e e e e e e e e e e we're going to go ahead and call the Tuesday April 9th Commission meeting to order we're going to start with a moment of Silent reflection for our First Responders and members of the Armed Forces which will be followed by an invocation by commissioner lore um followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by commissioner flesher if everybody will please rise our heavenly father we thank you for the opportunity to meet today in a civil fashion well Heavenly Father we thank you for the opportunity to join as a community solve the problems that we need to solve our heavenly father today we will be discussing not only child abuse month not only recognizing our youngsters from the boys and girls clubs but also as important victim's rights weak our heavenly father we ask that you provide us the knowledge that we've been commissioned to do upon this board in your son's name amen amen ladies and Gentlemen please join me in the pledge of allegiance to the greatest nation on Earth the United States of America land of the free because of the Brave I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all all right gentlemen thank you first item is additions and deletions to the agenda I did have a request um from Solid Waste if we could move 15 ba which is the residential paper shredding event up so I'd like to move that up to write after proclamations and presentations if that's okay with everybody and if that is are there any other additions or deletions Madam chair move approval as amended SEC second thank you we have a motion in a second all in favor I opposed motion carries all right with that we're going to start our proclamations and presentations with a proclamation for the prevention of child abuse month April 2024 this will be presented presented by commissioner irman to the Exchange Club of ver beach in Indian River County if you guys would like to come on up while commissioner irman reads the proclamation it's all yours thank you madam chairman welcome everyone this morning and um want to read the proclamation for designating this month of April 2024 is Child Abuse Prevention month and u this is not a this is not a great proclamation to read but we got to make sure that it is a real problem out there and it still is in this world and it's it's very sad but uh we're you all are doing everything you can and as much appreciated and we're going to move forward with with this uh Proclamation Proclamation designating the month of April 2024 is child abuse Child Abuse Prevention month whereas child abuse and neglected are serious and growing problems affecting more than 3.1 million of our nation's children annually and over 3,400 children locally and whereas the abuse and neglect of children can cause severe costly and lifelong problems including physical and mental health problems School failure and criminal Behavior which affects all of society increased public awareness of the devastating problem of child abuse and neglect is our strongest weapon in the fight to end it and whereas many Community organizations such as all the local exchange clubs Indian River Treasure Coast vir Beach felmer and Sebastian the Hibiscus Children's Center and other organizations who make children a top priority take action to support the physical social emotional and educational development and competency of all children and whereas during the month of April prevent child abuse Florida in collaboration with the governor's office and the adoption of child protection the Florida Department of Children and Families and our ouna prevention fund of Florida will Implement pin wheels for prevention a Statewide campaign promoting awareness of healthy child development and positive parenting practices the National Exchange Club will honor all children by wearing blue on Mondays during the month of April now therefore be it proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of Indian River County Florida that the month of April 2024 be designated as Child Abuse Prevention month in any River County and all residents are urged to engage in activities whose purpose is to strengthen families and communities to provide the optimal environment for healthy child development adopted this 9th day of April 2024 and signed by all five County Commissioners thank you for all you do for this and uh we're definitely grateful thank Youk you uh first off let me thank you for recognizing this month is prevention of child abuse month uh prevention of child abuse has been our national project with exchange since 1979 we have established in the State of Florida four child Abuse Prevention centers and we have a fifth one underway uh this uh centers provide a program called parenting matters parenting matters focus on keeping families together and they go into a home to prevent the pr um abuse and uh it prevents the children from ending up in foster care uh in 2003 in the State of Florida 97 children lost their life to child abuse and at St uh Helen's Catholic church we have 97 flags up this month representing those children we'll move those in the middle of the month up to the park in Sebastian uh the centers uh basically uh that was established the most recently was that youth guidance right here in uh virau Beach uh and and is focused on uh prevention of child abuse in our County exchange goal is to make our communities better places one of our major projects is the air show join us on May 3rd through 5th at the airport for the air show and thank you [Applause] again you take a picture for us okay all right all right our next um presentation is going to be a presentation by the Boys and Girls Club of benan River for their youth of the year come on up ladies don't be shy good to have you guys here and we're happy to be able to to celebrate with you go ahead thank you yeah sure absolutely wonderful thank you so much thank you for having us this morning U my name is Laura I am the chief operating officer at the Boys and Girls Club of indianer County and I am here just to tell you a little bit about our program and introduce to you our 2024 Youth Of The Year Angela Martinez Hernandez um the Youth of the Year program um is something that was established by the Boys and Girls Club um of America um back in actually 1947 so it's been around for a while thank you um it's a leaders program that celebrates our youth um who embody the characteristics and values of leadership service academic Excellence um Healthy Lifestyles um it's a really prestigious program that recognizes the best of the best and so we're really honored to be here to present her to you today um our members have an opportunity once they um succeed at the county level to then go on to represent our organization at the state level and then um after that if they win at the state level which we think Angela will um she will have the they'll have the opportunity to represent us at the Southeast Regional level and then the national level in order to participate in this program it really is quite a rigorous process um they have to prepare a three minute long speech about their experiences write a number of essays about their life experiences things that they want to accomplish in the world ways that they've grown as an individual um they have to prepare their cover letters and resumés and talk about how they can be an advocate for America's youth um they have to receive letters of recommendations so be highly recommended by their community members participate in community service and just to highlight in this past year um 12 months Angela has accumulated more than a 100 community service hours um she has to challenge or they have to challenge themselves academically and then also they're a role model for their peers not only in the Boys and Girls Club but within the community I mentioned a little bit about the process um just to give you um an overview of the timeline um we start this process in August of every year um and we go all the way um we're in April right now so she has been working on her materials she's been working on her speech she's been um practicing her interview um since August so she has been doing this for quite some time and it does take quite a bit of commitment and dedication and now I would like to present to you our 2024 Youth of the year and she is going to present Her speech to you all thank you hello my name is anela Martinez Hernandez and I'm standing here before you today as a first generation Mexican am the first in my family to be born here in the United States this accomplishment came with many sacrifices one of which was my time my parents who are immigrants don't know much English so my Birthright was to learn my Birthright was to learn English and help them with anything they needed because of this I felt as if I grew up too fast but when attending the Boys and Girls Club I felt like I was able to let go of all that responsibility and just be a kid being the oldest out of four kids and the firstborn in a new country isn't easy it comes with responsibilities that monopolize your time and pull you away from being with your friends as I grew up I was constantly translating and making making sure my siblings were succeeding in school in a way I always thought being the oldest was a burden that I didn't ask for that these duties just fell upon me the day I was born as I grew up I thought my adolescence was slipping away and I realized it was because of all that I was doing for my family I was constantly making sure my mom understood her spam calls making sure my siblings understood his school work and getting them ready for school every morning when you Adine moved every few months to follow the harvesting Seasons it felt like I had lived several different lives by the time I was a teenager now as I've G older I don't think of it as a burden anymore because I realized that it was an opportunity to make sure my siblings didn't have to go through what I went through to make sure they took all the time to enjoy all the fun that comes with being a kid well yes I did have to grow up fast I still had to learn few things that my parents weren't and expert in that being that it's okay to let go of it all the boys and girls club helped me realize that it's okay to feel emotions because they all understood where I came from because of the club I now make sure my siblings know that just because you need an education they can still choose where they want to go and change their minds I make sure they know that no one is perfect and it's fine to cry and be angry since attending the club I have had the opportunity to go all out on my teenage years it is always so much fun with them there and there is never a dull moment in the teen room it is filled with the type of joy and comfort that makes a person want to open up to the staff the field trips are always so much fun that there are notore memories of mine that I will never forget and I will always cherish I have also learned I have the ability to affect change and as the Youth of the year I would make it my mission to bring attention to the unfair immigration policy set in the United States and how immigrant children are disproportionately affected I want to be a voice for my peers and other children who have also experienced the hardship of acting as their parents Advocate those of us who are forced to grow up far too fast because of the lack of resources available and the stigma our parents face as immigrants I'm here today not just because I was selected to represent felir as this year's Youth of the year but I want to demonstrate to my siblings and other members that it is possible to succeed no matter what your background is or where you have been as the Next Generation we are a powerful force with the ability to change the face of America I am learning every day how to be more open-minded and resilient and how to use my voice for good I am positive with the tools that I have learned at the boys and girls club that I will not only make a difference in my family but in my community too I now know a good leader never stops growing and I never will thank you Angela that was a lovely speech and I love what you said a good leader never stops growing and that's absolutely correct thank you so much and good luck at State I like your peers here have no doubt that you will come back Victorious and um you'll be going on to National so just thank you so much for sharing that with us everybody how old are you I'm 17 1 God bless us thank you the future looks very bright doesn't it commissioner flesher yes very very rewarding in your delivery thank you well done well [Applause] done fantastic thank you if you guys wantan to do you want a picture there's there's like a mark on the floor where the middle is congratulations and very good luck so Jacksonville April 24th through the 27th correct we will be sending all the happy thoughts inding River County has to send thank you yes all right our next item is going to be if I can find my pen a proclamation designating April 21st through the 27th as Crime Victims week in IND no County this will be presented by commissioner flesher to U Mr Zelo the Indian River County Sheriff's Office and the Indie River County Sheriff's Office victim Services Unit if y'all want to come up I think we also don't be shy Barbara faul is here oh was Barbara here okay come on up thank you madam chair uh you know uh no no civilization is uh void of victims unfortunately it exists we are also blessed that we have a reduced lower victim rate here in Indie River County but that uh also means that we need to recognize our victims recognize their rights their existence and their right to justice so with that I have the honor of presenting its Proclamation designating April 21st through 27th uh 2024 as Crime Victims week in inie River County whereas since 1981 National Crime Victims rights week has challenged us to confront barriers to ACH achieving justice for all victims while still reflecting on how far we've come and whereas millions of people every year in the United States are victims of crime including terrible acts of violence loss or damage of personal property and financial exploitation and these citizens may lose a sense of trust and safety that can never be fully recovered and whereas persistent barriers prevent many victims from obtaining the support and services they need and the Justice they deserve and fewer than half of the violent crimes that ever been reported and local community initiatives especially those that build trust with law enforcement are key to preventing violence whereas it is essential to improve the access to services and the safety for our historically marginalized and underserved communities combat the surge in anti-asian harassment and other hate crimes reduce gun violence and its impacts on victims families and First Responders and whereas every crime victim deserves Justice and assurance that the safety and Welfare will be protected and by being united for victim's right Services we again gain the strength as the community and offer a tangible support to the victims who seek to recover in the aftermath of crime now therefore be proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of Indie River County Florida that April 21st through 27th 2024 is designated as Crime Victims week and in Indie River County and the board calls upon all citizens to participate at in the events that raise awareness of victim's rights and to reach out and to serve the victims in need will'll be adopted this n9th day of April 2024 and it is signed by all five County Commissioners thank you good morning Paul thank you good morning uh commissioner Fletcher and all all the board members here are deeply appreciated appreciative of your uh attendance at our at our functions and we've got one on June not June uh over in Memorial Island April 27th Saturday Saturday at 9:00 so we we appreciate you so much for being there um we have some distinguished people here with us today uh the director of victim services for the 19th Judicial Circuit Court uh which includes Indian River County and three other counties uh director Barbara Falkner Barbara and we have a sheriff's office this been uh absolutely invaluable in helping the Coalition of the victims of crime in this County and they're responsible for putting this uh this event on at Memorial Island along with the Coalition we have uh Sharon who writes the checks that are victims of crime so she uh she was here by mandate you know um who do I live who do I leave out we got a great showing here by the Sheriff's Office and as well it should be so we've got uh unprecedented growth in our state there no no big secret but the demographics that I was reading is thousand families per day in at state that's pretty incredible um and with that you know we've got our trickle down effect into the county as well so uh with that comes the growth with that comes the need for uh more law enforcement and U it comes with all the problems of growth which is uh crime so the Indian River County victims rights Coalition is going to continue to work with law enforcement and provid the acute care financial needs of our families affected by crime which is what we do so we're registered currently as a 501c nonprofit and we will be reviewing that this year in order to provide more assistance to the victims of crime and those in need the families and those affected by crimes appreciate the leadership that you and our and our Coalition provide as well as law enforcement Indi County Sheriff's Office and our Coalition Coalition are gathering a memorial is on April 27th at 9:00 on Saturday and we appreciate so many of you that are coming so we want to thank each and every one of you for your attendance and uh this year's theme comes from the office of victims of crime in um Washington and it reads services and hope for Crime Victims how would you help and as all we know from our sophomore English classes help is a verb and they're speaking to us so how how are we going to help the victims of crime with that I'd like to just offer the microphone here to uh the director of victim services that we work with the state attorney's office Barbara fauler thank you um thank you for doing this Proclamation today um I also want to thank our state attorney and he offers his thanks also um Tom bad all um between the sheriff's office here Indian River with their wonderful Advocate staff and our Advocates at the state attorney's office we do our best to ensure that victim's rights are being upell every day and we have always felt Indian River County's Coalition has been absolutely the most supportive um in helping us provide for financial needs for victims and just support for our victims in this area so um I do want to thank Paul zno for all he does for the Coalition he is amazing so