##VIDEO ID:xl_ZjaDlhQA## [Music] afternoon will everyone take take your seats please thank you Commissioners and everyone we're going to start our public hearings at this time we're going to have our first public hearing on the fiscal year 2024 2025 tenative budget September 17th 2024 6:00 p.m. Leon County courthous Commission Chambers public hearing agenda this is the first of two required public hearings on the Leon County budget for fiscal year 2024 2025 the second and final public hearing will be Tuesday September the 24th 2024 at 6 o'clock P.M if you wish to speak in person please complete a speaker's card and turn it in to the clerk citizens registers to speak in person or to provide virtual comments will be asked to speak prior to the commission taking a vote on the millage rate and budget now Mr administrator Vincent long will read the mill rate into the public record thank you madam chair ladies and gentlemen if it seems like we're very scripted it's because we are um we're required to read certain things into the records uh in accordance with the truth and millage act and with that thank you madam chair I'll read the millage rate into the public record uh I'd like to invite our uh budget director Rond de Bradley to the podium to follow with a brief presentation on the FY 25 tenative budget the proposed aggregate millage rate is 9.64 4 Mills which is a 3.00% um over which is 3.00% over the aggregate rolled back millage rate of 88033 Ms ADV valorum revenues will increase due to an upturn in property values this increase will be used to support sustaining quality level of essential Services countywide Commissioners you been but you have provided all the necessary guidance uh throughout the development of the tenative budget and all of the direction provided in the various agendas and workshops during the budget process have been incorporated into the 2025 tenanted budget with that uh Commissioners uh I'd like to hand it over to rashonda Bradley our director of management and budget for a brief presentation good evening Commissioners and thank you Vince um Commissioners as the county admin just stated um the fiscal year 2025 budget presented to you today um reflects all of your policy Direction and Leadership throughout this entire budget development process um has as has been reflected in your numerous agenda items and workshop um materials um Commissioners the fy2 budget is balanced at $378 million um this budget reflects the board's consistent fiscally conservative approach to budgeting which allows us to continue to provide the quality high quality services while keeping our tax burden low among the lowest for our citizens as we've reiterated Commissioners throughout this budget process this is accomplished as we continue to face High inflation throughout our budget um continued unfunded mandates and also other cost shifts to local governments all of this is in addition to the normal operating impacts or increases that we have each year to just basically open the doors which we which usually averages around $10 to 12 million a year again Commissioners all of this is accomplished without the need to increase any taxes or fees this year we have been and continue to be a phisically stable organization and that that provides consistency to our taxpayers as well commissioner some of the highlights of the budget that you're familiar with include a of course for the 13th year in a row no change to any of our um to our countywide millage rate again this year no new tax or fee increases of any kind continued fiscal constraint with no new County General Revenue positions um just the one position of course for lcso um to patrol the western western side of the community in addition to increasing starting pay for deputies also this year commissioner as we talked about doing your budget Workshop this is the last year of arpa funding so we are continuing to maximize that Federal funding in this year's budget and lastly commissioner um as we continue to address ongoing threats to the county budgets as the Comm as the administrators stated earlier our employees are continuing to seek opportunities to cut costs these efforts of course are not isolated to the budget process um it's a deliberate approach that occurs throughout the year throughout Square program and all of these recommendations Commissioners are brought to you prior to seeking any new taxes or fees for this year Al as we've already pointed out over $12 million in savings have been identified and because we are accounting um that $76 million since 2013 I'm also Commissioners as was reflected today in the video and in your annual report documents while the budget is conservative the budget continues to implement some of the board's most ambitious goals which are seen throughout um this budget now commissioner is just switching um transition into the overall budget um I know everyone wants to know where the money's coming from and where where the funds are going on the screen um is a summary of anticipated revenues and expenditures from our fy4 budget I won't go through the through each detail line item as I know you're familiar with this chart but I did want to highlight our property tax our General Revenue dollars as you know this year we are expecting about a 10% increase in our property values which is going to equate to about $18 million in additional property tax revenue this year if you'll look over to the expense side of the chart you'll see that 10.7 or nearly 11 million of that 18 million is going to the sheriff along um you were also this year Commissioners able to um invest in additional 4 $4.2 million roughly um into your Capital program to address critical infrastructure needs including those improvements and heavy equipment Replacements that we talked about to help us be in a better position to respond to those um severe weather events like we experienced this year um other increases commissioner we talked about during the budget workshops address those inflationary increases um for our County cor Services Commissioners we know that it's important to consider how the millage rate affects our current um Property Owners as we talked about Commissioners um we are expecting the $1 million doll in additional property tax revenue this year of that 6 million of that is attributed to new residential and commercial property and $3 million of that alone is for the Amazon facility now I did want to reiterate because we know that there was some questions um in during the summer about the value increase the 10% increase does not equate to a corresponding 10% increase in property tax bills no matter how much a value of a property increases of course State Statute limits that increase for our Homestead Properties to 3% or the change in CPI whichever is lower and when we talk about your Homestead Properties Commissioners those are usually your primary residences and just some data from the proper appraisers office when we consider all the single family residences on the property tax role about 80% of single family properties in the county are homestead um and for those non-homestead um properties the cap is 10% um so those are your investment properties your rental properties your second homes and I did pull some data so when we talk about the cap being either 3% or lower depending on CPI for the past seven years excuse me for the past 10 years the CPI has been lower than that 3% so out of seven of the past 10 years properties values taxable values have not even met that 3% threshold on the chart Commissioners we did just want to show you an example of um what the proper tax bill or impact this year would be for those average um homeowners so for a single family resident um with homestead exemption the annual impact is about $53 which is a little over $4 a month and you'll see also there the impact for non-homestead um properties um I know there was also concerns about um renters so we did pull an an average um 85 unit um apartment complex and you'll see if that charge was passed on to renters it would only be about $55.50 um a month again Commissioners these are just some of the um impacts um we wanted to just give you an idea of what that looks like for the average um property owner um and Commissioners as I wrap up my comments I wanted to um also just share how we compare to our like-sized counties in other like-sized counties in Florida when you consider the inflationary cost increases and other budget pressures that we experience in our budget and factor in County governments all across the state again this year the board continues to fund an extremely effective and efficient organization compared to our like-sized counties when it comes to our budget as the County Administrator stated in his remarks we have the lowest net budget and a very close second lowest budget Per County resident and on top of that Commissioners as you know we continue to do this as we have some of the most property taxes off the tax roads in the state all of this Commissioners further underscores how efficient we are in providing all the essential services in our community um and we're doing this continuing to do this with very limited resources um with that Commissioners as noted in your public hearing materials these are the recommended options which must be voted on separately and in the order presented um as the chair stated our final public hearing is scheduled for September 24th at 6 p.m. and with that I'll turn it back over to you madam chair Madam chair we have uh no further speakers uh on this item and with that I'll hand it back to you oh thank you uh Mr County Administrator um pla statute requires the board to address the millage rate before addressing each budget the board must votee on each millage rate and budget separately so now I will entertain um a motion from my co colleagues uh we'll look at the options separately so option one chair move option one thank you thank you second by commissioner o'keith any discussion hearing none all those in favor let it be known by saying I I commissioner Proctor are you there I thank you so it's unanimous option I'm sorry I vot no oh you voted no I'm sorry I apologize uh so one no Madam cler uh the motion passes Madam chair option two commissioner Maddox thank you madam chair option two I would like to make a motion to adopt via resolution the tenative FY 2425 countywide budget without the line item funding for Big Ben Homeless Coalition also known as Family Promise of the big Benin IID like to declare my conflict as CEO of uh Family Promise of the big Benin that be my thank you is there a second okay all any discussion now this is um number two excluding the big men Homeless Coalition all those I'm sorry do have discussion real quick yes thank you madam chair um mainly it's just a question for the County Administrator um for our volunteer fighter fighter departments um I have been told that you know they''re having a hard time keeping and recruiting folks and could you just tell us a little bit about how our volunteer firefighter budget um helps keep them and Recruit new folks thank you madam chair yes commissioner and I I know our chief is probably in the audience here and he can back me up a little on this but generally speaking we do provide um an annual budget for um our volunteer fire departments which is somewhat unique um often fire departments volunteer fire departments are funded um exclusively through donations and that sort of thing but again we we do the board has has taken that position for many years that we provide an annual budget through uh and we do so through the fire Services fee we pay for it through the fire Services fee and and chief Abrams could probably uh provide a lot more detail than I could on the individual vfds budgets if you if you'd like to have that yeah uh Commissioners U the County Administrator is correct we we split that money it's about 115,000 and next year's budget that's split between the uh vfds under a board policy um that we brought an item not too long ago about to you guys and adjusted the amount that we're providing them for the primary apparatus at each of those stations that helps us with the iso credits of increasing that amount specifically to uh recruitment volunteer Leon has recruitment opportunities and training for them as well as we host the uh volunteer fir Tru Roundup which is focused around fire prevention week is a way to help them with Recruitment and you know get some recognition within the community that they provide service uh throughout the county thank you chief anything further commission ke thank you so much so we've got um a motion and a second excluding B being Homeless Coalition all those in favor uh let it be known by saying I I I yes yeah we just did okay we do no we just excluded it we excluded it right yes so so we excluded it so okay that's the same thing and and we've Mo voted now on that par particular budget item excluding big being homeless right and so now I need to entertain a motion uh that includes Big B Homeless Coalition and with commissioner Maddox recusing himself because of yes ma'am I'll make that motion okay second thank you any discussion commissioner um Proctor are you there he might not be uh no discussion all those in favor of the budget item funding for big Benin Homeless Coalition Family Promise of the big Benin let it be known by saying I I I with commissioner Nick Mattis recusing himself uh commissioner Proctor again are you there and we'll say commissioner Proctor out of out of Chambers Madam clerk okay all right we are now at option three I'd like to recognize a commissioner to move well option three four and five no conflict has been raised uh so option three I'd like to entertain a motion so moved second any discussion hearing none all those in favor of the adoption of option three let it be known by saying I I I I commissioner Proctor you there okay it's unan 24 sit with commissioner Proctor out of Chambers option four i' like to entertain a motion second thank you any discussion hearing none all those in favor let it be known by saying I to option four I I commissioner Proctor we show commissioner Proctor out out of Chambers option five I will entertain a motion uh thank you any discussion all those in favor let it be known by saying I I I any opposition commissioner Proctor hearing none eyes haveit with commissioner Proctor uh out of Chambers and I believe uh Mr County Administrator that takes care of our first public hearing it does madam chair and if I could before you close it uh the County Attorney brought to my attention that I may have uh misread the aggregate roll back and just in case I did let me just State for the record the aggregate rolled back rate of 8.83 Ms thank you thank you thank you madam County attorney Mr County Administrator now we are own public hearing number 30 thank you madam chair Commissioners item number 30 request the board to conduct the first and only public hearing to consider adopting a resolution to approve and adopt the non-ad theorum assessment uh role for the local provider participation fund non adalum assessment this uh item is requested by the local hospitals each year to draw down an estimated $49 million in Gross Federal and local provider uh participation funding to be paid to the local hospitals next fiscal year year and would uh not require any County funding of the 49 million it's estimated the county will uh collect 26 million from the local hospitals as a nonfederal share uh to ensure uh deadlines established by uh AA uh are met the public hearing uh regarding the assessment is typically held in September of each year Commissioners the recommendations are provided before you options 1 two and three are recommended again this is simply um uh a a a function that we provide to allow the hospitals to draw down additional uh dollars uh and uh I believe Commissioners let me just verify I think we've got um three speakers two are here just in case there are questions but with that um let me just verify here too many speaker cards um no I believe we have two just in case there are questions so Laura McDonald is here as well as uh Priscilla uh NM is here as well from tmh so again if there are questions we have folks here in the audience with that we are recommending options one two and three thank you Mr County Administrator move options one two and three thank you is there a second thank you is there any discussion from Commissioners hearing none all those in favor of Staff recommendation options one two and three let it be known by saying I I I commissioner Proctor you there is I Madam cler with commissioner proor out of Chambers Mr count administrator I believe we on item 31 thank you madam chair item number 31 Commissioners uh request the board conduct the first and only public hearing to adopt an ordinance to add a new membership category for appointment to the leyon county affordable housing committee and amend uh the ah haack's enabling resolution to reflect this new membership as you may recall the board directed in June that the new membership category be created on the ah Haack specifically for an individual who currently receives rental assistance and has benefited from an affordable housing program or experienced eviction in the last 10 months adopting the ordinance and amending the enabling resolution would effectuate the board's direction we're requesting one options number one and two happy to answer any questions we do have one speaker on this item Stanley Sims thank you Mr Sim evening 1320 Avendale way I just want to say briefly we we went to an opening today of of a housing unit and they had a resident speaking it is so important to engage the people who we try to help that way it's received better they feel a part of their Community they feel engaged and they're respected and so I just want to thank um commissioner o'key thank this B thank you even Vince um for creating an environment and an atmosphere where every taxpayer can be not only heard but participate in bettering their Community thank you again for for this appointment thank you Mr Sims is that a concludes our speakers on this item thank you uh Commissioners I'd like to entertain a motion for options one and two move options one and two second thank you thank you any discussion uh commissioner o ke yes Madam chair um i' would like to thank everyone for supporting this and there's two groups of folks one person and two groups I'd like to thank um first is uh Mr Stanley Simms for bringing this to our attention that we ought to include somebody on the advisory committee who has been assisted or by rent programs or gone through an eviction and I want to thank staff for running with this they have already planned coordination with the tallahi housing authority and other housing Partners to recruit applicants and so I just I'm really excited for this to come back thank you thank you commissioner o' keis and I just want to Echo your your sentiments we want to thank Mr Sams he he raised this we embrace it and it has come to fruition and I think it's just a great demonstration to show that we as elected officials we listen to our constituents we listen to people that come come before board so uh thank you Mr Sims all those in favor Let It Be know by saying I I I any opposition commissioner Proctor hearing no opposition it passes with commissioner Proctor out of Chambers Mr County Administrator thank you madam chair finally for your public hearings tonight Commissioners uh this item item number 32 request the board to conduct the first and only public hearing on the small cities Community block Grant opportunity for the Florida Department of Commerce as presented the item Commissioners the Florida administrative Administrative Code requires that local governments must hold two public hearings to apply for this cdbg funding the first public hearing is limited to general information on the grant opportunity which staff will present shortly and citizens comments on projects or or activities that could be funded through this opportunity Florida code does not allow for any board discussion or action during the first public hearing uh and however at the second public hearing which is recommended uh for your next meeting in October the board will have the opportunity to consider recommended projects based on the cdbg requirements and project competitivness for tonight in accordance with the state requirements shingon lamby will provide a brief presentation with the general information of the CB cdbg Grant opportunity and then we'll turn it over to the chair uh to take public comments and we do have three in the queue at this time and with that Mr lamby right good evening again Commissioners I will be lightning quick um with this one um as the County Administrator mentioned so for this for the first public hearing uh I just wanted to kind of Bri give some brief overviews of cdbg um of course the which is the Community Development block grant it is um federal funds that are used to improve the quality of life and E economic opportunities for low to moderate income households and distressed neighborhoods in the community throughout the nation those dollars are doled out um through C are distributed to entitlement communities and non-entitlement communities so what entitlement Community has defined is those are communities that get direct and annual funding from the federal governments in order to do to receive those dollars for a city you have to have a population of at least 50,000 and for a county you have to have a population of at least 200,000 but 200,000 in your unincorporated areas so it can't include the city of Tallahassee um for our community of course city of tallahassee's population is well over 50,000 so they are enement community and for leyon County uh we are considered a non-entitlement community because unincorporated Leon County has less than 200,000 population um so because of that we apply through in Florida through the um non inment communities uh through the Department of Commerce Florida State Department of Commerce is how we apply it's a competitive Grant process um that non-int alment communities have to go through um in August Florida commer announced the availability of $25 million uh through the federal fiscal year 2020 um small city cdbg funding um opportunity the application window opened on September 2nd it closes on October 17th of this year um there will be um four areas we we may be able to apply for it provides funding for um the following activities and they have to occur of course in un unincorporated leyon County since the city receives cdbg funding and I'll just touch real quick on those four areas which is housing rehab neighborhood revitalization commercial revalation uh commercial revitalization Economic Development as part of the um requirements for this first public hearing so uh the first one is housing Rehabilitation um this provides major repairs or Replacements of homes of low to moderate income house households these um repairs can include roof Replacements um separate tank Replacements flooring HVAC um ramps these are very similar Commissioners to what we do with our ship program um again for unincorporated parts of Leon County um this would be for the benefit as required for homeowners or multi family projects that are um focused to low to moderate income households and um you can receive up to $750,000 if you were to apply for this activity the other one is neighborhood revitalization these are um utilized for neighborhood improvements like streets sidewalks um Parks uh Parks Water and Sewer infrastructure as well as um renovations to community centers or construction of community centers for these projects they have to be in in a service area that um serves at least 51 of of in uh 51% of individuals who are low to moderate income um that those individuals must be uh must be representing that service area again you can receive up to $750,000 um for that activity opportunity commercial re revitalization is um it assists private property owners with some of the things you see up here listed um with renovating structures that are blinded in lowed Mar um area communities with exterior improvements with um water water and sewer improvements um cold compliance improvements and um parks and uh open spaces for parks and playgrounds that may also be in a um a private area U but again these projects and when you apply for those have to be um in a service area with um where the population is at least 51% or more that are low a moderate income and for that you can also we could also potentially apply for up to $750,000 finally with economic development it's very similar to um commercial re revitalization however the primary difference is that um it must be it must not it must also create private jobs must be must be creating private jobs um and according to Florida commerce when we've participated as part of their workshops and questions is that local governments that typically apply for economic development cdbg funding do so in partnership with a job Creator which is typically a um a private business who will be retaining or creating at least one permanent job for every thir about $35,000 of cdbg funding that is awarded and the funding limits for that is um you can receive up to $1.5 million now between these four I just want to share that you can apply for um one of these you can't apply for all of them except for economic development potentially if you have a um private sector partner that you're applying along with um as the County Administrator mentioned so tonight is just the public hearing where you get public comments and of course I make this presentation but for the um second public hearing that'll be the opportunity where Commissioners um we will um can consider any recommended projects that will come before you at that time um those recommendation of of a um of an even a potential application will be based on citizen comment that you hear tonight U project feasibility competitiveness um of those projects as well as your um cdbg citizen advisory task force as mentioned in your agenda item Commissioners um the um task force actually is um important piece of um scoring for our um application it actually would make us competitive um the task force is established by the board and they regularly provide us input on our CDG program and processes as well as recommendations and so they'll be meeting um um later this week um to discuss that also make recommendations all of these will come before the board as part of your um uh a second public hearing which as is recommended your item will be for the um October 8th meeting at 6: pm. that I'll answer any questions Commissioners may have or just sit down thank you thank you thank you thank thank you shankton we've got three speakers Commissioners the first speaker is Kay lenorris Barber Kayla Nars Barbara 527 West Bard Street I am the executive director of the Mount Olive affordable Housing and Community Development Corporation I am also a member of the housing Leadership Council as I Traverse the county I noticed and I'm sure you've noticed too that housing conditions in some of our communities are deplorable um so I'm here tonight to support the application of the cdbg grant particularly I'd like to encourage you support uh housing reh Rehabilitation thank you thank you Mr barara next speaker GHC yes I'm back I was doing a deep dive into the cdbg funding opportunities and lo and behold I found a whole separate section of laws from the um the federal government called preserving America this was for historic preservation specifically and I'm looking at this neighborhood revitalization category and the beauty part about this particular Grant opportunity through cdbg funds is that they recognize that many historic places are out in the middle of either nowhere or in the middle of a community and while the community is Raising itself up by Restorations and other kind of Renovations increasing the value of the homes here's this historic piece of property sitting in the middle of it and this particular set of rules allows for historic preservation on that one spot no matter that the people around you are making or are not in that 51% of low and middle income that one spot is eligible for cdbg funding for historic preservation so this is one of the only set of rules that I've found that understands some of the difficulties of restoring places because they're not convenient and they're uh out of step with what's going on around them but if you were to a be able to see this uh Lake Hall School we're still talking about that you'll find that there's all kinds of development around it and its particular space is shrinking we still have Descendants