##VIDEO ID:Z9iLWsXZLPI## e e e e e e e e e e all right good morning everybody we're going to go ahead and call the Tuesday September 10th Commission meeting to order we're going to start with a moment of Silent reflection for our First Responders and members of the Armed Forces followed by an invocation by Dr Christina Moore followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by commissioner Laura Moss if everybody would please rise I didn't see you back there I'm sorry good morning I like to thank the Commissioners for this opportunity to provide invocation father in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth we thank you for your grace we thank you for your mercy we thank you for your Lov and kindness father we ask you to heal that which needs to be healed mend that which needs to be mended restore that which needs to be restored father you said whatever we bind in Earth your bind in heaven whatever we loose in Earth we will loose in heaven we bind up the spirit of chaos conflict in our community of any and all sorts God we lose Unity we lose Oneness we lose love and that more abundantly and we forever care to give you all the glory honor power and Dominion that's due unto you in Jesus Christ name amen and it is so amen um as tomorrow we observe 911 at a number of Ceremonies around the county I'd like to offer a special thank you to our own Indian River fire rescue and our own First Responders God bless I pled Al allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right good morning everybody Commissioners are there any additions or deletions to the agenda seeing none Madam chair move approval second a motion in a second all in favor I motion carries and with that we will move on to proclamations and presentations our first Proclamation is designating the month of September 2024 as hunger action month which will be read by commissioner moss and presented to um the Treasure Coast Food Bank staff and volunteers if you guys like to come on up to the podium with whoever you have commissioner Moss will take it from there thank you madam chair Proclamation designating the month of September 2024 as hunger action month whereas hunger and poverty remain issues of grave concern in the United States the State of Florida and on the Treasure Coast with 250,000 children adults seniors and Veterans experiencing food insecurity on a weekly basis and whereas Indian River county is committed to taking steps to raise awareness about the need to combat hunger in every part of our County and to support efforts to serve the needs of indan River County Citizens and whereas Indian River county is committed to working with the Treasure Coast food bank in educating people about the role and importance of food banks and other hunger relief organizations in addressing hunger and bringing attention to the need to devote more resources and attention to hunger issues and whereas food banks and hunger relief organizations across the country including the Treasure Coast Food Bank are coordinating hunger action Day on September 10th 2024 and will continue to host numerous events throughout the month of September to shed light on this important issue and encourage involvement in efforts to end Hunger in our local communities now therefore be it proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of Indian River County Florida that the month of September 2024 be designated as hunger action month in in River County and the board encourages all citizens to exercise observance adopted this 10th day of September 2024 Board of County Commissioners in River County Florida and signed by all five Commissioners and welcome please tell us more about your plans thank you so much my name is Deb newfeld and I'm here on behalf of the Treasure Coast Food Bank the first thing I must say is this commission above all else in our Treasure Coast Community are the best in terms terms of wearing the orange you absolutely are the best thank you so much we really appreciate it now for the official stuff uh on behalf of the president Judy Cruz staff volunteers board of directors I'd like to thank you for proclaiming September and even September 10th as hunger action month otherwise known as ham as a member of the feeding americ network of food banks Treasure Coast food bank is leading the fight against hunger in our community by securing millions of meals and providing them to people facing hunger we're proud to partner with more than 300 local food pantries soup kitchens shelters and other em emergency food providers throughout the Treasure Coast throughout the month of September Treasure Coast food bank will be hosting many events that include the fourth annual outrun hunger 5K now it doesn't have to be a run you can walk the 5K which is not very far and it's at Causeway Cove Marina in uh Fort pearis September 21 so if you're interested just hit stop hunger. orgam uh now I would like a little audience participation you may think I'm crazy at first but you'll see the light in the end one 1 = 8 I'll repeat 1 equal 8 I want you all to repeat with me 1 equal 8 1 equal 8 how is that possible I want you to remember that $1 feeds eight people 1 equals 8 so imagine if you just donate a $20 bill you fed 160 people isn't that fabulous that's how well the food bank works thank you for your participation we appreciate it have a great day thank you would you like to come up get your I you want to try it again but I'm I think they got it thank you if do you want to get in the picture with her because she's gonna okay we one thank you you as well all right our next Proclamation is designating Patricia Draper as the poet Laurette of Indian River County Florida this will be presented by myself to miss Draper welcome thank you good morning good morning I'm going to go ahead and read the proclamation and then if you will I don't know if you prepared a poem which would be fabulous or a few words okay wonderful all right it's my pleasure to read a proclamation designating Patricia Draper as the poet Laurette of Indian River County Florida whereas Patricia Draper has been writing poetry for many years and is deeply respected for her leadership in the porch Poets of the Laura writing Jackson foundation and whereas Patricia Draper is recognized throughout Florida and nationally for her many beautiful and heartfelt poems fitting with the character values of indianer County including cousins interrupted and Nana has something to say and whereas Patricia Draper has shared her poems to promote awareness of IND no County and the appreciation of poetry at neighborly Gatherings special occasions public workshops and Exhibits and whereas the inden county poet Laurette is an honorary position and carries with it the esteem and appreciation of the citizens of IND indan River County and whereas Indian River County May call upon its poet Laurette to comp to compose poems for County occasions and other government events worthy of commemoration and whereas the Laura riding Jackson Foundation of 501c3 organization recommends the board of County Commissioners designate Patricia Draper as IND over County's poet Laurette now therefore be it proclaimed by the board of County Commissioners in univer County Florida with appreciation and admiration on this day recognize Patricia Draper as the poet Laurette of IND over County Florida effective September 1st 2024 adopted this 10th day of September 2024 and signed by all five County Commissioners and Mr AER I'd just like to say congratulations we are looking forward to your tenure and representation of us um big shoes to fill following in in Mr seon's footprint or footsteps but I know um you're up for it and I I can't wait to hear what you have prepared and what you plan to do well thank you so much Miss Adams I'd like to thank all of you County Commissioners for this designation and to the Laura writing Jackson foundation for their selection I'd also like to thank members of the porch poets for their support and encouragement they challenge me on a regular basis and make me a better poet poetry is literary art it is essential it speaks to the human need for creativity and meaning here is an ARS poetica I wrote for the occasion and it's written in the format of a hun which the Japanese invented in the 17th century ours poetica when you write a poem remember this this hunt for magic scavenge syllables that surprise at the corner of craft and Chaos caress those thoughts that word salad in your mind ticking in time don't worry about making sense until you see it on paper and then turn everything upside down cast convention in the crosshairs blow it to Smither weigh the Waters of what if and never say excuse me rip the blinders off astonish with the alabaster amazement of curiously curated clues that curtsy for the occasion and when you write a poem remember this blank piece of paper Agony then ecstasy life of a poet thank thank you thank you that was amazing I love that that was fantastic thank you it's great it's great to start our meeting um with a little literary lit literary to yeah will you come every Tuesday and set the tone I'm sorry I said will you come every Tuesday and set the tone that was awesome mam yes um would you write a poem for the Centennial of course I'd be thrilled in fact my first book of poetry probably didn't get the notice it deserved because of the pandemic it came out in 2020 but it's titled the da of hibiscus and Vero Beach being the Hibiscus City I think you'll hear more from it in the days to come thanks again wonderful thank you oh commissioner thank you so much for the gift that you just gave us and uh with that said I'm looking a little Beyond you and I see how very first poet Laurette uh Mr Sean sexon he's here to pass the torch he's going to be tending to the cattle a little more often and a little less writing and we hope that we can receive many of the gifts that you will provide as Sean has for so many years as well and I just want I'm happy too thank you so much fantastic come on up get your Proclamation [Applause] morning there he is y okay yeah thank you thank thank you so much we look forward to your tenure thank you all right where am I keep track of where I am here all right the next presentation is a proclamation designating September 2024 is National Suicide Prevention awareness month this will be presented by commissioner irman to Tracy Hernandez director of development for sunos Mental Health Center welcome commissioner Ean well thank you good morning and thanks for being here it's um said that we have to follow something as as as great as what we just did with our poet laurate but as we all know suicides like like cancer we all know somebody that that has or a family member somebody that has has uh committed suicide it's a sad plague on our community but we've got good people and great organizations like yours and other people that are working real hard to to curb this to curb this I'm going to read the proclamation and then we'll move on from there Proclamation designating September 2024 is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month whereas September is National Suicide Prevention awareness this month which directs the community's attention to the public health academic which destroys lives whole families and sometimes entire communities and whereas suicide rates on the Treasure Coast in okobe County and in okobe County to be an issue according to the medical examiner office with 136 suicide deaths in 2023 and whereas in 2022 there were more than two two times as many suicides 49,4 76 in the United States as there were homicides of 2,196 and for every death by Suicide there were 32 attempts and whereas according to the Florida health charts in 2022 the age adjusted rate per 100,000 population of suicide deaths in any River County was 18.4 compared to FLA Florida at 14.1 and whereas suicide is a second leasing cause of death for ages 10 to 34 and the fourth leading cause for ages 35 to 54 and is a major contribution to premature mortality and whereas suicide is preventable and by offering the public education data support and services we as a community have taken a step toward preventing another suicide by our residents and whereas we are honored to be a part of the healing process raising awareness for and support of those affected by suicide by offering supporting services which address mental health illness and drug and alcohol addiction now therefore be it proclaimed by the board of County commissioners of any River County Florida that September 2024 be designated as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the county of Indian River Florida and the board asked all residents to learn how they may help because suicide prevention is everyone's business adopted this 10th day of September 2024 and signed by all five County Commissioners thank you for what you do thank you all it's good to see you again although I wish it were for a happier topic it's my privilege and pleasure to represent sunos Mental Health Center and accept this Proclamation for suicide prevention awareness month I'm here today because conversations matter and can help save lives suicide continues to rank among the leading causes of death in the US especially among teens and young adults with Statistics showing that nine out of 10 people who died by Suicide suffer from a diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health disorder we must worked together to ensure access and funding for services while advocating for prevention through conversation and education on average there are 132 suicides a day in this country which means someone takes their own life every 11 minutes and for each death by Suicide there are about 32 attempts at sunos Mental Health Center we are addressing this Mental Health crisis by bringing our services and support directly to the communities we serve we offer client Focus Community Based and family centered mental health care in homes schools for Sun Coast office locations and Bella Health our dedicated team of professionals is passionate about helping others and working together to provide a holistic approach to treatment for more than 1300 clients every month including hundreds of students at more than 80 schools in our for County service area here in Indian River County Sun Coast currently serves close to 300 clients and provides onsite in person mental health services at 20 Local Schools another way we are serving in River county is through a new program that supports and empowers families Wellness Without Walls Family Support Services is our part of a collaboration with the mental health association's parent and child Center this program is designed to create a supportive environment that helps families build resilience achieve stability and thrive in the community so for the thousands of clients we serve every year and for those who still need our help sincere thanks to all of you for joining us in this community effort to raise public awareness and promote me mental Wellness through Fearless conversation suicide is preventable and each of us has a role to play to save lives and create healthy resilient individuals and families together we can change the narrative on suicide so that no one feels alone in their struggles and just a quick note in keeping with our commitment to educate the local community we are hosting our annual suicide Symposium on September 20th in Stewart this is a free community event for the Treasure Coast area and we welcome you to join us thank you so much [Applause] [Music] awesome thank you so much [Applause] all right our next presentation is recognition of two indv County Chamber of Commerce awards for outstanding tourism marketing and the Henry award for its redesigned consumer website and commissioner flesher this is kind of your wheelhouse I don't know if you want to introduce our our award winners well we have uh before us we have uh somebody that's no stranger to one of the folks in the center room there uh Mr Ben Airman who has brought us to the Forefront and enhanced our tourism element Beyond expectation thank you it's well funded but money doesn't do it it's the person the people behind the funding that get the job done and we were so honored to uh have uh this recognition Ben yes well thank you very much um I'm Ben man vice president of Tourism and marketing with visit in River County underneath the inie River County Chamber of Commerce and Christa Hoy our T tourism Communications manager um so we are your tourism team for all of inie River County Vero Beach Sebastian and fsme most recently two weeks ago um and I spoke about this at the TDC meeting in August and we didn't know what the outcome was going to be um but two weeks ago we attended the annual Florida Governor's conference on tourism which is presented by visit Florida the uh entire State's tourism office and at that um there's this opening ceremony where they award counties and different marketing projects with Awards we were notified that we were to receive one um but they don't tell you whether it's first first place second place or third place and they don't tell you what it's for but they have seen your stuff over the year um and then are given those Awards so much to our surprise we were given um first place in the website category for our newly redesigned website so if you haven't checked it out go to visit in River count.com um and check that out it's got a lot of great enhancements to it a lot of features that it needed to have to bring it up to date um and we're continuing to update it all the time so that was recognized and then that wasn't all because you can't just have one um we were very surprised at the end of the ceremony they then do best of shows for four different budget categories because every County every tourism division has a different budget amount for their marketing we were given best of show in our budget category for Indian River County um which is the $500,000 to $2 million budget category so overall best of show for County tourism marketing so awesome and this is the first time that indan River County has received first place and the first time that in River County has received a best of show since it's been with the chamber since 1986 so this is took my existence for us to get it to get us to get us there and it happened um and it's the first of many and we're honored and we love what we do um our we love this area we love everybody that we work with um in the tourism industry and we were honored to receive an award for our website that we worked with an incredible marketing agency Madden media on to develop but then to receive overall best Marketing in our budget category for the county was a real honor so I wanted to share that with you all um and let you know that we're doing a great job well two Awards so and how amazing that you won both Awards in the same year that is that is awesome um we both have finished our full first full year um just over the in April um so in our first year to receive two um and not just one but then a best of show um was pretty was awesome well you have set the bar very high in your first year so that's what I do that's what I do we look forward to seeing um how you build on that base but it you guys do a fantastic job of marketing the county um and bringing our tourism here and and working with Community Partners so kudos to yall it was well deserved commissioner no I I really appreciate it thank you U and thank you been for bringing the hardware home and being honored uh I unfortunately could not uh be at the uh the conference I had to be at the Air Force Academy on the same day but I knew that you were going to get that top prize and I am just so excited because people need to realize that our tourism happens because of people like you all of our participants because we do not have a theme park a water park a main event we have what we appreciate every day here in Indie River County and you present it so well thank you and if anybody wants to see I encourage them to visit the website because I think you'll be fascinated on all of the oy and which we do have in this County and we should appreciate them and visit them and thank you Ben you want to mention the website again visit Indian River count.com um and make sure to follow us as well on all of our social medias face Facebook Instagram and people can download the app as well we don't know we don't have an app we don't have they they just they'll go right to Facebook yes well you if you have the Facebook app yeah yes Facebook Instagram or the website at visit Indian River County yes.com all right thank you for great work thank you well guess I I'm going to throw it over to your proud papa to embarrass you a little bit I guess you should say something first of all very proud of their efforts and Ben's efforts he works uh very hard at his craft or anything that he does and Christa keeps him in line and keeps him focused and stuff like that so it's welld deserved and and and and it was a lot of hard work work to get to that level so I'm just telling all y'all out here don't call me when you have a see a traffic problem any River County call the Chamber because they're doing such a good job bringing tourist here it's true it's true I I get excited when I see like a Canadian license plate now right but like living here yeah we're very we're very proud of you I'm very proud of the chamber and all the hard work that everybody does there with this but this is an exceptional especially when you look at a budget the big Awards budget from 500,000 to two two million so that's with some big players in the State of Florida and we were we Rose to the top so very proud of y'all very proud of you very proud of you Crystal thanks for everything thank you congratulations and bring up the H yeah you can feel it you want yeah it's [Laughter] heavy hold on to that thing it's like a real award it's not it's not a fragile award that is solid yeah yeah don't don't leave it with commissioner f [Laughter] that look great on the desk right job right congratulations great job all right and for our last presentation um Vero Beach All Stars 10U 2024 Florida state champions I'm going to throw it over to commissioner lore great Adam chair it is an honor and a privilege we have uh coach par with us coach Williams with us uh so friends in the audience and fellow Commissioners understand that it's been U over 26 years since the State of Florida has won an under 10 um championships uh for the little league and these boys obviously 10 and under from right here in Indian River County Vero Beach are the state champions for 2024 for under 10 of the a league and it's very very exciting many of us watched the Little League World Series over the past couple weeks uh but to to have our state champions right here from Bureau Beach is truly amazing and it's it's an honor coaches to have you here and Coach if you'd like to identify the uh uh the teammates that you have I know some of them had some mandatory State tests today T but fry are all under 10 so here we go this is Cohen scoffield Strider scoffield you can't tell them apart so I had to just ask them um Wyatt parte and Brody vmire on the end fantastic and the other players we we will be getting a certificate to them uh so coach Williams do you want to tell us a little bit about the journey yes sir so uh we started down Port St Lucy uh for the District 17 uh we went 81 there to advance to sectionals which was up in Melbourne we went 2 and 0 and uh Advanced to the states which was Bita right Bonita Springs um again I think we went six and one there ended up beating uh nville in the championship uh from there we got invited to Wilson North Carolina for the Southeast Regional champ Championship uh we came in second made it all the way to the championship game lost to South Carolina 2 to1 in the final so it it was a great accomplishment uh like you said it's first time since I think 97 since uh Vero Beach has won a state championship and that's for any age group for little leag so uh hopefully we're building a good foundation and hopefully in two years this group can be uh like Lake Mary we'll see there you go well congratulations and good job young fellas [Applause] come on up congratulations congratulations good job guys I can tell them a part congratulations congratulations buddy next year they'll be old in the middle are they going to be in a different bracket next year 11 11 okay that's all right you want to let them hold certific open them up guys [Laughter] all right heads up thank all right there are no minutes there's just a few informational items and with that we'll move to consent Commissioners um anybody need to pull anything from consent Madam chair pull uh item 8 J Juliet J item 8 s sierra s a w a W okay I was going to pull that perfect Madam chair yes if I could pull eight in November 8 n okay and 8 Q qu back Q okay and then commissioner moss do you have anything I would like to pull 8 H and 8 U all right anybody from the public wish to pull anything from consent all right seeing none Commissioners we will need a motion to move mve all right uh motion by commissioner flesher with a second by commissioner Moss all in favor opposed motion carries all right I pulled 8 H um we'll just go in order um which is consideration of the IND County ship program 2024 annual report and I just wanted to give the ladies um an opportunity to go over all the good work ship has done this year um and just highlight you know the amount of people that we've been able to help and and the money we've been able to put back into the community welcome sippy thank you so we did get an extension for our annual report and the report that we're submitting is as for expenditures as at June the 30th so to date um on the report we had expended uh just give me a moment please we had expended a total of a million5 for a total of 41 households and then by December we supposed to have expended the entire amount and we will have at least 48 households as of right now for the 2122 um funds and then for 22 23 we need to have encumbered the total amount by December the 30th because we did get an extension and that total for 2223 is 1.5 m800 uh 1.5 8121 1.85 we will have uh as of right now we have a balance of 275,000 but we are confident that we will be expending the uh we will be encumbering the total amount by the deadline uh the team has been working extremely hard and it hasn't been easy uh because of the economy as it is it's kind of hard to get uh jobs done in time but we are working hard on getting that encumbered and submitting the report fantastic I just want the Commissioners to know how much money that um ship has been able to utilize to help our residents and how many residents uh we have actually helped I think sometimes when we think about the amount of dollars that we have in ship compared to other counties it seems small but we are able to stretch those dollars through different programs and and leveraging different things and to be able to help 48 people um and and last year and then this year I know we're well on our way yes to meeting or exceeding that goal as well so thank you guys for your hard work I did I did not have an issue with the item I just wanted to take the opportunity to highlight for the public and the Commissioners the work that you guys have been doing so thank you thank you thank you all right we have a motion by commissioner Erman for approval with a second by commissioner Moss all in favor I opposed motion carries thank you guys all right well move on to 8j Children's Services advisory program fiscal year 2425 agency Grant contract I believe that was commissioner flesher uh thank you madam chair and I appreciate that and I see the update and I have no challenge with the update uh whatsoever um I just wanted take this opportunity to remind that uh all applic I did get an inquiry uh about it uh that all applications Megan how are you Commissioners um that the executive salaries executive uh salaries will be identified for 51 c3s that was done at a previous meeting here and I wanted to ensure that that is I just wanted to remind that that would be included not necessarily in this Grant application but they will be identified in all applications as all 501 c3s yeah they'll be identified in the contracts that the agency submit and then or the I'm sorry the rfps the agency submit and then this contract after seesac approves this is a contract that goes but that's after the applications are submitted yes the Office of Management budget also uh wanted clarification and I did get some calls of inquiry regarding it so I just wanted to pull it to remind it this time thank you very much and just to let you know we will bring be bringing the application to the board to approve once it is finalized thank you all right thank you uh with that Madam chair motion approve all right we have a motion by commissioner flesher with a second by myself or by commissioner lur I'm sorry um all in favor opposed motion carries with that we will move on to eight n approval of County stoploss policy transition to High Mark F school year 2425 I believe it's commissioner lore Madam chair this is something that is not often talked about but I did want to bring it up briefly uh in essence this is reassurance for our existing Health policies and any catastrophic events that may come up I'm proud to say that the last two years we've seen a slight reduction uh in fact uh if the County Administrator would like to share uh the additional update where the vendor came in about 12% greater and actually we were able to U settle or negotiate down to a different vendor furthermore the administrator can mention uh how our health clinic our count run health clinic