can come back in the future and Bond more money so while I appreciate the comments uh today for us to go to 50 million I don't I don't think that's the right thing to do to out of the gate uh go for the maximum so uh and I think there was a comment earlier about uh you know not building a new building I I have to tell you that I happen to agree with that I think uh the voters voted to to buy land I'll tell you where I would be I would be uh I I know in here the options Bond 14 million I'd be closer to half that amount is what I would be comfortable with and we can come back in 90 days so we can get the ball rolling we can see how this goes we can see what's out there and what's available and we could revisit this uh you know the rest of the mount the whole amount whatever the board's um pleasure is uh in a few months that's what I'd be comfortable with you well so seven um to to bond yes commissioner p m you have the floor like to speak kind of wanted to hear what everybody had to say first okay is that all right oh yeah absolutely you do what you want commissioner go ahead uh thank you Mr chair um I'm going to first of all say that uh I support uh option one I think that uh there's some uh needed equipment to help maintain the lands that we have there are certainly some improvements that need to be made uh for boardwalks and for my opinion uh some uh ADA compliance issues so uh I'm I'm fully ready to go forward with the option one which is a bond amount of uh $3.2 million um I'll get into some reasons I mean I I guess it's already been thrown out a number to bond I'll give you some reasons why I don't think bonding uh is probably the right way to go for land AC acquisition I'll start with the uh first five properties that were listed in there all consist of of wetland generally Wetlands cannot be built upon ownership alone does not have an impact on the Lagoon so the question is these Wetlands continue to serve as natural filters for the Lagoon whether they're owned by the county or whether they're owned by an individual there's no net positive and then when we get in net positives uh I I'd like to definitely say what a great job sorl uh has done they they they've got an approach they're using math behind it and I would like to see that same approach done here and I think that's incumbent upon us um the soral plan States the amount of speed of nutrient reduction are the two most critical factors affecting the success of restoring the Indian River Lagoon to health if we get at the ballot language here in the the uh attachment it says it to directly benefit the Indian River Lagoon in St John's river so the way that sorl did this was to determine how many dollars per pound of n nitrogen and phosphorus we've identified that as a uh key driver to to Healing the Lagoon that's what it says here in the ballot language that we're looking to heal the Lagoon there's not one project listed here that has any empiric data that it's going to help the Lagoon so until we saw that data I I I think uh saying we're going to potentially Bond land is is is not fair to our constituents we have folks out here that are already saying buy this land buy this land buy this land and we haven't even begun so for the reasons that uh there is no net positive imp for Wetlands whether we own it or not it's still going to be uh a place uh for for filtering and number two we're saying this is going to be good for the Lagoon but we're not measuring it and and and uh the same way that we're uh spending the soral dollars I think is the same way that we should spend these eels dollars and until we're given that data I think it would be premature for us to say go spend 7 thou $7 million or go spend $14 million or as some folks have said just go spend all $50 million so again I will be strongly in favor of option one which is bonding in the amount of $3.2 million for upgrades to existing uh facilities as well as equipment to help support those upgrades thank you are you Mr kson um commissioner prit got the chair oh I got the chair I thought you did no sir oh okay you keep asking me to speak I'd like to give it to you after you finish with Mr Goodson thank you thank you I have a hard time with that thank you for sitting here um whichever chair okay question uh to uh commissioner SP if if the Wetland is on and is it not true that they could mitigate it and develop the Wetland buying mitigation uh credits somewhere else yep absolutely but where many of these wetlands are located the odds of mitigating a a a wetland on a piece of property that is 90% Wetland is highly unlikely as you know as a developer or someone in that field who's paved a great deal of Florida which I greatly respect um uh you know I've mitigated Wetland when I purchased a piece of property a small portion less than 5% of the property had wetland and it was mitigated you would never buy a piece of property that was 95% Wetland and then mitigate it the the the properties that we're looking in here are overwhelmingly Wetland so the likelihood of that happening is Slim or none slim to none okay question chair one more please go ahead commissioner T then would you are you advocating do I understand you correctly that you would want to see some sort of a uh one through 10 items that by buying a uh uh ills land they would have to prove the need just like sorl proves their their money is spent and they prove the where it's going Mr chair yes I think that's what the voters demand they had down here that were're to use it to help uh heal the Indian River Lagoon we have we we have tetr that's gone out there and shown us the dollars per pound of nitrogen and phosphorus I'm not a scientist but I'm going to go by what uh what we've used in the past I think that same rubric we should use when spending these $50 million if we can show that buying a piece of land has a net positive effect using some scientific measure other than buy this land uh I I I would be more than willing to look at it but I have no evidence here that shows uh we will have any level of filtration any level of nitrogen removal any level of of of phosphorus removal and again again that's what the soril plan indicates is important to Healing the Lagoon buying land is not the answer with your your comments would that responsibility be placed on staff to prove to us that the that's a good reason to buy this land would staff be the one to have that Mr Sher yes go ahead the same way that the soral committee goes around if that requires some sort of uh contractor or uh some someone with that area of expertise but um I'm not willing to uh ask ask individuals to to uh part with money via bond without having some uh data to show that there will be a positive effect on the Indian River Lagoon and um you're are you approving one and onea well I Mr chair I don't I don't approve anything your recommendation one and one a uh absolutely not it is it is one okay thank you chair thank you commissioner pett do you have comments yeah I was kind of hoping to hear what commissioner Goodson was Landing in all this you you asked a lot of good questions but I don't have a footing what you're thinking uh to really don't know one I'm thinking yet okay I was just curious what to buy I was thinking I know I'm I'm curious to hear from you guys tonight to kind of figure this out um the things running in my head is the the voter approved this at large margin that they wanted it for I think it said in there to maintain or to purchase so you know definitely to maintain we we need to move that so option one's definitely on the board with me um the other ones I I I think we should be looking at them um I can't help but I'm an accountant interest rates are so high right now so I would have a little more Comfort if we kind of had it solidified what we were going to look at um I I'm comfortable going with commissioner taya's idea or commissioner Felton I liked your idea too um but I I think I I'm thinking this year the interest rates are going to start coming down so I I would like to see what it is we're going to purchase just because it is all y'all's dollars I think the Delta it's like $6 a year to the average taxpayer and a $250,000 home which is almost everybody now but with responsibility on that I think I would want to see the property we're looking at like commissioner tobia is asking because this commission is going to have to vote on it too so I I think if we had a piece of property and then we start working towards this that might be a better route as well but I uh I'm fully an agreement with the taxpayers of finding this property and and purchasing it for the reasons that they asked to do it and I I think it's a good idea but responsibly I I would like to see the ills boards come with the number one we want to do and then we vote on it we get working on the bonds but that's just my thought on it okay commission preer would you take the floor I certainly will thank you very much commissioner s you wanting to talk yeah well I I want to talk because the people have talked they've been very loud and very clear on what they want us to do I have served 50 years in the real estate business and I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale and I can tell you right now I don't want another Fort Lauderdale I don't want any more problems no please please don't please don't this I I apologize I didn't make anybody want to clap it but I can tell you right now if we don't get on the stick and start purchasing lands we're going to be ruined we're going to be ruined and I I cannot believe that we're sitting here after the people spoke with 70% saying go get some lands go buy the lands that are in the potential area if I had it my way I would buy all the land that's on the ocean I would buy all the land that's on the river and I would stop the development for going any further tonight we have a very very critical choice and I was prepared to go to 25 million tonight and and and and hopefully go to get the other 25 million at another point it doesn't look like that's the way this commission's going but I am absolutely in favor of option three we need to move and we need to move now the wetlands are a very very important item that we need to purchase and there's and understand commissioner tobi's argument I don't to totally agree with it but I'm a private property rights guy and you're seeing you're hearing a private property rights guy say tonight without buying these Wetlands without buying these properties we're not going to have any private property rights anymore so I I would like to to move that we accept option three as the issue for this evening okay real quick I know you guys really like the guy but I'm going to ask you not to applaud just so you that that you don't boo if somebody says something you don't don't like so everybody's got an ability to speak their speak their opinion Fair okay Pokerface all right here we go commissioner Felton are you trying to jump in then commissioner Goodson's yeah