on that land which is still kind of a miracle but many people are either passing and they can't or they can't afford the taxes but there's still a good bit of property out there owned by the descendants and here's a school sitting right in the middle of it I want to remind you that it's still this is one of the N National Treasures because it's the only one there aren't any others particularly in the South so the notion that this 1872 school is still sitting there is a miracle in and of itself so I'm hoping to be able to um apply for this and we'll see what happens thank you thank you Dr St final speaker on this item graci Leland good evening gra Leland 14988 Leland Circle tallahi State of Florida retire 35 years Department of Financial Services senior workers compensations supervisor graduate of old Lincoln High School 1963 attended Lively School techn Tech technical bookkeeping in our County volunteer with the tah senior citizens lunch and learn mikasuki I am from mikasuki this evening I'm here to on behalf of my community and Mr Marks in regarding the block grant I don't know too much about the block grant but my community is in need of some rehabilitation in our community and we would like for this to be p and I would like to know more about this so I can go back and tell my community because they don't know too much about it and I want to Enlighten them on it and I hope that this uh Rock Grant is passed and I hope that you all have a good evening thank you thank you madam chair that concludes our speakers on this item thank you U Mr chair uh Commissioners I'd like to enter entertain a motion to accept the recommendation of staff on this particular item and I understand there can be no board discussion so I need a motion and a second move thank you is there a second thank you all those in favor let it be known by saying I I any opposition hearing none commissioner Proctor was commissioner Proctor oh I okay thank you commissioner Proctor thank you so I got items you ask i' like to uh show my support for items I believe the pre item I was out I simply was not uh well connected so I just got let back into the meeting thank you thank you so Madam clerk will we will you show um our public hearings that start at 6:00 where we show commissioner Proctor out of Chambers will you indicate his vote into affirmative for us thank you so much uh Mr County Administrator I believe that concludes our public hearings and so we're back now on agenda item number 24 thank you madam chair item number 24 commissioner seeks your approval to execute a purchase order for Ring Power Corporation for the design and installation of a new power distribution system at the leyon County Detention Center piggybacking on a large scale competitively bid solicitation this item has a fiscal impact it's been budgeted and contemplated uh and uh this item uh Again by piggybacking on this uh uh competitive and procured contract and utilizing a a comprehensive project management approach the design and installation of the system will rce cost by approximately a million dollar and will result in a compressed 2-year timeline during the renovation this is always important to say about the jail the facility will remain operational so with with that uh Madam chair uh we are recommending option one and we have no speakers on this item thank you uh Mr County Administrator uh Commissioners you move option one thank you staff recommendation is there a second thank you is there any disc discussion from the Commissioners hearing none mam CH uh commissioner proactor M CH I just like to say that uh in uh far more is needed for our Detention Facility uh this is um one small uh Band-Aid uh of a facility that needs to be um uh probably reimagined and i would support uh and begin to ask staff to look at um the current current um structure of our jail and though what we're doing today is merely a a Band-Aid but uh looking into the future of the 21st century uh uh in so many ways this structure fall beneath the basine of uh of um facilities in particular of the mental health um uh um sources of people who there and we are the largest uh mental health facility in North Florida and it's right there and I think that we should scale a gel that um when you speak intimately to the detailed needs of uh how you house and and best practices for housing different category of um citizen needs uh RL uh it's time for us to begin to lend uh know it may cause heartburn but it's time to lend uh Forward Thinking to uh a new vision for the facility that um considers um age as well as mental condition for in terms of how it's designed blah blah blah blah um I wanted to add that and want to say to our staff to please begin um to initiate some some thought of how we can uh make our jail a contemporary model going into the future thank you thank you commissioner Proctor let me ask our County Administrator if he can just respond to that just very quickly it's just a reminder uh for the board uh the board uh last year uh in your budget uh included before any um comprehensive reinvestment in in the facility of course we have ongoing reinvestment uh there uh that occurs on a high level year round but uh the board wished to consult a um an outside na uh Consulting expert to take a look at the facilities and the programmatic uh opportunities at the jail for improvements and I just wanted to remind the board that that'll be coming back at your next meeting in October oh thank you Mr count administrator for that update uh commissioner uh M thank you madam chair I I just wanted to say this for the benefit of the people who might be watching at home uh during the briefing I had with the County Administrator we discussed this this is not an unplanned expenditure this has been budgeted for and is currently in the sheriff's fisc year 24 budget so the current fiscal year so I just want to point that out for folks thank you madam chair thank you for the clarification commissioner minor no other comments um let's vote on the motion on the floor all those in favor let it be known by saying I I I any opposition commissioner Proctor I thank you thank you it's unanimous uh Mr County Administrator I believe we on 20 uh thank you madam chair item number 25 uh as requested by the board this item provides an analysis on all crimes reported in leyon County with a focus on 32304 and and as well as an emphasis on West Pensacola Street uh this item details ongoing efforts to combat crime and address nuisance activities on West Pensacola through policy stakeholder engagement reducing homelessness and promoting economic growth this item includes actions uh taken by the board such as adopting an ordinance prohibiting unauthorized homelessness participating in the investment of $2.2 million in a real crime Center funding the host deputies establishing line item funding uh for the homeless shelter and and a lot more it's a very comprehensive item requested by the board uh I've asked uh shington uh to provide a brief presentation uh including uh when you can anticipate further board discussion on West Pensacola Street uh and and efforts to address nuisance activities uh along the corridor and with that with the board's Indulgence we've got a brief presentation we're happy to answer any questions as well yeah thank you Mr countor thank you um K thank you madam chair and Commissioners um no PowerPoint for this one this will be um hopefully brief also um as the kind administrator mentioned so this really broken down to two things in your item is the crime data as well as our ongoing efforts to address the issues on West West Pinola Street so regarding to crime data first of course the board requests data on all crimes reported in leyon County um with the emphasis on 323 32304 which is provided in the item and it shows that approximately 33 uh% increase in crimes will reported over the past 5 years countywide um leny which is the theft of personal property as well as simple assault with the most frequent um crimes reported each year um overall um countywide for um the and that also included 32304 also those were the main ones now for 32304 um zip code area um it did have the most crimes reported as well as second per capita um but also keep in mind that this is also the ZIP code with the most population in leyon County um it is um the majority of residents um in the uh in 32304 are between the ages of 18 to 34 which um signifies the considerable number of college students um that live in that area um it also includes um our Frenchtown and Griffin Heights neighborhoods um it has the census tracks with the highest uh poverty rates um lowest percentages of home ownership uh lowest median of um household incomes and these are all key indicators of areas that are um typically ex um exposed to Crime um in a community uh there's several things that um we have going on and to address those issues especially in those neighborhoods I mentioned like Frenchtown and um and Griffin Heights when it comes to addressing um generational poverty and working with the city through their neighborhood first plans with those projects that um we continue to provide the board um updates on as well as um the Strategic initiative that's been adopted by the board um but also included in 32304 of course is West Pensacola Street and as the board also requested um um was solutions to combat crime which is um and nuisance activities such as panhandling and Laing on West Pensacola Street which is primarily in the city limits and is um estate Road um so the item details the ongoing Collective efforts with those Partners um to do just that and through policy um regularly engaging residents and businesses reducing homelessness and promoting economic growth when it comes to combating crimes Commissioners as the count administrator mentioned one of those things is what happened in 2022 when the real time Center um crime Center was constructed for $2.2 million in partnership with the county the city lcso and FSU to improve communication and intelligence sharing and coordination among law enforcement agencies over the past two years now cameras and license plate readers were in installed um by the city along West Pensacola Street that are connected to the realtime crime Center allowing for more rapid response to by law enforcement to address crime and combat crime in the area tpd increased proactive Patrol with more frequent presence and um to enforce the laws deter crime maintain public order and provide service to the community over the past year and to address the concerns raised by the C residents and businesses regarding crime and nuisance activities as well as homelessness on West Pensacola Street the Sheriff's Office launched operation Alliance for a 3-month period in 2023 by increasing Patrol and engaging not just the homeless but also the businesses and residents in that area and then they followed that up with operation Alliance 2.0 which occurred last month for a onewe period that was targeted to patrol areas that were frequented with elicit activities and trespass issues and this is something that they're contined ongoing to look to do and also schedule future ones also um based on need um on the policy adoption side Commissioners it's through policy that the county has taken considerable action to address nuisance activities in the community including on West Pensacola Street um this includes like the county ministr mentioned adopting an ordinance that's prohibiting unauthorized solicitation on private businesses to address concerns of local businesses as well as provide law enforcement greater greater authority to reduce such activities in the community including on West penscola Street we established and funded the host Deputy positions to engage homeless individuals that are encampments and enforce the law when appropriate adopted the community campaign in partnership with the city as well as the COC to reduce panhandling by installing signs on roadways around our community um and also as we did earlier as and and um approved formally again tonight Commissioners and address was establishing the line item funding for Emergency Shelters that provides greater oversight and also ties funding to activities that will help mitigate the impact of homeless clients on West Pensacola Street um Corridor through programs like the Carney Center has their Good Neighbor program where they have folks on golf carts up and down West Pensacola Street trying to address those who are um um engaging those that are homeless as well as cleaning up um areas that are within right of weight on community engagement also is an essential component to combat combating crime and reducing nuisance activities and so consistent with our long history of engaging citizens to tackle the most pressing issues of the day the county has participated in meetings conducted by the city and lcso with businesses and residents on West Pensacola Street in order to enhance la enforcement operations lcso has been leading quarterly meetings with West penscola Street businesses and residents to discuss and gather input on crime litter loitering and panhandling so building on those meetings that's been held by lcso as well as the city too CC will um conduct meeting starting next month with residents and businesses to continue the conversation and um develop actions to address crime littered Laing and homelessness and pan panhandling with the participation of course of the county the city tpd lcso and our homeless service providers um and all of this of course is part of the efforts to reduce homelessness especially in that Corridor recognizing um the significant level of homelessness on that Corridor because reducing homelessness is is a critical to coordinated efforts to address the nuisance activities such as panhandling and Laing uh over the past year now the county has partnered with the city the COC and the homeless providers on this effort this has included as I mentioned earlier Commissioners the $500,000 in onetime funding that was provided to the Carney Center which allowed them to expand day services for unsheltered um individuals so we can move them off the streets and into shelter to provide services and also the deployment of their good neighbors program to reduce lering and litter on West Pensacola Street in 2023 the board adopted a strategic initiative to work with the c and the city on developing Corridor plans for areas with high concentrations of homelessness which includes West penscola Street to better address encampments in those areas lering littering paning panhandling and other activities these will develop cdor plans will develop action plans for businesses for government for residents in addressing and reducing homelessness in those areas those Corridor plans are expected to be completed later this year and presented to the board in early part of 2025 and um finally of course with economic growth and um and infrastructure improvements um those are key component also of combating crime and addressing nuisance activities on West penscola Street um the West Gates Westside student Gateway Commissioners as you may be familiar with is a is a blueprint project that will improve the segment of West Pensacola Street uh between Apple Yard drive and Capital Circle Southwest with Road widening sidewalks bike lanes and lake and um landscape meds this total investment is about $41 million and is currently in the PDN phase most immediately $10.5 million is being invested by Florida Department of Transportation again this is a state road n fy2 to resurface West pens Street and improve the roadway additionally there have been about 800 properties that have been rezoned which have been essential to to um on West scholar street that been essential to Greater commercial development and as detailed in the item at least six new businesses have opened or expected to be open within the next year due to approving uh approved rezoning by the city oev office of economic vitility of course has been active participant in the meetings conducted by the sheriff's office as well as the COC to promote its programs and services to businesses in attendance that attend those meetings through the month of this month of of um September OE is surveying businesses to get a better understanding on the impact of homelessness on their businesses and will use the survey to results to enhance financial and technical assistance to the businesses in the area also oev has active promoted job opportunities to the residents of 32304 which includes West Pensacola Street as well as other zip codes that have historically experienced high unemployment levels um as the County Administrator mentioned earlier OE specifically collaborated with Amazon to recruit employees for the Amazon fulfillment center in 32301 32303 and 32304 and so far nearly half of the employees that have been hired so far come from those specific zip codes so to wrap up Commissioners um as we described in the item Westman skull Street has experienced PE of transition throughout its history right um started from a World War II era Airfield to a major transportation connector anchored Now by two of our institutions of higher education in Florida State University and tallas State College and in the middle it's filled with student housing commercial developments government facilities as well as Human Service Providers right now portions continue to experience economic growth as can be seen with new housing and businesses while other parts to be frank to be very very Frank have seen significant decline so by addressing crime and new assistance activities through policy through engaging the community Through reducing homelessness as well as economic development and infrastructure improvements we can can in coordination Cal in collaboration with our local partners and stakeholders put us in a position to change the trajectory of those specific parts of West Pensacola Street um it won't happen overnight and so it will continue with work with our partners including engaging West Pensacola Street residents and businesses to bring any future recommendations that will enhance the quality of life of the corridor as I shared before we anticipate more of these coming back to you as part of those Corridor plans that we will be be bringing as part of early 2025 and um with that I'm happy to answer any questions speak Madam chair we have one speaker card on this item Stanley Sims Stanley Sims unelected mayor of Tallahassee Florida I agree with everything you just said but I have one problem we have not talked about a high pedestrian traffic on that road several people so what they homeless we don't want nobody hit they have been hit on that road I understand that there are crime issues that that comes with the package but it it it I'm concerned that we are not concerned that these people are getting hit on Pensacola Street and we up here talking about locking them up policy that kind of and that's got to be done don't get me wrong um there's a bound but I don't hear when we we have a high pedestrian area and and I ain't throwing it ain't my fault that FSU o and3 they ain't got nothing to do with this but on Tennessee Street in that high pedestrian area when those college students was crossing tennessy Street and that one child got hit the next week they put areas up that prevented those students from Crossing that street and forced them to cross at a safe place now that's something that can be done now I don't well let me take that back I think that's something that can be done because you did say that's a state road is Tennessee Street a state road well that's something can be done I take that back let's let's not and and and and I want to say um Christian B you have led this area you you've been on top of it but the area of cuz that car center ain't going nowhere promise ain't going nowhere and as long as car ain't going nowhere and promise ain't going nowhere Laing ain't going nowhere so we need to address all of these things it needs to be some safety components put in place on Pensacola Street not even just on Pensacola we're having accidents hitting on on uh Appalachia Parkway and that ain't the homeless folks it's just the college kids just running across the dog on street so there is a pedestrian problem of safety in this area as well and I just don't want that to get lost in the scheme because he has brought some very valid no he has brought some very valid points but I just want us to know this ain't just about controlling crime this is also about keeping our citizens safe thank you Mr Sims anything further Mr further speakers on this Madam chair thank you uh Commissioners I'd like to entertain a motion to accept staff recommendation of option one M commissioner caban thank you m thank you madam chair for discussion purposes I like to move staff recommendation option one thank you is there a second thank you commissioner madx is there a discussion for any commiss commissioner come thank you madam chair um before I get started I just want to give a sincere thank you to the County Administrator and also shington um anytime Pensacola Street is discussed you guys have been quick to jump on it um and shankton working after hours at Community meetings I really appreciate you and your team um you guys know how important this is to to my district and our office and honestly all of the Young County so I want to thank you um this has been a very frustrating issue for me personally part of the reason why I lived on White Drive I lived on bellie way and I lived on Leona Road and I lived on Okala Road all from 201 to 2017 I currently live right off high road which is two Big Blocks from Pensacola Street um anybody who lives in Highway 20 um any Resident that lives pretty much in my district drives on Pensacola Street very frequently um the decline of Pensacola Street has been very visible um Let me let me correct that the decline of certain parts of Pensacola Street have been very very visible um I've had conversations with the county inator at length of what are our options and what can we do um I I've been thinking about this the last 24 hours before this meeting of like you know what is the correct direction to go um we've had conversations with I've had conversations in regards to maybe creating a special taxing district where we almost make it like a CRA that the county manages to inject dollars into the area um to create better jobs and better Economic Development um after thinking about it I I think really what we need is a West Pensacola Street master plan I think there needs to be you know a 20 to 30-year plan for this Corridor where we talk about you know what businesses we want to attract um what our longterm plan is with our um the the homeless shelter in that area um what our overall plan is with blueprint and that project comes I think there needs to be a master plan that we're working towards so that way we can we can tell folks and we can tell businesses hey this is what we're working towards I think we should look at getting feedback from our constituents I think we should look at getting feedback from people who live in the area people who have businesses there um but at this point you know we've identified a problem we know what the problem is I mean the crime shows what the problem is you can drive down Pensacola Street you can visibly see what the problem is um we've had businesses that have had several break-ins in the last two years you know on top of that we had the May 10th tornadoes come through there and just businesses that were already struggling just blow shop up um so I'm just very concerned from this area you know right now I have a motion on the table for you know to accept um the report on the crime analysis but I really would love some support and some feedback um from this board particularly my at large Commissioners as well um who overlap in that district and um as far as like you know what what do you think our our vision is for it and if if a West Pensacola Street master plan is something that you guys would be open to having staff look at and discuss thank you madam chair thank you uh commissioner caban any other comments from Commissioners commissioner madx Mr administrator traditionally we when we look at Master plans I think we we did a North Ro master plan didn't we did we did we do that I think so um what coordination do we have with the city in these Master plans because you know we could create a master plan but if it's a state road and this inside City Limits how much how much Master planning can we do so can you kind of work through that sure yeah and Madam chair um commissioner Maddox we've certainly heard the discussion here our and our I know that our planners are in engaged and I and I totally completely understand where commissioner caban is trying to go with this I don't know if it's a if it's a master plan what our planning department does very very well is is sort of these sense of place plans too which incorporates a lot of this stuff and and and then even more in terms of including enhancements and that sort of thing I recognize and I know you all recognize this is in the city and when we've done a sense of place plans that they they've primarily been in the UN corporate area the city of course has done very good jobs with those inside the city limits but I'm sure hearing what the concerns are from the board that if it's the will of the board our planning our joint planning staff could bring back some some ideas along those lines uh to propose to you um again they're very good very talented and they're listening to what you're saying so it could be something that we could bring back I love motion for an agenda item or you just put it on the St that would be ideal I I like the idea is just to create a sense of place uh like we did let's say in mikasuki we had sense of place but but not Incorporated so we what we what we plan we could do um to create a sense of place on West Pensacola which is in inside of the same limits how much Authority will we have to be able to do the things that we are putting on that s of place plan and how much coordination will we need from the city to actually you know coordinate and and and actually Implement some of the things that we're having is this a is this a joint thing is this something that we ask City to consider trying to figure out what what kind of authority we have here and I and I think a lot of that is what we would be looking to bring back to you all to have a discussion about okay so I would be I would be willing to have a conversation around if you wanted to you know what it would look like um agenda to come back to ask what it would look like for us to do a sense of place uh plan in coordination with the city given the fact West P col is in the city uh and see what what they would be if they would be willing to play ball with us on that I I I would I would I would be okay with that can we entertain then an amendment to uh the motion on the floor to include bringing the agenda item back did you move so move Madam chair okay who seconded I did oh okay you willing to accept Amendment yes ma'am and I think oh I'm sorry madam chair that I was just going to uh include and I think it's in the spirit of where commissioner gaban was going and anything else that from the planning department along those lines yes sir yes is that okay to clarify right all options to look at what we can do whether it's special taxing districts master plan changing zoning property just a plan for the corridor thank you madam absolutely okay so we have an amended uh motion on the floor with the second commissioner Mike thank you madam chair commissioner caban as you're describing as you're making your remarks I I I see the similarities between what you're dealing with on West Pensacola and what I've been focused on on North monoe and you know even even some of the thought process you've gone through to try to figure out what the next step is are some of the things I thought about too for North Monroe um I I I support the motion on the table I think it's I think it's necessary I mentioned a couple meetings ago how how West Pensacola is is an area of concern for for Leon County and in the city of Tallahassee and it needs to be um you know a couple things um commissioner Maddox is right we didn't have a master plan for North Maro but we've had uh two citizens initiatives that were organized by the planning department one in 2016 I think and the other just a couple years ago uh which which were terrific uh you basically get citizens that represent the area or have an interest in the area uh they meet with planning staff like five or six times over the course of several months uh and then they help kind of help