thank you again and um I'm Sheriff flowers thank you guys for taking time to recognize our victims it's such a critical uh event every year and uh Sheriff lur I know you and I went to many events years and years in a row and that's one of the reasons why I formed our Cold Case committee and um we've been very successful and this Thursday I'm actually going to be announcing um a closure for the 1968 Milkman homicide that many people um recognize from our community it's been unsolved for many years and we're going to put some closure to that and so that's one less victim uh one more family that's going to have closure and we're very proud of that that's work that we continue to do uh those events every year moved me hearing those names seeing those people sitting with the mcferson and and just recognizing um there's real people on the other side of these crimes and so it really means a lot to me personally and to our agency that you guys take time to recognize these victims I want to thank Paul uh for all the work that he does of course our victim's Advocate team is is absolutely incredible I also want to thank Paul for going ahead and telling you guys that people are moving here uh that we need more law enforcement because I know it's almost budget season so he's already set you guys up for my budget when it comes over so I appreciate that um but thank you guys again for taking time to recognize our victims and we will certainly be there in Mass to support uh the families that are still hurting as a result of crimes thank you so just let you know that uh sheriff and I didn't cooperate this before I made that announcement um I want to recognize and I was remiss in not recognizing her because she was uh my uh victim Advocate during my time of Crisis and she's uh invaluable to barbar as well at the state attorney's office her her name is uh Lisa I'm sorry Julie sta Julie thank you so thank you very much uh is it time for pictures now well Paul I I just had a question because uh M chair you uh presented a quite a cad of individuals who uh work this great effort uh um unfortunately uh resources are limited uh is there any uh volunteer opportunities that uh anyone could reach out there's a lot of folks that are looking for volunteer opportunities absolutely and uh are are you in need in that that Arena yeah thank you for mentioning that I I left that out and it's a valuable subject the Coalition needs volunteers and we're going to be asking and reaching out to them on 20 on the 27th of April but this is the greatest time as any to ask for them we have so many of our volunteers invest their time their own time and their own money in this in this thing to help victims of crime we have some people that are uh that are very in need right now we had a case where uh there was a fire I think and this person needed quite a bit of funding for uh you know acute care she needs a place to live with her two minor children but because it doesn't officially fall into the crime area although it's arson we we've got a debate to see what we can do to keep her off the street um so yeah we need we need help we always need help we have a Victim Impact Panel where I speak to the vi the uh DUI court order DUIs every other month we get as many as 70 people as little as 40 we charge them $50 a piece to come in and that's uh that goes right into the uh victims pool and when we get a call from the victim's Advocates we say okay is this legit let's take a look at it we get a we get a vote on it and we nine times out of 10 we vote Yes to help the person whether it's housing whether it's food whether it's a travel ticket no matter what it is it's the payments are made to the vendors so it you know it reduces any UPS scouting with the monies so yes thanks for mentioning that uh commissioner and please put the word out our commissioner our uh commission Coalition is looking for volunteers to help help us we had a very valuable person rcky be Becky bomb that resigned this year because she's just an overload with uh at the state attorney's office with dealing with uh crimes and so uh we need we need good people and I'm I'm blessed and thankful for this group behind me because uh we couldn't do it without them we can't do it without without the help from our volunteers so I appreciate so much uh you're just showing up at this at these uh functions because when the victims of crime look look up and they see you they know you're serious about helping them so uh thank you thank you uh commissioner thank [Applause] you Cas we still need volunteers thank you the seniors are doing well too thank you for what you do all right how's that oh need advocate all right thank you [Applause] guys all right our next item is going to be oh where am I the residential paper shredding event on April 27th ladies come on up and tell us where we can get our Surplus paper shredded good morning we have our paper shredding event April 27th this a Saturday at Southeast secure Shred the same location we've had it at for many years um it's free to Residence three boxes 35 lbs total um 8:00 a.m. to noon and last our last event was November 18th we had 560 cars which diverted eight tons of paper to the landfill so and it's funded we pay for the advertising and waste management WM pays for the cars themselves Southeast secure shredding charge is $7 but they cover that cost so it's a great partnership and it diverts paper from the landfill so oh that's a great thing anything we can do to keep stuff out of the landfill yep so April 2 7th April 27th yep be there be square yep bring all your papers re boxes worth 35s yep and there's Flyers this will be up on the website soon now that it's approved and there's flyers in the lobby okay fantastic now do you guys just do this twice a year yes April and November is when we try to April and November so right after tax season and right before Christmas exactly Perfect all right all right thank you guys thanks for doing that yep all right Commissioners um the next item is approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of February 6th mam chair move approval all right I have a motion by commissioner flesher with a second by commissioner irman all in favor opposed motion carries and then there is um just a couple things under informational I wanted to point out we do have a proclamation um designating April 2020 or April 22nd 2024 as Earth Day um so we just want to encourage everybody to become better committed to the greater causes such as recycling education water conservation and food waste prevention which the shredding event fits right into that um also want to point out that um we are doing some things for the celebration of Earth week on Monday April 22nd there'll be uh volunteer day at the Holstrom house Tuesday April 23rd um there's going to be a uh talk about powerful pollinators at the IG Center Wednesday you can commissioner flesher I know this is going to be right up your alley um Eco yoga so you can go out to Jones pier and try your hands at some yoga in a lovely environment um there Thursday April 25th is changing Landscapes just talking about um different different landscape options and habitats that we have here in Indian River County and then Friday April 26 26th is movie time at the bracket Library where they'll be um hosting some eco- themed movie events so I would encourage everybody to go out um celebrate Earth Day remember we only have one Earth so let's do what we can to protect it and then in conjunction this is the whole theme it got a little shaded yesterday too it did get a little shaded did anybody can I yeah since I've been here on the commission it's amazing how many things that commissioner flusher is really into that I know he is a Renaissance I've been here a long time he's a renaissance man the yoga the sports and it did get shaded yesterday I had my um I had my glasses I did not burn my retinas out so we're all good there get the full of effect but no but it was really cool whoever if anybody got to see the eclipse um and then April is also water conservation month so in keeping with the whole Eco Earth Day theme um please make sure that you are conserving water consider zeroscape Landscapes uh water-wise ground cover succulents and other plants that thrive in drought conditions also you know make sure you don't have any leaky faucets and are otherwise Wast wasting water and conserve on the irrigation and the wonderful thing about Florida is we have lots of native plants that are very good at conserving water or not needing water so please take advantage of those things other than that I will stop my random Spiel on that but Earth Day water conservation week commissioner flesher and I will be out at yoga at Jones Pier come join us and um we'll go from there okay so Commissioners with that moving on to the consent agenda does anybody wish Madam chair thanks for doing that because un unfortunately uh area 7 does not get the attention that it truly deserves it does and you went through that entire area that needs no vote but needs to be stated you know we had some cool things on there thisth yeah I try you know consent agenda anybody wishing to pull anything from the consent yes commissioner Moss I'd like to pull H I8 I Madam chair yes like to pull 8 h h h okay anybody else how about 8X 8X feel like I need to pull something just to be in the in the club here commissioner flesher you need to pull anything no I all right anybody from the public 8X is being pulled already being pulled yet anybody from the 8X all right that's already pulled anybody else three X's we got it all right um Commissioners if there's nothing else what is madam chair move move approval as amended thank you we have a motion a second all in favor I opposed motion carries and if it's okay with everybody we'll just take these in order so commissioner lore I think you're up first with 8h insurance Ren W yes ma'am this is just for uh the board and the community's information that obviously we have to renew our self-insurance fund and our property Casualty Insurance each and every year uh and I just want the public to know that after evaluating our insurance needs countywide uh our rates are going up over 3% uh not uncommon to most of us whose homeowners insurance are going up so want the public to know that uh your insurance for your county buildings and liability is going up 3% thank you for that um unfortunately unfortunately right all right Commissioners comments questions concerns commissioner L did you want to make a motion sure all right I have a a motion for approval by commissioner lore the second by commissioner irman all in favor I opposed motion carries and with that we'll move on to 8i request for approval of the Third Amendment to the amended and restated facility lease agreement Jackie Robinson training complex commissioner Moss yes uh thank you madam chair um this request uh requests in part that we wave the County's procedural requirements for bids um which I'm opposed to doing that and this is the third time we've been requested to do this uh I voted against it February 9th in 2021 and July 12th in 2022 so I will not be voting in favor of this and I'll leave it to someone else to move it forward should one wish Madam chair yes commissioner can I can I ask the uh uh Deputy County Administrator um if uh what is the the purpose origin reason for the limitation that we're confronted with yes sir Michael Zoo Deputy County Administrator this is consistent with the uh pattern that we've established since 2019 under the amended and restated facility lease agreement um due to our collaborative nature of um partnering on these projects there is mutual incentive to for the MLB to engage in every aspect of competitive bidding uh it's just they're able to do things in a more expedited fashion and um in fact the reason we're here today is because their last bidding process generated a $250,000 Ser 2 257,000 Surplus which is the funds that we're asking you to shift today to a project that was discovered in the middle of the asbest removal so the program is working it's just about completed this is the County's last obligation other than the one that is mentioned in the agenda item which is a um oversight of a roof repair that will'll mutually Endeavor to perform um and cooperate on that funding as well so with that I would recommend approval and and as as uh I recall uh many years ago when this relationship was established uh it was designed so that they would be the managing entity and we would have a share responsibility and they would be selecting the uh the contractors that would to get the job done because they are in that business buiness correct they are and quite frankly uh the gravity of the projects out there not something that we could just absorb inhouse um we have a challenge to complete our own projects and so this methodology works very well and it does Ensure pricing and quality that were used in the U fiveyear pointed out did save save funding in the last it provided this is no new funding this shifting Surplus savings from the bidding process on thebest Project thank you just just to clarify for the community MLB is majorly baseball and they're in the sports business not the construction business thank you all right anybody else anybody from the public commissioner Madam chair motion to approve I'll second okay we have a motion by commissioner flesher with second by commissioner irman all those in favor opposed oos n motion carries 4 to one with commissioner MOS senting with that we'll move on to 8X request approval to bid gford elevated storage tank Rehabilitation ircd us project ID I'm not going to go into it's long Madam chairman I just want to yep go ahead Sean do X yes X M go ahead you're good I just wanted Sean to speak on it okay as what we're doing here what's that just want you to speak on know what we're doing sure uh Sean lekei director of utilities um what we've got going and what we're proposing here is um the Gord elevated storage tank uh we had a report done by kimley horn that showed that there was some structural deficiencies associated with the tank um and in order to to do some rehab itation we're estimating a little bit over $500,000 to do that reil Rehabilitation to ensure the tank is stabilized and and able to be utilized um more so as a as a cellular um um carrier um Tower if you will um the tank right now is no longer really being utilized by the the utility and you know after the repairs are complete the plan would be to turn it over to either the public works department parks department for long-term on andm of the facil of the tank um for continued use as as a cellular um Tower and as a landmark to the community I mean it's it's a landmark for the gford community and to continue utilizing that as a landmark for that Community um but in order to kind of secure that tank and to keep it um to a point where it's not going to potentially fall over or be blown over um we do need to do these repairs to to continue that um to keep that tank secure that's all I got I I would I would agree with Sean I agree with the with staff's approval on this um I think it's something that that we that we need to keep and and use as we can and I like the idea turn it over to public works for that purpose so with that I'll make a motion to and one thing just to clarify I do know that um Dan Russell Our IT director is also looking and working with the cellular care carriers to help some help offset some of those costs and I believe we actually may have already gotten a commitment from one of the carriers um Verizon for a certain amount of money um it's not necessarily going to cover the full cost of those repairs um but should help to offset the cost of some of that and and second with another comment is that a second to the motion second to the motion with an additional comment go ahead um and again you and I have discussed this in in Great Lengths uh as as far as the utility of the water tower I'm grateful and this is uh very important to maintain this iconic structure again we have a cell tower as well but it is very important to the the citizens uh in gford and uh rightfully so we've worked hard to get it labeled marked and conditioned over the years um I just was a little challenged that we couldn't add the utility end of it to the scenario as it could be a working product your explanation and I just wanted the public to know that uh as far as I I understand the Consultants uh were clear about it as far as the utility and hearing from you as a director again uh it's not uh feasible it's uh really it's handing a cup of water to where uh a vat is needed and you have other resources to ensure that there is ample uh availability for public water without the use of the Tower so it's going to be filled with something so that it can be maintained for weight and stability but that is where it ends it will not be a utility asset correct yes I mean it needs to be filled with something to ensure that during hurricanes and there's no you know the hurricane wind can uplift something and so need enough water in that Tower to ensure that it's got enough weight to kind of keep it stabilized during high wind events and so that's there will be something placed in it whether it's water or another material at this point we still don't haven't made that final decision but there will need to be some sort of material placed on the inside of that Tower to keep it stabilized during during Hurricane events well I'll say thank you to uh from a grateful Community thank you um anybody anybody else on the Das wishing okay sir you wanted to make a comment make welcome thank you Tom Sullivan 4186 West 16 square uh I was going to um not agree with everybody I I don't think it's a wise use of money we're talking about 500,000 is 559 th000 seems like a lot of money and when I've been here I've seen some other people turn down in the nature of you know some of the people that wanted drug rehabilitation money turn down um I look at it you know as an icon I don't know if it's an iconic Landmark uh I was here when some of the gentlemen from gford spoke about it and I was hoping some of the gentlemen would be here today and feel that that money was being wisely spent I do think in the future you're going to have some upkeep problems so you're going to have continued maintenance I do think if you declare it a Historic Landmark you'll even have more problems because then you'll have to fix it in a manner that's fitting to be Historic Landmark I think it's outlived its life it's a water tower I think the park which is adjacent to a school presents another problem uh we're all familiar with this ticktock junk that goes on my fear is that as we abandon this Tower and I'm not saying when it's not serviced regularly that some of those middle schoolers