okay thank you um by buying land unless I'm mistaken you're not going to stop people coming to Florida now if you can pass building wall up there around Jacksonville go to it when I was born there was 3 million people in Florida I don't know some people say a 100,000 a day moving to Florida I don't know it might come a time that you you or we or all of us want to move to Georgia don't know now but but I do think there is some validity to what commissioner Tobi is saying there should be some sort of a check mark and balance on land buying that serves the purpose that the voters voted for and that was save the Indian River of Lagoon and the St John's river so that being said I would support one and onea that would what that would be what I would support tonight giving time for us to to check ills buying or land buying or giving them a opportunity or staff an opportunity to say this is a valid piece of property okay that would be my my selection thank you sir I don't disagree with that not that if something else comes back I wouldn't vote for another bond issue on this to get it going because we can but I think um that would be a minimal amount of money or actually $3 million isn't very minimal to for go out and find the number one thing that you want to buy or the first few things and we can come back and have discussion because every purchase got to come before this board anyways and I don't think that would be that long of a process and I think hopefully that would drop those interest rates down because bonds are going to be very much higher in interest than regular mortgage rates John does you got your light on no it's an old light old light yeah thought so commissioner felner are you ready to jump in sir are you I think we have a motion on the go ahead we had a motion yes I okay sorry no second from commissioner Steele oh that's right no yeah M Mr chair M chair oh sorry Mr chair can I can I make a motion you can okay let's start let's start with softball because I think we're all on board it sounds like we're all on board with option one so I just want to get let I want to get that ball rolling with that we can take that off the table and if you want to add after this motion we can do separate motions okay so so so let's at least hopefully get uh I move to approve the bond option number one to issue Bonds in the amount of 3.2 million to fund Capital Improvement the existing facilities and equipment and to fund annual program operations the amount of 3 million to maintain existing conservation lands and Environmental Education Centers uh that's the motion Madam chair that is option one uh that's the motion have a motion on the board for option one at this point do I have a second second second all in favor say I I opposed Nay n I think we're going to do two two motions commissioner Goodson I think you want that one too I wanted well we'll come back and do your other one too okay you're going to do it that way yeah I'm voting for it okay I think you want I'll vote for to okay so all in favor say I I opposed passes 5 now can I have a motion for the other $3 million for option 1A we'll come up the chart here I'll make that motion Madam CH okay motion by commissioner Goodson do I have a second second by commissioner feltner all in favor say I I opposed n passes 401 with commissioner toaya an objection do I have any other motions on this I'd like to move that we go back to option three okay we'll try one more motion okay I have a motion for option three do I have a second all right that motion dies for a lack of second and um my thought is let's find some stuff bring it back and and let us to continue to approve them as they're working on the um rubric always leave the r out on that and then we'll figure out a way to to get these and we're doing a good job with them thank you guys for all you do um are you trying to say something yeah yes thank you um what we're going to do in light of that we will bring back to the board uh an item so that you can discuss how we move forward with identifying that land IE as as Mike had indicated in the presentation you know we'll need someone to look at the land sorted out um it was The Nature Conservancy for the first two bonds I believe and my understanding is that they really are not that involved in that kind of work anymore so we're going to have to go out but we'll we'll bring back um at a future meeting in the near future uh the different options that are available that were outlined in the presentation but we'll give you more detail on it okay uh so we have voted and we have picked up on option one and option one a and now we're going back to the agenda we're on public comments are we on uh board reports so County Manager please got a report for us I have no report at this time County attorney no report Mr chair commissioner pritet commissioner feldner I don't have a board report I have a request after after vice vice chair can we take a five minute right I would absolutely love to take a f minute break after that I have no report okay commissioner TOA it's up to you and then we go to public comment about me I might have oh commissioner Goodson I'm I have none you don't have anything so I would never forget you but I did sorry it's old age I got you mine uh thank you Mr chair uh today is National Chopstick day uh useless Florida fact the world's uh most uh comprehensive collection of works by uh Lois uh Tiffany resides in The Morris Museum of American art and Winter Park this day in Florida history on this day in 1959 United States successfully test fired its first Titan one intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral and uh most importantly uh the employee uh recognition and I want to thank D4 for the nomination here is uh Mr James aino uh James are you here hopefully uh we uh from roads Bridges uh lead heavy equipment operator to in public works 26 years of service James started his career in October 1997 on the countywide dredge crew once this crew is disbanded um he was assigned to Meritt Island rod and Bridge uh he served there for many years before trans uh transferring to Melbourne in 2019 uh over his 26 year uh career James strong leadership skills and ability to organize work groups for Optimum production has made him an invaluable member of the Road and Bridge program the D4 commissioner said quote I appreciate his many years of service and his experience and knowledge about our district he is a can do and let's get the job done attitude that makes him a great asset for the county and District uh quote from the director Mark bernath James aino is a rock star he's our fixer for every maintenance issue countywide give him an assignment and get out of the way because he's along with his team will ensure it gets done right the first time a quote from Ryan MZ uh James has always been uh my go-to employee no job is too difficult for him to uh finish safely and in a timely manner couple uh quick fun facts James uh collector of vintage VW cars and enjoys going to car shows he's also uh has a food truck that specializes in Thai food he was recognized for saving the life as cooworker by administering CPR after he went into cardiac arrest James is married and has two children uh Jamie and uh James we thank you for your service all you do for not only District 4 but the entire County thank you uh Mr chair for that opportunity okay let's take a five minute break and then we'll be back and we will address the next part of our uh commission meeting thank you very much [Music] w [Music] w [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you all have your seats please Lou well you either grab your seats or I'll adjourn the [Laughter] meeting all right thank you I didn't want to grab that big hammer all right we're going into uh public comments now Peter where are you you yes hey Peter how are you come on up you're ready to come up yeah you want your public comment time it's time it's that time huh it's that time let me let me ask my family to sit down all right sure hey you guys can you all sit down I brought a few people here tonight I noticed we were The Bard Renaissance Fair we just finished our ninth season at Wickham Park our final season at Wickam park hopefully we can change that uh we had thousands of people come there this year we've had thousands of kids and families and stuff come over the last nine years 11 years ago we started at Eastern Florida State College at the old grounds and then it was sold or traded or whatever the deal was so we moved into Wickam Park and we've grown and grown and grown we have an event that's about 14 acres brings in 70 80,000 people a year brings in millions of dollars to the local community there I spoke to one vendor that lives there for eight weeks every year and you asked him to keep track of how much money he spends this year he spent over $8,000 in Bard County we have hundreds of vendors that live there for those weeks we have thousands of people that come in and take hotel rooms but let last summer you passed a resolution or you changed one of the rules to the Park section 70 70 70 7882 and basically banned us from Wickham Park even though it wasn't intended to ban us or we weren't the target it did hit us we now have no home to go to because of the resolution we're forced to move out of Bard County it's our home it's our namesake it's everything we've built all of us are from Bard County we want to stay here I'm asking you as commissioner ERS to make a change back on that rule and allow us a couple of years to find a spot in Bard where we can develop and grow and build a site that the community can be proud of and live with thank you thank you Peter and oh by the way I do have a petition to give to you of about 3,000 people that signed in the last four days all right thanks just hand it to me Peter yeah also St okay good thank you so much we'll end up giving this to Peter crannis okay SRA Sullivan good evening so we had our uh rally this evening here at the outside the commission offices before we came in so we're a little bit late um just want to talk about a couple things one I'm very disappointed uh in the commission for not taking a vote a year ago in May you at Le least addressed the public comment aspect and at the time that wasn't decided to move forward with that and I would like to say that I think that this um is a violation of County Commission policy BCC 97 um which declares it to be a board policy to promote the maximum participation in County Affairs by affected or interested citizens in accordance with the First Amendment protections guarant under the United States Constitution that is from your own policy so if I'm clipping video which seems to be the obstru the the um objection and on issues that are of public interest and people are concerned about it then that is engaging the residents of Bard in the in our in our County so second issue is I came here this evening as I said we had our our rally we have a beautiful natural reef and under