e e e e e e e e e e yeah well it's 9 o' all right welcome everybody we're going to go ahead and call the Tuesday May 24 24th 21st 2024 commission meeting to order we'll start with a moment of Silent reflection for our First Responders and members of the Armed Forces followed by an invocation by Reverend Timothy wac of the First Presbyterian Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance um led by our County attorney Mr Dew if everybody will please rise almighty God there are many ways to pray there's simple mindfulness where we are mindful of the service of so many our First Responders and those in military service were mindful for the beauty of being able to live in such a great Community we're mindful of the gift of age and wisdom we're mindful of daily bread and daily breath but almighty God there's also intercession and today we seek your intercession for wisdom as we govern for leadership as we serve and we pray that we would be bound by principle and ever partisanship and so we pray for our leaders we pray for commissioner Adams commissioner Fletcher commissioner Erman commissioner lure and commissioner Moss we pray for all our employees outdoing their work and service for our community that we may be safe and live in Comfort we ask for their safety and well-being bless our County bless our leadership and allow us to continue to be able to count our blessings for being able to live in such a lovely wonderful place in your kingdom all this we pray in your name Amen to the flag flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for stand One Nation God indivisible withy andice for all all right Commissioners is there are there any additions or deletions to the agenda if not commission chair move approval second I have a motion in a second all in favor opposed motion carries and with that we will move on to our proclamations and presentations our first is going to be a presentation of proclamation for Miss Marie Louise Dumar Ambrose for her Centennial recognition this will be presented by commissioner Moss thank thank you madam chair appreciate this opportunity I'll read it first and then uh you're welcome to say a few words should you choose Proclamation Marie Louise dear Ambrose Centennial recognition whereas Marie Louise Dumar Ambrose was born on May 27th 1924 in Brooklyn New York and lived in both the Brooklyn Heights and Bay Ridge sections of Brooklyn and whereas Louise decided to attend high school in Manhattan and upon graduation finished her education at Butler business scho School in Bridgeport Connecticut after graduation Louise obtained a position in the payroll department of the general electric company and within a few years was promoted to a supervisory position and whereas Louise married Steven Ambrose a musician traveling across the country playing saxophone and clarinet with the big bands in in 1950 shortly after Louise and Steve settled down in Connecticut and spent 69 happy years together until Steve's passing a few years ago and whereas Louise and Steve lived in Trumble Connecticut and Venice Florida Louise was a stay-at-home mom while their sons were young and had a successful second career in the Accounting Group at Fairfield University and whereas when Steve passed away Louise moved to Vero Beach to be near her son Steven and his wife Victoria Louise feels blessed that this has allowed her to participate in family events with her five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren and whereas Louise resides at Renaissance Senior Living in Vero Beach where she remains active in the Arts enjoys jewelry making painting and participating in religious Services held in the chapel Louise also enjoys the numerous music concerts available to Renaissance residents especially when they include some of the big band Tunes Steve used to play play now therefore be it proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of Indian River County Florida that Marie Louise dear Ambrose is congratulated on reaching her 100th birthday and the board extends its sincere best wishes for many more happy years adopted this 21st day of May 2024 Board of County Commissioners iner County Florida and signed by all five Commissioners God bless and happy birthday it's uh it's a pretty amazing thing I know Renaissance is a lovely place um I was the mayor at the time it opened and was uh it was an honor to participate in the ribbon cutting and I know it's set up in such a way that it helps people um to have you know the best quality of life there and to uh to be enjoyed it's very homey it's a very nice place so God bless you and any advice on on Turney 100 would you like to say anything you're welcome and it's not it's not obligatory please don't feel obligated it's your birthday you you do whatever you wish okay I'll come I'll come down to hand this well Commissioners since it is her birthday do you think we should sing Happy Birthday yes yeah all right happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear Louise happy birthday to you everybody gotc I didn't hear any AG Talent here does any of the family want to say anything you don't have to what we're not scary though um I'm Stephen uh and I just like to say thank you so much for doing this um Mom has truly embraced raced Indian River County since she's been here it's been a mere less than three years and um she has participated in a lot of activities here and um it's been so much fun for her I think she's more active here than she was over in Sarasota County for many years and so I thank you this is a wonderful thing for you to do for a centennial and um and uh again thanks again okay okay thank you we're happy to have her you know uh reading about uh Marie Louise's life and uh looking looking back see I was a New York City police officer in your jurisdiction and I I have to say that I we've never crossed paths in in the earlier days and if you need uh a letter of recommendation for your future Endeavor I think I'm most qualified to be able to cover a lengthy period in your life experience and I'd be honored to do that now uh a after that I just want to say that uh you know I we we all enjoy big band music and uh I'm I'm excited that uh you were very much part of uh the big band era big band music and uh thank you for doing all the things that you're doing now I think that's the answer of longevity to continue to move forward and uh I we'd like to see a a piece of the the the jewelry that she does um does she have any with her usually well may maybe we could see a picture picture of it or next year at a at the 101st we can uh see the jewelry okay thank you thank you and happy birthday commissioner Airman mam chairman Miss Ambrose i' I've got to see you at numerous times being that that my wife was the the executive director of where you live at Renaissance senior living and I've got to talk to you a few times and talk to your family and what what great what a great person what great people people you are it always amazed me anytime I hear because I'm a history buff anytime I hear somebody's reaches a 100 or something like that I just think of the things they've seen in the last hundred years it's just absolutely amazing so but with that we're glad you're here we hope you have a hundred more and and uh happy birthday to you thank you so very much Jesus thank you thank you wonderful thank you guys so much for being here get on with your yeah all right thank you so much no problem thank [Applause] you all right our next Proclamation is going to be a presentation of proclamation honoring Carol berson on her retirement from inden no County Board of County Commissioner's Office of Management and budget you're obligated to come up to the podium Carol all right it's my great pleasure to read this Proclamation honoring Carol berson on her retirement from Indian River County Board of County Commissioners Office of Management and budget whereas Carol Bergeron retires from Indian River County Office of Management and budget effective June 28th 2024 and whereas Carol began her career with the Indian miver County Clerk of the circuit court on April 18th 2005 as a juvenile court specialist in the felony Department until her promotion on August 17th 2005 to an accounts payable one clerk in the finance department and subsequent promotion on October 10th 2014 to an accounts payable to clerk on April 1st 2015 Carol began her position as budget support specialist with the inder County Board of County Commissioners and AED in that position until her retirement and whereas Carol has has served this County in public with kindness patience diligence and selflessness providing patrons and fellow co-workers with valuable information and help they were seeking during her 19-year career in inder County her work was appreciated by her employer citizens and co-workers alike and now therefore be it proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of Indian River County Florida that the board applauds Carol's efforts on behalf of the county and wishes to express their appreciation for the dedicated service she has given to indu County and be it further proclaimed that the board of County Commissioners and staff extend heartfelt wishes for success in her future endeavors adopted this 21st day of May 2024 and signed by myself Carol yes ma'am I don't know what we're going to do in the budget this year without you being part of it you're I see how you timed your retirement date and I applaud that Kristen might but yeah good job no but seriously you'll be missed you've always kept us straight um over in the Commission Office uh with all of our budgetary uh and and reimbursements and things like that and we greatly appreciate all your hard work and commitment it's been an awesome awesome 19 years I'm sure you've seen a lot A lot has changed but we're definitely going to isue but I know you're going to be doing some fun stuff and I'm honestly a little bit jealous of that and uh we're going to have to come up and see you in in Maine in the great Northeast yeah as long as there a fishing hook in a boat I'm happy so I just want to say to my dad that I made it 55 years ago almost today he welcomed me into his business office at the bright bold age of 10 and I started counting money so here I am all those years years later I always tell people I love money um I've had the honor to work for some pretty incredible people Jeff Barton with his humor if anybody here has been in the office as long as me you always heard Jeff come down on a Friday morning saying and he had all the checks that he had you know all the invoices he had looked at and he was a great man and then of course Jeff Smith you know his incredible Faith you know really was an inspiration we could say Diane Bernardo and do this because that's her in the office girls uh Jason Brown he's not here today but I already told him what I was going to say I realized immediately when I started working for Jason that he was very fiscally conservative and we got along well because my parents were children of the depression so we were made to wash our hands wipe our towels and hang the paper towels to use again so we you know we were on the same page there um Kristen Kristen's very proud of her department and as long as you work hard She'll always be there to support you um it wasn't mentioned but for years now I've worked at emergency operation uh Center and thank you Dave for the option to come back and volunteer after I retire that's been like my gig I love that that's when I've been my happiest thank you service members um for keeping us safe it means a lot to me and that's it I just want to say I've had the opportunity to work with Carol for 16 of those 19 years and she is one of the most dedicated kind employees we have always willing to help anyone who needs it and walk them through any of the processes um the office certainly won't be the same without her and we will miss her greatly but obviously wish her and Chip the best through their retirement and and their travels and um we will see each other again yes I have a baby watch congratulations thank you congratulations Carol do you not you want to come get your Proclamation or you guys want to wait and do it together sure sure it's up to you yeah I'll wait it's your retirement okay I'll wait all right the next Proclamation is going to be honoring James chip Boyette on his retirement from Indian River County Board of County Commissioners Public Works engineering Division and this will be presented by commissioner Ean thank you madam chairman it's my honor to present this Proclamation for a couple of reasons first of all I don't know maybe commissioner fler can answer this how many husband and life Duos we had retire at the same time but this is happening with that did you hear me commissioner fler how many times did this this has this happened husband and wife Doo retiring together at the same time this is a first is it this is a first at least I can cify for 18 years yes this is the first it keeps the honeydew list smaller if they retire at the same oh they got list for each other yeah more manageable this is a tandem thing it's beautiful all right and the next thing I want to bring to your attention is very appropriate that our former commissioner and chairman is here commissioner O'Brien is here because guess what commissioner fer and Comm commissioner O'Brien chip and I grew up together let put my surprise face on imagine that it always it always happened when we had we had somebody that were here it happens a lot when you're born and raised here but it is my honor to uh to read this about my friend chip Boyette and uh after that I'll I'll say a few more things about him but Proclamation honoring James chip Boyette on his retirement from Min River County Board of County Commissioners Public Works engineering division whereas James chip Boyette retires from iniver County Public Works engineering division effective July 24th 2024 whereas chip began his career within River County on April 12th 1993 as an engineering technici 2 chip was promoted to his project specialist in 2001 and promoted again to an engineering inspection supervisor in 2022 remaining in that position to until his retirement after 31 years with the engineering division of in River County he managed multiple small and large CI projects from building New Roads and sidewalks to Bridge construction he has led a team of four inspectors through the developer s side inspection permitting process with his experience and extensive knowledge as an