formulate what the needs are uh I I found that really helpful for North monoe that that might be one option that we might have in the agenda item that comes back to us another thing that you might want to think about and and I've had discussions with this with the planning department is with the comp plan uh changes we might be coming through I mean there are ways where we can take a look at zoning to help encourage growth that that stimulates the economy along West Pensacola uh I've had discussions with already wide about you know how that how some of those proposals that are coming to us might apply for North Monroe and how we can help kind of guide development in North Monroe that's that elevates the entire area so I think that's probably coming pretty soon too um and so those are just some ideas um but I support the motion on the floor I I agree with you I think it's an area that this community needs to FOC on some parts are doing well but other parts are not and and we've got to work together as a community to address them so thank you thank you uh commissioner Min commissioner Maddox thank you madam chair and commissioner Miner thank you for for bringing refreshing my memory on that CU I I could remember it was a master plan or was some sentences meeting but but you led those not and I appreciate your efforts on that um as I'm looking at it I'm thinking about it they do have similar issues North monoe and and West Pensacola Street but again both of them are within the city limits my my thought goes to well why wouldn't we just have a um agenda around agenda item fashioned around both of them to see what can be accomplished in the way of sense of place or uh Master planning in combination with the city for both places uh cuz I mean commissioner minor I can't see us having this agenda item coming up with a sense of place for West Pensacola what I Envision is that the very next meeting or at the end of that meeting you will come back ask us to do the same thing on on North Monro street because you said it I mean you're dealing with the same issue so I'm wondering if we could commissioner caban have the agenda item to come back focus on both uh West Pensacola and North North Monro Street to explore the idea of sense of place or Master planning or whatever options that we have there um to to address similar issues that exist on on in both corridors and and again I think this does not happen without partnership from the city of Tallahassee if it comes back and and and it we have we make all these plans but there's no concept of of how of implementation of what the city may be willing to do I can't I can't say that I will support that or if it comes back in the city says that they want to take the lead on these two things these two ideas and just have us be partner in it then I could go with that but but they this does not work without the city being involved I I do want to make that very clear thank you madam chair commissioner Amad so commissioner caban commissioner do you want to amend the amendment to include the North Monroe corter and just add okay so moved and you accept uh the amendment okay awesome um any the discussion and I just want to thank staff and shankton I mean this is a it's a great report we might not like the number that say okay we've got an increase here we've got an increase there over five years but it's a great report it is it's factual and I just want to commend the partnership with the sheriff the host Sheriff uh with the city with the Continuum of Care with with County uh with with all the the parts um and partnership that has come together to to address that quarter and also specifically look at um homeless population to see what what we can do in conjunction with the courney center to address some of those issues so the amend amended motion on the floor includes option one all of those in favor let it be known by saying I I commissioner Proctor you there want to say hi madam chair thank you and I did want to comment M okay you want to comment commissioner Pro Madam chair I just asked staff to ask the uh Sheriff's Office to the scale of uh totaling the crimes those 2019 sheets are not are not same uh I'm I'm troubled that there's only in 2019 there's only one du I uh no DUI in the 32304 um the traffic offenses are only one that year uh I'm I'm just concerned that things that you would expect there to be categories for and also uh from 2019 20 21 22 23 uh those um numeric uh uh categories are not consistent they're not the same so we've given information that we can't follow year to year on let's say like rate some categories we have like one through three from top top of the page then we go down to one year it's forceable rate I I'm not sure that I mean I know what statutory rate is distinguish for rate but we just need some categories to stand still uh we this reporting zigzag and uh I would ask for in particular between the two pages of C y 2019 um there is inconsistency there one year we've got 170 170 forceable rates well the other years we got 67 we got 54 we've got um a number of uh of 61 I don't know how you go to 170 something and scale up 100 and that's not been an epidemic that's not been reported so I I just think that the numbers uh I'm not I'm not sure what they convey that's all I'm saying these numbers are not clear in my mind do I vote to support uh what what what we're moving forward with as a report the report the numbers are not clear thank you oh thank you commissioner proce so you're voting into affirmative but let me ask Mr County Administrator can we look at at those pages of concern sure I I think a lot of the data that we presented some of which some of it may require um additional explanation we can certainly do that and we can always use the assistance of oh shton looks like he's chomping at the bit so let me see okay I'll just share we hearing what um the commissioner is saying on the phone um the first portion of data is just lcso that's just Leon County Sheriff's Office so that was just just show those reports through them and then the next group is Tallahasse Police Department so it's bifurcated in that way thank you thank you shankton so we have two our two law Madam shair yes sir I think that the T should should be on there on um this should not be on the Liam County Sheriff Office and I'm not sure what y'all looking at but uh one two I got five six pages that I don't see anything from PPD I don't have that that bation um and I'm looking at attachment one uh I just don't have it so all it is is a found page eight yeah page eight of um there should be a a a break a page break that says tallah police department and so it was lcso that we worked with for the data so all the data after that is all tpd it's not lcso lcso is who helped us in working with tpd and collecting the data even though it does say LCS so at the top it is tpd okay well tpd only gives us 2019 summary no so uh we we have we only have 2019 summary from um TTD and we have um numbers up to from 19 all the way to 23 so it it's 2019 so the date okay so 2019 is what's shown in in under page nine but then on page 10 it shows 202 want it it goes by ZIP codes based on the data that we were able to collect um it will show you 2020 2021 2022 and 2023 for each of the zip codes and all that data commissioner for page 10 and Page 11 are all tpd okay for 2020 through 2023 I didn't know why you all put this here it couldn't be intended to read the print is well too small for me to see I'm honestly uh this is um perceptible to the human eye it's so small so I'm not able to read it so thus no comprehension uh it's just this is much too small and um but I trust that the figures are there and I know that staff Integrity is in place uh but I'm unable to perceive it because I just can't scope within my eyeballs uh the size of this writing thank you very kindly I appreciate thank you commissioner Pro but maybe we can have those pages in large for you I've got mine on my iPad and I can see it really well so can can weing off a sheet of paper oh okay yeah maybe we can have those enlarged and then if we need to you know come back and address once you able to see it if we need to address it we can is that okay commissioner Proctor yes we can okay we'll get you those pages okay we got a motion on the floor I think we halfway voted but we'll go back again commissioner minor thank you madam chair I'll be I'll be quick I just want to point something out so have some good news about Pensacola Street in North Monroe uh you know one way to help Elevate an area is to bring more public investment to that improve the infrastructure which encourages more private investment and and has a whole cascading effect at yesterday's crpa meeting um the Florida Department of Transportation representative had some great news on both Pensacola Street and North Ro you may know this already commissioner gaban um fot is going to uh probably an early 2025 to resurfacing in Pensacola it's about 4.6 miles uh a Stadium Drive and to Mr sims's point they're going to be adding two midblock Crossings which will help with the safety issues that you brought up and then also um got an update on the North Monroe sidewalk project uh that's about 1.8 miles of new sidewalk on the west side of North Andro from Lake Shore to John Knox so that's going to be starting construction in December 2024 so good news on both Pensacola Street and Monroe it it doesn't directly address the the crime issue isues and the economic issues that we talked about but indirectly it does help so thank you madam chair for the thank you uh commissioner minor for that information and and it looks like you know we inched away we're addressing the problems they didn't come overnight and we not going to be able to resolve them overnight but little by little we will get there um so we're going to vote on the motion on the floor we have a second amendment with option one let's just vote again all those in favor let it be known by saying I i i i any opposition hearing none commissioner proct I believe you voted I as well yes ma'am Madam chair I'm point out I was just wondering point of information what was the distinction with the West Pensacola sector plan that was shown to us and the uh ask coming from commissioner caban uh what distinguishes the literature in front of us now versus what uh the combining of um North Monroe qua and west pcil together help me to understand the policy distinction and what we're doing okay I think with our amended motion we're requesting an agenda item to come back that addresses the North Monroe quarter as well as West Pensacola the original amended motion only addressed um what uh Tennessee I'm sorry Tennessee West Pensacola Street right but we asked for an agenda item to come back since they're both similar we've had issues on both quarters with with lottering and homelessness and we've got our whole sheriffs in both areas uh we working in conjunction with the city so this item is just basically asking for staff to bring back an agenda item that addresses both quarters that's all I'm sorry what yeah absolutely that addresses and gives us some options is that okay commissioner Pro you okay with that you understand where we're going okay awesome thank you so much Mr County Administrator I believe we're now on agenda item 26 thank you madam chair uh Commissioners as directed by the board at the March 19th meeting this item provides an update and Analysis on Street naming uh renaming options to honor former president Barack Obama pursuant to the uniform Street naming ordinance uh since the board last discussed this issue the city adopted an ordinance restricting the County's ability uh to rename streets within the unincorporated area they they assumed uh that responsibility through their new ordinance uh and therefore uh only those roadways that are maintained by the county would be uh our jurisdiction uh to rename the analysis describes describes the process of renaming and provides several streets for the board's consideration along with the number of impact properties associated with Street namings the analysis also provides the board with the option to consider honorary designations of other roadways um uh other than the official Street renaming process should that be something the board wishes to consider all the information is provided in the analysis of course we're seeking board Direction on this item Commissioners we're uh with that we're happy to answer any questions you might have we do have one speaker on this item Stanley Sims thank you Mr Sims Stanley Sims 1320 Avendale way yes we can I stand in support I want to cheat a little bit cuz it's getting dark and I promise to share in my current situation when it get dark I go home so I'm supervised by my wife I I just want to let me say something you all were talking about fees for for the shelter and I got to put this on record when I was small we lived in Havana but every day we woke up and drove the Tallahassee my mama bought gas in Tallahassee my mama bought my school clothes in Tallahassee my mama worked in Tallahassee what am I saying I'm saying that even though we live in Gaston County we contributed to this economy in Leon more than we did in Gaston and we're not coming because we don't like the colors in the rooms that they have in the shelters and gasing cuz they don't have any so now if you're going to tax these PE and and have you ever stood on 27 in the morning Highway 9 Crawfordville highway and watch the number of cars that drive in to Leon County where did those people eat lunch where did they until we could afford because the only reason we ain't living here because it's cheaper to live in Gaston and it ain't just Gaston you you why don't you pull your own Leon County Employees you got some G you got some Georgia folks work from y'all they come all the way from kro so I just don't want us and I there needs to be wait Mr shankton cuz he my friend he my cousin there there does need to be a deterrent but I familiar with Gaston I know I can speak for Gaston they don't purposely say hey don't come to our shelter go to Leon shelter what they say is we don't have any shelters the closest one is Leon County that's what they say and so I just and me being from Gaston County and I'm I'm looking good today even the county attorney told me I looked a little Dapper but I'm Po and I've been po before and the way I look at this economy if we don't vote right I might be po again so I just want to make sure that we don't put this bar up so so high that we have people that we're not helping I'm going home cuz it's getting a little day I appreciate y'all and I love y'all thank you Mr s m chair yes do we have any other speakers Mr count okay uh yes commissioner Maddox Madam chair if if I'm not mistaken commissioner pner men the motion that brought this item back to us and I would like to see the whites as his eyeballs when we take this up so if I could I'd like to make a motion to continue this item until commissioner proor can be in attendance physically at our okay I'm sorry what item are you talking about number 26 yes ma'am oh okay the street naming yes ma'am okay I see so you made the motion yes and it's second okay is it any discuss discussion to bring it back at our next meeting you think uh if commissioner prob can be in attendance or you just want to table it table it until commissioner proor can be in here yes thank you commissioner Maddox um all those in favor let it be known by saying I I I any opposition hearing none commissioner Proctor with a great big chuckle I thank you thank you Comm and just just for record again that was a t that was a table not continue I'm sorry table item yes thank you Mr County Administrator I believe we on 27 thank you thank you madam chair uh this item seeks the board approval of two reappointments to the lcda Board of Governors as recommended by the lcda nominating committee we're recommending option one option one second thank you any discussion all those in favor let it be known by saying I I and I vote I commissioner proor I thank you the two recommendations as presented or accepted um Mr County Administrator I believe we own number 28 thank you madam chair item number 28 uh commissioner seeks your full board consideration of reappointments to the affordable housing advisory committee the Big Bend Health Council uh coka The Joint City County bicycling work group uh the leyon County Commission on the status of women and girls and the leyon County Planning Commission those options are provided to in uh options 1 through n and happy to fac if needed Madam chair thank you Mr County Administrator Commissioners I'd like to entertain a motion to accept options 1 2 4 7 4 five 7 and 8 and that's basically accepting those recommendations as presented and then I'd like to take up the other two separately mov so that's one two four five 7 and eight and it was moved by commissioner M second by okay commissioner Welch any discussion all those in favor Let It Be know by saying I I I any opposition uh commissioner Proctor I I thank you so much now I'd like to entertain uh option number three and I'd like to move the appointment of Holly mcf and I understand as a chair I don't give up my right to move thank you second by uh commissioner caban any discussion hearing none all those in favor let it be known by saying I I I commissioner Proctor I thank you so much I'd like to take up item number nine Madam chair yes commissioner wel thank you m chair I'd like to nominate Jason nman second thank you any disc commissioner OK thank you um thank you madam chair this will be unusual in that normally these are very straightforward but I will say that I oppose the nomination of Mr nman while he is clearly a respected real estate professional he's the only applicant who has a clear disclosed conflict and will require a 2third vote to wave that conflict and that would in his application as a States because of perhaps some of his real estate dealings would have to recuse or accuse himself from Planning Commission votes when we have two very qualified candidates without conflicts um and so I will make a substitute motion to appoint javana Parker second okay it's been in moved and second for javana Parker any discussion commissioner Welch yes yes but thank you thank you madam chair um commissioner O'Keefe obviously can't vote for that uh Mr nowman is one of the most respected real estate developers in our community he he has been passed over once for this Planning Commission seat um he is a dedicated Community businessman he builds some of the nicest most well-preserved communities in the district including I mean in the county uding in your District um and I think it would be I he I think his application states that those conflicts are going to be virtually non-existent so uh I will not be able to support the substitute motion and will uh um reaffirm my support for Mr nowman thank you thank you uh commission will commissioner madx thank you madam chair uh as I as I remember Miss uh attorney Parker I believe uh was a former member of the planning Comm commission correct Madam chair or javana parker that's the name I think it is she is um I I believe she was I'm a member of the County Commission no no of the Planning Commission Planning Commission and as I as I as I remember it I think she think she had perfect attendance and pretty good member I I um I know Mr n and and I respect him but I think I'm going have to go to substitute motion just based off the fact that um if Miss Parker is interested and was a a former member and with Stellar attendance and a contributing member I would I would I would like to have her back so I I think I would support the motion on the floor The Substitute motion The Substitute motion okay hey can anybody can somebody confirm that for me have information she her application did State Planning Commission experience I don't recall if that specified which planning commiss Planning Commission she was previously on the T on County Planning Commission yes previously on the Planning Commission yes I don't know if she had a perfect attendance I don't have those records on me but I know that she did attend regularly and didn't have issues with her not showing up thank you does she have any disclosed um Madam chair does she have any disclosed conflicts of interest I don't believe so not on her application and yes ma'am very wellcome thank you and and Madam counter attorney can can I address um commissioner o'i um and I know that motion is not not on the floor but he indicated uh perceived conflict with uh Jason Newman um as well as be yes ma'am yes Madam chair so under the code of ethics uh someone who uh by virtue of their business employment relationship could have a uh conflict um has to disclose that which Mr n has done uh the statutes provide that for appointed positions uh the appointing authority can wave that Conflict by two-thirds vote and we've seen that occasionally and that's always delineated in your agenda item when that is an issue and a two-thirds vote is required um but yes uh if any projects uh that Mr n uh you because of his business uh could be implicated in a matter that com for the Planning Commission he would be required to uh recuse from voting um it's kind of similar to what um Mr Maddox says or any of you Commissioners do if you have a similar conflict that comes before the County Commission thank you madam attorney any other uh comments and so now we're on the substitute motion for the appointment of javana uh Parker it's been moved in second uh all those in favor let it be known by say saying I I I uh do we need a roll call of any let me see any opposition no Okay so we've got two NOS a commissioner Proctor second I I Okay so we've got one okay we've got one two three four five eyes and two nose so I believe that passes okay thank you uh thank you Commissioners uh Mr County Administrator I believe we're on now um item 31 I believe Madam chair that concludes did I add an it if we if we made it through all those appointments I'm trying to see that we got them all um but it looks like looks like we did I think I think it did okay 31 was a public hearing so we've we've already done that that's that's double check make sure we good well we skipped the six in the in the numbering so we've got them all we got it all we got all the direction we need thank you okay thank you thank you Mrs County admin rator uh I think Commissioners now we're at uh commission time discussion time Madam County attorney do you have any you'd like to raise with the body no Madam chair thank you thank you so much Mr County Administrator thank you madam chair I have nothing more appreciate it okay Mr Vice chair commissioner will oh man thank you madam chair for a great meeting I have nothing thank you thank you madam chair I'm sorry we have one speaker just one okay we've got the back back up we've got another speaker on what non-agenda item we do and and sorry about that folks but a lot of speaker cards up here tonight we do have one speaker under non-agenda items Jim Patton with Tallahasse record owners thank you Mr Patton good evening good evening first off we aren't funded by anybody we don't have a St have to prepare stuff for us we are here to address our local towing ordinance the Leon County ordinance um we've made some corrections to our proposed ordinance number one is to remove trespass Towing from our County ordinance because city of Tallahassee has an ordinance that addresses that they have a record administrator that takes care of that in our County ordinance we have trespassing Towing as the first thing that's known as toil ways we're not here about that we're here about working wrecks in the street we're working on rates that have been in place for over 10 years we've got to amend our rape structure we also have conflicts now because new laws were passed by the state of Florida the 1 of July create some other conflicts they're minor but they need to be corrected uh the biggest thing is the money costs have gone up tremendously in the last 10 years we have a new proposed rate I'm sure that this is going to take review by all y'all to look at our amended one um but we don't have any other way we tried with record administrators what do we do to get back to y'all all we were told was go to the commission so we're here there are that I see five of the 15 record services in this room all 15 record services on CDA have signed this letter they elected me to be the one to speak against my own wishes but I'm here um we've got to address this issue it's to the point that we almost can't afford to run the rotation calls which means all the recks in the street I actually make more money when I tell you car to a repair shop now than I do work in the wreck in the street we've got to address this it's Way backwards storage rates have been in place for a long time 25 years ago we got $20 a day storage it was raised to $25 a day 20 years ago 18 years ago we used to pay $600 a month rent back then for 2 and2 Acres with a 6,000 ft building on you know what that is today we're at $25 a day Storage storage back then used to pay our rent that same property today is $5,000 a month we're still getting $25 day storage we've got a lot of rates that are Way backwards all of the rates in this ordinance we've proposed approximately a 50% increase in except storage we've asked basically to double I know this will take review it's not something you could pass tonight but this is our starting point to get us in front of you and get this into Works some of us with the towing industry are willing to work with whoever at a meeting or get together whatever to to go over all of this we can explain it all we can explain where our numbers come from just the cost of tow trucks has gone up tremendously my insurance personally went from 12 years ago $8,000 a year to now I'm $26,000 a year for me in one truck okay we present this to you thank you thank you so much for the presentation and I understand this will be is already an agenda item Mr rator Commissioners based on your previous Direction this item will be back before you to your next meeting thank you Mr County Administrator was the any other uh speakers non-agenda item that's really it thank you so much uh commissioner caban Madam chair is this my uh commissioner discussion time yes okay thank you um I have uh something I would like to discuss um and I have a motion prepared preped before I get to the motion I kind of want to um leave some some bread crubs for some discussion know one thing that we've discussed frequently in today's meeting we've discussed it in multiple meetings and all that stuff projects on Pensacola Street Monroe Street commissioner Proctor you've mentioned um your um on the the fair ground and what you want to do there and all these things take money and I think there are missed opportunities that we could be seeking from the state budget appropriation cycle um for example um Highway 20 last year I did a traffic study which showed that Highway 20 needs $2.5 million in improvements and that has to come from State allocations and so right now I think we have a fantastic lobbying team that has done a great job for Leon County in regards to policy but I still think we're missing an opportunity from state budget appropriation Cycles I don't think Leon County is receiving enough money from the state budget on an annual basis when comparing it to other like-sized counties and so I have an idea and what I would like to do is um I'd like to make a motion for staff to publish an RFP to add an additional lobbying team as a one-year contract as a trial with the main evaluation criter criteria should be the firm's capabilities in delivering state budget funds for their clients and the contract value cannot exceed one year in value for a current lobbying contract and let me be specific this is um not to replace our current lobbying team but to work um as an additional lobbying team okay so before we get a second your motion is that we issue an RFP not for an agenda item to come back to address it and give us some options on it um do we need an agenda item or is we can we initial the rfu process in now in this meeting well I would be I would want us to really have staff look at it rather than us as a body voting for an RFP to be issued okay you know we have we have obligations now with Lobby so I think they would look at those obligations to see if there is room so I would probably be more supportive if if the motion is for an agenda item to come back for staff to look at it as opposed for us to vote for an RFP to be issu that's fine that's fine so we could bring back we could bring back um an agenda item um we could bring back an