##VIDEO ID:kvRdYkR0Vac## e s [Music] spe good afternoon go and call the second 
public second budget public hearing   to order excuse me September 
23rd 2024 50:2 p.m. Ernie Lee   M government building please turn your 
cell phone to the vibrate silence or off setting we'll begin with the we'll begin with 
the pledge um commissioner BOS you mind doing   the pledge absolutely please join me please stand 
floor for a moment I pledge allegiance to of the   United States of America the repic for it stands 
one nation indivisible with liy and justice for all and board um certainly in lie of of of 
the events on Saturday um I think it would   be appropriate if if we wouldn't mind and uh 
rather than a prayer a moment of silence for   um uh for a for a fallen employee on 
Saturday is just a tragic tragic event   uh Mr M Williams is gone and and just to if 
we might stand and and and observe a moment   of silence in her honor and thoughts about 
her family and children and grandchildren all right thank you very much um this genuinely 
one of the most tragic events to have happened   in in all my years on the board uh just a just a 
terrible terrible event um it's not necessarily on   the agenda but and we do we are together tomorrow 
morning is there anything for commissioner's Forum   before we begin the business this evening no 
um commissioner other than uh my heart Grieves   and hurts I mean there's probably very few budget 
hearings that you and I have been here that t was   not here for the last nine or 10 years and just 
spoke with some of her family members and close   friends and to for her children and I think her 
son is in town now and her grandchildren I mean   what a sad day for esamia County and Tama was a 
personal friend uh and many of the young people   who came through our summer Employment Program 
now have jobs because of the efforts of of T and   certainly my condolences and prayers go out 
to our family so thank you Mr chairman yeah   absolutely commissioner I'll Echo those thoughts 
absolutely prayers for T and her family M just no   I just I want to say the same thing as everyone 
else what's more what's important when something   like this happens that everyone reflects on their 
environment you look around make sure co-workers   are all right um dig deep a lot of times you don't 
know what's going on with someone you're working   around I've seen this a lot and and um it's it's 
heart-wrenching for everybody so terrible terrible   news um but there's always an opportunity to save 
someone else so keep your eyes open and let's help   each other out amen thank you Mr administrator 
in comments before we begin the business no   Mr chairman I just I of the same sentiments 
all right thank you was the meeting properly   advertised Mr chairman the second public hearing 
for consideration of the final budget for fiscal   year 2024 2025 was advertised in the Escambia 
Sun Press On September 19th 2024 in the board's   weekly meeting schedule the notice of proposed 
tax increase and the budget summary for fiscal   year 2024 2025 we advertised in the Pensacola 
News Journal on September 19th 2024 all right   thank you entertain a motion to wave the read so 
move second all right please vote item pass is 4   to Zer to wave the reading of the advertisement um 
anything to be added to the agenda Madame counsel   no sir commissioner May No Sir Mr chairman 
foros nothing for me Coler all right I have   none Mr administrator nothing entertain a motion 
to adopt the agenda as it is please vote agenda   pass is 4 Zer 501 public hearing have any 
speakers okay thank you uh Mr administrator   501 public hearing to you thank you Mr chairman 
um Mr chairman Commissioners this is the second   of two required public hearings for the board 
to adopt the fiscal year 2024 2025 budget at its   first public hearing held September 10th 2024 the 
board of County Commissioners adopted the tenative   millage rates and budget for fiscal year 2024 
2025 the law requires that prior to consideration   of the final budget and explanation of the roll 
back rate be provided it entered into the records   the roll back rate is a computed millage rate that 
would generate the same amount of aval tax dollars   as a prior schol year based on the proposed year's 
tax rooll excluding new construction the millage   rate sely approved by the schamy County Board 
of County Commissioners on September 10th 2024   are 66165 for the countywide militate 359 
for the library Municipal Services taxing   unit and 6850 for the sheriff's law enforcement 
Municipal service taxing unit the aggregate of   these Mills rates proposed for fiscal year 2024 
2025 is 6.23% above the roll back rate of 7.35   certified by the property appr this represents the 
percentage increase in property taxes tentatively   adopted by the board staff has recommended 
one Amendment to the fiscal year 2024 2025   tenative budget this amendment for an increase 
of50 m727 N9 is for recommended adjustments   to the tenative budget the revised budget will 
result in a balance unified budget of $798,000 11.1% more than the adopted fiscal year 2023 
2024 budget of 718 m681 245 all right thank   you Mr administrator uh for entertain this is an 