Indian River County native and whereas over his tenure chip received many acknowledgements and commendations for his efforts including the installation of the round Island Park OB observation tower improvements leading various hurricane debris removal teams and the late 90s removal of derel vessels known as the gene from the former Defense Training Site known in the 1940s as the US Naval Amphibious training base along South Beach whereby two 22758 lbs of various types of debris was removed from the beach area which include many different types of unexploded military ordinances and whereas chip has served this County and public works with distinction and selflessness providing patrons with valuable information and help they were seeking during his 31-year career at the Indie River County Public Works engineering division his work is appreciated by his employer citizens and co-workers alike and now therefore be proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of any River County Florida that the board applauds James chip boyett's efforts on behalf of the county and the board wishes to express their appreciation for the dedicated service he has given in River County and be it further proclaimed that the board of County Commissioners and staff extend heartfelt wishes for success in his future endeavors adopted this 21st day of May 2024 and signed by our chairman commissioner Susan Adams well chip congratulations and like I said chip and I grew up together we played Little League Baseball together we played on the 12-year-old allar team together I was the pitcher he was the catcher and uh we hunted together we fish together we did a lot of things together growing up all the way through high school and uh After High School you know we everybody went kind of went their different ways but we still stayed in touch and I would see him occasionally at job sites and see him around stop and talk or when I was on the fire truck and and then when I became a commissioner we kind of saw each other a lot more I'd go over there and talk to him occasionally on a project or just to see him for a few minutes when he had some time but he's always been a dedicated worker and he's one of those workers here in in River County that we're losing with institutional knowledge that has such such great institutional knowledge of what happened why things were where they were and where they were and when they were so but with that I know uh you and Carol are going to have a great time she filled me in yesterday on your future plans and uh sounds like you're going to be busier than you were working so congratulations my friend thank you Joe thank you everyone give me a minute it's been a long time coming it's been a pleasure to work in this County for all these years it's been a a great adventure my little town is up and evaporated though that I grew up in but that's okay well managed with what we have I uh like Joe said we're both longtime natives here have a lot of history I will miss being here not leaving just I'm going to become a snowburn and I'm going to enjoy it thoroughly so and I would like to thank everyone that has been part of my existence in this County and allowed me to do all the things that I've been able to do and thank you all thank [Applause] you um Commissioners thank you um thank you chip for your um 31 years of service um I had the pleasure to be with you here um for the last six years and it's just a fraction of what you have done for this County um it's it's been a very pleasure to me working with you you have been helpful in any um moment on all these projects we did together and um I just want to like say thank you very much well I need to and to let you know this lady right here is an exceptional lady that you have that has taken over the Public Works Reigns uh I have to be honest she she she surprised me on a job site one morning I was actually helping a young man unload steel off of a truck and she pulled it up and she just looked at me and she didn't say a word but she knew I was involved in the job with what I was doing even though that's not exactly what I should have been doing she let me be she let me do my job and it was a great relief and she and I have an exceptional relationship you'll come and ask me she says chip what about this and I am able to distill my it's your nature I know it is dear but look these people these people need to know that it's all being left in great hands she she's she's been an exceptional boss we we know that we're in great hands but we know that we've been in great hands and and uh I want to say thank you uh throughout the years um you know something just came up about you're going to be a snowbird and you know both of you are retiring in tandem uh you know Carol was part of the uh process for funding and you were part of the process for engineering many great things that happened here in Indie River County so when you're down here why don't you ride around and take a look at it and give us give us your thoughts on what was built and how it was funded and you might be able to help us too cuz she's going to volunteer over for the Emergency Services we're we're actually both going to volunteer we're already volunteering in a program that she's actually set me up with so like I say we're we're not we're not we're not disappearing whatsoever so we're on the cir team team so thank you congratulations like I say I can't leave my home thank you come on you to sorry thank you I know don't look so excited Carol congratulations [Applause] all right our next Proclamation is going to be designating May 18th through May 24th as National safe boting week in IDU County this will be presented by commissioner flesher to the Brigade Squadron what is flotilla 56a 56 of United stes Coast Guard auxiliary I knew there was an official title the floella I love that all right commissioner flesher thank you team for being front center in uniform and thank you for all that you do a little conversation earlier made me reflect back to uh one of the best spent part of my misspent youth in the 70s going to the class that you you all provide and I want to thank you and I never owned a boat uh it's my my great but I was prepared to if I ever got the opportunity um with that uh I'd like to present this Proclamation designating May 18th through the May 24th as National safe voting week in Indie River County whereas for millions of Americans including those in Indie River County voting continues to be a popular recreational activity and whereas during National safe boating week the United States Coast Guard and its federal state and local safe boating Partners encourage all voters to explore and enjoy America's beautiful Waters safely and responsibly whereas safe boating begins with preparation through the basic boating safety training on procedures and Equipment as well as outing outling the planning and preparation and whereas hundreds of people people lose their life each year in boating related accidents in the United States and is estimated that the vast majority of all boating related accidents are caused solely by human error and poor judgment and not by the boat equipment or environmental factors whereas a significant number of Voters whose lives were lost by Drowning would still be alive today if they had wonn their life jackets now therefore be proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of in River County Florida that we do hereby Proclaim that the week of May 18th through May 24th 2024 as National safe boating week uh with the renewal of a yearr round effort to promote safe boating and we urge all of those who are on the water to attend a safe boating CL CL practice safe boating habits and to wear a life jacket at all times while boating do the adopted this 21st day of May 2024 and it is signed by all five County Commissioners team thank you very much commissioner uh flesher so I'm Mark Canon I'm with the staff officer and P and a pilot with a Coast Guard auxiliary flotilla 56 one of the oldest Coast Guard auxiliary flotillas in Florida today with me are are a few of our members we we total uh 67 members uh at this time the auxillary is a uniformed volunteer component of the Coast Guard augmenting the active duty Coast Guard in all 11 Coast Guard Mission areas except active law enforcement and active military so we don't write tickets and they don't give us any weapons while root while we routinely do missions supporting environmental issues aids to navigation law enforcement search and rescue and others both in the air and on the water a top priority is promotion of recreational boating safety to save lives and property as well as lessen the search and rescue burden on of the Coast Guard the auxiliary and other supporting agencies such as FWC the County Sheriff's Office and other County and City and County First Responders to further that objective we offer monthly boating safety classes that qualify successful students for the Florida state safe boting card we just had one last Saturday at uh in Sebastian and our next class is um Saturday 15 June at the American Legion here in Vero Beach Post 39 1535 Old Dixie Highway don't you know uh and it's free for teens so and we certainly encourage teens to come out and and participate in that class uh we could also hold special classes for a number of teens if somebody's uh wanted to do that um we can we can put that together Tom mccardy is our lead um vessel voting safety educator and it would put anything together to uh to help that we also offer free courtesy vessel safety inspections to ensure that you have the legally required safety equipment on board if one fails there's no legal repercussions when when with our inspection as opposed to a coast guard FWC or other agency boardings and spot inspections we simply offer recommendations on how you bring your vessel into compliance uh with the law a couple of additional thoughts wear a comfortable life jacket when on the water last Friday was wear your life jacket to workday so I'm sure you all wore your life jackets right to work last Friday carry a registered El plb personal located Beacon this is an example of one this is mine my personal one that I carry with me all the time in fact I carry to my uh my backpack um but register the darn things is about the the statistics are are overwhelming it's like 90% of them of the uh alerts that we get on these things are not registered so we don't know who to call to make sure that it is a it's a real alert and so forth and and of course A lot of them are are not real alerts they're just false alarms so um ensure you have a functional registered marine radio on board on your board your boat why do you want a marine radio well if you just carry a cell phone and you call 911 who knows you have an emergency well you and the and the 911 operator but if you have a radio and come up on channel 16 which is the emergency Channel everybody around you who has a radio knows that you have an emergency and can come to your assistance as well as the Coast Guard that's monitoring that frequency all the time uh with a big system along the coast um but you also have to to register that radio uh for the with the DSC function an automated function and so that we know that we if it's a if it's an alert whether or not it's a valid alert anyway that's me uh if you want more information you can contact me um Fly MLB yahoo.com that's me fly MLB yahoo.com and we'll hook you up with a vessel safety check uh boating safety class whatever you need fantastic commissioner Moss um I just I just like to thank you publicly um I attended a ver Beach city council meeting last week and they were they attended that also and made this the same presentation so thank you for expending all this time and effort to travel around the county raising awareness for boating safety it's you know it's such an important issue and I'm delighted to see you here today thank you thank you commissioner Moss all right thank you guys thank you all the badges okay most of the badges thank you thank you all right here we go suitable for thank you don't you have to get the picture why don't you get in the picture okay here got it never have enough no that was me awesome thank you [Applause] guys thank you so much of course of course thank you what for what you guys do thank you yes totally we should all right our next Proclamation is designating May 19th through the 25th 2024 as National travel and tourism week this will also be presented by commissioner flesher and I think there is a contingent of Tourism folk on their way down they have some kind of of my swag yeah looks com down well thank you madam chair uh it it is an honor to present this Pro clamation I know that uh while I currently serve on the the TDC which we will be having a meeting tomorrow on the tourist Development Council and meeting with all of our great Partners uh you have done that for many years as well and uh uh I sure you agree that it's one of the most rewarding uh assignments as uh we get to see our Community Partners it's all about our Community Partners that make this place one of one of the highest visited locations in uh in in easn Seaboard and we do that without a theme park without a a huge attractor the attractor is the people who make it happen so and the the great lifestyle though which we all enjoy as well well thank you once again and thank you for being here uh present the proclamation recognizing National travel and tourism week uh which is May 19th through 25th 2024 whereas the travel and tourism industry plays a critical role in in River County and the State of Florida and the nation's economic Prosperity whereas a robust travel and tourism industry has provided significant economic benefit to the nation and generating more than $2.8 trillion dollar in economic impact with 121.5 billion spent directly in Florida by outof state Travelers thank you allall whereas the travel and tourism industry provides over 2 million jobs with the state of Florida and over 10,000 jobs in Indie River County generating 16.3 billion in state and local taxes with 6555 million spent in our local businesses you heard those numbers folks whereas Approximately 80% of all travel and tourism related businesses are small businesses owners and that have depended upon uh the community support through the visitors who contribute over 333 million per day to Florida's economy and whereas the travel and tourism industry in in River County Powers major infrastructure Improvement such as Beach renourishment