will tend to to do something that we wouldn't want them to do uh I understand the the significance of the tower but I think a pocket park at the way at the rate where growing in that area in particular might serve the needs of that Community better uh similar uh Jaun to what's done at the hosy Schuman Park you know a little pocket park that serves a little local community um that that was my thought I just don't sometimes when these things come up I don't understand the decisionmaking process that goes into it uh sometimes I think it's like I feel this is the right thing and we jump into it rather than having inputs already we know this is going to cost 560,000 it's a water tank that has it it its life is over you know these things you know and and these things are going to cost money to maintain in the event of a storm or an accident people the people realize the Middle School is right next to it their their Sports fields are adjacent to it if if they want to expand the sports field which I think would be a much greater use of that land than someone looking at the tower because you know and I agree with the historic aspect of it but I think we can honor that in a different way I just think you're putting yourself in a position where not only you're going to be spending 560,000 by the way that's an initial estimate bid but you're going to be spending a lot more when those bids come in and then you're going to spend a lot more in the future to maintain it and I think you can do something that's much more fulfilling to the community and satisfying to the people and to the Next Generation rather than saying we have to maintain that water tank it is not going to be free that that was my point Thank you m once again the water tower is not just a iconic symbol uh it is something that uh the citizens have grown with it's a Landmark uh a local Landmark not a national landmark not a historical site however uh those objects on top of the tank provide for a very reasonable source of Revenue as is it's the highest point in the geographic area for some miles since we have height restrictions on our buildings that water tower was built significantly higher and it is a very sought after product uh for the uh the cellular providers so much so that a cellular provider has stepped up to the plate and we we are now getting a commitment to offset the cost of this development okay I was not aware of that I didn't see that anywhere in print and I didn't see the future inflows of cash so I really don't know the balance sheet you know you obviously have thank you Mr Brown did you want to say [Music] something uh good morning Commissioners Anthony Brown 4159 57 Court Barrow Beach uh it's icon ironic that other people speak for the citizens of gord who I've born bred and raised in the gford community I've watched the gford community shrink from here where we stand now which is uh Spillway IE Booker Washington division where the gford sign was out by the UPS building moving North all the way to the winter beach Canal we now the census track is from 43rd Avenue to the railroad tracks where you now have North Vero Beach which as a kid I played in Crab we used to get crab claws that big where the hospital where Indian River Boulevard we are constantly letting our history being lost stolen forgotten and often times altered this iconic it is Iconic irregardless to what some other people say because I've grown I've watched it it has not been a hazard to Indian River County it has not been a hazard to GF Community it has been something that we take pride in and people say where is gford look for the water tower it's representative of us and what's left we don't have the gford high school we don't have the gford elementary school we don't have the businesses we don't have any of the assets that we had as I grew up in this community I remember commissioner wheer one day sitting on that Des saying gier may not be a municipality but moving forward this commission going to treat it as a municipality we don't ask for much we pay our taxes we go along we interject we get in these rooms we try to negotiate we try to have relationships we try to honor the money and be help you be good students of the monies of in County but in these instances as the utilities director say some of the cost is going to be offset so let's stop looking at numbers and looking at a community who has been displaced who has been minimized and are only asking you to let that Tower stay there with the words g i f f o r d on them I appreciate you and thank you and hope you'll do the right thing thank you Mr Brown all right anybody else Commissioners there is a motion by commissioner irman with a second by commissioner flesher all in favor opposed motion carries with that we will move on to public discussion items our first item is a request to speak from um sioban mccordi of the state attorney's office regarding Sexual Assault Awareness Month welcome thank you for being here good morning I'm sorry I wasn't able to be here last month I did have learn I apologize um so I just wanted to share that April is sexual assult Awareness Month along with many other um awarenesses and we're be doing an event for survivors it's going to be in all the counties it's through our sexual assault response team which is compiled of law enforcement State Attorneys anyone in the community that works with survivors of sexual assault where we come together and work on how we can better serve survivors in the area and to make sure that they're heard they're they know what's going on and that they have their rights upheld um so on April 12th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the courthouse here in inie River County we'll be having a Survivor empowerment walk where we'll be having signs of empowerment that will be walking along the signs of um where the courthouse is and that's a way for survivors to share their stories um take back their power reclaim what happened to them and then at the end of that we'll be having an opportunity for someone to speak um they can share their story it could be a supporter for a message of support um it could be anything a poem um a story a quote and then at that after that we'll be having a um candidate vigil so we'll be having a moment for survivors um who have been affected in our area because last year our program alone in the four Cy served 1,63 survivors of sexual assault and we want everyone to know that we're here that what happened to them is not their fault and we just want them to know that it's okay um and we're here for them fantastic thank you so much thank you all right the next item is a request to to speak by Jay comach I'm apologize if I butchered that regarding the Serene mobile home park code enforcement issues welcome good morning thank you for allowing me to speak here today I am Joe kbach I'm a 70-year-old retired but still licensed Florida attorney and I reside at Serene mobile home park located at 810 8th Street here in Vero Beach uh Indian River County um I Rise to speak about a humble issue I think given all that I've heard this morning but it's an important issue it's attached to an issue of due process noticing an opportunity to be heard the uh main issue is I prepared my remarks and time them but I'm going to try to be briefer than that the U issue involves six vacant Lots on an old mobile home park whose Beginnings start in 1971 and for all of that time four of the six vacant lots have never had a house on them and that is at the corner of Old Dixie Highway and 8th Street in any event uh a year ago infrastructure for RVs campers and motor coaches began to be installed it was difficult to determine this because the permits do not accurately describe the work actually being done in any event I travel downtown for the first time in my life to community development department and spoke to the planner of the day who happened to be Andy sa now the director of the department and I asked him if RVs Co campers and motor coaches were allowed in sering Mobile Home Park and I was told unequivocally know the property's not zoned for that the property own commercial heavy that the property have to be rezoned and a new site plan issued and all that would require notice and an opportunity to be heard under Section 800 05 letters have to be sent to the homeowners uh notices have to be posted on the property uh and a hearing before this board must be held and we must receive a notice of that so I repeated that request to Patrick Murphy another planner and was told the same thing several months later 48 hours ago or two business days ago on on Thursday I learned that an application for administrative approval is a process that exists and that was the first time I heard about it on Friday afternoon late Friday afternoon an application for administrative approval was filed within yber County so I looked up administrative approval and discovered that all of the due process requirements of Section 800.0 5 do not exist for that in other words the elderly residents of serene and the surrounding Community will not know that the change in use is about to take place according to the administrative code the application for administrative approval is designed for small changes like a change of a restaurant according to the website changing a uh retail space to a restaurant not for something major as changing the use of the property um obviously that would affect values of the homes already there including mine and another important point is all of the residents are elderly some of them are handicapped and some of them live part-time in Far Away States like Wisconsin Ro island with no ability to learn without a letter that their property rights are about to be changed in some government in the sunshine works best um hiding things never has a good outcome the tenants and residents and homeowners in Serene deserve due process one of the few board entities in this County that can has the both the authority and the responsibility to ensure due process other than a federal judge is this commission so please help us please ensure that we receive due process Fair notice and an opportunity to be heard before the change in use of the property occurs thank you thank you all right Commissioners the next item is a public notice item Mr de brw that's [Applause] you um good morning Commissioners Bill de braw County attorney on March 20 2024 the solid waste disposal District uh will hold a second special call meeting for the solid waste and recyclables collection service RFP 2024 020 on Wednesday April 4 24th 2024 and I turn it back over to the chair thank you all right before we move on to our next item we're going to take a five minute recess e e e e e e e e e e e e call the meeting back to order next item is uh departmental matters Office of Management and budget 12 F1 Children's Services funding allocation for for fiscal year 20242 welcome good morning Ruth bomito senior budget analyst each year the board board accounting Commissioners approves the funding allocations for children's services the amount is then allocated to the applicants based upon recommendations of the children's service advisory committee seesac on May 17 2022 the board approved changes to the seesac ordinance which increased the maximum millage cap to 0.250 Ms up from the previous cap of 0.125 Ms on March 7 2020 3 The Bard County Commissioners elected to keep the millage rate at 0.125 or 1/8 of a mill to fund the Children's Services programs for the fiscal year 2324 which provided 2,773 383 in funding on MAR on April 2nd 2024 cesac re recommended a 10% increase above the current millage rate which equates to a 23.6% increase over the current funding level an increase of 65451 this would result in a total budget budget allocation of approximately 3,455 635 the County Administrator recommends the board approv funding for children's service agencies at the current 0.12 5 millage rate which would generate 3,149 351 in funding for fiscal year 2425 this amount provides a 13.6% increase or 376,162 welcome Miss Emerson hi first and foremost I just want to thank the Commissioners for your steadfast support for children and families in the community um you've been incredible stewards of taxpayer money and um we've been able to hit over 18,000 touch points as a result of the funding that has gone towards Children's Services just in the 22 23 year and I remember last year while I wasn't a member of the county as an employee I did watch this presentation and um I Heard very clearly that there were things that the Commissioners wanted in place in order to create more trust and transparency and Fidelity around children's services and then just 8 months ago I joined the Indian River County family and then became the director of community services and I stand before you very proud of the accomplishments we've been able to make in just a very short amount of time um and you know despite putting in a lot of rigorous systems and structures we really won't see the aftermath of this until after this current Grant cycle so in three years we're really going to be able to show an incredible return on investment from the money that was put into the programs um provided through uh seesac so I just want to go through some of the things that were requested on behalf of the staff of children's services so one of the things that we were tasked to do was really increase public transparency and so I think we've done a great start at really building trust by uh Shining Light on the programs and the impact that's being made we did an aggressive hash IRC success campaign while this isn't only focus on children's services we're also able to show the tremendous improvements we've made with veteran services and our public libraries as as well as um all the human services that are supported under the Community Services Department we also updated our website um what you will find is the committee and subcommittee members our meeting dates agendas minutes ordinance uh the guide book which has been revised for the first time since 1997 as well as our social media pushout you will see a public dashboard that has been implemented to Showcase program descriptions the budget anticipated research based outcomes um and it's all publicly available demonstr ating our stewardship to taxpayer money and our commitment to supporting our families and Community we also developed a GIS map with support of the IRC GIS team that delivers an interactive opportunity for families to see the current location of programs that are funded through seesac their contact information what their program outcomes are anticipated to be as well as the areas of support which also help shine light on some areas um within our community where there may be we call it a desert of program options um in particular noting like the northwest region of Indian Riv County really needs uh a lot more programs to be able to amp up the to the level of support we're providing elsewhere in the community and so because of this we've also been able to increase Fidelity measures by updating the guide book addressing the missing attendance and dosage requirements that should have been in the contract that are now in place adding system imized accountable program site visits um if there's any question on whether programs are doing the work the site visits are Shining Light on the real intensive um and research-based interventions that are happening on the site of these programs also we have implemented a scoring rubric um along with the request for proposal so that our grant subcommittee which is made up of 15 members that are volunteers but experts from the the community they're able to score based on what the needs are in our community we've also addressed our funding priorities and as you know tripled the number of meetings that we're having from just four a year at 1 hour to now 12 a year at almost two and a half hours each really digging in deep one of the beautiful things about seesac is it really is um a microcosm of our community there's a lot of diverse points of view within the committee um 15 members that are some appointed and some voted in and it allows for really rich discussion all voices can be heard and all opinions can be heard but we follow the process and I think that that is a Real Testament to the work that each of you have done to make sure that it's really showing the spectrum of of different beliefs within our community so I want to just touch on the needs assessment really quickly because we've been able to save taxpayers $50,000 by managing this internally using the research based patch meth patch framework um experts from our field including you know some that are here here today hope Woodhouse Carrie Lester who really um can dive into the data and research around substance awareness and abuse doc Dr McMahon who manages accountability and research for the school district sat through our needs assessment and was one of the voices in the room along with Carissa Balden who's a mental health counselor and Michael Kint who we know has been just a a major supporter through his efforts as um a spokesperson for United Way but also a member of the board of the hospital District so the experts are in the room we looked at multiple sources of information that are public available over 200 different unique data points were looked at getting down to and honing into three new funding priorities from seesac and these are all done um with a emphasis on early intervention and really building parent capacity through all of them so that's no longer a standalone focus it really is embedded into every single program that's going to come for funding in this new Grant cycle and here's just some of the re research informed decisionmaking um data that we looked at so I want you to notice that under health and wellness we were looking at prenatal care research we were looking at infant mortality and what that what that says as a key measure of our nation's Health recognizing that that reflects the socioeconomic conditions of a community we also were looking at Youth Development programs um knowing that when students participate in these programs 42% of them are less likely to drop out of school knowing that programs under nurturing families and communities that support families with parenting classes visiting sites of homes family counseling all we see as a result of that is incredible growth and positive outcomes for our our children which ends up becoming a financial benefit for our community it pays back to us what we're really investing in is creating tomorrow's future law-abiding taxpayers and so success in school and life is one of the other strong priorities that we have based on our needs assessment and what we know is that um when we have really strong early childhood