the Magnuson Stevens fishery conservation and management act this is protected as uh stress the ecological importance and uniqueness of the Nearshore coina Rock outcroppings in Bard County mid-reach study area the Nearshore hard bottom has been designated as official fish habitat um and is uh a very important to several fish species and shrimp um unfortunately as I go through the documents it seemed like there is a I'll say alleg bait switch when there was only allowed 300,000 cubic yards of material according to fish and wildlife service but we ended up with double that in 2020 thank you for your comments Sandra uh Francis Gomez please hi my name is Francis Gomez I'm um neighbor on weekend Park um in the last seven years I saw um how the fair bring business to our area business who pay taxes business who pay the money we need to buy the land we need to preserve of or Lagoon business who made taxes to pay your payments to pay our community if you go around in the fair uh in the park because I walk in there every day you said oh many people is not enjoying the part and the time of the fair you're wrong I'm sorry but you are wrong I saw more families from rear enjoying the park at the time of the fair than the people I saw daily walking their dogs in the same grounds we are killing business when we kill our Fair we are killing supermarkets pharmacies restaurants and other kind of business just because one or two people want keep the part with a week in between maybe one people is upset because he's unable to walk their dog in the trails and what happened with the other families here I'm a neighbor that Park and what happened with us what happened with our business with our schools with the money we need for our County I just asking for you as a Commissioners thinking on that thank you thank you very much Robert socks thank you commissioner only a moment I just wanted to give you an idea where this Windward preserve you've been hearing about tonight is Loc it's easy to find you drive up north Friday Road right to the end where it intersects with James Road and it's that quadrant of land but there's even an easier way to see it drive up I 95 go east on the beach line as you approach the slope where the bright line tunnel is underneath look to your right there's a 221 acre expanse of what looks like a beautiful Pine Forest and that is the land that we're talking about it has to be preserved it's very valuable they're finding items now that were never discovered before including possible Indian mounds thank you thanks Bobby Richard Rick he finger 2000 Juniper Drive district one uh I kind of always use this as a moment to kind of wrap up the meeting we had some good participation I'd love to see the community get involved with their government um I I did get one question that I had about you know when we sell the bonds you guys I think said in the text you were going to tell us how much that cost per so did you approve one of those today we're going to buy no okay well in the future if you had the dollar cost to the average homeowner instead of the millage most people don't understand millage I did and I forgot how to do the calculation it's based on my assessed value right so I do a little multiplication I just like to know what the costs are um as far as Windward preserve goes is there a possibility for eels to negotiate with the owner they're they're having to preserve some Wetland because they know they have it well what happens if eels got involved and offset some cost maybe negotiated a little more Wetland preserve save them some money maybe they wouldn't have to build so many houses I think there's a possible Synergy there that if eels got involved we could preserve that property as well as allow somebody build on their own property I just think that's something that should be considered may maybe we can do it maybe it's too late but I cannot believe they're building the houses in there I've seen some of it and it's awfully wet it's a lot of wetlands a lot of filtering of water going on in there Mr Mr Tobi up there's there a lot of filter and water going on in there so uh thought it was a good meeting glad we didn't spend a whole lot of time talking about $188,000 on that uh Triathlon thing though cuz I thought we were going to kill that and I thought but we had the conversation about the eels program was good so appreciate the meeting and we'll keep you up to date on the windward preserves thank you always enjoyable to hear from you Richard Robert Gora hi I'm Robert score and I live at 4950 Ralph Lane in Meritt Island and I think everybody's familiar with the water problem we have on North Meritt Island and is there any will one of these machines show a picture will this show up what do you do just put it below it pass pass it up okay it it is working it was yeah they show the sand at the pumping station on a Hall Road and uh Snake Creek is completely blocked so I know we get a lot of water from the space center and everywhere else and we need the Commissioners to look and see if they can't get that cleaned out some way okay what's your address I'm sorry 4950 Ralph's Lane in Meritt Island is that Mark I think get it corrected yeah well we get a lot of water from beos and I know that's been mitigated but not in our County so we need any drainage we can get right I thank you thank you Robert thank you let me just kind of remind everybody no Robert go ahead and sit down let me remind everybody this is public comment time and this is not a question and answer type period if we did that it would take a long long time to get through it and then we'd never be able to get the answers until we went back through staff so please just come up and make your public comments and and we'll note them and if there's a commissioner here that's in that District then we'll we'll look at it that's my fault I'm sorry that's that's all right don't worry about it Regina Wier well hello there Regina haven't seen you in a while good evening sir good evening Commissioners fellow bravard County residents and all of my Renaissance Fair friends who have traveled from afar to attend both the fair and this meeting I am a native of this County and I like to say that I hail from the Isle of Merit 11 years ago BCC had an event at a pavilion on the outskirts of the campus called dragonfest I was there in awe and Wonder Overjoyed that I had an event like this in my own backyard I experienced that joy and that pride in my County's Rich culture every January I want to continue to patronize local vendors artists musicians and everyone else who loves this fair this event not only brings our community together it generates Revenue educates school children provides a platform to experience history and culture and above all else it's five weekends of Merry making with something for everyone why this County Commission would want to deprive citizens of this wonderful experience is beyond my comprehension and as you can see I am not alone in my distress at your decision without people who have passion for events the park is just a parcel of land but perhaps that's the point Thank you thank you Regina Amanda Klein good evening Amanda hi um Amanda Klein 3600 Onida Street Coco Florida um sorry I'm not a great public speaker but I um just wanted to say that uh about the renaissance fair I don't know if you guys know at all about um education day it um attracts over 2500 um students who come it's very near and dear to the homeschooling Community I'm a homeschooling parent but also to um school children they come in on buses from schools private and public um they only charge $5 admission free admission for adults to come with the kids um I think that's super important so um I would hate to lose that I know that this really isn't on the agenda tonight um but I think after reading the public comments from uh September 12th uh 20123 um at the commissioner meeting I felt like the public commenters were overly um negative and and they the they were completely negative and I think that if more people had known that that was on the agenda um people like myself would have come and told about the positive aspects of it sorry I'm um I just think that it's an important thing for our County um if you want to see an event that really like everybody fits in people of all ages races genders abilities like like um just everybody belongs at the Renaissance Fair it's near and dear to my family's heart we um go every year uh it's a a tradition for us and I would hate to see us lose it um just because some people are are negative and want to use the the park just for basically their private backyard um I think that it that it's important to our community I'm sorry I know I'm rambling but um but uh don't take this away education day is amazing um and just know that thank you thank you okay let's let's let's curtail that Josie how please hi okay hey um this is a part of that piece of property that y'all actually have control over if you follow follow that red line that is the James Road Annex that is still owned by the county and is not in the plat for this development at the corner of 52995 the James Road from the site Master site file I received today was designed and developed in 1912 extension off of a spring that spring does run out straight to the St John's river it also has a manity protection Zone by D it is the funniest thing when you see it on Google Maps because it's halfway up James Road by Iron Horse and by Southern strides um currently right now that road in um 2021 there was an archaeological survey that's on file with the state in the master file directory it only told the um the establishment of the road but along the road that is still owned by the county is evidence of settlement shells conch shells muscle shells scallop shells you you name it if you saw the dots on the map those are some other areas of concern that were excluded in the agriculture I mean the archaeological survey because of due to the wetness of the land so if you would like that file email me Miss pritchet has my email address over you have my email address um currently as of Sunday because that is still considered a public rway wrote out there with the neighbor just down the the James Road Extension there are multiple wash outs y'all currently hold the permit in planning and zoning 2 three Romeo whiskey 0034 that would have to be approved for this development to occur and currently you can barely drive a golf cart down the road with wash outs the canal is getting deeper there are active Springs that run off from the ranches between TR behind triway and Horseshoe Court the um evidence and the nonagricultural views is very concerning thank you for your time thank you um Peter Solin is it Solin is that it Solin okay hey Peter come on up hi good evening and thanks for allowing me to talk about The Bard Renaissance Fair uh I moved to Bard back in 2009 so I've had the pleasure of going to The Bard Fair since it's inaugural year and uh I've seen it