will uh enable us to keep these rates from going up in the future yeah over the past couple years uh I think one of the things that's important and we discussed is obviously in 19 and 20 uh it's not really reflected in this one but I did look at the previous reports when I saw the fact that we for the last three years we have paid out 3.4 million doll in premiums but we've had no stoploss claims you're like wow 3.4 but we have in 1920 we had one claim that was $1.2 Million uh and there was some significant claims below that as well I think uh so that's the reason why you hav insurance but it certainly does Merit us watching it and as we continue to work I mean the idea of this insurance is to kind of help to protect us from the uh unexpected or the catastrophic event that may happen to one of our employees and resulting in a high claim so uh it's it's like homeowners insurance and car insurance uh it's there when you need it and this protects us I mean I do think we'll monitor it over the next you know year or two and and look at our deductible limits to see if there's a potential that we could maybe increase those for the purposes of yielding a lower premium uh the current care did come in initially at a 12% increase and locked in working with Suzanne they went back and they said we've had zero claims over the last three years and then they came back in at as you know they came in at 12 and then they came back at zero but the previous the prior uh stop-loss provider did come in High Mark at a 12% decrease in our preium AR we yielding about $147,000 of savings in this upcoming year and Mr Minister you would do you see anything with the health clinic that could continue to reduce this yeah I mean you maybe not directly but I think indirectly you know one of the purposes of the health clinic be besides being able to to respond to those acute illnesses that might show up you know the flu respiratory infection stuff like that it's the it's the uh the chronic disease management that may help being able to identify and treat somebody that might be pre-diabetic being able to help somebody with hypertension being able to help somebody with their weight management loss and some of those other disease you know other things that really chronically plague it won uh sorry about that so so I think the more we can disit and manage manage their health care with them working with them it also helps manages our health care costs great thank you madam chair that I'll make a motion to approve second all right we have a motion by commissioner lore with a second by commissioner flesher all in favor I opposed motion carries with that we'll move on to 8 Q rejection of RFP 202454 for gford aquatic center slide replacement I believe commissioner flusher was that was mine oh that was yours okay I'm sorry madam chair briefly I just want to thank the the Parks and Recreation we have some in the future we have some uh reconditioning and and rebuilding of the Gord Aquatic Park but I want to thank the staff uh we had an out of town vendor come in at $1.6 million to do some work that we thought was around 300 uh and quickly and swiftly our employees shut that down and rejected that bit so thank you for saving us money absolutely uh would you like a quick update on that uh Beth Powell parks recreation conservation director thank you commissioner we appreciate those kind words uh so uh some some of you may not know but uh the staff applied for an a fap Grant uh two and a half years ago we had public meetings uh we discussed the grant unfortunately the grant was not awarded um so as soon as we found out that that Grant had not been awarded we moved right into uh the RFP for proposals because of the cost of the slide there's some purchasing um uh hurdles that we have to cross um we recognized that the slide early in the season had been uh not approved by the health department because of the condition and that was a combination of uh deferred maintenance issues as well as um waiting for the grant uh to be approved because that was a $200,000 grant that we were hoping to leverage uh to work on the playground as well so that we were combining the two projects but as soon as we found out that we did not receive that Grant we moved right into the RFP process uh in order to uh get competitive bid options on the table unfortunately uh the contractor is a general contractor I don't think that they do a lot so I think that contributed to the cost being excessively High uh at our uh recent conference uh in Orlando at Orlando for f frpa we met with multiple slide vendors uh we talked to them about what the purchasing options would be for us we also found out what other uh near block by slides uh we could go take a look at and I think staff has to date about three different quotes right now and we'll be work working with the purchasing department to find out how to move that through the process um seeing how we have already gone through an RFP there wasn't really an explanation as to why um these vendors did not uh submit through the RFP process uh but we know everyone is really busy and sometimes they're just looking for the easiest quickest job that they can do uh not to mean that there's not quality involved with that it's just that the RFP process is a little uh lengthy and the response is different than just submitting a quote so we are getting quotes right now and we would expect to have this project done by the beginning of the fiscal year or excuse me the beginning of the calendar year great well thank you for rejecting and again saving US dollars with that Madam chair I move approval second all right we have a motion by commissioner lore with a second by commissioner flesher all in favor opposed motion carries with that we'll move on to Award of bid 202 4047 for gford elevated storage tank modification and Rehabilitation and and I forgot who pulled this was that commissioner Madam chair okay thank you sorry thank you madam chair I appreciate that I pull this this has been a a long process um it's been a hard fight to ensure that the iconic Gord water tower was remained intact after we had uh Leed it resurfaced it and got it ready and it looked great and yes there was some damage detected it was also during time where we were looking at um or staff was looking at an updated version to provide additional water source water supply for the community uh at uh daytoday or at time of need uh the tank holds 400,000 gallons of water which is quite a bit for your water coola yep um and uh we held back and uh and talk about it and with the community uh we we made some attention that that that tank should be maintained it was well agreed and discussed and uh at that time uh it was proposed that it would have to be filled with perhaps sand and uh again I inquired about well why don't we why why can't we have it as a Water Resource as well um uh we've been advised uh by staff that it's outdated not ample uh abundant uh supply of water in at time of need it was a maintenance issue there was a pump bad but U as this has changed and evolved um the now the process cannot be completed fully because of the antennas so it's going to be a two-stage process so I see there'll be additional costs in addition the tank will be filled with water and I I just once again find it ironic that we won't go just one step further to have this as an operational Resource as opposed to having it filled with water for the purposes of having this iconic display that uh we want for the community uh why not have it operational would would you like to share that with us thank you commissioner my name is Howard Richards manager of capital projects for the Department of utility services uh you're you're you made a number of very um good points um you're correct in that the the I'm sorry the tank is I said I finally made a good point yes thank you it's been a lot of years yes the tank is at uh the stage where it's in need of um maintenance repairs uh it's a way to um M preserve the Integrity of the tank uh for for long term at the same time there's negotiations with the uh with the carriers to continue to use it as a as a cell tower in addition those carriers desire to add equipment to the tower so because of that structural upgrades to the tank is also requ required um regarding um retaining the the uh the tank as an operational asset uh that is a potential we're currently about to undertake an integrated water master plan that's going to look at the future growth and demand for service with uh within the system uh and that might require us to have additional storage capacity throughout the uh um throughout the county um now that may not necessarily require an elevated storage tank it might be a ground storage tank for example however that tank could be converted uh to be used as a storage center but at the same time it does not currently provide enough hydraulic benefit uh to be used as a storage facility so that might require additional Capital to be spent on site uh to upgrade that and that's something that the integrated water master plan will be looking at so how uh again so today's action will not preclude the opportunity if it arises to maintain that asset as a water storage component that is correct um again there's three things taking place here with the current work that's about to take place one is to preserve the Integrity of the tank by doing the mainten menance repair one is to do the structural upgrade to accommodate the additional uh loads that the carrier the carriers will be um putting on the tank and the third is to maintain a state of Readiness for the current hurricane season that's where the filling of the tank comes in thank you I just wanted to clarify because there there are some questions that you know why we were doing that and obviously filling it with sand would would preclude if we're going to fill it with water it just I wanted to bring it out that we would have the opportunity to perhaps use it as an asset as opposed to a uh an antenna uh that's correct bearing icon initially sand was thought to be more stable longterm uh however as you said that could potentially have some issues if if the tank is if it's determined that the tank could be placed back in operation uh so water will do just as fine to maintain uh the weight to weigh down the tank uh to to withstand hurricane Force wins thank you Al appreciate it Madam chair move approval all right I'll be happy to second that there's a motion by commissioner flesher with a second by myself all in favor opposed motion carries and with that we'll move on on to 8U Special Olympics fall classic um I just pulled this to highlight that we don't just do Special Olympics aquatic uh events in IND over County the fall classic is actually flag football pickle ball softball and powerlifting which will be held at um dickb bird park for the outside events and I believe the IG center for the inside events um I always and I know commissioner flesher is usually heavily involved in the special Olympics but I always appreciate that you know year after year they come and utilize our Recreation amenities um it's a great organization it's a great program it's a great event so I know the Aquatic Center or the Aquatic competition in the spring usually gets a lot of volunteers but I'm assuming volunteers are also needed for this event and um wanted to put a Shameless plug in for any volunteers um please call Beth and volunteer it's a lot of fun um my had the pleasure of volunteering a couple years I know commissioner flesher is always there but it's just the athletes are so excited and they're so engaged and there're I mean they are amazing too I can't I can't even I'm excited to watch powerlifting to be honest with you but um any who Beth you want to say anything sure I would just like uh to thank you for uh acknowledging the item this is actually the first year for the regional uh events that are listed in this item uh we love working with special Olympics they bring the state Aquatics Championship here to North County Aquatic Center and they have the grand opening uh ceremonies at the IG Center it brings a lot of families from all over the state so it's really an opportunity for us to Showcase uh Indian River County and all that we have to offer here so we're very proud of that relationship I would like to thank our Aquatics manager Dave Smith for his work this is the 18th year minus co uh that we've had uh the Special Olympics we do have uh two volunteer opportunities so for the aquatics Championship September 27th and September 28th the grand opening is on the 27th uh we have some resources on our web page and on our social media to link you to those uh uh volunteer signup sheets and then for the regional meet that will be at uh dick bird park uh there's also a need for volunteers so we appreciate everyone in our local community who support the athletes and their families and also the organization and with this being an Olympics year uh there's even more excitement uh that the athletes are even more ambitious and I think inspired this year so we would just like to invite everyone to come out for both of these events and thank you for uh acknowledging the event and giving us an opportunity to share uh the volunteer opportunities as well should bear a lot of excitement for us for the community um and thank you for mentioning that there are volunteer opportunities I see a few of our Volunteers in the audience maybe they want to share to amongst each other maybe we can generate more volunteers it's a very rewarding experience to participate with the athletes and this is our first year that we are out of the Fran Adams pool for the a short time and we will be at the IG Center and working their varied sports but very excited and we will be up at the Fran Adams pool again summer yes in the summer time thank you all right Commissioners um move approval all right I have a motion by commission thank you a motion by commissioner flesher with a second by commissioner irman all in favor opposed motion carries and with that we will move on to 8w agreement for drown zero Stations between Indian over County and the Rotary Club of Vero Beach Sunrise Foundation Inc commissioner Ean thank you madam chairman Commissioners this was uh brought before the board back in February and U we just got it approved but I guess it got lost in the shuffle somehow and I'll apologize for that but we got it done this is a great project and it's done by the Sunrise Rotary Club and um we're just looking forward to it so I wanted to invite Justin LEF here to to speak again to refresh our memory as to what it is but I want to thank uh Susan and and Chris and the county attorney's office along with Beth and Mike zedo to get to get this through and get it done so quickly so we could have it for this meeting so with that Justin well on behalf of Sunrise rot Vera Beach Debbie and I here would just like to thank you all for approving this and uh we appreciate everything that we're going to be able to do to help save the lives of Indian River County Citizens and also the visitors who come here um we hope to get the drownings that are happened here in Indian River County down to zero there have been some recently and um we'd love to see that go to zero with this project so we just thank you for the opportunity to serve the community we appreciate you guys and your partnership this is such a great idea and um I know it's it's already helped some in in other areas in an hour so thank you guys we always appreciate all your hard work and we're happy to partner with you on this thank you for your patience aw your patience yes thank you very much and we would also just like to extend our appreciation to Sunrise Rotary with for your patience I know you've been working very closely with Jonathan and Gustavo and um we're happy to have the agreement here before you and look forward to not only the opportunity to provide uh these stations uh in County Parks but the access provided will enable them to work uh their relationship throughout different private or uh other uh municipalities to provide the stations uh along the coastal areas where lifeguard stations may not even be available so uh thank you so much for taking a lead on that we look forward to working with you thank you ma'am chairman move approval all right I'll be happy to Second it we have a motion by commissioner Erman with a second by myself all in favor opposed motion carries thanks again thank you and with that Commissioners we're going to take a five minute recess e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right we're going to go ahead and call this meeting back to order Commissioners if you would indulge me in moving 15 B1 up we do have um some different dignitaries from the community that probably don't want to wait till the very last item on our agenda so and an effort to to help out scheduling I would like to move that up if that's okay with y'all with that hamu ladies come on up 15 B1 inding River County Solid Waste Disposal District Vape recycling program good morning Commissioners uh himon schuma managing director of solid waste disposal District uh thank you for moving this item uh forward um I'm just going to go over kind of the quick highlights and then let let Sue and Jill kind of take talk about specifics one of the growing problems that that we're seeing in our efforts is uh the use of VAP pens throughout our community but what's happening with the vapens is the batteries that are in there a lot of folks are just throwing those uh uh vape pens after they're done and in the trash or in the recycling and what we've seen is a growing Trend in fires that are occurring in our recycling trucks garbage trucks and so on and so forth Even in our recycling uh processing uh area so so it's it's it's a big problem uh we we have we're launching we're probably the second in the state to launch of APAP pen recycling program so we're excited about that and we partnered with a company out of California to help us properly uh collect those at our Convenience Centers and at the landfill and uh so part of the agenda item is an approval for for funding that we do have um uh in in our budget currently about $5,200 uh to to to begin the vapen recycling program but to tell you a little bit more about that I'll transfer to sue thanks aachi good morning Commissioners thank you for having us this morning and for moving moving us up commissioner Adams I won't elaborate too much more because sane did a phenomenal job on that but I will say as Jill will advance some slides our wonderful Kim Kim with the most is here um this is our Indian River County uh pilot vape pen recycling program and if you look at some of these very scary statistics yep we can move it to the next side um I'm not going to read these but some of these statistics are very very scary I will say that almost 200 vape pens explosions and fires which lead to about 133 acute injuries were reported in the United States between 2009 and 2016 and something else which is equally as scary is that the vape pen usage has increased by over 1,000% from 2019 and 20120 which means that this will only exasperate the situation as this problem continues to grow so in the awareness of education and Outreach we want to make sure that we introduced this program um we are working in partnership with all of our supportive uh I can't even tell you how supportive they've been our team from Indian River County our Sheriff's our school district John tusky is here and working to collect these pens to get them out of the landfill and out of our collection uh vehicles um and so we'll be working closely in partnership with them to collect them also the EPA and the FD has been very supportive of Indian River County in our efforts to do this uh and then our partnership with gaka who is a waste re revitalization and sustainability provider um who specifically handles these hazardous materials um to help us launch our new vape pen collection program because as we know the lithium ion batteries are very much of a danger but along with those lithium ion batteries are many chemicals to include nicotine and THC that need to be separated correctly in order for them to be disposed of correctly um it is proposed that gaka will put six receptacle collection receptacles at our five customer Convenience Centers there will also be one out at the main County landfill for collection and there will be ones at all of the retail uh supporters that will be collecting these as well so that's a very good thing they will be locked um in case of theft or misuse so this is important and it looks like we're doing a biannual collection of these um pens so twice a year under this pilot program and I'm hoping that this this program grows exponentially um as hu mentioned we are looking at a total cost of $5,200 annually for this program to be kicked off so it is our recommendation at this time that you approve the funding to launch this collection program but also we are recommending that the swid board uh wave any required bids for authorization of uh by the purchasing manager to issue a um PO for gako Waste revitalization for these Services that's it fantastic Commissioners any questions or gentlemen I'm sorry did you want to add to that I apolog good morning Commissioners how are you uh Joe B Sheriff's Office just want to say um we work closely with the school district and unfortunately you know Vapes get into the schools uh that's why we're here in support of this uh recycling program so um we have our own mechanism already in place through the Sheriff's Office obviously if we collect Vapes they end up being evidence and we dispose of them properly in that matter uh the those that do not that's why we're here to make sure that those get to the right place and we support this project so thank you joh you want to say anything you just Concur and in or in support all right Perfect all right Commissioners questions comments and concerns second all right I have a motion by commissioner uh Ean with a second by commissioner Moss any further discussion anybody from the public seeing none all in favor opposed motion carries thank you so much all right Commissioners uh going back to our regularly scheduled order we will move on to public discussion items our first item is a request to speak from Bill Rigby regarding our RFP policies m Mr riby welcome good morning Madam chair and members of the commissioner my name is Bill Rick B I reside at 8465 59th a of B Beach Florida Madame chair I stood before I stand before you today on an issue of great importance and I previous stated in front of this commission I am here to ensure that the commission takes all actions align with the law and that fairness transparency and public services are maintained I also come before you exercising my right to express my opinion and present without fear of retaliation or in uh without retaliation or interpret Interruption I'm sorry here here I'm going to start off with the role of the RSP Madame chair the you stated you previously indicated that the RFP process under discussion is sound because you was personally involved in shaping it this suggest that you SW director person director collaborated to ensure that all appropriate legal legal language was included to create a fair and transparent RSP or franchise agreement however I would like to address several of the key issues that of concerns federal and state funding requirements the recycling collection program included in the RSP franchise agreement is subject to Federal and state funding and regulations which imposes specific requirements one of the most critical requirements promoting diversity and inclusion in contracts one special goals for rewarding awarding contracts federal and state funding mandates that contracts include provision to promote the inclusion of business owned by minority groups and disa veteran and this Ensure a Level Playing Field for all qualified companies Community benefits for for supporting minority owned and Veteran owned businesses when you support minority-owned business you do more than comply with legal obligations you actively contribute to the well-being of our community too number one creating jobs number two fostering economic growth number three strengthening local businesses research and legal review Madam chair I have been thinking about this issue for quite some time and have done my research Federal fund requires I will this what federal funding requires and I would like to review the specific Federal funding records that in in River County should have on hand I'll be looking for documentation about disabled veteran minority owned Business program State funding requirements I will conclude and conduct a simar review of State funding sources to ensure compliance with State diversity and inclusion mandates County policies I will also examine inter rer County policy to see whether they align with federal and state goals for minority and Veterans owned business participation and procurement all policies should be harmonous to ensure a fair process human human resources or person directed should readily keep these document if the docum is unavailable I request a written reason as why not recommendation I'm close it out in a few minutes recommendation for RSP language and policy adjustment to ensure families and inclusive inclusivity that the RFP for this contract should contain clear language regarding one goals for participation the RFP should explicitly State the goals for participation by minority owned and Veteran owned business for example the count aim to achieve a specific percentage of participation by these business to M maximize their involvement in the contract minority and Reporting the county must Implement a system to track the participation of minority own and veteran own business in doing so you can ensure progress toward meeting diversity goals moreover regular reporting to funding agency should be required to demonstrate the County's agencies should be required to demonstrate the county commitment to fulfill these objective objectives conclusion and call to action Madam chair I specifically urge you and this commission to cooperate in the provision into the RFP process doing so well ensure not only compliance with legal requirements but also promote economic opportunities for diverse businesses thus contributing to the growth and prosperity of our community Your Role is to serve the people and that is include fostering an inclusive and transparent process in all County businesses County Business activities particularly those significant significant in public contracts here's my last statement and I'm going to say this and I hope I'm saying it in Good Will I mean and when I'm saying this I mean not to harm anyone but I want you to think about what I'm about to say I haven't coming for this commission the past and present commission for over 20 some years and and I'm looking at this and I'm saying is that I we have five Commissioners here and with the five Commissioners here uh you have all kind of contracts that's been awarded but we are not benefiting from those contracts like you have AC guys uh contractors that's licensed you have Tree Service gu that's licensed and Contracting but with not benefiting from none of this but I'm looking at this like this if there was five black Commissioners if there was and if there was a black purchasing department purchasing director if there was a black swed director you mean to tell me I'm I'm talking about you the commission you mean to tell me for over 20 some years that we have been coming before you past and present that you're going to tell me that you going to sit back and and do nothing but when we come before you you say we always come before you complaining I don't come to you come to you before complaining cuz I don't want you to judge me by my color I want you to judge me by but if you feel or you accept the job that I do and closing I'm going to say this we need work these these contracts that's been out for over years we do not benefit from them we're just asking for some consideration in the policies that you have prescribed and every time that we go to purchasing they use the words we encourage participation that's what you say but I look at this and I'm going to take my seat the CD you encouraged it Waste Management you encourage them for over 60 years or more and the way that the RSP is designed now and you can check take take go back and look at the record if you want to waste management within Sebastian and waste management within in River County will always have this contract and the reason they will always have this contract is the way that you have designed certain agreements with waste management from 1992 if you don't believe me check the records thank you so much thank you Mr rby all right with that we'll move on to a request to speak from Joe idlet III regarding the gford neighborhood plan welcome yes good morning to our commissioners my name is Joe adet I'm the president of the progressive civic league of gord and I live at 4570 57th Avenue within the county and like like you said we're here to talk about the GFA neighborhood plan first of all I would like to uh acknowledge that people from my community are here to support us today and I want to thank them for coming they want to uh hear what's going on they can look at you and you can look at them but they're here in support of myself Tony and Freddy and and the second thing um as I talk speak here I'm going to acknowledge that we've been on this journey for years so and and when that time come I will I will acknowledge where it began the GFA commun the GFA Community collaborated with the county on the neighborhood plan