Jackie Robinson Sports training complex Regional Sports ecotourism and special events throughout the year whereas in River County Chamber of Commerce who is the official tourism arm of inie River County and in inie River County Board of County Commissioners we have had a working relationship to promote tourism throughout the county for over 30 35 years whereas any River County Board of County Commissioners recognizes that the travel and tourism industry is crucial to the to empowering our community as the essential economic driver to Spur growth for local businesses and whereas the travel and tourism industry is a necessary and prominent component of everyday life and should be supported and protected now therefore be proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of in River County Florida that the week of May 19 through 25th 2024 is recognized as National travel and tourism week in in River County Florida and encourages all citizens of the county to join in in recognizing this critical role in the industry plays in our County and throughout the State of Florida this is Julia adopted the 21st day of May 2024 and it is signed by all five County Commissioners Mr Ben thank you thank you very much um I have a short presentation um to show which kind of gives a little bit of overview of a little bit more numbers um and then I'm releasing some brand new stuff for the first time for you all today since it is National travel and tourism week um so again I thank you very much for this and I am Ben man vice president of Tourism and marketing with in River County Chamber of Commerce um so I just want to start by explaining to you what is a visitor and how do we get the numbers that we're getting so a visitor is you can go to the next one there um someone who comes from over 50 miles of their common evening evening location how is that recognized from their cell phone registered location so where are you placing your cell phone at night and it's coming from 50 miles from that registered location stayed for more than two hours and visited at least one POI in the county So what at least one point of interest and all of these numbers just so you're aware of how this works is there from 2022 2023 finishes obviously in December 31st 2023 um and us being five months into 2024 they're finishing those numbers for 2023 um so we should be getting those very soon so all of this is 2022 and it was visitor spending was up 10.5% um in in River County compared to 2021 with an average visitor spending of $25 44% of total visitor spending is at restaurants so imagine your restaurants losing 44% of their sales 36% is spent in retail so imagine retailers um boutiques things like that losing 36% of their sales and our local economic impact um 60 600 excuse me 6 155.5 million in visitor spending in in county and that consists of restaurants lodging retails Transportation um entertainment and Recreation and there are 10,1 job supported so thank you to that one person um who made it a 10,000 And1 and this is for tourism and Hospitality in Industry so hotels anything entertainment anything that is tourism related and your local taxes this tourism tax um8 $1,840 is how much Florida residents save in taxes each year due to tourist tax and $0 is how much Florida residents pay in state income tax thank you to our tourist tax and we're one of only nine states with no state income tax um so a tourism matters and those who are visiting are contributing to our area um and if you live here in the county you are not paying tourism tax um you are paying tourism tax when you go and visit Orlando and those theme parks but you are not paying that tax here in this area um you're saving money and so then I want to just show some brief advertisements that we do because you all don't live in Canada and you don't live in Georgia or North Carolina or New England area where we're promoting our destination and it should be noted that all of these things are done inh house we do all design work inhouse and then we distribute it out so between myself and Christa hoit here who is our tourism Communications manager she's fantastic um it's just the two of us here on this team plus our amazing team that we have at the Chamber of Commerce we design all of these stuff and then distribute it and then monitor it and how it all does so these are images some of these are digital so these are clickable ads but for the purposes of today um just showing you some images here that we have designed in house that been distributed through the year so far and our next one here this is a brand new video just released this week today actually for you all um it's a full 90 second video here we have different versions of this um and this covers all of inie River County [Music] [Music] day Sun the thank you um so we have multiple versions of that that we do we have 15 seconds 30 seconds different um places that we're covering that's our full 90c version for you that's the first time that was shown um so thank you all very much thank you again to our uh chamber board of directors Christa Dory Stone our amazing chamber president um fantastic staff that we have thank you to you all for your support of Tourism and all our amazing tourism partners ERS that we have in this area um I do want to mention that with this being National travel and tourism week we have some great things going on on our social media this week so check that out on our Facebook Instagram Twitter um some great giveaways that we've partnered with some of our amazing tourism Partners in this area and release of more videos and more new creative that we've done um that we chose to put out this week um to represent National travel and tourism week um our updated visitors guide will be coming soon um we have just so you know an increase in all of our advertising our writing promotional TV content has all gone way up there's been a lot more notice in Inu County all of our social media has increased by at least 2,000 followers just with the past few months um so everything is doing really really well um Christa is amazing at our writing our social media and keeping up with that so if you're not following us on any of those follow us um we're always posting events things to do in the area promoting the area so thank you all very much I also have for the first time today you're getting these for the first time brand new visit Indian River swag um so you got a cooler holds a six-pack um brand new uh Koozies they say chill and Inspire because you can drink and chill or you can be inspired um a cup it's hot and cold insulated and a beach towel visit in y County and a great pen so I expect to see everyone using that there so this is for you all so thank you all very much thank you we'll promote proudly here thank you thank you thank you [Applause] guys also present the director of Chamber of Commerce proudly watching yes all right Commissioners next we'll take a just a quick five minute break e e e e e e e e e e e e all ahead and call the meeting back to order Commissioners the next item is approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of April 9th and the regular meeting of April 23rd Madam chair move approval of both I have a motion and a second all in favor opposed motion carries there is no informational item so we'll move on to consent Commissioners anybody wishing to pull anything from consent mam chair 8G 8G all right anybody from the public wishing to pull anything from consent seeing none Commissioners mam chair move approval as amended I have a motion and a second all in favor opposed motion carries 8 G commissioner lore yes Madam chair this was simply a a question on the process uh would this being under consent uh and I spoke briefly with the administrator yesterday um is it a typical process that we would uh get involved with a state of Florida agency as a board to vote on increases in their fees that is a good question and I see Julianne coming down maybe can answer that or attorney or the County Attorney may maybe it is it this hasn't been done since 2018 and I think commissioner flure is the only one familiar with it these are County fees not State fees so that's why we're coming before the uh Board of County Commission so it's just an increase in County fees so that's why it's coming before you and are the County fees uh Universal to the state or no no sir in fact we did an analysis of surrounding counties and counties in similar size and what they were charging for County fees and we were on the low end and since we hadn't done an analysis in 5 years our staff costs have increased over 30% each permit uh three or four different people have to touch the gas prices are going up vehicle I mean every every cost associated with um the items on there has gone up exponentially in a five years period so we're pulling from General Revenue to cover all all these fees and it's just not sustainable so the analysis combined with it have not done a a county fee raise in 5 years is what we're asking for today administrator is this a typical process that we would or would this be under different matters I'm I'm sorry say that again sir would that's under consent would this be under consent typically or would it be under other matters at this point I I'm not sure it makes a difference because it was pulled uh but uh it's so I mean I think you're discussing it so it's in the future if you would like we could include it under other matters just or under the administrator matters you know based on working with the health department um okay I was just curious about the process yeah motion to approve all right we have a motion and a second all in favor opposed motion carries all right there are no constitutional officers governmental agencies so we'll move on to public items the first item is a public hearing on the local option gas tax distribution percentages are you doing this Kristen you had just gotten settled back in your office didn't you yeah good morning Commissioners um kiss ler acting Public Works director um I have before you today the local option Gas Distribution percentages um by chapter 209 of the inan rer county code every two years the board of county commissioner needs to conduct a public hearing to approve a revenue distribution formula for the6 Cent local option gas tax um this tax revenue is currently shared with the five municipalities inan R County V Beach elsir orid and inan R Shores and it is based on the following formula and I will read that I don't know if I can be a good do a good job on that so I will read that the percentage of total revenue allocated to each eligible entity equals onethird of the entity's percentage of total equivalent Lane Mar of Road plus onethird of the entities's percentage of Transportation expenditures over the previous 5 years plus one3 of the entity's total percentage of population residing in the area based upon the most recent estimate from the Florida buau of Economic and Business research this formula has been used for the last 37 years hasn't been changed as far as I know and um the 2024 updated a table for computation of the local option gas tax distribution percentages will be sent to the Florida Department of Revenue for implementation by September 1 2024 so therefore staff recommends approval of the 2024 2025 Revenue distrib distribution percentages any questions all right are there any questions of staff if not I'll go ahead and open the public hearing anybody from the public wishing to speak on this item please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record seeing none we'll close the public hearing Commissioners motion approve we have a motion and a second yes just a comment uh there was at no time was there any discussion about raising the gas tax and and I want to do that in deference to our longtime friend who's no longer with us Bob Johnson who raised it each and every time I think uh commissioner O'Brien could agree that it was duly noted thank you all right there is a motion by commissioner lur with a second by commissioner flesher there's no further discussion all in favor opposed motion carries thank you all right next item is public discuss session items the first request to speak is from K Vander Bogart Vander bagart she's not here all right we if she comes back in we'll Circle back around um then our next request to speak is from Dr Miles Conway with the South Beach Property Owners Association all right can you morning Dr Conway good morning can you get him down here this is what we did yesterday projecting out to you is that I okay do you have a PowerPoint Dr yes we do we tested it yesterday morning Madam chair and it all worked fine can we get him down here guys Madam chair why don't you from it can come down some okay so we will Circle back around to you then Dr Conway with that we'll move on to County administrators matters Information Technology acceptable use policy revision Madam chair members of the board um in the recent enactment of floor statute 282 3185 regarding local government cyber security requires local government's to adopt cyber security standards to safeguard data information technology and resources uh to ensure availability confidentiy confidentiality and integrity uh these standards must be consistent with best practices including nist or the National Institute of Standards and technology and cyber security framework so what is happening we have to we have every County with the population 75,000 more we must adopt our cyber security standards uh required by the statutory by the statute and then notify the floorida digital service regarding the same uh we did have if you recall we did have individual meetings with each of you with our former Information Technology director myself and and we updated you these policies reflect in alignment with those cyber security framework standards that are in place and so with that staff would recommend the board approve the revision of the acceptable use policy as amended am1 1200.2 and replace the existing acceptable use policy in the infamous APM administrative policy manual Commissioners questions comments concerns Madam chair yes for the administrator I do have one question on a lot of agencies have statement of acknowledgements when a a policy this important or any policy so the question is how are we to confirm that our employees acknowledge this policy with which as heavy as it is it will be we will make sure that it's uh recognized in one they get all new employees get on boarding and they have they receive