education we can reduce the initiating of drug use by youth by nearly 45.8% and also reduce the likelihood of them skipping school all of this is grounded in research and what we use to make our decisions um for anyone out in the community wanting to understand where we get this research here's some more research around these three priority areas that we honed in on and really focused on um this is going to be available to the public if anyone would like to see all the research that was done in terms of our needs assessment but what it really comes down to is the return on investment what we know is at a dollar invested now and so I have just a few examples of some of the return on investment that we can anticipate thanks to your Forward Thinking and commitment to family and children so strong evidence suggests that Investments That reduce poverty and direct resources to very young children have particularly High benefits um in total analysts estimate that long term these can return a $10 to every dollar spent and so this proactive opportunity with prevention and intervention in place really building up families and creating sustainable change is going to pay us off dividends in the future by having um these law-abiding taxpayers of tomorrow then participating back into our community what we know under health and wellness is that the burden of not not providing opportunities for prenatal care really is is not cost beneficial for us um it is estimated that premature births alone cost us $51,500 per case we also know that changing the path of just one at risk youth that's 14-year-old that's a 14-year-old is a societal cost of 3.2 to 5.8 million do based on Research so just one life changed has an incredible significant cost benefit to our community and research by Nobel prizewinning Economist James Heckman showed that every dollar invested in early childhood alone is a return between $4 and $16 back to our community so really you're being the strongest stewards of taxpayer money by having these preventative programs in place here's some other research that really shows the return on investment that we can share with taxpayers and our community because this preventative support that you're doing right now is really just money in the pocket of the future of our community um we were really blessed because we were able to show over 18,000 touch points as a result result of children services programs that were implemented in 2223 that has been out for the community um public information now on our website um since January and I just want to say that in 2022 taxwatch released um an a research-based article on how Child Care impacts the state's economy in Florida and shapes our Workforce and they found that quality child care and early learning programs are essential for keeping our parents in the workforce and so I just want to again thank you for putting such an emphasis on that because so many of the programs that are funded provide Afterschool care provide enrichment opportunities provide summer learning most of which at a low cost or no cost to our parents that are in the workforce or that are stricken with poverty and need support and many of these programs that do um require a cost offer scholarship opportunities for our most needy residents to ensure that but every kid has access to Opportunities um just some highlights to share that we've already gone through um but just I think that you should wear as a badge of honor as a commissioner because it's because of your support we were able to make these significant impacts because of your support over 646 children participated in Reading enrichment over 73% had a 10 plus percentage gain when it comes to reading um because of your support 484 children were able to participate in targeted support and tutoring in all four core subject areas what we know is when students are proficient then they're on track to be successful taxpayers of tomorrow and that 99% of the 143 children that were in programs for prevention and intervention remained free of enrollment in the Department of Juvenile Justice and we do know what a cost that a child entering into the Juvenile Justice System cost our tax pay payers and so to be able to prevent that cost I think is really significant um we've also had programs that have supported building capacity around our families now while this was a standalone in the past this is a non-negotiable expectation of every program in the future we're not here to do a oneandone we're really here to help build up our parents and our families and and create sustainable um growth within them but 275 parents as a result of the 22 23 funding we able to get support with Healthcare education and increased access to service um and really we be we believe that parents are the backbone of this community and we really trust them um in supporting their children And1 million I'm sorry 1,273 parents received guidance on how to be their child's first teacher um with over 7,000 touch points on mental health and crisis recognition I think we can see that um there's a reduction in Aces for the future really is also a cost benefit to our community we participated for the first time in the Florida children's week and as a result of that we had an opportunity to go out into the community and really engage with the youth um I thank all of you that participated in the different events that took place that week um whether it was helping um share the teen survey um whether it was going out and reading at our public library or in our early learning programs I think the culminating event at the end of that week was really the true Testament to the growth and change happening and while I love data I'm a very data driven person um I also think that the data doesn't tell the full story of the real strength that happens when we wrap around the children in our community being able to hear Cameron Barnes from crossover mission share the story of how the mentorship through that program has changed his life and his pathway being able to hear Nancy Carval talk about how Healthy Start has helped her improve her parenting and really create the successful foundation for the future of her children hearing Joseph Harrington talk about how the pre-apprenticeship program that he was involved in has now shaped a career pathway you know and everyone in the community was invited to attend that and I just think that hearing those stories of success really cements that this this is working um and then Jasmine Taylor I know we got to he the Youth of the Year from this year today Jasmine Taylor was the Youth of the year last year for boys and girls club and we just I think we can all feel that these youth I know this she's just 17 years old today but they have something really special and Powerful to contribute to our community and because of the programs we support we're now able to um encourage them and Inspire them what's really great though is we're not here to be the experts in the room we're here to support the agencies that are um implementing the programs and we're creating sustainable change by not telling them what to do but giving them the professional development to increase their research-based strategies and really have performance outcomes that are bonded and based in research and so as a result of our professional development that we have initiated this year we have focused on data collection and Analysis we had sessions on budget planning and fiscal responsibility I think you can all agree that that's a good one for us to focus on uh we had evidence-based program designs and evaluations and what we're going to see as a result um in this upcoming RFP process is stronger outcome measures than we've ever seen before so while we can really wear a badge of honor for the 18 touch points we had previously these new really stronger developed outcome measures are going to create even more growth than we've ever seen which is really inspiring and I'm really proud to be a part of this work um we had drop in discussions allowing um agencies to come in and share their program outcome measures and build off of each other creating mentorship and sustainable future growth what you can anticipate is um uh May 7th the entire community can anticipate our midyear report going public another new public dashboard where you'll be able to see um just halfway through the year where each program is in accordance to their outcome measures and their dosage number of children they're serving or families and the RFP timeline is we're we're right in the middle of it in fact this Friday the application window closes one unique um difference this year is the grant subcommittee now with their scoring rubric has access starting as of um the opening of the window um which was on May 15th to now we we are going in and already having them pre-core based on their application and so that's really inspiring because they're getting to devote the hours and hours that we know these volunteers are putting in to do this work um just a few other things that I want to say that's okay well I'll just jump into it we do have some priorities for the upcoming year and I'm really excited to to share with you what our seesac staff has up their sleeves um first is strategic planning so based on the needs assessment thank you based on the needs assessment um what you'll start seeing is goal setting happening for each of those areas that we're focusing in on so like I said over the next three to five years you will be able to know exactly what the return on investment is we'll be able to celebrate together you know a reduction the number of children that are entered into the Juvenile Justice System will'll be able to share together the growth that we're seeing academically and in support of um our community we're also developing a community forum for each of those needs assessment areas we want to bring the experts um not just from our local area but experts from the state of Florida to share research outcomes and best practices with our agencies who are developing programs we also will be expanding our professional development focusing on two areas one diversification of funds we want our agencies to be able to diversify their Outreach so that they can scale up their programs with no additional cost burden on our taxpayers and two the most important part is board development what we really want to see is that people in the community that have an active passion and want to see Improvement join the boards of our agencies and help support them and um we're planning on pushing out a monthly newsletter so you can really see the work and action and the success stories so you can anticipate that in the future um and finally if you have concern if you are a member of the community and you feel like one of these programs isn't doing enough I implore you to actively reach out to the agency and consider joining their board if you want stronger outcome measures join the board of one of our nonprofits they could not be more open and accessible as far as um showing people the work that's being done and I really do think that when you see the systems that are in place and the research that so many of these agencies have put in to support very specific Niche areas in our community you'll see that many of them are leading experts in the field and have really um dug in deep to make sure that what they're offering is the strongest program possible um and then now I really will say the final thing I'm really excited that with the needs assessment we've now put an emphasis on developing not just College ready students but career ready students and through the new needs assessment we're going to see more programs focused in on um carpentry Plumbing electrical work Fork forklift operating High skill High wage jobs that we really need our local citizens to be employed in and because of the expansion within needs assessment I'm hoping to see that happen in the North area of our County as it currently doesn't exist under our our previous um focus areas so now any questions thank you are there any questions Commissioners for Cindy coms okay thank you thank you all right Commissioners anybody have any comments or questions at this point or do you want me to open it up everybody see is very quiet so I will open it up to the public anybody wishing to speak on this item please come to just a few ground rules please come to either Podium state your name and address for the record um we'll go back and forth so you're welcome to queue up behind each one and um we'll go from there welcome hi hopewood house uh 199 Island Creek um first of all thank you Cindy for that presentation in terms of showing what the impact can be and thank you for hiring Cindy um as a person who's been around and at this Podium a lot in the past she's made and her staff have made a huge difference but I guess what's frustrating me is I've been at this Podium and the County Commissioners have made commitments in the past and the problem is they haven't been lived up to other than Cindy um in 2017 the Commissioners uh some of you were here but most of you were not agreed to meet the 1999 agreement of25 mil or 0.0125 it took seven years from 2017 to actually get to Point 125 in 2022 we had an ordinance that said that we would gradually go from 125 to 25 well we finally got to 0.125 last year and staff is recommending we stay at 0.125 this year even though the seesac committee recommended a 10% increase so I I guess what's the point of making a commitment if it's not followed through on um I guess to me I guess she's good cop I'm bad cop I I wish that we would start the process of living up to the commitment uh and then the last comment I have is what can be more important than the children of our County they're the future of the county um and based on the mistakes of the past we are living now in a community where you can't hire qualified people um you can't hire therapists you can't hire teachers um why does John's Island have to go to Eastern Europe to hire people every year um um if we had invested in our children 25 years ago I guess that would be 1999 as what was agreed we probably wouldn't be in the situation we're in so I just ask you to live up to the commitment that was made by the Commissioners in writing in 19 I'm sorry 2022 that's it thank you next still morning good morning Susan meal 1:30 Island Cottage Lane um Heavens knows no one wants to suggest that um our children's charities aren't needed Unfortunately they are and we continue to have a need and actually I go back to 1990 and I look at the uh resolution that uh created the agency and I see that not only is an um inventory of our current Services A needs assessment there's also the uh directive to plan for services to meet unmet needs and so I look back almost 35 years and I say to myself um so what's changed and one thing we know is that the amounts of money we are putting toward these programs has greatly increased many of the programs have greatly increase their sophistication to the point where they do have um nice staffs and good development directors and a number of these organizations um do put out a lot of data and research and one wonders but how much have the problems really changed or been improved we know that the uh nature of the problems in 35 years have obviously changed but have we reduced some of those issues that we find ourselves in and as a person that's reviewed educational practices uh locally throughout the state and also the nation I know that there are core heart causes of some of these problems we find in education or in our communities and our youth so you can address the symptoms but if you don't get too the actual cause of the problem you sometimes are wasting your time and money or you're putting a Band-Aid on it and what I suggest is what a gford leader told me a few years ago when he said Susan let's face it it's partly the parent it's mostly the parent problem and not that the parents are the problem but their lack of Interest or their lack of even existence is key so so what are we doing to reduce single parent families and what are we reduce doing to reduce the root causes of these children with increasing mental health issues increasing bullying and violent Behavior dropping out and not being able to read etc etc the other thing we find is is that um our interventions early on to make sure kids reading by third grade are great but what are we doing when they're getting to seventh 8th and nth grade are they still reading and concentrating and um another thing that came up just now is is the uh encouragement to go into the trades as opposed to college which is great but I would suggest that the emphasis uh on that action is placed at the school district level and not on children's nonprofit Charities unless it's a byproduct of some other program I would suggest that rather than greatly increasing the dollars going there the good stewardship of taxpayer dollars um would be to see if these new and wonderful databases and uh evaluation processes Etc are actually working um rather than just repeating what appears to we have done somewhat over the last 35 years and that is Grant more money to the granters without solid and concrete results to be seen so um the other thing I have to say and I've said all along is is that a wonderful uh increase in tax revenues based on the increased value of residences comes at also the time of SC skyrocketing home insurance costs homeowners insurance and skyrocketing uh monies for gas and food and everything else as we know we're facing so the middle to lowincome taxpayers are suffering at Great odds and so rather than use their tax dollars on something like dramatically increasing because of this windfall I suggest we be more prudent with those dollars thank you thank you next hi I'm Irene cells with substance awareness Center I'm here to talk on behalf of Carrie Lester who is a member of seesac and our executive director um as a member of substance awareness Center I can attest to the difficulty of attracting and retaining staff here in our County um we had a position that was open since June June of last year trying to get a counselor a master's level trained counselor without license into our agency and that person started yesterday and it wasn't with lots of recruiting um we increased the budget from $50,000 to $65,000 with a $3,000 bonus just to get a person so we can attest to how hard it is to get really good qualified staff I'd like to talk also as a individual homeowner oh I forgot to give you my address 5556 55th Terrace excuse me and so as individual homeowner um I'm very appreciative of conservative stewardship and management um you know nobody wants their taxes to go up exponentially however I'm not sure this is necessarily an exponential increase when