which was approved by a previous Board of County Commissioners on September the 17 2002 during 2013 and 2014 staff worked with the progressive Civ League of gord and the community to prepare and update version known as the Gord neighborhood Plan 2014 and I want to say right here this is where myself Freddy and Tony started on this journey trying to make sure or do the best we can to make sure these projects go forward so we've been on this journey for 14 10 years through considerable interaction with the residents of gord the county has prepared this neighborhood plan which presents a strategy for utilizing the opportunities and for overcoming the the constraints that exist in gford even though you may not have been a commissioner in 2002 we believe the plan was developed in good faith and we also believe it is still a binding contract document some key issues that the 2014 plan addressed have been slow in coming and we feel there has been little or no effort on the County's part to address them however there were some successes of the plan for example phase one on 45th Street beautification in 2016 the past though has no relevance on today and the disrespect the give Community is being shown some of some some neglected projects nine and all these projects are are numbered on the uh Gord neighborhood plan 9.3 improve improve and beautify 45th Street with partial uh cul culing and Landscape which is phase two it was scheduled for 2018 as we spoke with uh the powers that be it was moved to to 2019 and then it was moved again to 2021 and the last time it was moved it was moved to 2023 and it started in supposed to have been done in 2018 we waited patiently for years and ultimately fakey point3 was move on moved to our fdot we didn't jump for joy because we we've been waiting a long time already and we all know that do do fdot does a good job but fdot is busy and whatever the project is it's going to be years down the line before they even get to it if they get to it so we've already waited for years now it's it's in fdot hands but we still have to wait a lot more years and in the meantime although they did uh fdot with the help of commissioner Fletcher we uh we were moved up to number number one on the priority list what does that mean after they finish with aelo ro Gord should be the next project in line so we do have that but like I said years down the road and also on that project with FDL is 45th Street on 45th Street there are sidewalks that's supposed to be from uh 45th Street to uh 49th Street so right on 43rd Avenue from 45th Street to 49th Street they're supposed to be putting in sidewalks that's a part of that FD fdot project mhm I was looking at the capital Improvement comprehension plan and uh over the years there uh there had been an accumulation of 14 million $400,000 toward that project and I guess now we're wondering about that about the location of those monies as well as there was a figure on there for uh right away as well and my question is ultimately is since it was turned over the FDL was it turn over to them out of necessity my next project uh 7.3 repair and connect sidewalks on 45th Street from 58th Avenue to US1 there was also on on the plan a project to put a left turn lane at at 45th Street in us one and know that's that's on there as well this project was scheduled for 2021 and like I said we started this journey in 14 talking to people so we steady talking and uh so we up to 2021 on this project and we're in 24 and the Capital Improvements statement says that the uh 45th Street um left left turn lane at US1 is is already fully funded that's what the capital improvement improvement States all right and I do want to say that the county did uh complete from 43rd to uh us one so part of part of the project was done we're still waiting on the other part 7.4 provide sidewalks along 41st and 49th Street and that's scheduled for this year 2024 and we also looking and our 41st Street is also a part of that uh project as well 8.6 pave 32nd Avenue North of 43 3 Street and 35th Avenue North of 45th Street this was scheduled in 2016 it was moved to 2020 and it's now on on the latest metrics it says 2024 the the CP and Capital Improvements States again this project the funds are included in the roads resurfacing account and my last project that I want to talk about quickly is a 13.6 design and develop a plan for the old land Gord Landfield site this was scheduled for 2018 and it was moved to 2020 and it has yet to uh occur but we only talking about it was proved for the frontage they were supposed to improve the front of the our old Guilford Landfield site and we are still waiting on that some of the excuses over the years that we have heard is too expensive every project that I see that the county does is expensive so when you come to gford why you got to throw in our face is too expensive the next thing next one is we was told uh if you help us to pass the optional sales tax and and which we did help to pass the optional sales tax the projects will go forward has yet to go forward the the next uh excuse just a few examples RightWay issues RightWay issues is always thrown in our face but RightWay issues is a part of what the county does and I'm quite sure there are no RightWay issues that you have an already dealt with in the past as well as today and the last example I'm using for excuses is we we are told on different occasion we spent x amount of dollars in Guilford in in on on whatever years or we met with you on whatever topics but for but that doesn't have anything to do with today that's the past um we in a different time different years so what happened occurred in the past is not relevant today yearly we the community we contribute in all ways we pay property taxes we pay optional sales tax we buy gas we buy large ticket items Etc which justifies our feelings and our concerns we finally met with the new County County Administrator on two occasions about the neighborhood plan we feel that he allowed us to go through the motions with in our discussions until he decided it was time for us to leave his office he concluded by stating that he and his assistant will investigate which was not needed because the county always do is do diligence so they had already done what was needed prior to writing the neighborhood plan so there was no need to investigate we patiently waited for his response which we never did receive so I finally wrote him a letter through email and I CC that letter to each commissioner and I did receive one acknowledgement from uh commissioner Fletcher's assistant they did acknowledge that they did receive that uh letter and I'm going read the letter that I wrote to the uh to the U County Administrator it states I can't pronounce that last name so I'm going call him John just John the the progressive civil League members participated in two meetings with you and your assistant Nancy bunt on April 26 2024 and on June 19th 2024 concerning the Gord neighborhood plan we expressed our concerns with the County's neglect of starting and completing projects in the plan agreed upon by a previous Board of County Commissioners you ended the commit you ended the Comm the meetings by saying you and Nancy need to investigate we do not understand the need to investigate like I said earlier because the county had already did its due diligence and there was no need for an investigation and I so we were expecting to hear back from him but uh but I never did he never did respond to me we would like to know the results of your investigation at your earliest convenience we look forward to to hearing back from you as the execution of this plan is important to the safety and Welfare of all citizens of in the River County please help us to move this help us to move these projects forward and I I sign thanks in your cooperation for your cooperation in in closing out for me no no matter the topic and today the topic is the G neighborhood plan for successes to occur you must care in the GI of community over the years that word has not been exhibited when we spoke with the former public I'm when we F spoke with the former public the Work Director Rich sper about projects on the plan it looks like he's the only one to tell us the truth when he said it is not going to happen welcome Mr woler welcome good morning Freddy warfork 4590 57 Avenue New Beach Florida Mr AET has covered quite thoroughly everything that I wanted to say but I want to look at things from a diplomatic uhh perspective when I began this journey with Civic activities and public uh involvement my beard was black that says a lot doesn't it my beard was black that's how many years that we've been trying to get attention to some of the things that were happening I remember what my grandma said one time she said Son you have to understand that out of sight is out of mind and we feel that way in G that things sometime we are out of sight so long until you forget about us and we treated as stepchildren there are some things I know that you can bring up that were against your success we had Co we understand back in 2019 2020 had some other issues happen but as I looked this morning as I sat there at the different presentations coming back our problem exist is because we lost our Loving Feeling between one another and how we lost that is that there are new people on board Now new County Commissioners new other offices and we haven't sit down at the table as we used to sit down at the table so we need to get back to the old way I I see in River County using an ABC approach a mean when you see a project you attain bids you make sure you do due diligence in your strategic planning then the bbin you you have a budget that you use and stick to that budget and make sure it goes forth to accomplish what you set out to do and finally the C which we have not seen in a while that's mean completions haven't seen those completions that should happen somewhere down the road as Mr outler say in 20 some years we should have some completions other than hearing that well we did work in gford and we did improvements over millions of dollars yeah but that was a supervisor election office that's not considered given improvements so what I'm saying today and I'm I'll be very brief today is that we just want fairness we just want individuals to understand that we want to be a partner with Ina County as we always been we are we're there for you when you need Workshop areas to come to G we pull together the community right today sing all these individuals who are here to support the gfer concerns but most of all the in River County concerns we actually don't forget about us when we have budget hearings don't forget about when we have projects coming for cuz it does a lot of hurt a lot of hurt when we see projects that are nowhere on the books now come and pass the ones that have gi been on the books for years so keep us in mind and we'll keep working together thank you thank you we will Freddy welcome good morning Commissioners Anthony Tony Brown Indian River County NAACP 4159 57 Court I'm the joke in the deck many of you know me I come straight I I bring it to your raw we uh in this moment and recent as was alluded to we met with the County Administrator we were plated we was uh uh disrespected we was dismissed we were straight out it was insulting going for some history in 2002 this started many of you had even thought about be on sitting where you're sitting it went to 2013 we had a progressive civic league meeting it was very hot a lot of individuals were upset we wanted to sue you we wanted to do everything in the world because we were tired we were frustrated that here we are but you're not caring about us a friend of ours eased out of the meeting the next day they came down to the county office and they went into planning and they said where's the gift for neighborhood plan they were told it's on the shelf that individual said what he said it's on the Shelf he spinned around in his desk and say I said it's on the shelf that individual say m that ain't happening his response was why should we spend money when when them people don't know what they want I'm going to go back to that word them people taxpayers them people as Freddy alluded to all the other things that we do but we were disrespected we were minimized many of you don't understand that feeling of being minimized I'm a Vietnam vet I serve my country I've been fighting for Ina River County since I was 12 years old I love gford I love India River County but I refuse to be plated and disrespected not on my watch many of you know I'm a straight shooter when I uh three of you especially know me well Mr Man you know of me commissioner Moss you've getting to know me I don't play games and I don't waste your time we are here because we're upset we did the back room meetings we did the side meetings but this time uh-uh we want the public to know that the disrespect and the frustration that we feel in the GIF of community all you new people don't know it going back to that meeting that individual left the meeting say Tony Freddy and joke I need to talk to you this is what they said the three of you can never have a disagreement and open public in IND River County again because they're watching you we made a promise that you can no longer be divisive of Among Us you could not divide us you couldn't go to Freddy behind Tony's back you couldn't go to Tony behinds Joe back you couldn't do none of that stuff because we were on one Accord and ladies and gentlemen that one Accord was GIF of Florida and what was best for GIF of Florida and we moved forward and we had some people in place commissioner flet and I we had some rough times until we realized put our egos out the way and let's talk about gford commissioner Lord we kind of melt it together from day one when he was a sheriff and I think the world of commissioner Adams because I worked with them on so there was some relationships Freddy says without relationships rules don't work they become Rebellion we're at the point of rebelling because we've seen none of our stuff has meant a thing to these people that don't know us don't know our journey don't know our history so in 2014 you reapproved the gfer neighborhood plan and we started to move forward God blessed us with a stand bowling somebody who was on his open with us he didn't make promises we sat down and we had conversations we had conversations relative to forward movement when you started to Gord 45th Street and it ran into Martin Luther King Day you weren't there but Stan was Stan could tell you what they had to do Freddy Joe and Tony Brown had to be the targets because our communicate said you did it on purpose you all and those who sat where you sit you didn't catch hell we did Tony Brown Freddy wola and joilet III we had to intercede on your behalf to calm a community down that was Furious and felt disrespected because they felt you purposely did that but we had to tell them no there was some underground drainage stuff that you had not anticipated and you had to order the piping you couldn't tell them and they was giving Joe Tony and Freddy pure oh y'all y'all y'all bought and paid for her you don't understand our plight as Joe Joe know this neighborhood playing like the back of his hand then we got to a point we had Andy s chat Andy never lied to us Andy was straight with us Andy called it as he saw it and then I hear rumors and propaganda about Andy this don't defame Andy to me please don't because each and every one of us wake up every morning morning with something wrong with us got a misstep we made in life but some of you got some serious dirt including Tony Brown in your baggage so let's get it real that man stand bowling and this subject was awesome when it came to the gford neighborhood plan and building a relationship with this County Commission and the residence of gord and all of a sudden the new powers come to be don't know nothing about Tony Brown don't know nothing about Freddy W fa don't know nothing about Joe iset III but I have a plan and I'm going to bring where I'm coming from and inserted into this community and I don't know anybody I don't know none of their pain or suffering but I got it clinically analytically in my mind this is what I'm going to do IR regardless to how much pain it causes an impoverished underresourced disrespected community of color called Gord Florida I rode at the 50,000 foot level where you are a lot of my people haven't you're strategic and analytical and you often times forget the caring aspect but we give a Grace because we thought we had somebody in the moment that could stand stand for us as the president of the progressive Civic leag said we set a meeting with the administrator ladies and gentlemen those of you who know me I'll disengage sitting that room I disengaged because Freddy will kick me under the table or give me a look cuz he God still working on me and I love Gord and I don't do disrespect easy when you tell me that the 32nd Avenue plan which was years ago commissioner fleshes you may remember that was a Federal grant that said everywhere that you tore up a road and you put a manhole you would pave it but we were told in that meeting oh it's going to cost $155,000 for each resident on impact fees are you sick serious one I go back one of the most impoverished underresourced communities of color $115,000 for something that a Federal Grant had already paid you to do but Freddy wolw had asked for hour meeting first one we was gave 30 we was real upset I told you I disengage cuz see my mouth often times will get me in trouble because God has de brightle me sometimes so we left there hour was but Joe that's Mr President see lead follower get out of the way and me and Freddy good at following in his leadership and we do that to each other he said let's give it another try we waited waited waited waited waited and waited Freddy said I'll make it we made an appointment once again for one hour we went into the meeting I was upset because I can say it somebody that I had respect for was late getting to the meeting and somebody who should have been an administrator made some disparaging comments about their lateness but they were coming from another meeting so when they got there we moved forward but in that meeting that individual spoke truth to to life he uh went along with some assessments that Joe Freddy and I had made we kind of looked at each other and said oh he's in trouble he's in trouble but also in that meeting at 30 minute Mark we would told the meeting is over and the disrespect was compounded by oh I got to meet with the chief judge do I look like M meet do I look like dirt Freddy went to the desk and say weren't we afforded an hour yes but there's no relationship there's no respect I'm going to move out of this gford 2.7 within 2.7 miles of the ocean Commissioners look along Florida's East Coast there's only two black communities that fit that criteria Gord Florida and Rivera Beach we beachfront property we've watched it we've watched gentrification now we're looking at it see I'm a little conspiracy theorist is this lack of commitment to the GF of neighborhood plan is be quiet and by the time it comes there be gentrified and we won't have to do it we'll let all these businesses coming in do it remember the concrete plant was going to do the coverts and all of that on the west end of 45th Street I have a photographic memory now we weren going County wasn't going to have to pay for it look around us now ladies and gentlemen we have $450,000 $500,000 homes around us I asked the question what are you commission is going to do to protect the historical in Integrity of a community such as Gord right now from the powers that we've met with you don't want to do nothing you're going to let us slide away because gentrification now is because we're not going to be able to pay the taxes we don't have any G give back we don't have any thing to do except watch the bulldozer run over us and when we don't have have a County Administrator and a staff that is respective of us see Commissioners you sit up here but there's a multitude up under you that don't necessarily do what you think they're doing Joe Mr President alluded to it sperker was the only man was honest with us he said it ain't happening thank you and please realize look a little closer cuz some things you don't know but I'm leaving you with I refuse see I'm going to take the driver seat and moving forward as the president of the NAACP because this appears to be discrimination because you're not living up to what some of you signed off to do and I have no recourse but to use impoverished underresourced community of color as a reason for what you're doing thank you very much thank you Comm fleser Madam chair thank you uh you know I appreciate every word that was spoken uh Joe so true accurate with one exception I'll say that um the the comment about the projects yes comment about the finance no Finance goes back to capital projects so money didn't disappear just got put back in the bank but the challenge is the right of way but even a bigger challenge I think uh Tony Brown had alluded to it he didn't allude to it he said it direct um as he always does and Freddy you're right I'm looking I'm looking at Stan bowling Andy so thinking in 2014 when this was all engineered and designed and Revisited we were committed and we had Phil Matson Rich was here did did I mention anybody that's still here no that's the problem that is the problem institutional knowledge and the willingness to stand forward with what we determined what this well I I was the only one here in in 14 but uh just after that every time that we visited and I think uh Freddy what was it uh [Music] 2021 when we talked about um not getting that beautification done and you wanted to give us uh a poor grade uh deserving and yes Rich was right he he said ain't going to happen and I was working hard with fdot to get that accomplished and thank you because we did get that there then that we are the next on the hopper um we we ran it through but Freddy when when we looked at in that discussion we had individuals that were following through and none of that institutional knowledge is here it got vaporized the organization got blown up whether people retired or they suddenly left and now we have a whole new crew and it's not not oriented to the commitment that we established and it's very frustrating and I will agree with you and we're going to have to change that today today as I've walked with you you traveled we talked and I would talked with each one of those individuals and somehow there's not too many people to talk to in the organization about the plan so I appreciate your account Tony because that's that's about it we are focused in on academics we're focused in on consultation and we're not focused in on continuance of action we need to be dedicated to that gifted neighborhood plan that was well established well discussed well vetted and funded I will say that on the right of-way issue it was that's where rich came in and said it ain't going to happen because when it was originally viewed at it was not identified at the cost factor involved with getting the right of way uh all that right of way we traditionally or have never purchased right of way for uh sidewalks but we do so for getting Co in so that was where the Dilemma was so it could have been a little swifter and and I know that fdot is going to do a fine job because when they're committed the heavy equipment comes in and they work through the night to get the job done but they have individuals that are committed unfortunately I apologize all of the people that were committed to this aren't here anymore they may be in the room today but they're no longer with our organization and that is where the failure is the failure is in the people who care the people who communicated and the people who were committed and now we have different folks looking at it saying what's this about a plan that's wrong that will be changed I promise you I turn it over to the County Administrator okay did you have something you wanted to say all right welcome thank you name and address for the record thank you good morning chairwoman Adams Commissioners staff uh my name is Dana King I live at 1746 41st Avenue I am a newcomer to Vero Beach I've been here two years this is my first time speaking before your body thank you and I would ask your Indulgence and the community's Indulgence that I speak on behalf of the gford neighborhood plan all of us who have spoken this morning have a little bit or a lot of gray hair but um I want to share an African greeting casan Anda it's a Swahili greeting that um is spoken by the Messiah Warriors and it means and how are the children it's a greeting that shows how valued the children are and if reflects the well-being of an entire Society in America we hold a very bright light up to our children proclaiming them to be our future but here in Indian River County how are the children doing while there are many wonderful activities and access to Nature available yes but I'm talking about their foundational well-being the school district is not even and never has been in compliance with the 6 7 deseg order which started in the courts in 64 which is 60 years ago children who look like me and many others in this room are still denied academic access and success on a past fail it's failure while it is not your issue to solve it is your problem as Community leaders specifically though in your wheelhouse housing gentrification and Redevelopment the 22-year-old gford neighborhood plan is so far a non-starter even though it claims a high percentage of completion it's 14 original objectives housing rehab housing demolition housing ownership sidewalks Street Scapes improvements for drainage and Street Maintenance with a final objective of employment how is that going does the gford community look like any other community here in Viro there are many scholarly studies that show that neighborhoods in which children grow shape their earnings College attendance rates marriage patterns and even fertility this information was taken directly from the quarterly Journal of Economics volume 133 that's how this opportunity for the gford neighborhood plan affects our children neighborhoods significantly determine our future wealthy housing developments are encircling gford Place matters American housing is more segregated today than a generation ago decades after the honorable California state legislator Byron Rumford wrote The Fair Housing Act which was then uh rolled into the Civil Rights Act there's still segregation redlining issues around housing gford is still separate and unequal and the neighborhood plan if updated and completed could help close the gap on this glaring disparity here in Vero so I will uh close by asking again Casey eron in Gira and how are the children thank thank you Commissioners Commissioners and to the public what I believe that while the gford neighborhood plan is the illustration of the concerns of the community what I'm hearing is the bigger concern of the community is their identity and having their identity protected as a community and respected and supported um there's a lot of concern and we've all heard this um the past several months gentri gentrification um encroachment lack of ability to protect and support and honor your history as a community um I can understand that coming while not the same felsmere and our longterm residents have some of the same concerns as growth is starting to happen out that way protecting your community and having a community that has roots is what keeps your community growing and what's makes you vibrant and when you feel that those things are being impacted or not understood or not listened to or cared about um frustration is not even the word to describe it it's more than that it's it hits at your heart and who you are and how you define yourselves so I appreciate you guys coming and sharing those thoughts I think it's something that everybody needs to hear not just the Commissioners and not just staff but the entirety of the County as well um because we have so many diverse neighborhoods and communities within our County some of them are Incorporated some of them are not Incorporated but each one of them has has their own flavor and color and their own history that needs to be protected and respected so what I would like to do um I know uh staff has been working on some possible new ideas to address some of the concerns with the neighborhood plan um maybe um other things that could or could not be added and kind of getting us to an update of where we are stumbling blocks and ways we can work together to move it forward faster so I don't think we're going to be able to resolve this today but what I would like to do is ask staff to bring back at one of the October meetings um an update and thoughts and ideas to address the concerns that we've heard here today um and I would ask that that happen in October so we're not putting it off and there is a date certain where everybody knows and we can work with u the progressive Civic Le to make sure everybody that's in attendance today is also able to be in attendance hopefully in October so we can continue the community conversation when we have um all that information that we can have that back and forth and we'll put it on I'll be I'll be happy to um if it's needed unless it needs to come unless it's okay to come at our departmental matter put it on as an agenda item where we can have a robust discussion and make um some motions and and whatever might need to happen to move it forward okay is that sound good is that agreeable yes commissioner MOS um I I'd be happy to work on it I spent a lot of time in gford I was there on Sunday it was the 70th anniversary of Pastor Etha May Brown of the Church of God Tabernacle and spent hours and it was it was incredibly inspiring so I'm very happy to work on this I mean honestly for a plan that is more than 20 years old I think it's shocking that so little has been done um I can understand the anger that so little has been done but I don't think it should be directed toward people who have been here only a year when it's the plan has been around more than 20 years I mean in all fairness so I would add ask that everyone both sides enter into this partnership and I would like it to be that um with Good Will and in good faith I don't like I said I don't know what happened more than 20 years ago but obviously there was not a lot of progress made and while I've been here um no one none of the Commissioners brought anything forward to uh to our agenda on the gford neighborhood plan so it would be my pleasure to work with you on this and thank you for being here today M of Care thank yes commissioner pleasure no more inaccurate statement could have been made there was a lot of improvement enhancement with the GI neighborhood plan over those 20 years uh specifically from 14 to uh 20 uh I think uh it is very inaccurate because all action has stopped has stopped on the GI neighborhood plan since the departure of rich bka and then it only catalyzed when we started to lose all of the other institutional knowledge because there was a lack of interest to be committed to what we were committed to that's the issue so that was very inaccurate by the way because there was much done early on well and it kep on going that's fine we'll include a timeline in October then would that be that be the best way we've lost a few years here and we will gain them back okay I think this is a good illustration of why we need to have a conversation in October not only to educate ourselves who may not have been here and involved but to hear the feedback that we need to hear about where the community wants to go so again we're not going to resolve this issue today but I do commit that we will have that conversation in October staff will be prepared to talk about what we have done what is still outstanding why some of those things are outstanding I think what is outstanding is some of the heavier lift items the the infrastructure the side there those types of things which I agree money shouldn't be be all and all of while it's not happening but I think it's part of why part of what we need to understand because moving it Forward is going to take policy and budget decisions and at the end of the day we are the five people that make the decisions on policy and budget so if it's something that we want to move forward then it's on us to put it in the budget and that's just the way it is so with that yes Mr Brown uh I would be remiss if I didn't address something uh uh commissioner M said we've had relationships I don't think you heard me disrespected dismissed plated please hear me you're asking us to enter into something where we don't see feel that a relationship is possible hear me dismissive plated and insulted that was our last two meetings and I'll leave it at that thank you uh Madam chair thank you all right with that Commissioners we'll have that scheduled in October um and I think we are due for a five minute recess e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e we're going to go ahead and call the meeting back to order next item is public notice items Mrs pra thank you I apologize the board of County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Tuesday September 24th 2024 at 9:05 a.