grow with more vendors more shows more visitors all while leaving the majority of Wickham Park free and available for everyday use um while over the years I've been able to talk with these vendors and visitors and learn a lot about the history of the Renaissance and about their skills and crafts and they ask about Bard from what's the next launch and when's the next launch to where is a good place to eat or the hidden gems of Bard um I know there's a concern for Wickham Park and I understand that but I'd ask that you please reconsider the uh restrictions thank you thank you very much Steven derusso hey how you doing my name is stepen Drew so I've been here for over 20 plus years um I've been to over a 100 Renaissance pairs I've been to all the Renaissance pairs here so I kind of consider s a little bit of expert I can tell you right now in the State of Florida this is the only fair that is super family friendly out of all the fairs I've been to in my life in the top 10 familyfriendly we have a gem we don't want to get rid of this also you like facts let me give you some of the facts out of all the rest of the fairs the closest one is an hour and a half away the rest of them are two plus hours so we have something that not everyone has we have a good Fair that's been established for a long time that has same population as Deerfield that's 30 plus years going strong Hogtown 30 plus years too we have the same draw as they do 9 years can you see where we can be in 30 years think about all the money that it will bring in to help protect our lands to help do other educational things with this money now I understand There's issues with Wickam park that's fine if you don't want us to Wick Park then give us a home in Bard give us some land we'll fix it up as renes I guarantee you everyone agree here that we'll help contribute to keeping the land safe and if you give it to us so all I'm asking is either find us a home in Bard or let us say at WIC him until we find a home in Bard but the point is the facts for me is this is a gem don't let it go I like I said family oriented that's what we want to be known as Bard as a family right that we protect our lands that we're family oriented that we are a tourist destination second to Disney right second Orlando everyone wants come to us afterwards we have all things that all the counties wish we had or they had sorry so please like I said either give us a spot a home somewhere in Bard or let us stay until we find a home in Bard thank you thank you Ron gtis is he still here yes there he is okay W try say that no I was going to make a mistake twice good ide Richard marani is next thank you for your patience for me coming up I thought we had 3 minutes it's been reduced to two Okay once again first of all the Caroline bells that is in Lake Wales Florida which I had the pleasure growing up over there some of my formative years and to announce in his history in the prior meeting not to know what carolon bells are is very very disappointing considering this structure has been this long for God's sakes just Google it and you'll know what they are and that takes two seconds but I guess Commissioners cannot do that now the next thing is and that promotes this state that is a treasure and I lived in that area specifically next thing I guess we're going to start the program of Max s mask singers here since we're blocked out as Citizens I thought we were were a community and we would have everyone televised and create an atmosphere so I'm going to turn around how do you like that that's my message to you that maybe we should have an iron curtain here so you can't see me or nor the people on television I mean what are we going back to the 20s and 30s where we don't have visual contact with our citizens here have we got classes of people that we are embarrassed of that we shouldn't be this is absurd we're going back to third grade and I am so saddened by this thank you for your [Applause] comment Richard if you would please come up after Richard is Scarlett Herbert my name is Richard Mariani I'm from Patrick Shores um commissioner feltner's District um just south of uh South Patrick um space force base and north of Satellite Beach um I'm ashamed to say that I haven't been to the Renaissance Fair until just the last two nights and uh although I've lived here since 2009 as one of the earlier persons said um I did although I'm born and raised here I spent over 20 years in Europe most of that in Germany and I went to a lot of Renaissance Fairs and I have to say that the Renaissance Fair we have here in Bard county is amazing and um by all means uh it should if we can all manage it stay in Bard County uh and um please dear Commissioners do not over regulate it and and force it to go leave the county I would ask that everyone who agrees with me also stand that uh Renaissance Fair should stay in this Bard County thank you very much absolutely and my final words would be and this is to uh borrow heavily on Henry David thorough that government is best which governs least thank you very much shman okay I know everybody's all happy about this we understand it and you're just going to have to let us get through the public comments please Scarlet hello and Riley Hart you're on Deck okay um my name is Scarlet hbert I am 15 years old and I'm a performer at The Bard Renaissance Fair I've been performing there for 7 years um starting when I was 9 years old um and so I think that this fair is very beneficial to Young performers like me it's I'm very interested in the Performing Arts and this Fair has been the biggest contributor to my experience and education with theater and also other uh educational factors um because this Fair obviously it's a Renaissance Fair so it uh talks about that period of history and I am a part of a condensed Shakespeare program uh so I have had the chance to learn a lot about Shakespeare and the Renaissance along with the Performing Arts and I think that this is very unique and I think it's very important to have something like this locally and um yeah so I think it provides people like me with like experience and jobs and I have also had um like family members come from out of state and in state but further to our fair and I've talked to audiences and heard that they have also come from out of and further within the state and I just think it's very important for this to stay here thank you thank you very much Riley you're up on Deck after that is Jade dormany Jade Dorman's up up next after Riley hello uh my name is Riley Hart I'm 16 years old and I've been performing at The Bard Renaissance Fair since before it was officially the bad Renaissance Fair making it a total of 11 years I started out performing at dragonfest when I was just 6 years old as a part of an AC capella Group performing Renaissance songs and dances after the first two years of dragonfest when I was just 6 years old when I was then 8 years old when The Bard Renaissance Fair began this Acappella group continued it has now evolved into a full show where we perform complex Acappella songs and dances and yes this is a group of minors um we we do this because we love it and and because it's something that we love to provide for our community I am also a part of the condensed Shakespeare Productions that um my friend Scarlet over there mentioned um this past year I had an amazing opportunity where I got to be a part of writing one of our condensed Productions I took all five acts of Hamlet and I condensed it into a 25-minute show where I also helped direct produce and played ailia I have grown so much from all of my experiences over all of these these years but out of all of them this past year where I got to have this experience has helped me grow so much as a performer and as a person it has given me so much more confidence in myself and my ability to do and to be and I I wouldn't be who I am today without this fair and I know that there are many that would agree and I'm here among the people asking you to please uh not take this wonderful event away from the people of Bard County and I hope that you consider the words of this community when we say that bevard is our home and help us keep rard in bravard thank you very much thank you no no no no no no please Jade yes Jeffrey uh cre bleer is next after this hi commissioner my name is Jade I'm actually a resident of Melbourne I've have been proudly so for seven years I have also over the last seven years been a very proud Crow member both as Patron and staff of The Bard Renaissance Festival when I first moved here there were two things I heard and they clashed quite a bit the first I was actually actively encouraged as a young person to move away from Bard because I heard the words like Mel boring and I'm sure many people here know that phrase not tonight anyway certainly not sir but this is actually why we are here the people behind me today that are with me today these are the people that made me want to stay and there are many like me this Fair I've seen more art culture music local vendors and artists that would otherwise not have this chance that have their footing because of Bard you want numbers look at the amount of money this brings into surrounding hotels restaurants other Industries people that travel from I know people from other nations states that come here only for bravard there are people that have been drawn here because of what we do here at this Fair and those of us that live here and most of us that are here live here we want to keep this here because we want this same Community to pour the Same Love support back into the community that we call home let us keep Bard Fair here in Bard you're hearing from people of all ages Bard is a family County you're looking at families being pulled together by an event that is being held in your backyard let us keep it here thank you thank thank you very much Jeffrey where are you you don't have a sword on you do you no sir okay I was going to ask Sheriff's to move up no I left my weapons in the car good go ahead Jeffrey my name is Jeffrey Neer I live in Satellite Beach Florida I've been going to the renfair for at least 5 years here in bouard the first red fair I ever went to I was about 11 years old and the uh the magic and Majesty I saw there from all the books movies and TV shows I loved growing up as a kid and it was just there in front of me real life got to learn so much about history and culture all around the world something I believe everything everybody can fall in love with is at the renfair whether it be art culture performance and for it to be leaving Bard is very sad I would hate to see it to go obviously so many vendors that I talk to so many local businesses that I know all benefit from this but I think the best thing is the children who go there who can learn things see their imagination come to life in front of them in real people not on the TV screen be able to talk and learn about history and that would be an awful thing to get rid of cuz