agenda item to look at what it be to look at State Appropriations to um to compare Leon County and what we receive in state Appropriations from other like-sized counties and to see if an RFP would be necessary and and that I would add in light of any fin any contractual obligations we might already have with lobbyist would that be appropriate Madam Madam attorney Mr County Administrator we would have to look at all of that we would all that all that information for your consideration okay awesome if it if that if that's what pass okay so is there a second for an agenda item to come you second it commissioner Proctor I do okay thank you like comment on it okay um I'm going have commissioner Welch comment then I'll have you commissioner Pro yes ma'am thank you thank you madam chair um commissioner command so I can get some clarification on what your general idea is if I heard you right we want and I don't disagree with your sentiment I think that you're saying like you want to do an RFP for an additional lobbying team under like a one-year is that what you said one-year contract kind of thing or yeah please Madam um Madam chairman please um yes my thought process is um there are there's a common denominator in a lot of these projects we have in Leon County I think there's there's projects in all of our districts that are either state roads or could could um be applicable for State Appropriations that I do not think we're currently being aggressive enough to go after um I think we have a fantastic lobbying team I think they do a great job especially when it comes to advocating for policy my my proposition would be looking at hey let's bring on an additional lobbying team but their sole Target is to go out for the state budget and Appropriations yes that clarify yes thank you I I think it's a good idea frankly I do agree that our current lobbying team I think does a good job I was skeptical of them year three years ago four years ago not not necessarily of them of just of the process but I think that I think we all realize that there there's a lot of money across the street okay and that is a dynamic environment where every two years you're getting new bodies over there of legislative elected officials and I I would be interested to see what an analysis on an item that comes back and sort of looks at allocations for a county like leyon versus a county like you know what's a like siiz County of a different political persuasion um I don't know but uh lot of Dynamics other than lobbyist so but but yes we'd bring back that information I would be interested to see that information I think that we probably are missing out on some funds across the street which um I would like to see us get uh I I think that Dr shy and and his team do a good job of keeping us informed on the constant you know threats to term limitation and all the other things that come from across the street I know that fact does some work in that regard but um I think it helps to have a team on the ground there that's dealing with that and Reporting back to us as individuals even but yeah I agree with you so I'm I'll support the motion um I I want to see what that analysis looks like and I think that I mean if we if we say we're going to do an RFP for just see what it would cost us and then see if there's a return on that investment woo man I mean that could be very opening so it may be a situation where you have to Pivot your lobbying effort year to year depend depending on who's the speaker and who's the Senate President or whatever it may be but I'd like to see that information so I'll support it thank you thank you uh commissioner Wells commissioner Miner thank you madam chair uh Madam chair if you don't mind I'd like to ask the question of the County Administrator who probably who may know this when does our current lobbying contract end I think it's a three-year term but I don't know when the three years ends yeah I think I think we we have an expiration of a term in October this year and then we've got a couple of add-ons Nikki you want to come on up just make sure I'm check me on this um the original term um concludes at the end of this month um with the option of uh automatic renewals for two more years um automatic renewal one for one year for one more year and then an additional year after that okay so is at the end of this month it ends automatic renewal for 2 years so we're basically would have contract until 2026 correct so the agenda item Mr the County Administrator would look at all of that look at all that absolutely thank you any other questions yes thank you madam chair I um I I think uh as commissioner wal said I I think our lobbyists are doing a good job I I reach out to them frequently on a few on a number of different things and uh they're very responsive I I think they're very good at keeping us updated on some of the key policy issues um I'll support the I'll support the motion coming back not because I think we need to issue an RFP but because of the other element in your agenda item which is taking a look at the Appropriations um as I think as commissioner Welch I think County administrators I mean there are a lot of Dynamics here other than just simply our lobbying team uh that are at play uh but but I'll support the motion because of I'd like to see the comparison of how we do compared to other counties um at this point I'm I'm not ready to to support the RFP piece right now um but I was all one motion so I'll support the motion thank you madam chair thank you uh thank you commissioner Miner commissioner Maddox looks like chair it it looks like by count this motion is going to pass but if it's going to pass I have a few questions one I do understand that at the end of the the contract ends um with the option to renew which means that if we wanted to go after RFP we could go after RFP and just not extend the contract um but I don't think there's a desire here by anyone to do that so if this thing is going to pass the question I have is if we're looking to add an additional contract what how are we how are we in in relation to other counties when it comes to spending on lobbying is is is our is our contract in line with and this could be this can all be a part of the item this could all be part of the anouncement happy to bring back um you know where are we on the spending uh with lightsize counties uh how how are our Appropriations when it comes to the Appropriations we get with like-sized countings um what what do we measure Appropriations by do does you know things that we're going to get from fdot anyway uh does that go to Appropriations or is there some kind of measurement that you have Mr administrator that that that that uh deciphers between things we we knew we were going to get versus things that that actually came as a result of the team that we have uh working on our appr Appropriations I want this to be a very thorough um item because here's the thing if there is a return on the investment great we win right if we go down this road but there if there's not and we are out spending like siiz count ities with two firms when other like siiz counties only have one firm then people will question our ability to really be fiscally responsible in this area and so I just want to make sure that that as we go down this road that we have all the information and that we can quantify and that staff can quantify where we've been and where we're trying to go the other piece of it is you know if at the end of the month we figure out or this agenda item comes back and it says hey we just we just we just want to put out r P just for services we can just put RFP for services uh cuz again it this contract ends at the end at the end of the month which again we've had Commissioners here and even commissioner caban said we we we we're okay with the people that we got I just I really want to make sure that when this thing comes back it doesn't become you know Leon County is spending $300,000 whereas other count like like siiz counties spending 10000 ,000 and then we we look at the return at the end of the at the end of the session we don't get that return that we expect now do I think we we could I think we could but you but you're asking me to go off what ifs if I'm going to go off what ifs I got to have all the all the facts and all the numbers thank you uh commissioner Maddox and I think I have some concerns as well and and I think Mr sh and his his group um Pitman Law Group I think they do a service for uh for the commission but I think I support commissioner caban you know we can always look and do a comparison uh to just see comparing our County to other counties as far as lobbying Services is concerned so I don't think it it will hurt anything it will if nothing else it will inform us but once we have all the facts then we can decide to move forward I wouldn't want to have hazly sit here tonight and vote for the issuance of a request for proposal without more facts to to support that so I'm I will uh support commissioner caban motion for an agenda item uh to come back for our own information our own own knowledge and that way we can move forward in a more informed manner let me let commissioner command he had his hand up let me let him add briefly yes ma'am thank you madam chair I want to be um very clear um in no way shape or form am I trying to um remove our current contract right I did not know that it was up for for Renewal and I would are we able to get that circulated to the Commissioners after after the meeting by chance um Madam attorney um for me it's this is what it boils down to I want money from the state budget for our constituents in Leon County right yes we get money already from the state in certain areas like fdot I don't remember which commissioner brought that up right but there are certain things certain projects right some projects that may not even be before us yet right I don't think we are tapping into the state budget enough and I mean Leon County taxpayers pay into that if we can spend x amount of dollars to add an additional team and make you know 50x on that it's a good investment it's a good deal right and so that's why in my original motion I had to a one-year um trial just to see what happens right um like commissioner Welch said a lot of politics is relationships and um state government you know power Dynamic changes and different people are in charge of different Appropriations I think we owe it to Leon County taxpayers thank you commissioner caban briefly okay quick on point briefly Madam chair very very very brief uh commissioner matters and then commissioner Proctor did you want to make a comment as well I still there oh you you're still there commissioner Mattis real brief just just just for my information only Mr the administrator so the contract ends at the end of the month what is the process by which so we have to renew cuz if we if we're taking this up next month automatic 2year renewal automatic two no automatic onee renewal if we're taking this up next month then okay will the renewal happen before we take this up presumably unless we've provided to provide 30-day notice in advance um of your of our intent to not renew and we have so so renewal is already in place yes cuz we cuz we didn't do 30 days so so they're already renewed okay right right so what is what is the Clause to get out of it is there any clause for us to get out of the contract cost no any Clause if we if we decide we want to just go out RFP we can we do that of the agreement weren't being met so their services weren't being provided but otherwise um I'm not sure okay thank you we probably have to give notice so many days of our position that the terms of the contract are not being met have to put them on notice right just quick I just want to add responding to something that commissioner manx brought up just a minute ago Commissioners I need to tell you this is the way we structured our contracts for years um at the county so we we did use to bring on two teams one for policy one for Appropriations we did that for a long long time we we went away from it came back but things are cyclical sometimes and you change things up and again we'll include all that in the analysis thank you Mr County Administrator now I need to hear from commissioner proor than uh Madam chair the county has not signed a contract with Sharky group uh that is an exclusive or which forbids us or prohibits us from U hiring any other firm that that that is not in place what uh the commissioner caban has asked is that we retain and keep that organization in place absolutely and he's asking can we can we seek to uh um explore uh an addition now I I I don't want to throw rocks to hurt nobody's feelings uh but sometimes if you ask the question does the Florida State football team which we all agree is a very good team but could it use an additional running back right now an additional quarterback or some receivers uh quite possibly it could uh use some uh we're not saying that Shar is in the State of Florida State football but we're saying he could use some um additional help and I think that the key word that was identified was the word relationship um when commissioner uh madx uses the word looking at a like size and like County uh you have to throw that out um uh our County Administrator said that I think I saw that our per capital um uh per capital number of H hires employees per 1,000 people equals six which makes us the lowest in the State of Florida 6 out of 1,000 citizens if I remember that sheet right uh additionally uh we were reported to tonight that we have the largest amount of property that's U exempt off the book we can't even tax so looking at a like siiz County we are already leading the state in in properties that that's not even taxable um you can't compare that there no that out so what counts here is um we're under State uh occupation and we also under Federal occupation uh for the amount of property 20% that the federal government owns that we can't even tax so relationships uh $20 billion and right now you can't use a 10 lb test line going fishing for big fish on 10 lb test it ain't enough line so $100,000 we're not going to be boohoo and laughed at for investing in a in any other firm which is an investment because Mr sh has more than returned the value of what we put Mr shark is underpaid Mr shar's firm does not get relative to what they bring they don't get a sizeable enough portion back but that ain't my my argument that's his argument that ain't mine if he he knows his value and he agrees to what he works for but Commissioners we need to move forward how come we need to move forward because what we need is bigger thinging we need bigger deliverance we need larger ideas cuz we need a Convention Center we need a Fairground completed we need that that road a Crossville finish and other thing that who we got in place and what we got in place is not delivering and time waits for nobody $20 billion sitting across the street but it's a combination it's not a it's not a lot you can go over there with just anybody with your pocket It's a combination you got to know the right person who knows the right person that knows the right person to get this money so expanding the scope of who we got representing us uh in a red blood red domain and we is a blue blue County y'all we getting stiff let's be honest we getting stiff and we in a hostile territory in our own Community because we're occupied by red so I am deeply for expanding and getting some running backs and some quarterbacks and some folks who can get this thing moved to another level our community is suffering because we're thinking small but we need the money from across the street and uh I'm supporting this and I'm asking you when this thing come back we going to keep shocking cuz we need it we need to find whoever else out there cuz we need that we can't stay in place and get peanuts in return for all that we give to this state uh in this federal government uh we need the land and they done gave American Indians land why can't the citizens of Leon County get some of this land everybody getting some but us thank you commission under asking I think we all on the same page thank you thank you commissioner proor okay all those in favor phone boo uh and I think everything you address hopefully the agenda item County Administrator is not in his head the agenda item will address those okay all those in favor of the motion on the floor for the agenda item to come back let it you know I saying I I commissioner Proctor I thank you and I believe during commission time it has to be unanimous anyway right okay it's unanimous oh that's for the agenda during commission time it doesn't have to be just majority okay okay thank you anything further commissioner cavan um no Madam chair that's it thank you so much we appreciate it commissioner Miner thank you madam chair um two things um tomorrow is the Florida Association of counties Innovation and policy conference and at that conference uh we'll be talking for the first time about um fact proposals that have been submitted by by by counties throughout the state one that I submitted um deals with having Florida join the southern rail commission you know having a passenger rail go through North Florida has been a legislative priority for of ours for many years um after talking with people with with knowledge of this area uh one thing they mentioned is that the first big solid step you should take is having Florida join the southern rail commission this is a commission of three member states Louisiana Alabama Mississippi who have worked together to draw down federal dollars for restoration of Passenger rail in fact the SRC just recently got last year $178 million from the federal government to help restore passenger rail that goes from New Orleans to Mobile Alabama so there's a track record of success with the SRC um what I have here is the proposal that I'll be talking about at the conference in Pensacola um one question as I think you all know is is does your current does your home County Board of County Commissioners support this proposal now I know we have all supported the restoration of Passenger rails in North Florida what this does is specifically uh request Florida to join the SRC so this is not on the agenda of course so this would have to be unanimous but I'm having a motion to um have the board approve this policy uh from Leon County that we could propose it to fact and say such Madam chair I second I thank commissioner Miner for all his hard work on the Committees the fact he's really really a active member of f has done a really good job I don't know why he hadn't run for second Vice yet but he is he is a stud man I appreciate everything you do you do for us and how how you represent Leon County in fact thank you thank you sir thank you um commissioner Maddox and I'm just looking through this uh commissioner Miner yes ma'am to support the state of florid becoming a member of the Southern rail commission and actively working to secure Federal funding for the restoration of Passenger rail throughout Florida so this is the policy that you're asking the board to adopt yes ma'am what will happen is that if if the board decides to approve this unanimously tonight I'll go to the fat conference tomorrow actually on Wednesday we we talk about the the policy proposals when I present this to the fat committee I'll be able to say that the Leon County Board of County Commissioners has also supported this and just incidentally um the fact staff has recommended this proposal they reviewed it and uh they're recommending its adoption to the fact committee this week okay any any other discussion Mr County administrative weigh in on did you make a motion uh yes ma'am you did was it second I I didn't rec commission mad commissioner commissioner second okay all right good uh all those in favor of adoption as proposed by commissioner Miner and we appreciate all your work uh let it be known by saying I hi hi commissioner Proctor hi thank you thanks everybody the next one I have is I think pretty quick um I think I'd like to request a proclamation um pronouncing uh a day for the illustrious Barbara Boon uh if you've had the the the chance to be uh in an LT Class A leadership Tallassee class you know that she is a community leader like no other um I think she has presided over every single leadership Tallassee class since class 17 and we're now at class 42 um and I think I think with this current class of 42 she now has been um shaping guiding these young these Community leaders uh to about I think a thousand a thousand different people did you make the motion did you move my motion is to uh have a proclamation come back okay is there a second recognizing Barbara Bond day okay all the thank you commissioner man all those in favor let it be known by saying I commissioner Proctor hi thank you so much commission thanks everybody thank you very much uh Madam CH okay commissioner o Kei thank you madam chair um this first one um I'm really excited about uh we have received a request from the Florida Civil Rights Museum um to rename Calhoun Street which is owned and maintained by leyon county in honor of the Reverend RN Gooden as RN Gooden Boulevard um in addition to being a personal friend of commissioner Proctor Reverend Goodman Gooden came to Tallahasse in 61 to Pastor St Mary's Primitive Baptist Church he was a State field director and local president of the NAACP and he led the southern Christian leadership conference for nearly 30 decades I am going to this is a quick summary uh of some of his achievements here in Tallahassee he advocated and and led to get low uh low-income housing equal ballot access the appointment of the first black Circuit Court judges in the state the first black principles at majority white schools in Tallahassee the promotion of black to the positions of assistant superintendent in Leon County School Systems and to ranks of sergeant lieutenant lieutenants in tpd and integration of tmh that's just to name a few um that road is a county maintained Road completely within the county and for reference uh for Calhoun uh Street John Calhoun was a succession and and proslavery Advocate who advocated for slavery as a positive good on the floor of the US Senate and some other communities have considered uh removing his name from public memorials and Street buildings that's just background this would also be the First Street downtown named for a local Tallahassee African-American citizen so I make a motion for an agenda item to come back to consider renaming North Calhoun Street to honor Reverend RN Gooden as RN Gooden Boulevard thank you uh commissioner o'keef is there a second well I will second uh I'll second the motion for an agenda item to come back uh for staff to do the analysis on renaming Calon to R in good Boulevard is to R in good Boulevard is there any discussion yes ma'am uh commissioner Welch thank you madam chair um commissioner oef I'm going to support the motion for a agenda item I'm very unlikely to support an item when it comes back um for the same reason that I'm unlikely to support an item for Barack Obama and for the same reason I would be against an item for a lot of basically everybody um I think this is a very slippery slope we've um I mean it's you're when it comes to streets I mean buildings in courtrooms is one thing but streets you're impacting mail routes you're impacting addresses it has fiscal imp and I think it's when does it end I mean when do we at what point do we not just rename every Street in downtown Tallahasse after somebody um and so um I just want to get that on the record but I I think the the um the sentiment is is great and I appreciate that uh I just think we got to be careful about just just renaming that's a pretty good stretch of street if I'm not mistaken from from Thomasville Road to uh gain street right it's gain street it's the it's the shortest County maintained Street in in the area yes what I mean from Thomasville Road to gain Street mhm that's a pretty good stretch I mean you I mean I'll I'll see the analysis but that's going impact a lot of houses a lot of addresses I would think thank you thank thank you commissioner wel to any other discussion on on the motion hearing hearing no other discussion and this is for an agenda item to come back on the feasibility of it all those in favor let it be known by saying I I I commissioner Proctor I any opposition uh hearing none with commissioner Maddox out of Chambers thank you commissioner o you have anything oh I'm sorry and and commissioner Maddox I as well commissioner o thank you everyone this is a uh a request for um uh so um I'm asking uh for I'm moving and asking for a motion for the board to wave the office budget policy for me uh to make one expenditure that's not directly for the County's benefit um I have a surplus in this year's office budget and I would like to sponsor a Hydration Station uh with tmh Foundation at both Hartsfield and appalache elementary schools both Title One schools in my district um this program educates Elementary School students on the benefit benefits of drinking water and staying hydrated uh the cost out of my office budget would be for two schools uh filter filling stations and bottles for everybody a total of $6,000 and I'm asking that you wave policy to allow me to spend that out of my budget uh for that thank you is there a second I would second it second discussion on point I think I think if we start going down this road it's going to be a very slipp SL and if if we want to I I don't have a problem with it but I think we just open this thing up to be able to to give us the ability to use our our our budgets in different ways at the end of the fiscal year rather than just do one offs so if we're going to go down this road I would say that we bring back a policy that that that allows us to to look at how we how we do it I mean because if you got extra money at the end of the year of course there are things that I would like to be able to sponsor and give to and donate to I guess I could do the same thing but I just I just think again I think it's it's a very slippery slope that's all I'm saying uh commissioner will thank you commissioner mat commission will I'm sorry commissioner cabain was ahead commissioner caban I didn't see you thank you so could you restate the motion just to make sure I'm understanding sure um it is to wave for were specific for a $6,000 contribution from my remaining office budget to the tmh foundation to allow me to spend that outside of it having to be to County direct operations to fund this uh Happy hydration program at two elementary schools in my district okay um and what are the elementary schools it was Hartsfield and appalache okay all right thank you commission I'm going to support the motion on the table simply because of this I think um our current structured on office budgets uh treat does not treat us like Commissioners right uh we are are all elected um because our constituents trust our judgment if it's up it's between our office and our constituents to we answer to if they don't like how we spend our office budget right um I don't like multiple things about the office budget structure I actually you know the next budget cycle was going to plan to bring it up to restructure it um I think we should have I think we should have more money and I think we should have complete jurisdiction of how we spend that money and if um if folks in our in our districts and or our constituents don't like it they're going to let us know um so I'm going to support it uh thank you commissioner uh command commissioner wilch thank you madam chair um I'm actually not going to support this for almost the exact reasons that commissioner Maddox described I think this is is I mean we've now ramped up the budget from my four years ago from 12,000 to what is it 20 20,000 is it 20 I think that I mean I I I return 177,000 of that or something crazy I mean I only go to the chamber conference that's pretty much all I spend my office Budget on and I think that if we go down the road of where we can just at the end of the fiscal year go I got $15,000 I can donate that to a charity of my choice or a good cause that I love it's not our money you're using taxpayer money to support something you like I don't think that's right if it were your own money then that's totally cool but it's like you're going to take taxpayer money and use it to fund something that you that is special to you or you know whatever you want to you know it could all be good it's all I mean we're not going to do anything crazy right but it's not our money to do that with it's the Public's money you get the credit for it commissioner O'Keefe this