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard to consider adopting the following an assessment resolution of the board of County commissioners of Indian River County Florida authorizing and adopting a non- adalm special assessment within the county limits for the purpose of benefiting assessed properties through enhanced Medicaid payments for local Services finding and determining that certain real property is specially benefited by the assessment collecting the assessment against the real property establishing a public hearing to consider imposition of the proposed assessment and the method of its collections authorizing and directing the publication of notices in connection therewith providing for creation other authorizations and delegations of authority as necessary and providing an effective date and this is for the public notice for September 24th 2024 to consider a resolution adopting a non-ad arm special assessment role on hospitals for the local provider participation fund thank you and I believe we have another public notice item yes we do commissioner thank you the second public notice item is notice of scheduled public hearing to discuss and improve a resolution adopting new utility rates and fees on July 2nd 2024 the board of County Commissioners scheduled a public hearing to discuss and approve a resolution adopting new utility rates and fees effect of January 1st 2025 the scheduled public hearing provides inan River County Department of utilities customers an opportunity to comment on the new utility rates and fees the public hearing will be held in the County Commission Chambers during the regularly scheduled meeting on September 24th 2024 at 9:00 a.m. the board of County Commissioners held a rate study workshop on August 22nd 2024 um and it's reading that this notice be issued and that there's no action at this time necessary by the board thank you Commissioners thank you all right with that we will move on to County administrators matters first up is 11a Second Amendment to the collective bargaining agreement between the International Association of firefighters firefighters local 2201 IA and the Indian miver County Emergency Services District providing for General wage increase yes Madam chair members of the board uh this item is uh this is the third year of an existing contract and the only article that was open for negotiation was the wage article and following a meeting with the board uh we met with the iff on two occasions and uh we have had come to an agreement for a 10% wage increase uh the total cost of the wage AG increase including benefits is $3.3 million those funds are budgeted and available in the emergency services District budget and so staff's recommendation and that I will say that the the union has ratified that uh agreement and so staff recommends approval of a 10% wage increase for employees represented by the International Association of firefighters local 2201 effective the First full pay period in October 2024 and request the board authorized the chair to sign the Second Amendment to the October 1st 2020 2022 Collective bargain agreement article 34 salaries providing for the general wage increase return it to the board for discussion Commissioners is there any questions comments or concerns no motion you already have one oh I'm sorry I did I didn't hear who I made motion and D okay there is a motion by commissioner flesher with a second by commissioner lure all in favor opposed motion carries Chief did you want to say anything I just want to thank the commission for uh approving this this will help us immensely with our retention and our attracting other candidates from around the Treasure Coast and Beyond um I would like to thank the union for their support of this and for ratifying it and for the County Administrator for suggesting it uh it was a team effort and it good things will be done with this for the future so thank you very much thank you Kristen do you want to good morning everybody uh I just wanted to come up and thank each and every one of you on behalf of the membership of any River firefighters for our general wage increase you are definitely showing us your commitment to us um as a department in our future so we just want to thank all of you for for doing that thank you all right thank you guys so much we look forward to um continuing to work together yes all right and hopefully not call yes the idea is not to call them in in in a good way all right the next item is departmental matters Human Resources 12 C1 approval of implementation of compensation and classification study for nonunion and exempt employees effective October 4th 2020 24 Suzanne welcome yes thank you Commissioners Suzanne Bole Human Resources Director I do have Ali Crumpler uh on the call as well uh if there are any questions that come up um would you like us to go through a similar presentation or are there any questions that you have I think each of you are pretty versed with the compensation study I can give a brief overview if you'd like I think a brief overview would be fine we've all seen it multiple times and unless something magical has changed changed we should be able to just get a overview it has not but uh this this study uh began the project kicked off back in October of 2023 so it has been almost an entire budget year um the study involved a lot of data that we provided to Evergreen Solutions uh employee data pay plan data um uh our contracts our our Personnel policies they did an analysis they did a Outreach to our employee we had survey participation um over 60 some per of our employees participated uh we had a large number of our employees that completed job assessment questionnaires asking for specific information about their duties and responsibilities of their position and all that information was amassed by um Evergreen and analyzed and then they went out to Market uh study and they uh marketed our pay plan with other pay plans and gave us an analysis of where we stood in relation to these 19 other peer groups um interestingly enough um our cost of living in Indian River County out of these 19 uh for Indian River County were the third highest so all of the market data was adjusted for cost of living so that we could get numbers that would be relevant to the people that uh live and work here as well as people who might be wanting to move to this area and uh for us to have competitive pay plans so with that they uh provided a final recommended study uh we are uh Evergreen is recommending that we uh move to three pay plans a general pay plan for our non-union employees uh that are paid hourly our Teamsters or labor pay plan which is for our blueco collar employees who are represented by the teamsters um Union and our exempt pay plan which is our salaried professional pay plan and um with that uh they have implemented implementation of pay plans with a and I'm I'm very pleased to say that our starting rate of pay for our full-time employees uh the hourly rate will be at a minimum of $15.75 an hour and go up from there to a variety of different pay grades that are in each of those plans uh providing for a 60% Market competitiveness for us to recruit and retain uh qualified Personnel in looking at uh the implementation of this we have over 700 employees those that aren't represented by the fire Union that you just just adopted that General wage increase but all of the other employees um out of that group the teamsters group we're still under negotiations with them we have presented the plan to them we have an oral agreement for uh that but we do need to meet with them again to uh solidify and get agreement and then bring that back to the board so what's before you today is implementation for the non-union employees which are your uh General employees and your exempt employees as well as uh a recommendation for a general wage increase for um our contract employees that are also a part of our our plan um the recommendation for the pay plan is uh for our hourly employees uh we are recommending that the um implementation occur and that employees receive either a $11.75 hourly increase or 6% uh increase whichever is greater or get pulled into the pay plan based on their time and position and their payg grade penetration which is a little complicated but um we've explained that previously how that calculation Works what that means is that um our employees will receive anywhere from a 6% to a 15% increase in their adjustment to pull them into these new competitive pay ranges and we really believe that's going to help us with Recruitment and reten for our exempt employees kind of a similar thing but the minimum amount would be a 6% kept at 7 and a half% allowing us again to recruit and retain and pull people into these new pay plans and then for our department heads were recommending a minimum of a 4% increase up to a 6% increase as determined by the uh County Administrator and then for our contract employees we are recommending a 4% ener wage increase under the terms of their agreement and that's the uh implementation plan that's before you today Commissioners do you have any questions comments or concerns um the only thing that I would ask is I know as we go through this and and it starts rolling out and being implemented there are going to be anomalies I know we anticipated that um that all along we've anticipated that there's going to be somebody or some you know a group that may be not classified correctly or a band or job that needs to be adjusted and we did set aside dollars specific to that so correct if everybody wants to move forward with implementing this and we have a motion I would just ask that it is it allows for when those anomalies to arise for the department head the assistant and Deputy Administrator HR and John to get together and work those out um so so we're not hamstringing it but we can move it along and then address those as they arise that sounds like a great motion and since you can't make a motion why why not make it now do that that's your motion all right we have a motion's flexibility and gives good direction and guidance thank you all right there is a motion by commissioner flesher with a second by commissioner Ean any further discussion from the Commissioners anybody from the public seeing none all in favor opposed motion carries thank you very much you all right the next item is planning and development services Indian River Mall Redevelopment items thank you so much welcome Ryan uh thank you madam chair are members of the board for the record Ryan Sweeney assistant planning and development services director um we have been approached by a a recent purchaser of three of the five parcels and actually let me just hop right in so for those of you most of you are probably familiar with the mall but you may not actually realize that the mall itself is five separate uh fee Parcels what I refer to as the common area which is the you know the food court a lot of the shopping uh way the the the uh movie theater is the common area parcel and then each of the four department stores are separate Parcels the former Macy's the former Sears the existing JC Penney and The Dillards uh DTS properties which is a real estate developer has recently purchased over the past year three of the five parcels and has approached us to um begin discussions about sort of comprehensive Redevelopment of the overall Mall property uh phase one is really to to demo uh portions of the existing common area of the mall a portion of the theater but to keep a to keep a portion of the theater and to redevelop generally with things that are already in keeping with that type of uh area big box um retail some smaller tenant space uh retail but in phases two and three they are proposing um a hotel uh like a resort hotel um some residential and a potentially some institutional uses like a private school or perhaps even a medical clinic type item so there are two items that came about uh at the uh formal pre-application conference that we had July 8th of this year um just month and a half ago and the two major issues are that the mall itself and I'll go back not to jump around the mall itself and the surrounding out Parcels has an RC Regional commercial future land use designation is uh completely unique to just the mall it's the only the only properties in the entire County that has the RC designation the RC designation was created specifically for basically a regional shopping mall um and is limited to basically those big box Regional type tenants and users um no additional uses are allowed uh including residential institutional or lodging so the first item or issue that was Rec was identified that would require a formal comp plan text Amendment would be to amend the RC future land use designation to allow these additional uses now over the past 20 or so years malls have brought on different and new types of uses to generate um I I don't want to say traffic but to kind of synergy amongst um the existing sort of old school um Regional Mall um so the applicant would like to request to move forward with a formal comprehensive plan text amendment to allow multif family residential up to8 units prer which is uh consistent with what we allow right now in our CI land use which is the our other General commercial industrial use hotels and motels or lodging and institutional uses including private schools or or medical facilities so that would be item number one and I I will at I'm not asking for a sort of a formal motion but I am asking for consensus and I want to take um each item separately just just a differentiate the second item is a request specifically for the hotel uh to have an increase in maximum Building height um when we first discussed we talked about something considerably taller that I think staff right out of the gates said that's not going to fly here uh but through additional negotiations or discussions um we've kind of landed at roughly 45 ft of interior Building height which would accommodate four stories and then we do allow Even in our current code with the 35 H requirement U 15 additional feet for elevator shafts and other apperences on top of the of the roof so to speak screening devices so we're talking about essentially they're requesting a a 10-ft increase height specific to the mall area so again it be it would just be narrowly focused on that area um and it would only be a 10- foot increase and that would require not a comp plan uh change but it would require an ldr amendment two separate items um but they are requesting that you know we get consensus on both items so with that um staff's recommendation is that you consider the two two items the two changes one is a complant Amendment for the RC land use the allowable uses within those that L use designation and the second is a separate ldr amendment to create a very specific height exclusion Zone uh for the mall area and the details will come out in the various Amendment processes thank you all right Commissioners do you have any question yes commissioner Moss yes um so 45 feet is that what they're requesting because here it says they're amendable to it what is that actually what they're requesting that is what we are seeking consens this on right now it's 45 ft 45 ft okay and see on the um what we come back to us or will it come back to us I guess is what I'm asking those changes sure so two separate processes that would follow different timelines the comprehensive plan tax amendment follow is a lengthier process because it it requires public hearings by both the pnz and the board but also a state transmitt uh and that's just the uses the residential institutional and lodging the the comp or the height text amendment is only an ldr text Amendment so that's just pnz board and that does not require a state review component um but we would probably try to run the two as as parallel as we we could we wouldn't want to go with one without the other and it would it would come back to you in a detail with a with a staff report and and again we would build in uh we we would like to build in compatibility measures additional setback so we're not having that 45 ft right on the edge of the perimeter and it's limited to this area this is a is a special zoning very specific very unique to just this area we are not talking about revisiting the height the the typical 35t height requirement across the county okay thank you commissioner fleser and then commissioner uh it sounds like they they're pretty aggressive on their desires um you know we we're known as the a sunrise County not not a high-rise County and there have been exceptions we have the Distribution Center uh we have a hospital uh and we have a location on the beach side as well it sounds to me as height creep um that's just from my standpoint uh we have had uh since since the mall has been where it's at right now which is now it's not there um but there have been some developments like the Aspire and other housing components on State Road 60 that have complied with the height requirements and have done so fashionably uh there's a waiting list for some of these locations uh so you build it and they're coming um so I believe that and they conform to the height requirements that exist I believe that they should conform with the height requirements that exist that's just me speaking now I don't know if we need to go through that process we've said no to others and now because it's the mall and a uh re-energizing of that property uh which granted they it is a a high tax rate area what is like a million dollars a year that they pay in taxes um you know we appreciate that uh I think they could do so the same way conforming to the height requirements that we have now quite frankly we we couldn't build the CVS location hour authorize it now because because they just don't make them that low anymore so and if we're looking at other opportunities uh maybe perhaps out out west of town where things are developing but all of the other hotels have have done so well with our requirements now I don't I don't see a reason to change that at this time it's a it is a lengthy process too we have to f it's got to go up it's got to come back we have to vote on it again so uh consensus now just as one I don't agree with raising the height requirement I just wanted to be clear I am seeking consensus on two separate items the the uses which is to allow the residential hotel and institutional at the existing height would be one would be item one and then the increased height would be item to the uses don't exist for that specific area correct however it's not Z for it but the uses have existed and are are rather compatible on State Road 60 uh and we also have had a mall that has turned into uh larger portion of a church uh over the years because of the economic uh environment uh and it's done fashionably well so uh there's plenty of space and I agree with that but the height I don't agree with well I think the church is building a new church and we'll be moving but just for clarification Ryan we're gonna I want to take these two separately yes please okay so the first item that you were asking us for consensus on please summarize that yes uh here if we pull back up the we got AIT there we go oh sorry here all right so item one is to is a comprehensive plan Amendment text amendment to allow additional uses within the RC land use okay so Commissioners the conversation right now and we can get into the other conversation but for right now put that back up Kim uh I think it's the broadcast oh thank you is to amend the RC Regional commercial future land use designation and the County's comprehensive plan to allow multifam residential up to eight units per acre hotels and motel and institutional uses as additional permitted uses within the regional commercial land use for this specific property would we be amenable to having that conversation this is not going to lock Us in to a decision but would we be willing to entertain that conversation to change the County's compr hensive plan I think before we go down this longer process Road Ryan is trying to kind of get reasonable understanding of if it's even worth it or not so we don't waste everybody's time and money yes precisely so on that issue are you guys we'll get into the height in a second but where does everybody stand on item one Madam chair is this right how many RC's do we have in the in the county only one this just this map so it's the mall the five parcel them allall and then some of the larger tenant spaces like the the pet store the furniture store it's just the pink if you look in front so this is this is different than the let's say the outlet mall correct okay um what bearing of any do you see and I know it's early in the uh urban service boundary study that we're doing now I I don't see any bearing on on that for this right and Madam chair I don't have a problem with this section of it okay because of the uh overall condition of the mall area the chatter that we've all heard about what's going to happen at the mall and what type of economic stimulus can we have one other question Ryan when you mentioned uh institution or the school uh does the school have any uh any leverage at all in this in this RC equation in other words it's allowed but does that add any extra benefit to move this along Madam chair commissioner l i i i don't believe so I mean it's just a a potential tenant that they could have to to have more than likely a private school okay in other words they don't have a a tenant they've beened that they've been soliciting I think that they're trying to figure out where they could position the property and then figure out from a phasing aspect what they could could kind of do with it but trying to put the property in the best position to redevelop of a pre to the pre correct they're asking for some additional uses but without asking for a complete change to CI yeah I was on the initial phone call from the representative of of the company and passed it on to Ryan and Andy at the time with regards to this and these were some of the questions that they they they they did ask us at the beginning about you know where we're going to go we're going to do with about height limits about having U you know apartments or livein space there and even a hotel and things were discussed at that time and then we had the same conversation get with staff work this out go over it look it over you know come back with for more conversations and I was involved in a couple of these but I I certainly wasn't involved back in the July um conversation they had a vision they presented us with a rough sight plan correct it was a really rough sight plan they PL they presented us with that Vision with regards to to where they wanted to go with this how they wanted to go to to um redo the entrances how they wanted to work on the area the front of State Road 60 what what land they had or were going to purchase to make it to visually enticing for people to come in and we were all very impressed with that and they did as this question about you know the the housing thing you know because you got to have in in this new area you got to think outside the box a little bit and in regards to this they were thinking about if people live around the area that would come to the mall it would it would bring more more business in there in this redesign of the mall I think we're in a good position Now by giving a consensus to staff of where to go with this in the future right now with this with item one I think it's something we should uh reach a consensus on and have staff use it as as further negotiating tools to what we're going to do so like you said Madam chairman so they can figure out what their uses are and what their uses aren't I know since I've been a commissioner I have heard in the mall is in my district it shoots up that's about the only thing across 60 that shoots up in my district past the Vero Beach City Limits and the word has been on the street with everybody what are we going to do about the mall the mall's got to be done we got to have something any County deserves better we deserve to do this so I you know that these people have a vision and I think we need to become Partners in this with them as to how we're going to do it and how we're going to work as long as we're following the rules and regulations and to think outside the box in this a little bit is not is not a lot to ask so I'm actually in favor of supporting item one all right so it sounds like I'm sorry commission yeah no just going to comment on it um I I am as well uh this this is actually it's new for us but uh in terms of the country this is a wellestablished pattern of taking malls that no longer are functioning as malls and repurposing them if you will and creating residential space recreational space retail space a combination of uh spaces for different purposes and what what I've read are quite a number of success stories this was uh in the Wall Street Journal and it's it's been for years now so while it might be new to us it's not new and I've read many success stories so I would definitely say yes to this all right so it sounds like item one we have consensus to move forward all right pull it back up so we can see item two item two now I would like everybody to talk about the in to increase the maximum Building height within the RC future land use designation limited to only the current exis mall area and with the specifics of the height exception area would be further defined during the formal ldr amendment process so basically would we even entertain a conversation about a height increase specific to the existing Mall um with how that's defined and what we might be able to leverage in exchange for the height increase defined during the amendment process is that correct yes with you know they say the devils are in the details but the yeah with the specifics to come out through the formal process but if it's a non-starter then it's a non-starter as well correct Ryan the newly built condominiums to the north on the north side of 26 how tall are