like it was mentioned before it is a very awesome thing we have here and not a lot of people people can travel to the other fairs so it is amazing thing to have here i' honor I don't know if you guys don't understand how amazing it is if you've ever gone to the Renaissance Fair I highly recommend it so let's keep it here in bravard and let the children and everybody else experience the magic that happens in front of everybody's eyes when you walk through those Gates thank you thank you very much Barbara Wier and on Deck is Sarah Ward Wardlow good evening I've been admiring that outfit all night by the way rocket made the Hat there you go my name is Barbara Wier I reside on Incorporated Meritt Island I am here this evening in Renaissance Garb to show my support for keeping the annual Renaissance Fair in our County at Wickham Park I've attended all weekends for the past five years and watched The public's enthusiasm for the event grow every year it obviously is an ex is an extremely well-received event and brings a healthy Revenue into our County as it promotes Bard in a positive way although there is some friction for some created by the fair's presence this friction I believe is felt by fewer people rather than many because those who object object to anything in the park the fair is a wonderful family activity providing an educational opportunity to hear the Majesty of the carolon to see the hery Gertie and the ancient loot actually played to watch a jousting match and to be swept into the ear of the Middle Ages by truly gifted and talented entertainers these entertainers who for the most part return every year have become our dear friends they greet many of us by name they play our favorite songs they ask about our pets they truly strive to entertain us beyond our expect expectations so please keep the Renaissance Fair at Wickham Park thank you very much thank you very much Sarah wllo and behind Sarah is Naoma and Kathleen finegan good evening Commissioners and good evening everybody body my name is Sarah naami wllo I've been in Bard County as a parent with five children that graduated from maridon high school from 51 years old all the way down to 40 and all my children have learned a lot of things by going to events in Bard County and I've been to these events and I've been a parent that went on a field trip with my sixth grade son at Garden Gale Elementary they came back from a renaissance fair and they decided to put on a fair at Gardendale which they all dressed up like shakes spe and Renaissance outfits had little tiny booths sold little things my son and his friend they whittel a little flutes out of the trees that we have here in Bard County sold them all that money they they made from their their fair at Garden Gil Elementary School they went to the Medieval Times in Orlando I mean they paid for it out of that money and some of us parents like me I was the chaperon parent I participated I believe in it because there's music we have a woman named Kathleen that plays the harp at the Renaissance Fair we have a gentleman with the bronze bells that plays music he was a drummer originally but here he is with a 5,000lb equipment with all these bells that are made in bronze playing music then you have all these minstrels and then you have all these people playing violins and bag pipes we have all these artists we also have gentleman that is teaching blacksmithing with making swords we have somebody else that's blowing glass somebody else that's teaching how um they're jousting they're showing they're talking and explaining it then you go into a booth where they're going to check out your family name your background your heritage your coat of arms I mean it's amazing then there's different vendors with like different plaques they've made things from scratch clothing that they've made from scratch all in this period of time the Renaissance time thank you thank you very much have a nice evening Naomi and Kathleen and after that I believe it's Keta well very nice good evening good evening ladies and gentlemen I have a real quick question first do we share this time or do we each have one no you you just have two minutes I'm sorry you only have two minutes together or separately together you have two minutes okay um I'm Kathleen finegan I am a classically trained harpist and I have been a veteran of Renaissance Fairs amongst many other uh places for uh in international venues and this is one I have chosen because what I do bringing the a a harp and valuable historic instruments to the street where people get to see it makes people love their community and it accomplishes everything that I've heard here tonight thank you very much this is my daughter hold on yes I was just going to make sure she spoke said something thank you thank you for letting me thank you for letting me tell you a little about myself my name is Naomi and I travel with my mother who is a harpist and my father is a magician I take ballet and I play the violin we choose to make our home right here in Florida I also work with equestrian chaos a family of mounted archers that travel nationally performing the only mounted archery stunt show in the world they have United they have United different cultures globally through mounted archery keeping this unique art from disappearing mounted archery is growing internationally and the family behind equestrian chaos are the Pioneers Paving their way for a new generation of Youth inspiring individuals worldwide by exposing them to a horse bow and family that you have to you have to stop tell them thank you thank you no I want to thank you for your bravery tonight coming up and speaking you you did a very nice job thank you very much thank you very much Keta and then after that is Jack rman Keta is not here or there's that's not Keta I know who that is that's Ivon minus hey there Avon all right Jack rman if Keta is not here hey Jack behind Jack is Nancy Simon my name's Jack rman I'm at 568 East Hall Road merid Island I'm here to speak about not having the video up um if the video was up and the um people that were watching this commission meeting saw these people from the Renaissance come up it would be a a whole different sale and as it is all all you're hearing is the is the audio and I don't think that's the reason that you're here you're here to promote government and uh according to your Charter participation and for us to be overshadowed with interesting facts and history to be put up there and then we're not I think that's disrespectful for us to take our time to come down here to this meeting spend our gas you know uh away from our family and come here and talk to you at least give us the courtesy of putting it up there on the TV thank you thank you Nancy [Applause] Simon behind Nancy is Bow and Finn hi n hi I'm Nancy Simon I live on rockage Drive District would you pull that microphone down a little bit please thank you okay Nancy Simon I live in rockage Drive District 2 I still can't understand why the county wants to cut down the rockage drive trees many of them centuries old do do not give me dubious reasons garbage trucks fire engines school buses that you have cited in the past they have all been shown to me misinformation like so many people I am delighted by the beauty and uniqueness of this state designated scenic route the canopy and oak trees are invaluable to both animals birds and protecting the shoreline there are over 5,000 signatures of people that agree with leave the trees alone so many joggers dog walkers bikers and families enjoy the road I am ashamed of the Commissioners at this County who are disregarding the beauty of this historic road is it ego because this was stopped a few years ago make the people of this County proud that their Commissioners care more for supporting the health of the oak trees the beauty of the road as well as the health and Shoreline of the river thank you thank you very much Bowen you behind Bowen is Kimberly Gibbs hi and thank you for your time I'm Bowen Finn I live in District Four off Lake Washington I want to start off I moved here fairly recently in 2019 due to medical reasons I was near wheelchair bound and I was warned very much do not explore Bard this was not safe this was not friendly and the first place that I was able to visit with my wheelchair and my Walker was Bard Renaissance Festival through Bard Renaissance Festival I found not only a family but I found a job that I could work where not even McDonald's would hire me I would have loved to have been a part of the conversation that made the decision with Bard to move the Renaissance Festival to not allow us to be there I work as a vendor and Entertainer where I entertain not only children but adults where I bring the conversations of multiple Generations where I bring the history of not just the Renaissance but local Bard history our pirates that were here our native tinkerers that we here this Festival unites us all in a way that even the Maryland Renaissance Festival one of the biggest festivals can look back and wonder where is that Community within us Bard has a unique look it has a unique feeling this is our home this is what makes us unique and bards festable as I say with all of my per participants shade and Sweet Water and thank you you're very well spok spoken Kimberly Gibbs after Kimberly is Julian Rays good evening Commissioners I'm Kim Gibbs I live on North Meritt Island and I'd like to talk about the decision to remove the video from public comment I learned I learned about that in an article that appeared in yesterday's Florida today uh it was very disturbing to me for a number of reasons first of all I was very disappointed at the decision to remove the video but I was more disappointed in the task that approval offered by this board I attended a community meeting last night and County staffer was there this issue came up and the staffer wanted to emphasize um that no no no the video would still be shown for all of the meeting is just the public comment section that they're not going to show the video whether she meant to or not she gave a very strong impression that the important parts of the meeting would be preserved and shown on video it's just the unimportant parts that wouldn't be shown is video equal to audio to the people out there in TV Land do you think that they got the full benefit of the meeting tonight I Loved These costumes but the people in TV Land who couldn't be here were cheated out of that ex um experience I want some of those hair ties that I saw um video is not equal to audio public comment is important the public is here to educate you as well as everyone else as well as those people in TV Land okay what are the consequences of this decision to remove the video first of all I didn't see any good reason for it at all it seems punitive targeted vindictive aimed at maybe a constituent maybe can i b someone show wants to come here and show a sign okay they're not going to be seen so uh discouraged by