I compare our um County with a simil similar County with the same demographics of Martin County Martin County's children services spends about 9 million a year where this agency and thank you Cindy for your great work is asking for I think about three million um the other part I want to the team to consider here is that the um Staffing funding for seesac here is under $200,000 compared to a million dollar in Martin County and research says they are actually very well-run too but this organization here is just going Leaps and Bounds and doing outstanding things on a shering so while I appreciate conservative um fiscal responsibility there's also such a thing as underfunding our youth and underfunding which you've heard other people talk about that we have grossly underfunded um these youth programs for quite a while so I ask you to reconsider that thank you thank you yes commissioner I just had a question as far as it's my understanding that subus actually returned some funding yes we did um we were given funding for hiring that youth um counselor we were wanted to launch an adolescent because we've seen an exponential growth in youth becoming um having more mental health and more substance use issues because we weren't able to attract that staff until today we felt it would have been irresponsible for us to hold on to part of the funding so what the funding that the um seesac had allocated for that staff we were able to return and obtain the funding through other sources okay thank you thank you next welcome excuse me hi I'm Miranda Swanson I am the chair of the Children's Services advisory committee and I'm also the health officer for the county I would like to say that our committee has done phenomenal work over the last year our sub committees have done phenomenal work over the last year we've sought to develop the infrastructure we've done trainings with our agencies Cindy and her team have built the evaluation and monitoring systems that we've so desperately needed the needs assessment has been fantastic and as we're about to embark on the Strategic plan there's just so much more to come one of the previous speakers that came up was talking about the root problems and issues that our parents and our children are struggling with our agencies do that work all of you came to the Celebration that we had you heard from so many of the agencies it the work is inspiring and it's what our County needs so if I have anything to say today I believe in the investment in children's services and I believe in the investment for our community thank you thank you any anybody else good morning board Bob mcparland city of Sebastian I sit on the seesac committee as well and you know I got a I thought it was very fitting that in the beginning you were given the proclamations you know one is Child Abuse Prevention month is April I thought it was very important also the presentation to the boys and girls there Youth of the year you know which is one of the programs that is funded through the seesack as well as the crime victims rights you know and again half of violent crimes as you had mentioned commissioner flesher go unreported and a lot of those crimes are affecting children what the CC I mean Boys and Girls Club I I like to mention that one because there was a period about 15 16 years ago where I was a single parent raising two small children and if it wasn't for the boys and girls program and their after school and summer program I don't know how I would have done it I don't know how I would have managed working full time and taking care of two small children on my own but it was thanks to them and the mentorship that was learned at there I started on the board I was appointed because I work for the Department of Children families probably well not at the lowest point But at the lowest point in 2012 2013 and it was on that board that time for it was about 3 years and then it was when the community came forward to this board and you know the board said hey we challenge you you raised $250,000 we'll match that $250,000 and then we will fund that that eighth of a mill going forward and the community came up with that like that I wish I could come up with quarter million dollar that quickly but they did and it was that the commission fully supported that and then it was a couple couple years ago we were going and it was just this past last March where I came and the recommendation from staff was to go a third of the way and move from an eighth of a mill up to a quarter Mill and it was said let's take a pause let's see where we're at and again a lot of the people there there's several members here who have been on the board as long as I have and we have always advocated for the staff and we waited and Cindy and Amy r for and Leanne and Miss Maya godsend for what they have done with this board within eight months time you come into a meeting it it's way different than it used to be and everything that they have in place one of the things we've advocated for I I told this board in March I says I am committed to making this seesack board the best it could possibly be whatever you want it to be if you have any questions any of this funding anywhere concerns because there were some concerns about a certain groups I says if you want you call me I'll go in I'll sit in I'll monitor it we are now the requirements of being on the cack board this it's like no other committee volunteer board that the county has or any of the municipalities there's a lot of commitment that's involved as Cindy had mentioned the meetings they're scheduled for being two hours they're typically going two and a half hours long and then site visits to go out and actually see where these taxpayer are going making sure they are meeting what they said they would do as well as that the number of kids that they say they're serving are there we are counting we are monitoring all of this is in place what I'm saying is of course I would like a lot more than 10% you know I was kind of probably the only one said let's go a quarter away but I think 10% added on that would bring it to I guess I had an estimate here it would actually be 01375 milli and again like you talked yes it's a lot more funding than has ever been done before but as was mentioned earlier the cost of everything has gone up as well the $100 doesn't go the same it did last year the same what it costs to do a Paving of a road is not the same as it was last year or two years before last seesack meeting I wish you had all been there because Dr Moore gave a presentation on where the school district is that today and again we are sizable to Martin County and Martin County spends almost three times as much per student than this County does so this county is very conservative on the dollars and as was mentioned with the Martin children services Council which I am a member of that board we spend less than a third of what they are imagine what we could do with a little bit more but Dr Moore what he was showing we exponentially it's unbelievable what's being done and I think that has to do with some of the nonprofits that the County Board is supplementing again it's not their entire budget it's a portion of their budget what they are doing in conjunction is making everything in Leaps and Bounds I also you know what was mentioned for Child Abuse Prevention Week over at St Helens the 93 Flags which mentioned which are representing children that died due to abuse and neglect from last year I sit on the child abuse death review I sit on the fetal infant mortality reviews that are happening we are making strides but this money is going towards reducing it and yes because I had heard it mentioned we're talking only about 11 children you know in fetal infant mortal it's not just 11 children without that funding what it does developmentally for all the other children making them the best they can be and moving forward as well as assisting those families and potentially bringing them out of poverty and making every better so I fully support and and if you can to raise it 10% what is the seesack funding and again if there are any concerns about any of the programs anything that's going on you will have my number I will go out anywhere or was mentioned you know to visit these programs yourselves and see what they are doing and thank you and thank you for the support of the money I I I'm very hopeful thank you thank you all right next are you coming up all right good morning Joe's smiling up there Doug deuth 1804 East Sandpoint place virau um just start with a little Ronald Reagan quote he uh he said that the government is like a baby that it's an elementary canal with a voracious appetite on one end and very little responsibility at the other and unfortunately that's where we find seesac today um as you know I'm a member of the seesac committee I also serve as the vice president of the taxpayers association of Indian River County and I'm here today to represent the TPA and make a statement approved by unanimously by their board of directors uh on on uh April 3rd 2024 providing additional money to CAC before IT addresses its duplicate funding problems accountability issues and before it has made clear Sol or provided Clear Solutions to many issues raised in its needs assessment seems premature uh both the board of County Commissioners and the public should be made aware of which organizations CC intends to fund for for what amounts and for what public uh and what the public should expect in return for it funding seesack nonprofits without these details jeopardizes transparency and fiscal responsibility to Indian River County taxpayers approving funding before defined and detailed programs are presented to this body can lead to wasted taxpayer money and a DI dimunition de I'm sorry um and a l let's put it this way and a loss of support public support um it is contrary to fiscal budgeting process Norms in both public and private sectors it is difficult to imagine any public or private entity providing funding without a clear approved detailed explanation of exactly what the funds will be spent on and the expected results for such expenditures at present granting seesac funding without detail root cause analysis resulting in specific solution actions backed by nationally recognized research allow seesac nonprofits to Dei Define what they want to do and how they will do it rather than seesac directing their programs towards Solutions and outcomes that meets the public needs before the board of County Commissioners considers increasing seesac funding for the next year it should require cesac staff to provide program by program requests for proposals outlining to nonprofits the solution steps it directs them to take to address each program mission statement it should tally the program costs and bring the entire package to the attention of the board of County Commissioners for review discussion and final budget sum determination with a program by program Board of County Commissioners vote in this way the taxpayers of Indian River County will have full program cost benefit transparency for these reasons the taxpayers association recommends maintaining current dollar funding levels for the current year not millage dollar I think that's what $2.7 million or something like that and I like to bring it and on a personal note having served with this committee for a while I'd like to bring to your attention a number of things Cindy mentioned one of them we saved $50,000 On A needs assessment um however the committee is planning to take that $50,000 and run that into new nonprofit spending that is not normally something you would see in the private sector if I did that if I went to the board of uh if I went to the board of directors at Hershey or craft or nebis or any of those locations and tried to pull that that I'd have been fired I I wouldn't be able to take something that was allocated for one item and then move that to Capital spending or something else um let's talk about let's talk about funding for a second there's plenty of opportunity within the current budget to redirect funding to the things that they believe would be necessary crossover mission for one has hired as you probably well know 100 $80,000 a year uh fundraising guy and then they come to us for over $100,000 well we're in effect paying for that1 thou $180,000 fundraiser the the inv invoice may not come to us but we're paying for them and then you also have the youth sailing program you know we G we're giving them $40,000 a year after they've been given 4 $4 million uh through uh philanthropy in this in this community and all the land they're going to need for their brand new club at that $4 million Clubhouse by the city of Vero Beach you would think that they would at least donate the $40,000 worth of time to teach kids to sell um we also have a ton of duplication $400,000 of duplication with a Hospital District that's Still Remains UND with uh Indian River County School District there's another good one they are by law responsible for Education throughout this County and the superintendent has the ability to spend money on Afterschool programs on summer programs and even preschool programs by law frankly those programs ought to be under his guidance all of those programs the fund he ought to be asking for funds to to uh address those programs and take them from seesac where the where the expertise in education does not exist you know it's it's an ad hoc committee it is not they're not it's not staffed with educational experts the school district is and Dr Moore ought to be given all the tools that he needs to be able to address the fact that for four years running 40% of our Kid third grade kids are not at reading level and it gets worse later on as as Susan Mel mentioned uh it drops off like a rock after that so whatever we're doing just to even get to the 40% level uh just Falls away later on so in any event um I'd like to leave with one more thing I've spoken with uh commissioner lure a couple of times about seesac and its history and he's mentioned that seesac was originally put together as a seed money organization that it was in it was supposed to help set up nonprofits who would eventually become subsistent on their own with philanthropy or through philanthropy okay we've gone a long way since that and now we have Folks up here demanding additional money additional money and additional money what we need to do is start to put a clamp on that voracious appetite so we can get a lot more responsibility at the other thank you very much thank you anybody else welcome uh Anthony Brown 4159 57 Court Vero Beach uh I'm somewhat offended uh we've heard a lot of inferences on this that but you're doing uh great service to our community one question have any of you other than commissioner moss and man seen the people who on The seag subcommittee Advisory subcommittee ladies and gentlemen you got some awesome people in that room doing some awesome work we're not being frivolous we understand that we're being custodians of the coffers that you are responsible for we're caught up in these uh different little innuendos that don't mean nothing but when it comes to one question and in the seaside committee I threw it out there what is the impact of the dollars you're spending you got people I can pick anything I can take the Hope Diamond and I can find fault in it no disrespect Miss hope we are the workers if you want to tear something apart it's easy you can find fault in it we tweaked it Cindy Emerson and her staff came aboard we tweak the process it's evolving to become better it's evolving to do all the work that is necessary oh the school district and then I'm offended that we pick on certain entities within the scope of seesack you make emphasis on parents you threw gford in the process what that's got to do with the cost of beef you do throw parenting in I'm the byproduct of a single parent Air Force veteran college person let's stop it you are doing awesome work funding Seaside yes it could use more money yes it could do this but don't sit in here and throw it away because some people got personal vendettas against the process as Bob mcfallen said and and Miss Woodhouse said you know we could up the Andy a little bit but that's your you all's call seesac subcommittee advisory subcommittee our job is to get in that room and make the best of the dollars that you've given me even though uh if we come back if something's left over we're going to put it we're not operating in seesac under the corporate structure please put that in your head we already have one entity if I can get in trouble we uh got Cleveland Clinic the corporate image I look at the health department with Miss Swanson instead of regulatory it's about public health you got to tweak these things to make them work for the people who need it the most so when you're deliberating and trying to understand it I want you to keep one word in your head what is the impact of the money that the Indian River County Board of Commissioners is spending at cesac thank you thank you next welcome good morning my name is Peggy Jones my address is 156556 court I'm currently the school board Vice chair and I'm speaking as an individual not for the school board I understand as my role as School Board member just like you we need to be accountable to our taxpayers and I take that very seriously I just got back from the veral beach city council where they recognized us as an a school district just like you did and we were very appreciative a lot of hard work I was at the taxpayers Forum last week and one thing I remember saying is return on investment and I know this relates to the school board but this is a bigger picture as far as extra money we are allocated based on student enrollment extra money and I want you to think about this Martin County receives an extra 38 million I'm sorry that's bvar County Martin County 42 million and St Lucy County about 57 million through their millage and and taxes through their sales tax we receive about 14 million they are a b School District we are an A and being an a school district um we know we always have to improve when we cannot be complacent but one of the reasons we are in a school district is because of the support from this community in all of our nonprofits I have served on some boards I'm now on the United Way panel for evaluating some of the um request for the United Way but the only reason is that we are in a school district because of this community and how much it cares these nonprofits and all of the people on the boards they are there for a very specific reason to help our youth to help our adults because this is what makes a community so special as far as the accountability um I did not like losing Cindy Emerson at the school district but I know and I've been on I know