great benevolent guy who sponsored some water stations but it ain't your money so I think that right there and I'm not I'm just pointing out in that case that bothers me it would bother me as a taxpayer if if if I was doing that I'm not comfortable doing that so I will vote no on that I think it is a slippery slope it becomes a real horny hairy thorny thank you commission Commission of Wills thank you did you want to comment commissioner um I want to say on on point so I don't disagree with you commissioner Welsh my point is that's his decision out of his office budget that he has to answer to his constituents for that's I think all of us should have that mindset with their office budgets that's just my and my um opinion of how it's not my job to tell another commissioner how they run their office and that's my opinion of it okay thank you commissioner command and I think okay Mr County Administrator yeah thank you madam chair you know I was literally just being brought to my attention we've got policies guarding this but um we also have a an ordinance so that creates a little bit of a different wrinkle so I think what we would advise the board I don't think you can wave any ordinance so I think what we would have to do is bring this back for the board's consideration and obviously we'd follow the board's Direction on whatever changes you'd like to make but I think we just got to put it in the right posture to ensure that we we're not um tripping over any of our own ordinances thank you Mr County Administrator for that clarification so if it was a policy perhaps we could wave it ordinance we can't commission to command I mean know Keith do you want to withdraw your motion yes given that uh in the timing of the budget Year I'll withdraw the motion thank you thank you so much anything further oh yeah um yep um I'll be a couple proclamations and something else so um in July our chairs Little League 10 to 12 year olds baseball team uh made it to the state championships uh they were the first chair teams team to do so uh they went up against the team that ultimately won the World Series Championship um and so I would like to ask for a proclamation honoring the chair's Little League 10 to 12y old team for their achievement in being the state runner up in their 2024 championship game and they're excited to come accept that in October if that passes all those in favor let it be known by saying I I I commissioner Proctor he might be gone any opposition oh thank you so it's unanimous thank you commissioner o thank you um I would also like to request a proclamation recognizing the staff and residents of the St Augustine Plantation Senior Living on the May 10th tornadoes they had a significant tree come through through their dementia um building and staff who weren't on shift drove in climbed through tree covered streets to make sure every Resident was transported safely with not a Band-Aid of injury and so I would like to request a proclamation um honoring uh those staff uh at the St Augustine Plantation Senior Living for caring so deeply for their clients is there a second second thank you any discussion hearing none all those in favor Let It Be know I saying I I I any opposition commissioner Proctor hi thank you commission o all right the last thing and I'm promisees the last thing um this is about the Tallahasse leyon County Animal Service Center which as we all know um is going to be going through a uh renovation which we also share funding for so we're Partners um in caring for these animals uh we all know there's an upcoming renovation to the dog kennels and they need to build temporary kennels for that our current capacity is 50 dog kennels currently the temporary kennels would only house 37 that's 75% of what we can house now those are not full there are no vacant um kennels and that unfortunately um despite incredible efforts of staff and volunteers could lead to an increase in adoptable dogs being put down so I would like to make a motion to uh ask the County Administrator to make a friendly offer to the city staff if they'd be to find out if they'd be interested um in some agreement to temporarily increase funding with us to accommodate a full 50 temporary Kennels and bring an item back to gener to to to tell us their interest and what a cost might be if they are interested in doing that and that's your motion is there a second it I for commissioner oh okay Mr County administrative can you address that uh just that again I mean I think this is something that if it passes um certainly we would do that I think we need to be a little careful about this is this is an operational issue of the city of Tallahassee and we have a funding agreement with them that clearly delineates what our funding responsibilities are there and what their decision- making is relative to operational issues um certainly the board could still do that but again I think we just need to be aware of that before um before doing that commission o um thank you and and because of that that's why I only ask for if our interest is to let them know we might be interested in um temporary funding for them if they choose to uh to do that as part of their operations that we could be willing to assist that's all so you're asking for energent item to come back from staff okay you just to let us know how it goes and if there's an estimate if they want to thank you it's been moved and properly second uh for an agenda item to come back in that regard any further discussion hearing none all those in favor let it be known by saying I I any opposition commissioner proor I thank you commissioner oi thank you for hanging with me everyone um I'm done thank you so much Comm Mr MS m chair I'll try to run through this first things first I got a young man in Muki that's very upset about centy Link's uh service and he wants some answers uh and I'm I'm hoping we can we can give him some comfort and some answers today I know i' I've talked to Mr the administrator about um the increasing Services internet services that were happening in I think it's Fort BR is it you guys get a boost what bra Woodville not W can we talk can can you give me some indication about what's going to happen or when they going to get some relief in the M Miki area yes we we'll follow up with you thank you I appreciate that heard the man say going to follow up with you know all right all right Proclamation request the 144th elected Amy Bishop Julius mallister was elected uh not too long ago and I love to do a proclamation in his honor all those in favor Let It Be know my saying I I commissioner proor okay it's unanimous thank you Comm madx and last but not least um and these will be three separate proclamations we have uh just 5 years ago um Pine View bond in Nims Middle School were D's and Fs uh this year they have the distinction of being Pine View and a bond the be and Nims of be and that does not happen without the leadership of principles like Carmen Connor Dela Jackson and Dr Benny bden those schools and those principles most definitely need to be recognized for what they've done in those schools and in that district and along with that uh the best school board member in the world uh can take just a little bit of that credit cuz he's been that the school board member over that area the whole time Mr Daryl Jones don't let your head get too big over there uh but I would like to ask for a motion for a proclamation for those three schools and what they've been able to accomplish over these past 5 years to go from a d and a f to a a and a b is unheard of and and it's not just that if you go to those schools and you see those children in the pride they carry themselves with and and in the way they act and the in the in the walk that they have those aren't deeds and Fs anymore those those are kids that that are some of the best students that we have in Leon County and I'm so proud to to say that those principles created that environment and their Schoolboard member Jones uh fostered the support to help those principles so I'd like to ask for that that proclam those Proclamation thank you commissioner um Maddox did you move did you make your motion yes ma'am is there a second thank you all those in favor let it be known by saying I I I commissioner Proctor I thank you it's unanimous all right thank you madam chair last but not least Madam chair you you've led a great meeting tonight I think we've had some great discourse I missed you guys this is our first meeting back since uh our break Mr administrator you held it down for us while we were gone uh great budget we're looking forward to this upcoming year and uh I'm I'm happy and proud to be a Leon County Commissioner thank you madam chair awesome thank you so much thanks all of you I've got a couple of things I'd like to request a proclamation for the 30th anniversary celebration of the capital city Chamber of Commerce to be presented at our next meeting I move thank you all those in favor Let It Be know my saying I I commissioner Proctor I thank you I you can't I can't make my own motion I'm moving I'll second it okay thank you thank you so it's been moved and properly second for the proclamation for Capital City Chamber of Commerce um all those in favor Let It Be know my saying I commissioner Proctor again hi mam chair mam chair real quick on point earlier the chair made motion uh for a uh a appointment an appointment I sure did is is was that in order if it's not I will I think we switched it to commissioner caban okay in the moment all right thank you we did thank you thank you okay all right I'm sorry I thought I didn't wave my right to make motions by being a chair but I do thank you I can okay okay as thank you for that clarification I'd like to have a u a motion request and a proclamation that's recognized in October as National s pregnancy and infant loss Awareness Month second thank you all those in favor let it be known by saying I I commissioner Proctor commissioner Proctor you there he might have gone I all thank you thank you uh no opposition so that pass unanimously as well uh Commissioners that is all commissioner oh I'm sorry I will uh that is all that I have uh let me just look over it okay commissioner Proctor yeah thank you madam chair Commissioners U I have three proclamations for request uh one next month October is domestic violence awareness month and uh I desire and make a motion for um the county to recognize domestic violence uh awareness month and a proclamation of given to the domestic violence coordinating Council thank you um it's been moved in second for the proclamation all those in favor Let It Be know I saying I I I you vote next I'm sure you vote I as well I did I thank you it's unanimous thank you go ahead commission proxy Madam chair of Commissioners uh Capital Area Community Action is requesting the proclamation acknowledging their 60th anniversary uh which will be on Saturday October the 5th and and uh I move uh that we recognize the 60th anniversary of the Capital Area Community Action Agency so move thank you is there a second thank you all those in favor let it be known by saying I I any opposition hearing none thank you commissioner Pro you may proceed okay uh Commissioners uh Mrs ly and Griffin proprietor of the strong and Jones funeral home uh has recently faced about a serious illness uh she's rebounded um she's up and circulating uh for the years and years of um continuous service she's given uh the philanthropy she has wrought I seek a motion honoring Miss Len andne griffing uh to be presented our next meeting um so moon is there a second commissioner oi thank you all those in favor let it be known by saying I I thank you commissioner fr anything further Madam chair um I I have noted here that uh the nacp freedom fund band Quit was held in August 15th uh and that the county we had not met uh previous prior to that to support but we've been asked our support even um um after the fact and I've seek to be advised um and can we still uh honor our commitment for table to that event I attended that event um that night and U I think I said it I don't know what what table I said it I don't I'm not I can't remember but we were not financially uh pure as of yet so are you is that a motion you've made that's a motion to to purchase that table do you can you tell us what the table was and then I'll have the County Administrator to address it know we went the table um I don't know if it was uh I don't know what the table cost was but I did go and I was sitting at the County's table we have always normatively um supported the freedom fund banquet and I guess just out of the um they've not had it since prior to co so this is the first time and it's out of rehearsal get but at least we're um regard as a um constituent that would support that so they honored us as a supporter even though we did not uh prior to the event vote for it but we were on with the table recognition and all of that okay so your motion my motion is that we follow up the county follow up with sponsorship yes is there a second is there a second thank you uh and we'll ask Mr County Administrator to follow is been Mo moved in second that we follow up all those in favor for the County Administrator followup yes commissioner well what are we talking about I literally don't know what we're talking about are we asking to follow up on purchasing a table are we purchasing a table and what are we purchasing the table for Madam chair Please Mr County administrat I think there's a $1,000 sponsorship uh for us to do uh to the NAACP Freedom fund banquet Okay and like are we approving that or are we asking for an item to come back about commissioner Proctor is asking for its approval is it something we've done in the past yes okay so it's like normal yeah we've always done we've always done itur we've always done it in the past um they didn't have it and I guess some kind of way they got lost in the shuffle this year it's so he's asking is that we go ahead and do the sponsorship that we've always done okay thank you can I ask Mr County ad minist we we've always sponsored it in the past yes we we have sponsored it in the past and it stopped because of Co yeah a lot of things stopped because of Co but it picked back up this year and just sort of fell through the C so it's not inconsistent with what we've done in the past okay all right all those in favor of that motion let it be known by saying I I any opposition hearing none okay hold on a minute hear hearing none the motion passes commissioner Proctor you have anything further um I wanted to extend congratulations to U uh my pastor Reverend Dr Julius mallister who was elected as I've noted by commissioner matad who was the 144th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church the African Methodist Episcopal Church um Commissioners was founded uh the same year as our nation establishes constitution in 17 87 in Philadelphia and it is the oldest continuing uh black organization in the United States of America and uh re McAllister was elected on the first ballot uh God blessed me to be there and it was quite uh um an ecstatic scene in particular because he did something very rare his first time running for that office and then on the very first ballot uh securing the office so uh we're very proud and I strongly support that secondly I'd like to congratulate Miss Angela sugs who's been named as the new athletic director uh for floram University U no doubt Angela will do outstanding job uh in that role and we give her much love and support then finally Commissioners um the tow truck um um uh industry uh I have met with them um and I'm hopeful Mr County U administrator that their number I don't know how they're doing business right now when I looked at their insurance uh when they showed me um their comparison to other cities and I'm sure all that information will brought be brought back to us um strongly um I have to say that those guys are I don't know how they're maintaining but U we need to bring them up to Park equal to uh the rest of the State of Florida Mr administrator you gave an outstanding report uh God bless administrator God bless our community and County uh this land that I love and I thank you Commissioners for bearing me and um I appreciate you madam chair for running a splendid meeting uh God bless Leon County thank you very much thank you thank you commissioner Proctor we've got a couple other comments commissioner Maddox yes Madam chair I'm sorry I forgot I I didn't want to and commissioner Proctor uh I will yield to you because I know you did serve as assistant pastor under under uh Reverend Bishop mallister so if you like to present that Proclamation I would be more than happy to you to you uh to present that proclamation to him but I did want to ask for a proclamation uh for Angela sugs the new family ad who has been homegrown grown throughout the ranks even uh her last post being Florida uh Sports Foundation uh head lady in charge and now she's the ad F so I I didn't want to ask for a proclamation for her bam chair thank you you all those in v in favor of a proclamation for Miss Angela sugs let it be known by saying I I I last but not least uh commission uh prematurely commissioner prder uh has hinted that he wanted the fair I'm just playing that's all I got M you that's all you okay thank thank you all so much and I also want to congratulate Miss Angela sugs who is my sard sister for new appointment as athletic director at Florida inm University and certainly want to congratulate um the bishop for his uh Bishop M Alisa for his appointment and I will be sending a letter on behalf of the County uh commission congratulating him on on that appointment as well we had a great meeting I want to thank all the hard work of our County attorney and our County Administrator and and all of his staff the great reports that we have tonight and I do believe the count is on the right track to address the issues of our our citizens in our community I think the conscientiousness of you guys our County Commissioners in addressing the issues uh that are facing our County and are facing our citizen so with that thank you all for coming staff for coming and we wish you all God's speed God bless everybody have a good night --------- ##VIDEO ID:e-wtLQyjrjc## and Welcome to our September County Commission board meeting it's great to see all of you great to see my fellow Commissioners so right now we're going to start with our invocation and I'm pleased to recognize Reverend Dr Michael Fagan who is the assistant pastor at Belta Missionary Baptist Church who will be bringing our invocation he is a graduate Mr County ad minist Ator of FSU um College of Business he also received the masters of divinity from prinston Theological Seminary and he received his Doctorate of ministry from the United Theological Seminary so we are blessed to have him in our presence this afternoon and grateful that he agreed to do our invocation so I invite him to the podium uh and let's welcome re Fagan thank you commissioner everyone let us bow for a moment of prayer Eternal and everlasting God as we assemble in your divine presence we want to thank you for another Day's Journey we thank you for how you have blessed our city we are grateful for the success the prosperity and the protection that you have granted us we we ask now that you would give wisdom strength and vitality to our leaders to do what is in the best interest of our community and that which is right in your eyes may you be honored in our coming together as we invite your Holy Spirit into our midst now it is in the name of Jesus we pray amen amen thank you Reverend Fagan now will we all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance our pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thanks everyone for your participation uh Commissioners I'd like to entertain a motion to allow commissioner Proctor to participate uh by telephone so move Madam chair thank you is there a second thank you uh all those in favor let it be known by saying I any opposition uh it's unanimous with commissioner Maddox out of Chambers and commissioner Welch out of commissioner Welch okay commissioner Welch is in Chambers and if you will record him as voting I as well thank you now we have the pleasure of recognizing several entities with proclamations we'll start with the proclamation recognizing Dr Celeste Hart is Dr Hart in the audience yet oh okay awesome awesome um we're recognizing Dr Hart for her exceptional contributions to healthc care as the only africanamerican and necrologist in Leon County uh doctor if you would join me at the podium I know uh commissioner Proctor is on the agenda and I know he really wanted to present this to you but I will present it in instead okay Dr Hart if you will just hold this and then I will read it and the proclamation reads whereas Dr Celeste Hart has distinguished herself as an exceptional Medical Professional and is recognized as the only africanamerican endocrinologist in Leon County and where is Dr Hart's presence in the field of ocy represents a significant achievement and contributes to the diversity and richness of medical expertise in our community and whereas through her dedication to providing high quality care and the specialty of Endocrinology Dr Hart has made a profound impact on the health and well-being of individuals in Leon County addressing complex health issues and enhancing the quality of patient care and where is Dr Hart's role as as a Trailblazer in her field as an inspiration to both her peers and the community demonstrating the value of diversity in health care and the importance of representation in medical professions and whereas Dr Hart has been committed to not only delivering exemplary care but also engaging in community outreach education and advocacy further contrib buting to the Improvement of Health Care and health outcomes in leyon County now therefore be it proclaimed by the Leon County Board of County Commissioners that we honor and commend Dr celes Hart for her exceptional contributions to Health Care her pioneering role as the only African American endocrinologist in our County and her ongoing dedication to serving the residents of Leon County with excellence and compassion dated the 17th day of September 2024 and is signed by me as chair by all of my fellow Commissioners and attested to by County Administrator Vincent long so congratulations Dr Hart thank you very verywell uh deserved you want to make a comment you like to say anything uh it's an honor to serve the population of Leon County I'm a native Tallahasse and it's an honor and pleasure to fulfill this role thank you hold on hold on one second she wants to get a picture so let's turn it around thank you let's give a hand there's any okay any Commissioners have any any comments but thank you again Dr Hart for your Pioneer work and all of your medical services to the community right now um we're going to have a proclamation recognizing September as a National Suicide Prevention month do I have represented from 91 211 and 988 here that can meet me here at the podium oh okay how you all doing okay if you want to stand behind me here okay if you will hold the prop clamation okay and you stand you won't be behind okay all right and we will read uh the proclamation and it says whereas September is recognized nationally as Suicide Prevention month a time to raise awareness of this critical issue that affects individuals families and communities Across the Nation and whereas suicide is a leading cause of death and the effects of suicide are felt deeply by those Left Behind creating a ripple effect that touches friends family members co-workers and the larger community and whereas every life lost to suicide is one too many and it is our responsibility as a community to support those who are struggling and to provide resources that can save lives and whereas 211 big Benin has been a pillar of support in our community offering free anonymous and empathetic Crisis Intervention and emotional support through its 24/7 hotline connecting individuals to the resources they need during their most vulnerable moments and whereas the introduction of the 988 suicide and crisis Lifeline provides an additional accessible and easy to remember resource for anyone experiencing Mental Health crisis ensuring that help is always just a phone call away and whereas both 211 Big Ben and the 988 Lifeline are critical Tools in our communities efforts to prevent suicide providing immediate assistance to those in distress and connecting them with longterm care and support now therefore be it proclaimed by the Leon County Board of County Commissioners that we recognize September as Suicide Prevention month here in Leon County we urge all residents to take the time to learn about the warning signs of suicide to reach out to those in need and to support the life-saving work of 211 Big Ben and the 988 Lifeline let us come together as a community to offer hope help and healing to those who need it most together we can make a difference and save lives and this Proclamation is signed by me as commission chair all of my fellow Commissioners and attested to by our County Administrator Vincent long congratulations and we appreciate all the hard work that you all do thank you thank and I think she wants to take a picture oh you want us to go over there let's get a little closer to okay thank you thank you so much would you like to say something yes ma'am please uh chair Cummings thank you very much for uh sponsoring this Proclamation Commissioners thank you for your ongoing never-ending support on this issue it's important it's critical um we received 250 to 300 calls every month on our 988 Lifeline so it is a real issue here in our community um and these are the heroes these are the folks who answer the calls 247 and provide some stability in people's lives at a very unstable moment so thank you very much um as it said in the proclamation this is a community effort we are a piece of the puzzle but we all have to look out for each other so thank you again appreciate [Music] [Applause] itate thank you so much and now I'd like to call on M missioner oh I'm sorry you um commission you have a comment go ahead thank you so much Madam chair and first thank you to everyone who works and volunteers and answer the calls at 211 Big Bend um especially during National Suicide Prevention month um I think I can speak for most people who have friends or family um who have dealt with the issues of suicide or suicidal thinking um and as chair said any loss is a tragedy and so I also want to again emphasize anyone uh yourself or your friends are um having trouble and thinking of that to text or call 988 um and that um a lot of times this say a temporary period so if someone can make it through that period and get help um it's a they can live a very long life thank you thank you commissioner o'keef we appreciate it and now I'd like to call on commissioner uh Nick Maddox he has several proclamations that he's going to present and I'm going to allow him to announce those proclamations and ask those individual recipients to come to the podium and join him thank you madam chair thank you madam chair let's see Madam chair I have three proclamations to present the first one will be to Bon Community Health Center representative for Bon come up please neighborhood uh and also if I can have a representative from neighborhood no sen come up [Applause] [Music] Proclamation reads where as Bond Community Health Center Incorporated has been a vital health care provider in the south side of leyon County delivering Essential Medical Services to a diverse and un underserved population and whereas the Clinic's commitment to providing comprehensive accessible and Quality Healthcare has significantly contributed to improving the health and well-being of resident in this area addressing critical Health needs with compassion and expertise and whereas Bond Community Health Center Incorporated offers a wide range of services including Primary Care preventative care and support for chronic conditions thereby enhancing the overall health outcomes of the community it serves and whereas the Clinic's dedication to service extends Beyond Medical Care to include community outreach health education and advocacy which plays a crucial role in promoting healthy equ Health Equity and access to to care in Southside leyon County and whereas though whereas through the efforts of its staff and volunteers Bond Community Healthcare Incorporated has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to addressing Health disparities and ensuring that all residents have access to necessary Health Care Services now therefore be proclaimed by the Leon County