this policy then all existing employees will receive a copy of the new acceptable use policy okay and we will we can do by email and request a a read receipt for the purposes or have everybody sign off working with the Department directors right I believe there's some employees that they don't have that email access correct and generally they probably don't have computer access but we still make sure that they they working through the department heads that we will disseminate and ensure all employees get this and sign off a great question um other comments Commissioners anybody from the public move approval all right we have a motion by commissioner low with a second by commissioner flesher all favor opposed motion carries all right are we back in on working order over here fantastic all right Dr Conway you're back up this was tested and working yesterday is this something you can do without the PowerPoint or do we need to reschedule for another meeting be extremely difficult without okay your handouts in black and white and that's okay it worked yesterday rehearsal okay well oh there you go all right perfect thank you sir crisis averted thank you good morning Madam chair Commissioners um the purpose of my request and our association request was um to provide you with some due diligence assistance in the hiring of the next County attorney when one is sitting in a meorc Spain hospital after a cycling injury and watching your the tape of the last meeting where you were hiring a external firm and commissioner the sheriff's complexion changing when the lawsuit on the sandling to settle the lawsuit for $33,000 or whatever it was and then the uh the sheriff indicating that one of the prerequisites for the next candidate for County attorney should have collective bargaining experience we had our whole laundry list of items as well to include so what uh our resources in the South Beach property owner association consisting of the medical profession the economics profession The Fortune 100 profession and also the academic profession who have gone through this process of selecting County attorneys and other staff functions decided that what we wanted to do was prepare a dossier for you and make it part of the public domain to assist you can use the information you can ignore the information but we thought it was in the best interest being that we're all heavy taxpayers and that this position being a line staff position not a should I say a staff position not a line position and this position putting the wrong person in this position is a dangerous perspective from is is quite a dangerous option an expensive option that that we as the tax spers uh will will shoulder so what we've done is as I said we've prepared this due diligence dossier for you with you can use it you can discard it whatever you wanted to do but it's in the public domain is now un available to you and Madame chair in that context we need your assistance to start off with on exhibit one exhibit one is your 2022 organizational chart that was on the website and what you had there is you had the um various different bodies that were reporting from what I understand I just need clarification on this you had the clerk of court you had the sheriff supervisor of elections and then the board of County Commissioners with the County Administrator and the county attorney and based upon private sector interpretation of this it appears that the County Administrator the County attorneys report to the board of County Commissioners and those various other elective officials reporting to the residents of Indian River county is that a correct interpretation of this organizational chart yes it is okay could you then reconcile Mr Dr Conway this is not like a back and forth you're here to present your information yeah well I just needed clarification okay the ne the next item is your organizational chart from 20123 and it appears to be the same but there is no line leading up to the residents of Indian River County does that mean that all of these functions now no longer report to the to the residents of Indian River county is that a serious question well I'm I'm asking you I'm just asking you to interpret Dr Conway I listen I know you you're here to try to give us information and input and I greatly appreciate that but we're not going to get into the minutia and the weeds of whether there's a line missing or not the residents are listed above everybody else it's very very clear to anybody whe there's a line there or not that that's the same so let's get to the bulk of your presentation because there is I'm already giving you I'm trying to be generous and giving you the time that you need so we don't have to reschedule but but I need you to stay succinct in your comments and just a question Madam chair just a clarification question all right okay so moving on to the substance of this exhibit number three this is a posting that was put on to the County website on 51724 last Friday and the salary information that is provided is $190,000 to $220,000 and it's my understanding that this is now closing this position is now closing on 62424 the information that we're providing to you on exhibit four is part of what was discussed the last time is where does that salary level land up in terms of an hourly per rate or how does that salary compare to other other attorneys in different states Etc so if you have to have a look on this schedule in Florida the average hourly rate charged by a s practitioner or by a firm is $33 the salary proposed for the potential candidate if you take 190,000 and divide it by 2080 hours per year that works out to $91 an hour or $96 an hour at the at the high end so if a candidate comes before you when you get your list from the search agency if a candidate comes that's been in private practice charging 303 an hour that candidate is effectively taking a 215% decrease in salary so that's something to consider if some questions to ask about that candidate the next issue that was raised at that last hearing on exhibit five was cost of living adjustments in terms of annual salaries and if you would have a look in the different areas and I can blow this up a little bit Madame chair if this will help a little bit more is that the $200,000 range that is proposed for this position with the cost of living adjustment because this was raised at the last issue is comparable to Silicon Valley attorneys and this gives you a cost of living adjustment and in fact what this schedule is now showing for you is the average medium wage of of attorney in Silicon Valley compared to this position is quite comparable moving on to excuse me sorry man I'm just having a little bit of difficulty with this here the other in terms of evaluating the quality of the candidate that comes before you is that at the 208 or the 208 200,000 salary range that would translate to $100 per hour and that would be in the 75th percentile so the candidate that you would consider would have to be in the 73% of the quality range to justify that salary now one also has to consider this from a holistic standpoint of view because I don't believe it is just adequate to be able to look at the salary range of a potential candidate without contribut without considering what is the total amount that this department has been expanded in terms of legal expenses so from the year 2013 to 2023 mid 2023 expenditure by this County to external attorneys came to 8 . 6 million and that was mid 2023 and in fact you can fill in the blanks Mr Tanish can fill in the blanks and it would be probably in the range of 9 million so that also just needs to be factored in in terms of what expenditure is going to be lodged whether the quality of the candidate that comes in here is able to actually go into court and represent this County without the hiring of external attorneys because the 200,000 from this schedule is the tip of the iceberg the next item in in in schedule 8 is to have a look at the entire from a holistic stand point of view is to what this generates from the entire legal department that's Deputy assistant etc etc now the purpose that this has been provided is to give you a comparative a comparison against a candidate that we're recommending which is a goal standard candidate and how that candidate is what we would refer to as the template and I'll get straight to it Madam chairman if you have to go to exhibit exhibit 18 here is a resume of a county attorney that's been in the business now for nearly 15 to 20 years as a county attorney and here are his credentials he's a county attorney he's been in he was in private law practice for at least 15 years he was a special counsel he was an executive director and of counsel he was a staff director of the center of government responsibility he was a graduate made the Dean's List in economics in 1971 he was president of his fraternity he was the law View Board and he was admitted to the State Bar in 1974 there is a comparison or a common theme with the previous occupant of Indian River County the county attorney and that the previous County attorney was born in 1974 when this candidate was actually started practicing as an attorney that was that's where the the two ended he has received numerous Awards and most importantly this public this uh resume goes on 10 pages of Publications and public speakers and you have it all in front of you and we can provide if there's any interest further interest we will provide his resume and his identity in subsequent reschedules we'd like to come back and present our other two number two and number three candidate Dr Conway my suggestion is to have your candidates apply for the position that's the process yeah and then we will go through that process but we're not we're not interviewing candidates or taking applications through the public discussion item agenda that's that's not what this is for but I do appreciate you providing us with this input and the information Y and I would suggest any candidates that you guys would like to see have them apply yeah all right well M Madam chair and I I'll end this now because I can see that where this is going over here I think you want me off this Podium as quickly as possible and I'll take it in the spirit that's been provided so let me just give you a perspective from a Fortune 100 consultant that's been in this business now for 30 years you are going after a position in the $200,000 category that is a goal standard position in my experience hiring both at the University of Miami over a 100 attorneys reporting to the president of that University and reporting to the dean which you have in your schedule the ideal candidate that you go for are not candidates that are looking for jobs and applying for jobs the gold standard and this happens in Wall Street Silicon Valley silicon Forest M Warf everywhere the top candidates are the candidates that are not looking for a position that you go out and you recruit so we have a fundamental difference in how you're approaching this if you think you're going to get a goal standard person over here that's looking for a job with a history you're going to get what you got the last time which was substandard mediocrity that cost the taxpayer namely me nearly close to $10 million so when you want to change your direction on this based upon the medical profession that we have on our board The Fortune 100 Executives the hedge fund lawyers etc etc that know that goal standard candidates on not those that are in the market for a job that have to be properly recruited then we can come and talk so what I will do is I won't take up any more of your time but reflect on it because you've got that information there thank you very much thank you Dr Conway thank you neo fights all right with that we'll move on to 12 E1 anchoring limitation area update sorry okay thank you [Music] thank you okay good morning Melissa meisenberg natural resources uh senior lagona burmel specialist I'm here to give another update about the anchoring limitations with interlegal agreement option three but before I begin I feel it's important to let you know that the city of Vero Beach has requested that we table the topic in discussion for today as they have not had an opportunity to review Ila option three so we wanted to present that to the board first okay well I mean I don't see why we can't discuss it sure absolutely also on the agenda they received this last Monday okay the option three I'm ready to present we just wanted to do oh no that's that's is it your s okay no I appreciate you letting us know okay perfect we'll go ahead and move forward then okay so we did present this information to the municipalities on May 13th um and as directed by the board when we brought the two previous options we were directed to sort of merge those options together into an option three uh that would really sort of make a cohesive effort into implementing this ala so the merging of those Ila option one and two would require us to hire a consultant which we brought previously that would allow us to work together with the municipalities and the consultant on the permitting and coordination of the installation of the um ala in this case we would still have the municipalities being the permit holders for under D Army Corps and the US Coast Guard but the county would be the permit holder per the statute um with FW UC we would also work with a consultant to create the bid package and move forward with hiring the contractor who want uh was the award of bid and we there would be some construction oversight by the consultant so the municipalities didn't have to worry about being on site and handling all construction efforts after initial installation the municipalities would then be responsible for the ongoing maintenance and also monitoring of that site as they are responsible also for enforcement while they enforcing they would be able to see which buoys were damaged or which pilings were damaged and needed repair under Ila option three the municipalities would reimburse the county 100% of their respective costs associated with the expenses for the consultant uh the permitting bid installation and all of the construction for those piling signs and buoys as well as the mobilization of materials um within their jurisdictional boundaries in the event that the municipality failed to reimburse the county in a timely manner we could modify that ala um ordinance removing that particular area out of the Ala uh and also they are responsible for the all monitoring so if they