those so everything the the apartments further to the West there's there's actually a mixture of apartments and other uses being currently built right now to the north everything meets the 35 foot and just to be clear the building height definition is interior finished ceiling height so there is a little bit there's a few feet above 35 that that you see from the outside um but everything that's been approved or built in the last 10 years or more well for you know 30 years has been 35 ft minus the distribution center right and and again this would be just inclusive of this particular RC area correct which is the only area and the only one so you know we can and this could be part of the conversation and negotiation is as we can require if they want something different like an extra Building height that it has to be tied to affordable housing or it has to be tied to other types of things so you know I think are the question is are we even willing to entertain it so precisely yes the yeah the specifics of it will be worked out I it's really is it even a thumbs up or a thumb down one thing about height is it very rarely presents itself to be affordable housing if affordable housing exists in the cost of infrastructure and application it probably would not be able to give us the opportunity to have affordable type housing if the word affordable housing exists well I I would beg to differ um there has been conversations at ahac and there's been conversations at the affordable housing conference that I just went to where other places are doing the same thing if you want a height bonus or you want something of that nature then a specific percentage of your development has to be at an affordable range which just set by the county through the ship program so yes I I'm not saying they get it and then there's no drawbacks or there's no oversight but what I'm saying is if it's a conversation that you guys are willing to have and the concern is you don't want to see it just riddled through the community or not tied to some kind of deliverable that we want to see it could be tied to other public benefits I mean we do some things like this not height bonuses but other things for p um puds setback reductions lot size reductions yeah lot size reduction setbacks all sorts of different things so it's there can be a uh a give and a take I don't think I think if the height is something that they want and we're interested in entertaining it I think it needs to be tied to something that we want they want something why I want something in return so I'm just saying and if that that's a conversation that we want to have then or if it's a no-o from the beginning that's fine too and Ryan will just say nope you're at where you're Atman so mam chairman I I mean I'm not saying that I'm going to vote for anything but I'm saying if they want to spend their money and roll the dice based on how this conversation is to go through that process of changing just be aware that I'm going to want something in return chairman this they do when we had those first few meetings that I was involved in this was a topic that came up and and uh and and Ryan and Andy stood firm they say they explained as he explained here what our what our requirements are with the housing and they understood that they said you know to make it uh financially worth their while they they would need the the four story but they weren't if I'm correct me if I'm wrong they weren't committed that a hotel was the complete answer yet that was pretty much you know maybe a hotel maybe not we don't know yet depending on market analysis of stuff like that um I don't have any problem with this I agree with what you say I think maybe there could be a give and take there but I'm not willing to end this deal with these developers because they have and let me regress when I first got the call and we had the first meeting we were all apprehensive staff is apprehensive and I was apprehensive of how how or you know is this just somebody just feeling us out to see where we're going on the mall well Money Talks they started spending money they spent 14 almost $15 million so far that was a big plus they continue to contacts they continue to to work with us um I think we need to think outside the box here again I think the people of any River County want a place to go for shopping Recreation dining whatever the case may be and I think there could be a give and take here on that but I'm not willing to risk keeping the 10 keeping 10 foot from from from nixing this deal if that's what it means without us trying to negotiate some something in the people of in River County want this area to be redeveloped I think we have an opportunity to and I'm not going to haggle over 10 ft I'm okay with the 45 limit because it's specific this area and it's something that needs to be done but yet Madam chairman I do agree with you I think it's something we need to have a long conversation with about and I'm okay with giving staff permission to to work with this numberer m um yes giving the history um of the mall and its stay for quite a number of years now um I I think I I agree most closely with uh Madame chair that I'm willing to consider um H because this is a a special zoning area we're not changing anything in a large scale um territory so that being said um in exchange for however they might want to incentivize it so what I'm hearing is we're willing to have the conversation but we're not necessarily sold and willing to do it and that they can take that and make their decision on if they want to follow through with that they can proceed with caution correct and it's not a guarantee but it's also not not so I I have what I need you have what you need okay fantastic thank you all right with that we'll move on to Utility Services spoon Bill Marsh intake Pump Station electric power cable replacement this is very long of bid requirements and awards and thank you now that you're here you can take it over welcome thank you Howard Richards manager of capital projects Utility Services uh spoon build March filters brine solution from Hobart um water treatment plant uh by blending it with water from the Lagoon that is pumped in from an onside Pump Station sometime around October of last year the power cable feed in that that uh Pump Station failed due to deteriorating conditions so due to the importance of the pump station staff immediately had to go out and rent a generator to supply temporary power while at the same time we commenced an urgent project to um replace the cable the permitting process uh to replace the cable took took a lot longer than we were anticipating so while we're going through that permit in process staff um went out and solicit bids from two contractors one bid came in significantly higher than what was considered reasonable for uh the type of work to be performed the second contractor uh Paragon electric was a lower bid uh for $601,000 for an open trench construction and $425,000 for directional boore which is um what is currently permitted uh to be done so in the interest of time and cost staff is requesting to wave the bid requirements and award U to Paragon for $425,500 uh for additional permittance services and also to authorize staff to spend up to an additional $85,000 $85,000 76 for additional costs that may arise um due to unforeseen conditions in construction thank you for your consideration thank you Commissioners questions comments concerns all right I have a motion by commissioner Ean with a second by commissioner Moore I'm lore I'm sorry I do know your name I apologize I know the caffeine is starting to wear off I apologize is there anybody from the public all right seeing none all in favor opposed motion carries thank you thank you all right Commissioners the next item is um under my matters and some of you may or may not know but I've been in a leadership position with the association of counties for several years now um their second VP everybody moves up for second goes to first and then to president-elect and then to president um their newly elected second VP did not get reelected in his campaign um in the primary so there is an open second VP spot for the association of counties that I would like to um um run for but it does require that I have the support of the commission because in subsequent years it might require um some time away and travel um so I would like to ask for your support all you need and I am so supportive thank you I appreciate that that a that a motion you have my vote I'll be glad to because I see her work that group up there and she's absolutely fabulous is well respected they listen to her she knows all the players yep and U without a doubt you have think you need a motion to to consensus you got it all right I appreciate that thank you guys got everybody all right um I appreciate that thank you so much for your support I think the next item is going to be a little bit longer so for everybody's sake I'm going to take another break just five minutes thanks for e e e e e e e e e e e we're going to go ahead and call the meeting back to order with that we will move on to commissioner lore's matters commissioner lore uh thank you madam chair uh this is a a topic that I've been wanting to bring up for the last few months uh I let our County Administrator know I believe it was on August 12th that I would be placing this on the agenda um and not even modern days but going back decades uh a CEO of a of an agency or a company or a nonprofit or or a bank for that matter typically has his or her board of directors uh briefed on their on their progress in fact many times uh there's a self appraisal self an analysis that is provided to said board of directors or whomever uh in past years this has not been a practice in eding River County in fact really the only dialogue publicly that we have with the administrator is either his or her budget statement Andor a renewal of their contract and our current position with Mr tanic is a is a three-year contract I do want to say this in that um part of my discussion today will include hopefully with support from the other Commissioners uh that we do have uh some type of updates either quarterly or uh certainly greater than U by anually updates from our not only our attorney but our County Administrator I think that makes a healthy environment also think it uh it helps our employees know the direction our County Administrator and our directors and our department heads are sometimes strapped and sometimes they don't have the opportunity to get out and about and let the employees know what the temperature of the county is I will say this um going back several decades uh with respect to our County administrators from uh Jim Chandler uh to Joe bear to Jason Brown one thing that the three of those had in common uh were they were from the budget director's standpoint so that might not seem like a lot but when we think friends about budget directors becoming County administrators uh obviously with one uh particular background I think that's important to note uh in 2023 when we hired Mr tanic I think all five of us knew that his background um albeit uh budget director and ultimately in in Coco but as important had a background not only in Community Development but in other areas of running an agency albeit not the size of this agency in Coco uh and his role in St Lucy County but I will add uh that compared to the other previous budget director administrators I do think that he more than likely had a greater understanding of some of the things that go down uh throughout the agency particularly uh in Community Development and more specifically in our U Building Division uh we've all had emails we've all had phone calls uh of frustration uh me being the rookie on this dis I can tell you um I do get a lot of complaints over over our Building Division I think some call a department one in fact it's Division I will tell you we do have plans um in the future uh and I know some of our our our friends that are in the audience are at a point of frustration simply put uh that is their livelihood and when they are told uh get back with us in a week two weeks three weeks sometimes months in a few instan a few years uh that affects their livelihood and we as a body are tasked and commissioned uh to oversee not only the administrator uh but the attorney we're not tasked or charged with overseeing uh the building division Parks and Recreation and the like our sole responsibility is to create set policies and approve an annual budget our responsibility is not to manage the building director the Community Development Department parks and wreck that's not our job our job is strictly defined as and and uh that is what we should be tasked with so coming forward I as mentioned I brought this to the County Administrator attention a while back and I've asked him to uh describe and explain to us some of the successes that he's had in uh 16 17 months uh and more importantly uh some of the challenges that he has had perhaps some of the challenges with Personnel issues some of the successes that we've had and uh what we can expect in the future uh we've heard some things already today uh that I had uh no anticipation of of some of the uh some of the comments but I will say that um this is a healthy discussion it's something that is overdue and something that has to happen additionally I will say that uh the relationship that I have experienced with uh the County Administrator and the County Attorney County Attorney's Office uh have not been Stellar uh in fact um several months ago I had the former County attorney and the County Administrator in my office um as three gentleman and I uh specifically said um we can do better gentlemen we started the conversation with we can do better and we ended the conversation with we can do better now some would say what's the big deal with the administrator and the attorney's relationship well friends it is a big deal because those are the only ones that this body controls their contract and their employment obviously uh I do know that there's areas of improvement there whether it be personality conflicts on either side don't know uh but we do know that that's one area that needs upon Improvement before I allow the uh uh the administ ministrator um to explain some of these things I also want to U mention that in this process of when we uh ultimately hired Mr tanic he provided a a six-month uh goals and accomplishments this was prior to being hired uh and some of the things uh are obvious meet with the county commissioner meet with the assistant administrator the County Attorney the constitutionals and the like but one thing uh that sticks out um talks about meeting with businesses and representatives of the community um and I do think that's an area where we can approve we've heard uh this morning about a particular community that that feels as if perhaps they weren't U communicated with accurately Andor with respect also would like to say that meeting with uh Community leaders and uh Community uh employers large employers small employers uh from the construction trade to the parks trade whatever the trade is doesn't mean that you meet with them when they are frustrated and aggravated meeting with them means meeting them and talking to them on a level basis no one wants to have a meeting with somebody that's upset that doesn't in my book count as one of your first six months accomplishments of meeting with Community Partners uh that's more of a complain session than a meeting uh I do feel with conversations that I've had with the administrator that he's well aware of these uh and for the public to know uh each commissioner meets with the administrator every Monday uh whether we have a meeting or not we meet and we discuss a lot of things I will say that there are some followup issues uh that have me frustrated as one commissioner on some things that I would uh contribute to be uh whether a lack of communication with staff uh up and down or I should say down in his case uh and those things need to be rectified and we need to move forward in a positive direction I'll also say uh that this exercise today needs to continue and hopefully to reiterate that this will continue we have a brand new attorney that starts um well that will be here Monday believe the 16th and that's healthy for an organization but for us to thrive like any board of directors we have to have feedback from our CEO absent lack from information from our CEO uh we are going to find ourselves in a position where either we're uh continuing backpedaling or perhaps looking for a new CEO uh and that is up for discussion today so with that uh Mr administrator I know you've had an opportunity to talk about some of the things that I've described and and I think myself our employees at this wonderful agency and the public would love to hear from you sir sir thank you commissioner lore um I just want to start off with immed think early on you know as we discussed and I met with each of you I kind of got some of your goals and objectives and your what you would like to accomplish and one of the things that we start off with is undertaking an organizational assessment and evaluating you know the potential reorganization one of the things that I mentioned during the U during uh my interview and then evaluating Personnel changes we obviously did the organization during last year where we narrowed the focus uh from by taking certain functions out of Public Works taking certain functions out of uh out of uh plan then Community Development Services and we created the natural resource department to provide a more focused approach on those issues within that department uh we did the same with uh Community Services um in terms of the Human Services uh Children's Services Housing Services uh veteran services and then libraries so we did that uh we also uh proposed and you all approved and we hired a new uh assistant County administrator over development and uh infrastructure services and that the Departments that report to that position are natural natural resources uh Planning Development Services Public Works uh Utility Services Utility Services uh we also authorized a uh County Administration in a budsman uh that position was hired uh they didn't start till like late I think it was July so uh and they are working right now I mean they're working with helping out our business and communities they've actually been working with all the Departments and kind of if they get a question or comment from somebody regarding a a permit or process trying to assist those as well as looking at some of our processes they took over the you know we retained a consultant to evaluate the development review process and they took over that responsibility to kind of land that we've got a final draft uh last week uh with some recommendations and we're just waiting on a final meeting with uh PE s Consulting to then get the the the draft I mean the final document and and I'll provide that to each of you uh the other thing we I mentioned the Natural Resources Director we filled that position and then the Public Works director position obviously that position opened up uh there's a change there and uh it took us a little bit longer than we anticipated you know but as I you know I'm just kind of to be honest I'm just reviewing some of the items I sent in my April 25th email year in review um that we needed the right person you know and recently we hired uh and they started we actually hired them about two months ago but we AI haved who started this past week so the driving force I guess you know when I look at that and one of in listening to because one of the things that I did is I also met with members of the community in terms of some of the some individuals provided me people that were having frustration and then I would talk to them on a a privileged basis if you will then get their understanding whether they were a builder contractor developer or whatever the case might be and then I would ask them well who else should I speak with and we started so I could start getting an understanding and as I kind of got more of an understanding that's where I felt we we needed to go a little bit deeper and that's why you know we came talk to each of the board members and we retained PSS PES Consulting to help us go further and they and they did that they took it a step further in terms of continuing to interview but also reaching out and talking with staff so uh the the other components I would say we obviously we've been focused on I know we've done some of the Strategic plan we're not completely there yet I think there's some organizational capacity issues that we're working on in terms of as we our goal teams are working on developing objectives and strategies and then I would say but we do have our mission our uh our values and we have our goals that have been established and our teams are working and uh it just taking a little longer than because we want to get it right uh customer service is a big issue city of Aro Beach they've expressed it uh other people that have met with me when before uh Nancy joined us you know I was the one taking the calls from upset you know customers and then follow or getting a call from maybe one of you about a matter and I would follow up with the appropriate departments and try to run that kind of focused on the Urgent rather than the more important things that were for long-term health of the organization but we did that and now with Nancy on board and Amber to be quite honest it's actually provided a little bit of you know uh a breather but you know we have you know from the city of ver Beach held two meetings about the the the County's building permit process uh there was a topic in The Joint City County meeting and so we challenged the department you know to identify potential Solutions system look at their systems their processes and uh and that's what we've been working on uh We've also looked at it uh you know now that we have a public works director uh we recently I mean in terms of one of it you know people process culture the people I mean the organization you know I've heard the term it was undernourished I some sometimes I think the lean led to malnourishment you know we never stepped back up and increased as the as the community was growing and we have several single points of failure and we were trying to address those as we identify those uh but we uh the County engineer that position is is uh the offer has been made the person has accepted and then one position land development manager which was over in public works and look you know handled those that were doing the reviews and storm War stuff like that that was abandoned by the the former director and we brought it back because we thought that was important and everything didn't have to flow up to the director in order to come back down we needed to have some levels uh this year you know with building facility and services that was noted in budget the idea is and I'll use 21st Amendment as an example uh Jeff went went through a painful experience and a costly experience in dealing with both fire and uh building and um to be I mean it was just really painful because I he designed this project based on one code as he was expressed and then goes to submit his building permit and then there's a disagreement between the building code and the fire code meantime he already designed everything and and so he had to go back out I mean he shared that story uh it obviously it made headlines and uh I know with uh commissioner Erman myself uh actually commissioner Moss was there as well with uh and just listening to the uh proprietor share his story that's how we're going to learn and you know to get better fail fail forward is what we're kind of trying to tell people to do if you're going to fail we need to fail forward we find something we need to kind of address it you know ask why we're doing something we want to try to R eliminate the redundancy eliminate uh the inefficiency in our in our processes first we have to be effective then we can be efficient so uh I would say for as it relates to customer service I I've shared this uh the county spent sent more than 650 of our employees or not sent but participated in online customer service training with just this past week uh roughly 300 employees participated in uh onsite in person facilitated customer service training because you know the County's mission is serving or dedicated to Indian River County through service Excellence so that service excellent needs go throughout the entire organization so we have been pushing you know that reminding people and sharing with people public service just customer service you know it's it's that's just the at the Crux of it and I think there's a little bit of a cultural change and I think the report that I'll provide you you know later today will reveal some of those sentiments from our customers uh one of the things we do we also been investing in our program uh our leadership team and some others by putting them through a a high performance leadership program that's highly acclaimed recognized by niik uh an icma and we have a total of um we have nine I believe that have graduated and six more that are in it and we have money fund budgets F uh funds budgeted for next year and we're not just doing directors we're actually doing we've got managers and we've got program managers in there we've done that and that's kind of consistent with investing in those employees uh we changed the policy you know as it related to the designation of certain employees to in order to be held accountable because as we discussed at a previous meeting employees were afforded back in 2010 I believe you know property rights uh in terms of you know 14th Amendment due process protection they were literally conferred property rights to their jobs so we identified we didn't do like the state did and some others have done I mean we're unique in that sense in terms of like our employees not being at will so we identified anybody that manages a program or manages people and we brought them if you recall to the to the board and we reclassified or redesignated them we provided them notice we get provided meetings for them in advance and then we so we've done that uh and we have not implemented that at will policy to date so uh future actions um I think I covered some of that so I mentioned the Strategic plan I think one of the things and I share this in the message and at the state of the county last year has been a year of planning I mean some of it walked into it the the brochure I looked at that the recruitment brochure and it talked about the need for planning for infrastructure for the the future of the community so we invested in that we we have I mean in terms of the evaluation appraisal report came in expanded that scope so we could go out and do six public meetings and also have online that didn't if you recall I brought we brought a specific agenda item back before the board that did that and also did the data analysis and the population projections and things that should have been included that were not um the urban service area study and obviously that's in that was also mentioned in the uh in the as one of the challenges in the recruitment brochure and so that study I'm expecting to receive a draft of it uh this week uh so the par the parks recreation impact fee study that's five years since one has been done uh the utility rate study as you know we you we discussed I mean it's 20 years 20 plus years and the CPI rate is for water and sewage has gone up 210 210% and ours rates have gone up was it 12 and a half% and it's left us with a utility system that's not really it's on the track on the path of it there's a structural deficit if you will financially in terms of we're using reserves and we so you all you have a meeting coming up to evaluate that um those rates and as it looks at those for the next two years we're also doing utility integrated master plan it looks at water sewer uh the reclaim water I mean we we're facing a deadline in 2030 and making sure that we have sufficient capacity and and and financial uh ability to fund you know as much as we can at least from a priority standpoint septic to sewer Pro projects we're working with city of Sebastian an item that came out of the Joint City County meeting on the uh septic to sewer for the CRA area in Sebastian we've done a couple other projects where we've received grant funding but obviously the septic to sewer 23rd deadline is is something that will be a big challenge for the county no different I would say also the conversation you just had related to land use in terms of how the county wants to grow uh where it wants to grow uh but regardless of how the county wants to grow County wants to maintain its current character everybody gets it understands it but and you've heard me say it before you know if a project or you know is a permitted use and it's approved the process to get that thing approved should not be used as a growth management tool we need to we need to expedite we need to do what we have to do to fix the process we need to provide customer service not just say well you can't do that if we have the knowledge to share and I've I've experienced this with you know some other areas where it's like well we don't want to share because if we do that then what happens is then they come back to us and they say well you told us to do this County so I said well how about we provide suggestions that they could evaluate with their Engineers so the point is if we have that knowledge our our staff does we should be able to share that these are they're customers paying for a service we shouldn't