a lot of the people who serve on seesac and are on those committees they have very very high expectations they're not just going to say you get this because this they have very very high expectations and they are also accountable to our students uh one of the quotes I ended with at the Forum can't remember it exactly but the most important thing my generation can do for the next generation is to make sure they put emphasis on the children because we want them to be successful so you know whatever decision you make just just think about that because the most important the most important issue is to make sure that our children are okay thank you thank you next welcome sorry I have to read from prepared statement otherwise I get too nervous um so uh good morning I'm Bob schlett I reside at 4340 62nd Terrace in buau Beach I currently sit on the Children's Services advisory committee and I'm also the chairman of the grant subcommittee of seesac I'm here today to recommend that you approve an increase in the millage rate for seesack by 10% more than the current rate and thankfully Bob mcpartland did the math so I don't have to do that um other speakers have or or they or they will provide you with more information on the numbers and the dollars and the millage my goal is to share with you some of the changes that I've seen during my time affiliated with CAC I've sat on the grant subcommittee for about eight years and on seesac itself for about five years during that time I can assure you that the grant recommendations made by the volunteer members of seesac have never been halfhazard or treated with anything other than thorough honest reviews of the grant requests received over the years on behalf of the taxpayers of in River County the difference between the historical past of seesac and today is Staffing and their inability the prior Staffing process inabilities uh inability to follow up until two plus years ago you all know the exact date the board of County Commissioners had allocated one part-time employee and the last one who's still there did a fantastic job Leanne um whose job entailed the the minimum that the county could get away with in allocating funds and collecting minimal data on results so that checks could be mailed out to agencies and that was the way that seesac had been set up and had been been run for years uh last year uh the County Commission said that we have to to work through the planning process and begin to implement the actual changes before an increase in millage would be considered today's seac thanks to many of you of you Commissioners is totally different today the county staff is made up of three full-time and one part-time manager um and they constantly and they're constantly in front of the agencies setting up professional development programs that help the agencies understand the importance of data col ction budgeting best practices and setting and achieving measurable outcomes today's seesac staff through the human services department is is annually reviewing every program that is being funded through a systematic review of the agencies staffing delivery of services and proper allocation of funds today's seesac staff is regularly providing information to the citizens of inur County keeping them informed of the services available to the children and families of the county with transparency today's seesac staff has been built has built objective scoring rubrics for both the grant funding process and the review process this is all being done at a fraction of the cost that we see in surrounding counties today's board and Grant subcommittee are made up of knowledgeable experts in all areas of children's services including but not limited to law enforcement judicial Hospital District School District concerned citizens interested community members and business people who want to see that the children of enun River County have more opportunities than anywhere else I believe that in River County has an opportunity to become a beacon for children's services not just in our part of the state but in the entire State and we do it differently and less expensive than any other County I can get in with you about the history of how it all started but believe me uh it hasn't been mentioned today but had uh this only works if you step up and provide more reliable stable funding for the children our experiment of the county itself you as opposed to a standalone taxing district which is how most of the counties in the state who have provide Children's Services funding do it on a standalone taxing district and and I think that's important for people to understand we're different and we're better I think I don't want a separate Children's Services taxing district with its own bureaucracy and excessive expenses uh the County Commission needs to stand up and provide additional funding the taxpayers of indan River County don't need to spend the extra dollars on Bureau ocracy bureaucrats and buildings like many of the counties in Florida already do with their Standalone tax districts um you can go down to Martin County and you'll see a building almost as big as this which is owned by the Children's Services taxing district it's ridiculous we can do this as it's currently set up you can do this one of the biggest but really not surprising discoveries of the site visit process is how difficult it is for agencies to pay for the staff that they need to provide the top level services that our children need and deserve staff has also let us know that they fully expect a much larger number of agencies to be requesting seesac funding this year we can't provide the additional funds our existing agencies need to properly staff their programs and we can't help new agencies get started in their goal to help the children of the county if we don't get significant additional funding I'd like to touch base on one thing that was spoken about earlier today the seesac is not a it's we're not building roads we can't tell the agencies this is what we want you to do because you can deal with children you're raising children and there's no black and white way to do that and every agency has an idea as to how they can do it and sometimes they come up with some really good ideas and we fund those staff and the volunteers have done what you have asked of us now it's time for you to follow through and courageously do what you said you would do we have an opportunity right now to be that community that truly cares about our children and their future and this opportunity is in your hands please approve a 10% millage rate that was recommended by cesac thank you thank you anybody else welcome hello good uh morning still Eric flowers in River County Sheriff I hadn't intended to speak today but uh I just want to speak from the heart about the idea that the government is spending dollars on these kids either way right uh either we put the dollars into these organizations and folks like Elizabeth back there with the boys and girls club uh or uh the other programs that we have moonshot uh or we have uh you know folks from Healthy Start here who whoever it is they're putting their money into that the the the charity dollars that go into these kids or you're going end up spending it on our side with our deputies out with these kids because they're going to be running the streets because they're going to be breaking into houses and one of the reasons that our community is so special and so uh different from other places and why people are moving here like crazy is because we do have programs that keep these kids busy they keep them off the street that keep them occupied and uh that really make a difference in our community so um I I sit on the board of uh of seesac and I know I wasn't there for the actual vote I know you guys have a job to do to balance out what money is you're able to spend and I know I'm going to be coming back to you at the podium asking for my budget to be funded but at the end of the day uh One Way Or Another We're going to be spending money on these kids and I'd much rather see it be done through good charitable causes and and good things in their lives than interacting with law enforcement so um I'm supportive of uh of of at the very least uh keeping it the same millage um and them getting the increase uh uh as that goes and uh if you have the ability to to do beyond that uh then then I understand that would be wonderful but um I'm certainly supportive of spending tax dollars uh in this way rather than in the law enforcement capacity thank you thank you anybody else no all right Commissioners questions comments concerns yes commissioner presser I I I just wanted to address a couple of things we've heard uh I want to thank everybody for stepping up to the plate and uh informing us and the public of the uh information that was provided um I will say that uh an inference was made that two of the Commissioners uh uh were at the meetings will point be known that a the chair of appoints the person the designated lay on to the uh any and all of our committees our advisory committees so there is membership there but no way shape or form should it uh be uh construed that uh other members from various reasons do not know it is actually uh not uh good practice for two of us to be in the same room at the same time uh when it comes to matters that will be addressed to this board as well um another point was made about there's a 50 50,000 that's was e marked for administrative so the public should know that has to come back to us seesack is an Advisory Board and that funding uh if there is a vote or multiple votes to get where it has to get to that number uh needs to be brought here that's a decision for this board to make not for an Advisory Board to make The Advisory board has a a a budget uh that has to be uh interpreted but The Advisory Board does not have an actual budget it is the budget from the taxpayers from the members of that is seen through as good stewards by this board not by seesac so cesac can make recommendations and uh they have to be interpreted brought back to this committee that's why we do have aais on so I just wanted to clarify that so I don't know if you have a concern that that's actually happening without uh knowledge or without presentation I've heard inferences about Martin County it's ironic that yeah we we do spend a little just a tad less not a lot less but in in all matters you know when when when we talk about the those old ships rise you know and I guess money funding appears to be the answer if if we're going to fund something it'll be better well I'm here to say that if you look at some of the statistics about juveniles and about crime and about truancy and about achievement and you want to compare them to another County no disrespect to Martin County it's a very nice County okay take a look at our numbers take a look at what's Happening Here Bob I I think you you you said it we're different a lot of great things are happening here with the budget we have thank you Commissioners other questions comments all right go ahead thank you madam chairman and U I'm going to start with saying that I didn't join until January as liaison or as a board member a voting board member on the uh seac committee but I know from the very beginning when I was elected in 2020 I had questions about seesac about transparency about duplication of funding uh with other with the say with the school board the hospital board or whoever it may be and and why we did it and what were the results and what were the what were the outcomes and all that sort of stuff and uh I I got those answered pretty well by even then County Administrator Jason Brown and and others but it still wasn't where I I wanted it and I know that uh the deputy County Administrator and I had many conversations of this and it was on his list uh when when he became in that position and and worked with the new County Administrator to get things changed and those changes have been exceptional I can tell you that um I have seen more changes in there in the last eight months than I can imagine and those were some of the concerns that we had have I believe commissioner flasher you and I had concerns about a couple when we funded susac in the past about a couple of agencies is what were they really doing has anybody checked on them has anybody has anybody monitored them has anybody done anything more with regards to what they're doing are we giving money to the right people are we just giving money away and not caring where it goes those uh those changes were answered pretty rapidly when Cindy and Amy and and with lean and Maya and all the rest of them got busy over there and started making some changes and had accountability and transparency so whether it's anybody in this community that's worried about transparency and what they're doing I can tell you that that transparency exists fully fully now as for duplication of services that was one of the other big things that we were all concerned with as Commissioners and I think the susac board was too even the susac board prior as ind's arrival was concerned but nobody knew how to do anything about it nobody was sitting down at the table it was probably even our fault as Commissioners we didn't demand it to say why aren't we having the County administrator or the budget office sit down with the the hospital District or the school board whever and see what we are duplicating or we're not duplicating or why are we do they even need funding and and we didn't do that but that was um I know commissioner Moss had this committee before I did I know that just I know that the that she had addressed that and then I definitely addressed it to come January as that was our top priority and it was already being done when I joined in January by Cindy and her staff and I talked with Frank Isley from the hospital board he is fairly new but he understands it clearly as what they do I've talked with Paul Westcott about it and he understands it clearly and I think the school board does also I mean we do have an ex-principal that's that's running our show now sorry Dr Jones we like having her but uh so she knows what's uh what's going on with regards to duplication if any with the school board I can assure you those are being addressed and we've had I know the taxpayers associations spoke out about that and I think that's almost been Priority One as to what we're doing can we can we go through it all can we get rid of it all just like the snap of our fingers and and say we can't do this or we can't do that it takes time to sort it out as to what the program is what they're doing and where where we're going with this thing so all that has is is is by far in the last eight months has has been exceptional and it's been a job well done and and we as Commissioners ought to be proud of what what what they're doing over there um I I've sat on the uh since I've been in in there in Jan since January I've sat on the grant subcommittee board and all that stuff and Tony Tony's right that's a awesome group of people they're a lot smarter than I I am in there and they do a great job and Bob and his crew do do a great job with with regards to what they're doing and there's no you know picking or choosing well because oh they're my favorite or they're not my favorite and uh they they do a great they do they do a great job the site visits that were never had done before because here's Leanne she's all by herself she was the only staff member we had we weren't able to do site visits now we're able to do site visits and those site visits are being done and believe me those agencies know that they are being looked at by big brother now and that's another thing that that that's changed and has very made this very I'll call it high and tight um so that that's happening also the uh next thing is people ask me all the time why are we spending money on children's services well you've heard all the reason I'm not going to cover them again about why we do it and the sheriff made a good statement either pay pay me now or pay me later but there are some things that are mandated too by the state and some things that need to be done that that we would be funding in Greater capacity with regards to Children's Services we would have to have like Bob said we'd have to have an office building we'd have to pay for staff pens pencils and paper and all that stuff benefits You Name It We would do that so we let these groups do it like that and they're doing a good job some people also say well you have groups that that are able to raise a lot of money well Megan's here I'm going to pick on her from Healthy Start they're one of the they're one of the big ones they there's a lot of money heck I raised $62,000 out of M money uh Dancing with the Stars last year just like the sheriff has done former Sheriff has done in the past to raise money for that group but they do a lot of things they do a lot of things and it's very important that that we support those uh a lot of things so with with that being said I could go on and on but I think things are happening my my mission my statement to Cindy and her staff and to the seasac board is stay the course it will all work out we have to we'll take some criticism but I think in the end when you see the final product you'll be good to go and that mission will be U will be completed it will'll be ongoing but it'll be where we need it and where we need to go so at this this time and and we did make those promises in the past and I know we paused last year and I was at the time not real happy about pausing but I think now I look back on it maybe it wasn't such a bad idea when we when we paused to not increase the millage at the time because that allowed what I had been describing to happen we were able to hire staff and get things moving and make things more accountable more transparent and all that and and with and all that so I think we're we we maybe it maybe it end up being a good thing but but we still made that commitment to do it and I I like the idea that that things come back to the sport and we can change our mind vers it being an ordinance or being its own agency and all that sort of stuff that we can change our mind and we can change our mind as late as the budget Workshop is to what we want to do if we want to if we want to increase if we want to we want to we want to lessen the pain but the the budget Department Kristen and her folks need to know what we're going to spend so right now you know the the the the the point1 125 is good but I think we should seriously consider and I'm I'm going to vote for the increase of the additional 10% I think we can do that we're looking you know for with that kind of what kind of money it only increases the 300,000 additional $300,000 I think of a mass right with regards to that I