fail to monitor or enforce that ala the county would reserve the right to amend the uh ala ordinance as well and the permit to exclude the a the area Ila option 3 would require approximately 42,000 to 75,000 for the consultant in addition to the 213 ,2 to 254,000 for the construction but a significant portion of that would be reimbursed back to the county um by the participating municipalities under Ila option three and the funds to initially cover that cost would come from the Florida boating fund Lagoon and other contractual contractual Services account so currently staff is seeking approval from the board of County Commissioners to move forward with establishing the Ala under Ila option three um we did receive word back from um two of the municipalities regarding this option the town of Indian River Shores had no objection I believe there were some concerns with the city of Sebastian over the ongoing maintenance and oversight of the of the area within their jurisdictional boundaries Madam chair could I add one of the the original options if you recall was the county since it's a goal of our engineer lagon management plan was a partner with the municipality I would add in addition to the staff over as Melissa has presented uh from from County Administration standpoint from my standpoint I would still support you know the 50% partnership with because it's coming out of the Florida voting approvement fund funds and they are available so I would still support that we you know it says reverse 100% but I would support the 50% reimbursement for those costs just putting that out there because that's what we're originally discussed you know when we talked to them and we found a funding source that was not general fund okay right Madam chair if I can add that uh when the administrator says he would support the 50% please know that these dollars are not taxpaying dollars these dollars are dollars when you register your vessel you renew your vessel registration so I can go with the 50% as well okay about surve surve so I you know and I think meliss about the survey the surve expand on it but I I'm fairly certain that the permitting agencies are going to require a survey because in order to update navigational maps and things of that nature th they will have to be appropriately marked and therefore people will know and with regard to the issue raised by City Sebastian it was more so the resources to be able to Monitor and maintain and and I did respond to the to the city manager uh that we felt that as long as you're doing enforcement you'd be able to know to Melissa's Point whether or not there was a sign or a buoy or something that was not you know had been damaged or whatever the case might be so but yeah I do believe that this pering agencies are going to require that because with the icw they're going to want to know what's out there that's that's what I was saying the beginning as y'all remember I was I was the Lone no vote on this uh at the last meeting with regards this because I thought we should do option two is what the cities all wanted it required U different things uh to be done which I thought were important which was a survey but when I when I look at option three and I've discussed it with a few things I the uh spoke with the Sebastian city manager spoke with him I think I I spoke with a couple others uh with regard to this I mean this is an important thing we do for the lagon I think commissioner Lor mentioned that this is an important thing we need to do it helps in every aspect of the lagon and it helps the cities but I I'm good with option three I I I I mean I thought we should take the lead on it and we kind of still do on this because whether or not you know the the cities don't have the the U the division the natural resources Lagoon division where we can work on some of this not that we have that much time or that much more staff but I think we have the expertise with people like Melissa and others in that that that know with regards to this and the fact that they're working with the cities in this option I think is a good thing the cities can be involved in it and I just want to make sure that everybody everybody lives to make this successful I want to make sure that everybody lives up to their the expectations but but uh yeah I'm okay with what's been done and I'm I'm okay with um option three so anybody else I don't know how you want to handle the city Beast thing I don't know maybe we can still vote on it see what they say I don't know well I I think that yeah we need to move forward one way or another so I mean it's very similar to what the other plan was and they were apparently for the option too so I mean it's very it's very similar I don't know really there was not a whole lot to changed other than some wording and the fact that they would be responsible for enforcement after everything's done and all that sort of stuff and be responsible for replacement of Something's damaged I mean but the getting the plan set in place is the same as that was an option too and the money's the same the funding's the same just the the survey wasn't there but I kind of I do agree with the County Administrator and plus I think it's important to have a survey so I think it's kind of where we're at so okay commissioner Moss um do we know if uh that was a concern of Vero Beach the 5050 cost sharing because now if I'm hearing it correctly we are agreeing that we will uh the county it was the county it was my original recommendation with as we discussed this with staff and I mentioned it with the city managers way back when that we would share in the project because it is a again this is a goal of our Indian River Lagoon management plan it cleans up the waterways provides you an opportunity and we just felt in the interest of intergovernmental relations that it was appropriate to partner in this oper this project and so I would still stand on that that we you know we have we receive Florida boting funds and we could allocate 50% towards the project okay that that was not in option two the 5050 it was it was option one what we originally proposed and then they wanted to do 100% but they wanted the county to take everything we're doing option three but I would still submit that that you know they're they're going to have some responsibility going forward so at the outset that's why I'm agreeing I would recommend or suggest that we do the 50% so we would be amending then option three to include a 5050 cost sharing that's my recommendation yes that's that's your recommendation I think I think that's a good recommendation um I know that was a concern of Sebastian I don't know if that was a concern of Vero Beach but it's it certainly uh could be um I had one other question and that was uh commissioner O'Brien made a good point at the last meeting when he uh mentioned the 45 consecutive days should be 45 uh cumulative uh days because otherwise you're can have somebody just you know moving on the 44th day for a day um is are we taking that into consideration actually Kathy and I have already had conversations about that we and I think we'll be following up because we do think those are those are some really excellent recommendations for and to see what the appetite with the legislature is because again this was you know the the requirement for 45 days is is is nested in the statute arrested sorry okay so I I think then then option three if it's amended to include a 50-50 CLA share as the County Administrator suggesting is is a good option unless you want to table it until we hear we know EX exactly what ver Beach is thinking I personally don't want to table it that's why we're discussion discussing it I mean it's our program and our initiative I know they're partnering but if we're going to drive the boat we got to make the decisions uh when when we were discussing this I think uh we coined it uh 1.5 and and I want to say the staff did uh a very good job of hearing what the concerns were and moving it into that zone again you're bringing up the the 5050 um I wanted to ask the County Administrator is I realize that the funds will be available people will license votes they will register is that guaranteed we have those funds now to participate in this yes it's guaranteed that we can move them and utilize them I don't want to see the yow flag go up no six months I spoke with you can't you guys can't do that you no I spoke with om for this purpose at the outset of conversations on how the county could participate in this before I discussed it and presented it not just today but going back several months well staff did a wonderful job and and I uh agree uh with uh commissioner O'Brien's recommendation on the 45 days why would not that be understood today so as opposed to revisit it up the up the road what don't we just it's a statutory issue the statute the statute lays out that it has to be 45 consecutive days so if we want to do 45 cumulative days we'd have to seek a legislative change okay yes ma'am so the best we can do right now is 45 consecutive and then Lobby and advocate change excellent points that you know we're not trying to approve something that may be subject to change it can be changed if it was changed we would just have to update the signs perfect okay commissioner Moss I would then move to approve the amended option three and that uh includes the 5050 while sharing second okay we have a motion on a second anybody from the public seeing none any more discussion seeing none all in favor opposed motion carries all right thank you guys thank you members of the board thank you Melissa all right the next item is 12 H1 waiver of development application and inspection fees for affordable housing projects and I'm very excited about this item Yay good morning Commissioners uh Andy sap planning and development services director and uh what we have for you today is a waiver of development application and inspection fees for affordable housing projects so affordable housing it's a word that we hear quite a bit these days um how is it defined it's defined in a couple different ways um the one we look at mainly is through statute which says you really can't spend more than 30% of your income on housing uh if it's through a mortgage that includes taxes and insurance and it's also based on the Ami or the area median income which in our case is $67,500 so really 30% of that and you can back yourself into kind of a price um which is around 250,000 so at the current Point that's what we would consider an affordable house so on the planning side of things our initial phas is where we kind of look at conceptual projects are free so really there's not any change there that's already a free service that we offer um and what are the fees so each subdivision is is kind of different there's not a one- siiz fits-all um but you can get through this process for in the realm of $20,000 if we consider all of the fees that are incurred um that would be obviously a smaller project uh and then so what are some of the other incentives available for affordable housing um we have a waiver of impact fees for, 1500t in under houses uh so long as the person who's um building or buying that house is uh no higher than 80% of that Ami uh we also have a FASTT tracking process where we can move affordable housing projects through at a quicker Pace um but we're still looking for more incentives because we're still struggling to get folks to get the private developers to want to build the affordable housing so this would be yet another tool we could use um where we could kind of wave all of those inspection and application fees to help that developer save money uh so long as they're providing us a certain number of affordable units in that development so staff's recommendation is that the board of accounting Commissioners Grant The Authority for the both the planning and development services director and the Public Works director to wave their respective development application or inspection fees uh for affordable housing projects by adopting the fee resolution and with that I can answer any questions thank you Commissioners are there any questions second all right there is a motion and a second sorry I stole it from you um I'm very excited about this we've been doing a lot of work on adding incentives kudos to Chris and Andy for bringing a lot of stuff forward I think it's going to be um a good year for affordable housing there's some great ideas out there and the ah hat committee has been doing a lot of good work there so thank you to everybody this is the hopefully the first of of many um affordable housing Poli policies that will put in place but with that there is a motion and a second there's no further discussion all in favor opposed motion carries thank you so much all right county attorney's matters service agreement with Southeast Florida behavioral Network for administration of opioid class action lawsuit settlement fund allegation that is a mouthful yes it is good morning Commissioners Bill Dew on behalf of the county inter attorney's office uh what we have here today is a service agreement with Southeast Florida Behavioral Health Network for the opioid class action suit proceeds um Indian River county is a considered a small County underneath as far as the the settlement is concerned so therefore we have to contract with uh uh an approved provider to uh distribute the funds uh Southeast Florida is approved by the Department of Children and Family Services who is the overseeing agency for the small for the distribution of the funds the service agreement just calls for us to forward information to Southeast Southeast will go ahead and then remit payments this amount that the county will receive is 1, 84114 for this fiscal year it can be rolled over in for additional years it's split up into two parts 820 thou 825,000 will go to the core Services the coordinated opioid recovery um that's the hospitals First Responders Nar Naran things like that the other part of it is the 1 million uh plus that will go to the organizations that I've listed there just ask at the board go ahead and approve the uh agreement with Southeast they will go ahead and uh sign it and provide us with the original copies I'd be happy to answer any questions Commissioners are there any questions of the County Attorney Madam chair I'd just like to add that the participating agencies will be dealing with Southeast Southeast will be invoicing them and keeping all records clean for us is not Distributing these dollars