just say no and give them a review comment we should work with them um other things the storm water master plan uh the the man protection plan which was already was kind of part of a task order that was underway Beach preservation plan the economic development strategic action plan these are all things that set us up for the future the vulnerability assessment plan issues that we have to face as a community making sure that we're resilient making sure that we're prepared in the event of certain vulnerabilities that may affect us as in community um there is there was one there it's escaping my mind right now so uh I already mentioned public engagement everything that we've done from the utility rate study to the USB to the uh to our uh year our evaluation and appraisal report of our comprehensive plan we've Incorporated you know oh actually it was the inding river Lagoon management plan if you recall I came back to the board and said our staff doesn't have the capacity to go out and do this community engagement so let's do that and so and that's a plan if you recall that was I think it was in the meeting before I got here well we we probably we should be able to get that done by December and you all were shocked by that and needless to say you know we got on board and you know we worked with staff and we got that thing to you completed and you adopted it in September not just being presented in December but you adopted in September of 23 uh I think intergovernmental relations has been an item that we worked on not with our joint City County meetings but also the the relationships with the city managers and talking with them and staying in touch with them and trying to understand what problems or issues they may be having how can we address it um uh I think some of the things going in the in the future uh at least you mentioned in your memo about Personnel I think uh we have I've discussed with om about the need for an grants administrator uh and we're and we are looking at that at we we'll look at it at midyear uh I think one of the things having the County Administrator uh and employee meetings well they were attended well by some departments not others the face-to-face meetings that the chair instituted were the chair myself and some others the assistant or Deputy are going out and meeting have been I mean we've met with I think it's 145 now divisions and I I'll take the Road and Bridge uh I mean it just they I mean that was a three-hour meeting and there's the information we receive from those face to-face meetings have been invaluable I mean so at mid year we will be looking at I mean I went back and looked you know because they talked about the their Staffing levels what's the challenges that they face you know when they're called to pick up and do something else rather than when they're working on a project maybe down the South they got to go to the north so uh there's I went back there's 10 vacancies there uh we you know want to get those filled but also maybe we mid year maybe we need to look at that because that's a division that's a division that is struggling that has a lot of responsibilities within our County so uh that's something that's come up since the budget so that's why I say we would look at I spoke to Audie about this after our meeting about looking at it let's try with the Compensation Plan being implemented we should have a market based rates and be able to attract better candidates we've increased our benefits if you recall we you know besides the health center open we provide better benefits in terms of the eye and vision and long-term disability the Compensation Plan being able to implement it as we are you know uh in one phase in one at one time is huge other communities have to do it over years maybe they have to phase it or kind of address maybe labor then address the non-exempt then address exempt we're doing it at one time I think that will help us with recruiting um because Engineers is definitely a position that we are we need more engineers that will help us I think the employee engagement you know need to continue that uh I was glad to see that more than 54% of our employees participated in our survey to them regarding the Strategic plan you all had the interviews and then we went back on that uh we for the job assessment training as an analys uh related to the compensation study 63% of our employees have participated in that 93% of our supervisor and managers actually reviewed those to make sure they were right um but I think we need to continue you know what we did you know you're not going to get a change in culture from going to to a customer Centric environment by one time having on-site C or online customer service training and also having uh an on-site training just let's just look at it know before that's a continual training that we have for cyber security so we we'll need to continue to make opportunities for continuous training because it's not about what the employees are doing wrong it's about maybe how our staff can do things better you know maybe handle a situation and so I think that's it that that that's what I would say uh but I mean I do and then one of the other issues and it was brought up was previously I think MGO permitting was an issue uh I know the county contracted with that back in 2019 it went live in July of uh 23 and there's been issues it seems like it works may work well for the depart the division the building division but not so much the customer I got kind of cornered last night you know picking my daughter up for a gym and gymnastics and literally the woman had her MGO permit app open and she's like these are the inspections I have left these are the inspections I have left I'm waiting for this but uh it doesn't work as well for the customer I don't think and I don't think it works well for the integrated development review process that we want to have where we shouldn't have perfect example we shouldn't have an applicant's an application and then wait for a project number to be assigned and then it go off to the other departments we you need to have an integrated seamless process you know in system if necessary I mean I know there was some money spent on this Pro this program uh the community Planning Development staff and others have attended some meetings like to see other programs that are out there and you know before we spend too much money you know if we have to pull a plug on it you and I publicly and individually shared with you I had some concerns about the program I mean it just it was a program that was developed by an agency in southeast lisiana for a 5count region after in the aftermath of Katrina doesn't work well with CD plus CD plus doesn't have mobile features so we can't kind of expand there so there's there's concerns I think we do need to go out and look at that um I guess there's I mean I don't know if I need to go into all the the items but there are some things I will tell you we are working with our staff in terms of identifying uh but I think we've generally speaking uh yes as we peel the Ying back sometimes there's more layer with each layer you find a little bit more and uh but we're just trying to set the culture that it's about service excellence and all that we do servicing one another providing service to the others uh you know our customers and um so that's I me I think I don't know what else I did ask ask other Commissioners if you had something I was really expecting to get the input and then come back but so I mean I would still like that opportunity to do that because uh I me some others have expressed some things and I can come back with a more detailed report that's kind of an overview that year in review I did but there's some other things that have come up since then I want to make sure we capture those commissioner La thank you madam chair um John you talked about these face to-face meetings uh and understand those are very recent the last two or three weeks what percent of those meetings happened after our August 12th meeting when I told you I was putting you on the agenda oh they were already in place we had already had Mee we were already doing how many of them physically happened after August 12th uh I could pull the calendar and get you the numbers but they were scheduled out in September or uh they were scheduled think we have the conversation about about having those meetings in July and then it took because we had to coordinate across departments um the assistant and the Deputy Administrator and Division and department heads and I had to I had to clarify my intention was to go to each of these facilities and divisions where they were so we had them on the calendar before August 12th some of them and we're still scheduling more um but but it was well we have like two and three a day but it was well after the first six months of employment correct um Mr administrator I would like to uh talk a little bit about your past and how we triage things and I applaud you not only for your for your service but as important um being an Adjunct professor at at UCF and I want to say this sometimes when you get to an agency and you triage what's going on you're yourself or new uh in building a house some of the problems that were going on in the building division spe specifically but often times uh in life we will read a book and different books on on training professional obviously I didn't take too many of those but one thing that you'll learn in icma management is you get to an agency you talk about a strategic plan you talk about um the budget process uh you talk about a mission statement and values um when you got to Coco several years ago one of the first things you did was revamp the Strate strategic plan that was over 20 years of age as well as the mission statement and uh a compensation study when you got to St Lucy County uh I believe was number three the first thing one of the first things you did was a strategic plan that was uh outdated we agree with that Additionally you recaptured some Grant dollars that were dormant from parks in St Lucy County uh when you came to Indian River County County in my mind a new administrator would triage the problems of the County however the book says get on to the Strategic plan you know uh the consensus of the employees as well as a compensation study and emissions and value plan sir I'll say that's great when you read it in the book and you apply it in real life but sometimes you have to triage a situation and perhaps put some of those things on the back burner uh and we can get to those strategic plans fortunately those are completed for the most part now uh I think our employees have been um informed of our of our mission statement and our values uh some of the things that we've done I I certainly applaud you for having said all of that what would you have changed on boarding in the first 17 months that uh perhaps may not have gotten us in a position where we have uh community members wanting feedback is there anything that you would have Chang otherwise yeah I think you I think the comment you know that was made about or it was getting out I mean well I have met with some Community organizations I haven't had you know the ability to meet with as many as I probably needed to I mean I think it taking as long as it did almost a year to bring on the assistant you know director because in the meantime I was the reality was I was playing whack-a-mole and kind of focused on the Urgent you know whether one of you or a customer call trying to get that resolved and then that leads you to not being able when you're focused on that and your time consumes with that along with certain other daily responsibilities I mean I came in right at the beginning of the budget you know I mean so I think I think Community meetings you know one number one and I think the challenge was coming in right at the beginning of the budget because that just may to July was just budget you know we would just the reality so uh I probably didn't under I probably didn't realize that initially I'll say that but what I would say is the other thing is in meeting with the Departments there there there was some apprehension and I I I more so noticed that this year retrospectively looking back when asked well what are your needs and so like last year we added I think it was 35.25 or some positions of which I think 16 were for fire largely related to the Kelly day implementation plus we added we enhanced our level of service I think that was the number and this year we're proposing 38 and only six are fire because now we're focusing trying to get to uh some of those areas that need it I mean I had two departments I mean we set up a process to where they so it was so they didn't have to do a lot of work and budget wouldn't have to do a lot of work like tell me what your needs are so everybody sent a very detailed spreadsheet what their needs were the positions uh I asked them to prioritize them those positions and then I had two departments pass the deadline submit stuff or what their final ask was and we worked with them so I mean I think you know I think it's it's a and I had somebody say well you know we we never really had in in the past you I don't want to you know in the past it was really you know if we asked for one thing or another person or whatever it was kind of like the first thing was no or how was it going to be budget neutral or whatever and I think it goes back to my comment about the lean organization and I think that was a function of the times as it relates to you know post Great Recession the county suffered from 2007 to 2014 you know very level you know the taxing values I mean in terms of uh the revenue coming in but the organization didn't but people were moving here and as we've you know documented more than 30,000 people have moved here since 2007 and it was only last year did we actually equal the number of employees that existed in 2007 and so I think working with the Departments and helping them understand I've even had you know uh somebody say I mean because I have an open door policy any of our employees can come speak to me but I had you know some people you know to your to your point about Communications um we had one of the meetings it was like one one of the persons was one of the employees was surprised when they heard that I have director's meetings every Monday meaning like they didn't think I met with the directors so because they were they didn't understand or hear about some of things so I I think that some of those realizing that the organization and and I know I discussed some of the items during looking at the orc chart but once's getting here and I think maybe stepping back a little bit but I I don't I don't it's not a pattern you know I mean I'll say this the Strategic plan in St Lucy County was well underway I came in with the performance metrics and all that and the other components uh and in in uh yes import I mean I did it when I was the department head at city of Coco because I believed it was important identify if you want to align you if you want to ghost you got to find out where you're going and align your resources you know people time money to get to that direction and so I believe strategic plan was appropriate and the compensation study coming right out the gate you know I mentioned that because it was clearly evident you know from talking to employees early on that you know even right now I mean our in our one-on ones we want and the results of the survey from the compensation where we need raises we're not being competitively paid so I think you know to have waited on that would have put us back even further you know than we already were in terms of recruit being able to now have a competitive and be able to go out and recruit and retain employees right and I appreciate that and you know early in the Preamble I talked about uh this is the first time in decades we've had a non-budget director our County Administrator keep in mind that he has uh nine departments in five divisions uh John you you mentioned a single point of failure what would you you uh identify within our County Administration as the the greatest single point of failure uh I I think the greatest single point of failure is where we have a position and I think this is combination going back to because of the need to be lean and you know maybe try to avert layoffs was the com that was was taking two people or two you know two positions and taking one person and now they had the responsibility of two functions and so we do have some positions that you know where we have one person we have some where there's two and when they and I will say this I mean we provide leave we provide sick time we provide personal days and the expectation and I've shared with from day one that you know I believe promoting a work life balance for our employees to include myself is critical to the success of the organization you know it's not just about compensation and and uh so when they take that time off it creates a problem especially if they're a reviewer because maybe somebody else can't come in and look at that or they have to come in and they have to start from the beginning from aesh to kind of look at it and I've reviewed site plans I mean I I did that starting off you know I mean you know working for the city of Orlando I mean it just I mean I've done that I've done it as a director reviewed site plans and we had shortages I get it so my point being is when you have that uh one person or two people and one takes off and then while that person's off and the other may get sick you have a breakdown there and that our customers suffer so that those are the kind of areas that we're looking at and trying to identify those single points of failure so there's there's more than one I believe there are and I think you know I mean I'll s you rad and Bridge was I mean it it you know that that was a single point of failure you know and we have a current firm on board we're interviewing the inter uh it directors we have two more left and we'll be making a selection and just the way we approach the business there even the organizational you know when I got in there and I looked at the organizational chart and how it was it wasn't even hierarchical it was tiered level and so and one of the first things our consultant said keep in mind our one of our chief Consultants is the former State CIO you know for you know so I mean I think and then the firm is highly rep reputable but uh so there's that and even as we're meeting with like rhen Bridge the fact that you have like when they could raise you know how many people here have you know are dump Chuck drivers everybody raises their hand about you know maybe eight or 10 raise their hand how many here are primaries and you watch everybody's hand go down and you have really one and then one that's a secondary primary and it's like so would you need to move aggregate material you're literally taking people off their other jobs that's the problem and finally uh and I I do have some other questions after the other Commissioners uh John have you ever heard or used the term sometimes you have to blow the place up first uh you know I I have heard and I have used you know I've you know so one of our Consultants I asked you know and you know that he's a former boss of mine and he revamped the permitting process of which I came in on the back end of that and helped with the uh implementation of software as a planner but in order to fix the permitting process the in the things that we hear described today from customers uh is you sometimes you've got to blow it up to fix it you know and you've got to just really get under the hood and just I mean just just do it and so uh but you know people process culture so you got to have people there that are committed to doing that and and then the process you know focus on those small winds I mean we've got I've got some things that some short-term Improv at some of our staff that we have that we're doing internal and that could roll out to be customers I mean highly effective or you know at least meaningful customer service improvements the staff were doing some of these little innovative ideas on their own to help their job be easier I'm like well if we could roll that out to the public that would be amazing okay uh Madam chair that's all I have now I'm anxious to hear from the other Commissioners uh and for our public uh typically we do not um have public comment on areas like this but for today I think it's uh it's fitting that we have uh public comment for the health of this agency furthermore I would ask that you uh be concise uh to the point in the interest of everyone's times thank you and I yield Madam chair commissioner fleser thank you madam chair um and uh first and foremost I want to thank uh commissioner law for putting this on the agenda um we had conversation as you did with all Commissioners um I I trust because you told me that that uh we would uh there was an item on the agenda that also included commissioner's input and we had a conversation uh I was uh abundant in matters um and I I did share some concerns uh I will will say that uh this was a bigger picture than you were looking for the viewfinder at time of higher I I agree that this is a larger concept and there are many challenges um I I hope they're all overcome the challenges that you I identified you you said clearly that we we would um we've gone to Consultants uh I just want the public to know cuz I I had a discussion about the uh Consultants uh we are pretty well consulted uh well the the entire organization is pretty well consulted um and again it's not earmark just for the change it's earmarked for many different things granting applications uh changes septic theu there's many different uh Consulting opportunities but uh year before last we spent 16 million4 35,8 N9 in Consulting now a small portion of that was due to the change this past year uh we uh spent 16 18 million no 18 million for 2223 uh in 20223 uh which as you embarked uh we spent uh 16 188 million and 4 $455,000 uh in Consulting um that's that's pretty impressive that's a lot of Consulting we have to take the action and and go forward um I believe and uh my colleague said that he was the new guy on a block that he was receiving complaints uh in the slightly longer time that I'm here um this year has been the year of the complaint if we had a a calendar the title would be the year of the complaint we've had challenges specifically with MGO uh which I've brought to you many times um and we I have to say thank you because you've addressed or uh the deputy or the assistant has addressed the concerns on an individual basis in other words we're patching the holes the system is in failure and it's a systematic failure MGO the public should know that we we were spending a huge amount of money in flying in the MGO asset the individual to come here and help us out and get everything going the roll out was not good the roll out was imperfect at best um and it has generated a lot of angst and acrimony uh regarding the permitting process the Engineering Process the just any process to do with building anything in this county has been a challenge it's gotten worse we need to get it better and you mentioned it uh either we have to go for a new system uh I I don't I don't know no the old system was working this system was visioned as better it started and uh I I think you personally have tried but I think that that's the bulk of the challenges here and you know we're hurting our economy we have people that are leaving uh we have contractors that uh don't want to work here um and it's because of the the challenges and the the stories and the explanations that they get so we need to repair that uh so um you asked me what what my challenges were or my input was that's one of the biggest the other biggest ones is we have a lack of communication our communication is definitely hampered uh you identified it we had positions where we had one person doing two and three jobs uh we still have vacant positions in in directorship we have vacant positions in management we have vacant positions in supervision and we have vacant positions in the front line we have been piled and uh we are weakened um I haven't seen it get any better in the past 18 months uh we're fixing some problems individually Patchwork I call it but we we need to now let all this Consulting actually take root and actually have the rubber hit the Tomac and I want see some blue smoke and some action being happened so uh that's just some of my concern um we we need to be able to call and get a response call and get action call and get communication and I think that that is is probably one of the larger problems is communication uh with that um again I I thank commissioner La for uh putting this on the agenda we have no canvas you you're here 18 months if that's the case um maybe perhaps uh whatever if there is a motion in in in the future here um perhaps it should include let's do this again in the first week week in December and the first week in December you'll have uh a deeper colorization of the canvas we'll actually see a sharper picture because I think this is the process is we're identifying some challenges uh we've been communicating about them you heard some of them today when we were talking about the the the gford neighborhood plan uh I have heard the term blowing up um I I I've heard it here I've I've heard that uh it was discussed that and I think the place did get blown up and we lost a lot of institutional knowledge and we lost a lot of individuals and we lost a lot of mechanism that was actually working was not part of the bad culture but it was part of the solution code and in search for a solution code to make it better we I think we've said back a little bit and uh it's very frustrating uh we get the calls I I will tell you that I have never gotten this many contacts and calls in this past year than I did the previous 17 years in service that's a lot that's a lot I cannot go into a store without getting a challenge I can't go to a business I get messages I get phone calls and um again it's well it's not all on you it's all on the system the system in in in any system in change will have this type of process happening I think in this situation it's been Amplified and I think we have to get better at it so I think in getting better at it um like I said if there is uh anything that's in minus commissional la item uh but if if someone were to uh want to move a motion I would also move that we would want to do this once again first week in December so that this way we have another three months to look back at this and say look what has happened and look at the changes thank you okay thank you commissioner man thank you madam chairman and uh thank you m l for bringing us forward I appreciate it reading your uh item you know with respectfully request the administrator present the board an objective overview of his tenure since the start date including achievements that have been accomplished as well as obstacles that he had face and outline the vision moving forward regarding Department of personnel restructuring Etc and um I I think he's I think he's done that I think he could be better at that I think we need and I've told him this I think we need more more updates more often not every day maybe not once a week but probably twice a month or at least once a month um we can do that in our private meetings and we could do that here also and I think we also need on a regular basis uh maybe the department heads update something say once a months to the board and things of that nature it should be easier to do now that we have a assistant we have our Deputy County Administrator we have an assistant County Administrator we have an on budsman along with u along with the department heads and I think that that would be easier to do uh so I I agree with you on that I think I would challenge him to to do that to provide more updates and as to what's going on especially when we have something that comes up right away or something that's a that's a pretty big deal know those those responses should be immediate in my opinion or as quick as he can to get back with this with what a solution would be on the other hand I think John has done an exceptional job because when he got in here he wasn't handed a whole lot You' both said it that he received this from two basically budget directors everything had to be lean and mean and people got used to doing it that way for 20 plus years even before that and I can reflect on this a little bit because I am a former County employee and I know what we got and what we didn't get for 20 years guess what Commissioners I never received a 10% raise in the board of County Commissioners and 35 years that I was employed here never received a 10% raise it would be in the forms of we have to hide money we have to do this or we have to do that so so I can tell you that's one thing that's very appreciated and hearing from uh the firefighters out there I've heard I've heard many things for that I appreciate the fact that he's going and talking to uh employees that was never done before by the previous administration and others and employees appreciate that they appreciate when you're when you're there and support them but I so I would tell you I think he's done a great job I don't think he's handled I don't think he was handh handed a county that was in in it was in great financial shape but it was in great it wasn't in great internal shape and I use the analogy a lot because you know I'm a sports guy that the people I he in this audience and this board are the uh the board they're the team owner were the were the president