all that I'm running out of time I'm urging you to restore the video today thank you okay i' I've asked several times please we we need to get through this if we can uh Julian Ray where are you Catalina liel okay is Catalina leel here she's in the you're both in the restur room okay we'll take them when they come back uh Sarah hjj now okay she's not in the restroom that's good hi Sarah behind Sarah is Joseph Castello uh Sarah Hodge merid Island um I'm gonna be quick but I'm here to uh support almost every comment I've heard in this audience tonight from all the groups and I'm especially here because uh of the preservation of the midre Reef it's an important reef and it needs to be preserved and I think if you took a survey most people would agree with that um there was a petition going out that uh 2017 I guess there will be another one I'm not sure yet um I also the comment about Kim Gibbs where this is ridiculous that you're taking off part of the public comment video this is not right and we can take our own videos put them on the internet everywhere if we can't have the video here and um just uh please keep the Renaissance Fair It's a Wonderful contribution to Bard County but I support all those comments thank you thank you for your comments uh Julian who was the young lady that came in what is your name Cal come on up please and then after that Julian Rays Julian's back Julian's not back okay hi good evening ladies and gentlemen um my name is Catalina alel and I am a performer at the Renaissance Festival as well as helping to manage the entertainment department so this gives me a very unique perspective onto both behind the scenes and in front of them so I'd like to speak to you on behalf of the children of bravard because that is who I see the most at our Fair because we are not an adult Fair we are not a children's Fair we are a Family Fair we provide clean honest and fun family entertainment but more than that we provide education into histor historical things that the children might not know about or get to see in person because let's be honest most kids nowadays don't see anything beyond the four corners of a screen or their mom's tablet and um here at The Bard Renaissance Festival we have a lot to offer these children and we do we we we offer thousands of children a unique historical education our Knights teach chivalry and tell me if there's a young boy in today's America who could not benefit from a lesson in Chivalry and on the other hand we have one of the only female jousters in the country and if and if if a woman half my size in a full suit of armor fighting a man twice her size isn't a lesson that women can do anything I don't know what is Bard also provides a place that families can be together and entertained equally not adults not children equally family entertainment where else an overworked mom with a bunch of kids put on a beautiful gown and a corset and get to feel like a princess for a few hours while you know she gets to entertain her kids and she gets to feel good about it because it's educational they get to learn about Shakespeare they get to see actual actors who bring to life real we provide real historical none of it's fiction all of our casts and everything it's portrayed to be the actual time period in history with real people so I ask you please to continue to allow us to provide educational enriching entertainment to these children and families of bravard thank you very much thank you very much too now Julian rays do not come back I'm gonna go to Joseph Castillo and behind Joseph is Deborah Thorton Hey Joe what do you know how's it going Joseph Castillo 448 uh Ward Road Southwest Palm Bay I'm a new Resident to Palm Bay there's been a couple of themes that have happen U Been reoccurring tonight like facts like commissioner toaya said and funding and uh I want to share some facts five years ago I didn't even know bravard County existed I came to this County to come to rard County Fair and we fell in love with this Fair my family and d and you want to talk about facts I'll give you some facts before we finally moved here last December my family probably spent tens of thousands of dollars in hotels and meals just coming to this fair so you want to talk about funding there's lots of funding that would be lost if families can no longer come to this Fair I also want to know where you going to replace that lack of funding you know you're asking about all these projects that you're going to be having like you want to fund the the buying of wetlands protecting lands this is a great opportunity that you are missing out on so I just urge this commission to rethink this uh this disastrous decision to let this Fair go on to not go on thank you thank you very much Deborah Thorton where are you here she comes behind Deborah is Andrew me well people are probably confused because they know who Deborah Thorton is my name is actually Lisa covery um and I'm reading on behalf of Deborah Thorton tonight because she had to go to work you have to fill out your own card I did I got the okay from that's fine I just wanted to let you know after you're finished please make sure you have a card I do my name is Lisa covery and I'm about four more down on the restant I'm losing minutes so if it's okay I'll get start let's go thank you so much good evening Commissioners and thank you for this opportunity to exercise our civic responsibility my name is Lisa covery resident of this beautiful County and I'm here to read a statement on behalf of Deborah Thornton my name is Deborah Thornton I am a US Army veteran a professional performer and a performing arts teacher I relocated to Bard County with my four-month-old infant from New York City 2 weeks after 911 I intended to be to stay for a year while things cooled off in New York but instead I have built a life for myself here Bard is my home Bard Renaissance Fair is a huge part of my life here I have helped to grow the event from a tiny onewe in event at wihan Park pavilion to the thriving event that now hosts an international cast and crew of over 700 souls and entertains thousands of patrons who travel from all over the country to attend the event along with members of our local community who look forward to it every year my acapella choir students have performed at the event every year since the beginning and many of these students also crossed over into my condensed Shakespeare company what a fantastic opportunity for these local youth to get to learn complant renaissance music and Shakespeare and actually perform it for crowds of patrons for five weekends many of the choir kids have been out there year after year and they have grown from a group of little kids singing at the front gate into a fully developed professional quality act they sing in two to five part harmony while juggling playing catch with the crowd standing on one leg manipulating puppets running crowd participation Games Etc no matter what field they ultimately go into as adults the level of comfort confidence and confidence that they have in presenting themselves before a crowd will be invaluable we also share our love of complex music and Shakespeare plays not only with adults who attend but with thousands of local students every year especially on education day we hear from students every year that didn't realize they actually like Shakespeare until they sign keep Bard thank you okay wow Doug Simon where are you right there is that you Andrew was next pardon me you said Andrew me was next okay go ahead go ahead Andrew my name is Andrew me and I am the entertainment director for The Bard renaissance fair I also work there as an Entertainer each year I am responsible for hiring hundreds of entertainers to bring to Bard County for five weeks in addition to the incredible talent that already resides in this County we bring entertainers from all over the United States and all over the globe this season the combined cultural talents of artists from Ukraine Canada Australia Scotland England Ireland Austria and Italy Grace this County many of them with the sole purpose of performing at rfir before returning to their home countries I had the honor of showing a band of Northern Italians The Majestic Wetlands of the Meritt Island Wildlife Refuge this was their introduction to America and this County a place they've never heard of amazed them surely they've heard of the Grand Canyon and Old Faithful but their trip here has put this County on the map because of their magical experience in this unique and diverse County I now have emails from entertainers all over Europe wanting to visit us not Miami Not Orlando Melbourne Florida two sisters from Nova Scotia visited the warm Atlantic Waters of Melbourne Beach after providing the people of reard with their unique multigenerational and rarely heard Celtic music the last thing they said before they left for Canada was that they can't wait to come back a world renown bagpiper flies from a remote island off of Scotland to play his ancient music for the people of this County he takes two flights and a puddle jumper before he even leave Scotland to come here entire American families make their livelihoods traveling our great nation entertaining the masses it's not an easy job you won't get rich doing it and the hours are long we do it because we love it we love the people we believe in the power of humans assembling from all corners of the earth and participating in something important our business is assembling humans to take a break and enjoy their day take a break from the stress of daily life today the power of humans assembling takes a different meaning today we're here to tell you that you wrong for the last N9 years through the rain hurricanes heat and muck hundreds of us have called wick and Park home some of us even helped build and tear down the site for 9 weeks we will not stand addly by while so few threaten something so vital and so beautiful unlike you entertainers do not get the promise of a government salary but like you we serve the people if an audience doesn't like a song a band plays they stop playing it and play a song the people do like it's called doing your job we here at The Bard Renaissance Fair we do our job it's time you do yours commissioners you're playing the wrong song children you are not listening Doug Simon please Sharon MOS you're behind Doug okay there's a different topic now this is the trees on rockless drive I'm Doug Simon from rockless Drive in the county part of Rock rockage um the subject on the calendar tonight was spending the eel money to protect the environmental land including the Indian River Lagoon which cost the county lots of money why are the Commissioners particularly District 2 commissioner doing the reverse by threatening to cut the historic Beautiful live oak trees and their canopies on rockage Drive they go along Ong the River Shore they help protect the river they help protect the Indian Lagoon Indian River Lagoon by preventing runoff into it and