actionable it's an actionable item item at this step or no is this an actionable item at this 
step or no is this just I think just reading into   the record all right super our next our next the 
next portion is uh we're requesting that the board   make a final determination tonight regarding 
the funding amount to be allocated to each of   Our Community Partners this funding is determin 
determination is necessary to prepare the fiscal   year 2024 2025 computer Community partner funding 
agreements and to issue the associated purchase   orders in a timely fashion these purchase orders 
will come before the board for formal approval   in October all right thank you Mr administrator 
first speaker is from sale Pensacola is it Tim   Timothy reikon or Ry Ry I'm sorry oh okay thank 
you next speaker is Charles bear keep Pinola beautiful thank you Mr chairman thank you 
Commissioners um it's honor to be here with   you tonight uh we just got done with the council 
agenda revieww a few minutes ago so I'm just glad   I could be here um I'm here before you uh to 
talk about keeping skull beautiful I'm the CEO   I've been in the job for about 18 months now 
when I did the community partner paperwork the   first time I did it last year I'd been on the 
job for seven days so I really had no idea what   I was doing and uh I also didn't know that when 
you got to the this part of the uh the process   that really what was recommended to you all was 
what we were allocated the previous year and   so I really wasn't well prepared last year this 
year I'm better prepared uh because of my age I   need reading glasses I just wanted to share couple 
figures with you some of this I've already shared   with you but I just wanted to cover a couple 
things at this point one of the things we do   as part of our allocation with you is we pick up 
roadside litter in the previous year we did about   31,000 pounds of roadside litter pickup we're 
up to 59,000 so far in this fiscal year we'll   probably get close to doubling what we did last 
year um we also participate in the community uh   the neighborhood cleanups that you all do as well 
we picked up 271 tires over 1100 cans of paint   and uh and household chemicals during that time 
as well we've logged about 2490 volunteer hours   for our volunteers and picked up over 1150 555 
pounds of of trash in parks and at the beaches   in the county so in addition to what we do in 
in those aspects we also have some proactive   things trying to get people more engaged and not 
producing litter we have the adoptive spot program   which you all have funded in the past we also are 
uh have education programs we work with everything   from K through college really at this point our 
funding comes from the solid waste fund program   but really what we do kind of spans across tourism 
it spans across local option sales tax I mean any   of those sources could be used to fund what we 
do because a lot of what we do is work at the   beaches we do cleanups we do dozens of cleanups 
each year uh one of your Public Works employees   out there said you just did my job for me today uh 
so we feel like we're saving the county money and   and um we're we're trying to expand what we do and 
we're just asking for a little bit more this year   than what we asked for last year so I'd yeld to 
any questions P Mike sure yeah I um you know Mr   bear Charles I've known for a little bit but 
he reached out to me recently about this and   I know in my district there's a lot of things on 
here that's important to the community as large   but a lot of the neighborhoods that I represent 
their biggest concern is trash and the RightWay   all over the place place I get more calls about 
garbage in the right away than any other call um   while we're allowing it Miss White don't know 
Miss White but she if you want to do a public   records request you can get her complaint 
from mytle Grove from me about trash that   came in yesterday um I've been with Pence one of 
your functions to keep Pence Cole beautiful I've   been out there when we with u uh ocean hour 
uh people against litter um I have a question   know Charles and I think your your mission and 
goal is good cuz this is a reimbursable the way   I understand it what your addition is but do 
you have the Manpower and the resources to pick   up more trash yes we do and part of the reason 
we had an issue last year was because we were   short on staff and a lot of that as you know it's 
very difficult to find staff we're at full staff   right now we have five employees in the services 
department which is why our numbers for roadside   litter have been so much higher we've been putting 
a real emphasis on that um so yes I believe so and   if we have additional need uh one of the things 
I've really worked to do is try and get the board   members engaged and telling us where we need to 
be picking up litter and if it looks like we need   to hire additional staff we can do that if we have 
the right amount of funding I know for me I think   this is an important uh Initiative for the county 
especially because it's reimbursable I would be   more than happy to increase their funding uh even 