and CEO and our County administrators the head coach he has a Playbook he has directors he has offensive line defensive line coach quarterback's coach all that sort of stuff and they were supposed to carry out their direction to make the team successful if they don't carry out if they don't fa or if they do fail in that they need to be replaced it seems like sometimes we as Commissioners get involved in regards to this is well we like some we like some better than others I remember that and I'll say it right now I remember when um Rich burka who was our director of Public Works and also director of facilities and also director of building and grounds and also directors of many many directorship jobs and uh one thing I'll say about rich he knew his job he knew his job well but his but his uh people skills were not the best in the world and I remember that there was people out there that wanted him fired Jason Brown of the time was going through the process but that wasn't good enough so things had to move on and John came in John reviewed it and John let him go I miss Rich for his professionalism with regards to knowing his job but I don't miss Rich for his people skills so those are things that the County Administrator was faced with um again if your coaches your assistant coaches aren't going to follow through and do their job accordingly then they need to be replaced this is not um this is a career this is a job this is this is what you're supposed to do you're here to serve the public and you're here to serve the public well and if you can't do the job we're not here to Bab you you either do the job or you get in or you get out and so that's that's kind of the way I look at this uh um again he was faced with a lot of challenges I've seen an increase in our customer service because we have preached to Mr kage from day one customer service customer service we were tired of getting the complaints from the building department from people not being able to get their permits through from different different things in in different different departments probably because we didn't have enough people to hold responsible to be in charge to make sure that things were getting done properly so I'm willing to give him some time to to figure this thing out because there were a lot of problems when when he started when I first came a commissioner I noticed him right away I mean it was everything as simple as we had the chromous website in the State of Florida to to customer service was terrible people were getting held on the phone a half an hour 45 minutes waiting on hold who does that nobody does that so we have to change the culture it's just like again it's just like a sports thing and I'll use and that's probably not the example as use Florida State but they're 0 and two they're 0 and two right now don't pick on me but a professional football team comes in maybe the first year they have a average season well they have to end up moving forward and you want them in the Super Bowl you want them in the championship season because it seems like other than what commissioner L asked in his memo going further than that that we need to tell him okay Coach you've had your first year under your belt we understand you went five and five this year it's time to go 10 and0 and we need to do that so so Mr containant that's why I'm asking we've got a lot of things on the on the plate to do we need to move a lot of things forward we' probably gone because you the way what you were handed you made some improvements we've gone six and five five and five now we need to go 10 and0 in the year ahead and that's what that's what that's what we expect but and and I think that's where we need to go yes are we perfect are we have we solved every problem absolutely not we still need to do better in customer service we still need to do better in turning over permits doing engineering we still need to make our building and grounds better we still need to improve our Recreation we still need to Pro improve our fire rescue system we still need to do a lot of things but we also in the past have again given folks 10% raises we've increased the sheriff's department budget we've done numerous things in this County that have been pluses so I'm going to say we're moving ahead again 10 and0 is my goal for next year so I could go on and on but I'm going to stop right there Madam chairman thank you commissioner Moss thank you thank you madam chair I I'm going to tell you a true story that probably the County Administrator himself doesn't remember he's been so busy but his very first day on the job uh he he ended that day in gford at a birthday party for Dr Crystal Joel who is the founder of the gford Youth Orchestra for those who don't know and I had invited him several weeks before he started I was a little nervous about asking him because I didn't know him and of course he doesn't know me but uh he said well I'm I'm book that entire first day but if if I can do it you know when my day ends I'll be there and and he did and what a wonderful beginning that was because in that room there were uh probably about 20 or maybe two dozen uh Community leaders of gford and each one introduced himself and said what his connection was to the other person which was fascinating even for for me I mean I didn't I didn't know the the whole history you know somebody who was his third grade science teacher you know those kind of stories and there were two cakes there was a birthday cake for Dr Bol and there was also a cake for Mr janic which uh you know was a a wonderful beginning to start day one uh with community outreach as far as complaints go um this is not for me the year of the complaint the year of the complaint started and I'm talking about uh building and permitting primarily now since that we were focusing on that for me it started in 2016 when I was the mayor of the city of Vero Beach and people would come to complain about building it the building permitting process and department and I always felt bad I always felt like you in fact I think I would just tell them look I'm I'm not passing the bck but we we don't do that here you know the city doesn't do it I'm sorry you know you'll have to go to the county so I knew that there were problems at least since 2016 and uh and then more recently yes uh you know I mean over time I should say by by more recently by the way I mean since I've been here which is 2020 so in the last four years had a lot of uh I was surprised frankly because uh I didn't expect quite the number of complaints and and the number of problems uh with building and uh you know building and permitting but yes it reached its peak and there was a reference to this with that 21st century Amendment Distillery um I felt embarrassed I mean that was on the front page of of TC palm and I'm going to take a moment just to share with you for those who perhaps didn't see the article the first time this was last February um this was Mr palashi who graciously gave his time to review the entire process with us but he said if I don't see it because I'm sure he's not the only one who was thinking this if I don't see a change in the building department then it won't be in Indian River County and he was referring to another business that he planned to open and with reference to VR Beach city council this is a writer by the way the article was written by uh Larry reesman and the title is Andreas stani six words to a better Vero Beach Downtown get government out of the way and it was published uh February 6th of this year so ver Beach city council um and this I'm now I'm quoting the article made it clear the County's building department was a barrier to investment in the city and this is Mr reesman speaking now my impression Monday night and I think most of us were there at this meeting uh I know Mr tanic was and I remember commissioner man was there but Mr reesman Larry rean said my impression Monday night is the city won't give to canich a Long Leash to resolve permitting issues before finding a different building Watchdog and in fact last Friday when uh and I know uh commissioner Adams was there commissioner man and myself at the taxpayer Association uh meeting which uh hosted the Vera Beach city council candidate Forum it was mentioned again it came up again so the city this is and that was just days ago so there we know that there's a work to be done um I know there have been complaints you know at least since 2016 and frankly I myself I'm speaking for myself now I was elected to change this place because a lot of people hated what was going on here they just absolutely hated it and it's a fact of the matter that my predecessor had you know endorsed or appointed or anointed or tried to uh somebody else but I I got the job anyway and you know and I'm really happy to be here but I have to tell you a lot of what needed to be changed could not be given the uh the staff that was that was here and I'm talking about 2020 going back to 2020 I'm like you you it was like running into a brick wall here as opposed to what we have now which is someone who listens and someone who does research and yes you need to plan I come from a business background and by that I mean a large business and when you're running a large business you have to take that time to plan and money spent on planning is wisely spent as long as you implement it and I've already told people I hope you don't mind but I've already told everybody we are definitely implementing these plans because this man is an Army Ranger they don't make plans and not Implement that's something bureaucrats do and I don't think he's ever going to be a bureaucrat so thank you and God bless thank you and thank you commissioner lur for bringing this forward and providing a form where we can have um a productive conversation so um everybody's brought up a lot of different things and and I'm going to try to kind of go down the list and give my two cents on on those things um communication to the board I I do agree that we have weekly meetings with John I think that you know we all have our priorities that we talk about and not all of our priorities are consistent across the commission what one of the things and we had the same um issue in felir one of the things we did at that point was Institute what they call managers managers matters and the city manager provides kind of a bullet point uh list either at every meeting or twice a month maybe in this case it's once a month um of issues that are on the horizon of issues that need to be updated um I see that as a tool that we maybe could Implement and maybe that's done on a monthly basis and emailed to all the Commissioners um so we all know what issues are out there what we need to be thinking about where those points of concern and what's being worked on I would agree that I think coming from the attorney's office the something similar would be appropriate so we know what legal issues are out there and and what concerns that they have I think it would be it would build communication across ourselves and and keep our jobs from being siloed the organization has been siloed and I think we also have been siloed and and so I think that would help you know when we all and I watched our interviews with um the candidates when we hired John the other day and one of the things that kept coming up and one of the things that we all kind of alluded to and asked for or mentioned was that we wanted to see change but we didn't Define what that change was and we didn't Define what that looked looked like and now we have change and now we're upset and that's fine change is change is hard change is hard across the board whether you define it or not but I think one of the things that we didn't do as Commissioners is we didn't communicate clearly what that change meant and what we expected and we didn't prepare the organization for change it's fine to say we want change um but then if you start doing it without explaining why and what you're trying to solve and how you're going to go about doing it you end up with a lot of angst and a lot of confusion and confusion leads to push back and push back leads to stagnation because you're not able to accomplish that change because you're just kind of working against each other so for me when I said I want to change what I meant was I was tired of getting the phone phone calls about how Indian River County was not business friendly how Indian River County was so difficult to work with that nobody wanted to come here how Indian River County um was basically a non-starter and people would just people businesses Economic Development projects whatever the case may be would just keep on going by indan River County and that was fine at the time and that that worked for us but I'm I was those were the phone calls those were the complaints that I was getting that I was tired of hearing that I wanted to see change on now did that mean as some people may have interpreted it as or have alluded to in conversations I've had with the community that that meant I wanted us to be open arms welcoming everybody into the community unbridled growth willy-nilly all over the place no that is not at all what I meant not at all I would be totally happy if nobody ever found us again seriously but what I meant was I wanted people to know there was a process that was predictable and consistent and that if people came here they would understand that if they started at a they would end up at Z that they wouldn't have to go from a to P back to D to u to Z back to a around the apple cart and then finally sometime years later get to Z that's what I meant by change I don't know what everybody else meant but I want that to be clearly understood because I have heard from employees I have heard from residents I have heard um from businesses that we want to change the process because we want to make we want to open the doors and let everybody come in that's not what I meant I just meant that it should be predictable and it should not be an unpleasant experience we as Commissioners set policy we as Commissioners set Direction and I think what we didn't do was clearly defined what that expectation was and when we just say change change is an umbrella term that means so very much and there's so many different ways you can go about that the thing that I think um we've all and Indian River County has benefited from is that in the past we have staff and Leadership that has relationships we the honest answer is we are a very insular County I mean we've all for the most part either worked with each other grown up with each other have family that has have have worked with each other in different roles um you know know went to school together are related Indian River county is just a it's a small community even if we now that we even when you have more people moving here you can still go to the Zippy Mart on any given day and know half the people in there you can still go to Publix or Walmart and run into a half a dozen people that you know and we have benefited by having leadership that has come from the inside and has those relationships but we all knew when we hired John and we all voted for him that he didn't have those relationships because he was coming from the outside I do think there's been hiccups in trying in him trying to make those relationships but I also think that we as Commissioners have to help him build those relationships which is one of the reasons why I have been attending the meetings with him with staff I could very easily we could all very easily have said John you need to go do this get this done by X dat go out and do that but I also know when you have a new person coming in people are distrustful of that person and they don't have relationships with that person and in the lack of relationships and in the lack of trust and in the lack of understanding and friendship and knowledge you build up in your mind or you listen to the people that you think have those relationships and knowledge and I think it's incumbent upon us to make sure that if we want to be successful that we are helping build those relationships with the community and introduce John around and that is because too we need to be setting the stage for what those relationships need to be if there needs to be a relationship with rosn for instance because we you know when we were doing the septic to sewer project I would would like to take John to that Community Association meeting and introduce him around and then have him un sit there and understand and have the community explain to him the importance of the relationship that they have had with the county the same with gford there is a there is an importance of that relationship that needs to be understood that somebody coming from the outside is not going to pick up on unless we are doing our job to help get that accomplished so I do think there's been hiccups and missteps and potholes that have been fallen into and we heard that today and I apologize for that and that's something that we will work on rectifying and I would hope that after today that from today's conversation John that you do take and I know we have had this conversation um the p in the past month that you do need to be out meeting and being seen and being available to outside organizations whether it's business Community organizations Property Owners um whatever the case may be the chambers all those kinds of things there are relationships that need to be built so we can earn the trust to move forward with the things that we and the community wants to see us move forward with I would agree that there's been a lot of um planning that's happened in the past year and because we spent a lot of time on planning there hasn't been been a lot of time to do things and I think all of the Commissioners I know I've had the conversation I've just heard several of the Commissioners say that they've had the conversation of implementation we're ready to move into from a planning phase to an implementation phase um but at the same time I think we have to acknowledge that in this election cycle what we've heard from the community is that we need to have plans and we don't have a plan and I don't I can't tell you how many forums and Community groups and and that we heard from that said we don't we can't imagine why doesn't Indian County have a strategic plan if you don't have a plan how do you know where you're going I mean we heard it over and over again so I do think there's value in planning I think where we may have made a misstep is that we got we are planning too much all at once and maybe some of that planning needs to be to commissioner Lor's point triaged and some planning is more important than others and some planning can wait a little bit later we don't have to do it all at once so I would hope and I would expect that we move into an implementation phase um I did just want to touch commissioner fleser on a comment that you made about um calling and getting action and I don't disagree with you however what I can say is at all of our meetings that we've had with staff which I have found just as Illuminating and educational I think as everybody else that have attended is there are some departments um Public Works is is the prime example um that comes to my head but there are other departments Planning and Building are amongst them as well that when we call when it because they are underst staffed because there are jobs that are open that haven't been filled when we call as Commissioners down there there's a frustration amongst staff that they have to drop everything that they're doing and then address a commissioner's concern and that means they're not able to do the other jobs and the other work that they were already planning to do because there is only so many grader operators if somebody calls with a grading complaint and that means that grader has to go from you know I'll use felmer as an example one side of town to another or out to vle to fix that problem now they're behind on their normal schedule and now those people start calling so I think that we also need to recognize as Commissioners that when we ask for certain things that that means that something else isn't going to get done and if we want to solve that problem one of the deliverables that maybe we need to talk about today and expectation is now that the compensation study is done and has been voted on and will be implemented October 1st that we expect to see jobs starting to get filled and if we're not able to fill those jobs instead of waiting for four or five years to be upset about it would we have a crisis mode that the department heads or the division heads are empowered to come back to us as policy makers and the ones that approve the budget and talk about what we need to do to make those positions competitive so we can actually fill them I think that would be very helpful and I don't think we've ever talked about that so I just I want us to understand the impact we have on the organization as well when we charge St with doing projects at commission meetings or when we call down to do that that means since we have such a small staff that there's other things that aren't going to happen so we need to own our role in some of this I feel it the other thing [Music] um I I want to say is what if we are going to have regular updates which I don't disagree I do think that that needs to to happen I would like to see um an email update on a monthly basis I or you I think weekly might be a little too much but by monthly or monthly an email update I would like to see a public update where we can kind of talk about it like like this quarterly is fine with me or every four months whatever you prefer but if there's something that we want to see if there's something that we want John to accomplish by the next time we have this conversation I think we need to be very specific about what that is and there needs to be a time frame commissioner flesher you mentioned I believe December 1st but what is it that we want to see accomplished by then because I think part of the problem and the enks that we're hearing and that we're experiencing is that we haven't been specific about what those expectations are we' just said change this or fix this but what and how does that look like because what it looks like to me it may be different for you and I think for clarity's perspect for clarity and to make sure we can move the dial we need to be specific so that's what I would ask you guys well Madam chair um again I I did pick December 1st uh it happened to be December 3rd is a meeting December 17th is a meeting and then the year is done um accordance with your discussion as well quarterly might be appropriate it gives transparency to all of us consistently in the public forum and it lets the public know that things are happening in a positive direction kind of like a a quarterly report card um I I think it's it's overdo I I think it it has not been done in the past um I think that that uh you know uh the days of don't look behind the curtain okay even though we see phto shoes and the and the little dog uh I I think th those are gone and and I think that if we're serious about change and our County Administrator is making that change and moving in positive momentum then I think quarterly general report of this is happening that's happening we're moving this forward we've had some concerns we're doing this we're doing that I think any any any good leader has no uh Prohibition in in be able to publicly display what they're doing and uh I I think that a quarterly report would be uh for the time being as we're going through this transition as we're running into hiccups as we're running into challenge es and complaints I think it would be most appropriate if we did a quarterly report maybe the year end and maybe it's the third maybe it's the 17th County administrators update as to what's happening a progressive report progression report I don't mean to mention word progress progression report and uh I I think that if we start that off quarterly maybe there'll be a you know what it wouldn't be a perfect world if there would be no reason to have it at all because we did get that better that we did get all the hiccups out of the way the other thing I want to mention is so that that's my comment on that okay uh as far as what you're you stated about you know calling and and people saying well commissioner wants this they're going to stop and all that I was referring to the County Administrator I was referring to to the deputy County Administrator I was referring to the assistant County Administrator because it's tough to get things that have to filter down to an organization that has a split directorship or a vacant directorship and then it goes by the time that happens somebody has had their birthday in in their challenge okay so um it it slows the process but again the public should know we have uh zero capacity for direction of Staff we direct and discuss with the staff member that we have access to and speaking with the County Administrator um he has directed to um G well call assistant we call the deputy um and that's great I I'm just I'm not talking about calling the front line knocking on the window I apologize we we don't we we're not to do that uh we only have the right to inquiry as to any inaction that's taking place full discovery of any action that's taking place as County Commissioners but at no time did I infer that we were uh interfering with okay I apologize and I just want to make sure on the same Frontline Personnel uh we do that with our County Administrator okay commissioner lure I agree I think EXC I agree I think we could start with um with quarterly as commissioner flusher said hopefully that could go down but I do want to touch real quickly on succession planning and I know Madam chair you mentioned about uh John coming in as an outsider and kind of the shock and awe that uh the agency observed I take that step further and I think everyone knows my position on promoting within and some of the positions in recent months have in fact been Outsiders whether we have internal candidates that uh either didn't put in forward the position or uh in someone's eyes weren't qualified um the way in in my opinion of building a trustworthy agency is having that young fellow or that young lady know that they can promote within the agency often times an employee he or her uh will go home and talk to their significant other about what's going on at their workplace and you know well that certain position open and I hope I really get that position and that message is talked about over and over and over until that mess until that position is filled or isn't filled often times you'll have the spouse came home come home and he or she will say how was your day and that employ was they that's the same old stuff what would you like for dinner or whatever you want but then when they have interaction um from leadership and they have an opportunity to have uh some type of inspiration or hope that they may get that position and they come home from work and here she says how was your day and they say fantastic actually had a conversation with the boss you know it was a really good day what would you like for dinner but why don't we go have Chinese food or whatever so those are the Dynamics that we have to look at when we're talking about changing the culture changing the agency uh I've been in several meetings recently observing some of our uh directors and department heads and one thing to be quite Frank with you is I I don't see succession planning and that has to happen in the organization however if you hire from the outside what is that telling the body of your agency that's telling the body of your agency that I'll never get to the top in this place I'll never get to the top why should I give 70 80 or heck 100% I'm never going to get to the top my directors or my department heads are trending externally that has to change that has to change uh because if we want this agency to grow there has to be that young man or young lady that knows in fact they can get to the top that they can be the County Administrator one day that's how we Inspire them that's all I have to say about that I would definitely agree with that um for my suggestion if we're going to do the quarterly report that we just set up for the first meeting of whatever that quarter is so if we're going to start with December I would suggest it's always the first meeting of the month just so it's consistent and you know we that way too there won't be any confusion about well I thought you meant this meeting versus that meeting that's fine um no so that would be December 3rd correct December 3rd if if that's uh the will of the board uh you know we'll have a uh a winter spring summer of fall we'll actually bring Seasons to Indian River County that will be nice every four months we'll do that and maybe by the the end of that that fiscal year we will or calendar year we won't need the quarterly report any further well it's going to be so good if let's look at this positively that we're going to be keep getting these lifts where we say you know what we can spend time on other issues but I do look forward to being able to have a forum in which the five of us can discuss different things we don't have a forum to do that we don't have a place to do that so I agree I hope they wouldn't necessarily be necessary but I think it's still a very good opportunity to provide Direction and as a group talk about concerns and talk about um positions and and talk about what's going on because if we want the organization to change if we want to to build on on the things that we've talked about then I think we have to change the way we do