Southeast is okay Madam chair like make motion to approve council's recommendation second we have a motion and a second anybody from the public any further discussion seeing none all in favor opposed motion carries all right that we'll move on to the approval of Licensed to occupy and improve County property located at 1235 1239 and 1247 16th Street thank you madam chairman as you can see in the aerial photo attached to the agenda item the county owns a strip of RightWay along 16th Street within the city limits of the city of Viro Beach somehow back in the 70s this was dedicated to the county via a right of-way map as best as we can determine with the good help of uh the County Surveyor David scriver um traditionally we have allowed those three businesses that are listed in the agenda item to use that for parking uh recently the whole area has been resurfaced restriped uh everything looks very good one of the property owners in there is is in need of this agreement so that their lender will go ahead and and uh close on a loan so we're just asking that you treat this license to occupy and improve County property not only for Orca that's listed here but also the other two Property Owners uh fman Investments and Indian River clay and uh allow us to go ahead and execute this agreement on behalf of all three folks and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may may have so just to clarify this is basically codifying what has been going on there as a use for like ever in a day that I can recall as far back as the old wttb WG yl days that's what I thought that is a that dates us all right any questions commission all right we have a motion by commissioner second by commissioner Moss any further discussion all in favor faor oppos motion carries thank you Commissioners Commissioners if it is okay with you guys what I would like to do is we'll go through all the swid stuff but we'll hold 15 B5 to the end so we'll take 15 B6 ahead of that then take a brief break then we'll get into 15 V5 does that work for everybody no all right so with that we'll move on to 15 B1 approval of swift special call meeting minutes of March 20th we have a motion and a second all in favor opposed motion carries 15 B2 final pay to geocent for work order number two groundwater monitoring reporting and RM number four pre- injection investigation to sign at the South gford Road Landfill motion to approve second we have a motion and a second all in favor opposed motion carries renewal number number four with tiger Inc we have a motion I'll second that all in favor opposed motion carries final pay to Geo synac for work order number three Title Five air operation permit revision application motion to approve thank you I'll second that any discussion all in favor opposed motion carries and then 15 B6 work order number six to geoc synac for one year of ground water monitoring reporting at the former South gford Road Landfill approve thank you I'll second that any discussion all in favor oppos motion carries and with that we will take a 5 minute recess e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right are we ready like yeah we'll go ahead and call the meeting back to order our next item is 15 B5 recommendation for franchise award for solid waste and recyclables collection Services welcome good morning Commissioners hon sha managing director of the saw waste disposal District um so I want to start with my commitment to recycling if you haven't seen it yet right here it is he will be reporting to H later all right let's get started thank you for doing that so today's purpose uh Commissioners and the public uh we want to update you on the proc procurement process to date uh I want to share with you uh my my love for recycling and my staff's commitment to recycling uh with some uh card audit results that we've done since our last meeting uh we want to share with you the U best and final offer results that we've obtained and want to provide you a recommendation for award uh ultimately um one more big decision uh we want the board to make a final selection between subscription which was option number three and Universal which was option number four service and then finally to authorize staff to finalize a contract uh based on which option you you select uh for for this RP services are to begin October 1 2025 and again to remind the Commissioners and the public this contract does not affect our customer Convenience Centers so procurement process to date we started this early and that was our intent we wanted we wanted a um a window of opportun if you will to go through this process in a in a methodical fashion a transparent process uh we uh recognizing that um that this is an important important contract and important service to our community so we launched this in July of 2023 uh we uh requested proposals uh to to be due February 21 2024 we had a special call meeting on March 20th uh I think that's where we had passed out 87,000 postcards uh to our residents we help called a spe second special call meeting on April 24th this is where the Sid board uh selected option number three and four which is with carded yard waste um and you authorized us the negotiation committee to enter a best and final offer with the top two ranked firms um we initiated the process between May 1st and May 10th and uh we're here today to share those results with you and a a recommendation of award so talking about Recycling and and our love for recycling here you know what what what we look for is is a perfect cart and and on your uh picture right now that's that's what you see what what we like to see is a a a beautiful uh recycling cart full of recyclables this is not a perfect cart and and unfortunately that's what we've been seeing in in different parts of our community um so what does an imperfect cart do it's it's it's bad for the environment it's bad for our recycling program we we spend a lot of our uh you know residents uh funds if you will to run a recycling program we collect all the recycling materials uh we transport them to St Lucy County and then St louy County process all those materials they create bales of cardboard and aluminum and Plastics and sending it out to to manufacturers to to recycle these materials and when we have the abuse of of the program where folks are using recycling carts for garbage service um it it's again really bad for the environment is bad for our recycling program um I got a little short clip here of what is there any audio 100% garbage all garbage all garbage so we did a recycling card audit and uh again since last month staff uh Sue Jill Ron uh Antoine they they went out and we focused on subscription areas and un areas so roughly about 300 300 if you will a number of carts and the map kind of shows you the recycling sort of routes Monday through Friday if you will in our community and uh so so they they made a concerted effort to go to these areas and um as the data shows uh when we look at subscription areas those areas where residents are choosing to to have garbage service uh that's where we're finding the utmost abuse use where we see 20% of of of of of the residents or these carts if you will are using them purely for garbage well we see the opposite in Universal areas like the town of IND Shores city of ver Beach City of Sebastian these communities have Universal service everybody has access to garbage uh collection right in right at their front of their house in those communities we did see some uh some in city of ver Beach some in city of Sebastian again the the percentage about 3% out of our little sample size so again a lot of effort these last month to go out and audit 600 carts in our community and to bring you these results uh you know going and tagging carts looking in carts there were a part of these carts there there were some wish you know wish cyclers out there folks that that you know may may feel like they're doing the right thing but but maybe they put something in there that that we currently uh find that is not recyclable or our processor will no longer take so um so again I wanted to to share that that result with you and that's that's why as you'll see later on we're we're a strong proponent of of maintaining um uh you know good recycling service in our community and and progressing toward Universal collection I'm going to switch over to the procurement outc outcomes to date I I strongly feel uh that we've done a sound procurement process uh we we had strong competition uh five responses proposers participated with with our process um we we ranked uh top two ranked highly qualified vendors uh you know uh they they they do this day in and day out so we we've got two vendors that are highly qualified to to do this service and um and what we've uh uncovered and and our Consultants have indicated that final pricing has resulted in increases below recent industry averages in the last three years what what what's been happening throughout the state throughout the country everything is going up in prices including garbage collection service what we're seeing is we are seeing an increase but it but but it's sort of a uh below recent uh increases in other places so the best and final offer process uh we the negotiation committee convened on May 1st uh purchasing manager submitted the best and final request uh that was due by May uh or they issued request on May 3rd they had one week to submit um they the request was sent only to the two top ranked proposers uh and we only requested pricing for options number three and four there was a couple of other uh requirements of that there was no obligation for them to submit pricing uh one of the other requirements was that basically they use the same spreadsheet that they originally used and they had the ability to decrease price for any of the items on that spreadsheet but they were not allowed to increase what we didn't want is to decrease residential and increase commercial so they could lower their price otherwise that price had to stay the same and I'll share some of that data with you in a little bit both proposers accepted the opportunity and they submitted pricing um so because of that uh we did not continue on even though the board directed us you know if we were not successful with the top two and getting better pricing that we were to continue on um we felt that as you'll see here uh we we obtained some uh great savings for our residents um pricing you know was evaluated per RFP scoring requirements if you recall originally we had 45 points uh uh you know allotted to the person with the lowest price the vendor with the lowest price we did the same same thing in here the the vendor with the lowest price got got 45 points uh the other uh second uh price company was proportionate to that and then that's scoring was added to the technical scores the original technical scores and it resulted in uh the top two firms reranked resulting in Waste Management in number one and FCC in number two so the price results for top is option three bot bottom part is option four option number three again is subscription with carded yard waste um I have first uh basically a broken down of annual residential annual commercial annual suppl m al the original pricing from FCC was about 24.6 million they reduced that uh by around $100,000 to 24.5 um so a little bit of a decrease and they did that in the commercial category Waste Management on the other hand they had a total price originally of $32.7 million they provided a reduction of 11.4 million so almost 35% reduction to a total annual price of 21 .3 million uh they predominantly uh reduced the residential price which you see here almost uh less than uh Nega 47% on the other side on the universal uh carded options uh similar similarly we they had the opportunity to to adjust their score lower their their pricing for any of the categories uh we see that here in this case FCC reduced their original pricing by a little over $400,000 they went from 2 22 .7 million down to 22.3 million uh a negative 1.8% decrease there again they they allotted that both to residential and Commercial decreases Waste Management again continued to uh show reduction they went from 24.6 million to 20.5 million for for Universal carted yard waste about a 4.1 million reduction or comes out about negative almost 16.7% decrease again they predominantly increased it in the residential category narrowing it down to a single family home um on the right hand side of the slide you'll see our current customer rates um it's $116 a month for subscription service right now uh and $2.94 which is applied on the annual assessment uh basis but a total monthly cost about $14.10 when you compare that uh again but both uh FCC uh their original price total price was $25.3 they did not provide a reduction on residential um and they maintained their price of 2536 per month Waste Management went from the original price of $37.5 down to $18.65 um so almost a 50% decrease in in their price so they reduced it by $18.88 when comparing it to the 23 24 rates um you know fcc's original proposal was about 80% higher than our current rates Waste Management originally was 166% higher uh but in this case now their final pricing is 32% higher than than we where we are currently so on annual basis the lowest price by WM results in a subscription solid waste collection cost increased by 22% uh so it's the $33.98 that's the $116 uh going up to $163.8 um again that that would be the $13.65 similarly the recycling collection cost increases by 70% for uh WM are from $35.28 to $60 for all single family residents in indan County so that applies to again all the municipalities as well as the unincorporated areas of Indian County I'm going to switch over to Universal carted yard waste um again the uh the current subscription rates are on the right they don't change uh when we look at FCC their original Universal carded yard waste was $23 21 they did provide a 1.6% decrease or by 37 cents down to $228 per month Waste Management who was originally $258 provided a reduction to uh by $648 to a total monthly cost of $18.60 so about a 25.8% decrease when we compare that to again the current rates um FCC originally was 65% higher than the current rate with their reduction they've gone they're still about 62% higher waste management was 78% higher in their original uh proposal now we're about 32% higher so on an annual basis again the lowest price by WM results in Universal side waste collection cost increased by 26% or from 13392 to 16824 similarly