if it was for 6 months for what but you may not   know I did a pilot study with ECUA to pick up 
garbage um that they did and I'm not going to   say it just hopefully this would help out a little 
bit I think it would and I'd like to increase the   number if the boards has an interest in that 
all right commissioner so the motion would be   to take them to the 18 yeah 18243 I'm sorry 
commissioner May goad my I've known Charles   probably since our SGA days of college when we 
ran against each other and ran for each other   I'm certainly going to support it um I I don't I 
did talk to Charles before this I know you know   there was some reluctancy and and when I talked to 
West about you know a a number that Charles could   accept uh if whatever that number is uh Charles 
I'll be supportive of it so if it's a little less   or if it's right there if this is what it makes 
you to be efficient you'll find my support uh   if you can um reduce it uh that would be great 
but if you can't you'll still have my support   all right is that a second for commissioner 
May yes okay I I'm inclined to support it I   mean I talk to uh talk to Michael rhods who says 
they work well with them as well and uh you know   I don't have uh I don't have a beach but I 
do have uh I do have Parks you know I have   have Comm have ballparks and stuff that need uh 
that need a lot of help and uh you know anything   that his folks have the ability to do kind of 
frees up other labor other uh you know other   resources that can be deployed uh can be deployed 
somewhere else especially when you know we have   uh you know we have some County employees and and 
even some you know inmate Crews that are that are   picking up trash if you know that's that's a you 
know certainly a good use of resources however if   uh Charles's folks are able to pick up trash maybe 
we can deploy maybe we can deploy that work crew   to uh do a little bit more intense work somewhere 
that we don't have someone else to do that might   they might can do some drainage work they might 
can do some prep work for uh for other types of   County work that's being done um if uh if they're 
not you if we're not having to deploy work Crews   to just pick up trash so maybe it's uh may maybe 
it can be kind of a two-fold win but commissioner   no and and thank you for your comments Mr chairman 
and I I I don't have a beach but I do have inter   cities uh and unfortunately uh people use a lot 
of paper products that walk to and fro to get to   the store and there are not a lot of garbage cans 
in between so there's a lot of trash that happens   in our neighborhood so I'm certainly concerned 
about our fluent areas uh but I think Charles   really understands the importance for me in 
our lowincome areas they maintain the same   quality of service that we're gonna give on our 
beach so Charles if you would keep that in mind   I certainly appreciate it but to give Charles A a 
kind of in acculate um Charles and I work on RBI   uh baseball for in city kids but more importantly 
not only is this organization picking up trash but   they're putting in Parks they're putting in drum 
systems they're putting in in musical things uh   inside our Parks they did did them in Englewood 
so Charles I appreciate uh the work that you're   doing all right Commissioners I'm if there's no 
other comments I'm inclin to support it as well   but so would the motion be an adoption of the of 
the uh of the entire uh allocation for Community   Partners with the one adjustment increasing uh 
keep this call Beautiful commissioner CER is at   the motion Mr chairman I agree with that because 
it's a reimbursable I don't have a problem with   that motion is that commissioner May is that a 
second stand and before we take the vote I read   an exstension sure all right I have to abstain 
from this vote gentlemen um the nature uh I Jeff   bgos hereby disclose on September 23rd 2024 
um an item came before the uh board which had   endured to my special gain or loss of my relative 
Sally BOS um she works as the executive director   of the health and Hope Clinic um so therefore um 
I am going to be abstaining from this vote thank   you all right thank you commissioner um others 
in favor please indicate by saying I I any any   descent any abstention item passes 3 to Z with 
commissioner BOS abstaining thank you very much   thank you thank you Charles Mr Council Mr council 
member um all right public forum uh Chris carb please thank you Chris GB with the flood 
Defenders thank you um I didn't get to make   it to your first budget hearing so uh I don't 
think you'll change it but uh last time I was   in front of you uh I was telling you about 
American society civil engineers and how we   need to rethink uh storm water management 
I told you about all the money that's been   spent on flood damages in aamia County on 
National flood insurance program and uh   this morning I went to Santa Rosa County and 
spoke there and we need to be proactive rather   than reactive on storm water management and 
I know the County's got a lot of uh a lot of   things to deal with EMS is a big need but uh 
your engineering department and your public   works department I think they need a bigger 