business too and part of that is having those group conversations so I look forward to them personally it's healthy to have them every quarter not only they don't have to be long some agendas may be longer than the others but it's healthy for the agency it's healthy for the public healthy for the employees and as important uh that is indeed part of the succession planning in his or her U subordinates being able to participate in lie of in their absence or what have you but it's overall healthy for an agency this should be like I I mentioned two hours ago uh the board of directors uh getting a report from the CEO it's it's that simple I would agree um I would also like to say um for expectations for that meeting in December what I would like to see accomplished by then is to have um the directors that are open the directorships that are open so it building and development or building and uh facility services and planning and development services I would like to see I think there's plenty of time between now and then to have those positions filled I don't want to continue with um I understand the situation with Road and Bridge but it just took entirely too long to fill that position and I think the organization suffered because of that because there's things within that department I hear all the time about engineering there's things within that department that process and coordination um with building and Facilities that needs to be addressed and not having somebody there um and if we're going to realign the permitting process we need to have that person in place to start getting that alignment so we don't end up with here we are six months later and um we feel progress hasn't been made so that would be my request if anybody has any other specifics that you want to see by December I would encourage you to be specific and let John know um but I know is there anything else from the Commissioners I was going to say I would I would agree with you on that I think quarterly is good they don't like I said they don't have to be lengthy at times and it doesn't stop him from from doing it at the next meeting if there's something we need to know that we need to talk about or an email they can send us or in a meeting we could tell we just need to you know to be in the know what's going on okay Miss pra thank you um chairwoman I just have a question because this says also you want that from the county attorney as Miss Jeweler starting on Monday what do you want me to just have her watch this for direction as far as you want quarterly updates from her or is there anything you would like me to provide to her so she has that as she's coming in um she can we can provide that to her I going to um she had she will have individual meetings with us when we get started and I'm quite sure that we will express to her that our expect expectation will be and it doesn't need to be anything magical necessarily she will be coming in but just a status update bullet points of of maybe some sticking points some things that we might need to help her address as she moves forward in that division or Department thank you I just didn't want to yeah no worries yeah and she's not here so it's not like like you know we're going to be like oh surprised you didn't know about it you should have had this on here once again John's been swimming for 18 months uh she's at the zero entry level just getting here she's going to have a lot with us so I I think maybe we can set that up at another time okay fantastic yeah I think I yeah she needs to just get here and get acclimated first she's still happy to be here she still is so far yep so I know we were going to open this up for public comment what I would ask is that to reiterate what commissioner lore said um please be succinct and respectful we don't normally uh do this but this is a time for productivity so we can move forward hi and I need you to state your name and address for the record good afternoon uh Scott Kraken uh 966 29 Street uh I've been a contractor for 34 years I'm a two-time past president of the Treasure Coast homebuilders Association as well as a past president of the Florida homebuilders Association uh I've been here a long time I was here when Esther Rymer was a building official for those of you long enough to remember her and I've had a good relationship with every building official all the way up through the current one Scott McAdam I'm here because of uh all I can say is that it's a rumor that uh Scott is to be terminated and that would be a travesty uh I understand there's been some complaints I would surmise that the vast majority of them are because of the new software that we've implemented uh granted it it's been horrible it's been a horrible experience for me I use it all the [Music] time that being said Scott still comes to our breakfast meetings at tcba and he takes the hard questions that's not easy he gets up there people pound him and he answers them the best he can and hears their complaints and and deals with them uh he's always available he always ANS answers our calls our emails if you want to see him in person he's available for that as well to me asking or a public official doing that uh you can't ask for much more because a lot of them don't do that uh he's been a partner with tcba and the building industry as a whole so we stand behind him and I hope he's not going anywhere I o understand that we lost our planning director that was through his own accord of a resignation and that that would also be a travesty uh piggybacking on the gentleman from gford that were speaking about um time and uh history and things like that if you lose Scott and Andy you will lose a tremendous wealth of knowledge with those two gone so I suggest you do everything in your capacity to keep them on and get them back our building process is straightforward I heard some Commissioners speak that people coming into the county and they have issues with the way things are done there's a very standard procedure of how we do things and it's been that way for years now is it the same way as Miami or Bard or Orlando no it's a learning process and if you're a homeowner going through the first time it's a learning process for that and can be frustrating but once you learn the process I found it to be very straightforward and easy to deal with no offense to our County to the South but I think we can all agree that we do not want to model our count after them they are pretty much open borders for everything that wants to be built down there um so I hope that that we keep what we have and we don't go after what what they have um as commissioner you said if we could keep everybody out we would but obviously we can't do that growth is inevitable but um we just need to keep it controlled uh and the one last thing I'll close with is that I heard the term being used uh you need to blow it up to fix it well there's also another term used if it ain't broke don't fix it thank you for your time thank you and I just I want to address something before we go much further I too have heard from many people in the community who have called me with concerns related to gossip and inuendo and conspiracy theories and that's that's fine that's what we're here to do and those that's what we're here to answer but let me be very clear that all of our employees are valued all of our employees are valued and our employees that have left that have decided to resign they were valued and I respect the decision that they made and I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision that being said the employees that are still here as long as they are doing their job there's no issue so and I believe that there is a lot of employees here that are doing their job but there's a lot of drama from the outside and the inside about who is doing everybody's very worried about everybody else and everybody else's job so they're not focused and I'm saying that from the upstairs all the way to the downstairs we need to focus and everybody needs to focus on what their job and their role is and we will be fine it's the same thing I tell the girls at the restaurant you know don't worry about this person this person will take care of themselves one way or another by not doing their job or doing their job but if you're so focused on them that you're not doing your job now you're creating a problem for yourself so I know there's a lot of Gossip the Great Vine in Indian River County the game of telephone is very prevalent and I think for myself and I've heard from other employees in the building that we just need to ratchet the drama level down so everybody can start doing their job and so we can focus on the things that need to be focused on and changed and I mean that in all due respect and I do appreciate and I have said in each of our meetings with the divisions and the Departments that everybody here is valued irregardless of what you've heard everybody's here is valued and we don't want anybody to leave and if somebody does not have the tools to do their job or they feel like they are on some hit list that doesn't exist because I've heard that too that they need to reach out my door is open now most of the Commissioners doors are open John has made it very clear that his do is open come and talk to us and let's put some of these rumors to rest because we cannot move forward and we cannot make decisions based on rumors and the last thing I'll say is there has been more of an investment in training and skill sets for our employees in the past two years than I've seen in the six years before that our goal is to give everybody the skills that they need to be successful at their job and some of these jobs aren't easy and when you are hiring people from the inside sometimes it's even harder for them to do their job because you are asking somebody to now supervise somebody who was their friend and their coworker and I can say that again using the restaurant as an example I love to hire from the in side because those are the employees I know and those are the employees I can depend on and those are the employees that know me and know my brand and know what we are as a restaurant and know our history but it also is a struggle because now I'm taking somebody who was a line cook and putting them into a kitchen management position where they have to enforce rules on people that were their co-workers and that's very very hard it's very hard to remain friends and it's a very hard thing to do so we have been trying to give people the skill sets they need to move up in the organization and we are an invest we are invested in our employees because we understand to commissioner lore's point and I very much agree with him you're not going to build an organization if you're not building it up from the inside your inside roots that institutional knowledge that's where it's at but we have to give people the training and the skill sets to get there so I just want to put some of those room rumors to bed cuz I know they're floating out there all over the place yes ma'am welcome thank you I'm Deb Fraser I'm the executive officer of the Treasure Coast Builders Association just a couple quick thoughts first of all I keep hearing building department building department building department and as the head of the Treasure Coast Builders Association trust me I probably hear twice the complaints that you do and I want to thank some of my members who have come here today to hear what maybe is going to be done um and and happen um and going forward um and Scott is correct the new system and I think it was mentioned before has had some bumps along the road but I will tell you again and I know Scott McCracken said it but I will say it again Scott mcadden came to every single one of our meetings and several of you have been here thank you so much um to talk about and even brought in somebody from MGO to find out and talk about the pl complaints but one of the things I will say is nobody has reached out to me at all to say could we get your Builders together and sit down and talk about this problem and I will tell you I invited all of my Indian River Builders here today and you know what some of them said to me I'm not going to come because there can be repercussions because I have permits in the system and I am concerned that if I show up that there will be repercussions so I want to make you aware it is the perception I'm not saying it's true but that is the Builder's perceptions that if they speak up so what I would like to suggest to you if you really want to make the the building the the system work all of that blowing up a system that you've already invested so much money in is very difficult and I know would be a very difficult decision for you all to make to just throw away that money but maybe there are ways that we can help you be better with that system and so forth so I'd like to make that suggestion and I'm just sorry that I haven't reached out sooner but um uh Scott reached out and again he comes to our meetings we talk if I have a problem specifically with something I call him directly and it does get taken care of so I just do want to say that um we have a wonderful as the Builder Association relationship with the building department so thank you thank you and thank you for that offer I think that is a very appropriate and we would love to have the help thank you welcome thank you uh I I sat through all of this and first and foremost Madame chair uh the lady just said something I have several pending complaints uh people are afraid of their jobs people are afraid of their jobs they want to file complaints with me but they're afraid of the repercussions I've sat here and listen the inference was made about John being out at um Dr bujo's that was orchestrated it wasn't a welcome committee it was orchestrated the birthday cake and all of that so don't infer that it was a gifer thing it wasn't commissioner man you use the analogy of a football coach sometime the coach ain't no good we have to look at all aspects of it Madam chair when you go out with John I know you I trust TR and believe you but there's an inference that you got his back and people are intimidated the county is one of the biggest best Employers in around you pay good money people can't readily afford to lose their jobs they're not going to stir they're not going to cause trouble if it ain't fixed if it ain't broke don't fix it one of my dilemma is and thank you you openly apologize to the GIF of community but you didn't do it you were not the culprit as I leave here today based on all I've heard that hey Freddy Tony and Joe you might as well have stayed home cuz there's nothing relative to you being treated better when it's inferred that we're doing this we're doing that and that's a good job and that's a good job but where was all of this that day as a 71 year old black man military veteran Vietnam veteran fought for his country who served his community get insulted diminished plated by one of your officials just doesn't work for me thank you thank you anybody else good afternoon Tim zorc 75575 Street Viro Beach and it's great to be on this side of the microphone um I also past president of Treasure Coast Builders Association I wanted to expand on on something that uh Deb Frasier had mentioned you know earlier today uh when this started out everybody was guessing what time would we get on the agenda you probably had 50 plus% of the revenue payers into the Enterprise fund of the building department that were here and interested what's going on and a lot of it was rumors are not in support of the effort Scott makes on an ongoing basis to try to do the best he can in that position but with with this being an Enterprise fund it's a little bit different than Public Works Public Works is Enterprise fund it's funded by the taxpayers we as the industry users um it costs us money when the system doesn't work well um you know when a permit comes out late then you've got a a customer living in a hotel that that make them happy and it just a domino effect but I don't I don't know how this could be incorporated and I'm not nominating Myself by any means it would be up to something Deb would put together but we used to have an Advisory Board it was used to be called seesac it was a different for a different set of purposes but you could have something where you had a few of the members of tcba that would you know work jointly with uh building department and with the county to really look at these problems and how to best address them and what's the source of them in in years past when I would review uh permit complaints they ranged from the applicant hasn't that they hired hadn't applied yet to it's stuck in utility ities or it's stuck in public works or in planning probably 19 times out of 20 it was not the building departments fall they were reviewed in pending waiting for the other five departments to sign off so some way of of um the members being a little bit more active as we were back in the in the the 90s and early 2000s it really kind of gave a voice and helped solve some of the issues uh uh early on um when thing I could just say on Scott's behalf he's he's respectful he's responsive um a nice guy to work with you don't always get the answer that you want you know when sometimes if you're meeting with a a plans examiner he'll he'll sit in on it and um you know it's just trying to get clarification to uh a discrepancy between the architect the building code the accessibility code the NFPA code you know they all do not mesh perfectly page to page um so with that just that suggestion of getting some industry involvement um I think might help move things along a little better and actually I'm and speaking of MGO uh I had a special Hammer that was going to be my MGO smash my computer screen but I have it has grown on me I have become a better user I've used the tutorial if you're not a frequent user I could see the frustration level would be off the charts but now uh before I came here today upload five documents took me less than five minutes got the acknowledgements as I'm driving here to the meeting that they have been received into the system so I think there's good parts of MGO CD plus uh I was here the day CD plus went live in like 1984 85 we thought that was the best thing since sliced bread now it's a curse you can't get rid of it because of its history but MGO it seems to be making progress um I don't know where all the other glitches are at but uh for me as a user I've become a better user by taking the time to to train myself um on it but thank you for your time thank you and thank you for that feedback I think um having the industry offer to help and get involved um we always we're always looking for people to get involved so I really appreciate that welcome welcome Joe Paladin I live at 6450 tropical way and I'll keep it very brief because I know we're all tired one of the things I'll agree with what commissioner lur said about promoting within everything he said ditto I'm not going to add to it I agree with everything you said I think people have to know that could be advanced in the position and the place they're in I agree with that 100% and secondly as far as leaving John with a bunch of problems and giving him a bunch of headaches I think the most negative thing that we handed John was the building department it needed rework revised but I don't think we handed him a broken count I I resent that and I disagree with it let's just be reasonable people we live in the most desirable state in the United States that people want to come to and in the State of Florida the most desirable County that people want to come to is Indian River County I'm a builder I'm a developer I have developers and Builders and investors call me every day when they come here we're desired not because we did things wrong we're desired because we did a lot of things right so I've had it told me several times lately Joe you know you have to get right you have to have new blood have to have changes you know I kind of like seeing some of the old blood when I get into somebody's meeting sometime instead of looking around the meeting room and seeing nobody I recognized I don't think that we need drastic changes I think we did things well in this County that's why the count is in the shape Us in that's why the county is so desirable and it's terribly desirable believe me everybody wants to come to in River County now we can change some things maybe make some cleanups what have you but you know we didn't hand John a broken system that's a terrible County to walk into I just disagree with that 100% I worked in all the counties here brard County Miami D County Palm Beach St Lucy I worked in them all and I think that our County even though we've had some bumps we had to get over is one of the most desirable counties to live in maybe sometimes not the most desirable County to for me to work in as a contractor because I couldn't get away with all the crap here I could in so many the other counties but that's just the way it is that's what makes us such a good County so I don't think that we have to apologize for our County I think our county is a good County I think we've done a lot of good things and the thing that I resent most of all is that the people that are here that made this County what it is they're they're the ones that made this County what it is I don't agree that we have to go outside to replace all these people I just don't agree with it I think that if they're here now you take for instance Rich replica I mean rich is a great engineer terrible people skills okay but it's a lot harder to find an engineer of that caliber and to maybe hone in his people skills and kind of get him into our system so he can deal with people a little bit better he's a great engineer I've never seen a better one and new subject terribly qualified Terri terribly intelligent respect him 100% I worked with him when he was just in code enforcement and when he got his promotion and moved up great I worked with he's very intelligent whatever the reason is that he's not here I'm not going to get into that because I don't think this is the place for it but maybe those things we had to work on a little bit to keep the people we got that are really qualified we can't afford to lose qualified people like Andy subject and Rich sep I mean these people are really qualified go out in the street try and find somebody replace them you can't it's hard it's impossible and every one of the people that live leave here usually wind up can find a better job some place else or it's just as good a job so that tells you something instead of you know reaching outside let's just look to see what we can do with the people we got work with that and like Daryl said I agree with that 100% but I don't agree that our our Count's in a mess is so terrible like I said our building department has a lot of problems man I agree with that 100% but I think we can work on that and get that worked out but as far as the county itself and the way that we've run the county over the years going back to Bob Keening and Joe bar and you know Chris Moore and everybody that's been here man we lay down a hell of a groundwork for a great County we have a great County and I think that we need to be aware of that and appreciate that and I don't apologize John for the county we gave you I think we're a good County that's all I have to say if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them thank you welcome anybody hungry um I'm Richard boski 685 Reef Road this been an interesting meeting to sit through and in some ways a master class in leadership uh on the part of the Commissioners I appreciate that um I want to say water under the bridge nothing's probably going to change I want to Echo what Joe said about Andy he understands the environmental issues the growth issues the community issues I know there I know there was a problem I don't understand it fully I just wish there was a second chance because you know we had we had Stan who was fantastic then we had Phil going back we had Bob there was this continuity it's lost I mean I could Sports analogies commissioner man I could fill a baseball roster plus the bullpen with the people I knew who were here two years ago I mean it's it's uh you know we've lost a lot of continuity hopefully something good will come out of this the one thing I would beg to come out of this John would be to reach out to the gford community ala I've been married for 56 years I learned a little secret apologize even when you're right and um I think an apology to uh to Tony uh Joe and uh Freddy would probably go a long way plus some action but I I'm starving I don't want to go on any longer I'll probably fall in my face on the way to the car but thank you all it was a really interesting meeting thank you welcome hello my name is Brian Hayes I'm 15 2556 Court I'm also a local Builder and I've got a couple hours worth of a presentation for you guys since we've been here so long I I want to Echo um about Scott and the building department and particularly MGO funny thing is my office sent me an email I was sent here they like it we like it it's taken us a long time to get to where we're at but continuously trying continuously calling the building department and getting answers and even funny sometimes we call the building department they would have to go back I guess to the to MGO to get some answers but it's simple I don't have paper plans everywhere an engineer architect can send me um sign electronically signed in sealed plans uh somebody one of my Subs asked me to print out some plans I was like we don't do that anymore like you can get it on your phone he's like no I want plans so I let's not throw that out let's find a way to maybe make it work better um but I wouldn't throw MGO out I we like MGO at least in my office and as far as the Andy um thing goes I just would ask that you guys look into that figure out what's going on Andy has so much knowledge every time I've called Andy he's met with me every time I've called Andy he's been um responsive exact same thing with uh Scott McAdam uh the building department it's not perfect but we also have to strike a balance we don't want to look like the County south of us right so it's got to be a little bit more difficult to build here that's just that's just the way it is you can't have it both ways um so those of us that have been here for a long time we know how to work through the process um the process doesn't always work chains the links get broken sometimes but there's they always get repaired um we always learn to do something better the next time we work with them um so I just ask you guys to uh there's just some great continuity as other people have said and um and and I think that we we're heading in the right direction we we continue that continuity I think it's very important for our community thank you thank you welcome hello Chris Crawford 18566 avue um I just wanted to point out the difference between the Florida building code which is completely objective um compared to our ldrs the dinosaur of our codes that are very subjective and there's your difference in service uh the building code enforce the building official enforces the building code he doesn't have the subjectivity like our planners and our Engineers do with our ldrs um I'm curious who the complaints are I'm listen I know the project you're talking about and uh that project that was built there was in a non-conforming 100-year-old flea market wooden building Tinder Box so I understand the complaints your client was probably misguided uh from the get-go and got aggravated with the process as he discovered all the difficulties so I don't think you should be pointing the fingers at our building official he is effective Ive he enforces the building code that's his job MGO uh has been difficult to learn once we have I don't wait in line behind do it yourselfers an amateurs for an hour to turn something in anymore I can do it through the MGO just like that I've learned the system I have no problem so uh I would just say uh Scott McAdam is a very good building official and uh we're watching y'all thank you thank you anybody else all right commissioner lore this is your item is there anything or any more deliverables we need to give to John um an expectation of the update in December no ma'am I think he's going to provide us with a summary uh I think I heard him say that earlier um whether it's afternoon or tomorrow or what have you and then we will um commence in December with our quarterly meetings all right as well as the attorneys okay everybody clear on that we're good yes it'll probably be the beginning of the week okay thank you thank you all right with that we will move on to uh Solid Waste Disposal district 15 B2 work order number two to Jones Edmonds and Associates for 74th Avenue Southwest widening project appr second all right I have a motion by commissioner with a second by commissioner flesher any further discussion you waited for this all in favor opposed motion carries thank you and with that if there's nothing else for the good of the order we yes I I I just want to say that uh once again we started the meeting off with uh thoughts for 911 911 is tomorrow uh there will be a brief ceremony um up at the fairgrounds and uh I I think that uh we should all be committed to never forget as we say we need to do and uh I just wanted to make that public announcement that at 8:00 in the morning there will be ceremony at Fairgrounds we can reflect AB Fairgrounds at 8 a.m. Fairgrounds at 8:00 a.m. the miver county fairgrounds okay 58th Avenue off the F inside the indoors a no shine all right thank you so much with that we stand adjourned