the recycling collection cost increases in this case by 56% or from 3528 to 54.96 for all single family residents in indan County um just quickly wanted to show you some commercial comparisons and some supplemental Services comparisons um both companies um when it when it came down to majority of the Commercial Services um Waste Management did not provide any reduction in their Comm commercial cost from their original pricing um FCC did reduce their compaction rates by 100,000 again I mentioned EA commercial is where they lowered uh their their their pricing and um and again commercial pricing uh applied both for subscription or Universal that that did not change so in this case on when it came to commercial service we did see about a $100,000 reduction by FCC and and a zero uh dollars or 0% reduction from from Waste Management I do want to point point out that you know uh there were no again reductions by FCC but and no reductions or some reduction by FCC no reduction by WM but WM is 22% higher than FCC on commercial cost so when you look at the total cost uh the final price is 6.6 versus the 8.1 million that's about a waste management is 22% higher when we look at the supplemental comparisons uh both entities decided not to change their original price PR ing so that remained the same however waste management is 46% higher than FCC on the supplemental cost so s wish uh staff input on policy decisions um again besides just kind of painting the head and I I thank my fiance for that uh that effort I I certainly can't paint on the back of my head but um I I my passion for recycling the audit results that I showed you um I I I wholeheartedly believe that that we we are at a time and Stage that we we have to protect our recyclables we're investing in our recycling we our our staff goes out to uh schools uh to public events I mean we have locked recycling carts at our you know our parks and beaches I mean we we as a county are moving you know uh wholeheartedly in in terms of putting recycling first and uh we're we're known in the State of Florida I mean that Florida D recognizes some of the innovations that we have taken in inan Rover County and so I strongly feel that you know it's about time that we switch to to Universal uh collection uh and provide a basic garbage collection for all residents in in indianer County this is about when you look at it on annual basis it's $800,000 savings on an annual basis if you uh multiply that times potential 10-year contract our residents would be paying $8 million less over a 10year period by by by us switching to uh Universal so there's a environmental uh benefit a financial benefit again it'll provide a uniform service to all residents uh I do believe it's going to result in cleaner recycling uh and and reduce the use of recycling carts for for garbage um it should also discourage illegal dumping and and and some places burning of of garbage um I do recognize I I we've had several meetings here there's a public has spoken about you know the impact of Universal uh on on on their livelihoods the the ability to afford or not afford uh this on their tax bill um and and I I do recognize that and so one of the things I have done is I've talked to Our Community Development Department Community Services folks and you know we have programs in place that the county offers right now to lowincome fixed income residents there are programs in place I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel but if the board and and the County Administrator wanted to direct us we could look at the similar program that's existing now to maybe offer assistance U through the solid waste division uh I'm not looking to add more staff or create another program under Solid Waste let's utilize the programs the county has if the board would like to do that and provide assistance to those folks that may not be able to afford uh you know garbage collection service on their tax bill and uh and and I just right now I don't have all the data for you but it was just something to if you like we could explore further with with the other departments and and come back to you at a at a future date uh but I I also wanted to mention that I do recognize that that what I'm asking is going to be a financial impact to to some residents in our community finally um as staff before we open it up to the commission of the public um again I we do recommend Universal collection for unincorporated indion County and I didn't really go into this but with the caveat that multif family collection remain as commercial collection service I'll briefly pause there to just describe it in this way after looking at this entire process what we what we did my original intent was uh was also to put multifam complexes on universal service and so we obtained pricing uh for multif family basically as commercial service which is what's done now and also as universal service what what what I've determined in analyzing the financial numbers is that if if multif family was to switch to Universal it certainly would make it easier for the holler and terms of building and whatnot but the multif family residents would have been paying you know uh dramatically more uh two to three times more than what they would be paying with the new commercial pricing and um and so for that reason uh I feel that we need to maintain multifam as is right now commercial service the communities themselves would continue to work with the holler and there would be direct building between the holler and and uh the community um so at this time it's uh after public discussion public input uh the decision that we can come back to is as first is uh subscription service or Universal collection service thank you Commissioners do you have any questions of Staff or comment yes yes thank you madam chair um Patu great presentation as you know um I had some Brave concerns regarding Universal as opposed to subcription service um I I think to uh the applicant um I'd like to know where they got their pencil sharpener um it most certainly uh could be well used during budget season as we're approaching so John John might be uh looking for that pencil sharpener it was definitely a an eyeopener uh game changer for me uh in my perspective my great concern was uh focused in on the senior community that may not be able to afford it uh or the underserved community that may not be able to afford an increase and it most certainly would reflect back to the property owner so if there was renters their their price to live was going to go off and we're looking at affordability not burdening uh but with that um I I appreciate your uh exploring the other through possibly ship other uh mechanisms if there was a need but I'm happy to report that uh most of the seniors that uh I I was speaking with already live in gated communities 55 and over communities and they have been enjoying uh Universal service the past 25 plus years uh so they're not impacted but the standal loans are those who live within the community that choose to do that as opposed to a senior community um I I do feel the concern about the contamination rate and the option is we build a murf and then we have to deal with it and that would be far costly uh with the arrangement and and being able to be able to deal with St Lucy and do it right even though there's a diminished cost in recycling I stand very strongly with the recycling as you know um I did do a little look myself as well and yes there is quite a bit of contamination um the numbers were far less just a couple of years ago uh it has it has increased exponentially with the economy sure so uh I I want to thank you for going through the entire process and having our applicants give their their best and final pricing and offer to us but and I also wanted to thank the applicants definitely definitely dug deep thank you thank you yesion thank you madam chairman I too like uh my fellow commissioner commissioner fer had some reservations about this from the very beginning because it was all I thought when when we first started this process that that the universal was a way to go because we thought the subscription rates would be out of sight and it would be best to go for that well they didn't come back that way like I said at the last meeting when we talked about this but since then I've I've um talked to staff talked to other folks talked to people around the community um looked at this evaluated it for the same reasons that that the commissioner fler just stated so I don't need to repeat them but I am a big proponent of recycling I've made it known that I would like to see us in the future look at doing our own recycling whether it's through our a contractor or somebody that wants to put a building out there or this something that we can do with our do ourselves I think we need to look at that because when this is all said and done when we all they're at home or where their business or wherever we are we throw our garbage in the can it gets taken out to the road it comes picked up we for we forget all about it everywhere I speak when the issue of garbage comes up my response is you know garbage is a pretty damn big deal that's what I tell them those exact words I use because when's the garbage is taken from your house and you forget about it and it's out at the landfill we've got to manage that landfill we've got to follow all the rules and regulations we've got to do so many things so so the fact that we're that the contamination um is is up I think is very important that that that we look take a hard look at this and but the bottom line said in all this is the numbers came back that just just flored me so uh Haman I want to thank you for your work you and Sean and I want to thank all the everybody else to your staff and everybody else that did this and again like commission fler thank everybody for participating in the process but but uh not so sure there's too many options left so I think I think we're uh I think we're good to go so that said Madame chairman uh that's all I have to say all right commissioner Moss yes um I have a question I know that we are in this uh and thank you by the way for going into all this detail and all the hard work by yourself um and and your team on this um I know that we've been partnering with Indie River Shores but uh would any of the Cities be able to piggyback uh on this uh contract whatever it turns out to be and I don't know if that's a question for you or a question for the administ I'll just briefly say that we we have included a sample agreement uh you know in in the original RFP that was issued and and even and sort of there were a little updates throughout the process but our sample agreement does include a piggyback Clause we we have that in our current agreement now we've enhanced it in in this new agreement and and so it's available to any min municipality that's in our recycling franchise area which includes all five municipalities so basically the holler shall provide a you know the solid waste collection services at the same terms and conditions as our as our RFP to any municipality that would like to to obtain that um if there's a service I mean again it would be a standalone agreement between the municipality and the holler uh we we are not party to it um they could piggy back if they want to deviate a little bit uh you know uh Indian rer Shores they've made a lot of changes uh in the last few years to align themselves with the same level of service that we have uh but other municipalities may have other needs uh so there is a there's only three sentences in that paragraph the second one basically allows the municipality uh to that's in our recycling franchise area to enter into a separate agreement with the holler and basically negotiate uh for any change in service that they may want so again they have economies of scale to be able to use the same hauler that's going to be going through their Community to pick up recycling they could get some garbage or yard waste or bulk Waste Services uh but they would have the ability to maybe for example orid uh they currently don't have yard waste collection um they could work with the holler and say you know we we want a piggy back but we don't want to have yard waste collection because our community doesn't need it that would be a separate agreement separate discussion between the two parties um and um and again finally we we are not we are not part of the agreement that's pretty much the the final sentence on that so it is available I I think the I do have a backup slide I think I provided an extra slide to all of you it does compare what our new rates are going to be to the uh our Municipal Partners in in County if you want to to look at that in more detail um but but again that's where we are with our piggyback CLA okay so it's not something that we need to vote on we don't it's it already it's part of our agreement right so it's part of the agreement that it's piggyback okay um I I got this email just this morning at and maybe some of my colleagues did too was at uh 8:15 a.m. this is from a constituent and it it sums up uh very well what what what I've heard from others and what I think myself and I I'll just it's only a couple of sentences so I'll read it um I have one little grocery bag of garbage every week that I take to the dump once a month I'm elderly my homeowner's insurance went up by $1,500 this year just three years ago I was only paying $1,000 a year I'm now paying over $4,000 a year my grocery bill has doubled because of this inflation we are dealing with I cannot have any more expenses even if it is only $12 a mon month please keep it as a subscription service it's not Paradise anymore when we can't afford to live here and this reflects um it just actually summed up everything that that I was thinking so thank you to the person who sent that this morning but uh I I am very much concerned that on top of all these other things that this person outlined that will be adding this um um you know it's it's you've done a great job negotiating but still if someone you know is is not someone is not a subscriber and using our Convenience Centers which will remain open and you know there's there's no change in availability of that um you know that's it's a huge uh dollar cost and uh and and there'll be other considerations in the future we know we'll have to discuss um some of the other services that we provide it's not just this is not the only service that we'll that we'll have to uh revisit um and review so um from my standpoint