Board of County Commissioners that we recognize and commend Bond Health Comm Bond Health Center Incorporated for its outstanding services to the southside of Leon County the Clinic's dedication and contributions are deeply appreciated and valued by our community this is signed by the chair as well as myself and attested to by and the rest of the board and attested to by uh the County Administrator thank you so much thank you [Music] [Applause] commissioner prer in his presenting these proclamations in his absence and I do believe that a matching Proclamation will be presented to Neighborhood Medical Healthcare with the same words as those as Bond as neighborhood has also been a a key member of the health care uh unit that's that's helping keep the Southside Tallahassee uh safe and healthy so we appreciate you as well you like say well I um thank the Commissioners on behalf of the board of directors and the staff of bond Community Health Center we are honored that you have entrusted the care of the residents in leyon County to us as well as the care and especially the care of the underserved and undur Leon County residents and the same for neighborhood Medical Center without our partnership with the Leon County Board of County Commissioners we would not been able to serve over 12,000 patients last year which equated to over 22,000 visits so we do appreciate you believing in us and giving us the task supporting us in that task of taking care of Leon County residents so thank [Applause] you actually fitting to to to this moment I do have commissioner caban here to present the second proclamation to oh okay to Mr you got it oh are you going to see so I am doing the second Proclamation on behalf of commissioner Proctor for the neighborhood Medical Center whereas neighborhood Medical Center has been a vital healthc care provider in the southide of leyon County delivering Essential Medical Services to a diverse and underserved population and whereas the Clinic's commitment to providing comprehensive accessible and quality healthare has significantly contributed to improving the health and well-being of residents in this area addressing critical Health Care needs with compassion and expertise and whereas neighborhood Medical Center offers a wide range of services including Primary Care preventative care and support for chronic conditions thereby enhancing the overall health outcomes for the community it serves and whereas the Clinic's dedication to service extends Beyond Medical Care to include community outreach health education and AD advoc advocacy which play a crucial role in promoting Health Equity and access to care in Southside leyon County and whereas through the efforts of his staff and volunteers neighborhood Medical Center has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to addressing Health disparities and ensuring that all residents have access to necessary Health Care Services now therefore be it proclaimed by the Lyon County Board of County Commissioners that we officially recognize and com commend neighborhood Medical Center for its outstanding service to the southside of leyon County the Clinic's dedication and contributions are deeply appreciated and valued by our community dated this 17th day of September 2024 signed by the board of County Commissioners and the County Administrator Vince long thank you we [Applause] appreciate thank you again we do appreciate [Applause] it picture and I just like to say we are very proud of Miss Freeman um and we are very uh just proud of the bond Community Health Center and neighborhood uh Neighborhood Health Center I mean they provide such a great service to our marginalized community and we couldn't meet all of our health care needs without their services so we just uh thank them tremendously thank them tremendously does uh any of the Comm Commissioners have any any uh any comments okay yeah commissioner Welsh thank you madam chair I just want to uh congratulate both of the directors of our community health centers Dr Temple Robinson um and uh I'm sorry I didn't get the the other L's name Miss Freeman Dr J Freeman Miss Freeman what you do is vital to our community and the value that Pro you provide is you know we can't quantify it so I know everybody feels the same way Dr Robinson you know is is close to my heart she's my leadership Tallahasse classmate so miss Freeman I apologize I know her a little well but um I'm just I'm just super proud of everything that yall do and everything that you represent and I know we all feel the same way so thank you so much thank you thank you picture thank [Applause] you again you all right our next Proclamation uh is to Mr Joseph Williams with representatives for his family and School Board member Daryl Jones please come up as he is the one who brought to my Rec to my uh uh my attention that today should be Joseph Williams day this young man is 104 years old y'all and according to my doctor's visit last year probably healthier than me the proclamation reads whereas Joseph Williams born September September 30th 1919 is a distinguished Navy veteran who has demonstrated exceptional service commitment to our nation and whereas Mr Williams served with honor and distinction during a pivotal era in our history contributing to the defense and security of our country with unwavering dedication and whereas his exemplary service in the United States Navy is a testament to his bravery his resilience his patriotism and whereas Mr Williams has made significant contributions to his community and has inspired many with his life of service and dedication and whereas the Leon County Board of County Commissioners recognizes and values the sacrifices and cont contributions of all veterans and honors their legacy as an integral part of our community's heritage therefore be it proclaimed by the Leon County Board of County Commissioners that September 17th 2024 be recognized as I say it again Joseph Williams day in Leon County in honor of his outstanding Services yes sir yes sir in honor of his outstanding services and dedication to our nation we express our deepest gratitude to Joseph Williams for his bravery and his commitment and extend our heartfelt appreciation for his contribution to both our nation and our community congratulations sir [Applause] all right I don't know how we going to get this m okay I know how we get right over here to the side thank you all the family of of of Mr Williams please come up let's get this picture 104 years old in two weeks hey Daddy thank you thank you thank you [Applause] oh he's usually walking I just want to just Echo commissioner Maddox Mr day and the whole family thank you all so much we certainly owe a de gratitude to Mr Dave for all of his service to our country our community and for his longevity God has truly blessed him and we ask for God continue blessing on him and on the entire family let's give him another round of applause Madam chair for our last for my last Proclamation today I would like to call up Bishop Lamar [Music] [Applause] Simmons whereas Bishop Lamar Simmons was consecrated in June 2024 marking a significant milestone in his distinguished service and Leadership within the faith community and whereas Bishop Simmons has demonstrated exceptional dedication spiritual guidance and commitment throughout his ministry positively impacting the lives of countless individuals and enriching the broader community and whereas his Ascension to the role of Bishop represents a profound acknowledgement of his years of service wisdom and contribution to the spiritual and social well-being of our community and whereas Bishop Simmons has been a Beacon of Hope and a source of inspiration through his unwavering commitment to Faith Justice and humanitarian efforts whereas the Leon County Board of County Commissioners recognizes the importance of this Milestone of Bishop Simmons journey and celebrates his achievements and contributions to our community now therefore be it proclaimed by the Leon County Board of County Commissioners that we recognize Bishop Lamar Simmons in his in honor of his Consecration and his dedication to serving others we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Bishop Lamar Simmons on this monumentous occasion and and express our deepest appreciation for his outstanding leadership and unwavering commitment to the betterment of our community this assigned by the chairwoman myself as well the rest commission and tested to by the County Administrator [Applause] Bishop thank you so much to uh the County Commissioners and especially to commissioner nick uh Maddox I remember a couple years ago when you said you wanted to run and you were sitting in my office and to see what you've done is amazing and you've gotten older I've gotten younger and but yeah I turned 20 I turned 25 two times in November congratulations and I realized I've been here since I was 16 so Tallahassee is home to me and uh myself and love and faith we appreciate this city and we appreciate all that you do we look forward to helping to serve this city and to serve God through all that we do so thank you again for this honor looking forward to doing more thank you so much [Applause] congratulations again bishop and thank you uh commissioner Maddox for those presentations and now I'd like to to call him a vice chair commissioner Welch if he will come forth and I'll allow him to introduce his Proclamation and the recipients they got to come up all right this is oh thank you madam chair wherever you went uh this is a proclamation to uh to uh distinguish myself as the number one fan of Tallahassee State College I'm just kidding actually um uh my oldest daughter is at FSU right now but she did 57 hours of dual enrollment at TCC before she went to FSU and now my junior in high school is just finished her first two classes at FSU over the summer as a dual enrolled student and they both got perfect 4.0 and are on the President's List I can tell you I never sniffed the President's List in my time at TSC however uh as the number one fan of talli State College I defin was not one of the number one students but um uh we've got uh Candace grous uh Chief of Staff to the president Amanda Clemens director of communications and Kalisha Fain and what you coordinator of Special Projects okay so y'all I know I love on TSC a lot up here but so I had to do a proclamation I'm sorry you're probably getting worn out on proclamations and such so uh whereas tallas Community College has served as a vital institution of Higher Learning in leyon County since this establishment in 1966 offering a broad range of academic programs and contributing significantly to the community's educational and economic development and whereas the institution has Evol evolved and expanded its offerings and the name change in July of 2024 to Tallahassee State College more accurately reflects its status and Mission as a prominent educational institution within the State of Florida and whereas renaming the college to Tallahassee State College will enhance its visibility align its name with its expanded role and better representat commitment to providing higher education and Workforce Development to the citizens of Leon County and Beyond whereas the name change has been supported by Community leaders stakeholders and the College administration demonstrating broad-based support for this positive transformation now therefore be it proclaimed by the Leon County Board of County Commissioners we recognize Tallahassee Community College officially renamed as Tallahassee State College this change is a testament to the institution's continued growth and pivotal role in advancing education opportunities in our community dated the 17th day of dece uh I almost said December September 2024 thank you guys for everything that you do at TSC everything that you represent for our community vital institution around here all right thank you so much welcome [Applause] to yeah did you I put my orange into thank you commissioner Welsh for that Proclamation and we'd like to invite if any of you all have uh a word a comment You' like to say sure happy to on behalf of president murall he's so sorry that could not be here today he's hosting an outof country delegation but otherwise he would be right here he always appreciates the support that he gets from the county um we would not be who we are today or have our name change if it hadn't been for that support so we really appreciate it we're happy to serve uh the students of Leon County and Beyond and if you ever need anything all you have to do is ask but thank you so much appreciate it Madam chair all that comments from the Commissioners yes commissioner o'keef and then commissioner caban um since I have the opportunity I just want to say thank you to everyone at what is now Tallahassee State College um yall were a critical turnaround for my younger brother who After High School was to put put it politely not on track um and he came out to TCC where he made Deen's list and went on to I'm very much on track and yall were a big part of that thank you thank you commissioner o'keef commissioner kaban thank you madam chair I just want to thank uh TCC now TSC I'm I'm proud alumni um of TSC and I appreciate your continued investment not only in education in our community but also in our economy for those who don't know TCC is the I believe the largest employer in District 2 which is the district that I serve so thank you for your continued investment and thank you for all that you do for Leon County thank you so much commissioner um caban commissioner Miner thank you madam chair you know many years ago I I taught a couple semesters at at uh what is now talli State College and um I had the opportunity to get to to to know some of the students there and the the the variety of backgrounds from among the student body you know all from all walks of life are all there to make their lives better and to and to help improve their family's lives and it was really inspirational to see these people uh all different ages all different backgrounds coming to T State College to improve themselves and improve their Community I I don't think people quite realize how big an impact TSC has on Leon County in Tallahassee but uh it's great that you're here we get a chance to do that right now I just want to thank you for everything that you do and please give a president murto our our regards thank you thank you uh commissioner Miner and thank you all again from Tallahasse State College you all are certainly Partners in our community Leon County Government is proud to be one of the partners that support you all's efforts and we certainly wish God's blessing continued blessing on uh Tallahassee State College and now the hour that we've all been waiting for can I get a drum roll do we have a can I get a drum roll thank you I have the honor and pleasure of presenting the 2024 Leon County neighborhoods of the Year Awards and the neighbor of the Year award for the 43rd year in a row Leon County and the Council of neighborhood association have celebrated the outstanding neighborhood places and people in our community and those who all make our entire County a great place to live work and raise our children so we love our area our city our County so much but before the winners are announced uh is Miss Christi Henry here she is here I'd like to um recognize Miss Christine H Christine Henry who is the present chairperson of the Council of neighborhood association and I invite her to the podium to say a few words Christin looks good on behalf of our president lero peek who is not here I'm speaking in his stad I serve um have served on the board of the Council of neighborhood association for a very long time not 43 years but you know a minute um we have seen this community vary in terms of things that have happened to it we went through the Great Recession we went through covid and it is amazing to see the value chairman chairwoman that neighborhoods have continued and consistently brought to this community in those times of vulnerability just a couple of key facts organized neighborhoods are valued at anywhere from 15 to 177% more than unorganized neighborhoods they also people who are in proximity to those organized neighborhoods they benefit from value increase based on the activity of those organized neighborhoods in addition to that we know that organized neighborhoods have a lower instance of what crime so it's essential to our overall goals of Public Safety that we support and that we uh recognize neighborhoods that are going over and Beyond to ensure that their areas are safe we also know that mental health benefits of organized neighborhoods being in an area where people are checking on you where people know your children it decreases anxiety it decreases a lot of things that our neighbors experience in the realm of potential mental mental health problems and cohesion with churches and partners also Aid in that benefit as well but most importantly and this is the reason why most neighborhoods are organized and work together cohesion and identity our city is full of folks that are proud to live here they're proud to be here and on the neighborhood level that is most succinctly expressed and so your support and the work of kona is to continue to give that identity to neighbors based upon the place that they live while we work to strengthen and Bridge gaps of identity in places that need the opportunity to be organized for their voice to be raised and to become adequate Distributors of resources for our neighbors so I congratulate this partnership that the county and K have had for the past 30 um 43 years and I congratulate neighbors who I have known and grown with and receive some punishment from um as a neighborhood Advocate but this is prob the most rewarding work that we do and I thank you all for giving us the opportunity to continue this partnership and look forward to awarding our neighborhoods and neighbor of the [Applause] Year thank you uh Miss Henry for those remarkable comments and we certainly value and appreciate the partnership that Leon County has with the Council of neighborhood assoc associations and so now we will announce our winners uh and after the all the winners are announced and we'd like to take one large group photo the first area is our small neighborhood of the year the 2024 small neighborhood of the year has enhanced neighborhood safety and Beauty by revitalizing The Neighborhood crime Watch program and the neighborhood has been transformed has transformed underutilized areas into a vibrant recreational space they engag in community cleanups planning native plants and committed to a Greener future of course there is more I don't have time to go into everything but the neighborhood up upgraded fixtures to led to conserve energy and to reduce emissions so I am proud to present the 2024 small neighborhood of the Year award to the Chamilia Gardens neighborhood association let's give them a round of applause and if they if they will come forward and if you'd like to have a uh if the president is here if you'd like to have a word or whoever is represented I'll be Happ happy to Madam chairman absolutely chairwoman thank you very much and uh on behalf of the neighbors ofilia Gardens thank you so much for this honor it's been a pleasure working with County staff and with our commissioners over these many years Rick was a neighbor of ours long before he served Madam chairwoman on uh on the County Commission here but it's unit 105 I would like to uh thank the sheriff's department uh tpd and the board of directors here who really uh helped me eliminate um a lot of the drug dealers and prostitutes that had taken up Res residence and the visitor parking lot um without them uh it would have been an uphill battle and um you know it's now a very proud neighborhood uh and uh I am very glad to be there thank you very much thank thank you so much Commissioners any comments commissioner Miner thank you madam chair read my mind yes I um Mr Turner is right I I uh my wife and I is the first place we lived at together uh off of Home Bay Branch at Camilia Gardens and uh we have fond memories of of the neighborhood um like I said we lived in unit 105 proud to I passed by from time to time and smile because it was just a really good time of our lives and I've been going back to the neighborhood periodically since then and um this neighborhood completely deserves this award they've got it together you all have banded together as a as a group uh you you basically have those um those those heavy uh planted uh yeah exactly right there uh to which creates a an area where people can congregate and sit and just relax and enjoy each other's company outstanding job you guys are an example for for the rest of Leon County you're a terrific job and uh great to have you in District 3 thank you madam chair thank you commissioner minor for those great comments did you want to take a picture with them separate you want a picture or just one at the end okay we'll do one group at the end thank you all so much okay our next neighborhood is the large neighborhood of the year the recipient of the 2024 large neighborhood of the Year exemplifies a commitment to give back through several initiatives which includes honoring teachers with yard signs at Community Schools hosting a back to school bash with book bag giveaways and they created a community garden for all residents to enjoy together now I am proud to present the 2024 large neighborhood of the Year award to the Jake Gaither neighborhood association let's give them a round of applause would you like to have a would you like to have a [Applause] word thank you very much uh Commissioners for this uh great honor in chairperson is coming thank you so very much uh you once again uh Jay gther uh big Community large community if you will and uh we want to receive uh this this honor that you given to this neighborhood uh some of our neighbors have come with us our chairperson has come with us of our uh Awards committee uh who was instrumental in writing all of this up uh getting it all prepared for us I'm just uh standing in the Gap if you will as the president of the JG neighborhood association uh it's a great honor as you know uh Jay Gaither is a historical uh black community one of the first uh communities when it comes to second class citizens if you will in this neighborhood and so we just read down the street from the University just only a couple of minutes away it's a great honor once again to receive this I'm so happy after all these years thank you uh Miss Woods for your hard work and choosing us to as well uh for this just so many people that think behind this listen let me have our chairperson come and word here this is our chairperson of our committee of our Wars committee uh Miss Mary Spencer like for her to just have a word if she will well we thank the um County commission for presenting us to us we are working hard to do what we can to be some of the best neighbors for tah hessie and so we thank our president he's ahead of us he's pulling us along so we appreciate what we are getting done one other thank you so much and one other person here where is Dr Jackson please come uh Dr Jackson is our secretary but I also want to uh note her Dr Jackson fam youth student and educator and Professor too as well as well as she is the wife of the late Dr uh Eddie Jackson a president of 220 club and I'm sure a lot of y'all know about that Dr Jackson just want to thank the Commissioners especially uh the chairman here for pres permitting us to be here this afternoon and uh for all of the committee for selecting our neighborhood we appreciate that so very much thank you once again anybody else right this good all right thank you all thank you all so much for your comments we we appreciate it we appreciate all you all all do now I'm sorry Cummings commission Cummings all us will take a picture together we'll take a picture afterwards thank you Mr President now the unincorporated neighborhood of the year the recipient of the 2024 unincorporated neighborhood of the year is no stranger to the Winter Circle the neighborhood has en enhanced community life through creative initiatives that includes a plan Exchange program a book lending library and they also have a welcoming committee that greets new residents where members of the community volunteer and they have also volunteered hundreds of hours to other local organizations that includes Meals on Wheels the mass the gardener volunteers and Tallahassee Memorial Hospital as well so now I am proud to present the 2024 unincorporated neighborhood of the Year award and I would be remiss if I didn't say that it's been my neighborhood for 30 years to the Lafayette Oaks homeowners association let's give them a round of applause will a representative come [Applause] forth would you like a word I'll say something thank you once again for this honor it's um as commissioner cuming says it's not the first time we've won uh an award uh but our motto in laf Oaks is Lafia Oaks is where you can start your family raise your family and then retire and we feel like it's just a little piece of Leon County that will forever be preserved out on the east side so thank you very much I just want to say thank you because I love coming down here this this is so much fun to see everyone who wins and we want to thank you and thank you for all you do and the reason that we keep winning is because of our residents they really put their hearts and souls into improving our neighborhood and we've been there 30 4 years I beat you I beat you and uh we love it there and I think we will retire there well we already did but we'll you know whatever thank you again thank you thank you thank you for those uh [Applause] comments and we share the sentiment that our neighborhoods and and Leon County is a great place to live and and raise our children and one day uh retire in Serenity Now I found award is our neighbor of the Year award and it's certainly last but not least we uh will recognize and honor the recipient whose spearheaded installation of neighborhood cameras and extra neighborhood lighting after a local stalking incident and those efforts assisted law enforcement to identify a stalker suspect as well as a robbery suspect our recipient leads the lake watch committee and organized a neighborhood Christmas golf cart parade that had over 25 participants sounds like fun now I'm honored to present the 20 24 neighbor of the Year award to Mr Jonathan temper of the Summerbrook neighborhood let's give him a great Round of Applause for his outstanding contributions congratulations and we appreciate all of your service which has benefited not just your community but our entire Community would you like to have a few words okay congratulations thank you very much thank you everybody thank you Commissioners uh especially Brian Walsh you've been uh great for our community uh we've worked hand inand over the years uh you know with everything uh going on in the Northeast side of town um we definitely appreciate you and everybody here I want to thank everybody for caring about your neighborhoods and it's it's great to be a part of Tallahassee I've been here for 46 years and plan the spend the rest of my life here so thank thank you thank you so much any comments well we want to just give a big thank you a big shout out to all of our winners this year the neighborhoods as well as individuals because everything that you all do strengthens our community and we look forward to another exciting year in 2025 for our Leon County neighborhoods thank you so if everybody that was in W recipient the neighborhoods individuals we want to gather around and take one group picture in know the Commissioners can stand behind you up on up on the Podi okay [Music] yeah you never know standing do you need stand up Carol then everyone can look this way few more awesome thank you all thank you [Applause] we want to thank you all again for coming and for your participation and we'll give you a some people have to leave we'll give you a minute to do so uh commissioner Proctor can you hear me commissioner Proctor I know he's been trying to get in but we'll try try him again okay we are now at our at our agenda for today um uh Mr County Administrator thank you madam chair we've got um four items that were pulled from consent uh items number 12 15 16 and 21 and we also have one speaker to be heard on non-agenda items thank you um Mr County Administrator um Commissioners I'd like to entertain a motion to accept the yes ma s agenda excluding the item items that have been pulled thank you commissioner Proctor did I hear you are you there yes oh awesome thank you we we appreciate uh