think we can do that and I think it's money well spent because I think we're still on a mission and I think we have to stay the course so with that Madam chairman I've said my pece all right thank you commissioner Moss yes thank you um and and thank you commissioner man for saying that the in retrospect the pause U perhaps was necessary I think it definitely was I I spent two two years on seesac last year I felt a little bit like St Steven for those who don't know he was shot with arrows and that was over the pause but honestly it was it just was necessary um good work was being done Always by the volunteers I want to thank the volunteers years they always did good work but not having staff to support that work I think that allowed many things to um not be as good as they could be in fact as they are now um yeah I think you're definitely on the road to Great Improvement um even with Miss Emerson having been here only uh eight months and with but the additional staff has has made a ug difference um I I could see that during during my tenure which ended last calendar year uh the great great strides have been made and I was I was very happy to see that and I compliment all of you staff and volunteers because it is it is the volunteers and I you know I sat through for those who don't know um at the time this was last year it was occurring over three days to evaluate all the proposals and so I sat with the seesac committee for the three days and you can see um having had that experience how thorough um everything is evaluated um it's um it's it's a fascinating process in a way um what we did was at that time each uh agency uh that was requesting funding for programming and for the community It Is by program um not by agency and I think you know that might might be an important Point uh to think about but each each program uh was reviewed um very carefully very good questions were asked you know it's very uh I was very impressed by that and uh again thank you to the volunteers I am though a little um I'm not sure I this this idea of this this 10% increase and a Advisory Board um almost in a sense establishing its own budget I am not clear that there's a precedent for that or that it's even in any of the materials any of the you know the the rules and and regulations for for seesac or for any other Advisory board for that for that matter and I think in a way it's my take on it is it's almost unfair to cesac because there's no way that you can know we we have to know the big picture and there there's no way that you can know it um you know when you're coming up with a number uh we have to put it within the context of fire stations that we need to build uh or refurbish uh for the we need to put it within the context of the sheriff's budget um we need to put it within context of additional employees that might be might be required you know department heads are reviewing um now it hasn't come before us but they're reviewing their departments you know how many more people do they need to serve the entire Community more effectively so these are all the or some I should say some of the issues uh that you of which we are aware and there there's no way for you to be aware of it so I I think it was in a sense a bit um um maybe just unfair to you to ask you to pull pull a number out or suggest a number without knowing some of these other factors but again thank you for your work on this I really appreciate it thank you madam chair thank you commissioner Ean thank you commissioner m i i can address how that came about that conversation came about um we were in the meeting the uh they knew this that this was coming up that the the amount would comeing up the budget office needs to know I think it was Miss Woodhouse that mentioned to ask the board and they kind of as you know you've been there being you're the commissioner there they look at you and they ask you is to do can we give so a number out for our budget based on the figures we we had in the past and my answer to to to Mrs Woodhouse and and and others that were there were I have no problem with you doing that but understand it always comes back to the board to make the final decision with regards that it can be a recommendation that that just like any group you want to spend x amount amount of dollars on this or whatever it has to go back to me back to the board as to what we're going to do it's not an official request it's just a number that that that you would like to see which is any citizen could come up and do the do the same thing so that's how it came back and I think it was stated in the letter that we received the tax from the taxpayers association that that um did commissioner was asked when seesac would receive increased funding had been previous promised Commission Ur stated that while previous Commissioners indicated that CAC increases would come the board of County Commissioners last year voted not to increase cesac funding levels beyond the current allotment and they said he he being me also indicated that cesac members of staff were free to put together the desired funding levels and present them to the BCC and County budgeting for uh for their consideration and that's all it was it was a consideration it was an asked we can say yes we can say no they had the last meeting they came up with the amount they saw the amount it was funded to 0.125 and they were given three options that that they wanted to recommend back to the board and the uh not by a majority vote it was it was approved to offer asked the county for an additional 10% over what the budget office was recommending I guess I guess my my concern with it is that it perhaps in some way raises expectations that um that it it can no promises made okay um well because well let me let me backtrack just a minute even with the the millage rate that was it could be up to it could be up to that amount so that you know that that's that's the cap so it was a parameter you know there was it was not a promise it was a parameter this the budget for those who don't know this budget is decid it annually so every every year you know we we vote on it and as I was saying earlier we take into consideration um many different parameters we're required to we have to have the big picture so I just want to um thr this out there TDC is another Advisory Board to the county that makes budgetary recommendations of which we take their advice and then some years we approve what they give us and some years we reallocate in the past a um seesac has made recommendations and we approve it or we don't um yes those two boards specifically are very different in what they do than like um a advisory or Public Safety although Public Safety actually gave us recommendations on opioid dollars that we had two actual meetings on to discuss their recommendations so we have boards so they can vet some of that stuff and then bring it to us with background information and we can have more robust conversations it helps make the work of government more efficient so our all of our boards are welcome to bring anything make any recommendation to us do we have to listen to them no they're advisory boards but we have them to do work for us so I you know just throw that out there that they are not unique they're not the only ones that bring it us advice on budgetary processes commissioner lore did you have anything you wanted to add thank you madam chair and just for the record in May of 22 I was not on this board and I understand when M Woodhouse said there was commitments uh I will say that I think the landscape has changed uh since May of 2022 within our County uh I think all the Commissioners get phone calls each and every day about increases in not only their lifestyle their homeowners insurance food we've already talked about all of that this commission is tasked with uh forming revising policy and approving budgets last year alone cesak was uh granted over a 19% increase this year's currently a staff recommendation is 13.6% and as we move forward in this in this County fiscally where we've asked our constitutions our department heads to develop their policies all knowing that last year was about a 13% increase in property values we do not know that number yet obviously that's directly tied to the millage rate as we stand here as a commissioned officers knowing that we are undergoing a rate study for our utilities next week uh individually also knowing that more than likely our garbage and recycling is going up in addition to as mentioned earlier this County's own liability and exposure insurance is going up 3% uh so with the status quo at at 13.6% would give seesac over 3.1 million and everybody on this dice has been in seesac me for 12 years and others for many many more and we went through those tough years and we struggled through those tough years uh Miranda and several people in the audience were on there when I was there and yes was it less efficient than it is now absolutely and with the Advent of of of Cindy Emerson and her team coming over streamlining taking a closer look at things perhaps uh you know cutting the fat out of a few a agencies I'm all welcome for that I know this is a very very trying time for you I know that your agencies have Manpower issues uh But please understand that we have to look at this County as a whole uh from a 30,000 foot high so with that Madam chair I'll move staff recommendation all right we have a motion in a second and I would like to say a few words um one I just I want to remind everybody that the purpose of government um of our counties in the State of Florida is to provide for the health safety and Welfare of our communities um some of that is providing for roads some of that is providing utilities but some of that is providing for support for our residents and a lot of that support for our residents comes in the form of um Family Support I think it was mentioned earlier that we have single family homes we do have single family homes it are those single family homes through the fault of the people within them I don't know but for the grace of God go I sometimes I feel in these situations but I do think that it is our job as a community to help Elevate those that are not as fortunate in some things to the level where they can participate in our community whether that's through um jobs whether that's through um being small business owners whether that's through raising good and healthy families whatever that case may be that's part of the role that we we play it it takes a village to raise a child but it takes a community to elevate a community and we're of Indian River county is a village and we it is our I feel it's our duty to help raise those that can't raise themselves because it raises the community standard overall I'm fine with um the motion that's been made um you know I think that that's that's fair at this point we are still going through a lot of changes at seesac I give complete kudos to the committee seesac to your subcommittees the needs assessment committee the grant Review Committee and the staff I'm glad we have the staff that was a huge step and if nothing else that allows that group and that committee to answer the questions that have been asked by the community as far as oversight as far as transparency you can't provide those things and answer those questions if you have one halftime person who is doing a fantastic job but it's a lot to do um I think that everything that has been asked of seesac they have done if there are still things that need to be accomplished or that people feel aren't being done from the perspective of transparency from the perspective of oversight bring those to the table in a tangible way what do you want to see that they're not doing but to speak in metaphors and to speak in Flowery language without specifics is not fair to the group I can't interpret what people say unless they are direct I want to see X Y and Z okay that is a charge that we can then March down and I'm fine with that um the other thing I will say is there are people that have been part of the process that have been positive are you know been very supportive and there's people that have provided great oversight seesac has a good mix of of people that are looking at it from all angles it is not just a check the box everything a sunshine and rainbows group there is deliberations in those meetings there's deliberations in the grant sub committee there's deliberations in um the needs assessment committee and that is a good thing you you cannot have a good outcome if you don't have all insights so I appreciate that but I would also say that in those deliberations you have to be willing to put yourself in the other person's shoes and look at it from their perspective good and bad and if you're not willing to stay and have the coners ation then you're not going to end up with a result you're just lobbing grenades and not staying to be part of the battle and that's that's not effective um the last thing I'll I'll kind of sum up is again there are areas in this community that are underserved there are areas in this community that do not have access to the services and some times it's not because um they don't have the transportation to get there they don't even have the services available without having to drive 45 minutes to an hour and if you're a family or a child that's struggling and I'm not talking about necessarily wraparound Services after school Services I'm talking about food I'm talking about health care and your mother or father is working two or three jobs when and who was going to provide you with those services and how are you going to get there and that is something that it's easy to sit in in in this building where you're around a lot of those resources but if you go to other areas of the county you're not around those resources and those resources aren't available to you and a large swath of our community comes from areas like that so to the Sheriff's point and I have said this a lot myself we can invest in our kids now in their future potential in them being good citizens and active members of our communities our future entrepreneurs our future Community leaders our future teachers our future firemen or we can invest in the jail and we can house them and we can try to figure out ways to provide them with those opportunities when they a um finish their their time as I know he has some um re entry program so we can either invest in Prior entry or re-entry I prefer prior entry um I think it's cheaper in the long run and quite frankly it's going to result in a much better Community for Indian River County so those are my three 17 cents I guess at this point but we do have a motion by commissioner lore with a second by commissioner flesher so unless yes Mr de Madam chairman thank you remember when we tried to raise raise the tax and this would be a increase in taxes if I if I read this correctly that you are required now to have a referendum at a general election so we are timely if you would want to go ahead and increase the tax to have that referendum and we'd be able to get it on the ballot in time for the general election coming up in November I don't think that the the the motion is just to leave the millage the same correct correct if you if we wanted if you would increase it I think you would need to go the referendum rout okay okay um M appreciate that yes but perhaps the ability to go up to the quarter Mill is built into the ordinance so I don't know that it would require referendum but we depending on your outcome here we can look at that right I don't think that that's the motion today but we'll see how it goes and and to everybody's point on that past commissions or boards cannot find the decision of future commissions and boards and that is one of the things that is one of the great things about you know our Constitution and that's why you have elections if you don't like things that happened you can change that by having different people make those decisions I do agree though that we did have a very robust conversation many years ago and it is nice to see whether it's through actual millage increases or property value increases that more money is being invested there and I look forward to seesac continuing to um grow as a structure and get to the point where everybody can be comfortable with that investment so that being said there's a motion in a second any further discussion seeing none all in favor I opposed motion carries 4 to one with commissioner irman dissenting all right thank thank you and with that we will move on to 13 A1 which is authorization to proceed with foreclosure on Code Enforcement cases and we'll give everybody just a minute or two to clear out I sent it to your no I thought I sent it I cannot see today s are like it's on my I don't all right um go ahead welcome sorry it's all right I don't know if it's it's still morning morning okay there we go we got it 14 more minutes of morning commissioners Susan pra Deputy County attorney on behalf of Anor county attorney's office I am coming here today um on behalf of basically code enforcement to talk about a couple of cases we have that have come to us from the code enforcement board recommending foreclosure so I apologize bear with me as we have more than we normally do this time um so our first case and I apologize I thought I had a presentation but I don't know what happened to it so all right okay um so the first case that we have is going to be case number 2021 112 11002 I'm sorry in the fzi case um so this particular case it was brought and action started in 2021 with a complaint regarding vehicle storage junk Vehicles junk trash debris and weeds in excess of 12 in um this case had an evidential hearing back in May 23rd 2022 this respondent was at that point in time given a 90-day time frame to correct the violations and also got an extension after that 90 days to August 26 2022 from August 26 2022 to September 23rd 2022 um at the compliance hearing the following Monday September 26 2022 code enforcement board found that the violation had not been corrected and they have a $250 per day fine running on the property the order is recorded in the official records book of innover County public records and the current fine as of today is $140,700 um this is not a homestead property and we are able to move forward with foreclosure on that property if it still remains out of compliance um as I see the code enforcement board said yes to go ahead and move forward at our Hearing in February and I believe this is the attorney for the case who I've had contact with Mr Paul and I forgive me on your last name O'Neal good morning one question before you start do you want to take these individually or as a group I I think we can take them individually because there's a couple others that have come up where um