many many other environmental benefits as well as other benefits protecting houses and hurricanes and so forth leaving these stately centuries old Live Oaks alone would cost the county absolutely nothing so please just leave them alone thank you Sharon M thank you very much sir Sharon you're not here are you here oh there you are um behind Sharon is Jason colid Sharon Moss Melbourne Florida um one of the things that I want to let you guys know is I come from a area where we have the hugest Renaissance festival and that's in Colorado um and I'm here as a member of the pirate and charitable community and I want to express to you that this is one of the most important events we have to help network and see friends from inside and outside of the county for many of our Pirates this is one time a year they come in front from out of state to see their friends and loved ones and experience the very best of our county has to offer the this event is more than just a fun activity for us it is Bridge cultural political and generational gaps for every single one of us and it has helped extend our family in friend groups in ways no other event can yeah this one event is a massive Boon to the morale of our crews and is one of the only places we can truly connect and network in an environment that lends itself well to what we do dress up have fun drink a little rum on behalf of the Brethren of the Space Coast the Leviathan the 10 rep scallions the red diamond crew and the Black Rose crew we urge to you reconsider the decision to close Wiccan Park to our beloved Bard Renaissance fair this is our livelihood this is bringing money into our County as a business manager in like two blocks from there this is one of the major times I make money please don't take it away from us thank you thank you very much uh this is the last time I'm going to call Julian Ray is Julian here she's not here she is called her three times now so let the record reflect we've tried Jason colada or Andrew Selen is this Jason coming hey Jason hello and thank you all um my name is Jason khita I live on Lake Washington just a short ways away from The Bard Renaissance Fair um I've been here since 2000 and uh growing up here I didn't really feel a need to stay when I was looking to go to college I decided to go elsewhere and um I remember my sophomore year of college my friend took me to a Renaissance Fair in North Carolina when I came back after college I found out that there was one in my backyard and it's been one of the things that has really helped me um create a family here outside of just my biological family I also work in Staffing and recruiting and we bring engineers in from all over the country and they're young they're nerds they like the ren Fair we're trying to bring people to this County and this is one of the things that helps show that we have the culture and the interest and we're more than just a beach um which everyone who lives here knows but as the EDC has been trying to show for uh the last couple of years with their rebranding project um not everybody outside of here knows that and this is just one more way that we can show that we're an interesting place filled with loving people and family have things to do thank you very much for your time Jason thank you very much Andrew Selen Andrew Selen going once going twice going to Janette walinsky well lle well I have no idea because I this looks like a doctor wrote it okay thank you is that you I'm I'm I'm a Janette is that you you Janette yes sir okay come on up Janette it's it's it's a British name anyway anyway um hello everyone um I'm Janette and I work um for Bard Renaissance Fair I'm the cast director as well as an Entertainer and I just wanted to let you know that I'm not alone in saying that we all love Wickam Park so much it's beautiful I love the squirrels I love the little bunnies that come out night and scare you when you walk in the path because you think it's a big monster um we love it we take care of it it is our home and we don't we don't destroy it we love it we also want to let you know that everybody has come up and ask you for money for your environmental things you should ask us because we ar asking for any money we want to give you money we want to give the C the county money you we could do all kinds of things to help you raise money for your environment to save the trees and save the Lagoon we can do that for you also um we're we are an International International Festival with people from all over the globe that come and spend their money and put this fair and this this town on the map um we also um the education day as one of the ladies was saying is so very important when I do my I do what I teach um a Renaissance and medieval and historical dance and the history and the education that we provide for these children is so very important because most of them well not most of them but there are a percentage of them that don't even know who the president of the United States is but when they leave the fair we give them a thirst of knowledge we give them a like oh my God that was interesting oh I just met Queen Elizabeth and I learned I saw blacksmith and I saw glass blower and I saw joust and I saw all this stuff this now they sparked their creativity and they maybe want to read a book Thank you thank you very much gwindel and Ray after gwindel is Charlie St Paul boy you're fast I like that yes right up front hello I'm gwendelyn Ray I'm a Florida native Lake County resident and attendant and partic turned participant of Renaissance Fair since 200 six when I was just 9 years old and in the fourth grade it was attending Lady of the Lakes Renaissance Fair run by the Lake County Education Foundation that Lit the fuse inside of me that would send me on this journey of traveling the country and working at least seven different Renaissance festivals this last year alone uh working in entertainment merchandise food vending and even production on the Sound and Lighting team here at the bevard Renaissance Festival following in the footsteps of my father who is a world-renowned lighting engineer himself uh while uh it was volunteering at the lady of the Lakes renaissance fair at 15 through the educational program they offer to supply volunteer hours to students to get those scholarships that they need to go to college that uh showed me that there is this whole network of opportunities that you can find in this it was after I was doing competitive dance and I found that through hard work and trials that you can actually build something for yourself in your community I ended up studying theater in college and coming back to that Renaissance Fair as an adult to still continue to Simply volunteer to give back to my community it was through Lady of the lakes that I found the rard Renaissance Festival and then ended up getting onto the circuit after the pandemic when other opportunities in life failed me if we take away the Bard Renaissance Festival you're taking away an opportunity for children to see different paths in life to see things like glass blowing blacksmithing falconry and even live jousting the same jousting Troop that does The Bard Renaissance Festival is the one that I saw at 9 years old continued to see as I volunteered in high school and then came back as an adult to work at that Festival as well at currently there are no other festivals in Florida other than two weekends or in the entire country that happened at the time of Bard renaissance fair if you take that away you're not only taking away the taxpayer money in this County but you're taking away our livelihood thank you Charley yes sir there you go come on up buddy uh my name's not important but what I do is um um I'm an Entertainer that over the past 27 years has performed at over 30,000 shows performed um Super Bowl been on TV performed for invited to perform for presidential inaugurations performed for the pope performed at Alice Cooper's birthday party been on America's Got Talent and hold annual residency at Walt Disney World my instrument costs over a million dollars I'm the guy who plays those Caroline Bells but it's not about me it's it's about this instrument now this is a rare experience that is an educational pursuit of mine to share with the world why do I share all that of all the performances that I've performed in all the festivals in all the countries and places I've performed at there's only been one place one Festival that's not only supported my educational Pursuit but actually promoted it and encouraged it and that's the Bard Renaissance Festival now I've had the pleasure of having students um from your schools perform with me in daytime and evening shows I've been invited into your your schools to perform master classes for your Arts programs um and work with your students now our educational days as we've talked about uh I've had hundreds of students actually sit behind this magical instrument and experience it these are the experience that help a community grow artistically these are the experiences that inspire people so I just ask you not be foolish and see what's in front of you thank you Nicholas and then after that is uh Connor Short Hill are you Nicholas come on up Connor Short Hill are you here okay come on up here buddy just come off to the side thank you for having us this evening my name is Nicholas Demario and I'm a member of The Bard community and I'd like to think that I'm a part of The Bard Renaissance Fair family I've been attending the event at Wickam park for 5 years now and I'm fortunate enough to have it so close by whereas there are some who literally travel parts of the world there are literally those who travel from other parts of the world to visit the fair and to share with us their time talent and treasure and those gifts don't end with the rent Fair they continue on to The Bard Community as a whole as you're aware current restrictions concerning events at Wickham Park would effectively ban our fair from the park and while we may be able to relocate in Bard or outside of bevard or at worst we don't have a fair anymore I prefer it didn't come to any of those options our home is at wiin Park and we would like to keep it that way I believe we should be able to dialogue and come to a solution that works for everyone the Renaissance Fair at Wickham Park is a treasure to all of aard and we should treat it as such thank you thank you for your comments Conor good evening s ma'am I am a student at Satellite high school I'm 18 I have been going to the Renaissance Fair for F four years now and have loved going every single year it is an absolute blast uh to see all of the musicians and all the performers that take time out of their year to do what they love um I am looking at doing blacksmithing and Welding in the armed forces and I have originally gotten that idea from this renaissance fair I saw a blacksmith um my freshman year four years ago and was just completely entranced and in awe with the whole trade I loved it