you know I'm still in favor of offering the subscription I understand what you're saying about contamination uh you know that it's an issue but I think what you do is um you hold those people accountable you punish the people who are violating whatever the reason requirements are um you don't punish Everyone by going from subscription to Universal that's for my way of thinking that's that's punishing everyone punish the people who are not uh not obeying uh the regulations or law if you will and I appreciate that you've taken the time to think about um you know how the how these people would survive within a universal context by mentioning um you know ship or or some assistance sure but to my knowledge um when and assistance like that is available from different sources but to my knowledge that assistance uh is temporary so it's it's helpful worthwhile but it's temporary assistance it's not that you're going to you know pick up their their tab uh for Universal uh for um you know an extended period of time shall we say so thank you all right commissioner Airman I need going back to the piggyback thing real quick I just have a couple of quick questions sure because I mean I know it's it's probably no secret it's been brought up that that these rates that if we decided to go with the universal and you go with the low lowest better that these that that the rates are cheaper than what of course the city of Sebastian is paying right now my question is for you Bill is does this affected in any way can it either can they join in or does it something they have to do separately or you know how yes this would be a an agreement between whatever municipality and waste management or FCC it would not involve the county at all just like we piggyback off of State contracts to purchase Vehicles just like we piggyback off of uh other contracts that have this same sort of clause we would be negotiating in a in that situation with the entity here in this situation if any municipality wants to join in they would approach whatever contractor and negotiate with them we would not be involved in any negotiations whatsoever so they would it be between them and the car absolutely is what they want to do okay all right I appreciate you bringing that up there uh as you know ad in Sebastian and my my trash is valued at $5 more period than anybody else is in the county so uh I I do appreciate you bringing that up and I trust that the Sebastian Council will be uh bringing that up as well I hope I'm well represented all right Commissioners any other questions at this time mam chair yes uh going back to the last discussion uh I made it pretty clear that I was for Universal um reading something over the weekend where inflation last month went down a tick now remember this relationship this contract that we're going to continue on uh is 17 months away so we have to keep that in mind uh who knows what's going to happen in 17 months let's hope groceries go down let's hope fuel prices go down but sticking with the theme from our last meeting um this goes back to the next 11 and a half years of this County the decision that we're making um obviously I'm for Universal not only to mention uh it could have an impact on our Lagoon uh obviously illegal dumping like aachi's already talked about I think recently we all received an email about uh feral cats and other Wildlife running around uh not to mention the the burning that we see in certain areas so with that um I understand the concern commissioner Moss about about subscription um but we have to move today and make a decision so that's where I'm at all right I appreciate that yes commissioner commissioner Lord just brought up and the burning um I I want you to know that in the agricultural lands in the more urban environment uh there are some that choose to burn their trash uh which is allowable uh but uh not at the current standards because we have a burn band so with a burn band which happens each and every year uh during our drought season our dry season uh we do get uh a month or two of uh a burn band uh sometimes even longer uh if I recall a couple of years it was a couple of months uh what would they do with their trash so uh then those who choose to do that could no longer do that so they're traveling to convenience centers or uh they're throwing on the carpet footprint or they're looking for a pickup as well so again and they would probably just put their stuff in recycling like you said okay I just want to bring it up when when you mentioned the burning of the trash it is allowable under certain conditions and not to mention that Universal could have an impact on the cause for service for our code enforcement yes uh and that would be good because we know they're already strapped all right any other comments from Commissioners if not at this time um anybody from the public wish to comment please come to the podium and state your name and address for the record thank you Commissioners my name is Rob kmil I'm with FCC Environmental Services uh and I just wanted to express that we feel that the Integrity of this RFP process has been violated uh while there are several items the main items that we consider are an unfair competition was created when all of the technical and financial information from all firms was released prior to the uh finalization of this process uh at no time were any negotiations or discussions held with either of the firms during the baffle process as the board had directed uh with the severe decrease in pricing there was no confirmation analysis or regard to the resources uh that the company would be providing uh and that there was very little to no regard for the commercial customers which would receive nearly double uh their rate under this current agreement uh and so for that we request that the board holds this decision and I acts in either one of two ways either cancel the RFP and start fresh uh there's plenty of time for that process to occur with the start date of October 1 2025 uh or open the baffo to all uh all of the firms if Financial uh conclusion is the priority of the commission thank you thank you for your comments anybody else Julian price Health Department 190027 Street your Beach um to commissioner lore's point on um code enforcement I also wanted to bring up the health department we get quite a bit of uh complaints about garbage and dumping and sanitary nuisances so certainly uh Universal service could reduce that save us time and possibly expenses thank you thank you anybody else welcome welcome I don't know it's morning afternoon but I want to say uh good afternoon I don't know which one it is at the moment okay I have a first of all let me say my name my name is B Rick B I live at 8465 59th Avenue um be Beach Florida which is known as W bass but they say you be time and say w basso well here's what I want to like to Clarity on and uh the clarities on I said that you said that it's a five-year contract right 10 year contract if it's a 10 if it's a 10-year contract you says that they change the prices and I'm confused a little bit here I read a little bit last night and this morning I'm confused because I I might be saying talking out of character but I'm going to say what I can say what I know of okay if waste management and you have FCC and then you're saying that my understanding okay Waste Management saying that waste management is the lowest bidder on certain I think on the um on the household and if waste management is the lowest bidder then you got FCC my question is that if you have that price and waste management is lower so what if they going to increase that price for because it's an RFP what would that price be if you're going to increase that price let's say like w mement beid at like $18 per se and they bid it at $18 okay from since they low bid okay let's say two years from a year and a half now they start to increase if it's going on the tax roow what would that price be that Commissioners uh part of our agreement that we have now and in the future agreement there's a consumer price index adjustment uh that the holler can ask annually it's a request that they can make uh we uh typically I I bring those requests to the commissioner annually we get board approval um on on that request and so the same process is going to continue it's not an automatic increase it's something that they can request we can uh in some cases we've denied it I think during uh covid times when when things were tough we we denied the the increase so um so the same process that we have been doing for the last nine plus years it would continue on with the new agreement I understand that now here's my second question you ever heard of a thing called the Commerce Clause c o m m e r c e c l a u s c ever heard name called the commercial Clause yeah yeah yes I have okay go ahead okay and with the commercial Clause it says this I lost it on my phone but let me let me put in a nutshell the commercial Clause is that when you're doing something that my understanding now if you correct me correctly you don't attorney commer Clause is that if you're doing something with something that mean that everything has to be sort of inclusive and including everybody and when you when you're having that commerci clause in it's that that you have FCC you have waste management and you have I guess other holders that's out there that's uh doing business plus when you have that commer CLA you have nothing in that that inclusive of a minorities and I know a lot of people do not believe in the de de eii they don't believe that but this I mean the county has had contracts for years and when it need contract now you're going to what we call uh uh I'm going to use the word uh I I say mandatory but Mr homacho he says that uh Universal and then you got with if uh you got the subscribers can come in I'm asking the question okay with all of that how is that inclusive with the urban areas the Commerce Clause of the Constitution prohibits a state from passing a law that would affect interstate commerce here we're not dealing with any type of Interstate comment Commerce we aren't dealing with Georgia we aren't dealing with Alabama or anything else like that so Commerce Clause would not apply in this situation okay okay you you correct me on that and I'm and I have my last thing and I'm done okay with that I'm I'm saying this that I have no ill feeli against Waste Management I think they're a great company I have no ill feels I don't know anything about FCC no more than I saw I'm in Port St Lucy but I'm going to say this I said what we need to do now is that since you're going Universal on this I'm kind of I'm going to kind of agree with FCC the guy that just spoke uh a few minutes ago I'm going to kind of incline with him that I think that with this contract I think that it needs to be uh Revisited because I looked at I didn't see the uh spreadsheet on how the evaluation was uh initiated to come up with that with your 45 points your 10 points or whatever I didn't see that but I would get with Mr Mau on that because I need to look at the uh the spreadsheet on how you saying you're going to award the bid but I'm going to say this you need to be inclusive with other holders and I think you need to go back and look at this RFP again I am Myra Ferguson with giord Economic Development Council my question is this very simply I heard the individual from FCC I also received this about 11 o'clock at night about this coming up with the County Commission and and my question I is very simple I feel like there was a violation here because if those bids were released before the contract was received that we need to go back and look at this RFP because it is not as clear as it should be and even though there was a second time that they went back and they lowered their numbers or lowered their amounts it's still not a fair process it's not a fair process and also I'm I'm wondering if that RFP will hold water now because you've this is all these numbers have been already given out before we came to the came to the table now and and we have to October 1st of 2025 I think it needs to be rebid I really do and give everyone a fair opportunity to bid on this contract because I don't think it's inclusive I think is designed not to include all haulers and it's starting to look like waste management is a monopoly and it's the government does not call for that we need to really take a good look at this RFP and I got this thing 11:00 last night and I'm here today because I'm concerned thank you anybody else all right Commissioners additional comments questions or concerns i' move option four option four which is UN staff recommendation okay all right we have a motion uh by commissioner lure with a second by commissioner flesher any further discussion seeing none all in favor I opposed motion carries four to one with commissioner Moss dissenting all right Commissioners that wraps up our agenda for today oh tell us more I I've got a couple more oh I'm sorry you have more oh darn it I mean thank you we well first of all thank you for the support for Universal collection I'm very excited about this uh historic day in in County um so my next recommendation is that the board award the solid waste and recycling collection franchise to Waste Management Inc of Florida as the proposer that ranked in the top two and that has subsequently submitted the lowest best and final offer for RFP number 2024 020 oh okay I thought that was all included I'm sorry I see we're breaking it out all right just thank you thank you for keeping me on track all right Commissioners any comments on that I'm sorry can you tell me what page that's on we are on the last page of the presentation of 14 not the last and chairman if if you like to add oh you're in the agenda packet I'm if You' like to add item three with that along with that motion would be to authorize staff to finalize the sample agreement negotiate as necessary for legal and Technical sufficiency and to return with a final agreement for sft board approval at a future meeting okay did you want to include that in the okay I'm so sorry second all right so we have a motion by commissioner lore with a second by commissioner flesher to recommend the award to waste management and authorize staff to finalize the sample agreement and return with the final agreement any questions comments or concerns on that all right all in favor opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much anything else that's it I'm safe now yes ma'am all right meeting adjourned