you joining us um is there a second I heard the motion there a second by commissioner command move by commissioner Maddox okay all those in favor let it be known by saying I I any opposition any opposition hearing none and I believe commissioner proor indicated I as well it it's unanimous okay Mr County Administrator thank you thank you madam chair we have one speaker to be heard Mark Weeks appreciate joining um hello decided to at two for one today um I have a petition on change.org to reopen the Leon County track and fields which currently has 1,50 signatures I understand that leyon County Schools is separate from this board but I wanted to bring it to your attention because both FAMU and Flor State have shut down their tracks to Public Access leaving Tallahassee with no publicly accessed tracks um it is only a matter of time before it lands as an issue on your agenda so the you know I know you all cherish the not my monkey not my circus sort of mentality I I get that um but it it will eventually end up on your agendas um and I would like to say that we uh we pay leyon County Schools directly through our property tax uh for these Community assets and also FAMU and Florida State indirectly by not taxing the land that they occupy at the very least I ask this board to uh sign the petition or refer people to it when they email or call you when you email or call your offices and ideally I would like you to push these organizations to reopen their tracks uh board member Jones is in attendance today I saw that so not too hard of a push there um and there are many state laws um that sort of encourage sharing of facilities um and I encourage you all to U sort of just lean on these organizations if you would um and you will also be saving lives as fewer people will be hit by cars uh as we safer places as we have less safer places to run thank you for your time thank you that concludes our speakers on non-agenda items Madam chair uh item number 12 was pulled by commissioner caban thank you Mr County ad Ministry do you want to make a presentation I'll just introduce it Commissioners by saying that item number 12 is the public safety coordinating council's fy2 24 funding recommendations we're recommending options one and two commissioner Proctor serves as your design uh and representative of the board on that Council and Teresa Brockton from our Ida is here to answer any questions you might have thank you madam chair thank you Mr County Administrator commissioner caban thank you madam chair I actually do not have an issue of this item anymore um so I'm going to go ahead and move staff recommendation options one and two thank you is there a second any discussion hearing none all those in favor let it be known by saying after op uh consent item number 12 hi hi commissioner Proctor thank you commissioner so it's it is unanimous Mr County Administrator thank you madam chair item number 15 is a voluntary annexation of property located at 40224 Mayan drive again it's a voluntary annexation this item was pulled by commissioner o'keef and we are recommending option one uh not to object to the proposed volunte annexation happy to answer any questions you might have thank you madam chair thank you Mr County Administrator uh commissioner o ke yes thank you madam chair um I have some questions on this one um before we consider it um I main concern before considering it is um what could be put there um at that intersection of Mayan and Dempsey Road uh currently as far as what businesses or type of residents are allowed and then if it were to be annexed into the city um would that be different and then if there would need to be changes to put something like say gas station once we Annex to the city does it come back through us for zoning changes those are the main questions I could get answered thank you commissioner o'keef Miss County Administration Madam chair we got Barry Willcox our director of development support and Environmental Management who can answer those questions for you uh yes commissioner the uh property has its Zone today is mayen um Corridor node which was adopted years ago when the road was widened out to ensure that it wasn't just simply stripped out in commercial development uh the Mayhan quter NOS as you see them out there today predominantly professional office things of that sort it's intended to be a a walkable node um if it annexes into the city the city does also have a Mayan Corridor node zoning District uh as to what the city will do with it after the annexation that is really up to the city at that point we wouldn't have a say in any of the rezonings or anything that occur at that point that would wholly be with the city and you said that uh it is Al it is zoned for commercial so something like a convenience store or gas station could within currently Mayhan quarter no does not allow for uh gas stations specifically okay thank thank you those are all my questions um I uh the reason I asked that is um it's not in the documents or anything but based on the background based on the uh ownership uh asking for it the only two properties owned by this company are this one and one where there is another gas station being put in in canopy and so ahead of that since I know there was some push back from those neighbors and I know that um my Mayan Corridor constituents generally um would uh oppose something like that to be clear that's not on the vote today um but I would like to my preference would be to keep the authority um to make those changes within our purview so could be we could be responsive to our constituents so um I'd like to move to object to the annexation um based on maintaining uh our authority over zoning changes that may come in the future thank you uh commissioner Keef is there a second it do for lack of second you know the comments commissioner madx Madam chair Mo that recommendation thank you is there a second commissioner wilch is there any further discussion all those in favor let it be known by saying I I opposition nay thank you one a commissioner Proctor Madam chair yes commissioner M Mr administrator what are the okay hold on one second was that in did it pass it's already passed okay go ahead commissioner matters Mr administrator just to be clear what what are the uh what are the circumstances of which that we can object or deny a request for annexation I'll defer to the the County Attorney there are some legal requirements and Technical requirements I should say in order to um object Madam County attorney thank you madam chair um there are limited bases um basically um the legal um aspects of it um it has to be contiguous to the Border uh it has to be in the USA or Services have to be available uh and it cannot create an enclave meaning surrounded by other properties that are not within okay um it met all the legal requirements it meets all the legal requirements but there are some technical um requirements as well and as reflected in your agenda item it meets those technical requirements for approval um have the board voted to uh to not to reject um it would have it would have basically initiated a um process to try to resolve this informally uh with the city of Tallahassee but fortunately we don't have to worry about that M follow administrate one follow I may yes uh and I I would imagine that that that would be in a form of some kind of legal proceedings correct not initially but if it wasn't able to be informally resolved it would move Mo to a formal proceeding thank you thank you madam chair thank you uh commissioner madis and let me just follow up Madam U uh County attorney before this is brought to the commission for vote uh it's already analyzed by staff looking at uh from a legal standpoint as well as as other Provisions within the county uh to make sure that it is a proper request I understand this is voluntary an exection but we don't just submit it we make sure we look at all the criteria and all the bases before it's brought before this body am I correct yes Madam chair um if staff found a deficiency either on the technical or the legal side staff would not recommend approval thank you and it this is just further discussion we've already um voted on consent item number 15 so Mr County Administrator we are on 16 now thank you madam chair item number 16 is a ratification of a reimbursement agreement with Florida gulf and Atlantic railroad for Tharp Street and Mission Road Crossing repair uh we are recommending option one this item was pulled by commissioner Miner thank you commissioner Miner thank you madam chair uh Mr Cavell would you please bring up that slide that I I sent you earlier um I just wanted to to pull this item because I wanted to take a moment to to thank um our leyon County Administrator uh and our our public works department for working on this um I've gotten in the habit of taking before and after pictures of things that like that happen um uh around town to kind of show the Stark difference and Stark Improvement on things um now if you see this this is the intersection the railroad crossing just near the intersection of mission and uh Tharp and um uh our office started to get a lot of complaints about the the the safety issues with the state of things on the left hand side it was it was really deteriorated um notified our County Administrator uh in our public works department uh basically handled this now it wasn't as easy as just them going through and and fixing the problem themselves uh because it's a railroad crossing owned by Florida gulf and Atlantic Florida gulf and Atlantic owns that that Crossing and they own the rideway and and so the countyy is unable to do that work so we had to negotiate with fgn to get that work done and then uh this agenda item is reimbursing fgn for that work but the speed with which our public works department worked on this was uh was admirable I just want to thank our public works department and Florida gulf and Atlantic for working together to respond to the needs of the uh drivers on on Tharp Street in Mission uh I know this is close to commissioner gaban uh I me we we've talked about it uh I've seen some of the comments he's had on Facebook about it so just wanted to thank our public work department uh the railroad company to making this happen and as you can see it's a big Improvement actually drove over it today and and it's um smooth as silk so thank you very much uh Madam chair I move option one uh thank you um commissioner uh Mr County Administrator do you have any other comments thank you just echoing the uh good work of our staff on this we're very responsive and working with uh Florida golf and Atlantic railroad want to thank uh commissioner Miner and commissioner kapan for bringing this to our attention good work all the way around thank you madam chair thank you thank you Mr County Administrator commissioner caban thank you madam chair commissioner minor thank you for uh bringing this up in the last meeting you know the County Administrator um and I have been we're working on this via email but you you pushing it through in the meeting was was definitely helpful so we really do appreciate it um question for the County Administrator um no currently we have a railroad crossing at enan church road and gearheart road which is close to our districts as well um does that need a motion do we know yet if that needs board Direction y Madam chair we are actively looking into that if it does we'll make sure to bring it back to you but we may be able to handle it uh but we'll let you know awesome fantastic thank you again thank you thank you commissioner and and I also want to Echo the County Administrator I know uh commissioner caban and commissioner Miner have have uh been watching this and just thank you all for your conscientiousness and the hard work uh that you have done and also just commend our um our public works department that that looks really great but to say uh commissioner m a picture is worth a thousand words so we we can see the Improvement so thank everybody all the way around those in favor of the motion Let It Be know my saying I I commissioner Proctor I thank you uh unanimous with commissioner o' Keith out of Chambers Mr County Administrator I believe we own Madam chair that concludes uh the consent agenda oh 21 oh I'm sorry thank you very much for that um item number 21 was pulled by commissioner caban item number 21 seeks um your acceptance of a status report on interlocal agreements with the city of Tallahassee for Central sewer uh Utility Services we're recommending that um that you accept uh this report we're happy to answer any questions and commissioner caban I really did miss that one I didn't mean to skip all good uh thank you Mr County Administrator commissioner caban thank you madam chair I'll go ahead and move um staff recommendation option one thank you it's been moved in in second is there comments um the reason for me pulling this agenda item was to kind of just kind of give public um my opinion on some of these interlocal agreements in regard uh to sewer um first off I I do want to thank the city Tallahasse and their partnership um with the utility program and them stepping up and servicing uh portions of the unincorporated area um I do just want to say I have some concerns some of these I don't think can be changed based on the conversations I've had with the county attorney because they are they already Inked but basically we are investing at the county roughly $100 million that we are paying to go through the permitting the construction the RightWay acquisition um doing all the work in regards to laying the infrastructure for sewers and to be specific I'm talking about you know Lake mson and Woodville specifically um in our agreement with them not only do do they have the ability to charge a 50% Sur charge on the unincorporated the unincorporated customers but we are giving them an the the the infrastructure that we are paying for that they are going to make money on for generations and generations and generations to come from my understanding this deal was brokered you know prior to most of us being on this board right and I understand things have changed and things were different back then but I I I I think it could be who of us in the future when this contract comes to termination in year 2030 that we look at potentially renegotiating some aspects of it um you know we have there's a there's a part Parks and Recreation aspect to it we pay 1.7 million um but really my fear is we've been pushing this to our constituents on the south side of Leon County some of these folks have septic taints know don't get me wrong this will be a Quality of Life Enhancement for them but some of these folks don't have a monthly bill where they're paying for sewage every single month and now we're going to hook them up to sewage and we're encouraging to hook up the sewage and they have the ability to not only pay more than what folks have and and say limits but if you have a septic tank that's brand new they're going to get charged of Readiness to serve charge just for it being there and so I have some just concerns that this could be costly for the south side of Leon County um like I said I'm thankful for the partnership um but I just don't know that this is the best deal um for us as a board so thank you madam chair thank you um commissioner caban are there any other commissioner mad I would like to hear um staff on that on the points that commissioner made specifically about those who have newer SE tanks and charges they'll be they'll be uh what they'll be charged as a result of not hooking go if I can give a staff response to that please mam chair Madam please sure and um County attorney and I might tag team uh any part of this of depending on your questions Commissioners but yeah no totally respect where commissioner caban is coming from we've talked talked about this and his uh intentions are are really you know based on on you know looking out for the citizens ultimately that that are going to have to pay you know their monthly charges as well as Readiness to serve uh on these you know this day was always coming you know what I mean for 30 years we uh have been working on getting sewer to the souths side and um chasing Appropriations uh along the way uh for decades um for decades where there was no money and certainly commissioner proor can attest to this these are local agreements have been um vital to effectuating the Sewer Service down there um and uh a lot of the um tenants of the Agreements are very similar to tenants that you'll find uh in in agreements like this and so from that standpoint uh they're pretty straightforward I would I would never um you know argue with commissioner kaban or any commissioner if if in 2030 we found opportunities to um to uh to to better position ourselves for the future we certainly would be open to that and we would be ready willing and able to work towards that but again the existing interlocal agreements have are really vital to our being able to effectuate sewer in the outside and and other parts of the county thank you Mr County Administrator on point yeah commissioner k um Mr keny ad minist could you could you explain the Readiness to serve charge um what that means um uh I just want to make sure everyone's on the same page with that sure uh the Readiness to serve char is applied to uh customers on on on whether they're connected or not connected to the system uh for the purposes of being able to um maintain the system and I'm looking over I see nef fall and I and I I think Charles is here they're they're really the experts there's several different Char there's a usage charge which is obviously if you're connected you receive the usage charge uh and there is the Readiness to serve charge which again is in place uh whether you're connected or not connected but I'd like to ask Charles just to provide a little better Clarity on that for you commissioner actually uh there are two terms here R to serve charge is usually applied to the properties that have not hooked up to the city system yet and uh that charge covers I think City factor in like future operations and the expansion of the system to Surf future properties after the property is connected they change the name on their bill to uh um they call that um not assistant charge but customer charge that's the same amount no change M Madam chair may please so just so basically if I'm a resident in un Incorporated area and sewage is at my house and I have a brand new septic tank that I paid for that I have for 10 to 12 years I'm getting charged monthly regardless whether I hook up to sewage or not not yes commissioner if the system is completed Avail available to that property yes okay thank you thank you are there any other questions from uh the commission commissioner MX sorry I'm sorry madam chair so um and he said he said as I understand the Readiness to you can just not the Readiness to serve charge is the same as the service charge after you after you hook up to the system you can just not and say yes that's okay okay cool um I got to say I I don't really think that's uh I go I gotta agree with commissioner caban I mean you madam attorney you want to speak to right so utilities have to plan for when they're going to provide service in an area and to do that they have to plan to build out certain capacity in the form of the types of lines uh pressure in those lines sufficient buildout at their plant to to accommodate additional capacity all of that means whether whether you want to hook up today or not and by the way through these Grant programs for the people who want to hook up right away that's part of the grant program the county covers all those costs for those residents that they would otherwise incur themselves to hook up in the tune of well over $10,000,000 $133,000 um but if they decide to wait the Readiness of serve charge means that the day your septic tank which could last till tomorrow or 20 years from now the day it goes out Department fell is not going to issue you another permit for new septic tank why because services available to you through a central sewer system and you have to hook up so that ensures that the day you need it you can hook up to the central sewer system and everybody who has service available even if they decline to take advantage of it pays the same charge in the entire system okay that's part of the just and Equitable nature of utility charges thank you madam thank you madam attorney thank thank you madam chair I think that that explanation kind of made sense to me um commission command I do have some heartburn that you have about not hooking up but as I understand it from from the county attorney and and the county administrator those who choose to hook up will will hook up with no charge and it usually be 13 between 10 to $113,000 to hook up so even if you had a new new septic tank at this point if you wanted to hook up even with a new septic tank you just paid for you can hook up free of charge to the uh you uh to be a part of that so um thank you mam chair I I I do understand a little bit better now it's it's I'm halfway in between on on both sides of that as I do see the point of of the planning piece there um and and there is a pay in to the system so um though I do agree on some points with with you on that commissioner caban I also see um where where the where the or where the uh agreement comes into place as well thank you thank you commissioner M commissioner Welch thank you madam chair um you know this is similar to the issue that we dealt with with colar Lakes a couple months ago and let me ask the County Attorney this question if I'm understanding it Cor correctly was that same opportunity provided to the folks in clor lakes to hook up free at the time that that that that system was in place staff is saying yes although I don't personally know yes and so there were how many people if we recall 400 something like that affected by that ready to serve increase a couple months ago I mean I'm just ballparking it here anna like 400 something homes or is that I mean that could be I think that I'm just if memory serves right the phase one of clar lakes yeah there was approximately 1,000 oh it was a, so there was a thousand homes in whenever 2000 and whatever that did not hook up for free to the system that was that we paid for to run out there even though they could have that cannot be correct why would you not hook up to the system if it was free Madam Sheriff I may um so colar likes is a little bit different we build the Readiness to serve on the non-ad valorum for everybody in colar Lakes regardless of whether they hooked up or not so there were a significant number of properties I would imagine that hooked up at the time there have been properties that have hooked up since in colar Lakes it's just that's the number it is because that's how many properties there are it's just a bilding mechanism right but if we're saying that we provide a grant to hook people up to the system when we run the system there were thousands of people in colar lakes that did not take advantage of that is what we're saying 20 years ago when it was free Pro probably yeah I mean I don't know the number of how many hooked up but okay I'm sorry madam chair may I follow up that's okay I mean I get it I'm frustrated by this especially the the ready to serve charge which the city can just kind of create right we had a 400 or I think it was 400% or it was a lot a huge increase a couple months ago to the Readiness to serve fee just to two units of colar lakes just because they said he wanted to and what it does is it puts us in the role of the bad guy because we're the one who have has to process the assessment and pass it off and so that's where I think the discussion needs to go is like why are we the billing mechanism I mean we're I get I can understand that we pay the money for the for to put in the system the city has to collect a Readiness fee to maintain a capacity enough to accommodate all those people but us being the the especially in the non unincorporate area where people can't vote in the city they don't have any voice in the city and and we're the ones collecting these fees and the city can arbitrarily just raise it 200 300% the Readiness to servey on a month-to-month basis I I don't know what action could be taken to remedy that but I'll revisit that notion that we discussed months ago which is why are we the the person The Entity collecting that fee when they have a billing company I mean they have they bill they have a business they build people right I mean whatever I don't know if there's a opportunity commissioner Wells and I think we're looking at two different situations perhaps maybe apples and oranges maybe apples and colar lakes and then oranges maybe on on South side where we have and I'll get you afterward uh where the county is doing um where the county is uh doing the hookup and I think when the issue came up uh with colar Lakes the city hadn't increased the fee for number of years 10 do you remember how many years it was Anna yeah it was installed in 2007 and it was the same rate since 200 okay since 2007 and the facts were the city actually paid and built the system I believe but the maintenance was turned over to not the city I apologize the county the county actually built the system paid millions of dollars for it but the maintenance portion um billing portion was turned over to the city this is in colorin lakes and the City abstained from Raising any rates in regard to that system for years and they raised the rates I think this year for the F for the first time but on on Southside this is basically a county project am I correct Mr County minister we using grants to put in the the septic the sewer system and residents have the opportunity to sign up right now if they want to sign up we cover the county covers the $113,000 uh connection charge but if they bought a new septic tank and they don't want to sign up but they decide to sign up 5 years later when that septic tank goes back then they will be charged that sign up fee am I correct that's right in the they're very similar in that we're building the systems we build and City agrees to accept the system uh after we're done with it and we agree in in terms of an interlocal agreement to do in some cases you know the billing in the case of the non-ad valorum assessment these are things that we agree to again very standard in these types of agreements um in order to effectuate these uh conversions with the utility provider which is the city of Tallahassee and um again yeah happy to answer any of the questions you might have commissioner caban thank you madam chair um I really do appreciate everyone's you know Indulgence in the conversation um the purpose of this would me bring it up was not really to come in and say we need to change something right now because from my understanding there is nothing we can change right now um the the Contra the we have the ability to Grant franchises in Leon County so so we have granted the city of Tallahassee utility the exclusive franchise in the unincorporated area that contract expires in 2030 with a two-year notice so um again I appreciate our partnership with the city of Tallahassee and somebody has to service um utilities and um I think they do a great job um I think over the next few years as we get closer to that expiration I think that we should just look at negotiating a little bit more favorable terms um for our residents in the unincorporated area um you know just to point out Madam chair know I agree with what you were saying on the northeast the issue is here and not to point uh uh commissioner Welch not not to point districts across districts but just the fact of the matter of what what's laid out here is that what happened in the Northeast on a 400% increase in one year has the ability to put families on the street in my district in Woodville and so that is the major concern concern for me is that we have we as a board have no way to protect our our unincorporated uh citizens um and so I I appreciate everyone's conversation here and I just want to bring it to the board's attention thank you madam chair thank you uh commissioner command and thank commission for the oh the commissioner a proor thank you m chair um I agree with commission B uh point and all other Commissioners Commissioners I believe that uh this really is something ought be U be brought to us at some point as a um workout matter uh there number of issues that are mixed in here today we did we saw an annexation which we U um I believe it was 61 commissioner uh um um Mr five commission voting against the annexation and uh it's very likely that a lot of these areas will be uh annexed uh at some