budget but thank goodness for Budget amendments um thanks to staff for putting all this budget 
information together I know y'all work hard ining   this time of year so but uh we have a storm 
out there and I hope it goes to the east of   us so don't hit us directly but but U we're going 
to need that $25 million in L reserves maybe we   should spend it before the the storms thank you 
all right thank you Chris board that's our that's   our only speaker for public forum I entertain a 
motion to adopt the final millage resolution for   fiscal year 2425 so moved Mr chairman I apologize 
there was some more I need to read read entertain   the motion to adopt the final millage resolution 
presented in the agenda back at millage rates   presented are countywide millage rate 66165 Ms 
Library mstu 3590 Ms Sheriff's law enforcement   to 6850 Mills I apologize but was that 
a motion yeah the motion stands there   a second any further discussion hearing 
none please vote item passes four to zero   now the board adoption of a supplemental 
budg budget amendment resolution amending   the tenative fiscal year 2425 budget it 
is in the increased amount of 50 m727   N9 for the following funds general fund 
3,459 451 local provider participant fund   4,439 63 tourist promotion fund 353 
350,000 Library fund $67,900 Article 5 fund $127,800 $2,148 community redevelopment fund 
$171,900 Building Inspections fund $337,450 and   internal service fund $99 i' entertain that that 
motion so move Mr chairman thank you is there a   second all right any conversation or discussion 
all right please vote item passes four to zero   next is going to be the board adoption of the 
final budget resolution of 798 M 672469 for fiscal   year 2425 an entertain a motion so moved thank you 
second thank you please vote item passes 4 to zero   board entertain a motion for the board adopting 
the fiscal year 2425 annual budget for the San   Rose Island Authority I'll move the item thank 
you m thank you Jeff is there a second all right   thank you m Mike Burns is going to be very nervous 
if we don't pass if we don't pass their budget so   all right please vote item pass is four to zero 
next is going to be recommendation concerning a   3% employee pay increase that is budgeted for 
and included in the fiscal year 2425 budget   this increase will be effective with the pay 
period beginning on September 28 2024 at entertain   a motion for that Mr chairman yes sir I'll move 
the item up before that I want to take stepen   because I certainly believe that our employees 
that are out there working uh many of them are   doing jobs that sometimes are thankless uh but I 
think Steve since we've been here we've given a   pay increase every single year every single year 
yes sir that we've been on the board and that's   important to me not for the six figure people 
quite frankly uh but for the people who are   sitting here making 3040 $50,000 and so Stephan 
thank thank you for working that hopefully next   year we can give them more uh particularly those 
uh who are you know making low wages so again I   appreciate that uh Wes and Stephan and I'll move 
the item Mr chair that that may be a record I   you know uh 11 11 or 12 budgets what whatever the 
number would be of consecutive pay increases for   employees that maybe a record yeah I mean I think 
we're at 36% increase since we've been here and so   I'm I'm very proud of that Stephen you know I I 
think that you know particularly those who work   in our custodial who clean our buildings people 
who pick up paper uh the people that maintain   our buildings uh I hope as we move forward uh that 
people who are making you know less than you know   $60,000 that we can even do more but I am proud 
of of what we've been doing absolutely and and   our bargain our bargained employees number would 
be much bigger I don't I don't know the number but   it would be it would be much bigger but apologize 
that was a motion was there a second for that Mr   ask a question commission so when you come up with 
this 3% on 100,000 versus 3% on 45,000 obviously   there's going to continue to be a dispar over 5 to 
10 years do we ever do a desk audit to make sure   that we have the right percentage per pay grade 
so our HR Director may be here but yes so if it's   determined um HR will sit down and look at the 
job duties uh that each position is performing   recently uh we did implement the HR pay plan where 
HR had looked at all County positions uh against   the market uh to see what was an appropriate 
pay level and the board did Implement uh   90 95% of that pay plan last year um this year uh 
we have some more of those components built into   the current Year's budget such as administrative 
assistance pay and some some other positions uh   that were built in so uh but but maybe a longer 
answer than than you asked but yes the answer   to that is yes sir it's probably shorter than I 
like saon but so that means 4 to 5% was actually   reviewed for potential not being enough for pay 
okay that's and Mike I'm glad you said something   about a des on it but simply this you know we 
do a lot of Christmas giveaways we do a lot   of assistance and I I tell you uh when we're 