we need to okay maybe take so ruce so we'll we'll talk and take we'll talk about each case individually and take a vote on each case individually okay go ahead good morning your honor yes I represent Miss fi and I represent her brother um Michelle tucon and uh Mr tucon is actually the individual who unknowingly and unintentionally purchased this house in 2017 if that sounds weird it is he was quite frankly the victim of uh a serious misrepresentation kind of his worst nightmare Mr Tucson is a custodian at a school down in St Lucy County Lincoln Park Academy he saved his money and decided he wanted to buy a house so he came up to gford he got a real estate agent who took them to 4590 and there's a house with the number on it that's says $45.90 in a lock box and she opens the lock box and he looks around inside of the two-bedroom house and says I want it and they sign a contract the house was owned by Fanny May at the time he pays them $41,000 in cash gets the keys he starts remodeling the house he pays the taxes on the house every year a few years later he starts getting notices from this County none of this is this County's Fault by the way he starts getting notices saying you've got Junk Vehicles blighting your property you're in an ordinance violation he and Elsie his sister the the named owner initially ignore these because they say that's not our property that's the neighbor the neighboring property um after some time they begin to investigate and they make a terrible Discovery and I have affidavit from the real estate agent I have the MLS listing everything to verify this is in fact what happened they were not deed the house that he purchased he was deed the vacant lot next to the house that lock can look at uh Google Earth and you'll see there were six broken down Vehicles the good news is there are now only two over the weekend at his own expense he had four of the six Vehicles towed there are two remaining one is a Giant RV and the other is a massive flatbed truck so it's going to be a little difficult to get those junk Vehicles off the property the point is none of this is the County's problem but you do have and I don't mean to be hyperbolic the opportunity to prevent an injustice I'm trying to help Mr tant his real estate agent Barbara rosenbom went and hired a lawyer with her own money to try to fix the problem that lawyer who shall remain unnamed didn't do anything so a couple years have passed I don't know that I can help him get the house for complicated legal reasons that I won't get into but yesterday I did file a lawsuit against Fanny May so it's a little bit of a David verse goath lawsuit for f for uh misrepresentation I'm trying to get him damages I'm trying to at least saved him something he spent $41,000 out of pocket this is a guy who's a janitor at Lincoln Park Academy and he's about to walk away with absolutely nothing he shouldn't have waited as long as he did to deal with this property they thought it was a clerical error they thought it could be figured out they found the named owner of the house who's now deceased talked to The Heirs hoping they could clear it up Unfortunately The Heirs were not nearly as magnanimous as they hoped Now The Heirs are staking a claim to the house they've begun parking their cars in the driveway so he's now facing losing the house and facing losing the property I have photos of him Towing away the cars at his own expense again four of the six cars are gone he is working to bring it into compliance if that $140,000 fine sticks of course this is all a massive waste of time because the property is not worth a tiny fraction of that if you foreclose on it and sell it I don't know what you're going to get for it but probably not much more than the cash I have in my pocket which isn't very much so what I would ask if it's within this County's power if it's within this board's power if it's within the attorne county attorney's power I don't know who if some or all of that could be forgiven if the property is brought into full compliance again I can give Miss pra photos I brought you photos I brought you an affidavit from the real estate agent I brought you the original MLS listing which misstates the address of the house so I've got documents for all of this um I'm asking you for a little bit of Mercy I guess none of this is the County's fault I wish that my clients who are very unsophisticated English is their second language I wish that they would have taken steps sooner to fix the problem but they are taking steps now they do have somebody who's going to help them navigate this so whatever this board has the power to do thank you I ask you to do it um Miss pra yes ma'am how this has gone to code enforcement like I I guess I for the Commissioners and for the attorney I think it's important that we talk about the process and and where we are today and what we can and cannot do this has gone to code enforcement code enforcement has entered in order yes ma'am and I'm sorry Mr O'Neal did not present me with the questions about the reduction otherwise I would have told him that that does not happen at this venue so um I can tell you that this case it did it went in front of code enforcement code enforcement board entered the order for the 250 a day they are the ones that entered the order to move forward with foreclosure um this is basically this is almost like a a I hate to say but it's almost like a courtesy kind of we come here because you all have given us Authority move forward with all foreclosures but we still come forward and say hey would you still like to move forward board is this still your you know your flavor for the day are we still going or not um and for you all to let us know I will tell you yes that there is some sort of issue it's a vacant property that's next door to the home we are aware of that however we are bound by Florida statute the Florida statute says that the we have to go off who the owner owner is on the tax record and who the owner is on the property appraiser site and as it lists um Miss fres frzi I'm so sorry if I'm saying that wrong as the owner that is who we have noticed that is who is responsible um so this is where we are um and I can tell you at this point in time there was some urgency to try to get this at least cleaned up because I know that there were some people that were living in an RV at the home some point in time it was being used like as a repair shop at some point in time lots of activity on the vacant lot so what it is is there's a home he believed he bought and the vacant lot next door it's the vacant lot that we are would be for closing on so and I did it I did ADV Vis Mr O'Neal that it's not that the Foreclosure would happen today um as the board knows this is something that still takes some time it would probably be at least 30 days before outside Council were to file a foreclosure and most of our properties don't actually go to foreclosure I think we've just foreclosed on one and about to foreclose on the sale is tomorrow on another one but other than that most of them get resolved um beforehand so as I've advised him he has time to do that as far as the reduction and fine if the code enforcement um issues are resolved and the case comes at a compliance he is more than welcome to come in front of Code Enforcement board and plead their case there as to whether or not they want to reduce the fine or not that is up to the code enforcement board in their realm um of jurisdiction and and as I recall typically when people do come into complt compliance if there is a large fine and they go in front of Code Enforcement um in the past not always um that has been reduced to administrative costs plus 10% for the most part yes because at least the county would recuperate the cost to prosecute which were entitled to by Statute plus the usually the 10% yes that's generally the amount so what I'm hearing is that um there is still time for the violations to be cleared up potentially and that to move forward before the Foreclosure is filed but today code enforcement has moved to the foreclosure process and we are charged with being asked to engage Council or not correct that's where we're at yes commissioner fleser Council a very uh passionate and colorful presentation thank you yes sir U councelor yes sir when did this all begin um just I want a little timeline so I have the file with me it began back in 2021 2021 okay so three years were're in in abeyance of We Own the wrong property sounds like an error of omission so answer is correct it's not on our watch or table or at no time do we have liability or fault correct it was 3 years that this era was left to Fester correct yes sir okay so it sounds like there's other avenues for the uh property owner to be able to address other than here or other than with code enforcement because they've already been engaged so it more or less sounds like even if we begin begin the process you still have some work to do and that that attorney that the realtor hired also has some work to be doing as well and I think that the uh the property owner will be made whole again in those resources not here I think we have to act upon what code enforcement has worked at what the board has worked at and it's been several years so with that I make motion to approve atty's recommendation there is a motion I will second that is there other comments on this case mam chair just curious was there a title company involved in this at closing yes sir there was that's when the attorney comes in there was the if I can explain in 10 seconds the problem is no survey was ever conducted so the legal description for the lot was accurate it was the street of De address that was incorrect street address is meaningless we can't really go after the title company because they warrantied the vacant lot i' I'm involving them trust me but I don't see that we have any recourse all they do is they take the the legal description which as you know an average homeowner doesn't understand and they say sure we guarantee title clear title to that that's what they did so the problem we have was the street address was wrong but the legal address was for this vacant lot so that's what was deeded to my client and that's all that the title company guaranteed have we miss PR I don't know if you know have we had situations like this I mean this is kind of like the doctor operating on the wrong knee um have we had had a situation where the physical address doesn't match the I guess mailing address not since I have been here but um I'm not saying there couldn't have been one I don't know Bill's been here much longer than I have I don't know if he's seen it but I have yet to see it in the almost five years I've been here no th this is pretty bizarre it is so in other words would would we be able to give the gentleman 30 days before we file he's going to have that anyway he outside coun he essentially will I mean because I quite frankly I know I'm not going to be sending these over today because I have to get everything together and send them over to outside Council and they are not going to just go and file like tomorrow they'll probably go out by end of week and then that way I can go ahead and get that started and then they start their process from there but it's probably at least another 30 days before they go ahead and file at at the least usually I mean and through no fault it's not like staff is it's just the way the process works it's at least once we vote on it um 30 to sometimes 45 to 60 days before I I mean I don't want to guarantee any time but at least 30 days to get the process started so there's again still time if he were to come into compliance before the Foreclosure is filed then the Foreclosure will not be filed and it sounds like coming into compliance re is going to require those other two trailers or whatever they are to be removed and just to be clear I was told by the attorney that even if we spend all this money which he's now spending out of pocket to come into compliance that there's no guarantee that the fines will be reduced or if they will be reduced by how much we're talking about $140,000 well and I can speak to that because the attorney has to say attorney things um which is why you're here I don't mean that badly I don't mean that badly um there is no guarantee however what I can tell you is how it usually works if our goal is not to be punitive our goal is to achieve compliance yes and if you come into compliance what typically has happened um is that again they will reduce that fine to administrative costs plus 10% which is still a cost to your client but it is way better than the hundred and some odd, he's looking at and and there's the yes mation litigation yes sir and and that has happened on numerous occasions since I've been here for the past eight years I can at least say that much yes and and that is a I mean that is a factual statement I have no control and neither does this board over what the other board decides that's why I said there's no guarantee so um okay other comments and questions concerns on this particular um it does sound like a mess you are going to have your hands full with this if not went to law school I don't know if if law school has prepared him for this kind of chaos but good luck um all in favor opposed osed all right motion carries on that one we'll move on to Richardson I'm not going to even try to go through the case numbers I'm just going to call the names okay thank you so on the Richardson case this case started in 2021 complaint regarding Property Maintenance site plan nonconformance and use established a site plan approval back in 2021 there was an evidentiary here and it was held in violation it was given some time to come into compliance in July 2021 the board the code enforcement board determined it was not in compliance and $ $100 per day fine that has since been recorded in the public records of Indian River County the total fine today is $99,000 at this point in time this property still has not been brought into compliance and so we are seeking to move forward with forclosure as the code enforcement board has also authorized us to do so all right Commissioners comments questions and concerns on this approve all right we have a motion and second all in favor opposed motion carries we'll move on to TW WLS 2025 LLC thank you um this is another uh code enforcement action that was brought and it started in 2022 hearing on June 27 2022 for evidentiary holding them in violation of violating our code for several different items um vehicle parking storage zoning District use violation commercial vehicles at residents and a home occup Pati violation um the compliance date was given for a month later on July 25th 2022 the property had not been brought in a compliance and the board at that at that case decided to do $250 per day um and the order has been recorded in the public records of Indian County the property is still out of compliance as of today the current fine is 156 th $156,500 I will tell you that on this one I did meet with staff and the property owner yesterday he did bring in some photographs demonstrating he is attempting to clean up and I did tell him I would at least advise you that that he is starting to make some progress and I advised him the same thing that I advised this last attorney was if he brings it in compliance we won't be bringing a foreclosure but we're still asking to at least move forward with the process in case he does not we have a motion in a second um on the first tww Ls I'm assuming right we yes okay um all in favor opposed motion carries before we get into the second twls what is going on with people that they're just not paying attention to any of this stuff for five year four years and now we're in a foreclosure situation and magically I want to fix it at the last minute is that a good summary that's that's usually it because we don't really I mean you could have saved yourself a lot of problems if you just fixed it the first month instead of here we are the 177,000 month okay never mind that's exactly it Madam chair TW WLS 2035 LLC he's pushing his time frame back here all right let's go yes ma'am once again another case the same owner um similar issues zoning to trick violation vehicle parking storage no building permits um it once again started in September 26 2022 with being held in violation they went ahead and had the hearing after that October 24th 2022 in order to determine whether they were in compliance they were deemed not to be and a $250 per day fine was issued that order is recorded in the public records of Indian River County the current fine as of today is $133,700 once again same owner met with yesterday he said he's working on it so magical it's magical how foreclosures bring people to the table all right Commissioners I have a motion by commissioner irman I'll second it any comments all in favor opposed motion carries last one is mortgage assets Management LLC oddly enough we're foreclosing on the company that foreclosed on this one so um this is I haven't had enough coffee for this sorry so this uh this code enforcement matter did start in 2023 this is a relatively newer one um they had an evident here on September 25th 2023 the respondent was found in violation for several different issues being unsecured vacant structure overgrown weeds and a swimming pool maintenance violation um this one is a little bit in a of a more of a hurry because there's a swimming pool involved and you can see all kinds of stuff around it and it's kind of collapsing and so it's not that great um is this the one that was on a corner lot that had I'm thinking of a different one that had a swimming pool this one's on a cue saac okay um anyway so this one was held to be non- incompliance still not in compliance as of today there was a $100 per day fine running since November 27th 2023 we had to wait the 3 months in order to bring this that's why I'm bringing this here today pursuant to Florida statute the order has been recorded in the public records of Indian R County and the current fine on this one is $13,600 I guess we're doing them a favor since we're doing it before it gets to 130,000 so Commissioners to approve all right we have a motion by commissioner Moss with a second by commissioner Earman questions comments concerns seeing none all in favor opposed commission carries thank you Commissioners thank you ladies just a public service announcement for everybody please get your stuff in order before it gets to this point all right oh we're at the end all right seeing that if you want more no no I think we've had we've had enough commissioner lore is GNA be angry here quickly all he had was a banana for breakfast so anything else for the good of the order and before anybody can say any seeing none we are turned all right