and wanted to do it I have met several uh talented individuals who want to help me with that goal of being a blacksmith um yeah thank you thank you very much Sher grck behind Sherry is Gary Matt Hatter Sherry are you Dave gulick's daughter yes wow okay then go ahead Sherry I I love your father by the way he's a great guy I'm glad to hear that I love my father too uh as as Mr steel has pointed out my name is Sher Gulick I am a Bard County native born and raised all 36 years of my life and I was a district four native for most of that I've had to move just because of costs I have also been an OG renfair attendee I've been going since the dragon festival and as so many others have pointed out in here this is a major event for our County you get everyone of every race Creed background you get performances that cross all kinds of boundaries and bring people together for us to lose this on an emotional level would be awful but it would also affect us financially the benefits to the restaurants in that area which otherwise get driven by by most locals we know they're there but we go other places like Vieira or into downtown melbour or Coco Village this brings people to those local businesses and even if it's just the fast food places or anything like that I can tell you right now having worked the fair myself as well sometimes you just want to stop by McDonald's to go grab your yourself a burger it's exhausting but I don't really have much more to say that others have not already said but I urge you to consider at least giving us time to find a better solution I understand that we want to protect the park but I can tell you right now out of all of the events having gone for the last 10 years we keep it better than most of the other events that have been hosted there you do not find the garbage and you do not find the destruction and plus side we also try to protect the wildlife while we're there the amount of people we've all had to try to stop from harassing the tortoises which is a common problem here in Florida is a constant so I urge you to give us time thank you very much Mad Hatter where are you the Mad Hatter went away oh man I was really looking forward to that too all right Christy lordy and after chrisy is Carmen parice good evening Kristen lorte Coco resident commenter on citizen participation throughout Bard County I didn't even realize that you guys had cut off the the video feed I'm absolutely shocked by that a fashion show I read the article that someone else had mentioned well guess what now all of our back sides are a fashion show so anybody who thinks that the that the these um meetings should be televised please go ahead and stand up stand up now if you think that we matter just like the the just like the Commissioners that we should be televised thank you thank you now now hold on before you sit before everyone sits down I'm GNA let you go ahead and speak but you you really need I want more time then ma'am stop okay just everybody sit down you can't hold the audience you're not you're not going to do this at this meeting go ahead and start and and I can you start me over then everyone can sit down but I've lost half a minute there we'll give you 10 more minutes start me at two okay go ahead please I haven't gotten to speak I okay well just start please I would like you to go ahead and start your conversation we we understand what you said very clearly so if you would continue I would appreciate it okay but if I get cut off this is I didn't have I didn't have even two minutes to say my topic my topic is about speak up bravard which is a program which if anybody knows about it I'll be surprised in this audience save a handful of people this program happens once a year it's in December it's for the month of December that there's a website that's open it's called speak up bravard this year I became Disturbed on December 5th when I realized that the county staff who also decided not to televise our meetings or our faces have decided not to publicize the event the event wasn't publicized I wrote to all of you no one would correct it no one would put the dates on the website to update the website no one would publicize it I'm the only one who raised publicity for this program in bravard county and I expect to be able to continue go ahead I have been waiting since December 5th to visit with you about this and this was the opportunity I'm here to support the eel program like you uh chairman steel but this matters this is an opportunity for citizens to go to this website once again called speak up bravard and put in our comments that the commissioners are required to take a vote on on our behalf that staff are required to weigh in on and are required to do some analysis on that unfortunately for some unknown reason the website is only open in December opens on December 1st closed early this year but the staff did open it so it was at least open throughout the month of December and through January 1st there is no reason for this website not to be open all year round the citizens of Bard clearly want to participate because of my personal Catalyst being a catalyst for this program there are now at least 55 plus uh recommendations last year there was one recommendation that was tucked into thank you you're finished thank you very much that was tucked into the consent agenda I oppose this you're finished thank you wow I'm trying to be very kind here but when you start that kind of stuff it doesn't help so uh Carman parice is is that you yeah hi Carmen hi I feel her pain it's all right that's okay yeah um my name is Carmen parice I live in Port St John Florida I've been a homeschooler kids all with three degrees and lived here for over 35 years um the fair is in its infancy and evolving into one of the country's few family events for Bard County and it's become a great expression for the community the arts history and um camaraderie period you can see it every time I go I see it and may someday find a more permanent fixture someplace but it hasn't happened yet and it may even become a yearr round program somewhere for for someone with money I don't know but it should be I I totally love it I totally adore it I love it for the kids the grandkids everybody and one of the things that it's happening happening right now right here in front of us this is a miracle it's bringing attention where we need it this might seem a fooa to all of you but it's actually becoming a a grandstand for of us to learn to to feel each other out and that's what this is all about and that's a miracle um mistakes like this are not a threat it's not going to become something that's going to weigh us down it's going to become something that's going to form us for the future because we can see the community effort that we all desire anyhow and um this is something that going to boost morale it's going to boost the community and we were all designed for this we were designed for a time like this and this is what it's for and that's all I had to say thank you thank you so much we have Kathleen blackshare and then Elizabeth seal thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak to you as a private person as well as the last time Kathleen finigan is my maiden name and my professional name in which I am a 20year veteran of Renaissance festivals and Kathleen black here is my private married name and I have very rarely been a patron but I have it this Fair because I live here and this is my home fair and this is really all I wanted to say about that is what a different experience it is how much the love of one's Community affects the way that you treat this the more people who come here the more people who will love this place and this County and this Fairground and this property and we'll take care of it and I'm also going to share this time with my daughter just like I did before this is my daughter as a patron 7 years ago yesterday somebody could tell me how to do this there you go rotate rotate perfect I think this is her second time it is her second that is Naomi seven years ago yesterday as a patron at the bevard renaissance fair and this is what she is today okay we we've met her earlier thank you so much thank you very much yes all right Elizabeth seal that's you that's me y all right first of all thank you very much for your time and allowing us to present our case um I have been involved with The Bard Renaissance Fair since it began in various forms I'm currently a member of the condensed Shakespeare group that you heard about earlier we call ourselves barred light we squish Shakespearean plays into little bite-sized morsels that make them very entertaining and educational for many of the people that come and myself I adore all of our patrons they come from everywhere I recognize so many people my doctor shows up former co-workers show up politicians show up and I know most people's dogs but I might not necessarily know their names but they're all so very dear to me the people in this County who vote for you deserve very large cultural events and it is very shortsighted of you to not come up with a compromise to allow them to have these events The Bard County renaissance fair and other cultural events like it bring value to this County they make life in this County fun and worth living thank you thank you very much commissioner felner do you have any comments tonight let me first say that I appreciate everyone being respectful tonight I know you're very passionate about this event so I appreciate the respectful the Quorum so I my gratitude um for you uh I appreciate Peter uh speaking on behalf of the Renaissance Fair meeting with me a couple of times about this and I I think that uh many of us believe that the Renaissance Fair uh should stay here in Bard I share that view uh but I think it needs a bigger venue that's the thing and so uh remember that when the Wickham Park pavilion was there that was sort of the de facto um uh fairgrounds in Bard County and uh some people had hopes for the Coco Expo and that didn't pan out but uh Wickham Park has become the fairgrounds and with all due respect to uh the people who want it to be a community park uh they're they're concerned about that and I can't disagree with them so I would only say to you that we'll continue to work together and hopefully find uh a way for the renaissance fair to stay here in Bart I share that view so thank you very much yes thank thank you all very much for for coming tonight we've listened very intently and and hopefully we'll be able to work something out uh do I hear a motion for adjournment Mo there's a motion on the floor by commissioner Goodson is there a second by commissioner toaya any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I motion carries thank you so much the opinions expressed by any member of the public during any period of public comment do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the board of County commissioners of bvad 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]