standing in line of U Community caring or or   Brownsville toy giveaway and an employee comes 
in and says they work for you 11 to 12 years   at scam County but they're waiting in line to 
get toys at some point we can do a desk audit   and do comparables and do analysis but at some 
point we got to bring people up to livable wages   when we talk about attainable and affordable 
housing and we have people that work for us   but they need subsidies and ship and HUD funding 
but that to me is not a good indication and at   some point we have to you know have the political 
courage to say we're not going to give across the   board 3% but we got to look at the least of 
them who are performing services and whether   it's a clerical clerk who becomes the face of 
the county when someone walks in in order to be   a morale we got to make sure that we pay those 
people accordingly and so um I I do I had the   Des out I don't know how long ago it was but I do 
Advocate uh Mike uh that that we take a a closer   look at bringing those people to livable wages and 
quite frankly 12 13 $14 an hour uh in this era is   not liveable wages these people still end up on 
subsidized housing they still end up when they   have to come and serve this County having to wait 
in line and I see them I see them County Employees   uh to give their children Christmas toys and to 
me that's unacceptable for for someone to work in   our County and still uh for us to talk about how 
proud We Are of our employees and we don't make   sure that they can provide for their children 
so uh I look forward to having this conversation   more in depth you know as we move forward I 
just want to tell a story since you brought   that up so after our last budget meeting uh some 
of our employees that work housekeeping two of   them cornered me in the back here and they said 
are we going to really get a pay raise I don't   want to mention their names but yall know them I 
know I can come back and and I said I think you   are and and they were so excited that they were 
going to get a pay raise because they probably   need that extra 40 bucks you know and and I 
understand this dealing with Junior Sailors   when they're going payday to Payday just to try 
to make it so I just want to make sure it's uh   Fair pay for the job and that's that's all I 
want to make sure that we're doing thank you   Mike and and we don't have opportunity to talk 
much um but you know I do a lot of Little League   Sports you'll see parents who want to sign their 
kids up for baseball who are correction officers   who are just not making enough you know I 
mean to figure out how to pay rent how to   figure out for the child to be a cheerleader and 
and a baseball player uh and so I mean obviously   you know some jobs demand more pay I mean based 
on qualifications education uh or whatever but I   think that we can take a harder look to set the 
standard and if we set the standard as a public   agency of how you pay people whether they're 
driving a dump truck or a bus uh because they   have their CDLs uh it will make the the private 
sector will follow if the public sector will set   set the standard so I I'm look forward to having 
this conversation uh to figure out you know how   do we uh pay our um employees particularly those 
who are making less than 40 or $50,000 how are   we paying them more I mean a 3% to someone who's 
making 200,000 is a lot different than as you said   my custodial friends in the back who if they're 
not keeping this building clean nobody wants to   come I mean try to hire the best engineer the best 
attorney or the best whatever uh in the building's   dirty I mean so we should value the service that 
they're giving and the way you value their service   is by paying them I mean that's the way that you 
reward people for hard work is you give them a   fair pay for a fair day's work so I appreciate 
it all B if there's no more discussion uh we did   have a motion in a second I'm sorry was there a 
second commissioner May's motion thank you Mike   all right all right please vote item passes 4 to z 
Mr chairman yes sir uh and and certainly supported   it but stepan if you would go HR and again for 
me to look at what can we do particularly those   people who are making less than4 $50,000 yes sir 
and we do have those conversations annually so   certainly we will have those same conversations 
again next year absolutely yeah even if we had to   have a mid year and we need to bring it back up 
I mean i' honestly rather than conversation I'd   rather have action and make it you know something 
that's yes sir implemented yes sir I I I have the   message all right um commissioner just real quick 
so just a point of clarification so I know that   we did increase uh the keep Pensacola beautiful 
budget that does not change the board's fund level   budget tonight uh we will do a budget amendment 
to place those funds into the proper account next   year so I did just want to make that point of 
clarification your budget is still uh as have   approved all right super thank you very much board 
um we're about to adjourn we'll be reconvening   tomorrow morning for an attorney client session 
uh Stephan Regina James thank you very much