point but the point of the matter is that Equity is an issue here um is equity is a big issue in all this s Direction you look at the table that we have the staff is put here before us uh we have the city is dilling wood Bill Heights B air uh lak and Woodville all of those on this graph but um kill our Lakes is even a different kind of treatment uh that it is a non meter uh situation and therefore um how you scale its payment is unique and different from the others um if the last sentence of page 13 is accurate it says the county is responsible for imposing special assessments to collect the utility rates and charges as set by the city uh I don't know how the county uh accesses those for the city and um imposes them for the city but that last sentence uh as our conclusion to us is very very telling Commissioners I like to see this issue Workshop because the city and I stand by this uh annexation and who's in the city limits is based on uh on wraith uh in part and the city is holding is annexation uh to are of the south side inside Circle that would be on the east side of Capital Circle just north of Orange Orange Avenue as it comes out Capital Circle uh it includes coming out to the southide uh those areas inside of Woodville Highway bothside of uh cville Road are South Adam Street you want to call it that problem here the south side is paying is overtax uh consistent with what they receive they're paying City utility deals now and we really still don't have light buls uh there in that quarter from U Wilson green down to uh Capital Circle is just dark and if you look at the new area commission Gan I'm asking you to come from Highway 20 and come around Orange Avenue a capital circle around Capital Circle and light turn on light poles have been placed there like every every 20 yard there's a light pole light pole light pole with the wide of the new road I just don't understand how this road has all these lights and people in the Southside across all across have been paying the city supposedly for City Services and it's not equal it's not the same this right here looks at the factoring of the future of how people will be build once they are handed over to the city and uh and we a rate which city get to cheat these people on the front end and cheat them on the back end as customers when they become now let's think about the city and because we not we're not dealing with any you know let's look at the five Services thing right now how we set our ciens up for our services and we don't have any calculations for how that money and we going to report our tally on how our 11.4 billion is extended we don't even a receipt but it's transferred and not used for services then learn that other entities don't have to pay for the F services and there's no fuss 're talking about the city talking about um uh entity which has no problems historically uh be it um this class issue as a class I say c as a class with people and I based this class on Geographic based on economics based on racial uh there's a problem in this so I would like to see this matter and think um the uh staff great writing on this uh um M Char can for what you Shar with us very good uh there's uh Equity issues are concern and what I've been saying all these years and County Administrator knows well why should everybody have Central sto and areas of wood all like that have it well if it's good for everybody else to get we want some of that too and on the water quality issue not the drinking water quality for these people the water quality always been associated with the protection ofor Springs it's about the Springs talking about the water water quality that's Springs and see what we need is the central SE city is denyed and won't extend its annexation uh down to the south side at us today we just let it gly go through and we support it what happened today on the east side of town that's just the racial that's just the geographic and that's just the economic flavor with which the city wants to extend uh its name and its flag they don't want to fly all over the Southside and be fair I think that it should be um that word u workshop and I would move make a motion at the workshop is issued at point in 2025 thank you thank you thank you commissioner Proctor and you know commissioner I think we're all concerned about the fact and I think we sort of feel helpless that we don't control or we can't control um the the rates um sewer water gas um this the um City basically controls that and I think this County Administrator when when we bu build like we're building the septic to once it's completed or phases are completed we have to turn it over to the city if I'm not mistaken am I correct correct okay so Madam attorney let let me ask you this so to that extent are we pretty much Bound by interlocal agreements that we have in place now and like commissioner caban mentioned we can look at that language or look at the agreements when they when they terminate but we're pretty much uh when they get to the end of of the the terms but we pretty much locked into what we've agreed to as far as our residence are concerned yes Madam chair um a couple of responses to that uh first the the franchise agreement is the agreement specifically that commissioner caban was referring to that expires in 2030 with the unless there's the 2year notice and the other agreements for service don't have termination Provisions in them they are in perpetuity so um there's there's no mechanism for us to unilaterally I mean we could unilaterally initiate a request to renegotiate those um but we can't unilaterally amend them you know that would have to would require negotiation and agreement of the city to to to amend any of those uh pursuant to which they provide service and we collect um and remit the money back to them for the service um the um the only other thing that I'll say is uh again the the agreement that the overarching agreement that we have with them is also tied to the parks and wreck agreement so um members of the board may recall that last year there was a bill introduced during the legislative session that would have capped uh that would have changed that cap that they can charge to uh customers who receive service in the unincorporated area and changed that from 50% to 25% we were put on notice I received a letter that I had circulated to the board uh while that bill was pending saying hey this is your notice that if this legislation passes that would trigger the provision and that agreement for us to renegotiate and relook at our Parks and Recreation agreement whereby citizens in the unincorporated area get to use the Parks and Recreation facilities of the city uh so there are interrelated agreements as well um but if another bill is introduced this session and doesn't die and it passes that caps that um fee that they can charge in inter corporate area we'll be bringing that back to you anyway because there will be renegotiation of some of the agreements okay thank you madam attorney uh for that explanation commissioner command did you have another you good okay uh commissioner Maddox and I believe we got what a motion and a second for option one yeah Madam chair I did I did want to clarify um where I was standing on this I think we have to take some responsibility in uh where we sit right now because um as I understand Madam attorney part of that fee that that these folks are paying or the fee that they're paying is not just for Serv but it's also for the building of the infrastructure uh that would later be used to to go ahead and and and have Services uh and so often times we talk about where we want to extend sewer and who we like to have sewer along with that we know that those folks will have an increase in cost because they have an increase in service and so maybe in future in future future instances where we we're talking about increasing or or sending sewer to particular parts of town we should ask that question of how many folks that area may have gotten new septic systems or or or in line to get new septic systems because um I don't think we've ever asked those questions or thinking take taking those things into consideration the fact of the matter is that the cost of a a new SE system Mr administrator is around what 20,000 well it could be upwards of of of $20,000 upwards of $20,000 which is pretty major investment but what we're saying to you is if we say we're extend sending sewer to you then we're going to let you hook up without charge okay and so the tradeoff there is to those folks we know you just paid 20 grand for that new system you're going to have to pay this fee because we have actually put you in a position to have to pay it because we said we're going to extend sewer out there um but but in return for that we're going to tell you that we you're going to be able to hook up to a system that allows you to have more capacity on your lot uh to to be able to build and so I would just ask us uh as we as we put that that kind of responsibility on the city uh that that we be very responsible too as we move forward as we think about how we want to extend sore and where we want to extend sore to ask those neighbors hey what what are the number of of neighbors within that neighborhood who have who have new septic systems and and what is the timeline of of that septic system or the Horizon of that septic system when it may fail so we can understand and let them know ahead of time we're extending sewer there and whether you join the system or not you will you will pay the same fee as those who are a part of the system so I I just I just want us to be cautious as well take some take some responsibility in this too thank you madam chair M can I get another bite on thank you commissioner M commissioner bror did you have a comment yes I did um Madam on this and is that it's very important for us to recognize with respect kill AR l the county did pay we built system we built that system uh for those citizens up there uh in other words we advance funded K Lakes resident and built the system and once we had done that the um the uh City received uh a system already built there was no need to charge them what what what would you charge them for you ain't putting no money in the game the city didn't put no money in game uh the residents didn't put no money in the game the county we put the money in the game so a nobody owed nothing the city shouldn't have charged nobody nothing cuz they had nothing to recruit nothing to recruit so what the county has not done it is not uh pre-built Advance funded another project down here on southide but what we've done is waited patiently for uh opportunities we call opportunity but we not gotten off our and putting out $1 down for nobody but except for kill Lake the rest of these things down here on the south side where you wait until hope leave you so I'm Happ before you die B air late mon Woodville all of those things we wait on to stay something from some other than from our own to pay for we simply do not recognize this class of citizens down here observing Advanced funded anything and when we pay in advanced funded the city still has no reason whatsoever kill our system they put nothing in it this thing need to be looked at from an eable point of view because there many other questions that we're not going to jam uh all these systems with people with a r brag uh mess up approach to ing them and uh what ought to occur is a payment scheme uh not scheme as in trickery but a scheme as in making affordable a payment scheme that will pay these folk uh in a way that they can um actually uh afford to come in and be a part of the 21st century the 21st century requires that people have aary store a nothing wrong with that is not illegal it's just illegal in the city of Tah refuses to Annex because chair maning the service I stand by that 100% the service being Jerry man and we're being excluded and Council you are to think of something some aggressive reason how we can close gap on that thank you madam chair thank you thank you uh commissioner Proctor and Commissioners I know this we will continue to to discuss this cuz we all very very well very concerned there's a motion and second on the floor option one one all those in favor Let It Be know by saying I I I uh opposition commissioner Proctor commissioner Proctor will you vote Yes ma'am okay thank thank you it's it's unanimous thank you so much that concludes our consent agenda uh did you have a comment commission o Madam chair I just like to record my vote uh as a yes on item 16 okay can Madam clerk I think we indicated he was out of Chambers but if we can add his vote yay to that I appreciate it Mr County Administrator that concludes our consent agenda thank you madam chair thank you it certainly does and it puts us on item number 22 uh which is your annual report uh Commissioners I'm looking at the time before the break and I think I can get this done uh the uh the Commissioners this is uh this item seeks your acceptance of the 2024 annual as you know Commissioners this is an item that I bring to you at this time each year uh as required by Florida Statutes and as I say every year this is perhaps my favorite unfunded State mandate uh that I've get to uh present to you uh and I'm proud to present to you I'm behalf of all the dedicated men and women of leyon County government before you Commissioners um you have copies of the 2024 annual report demonstrating another great year in leyon County as we continue to strive to really set the standard in public service um and as you know Commissioners and of course Madam chair as you can attest it's been kind of a slow year in in in Lyon County government of course I'm joking Commissioners uh with the community's bicentennial celebration and over 200 events taking place along with a once in a 200-year flooding event a devastating tornado outbreak that caused more damage uh than any natural disaster in our history uh during the worst uh projected uh uh uh hurricane uh season that we had in many years and of course all amid uh our delivery of literally dozens of essential Services every day uh to the citizens we serve along with over 80 strategic initiatives that we're actively advancing for the long term of course Commissioners it has been a very busy year and a challenging one and one uh that has certainly been marked by very significant progress as we do each year Commissioners we prepared uh a short video to promote the report and to share our story with as many of the citizens we serve as possible this is important Commissioners because uh the achievements and the Milestones highlighted uh in this report uh would not be possible without the active involvement and support and input from our citizens uh after the video Commissioners I'll delve in uh with just a little deeper into some of the highlights here uh and show how all these efforts come together and so that we build upon and sustain uh the success we've had in service to our community uh over the past year and Beyond and with that uh keano I'll ask you to go ahead and cue the [Music] video in 2024 leyon County continued to make great progress and serve serve our citizens while embracing big challenges and always striving to set the standard for performance fiscal stewardship and best practices for local governments everywhere the 2024 annual report highlights leyon County's commitment to investing in infrastructure creating places for people and businesses to thrive and embracing Innovation and co-creation all of which makes our County one of the best places anywhere to live work and play this annual report to the board of County Commissioners and our citizens demonstrates our focus on the County's Clear Vision to have a community that is safe healthy and vibrant and a mission to provide essential Public Services which serve shape and strengthen our community our dedicated employees at leyon County take special pride in serving our community we are your neighbors friends and family who rebuild roads respond to emergencies protect our natural resources and just might coach your child's team this connection to the community we serve drives us to go above and beyond in delivering necessary Services each day critical response when disaster strikes and life-saving Care in times of emergency and we did this in so much more in 2024 staying focused on our ambitious targets and bold goals for the organization and the community including growing our local tourism economy addressing pressing issues like affordable housing and protecting our precious environment we also stayed committed to our long-term strategy of building and diversifying our economy making Leon County the nation's fastest growing economy in 2024 this top ranking reflects successful initiatives and transformative projects including the opening of Amazon which brought over 2,000 full-time jobs $33 million in annual wages and4 million in annual economic impact to our community with that same dedication to ensuring our community's brightest future leyon County continued enhancing our quality of life and protecting our Vital water bodies by leveraging over 50 million in county and state funding we continued removing more than 700 septic tanks on the south side and More in 2024 we continued to shape our community for future Generations by renovating the Old Concord School enhancing mikasuki Park reimagining the downtown library and opening new playgrounds across the county but building Community goes beyond bricks and mortar it's about building connections with each other with this commitment we revitalized a Veterans Home on our 911 Day of Service hosted our award-winning created equal event with a candid conversation about our 200-year history of race and equality and much more as one of the South's best destinations 2024 was another record-breaking year for our local tourism economy with more than two .5 million visitors leading to more than 1.3 billion in economic impact 2024 marked our community's bicentennial year celebrating 200 years of history and progress throughout the year the county LED Bicentennial planning efforts resulting in more than 200 themed events 2024 also marked two decades of nationally recognized care from leyon County EMS for over 20 years our EMS team has become one of the best in the nation responding to nearly 800,000 calls for service transporting a half a million patients and most importantly delivering a cardiac survival rate double that of the national average this same commitment to Excellence when it matters most was tested again this year as the county LED Disaster Response and Recovery efforts following both historic flooding and a devastating tornado outbreak County teams work tirelessly to protect citizens after the bicentennial storm a once in a two 200-year event that brought 3 months worth of rain in less than 3 hours just one month later three tornadoes caused more damage in a half hour than any other disaster in our history as with past emergencies the county was at the Forefront spearheading recovery efforts launching Disaster Assistance programs and providing critical relief from responding to challenges to planning for the future in 2024 our dedicated County Employees received dozens of state and national awards for exceptional Public Service these efforts not only continue to make our community better but they have been key to keeping Leon County among the most efficient and affordable counties anywhere as we look ahead we will continue to face the same challenges of communities and governments everywhere else but at Lon County we remain committed to listening to the people we serve addressing the challenges we Face together and striving to be a place like nowhere else please learn more about all of leyon County's efforts this year on behalf of and alongside our community in the 2024 annual report Commissioners I know I should stop after after that uh video it's always a hard act to follow but as I mentioned to you I was just going to hit just a few of the highlights uh from the 80 page report again not an easy thing to do considering all the things that we do in Lyon County let me first say at the outset here Commissioners that none of what you see in the annual report and certainly the video would have been possible without the the clear and and consistent leadership and guidance that we receive from this board I can't stress that enough uh so let me take a moment to to thank you for believing in this organization and for believing in leyon County employees that is it is absolutely so important for for everything that we do year after year and speaking of our team I'd also like to recognize the commitment dedication and and certainly the resilience of our team especially this year as they continue to step up and deliver the highest level of service and stewardship uh that our citizens in our community deserve and again I want to acknowledge uh citizens and so many Community Partners because none of what we do uh we do alone as you know Commissioners so with that I'm just going to hit a couple of slides here you'll notice you'll recognize the format since we align our annual report with our strategic plan again I'm just going to uh take a minute to highlight through the major accomplishments and the significant progress that we've made in the past year in each of these categories before I do that Commissioners let me start uh with just a couple of comments uh on our uh on in the area of fiscal stewardship uh and because this is absolutely critical to all of the things that we do and we have a a public hearing tonight uh on on on our on our budget so this makes a lot of sense let me just tick down a few things here again critical to absolutely everything that we are able to do and what you see on the screen there is that the county balanced again our our 2025 budget with no increase again in the general millage rate for the 13th year in a row we do that while maintaining adequate reserves by maintaining very low debt uh an extremely high credit rating really reflecting the County's Financial viability uh and that viability is absolutely critical Commissioners in our ability to meet the current future challenges uh that face our organization and our community whether that's a last minute increase in an unfunded mandate uh to the mobilization of debris contractors to restore our community after a natural disaster as you know Commissioners these are not hypothetical examples those are examples that occurred this year uh we're able to manage effectively uh all while striving to provide consistency and stability and affordability to our taxpayers in this uniquely challenging and Ever Changing environment of course that's not an easy thing to do don't let anybody tell you different um and the board deserves a whole lot of credit for that uh Commissioners our employees also play a key role in that a couple of things that uh important points that we've listed there is that uh our employees are driving the County's efficiency and Innovation efforts all across the organization we do that yearround as part of our uh year round initiative to do so which is known as I Square which you see the symbol of up there but this just this year alone our employees identified another $9.3 million in cost savings that brings a total to $76 million in just the last few years over the past 10 years uh and because of efforts like this again Leon County continues to rank among the most efficient counties of all comparable counties we have the lowest budget per capita we have the lowest net budget of any comparable County we have the lowest number of employees and again commissioner not an easy thing to do uh it sounds like we're tooting our own horn because we are we take a lot of pride in doing this again the board deserves an awful lot of credit and so do our our County Employees for believing in this and carrying it throughout the year Commissioners let me just start on in the area of the economy and again I'm just going to tick through just a couple of highlights in each of your strategic priority areas again you saw from the video uh that this year the Tallahassee MSA was recognized as having the strongest economy in the country by area development magazine and commissioner who have been here a long time maybe like commissioner Proctor can remember us identifying perennially growing and diversifying our economy as a top priority and certainly we're we're seeing that pay off here uh this this designation uh which is is the in the trade magazine that goes to all the site selection Consultants uh certainly uh demonstrates our our community's continued um uh status as a prime area for business investment and growth uh that kind of investment uh Commissioners again was exemplified by Amazon which we highlighted there in the video we're celebrating our one year of Amazon uh and again it's our largest uh job uh creation private sector job creation in our history you saw some of the stats there with 2,000 employees that's about twice the number that Amazon committed to and nearly half of those employees are residents from the 32304 32301 and 323 303 zip codes and that's a direct result of our work with Amazon uh doing job fairs out in the community and and and making that happened of course Commissioners in the area of economy this is an addition to continuing the lead in this area spanning from growing our high tech industry through Investments like the north Florida Innovation Labs a $24 million capital investment that generated 600 jobs uh to securing significant investments in in rural Broadband along of course Commissioners with our Contin investment in infrastructure which keeps our economy moving just to name a few in the area commissioners of the environment again we continue to lead in this area and we continue to lead in 2024 uh examples include launching the County's first biochar pilot program this is the first biochar facility in the state allowing for our community's yard ways to be converted into carbon capturing biochar and and again you saw in the video and you'll see in the report uh how we continue to make great progress on our environmental bold goal with nearly 300 septic tank upgrades underway currently as we sit here tonight which is an addition to the 700 that we've already completed and we're not done yet Commissioners again in the area of environment exciting stuff in the report like our continued work this year on the conversion of the appalache regional park master plan or the implementation of the master plan and the conversion of the land fill which was a uh involved the uh uh again the conversion of a landfill that was in operation for 50 years in our community and which of course is undergoing a transformation to become a world-class Recreational facility and a regional park while diverting millions of pounds of materials for successful Recycling and household hazardous waste Commissioners it's no coincidence that in this area you'll see lots of your strategic initiatives from uh our progress on our EV Fleet conversion goals to reducing greenhouse gases in County operations and a lot more in the area of quality of life Commissioners again just to take a moment we continue to make our community a place where people thrive just a few examples in this area uh in 2024 we began our $2 million enhancements at the main library as part of our essential libraries initiative to modernize over 40,000 square fet as part of our our broader reenvisioning initiative to continue to meet the community's evolving needs at our library very exciting project we also leveraged nearly $6 million Commissioners just on the part of the county to secure $2.6 million in federal funding for the development of over 400 affordable housing units uh in Lyon County over the next 12 months furthering our commitment to growing and preserving the stock of affordable housing in the community and again Commissioners we continue to make great progress uh in advancing our community's infrastructure on a broad range of projects including groundbreaking there year on the northeast Gateway uh and the wani boulevard projects which will lay the foundation for a generation of residential development a future I 10 interchange and will bolster Regional mobility and connectivity to provide access to a future Northeast Park commissioner wel while and again all of this while also expanding our our local Recreation infrastructure with the opening this year of three new parks three boat landing Replacements at about 15 miles of Greenways bike trails and sidewalks again Commissioners this barely scratches the surface in this area but my final uh uh slide here in the Strategic priority of governance Commissioners uh as you heard in the v in the video again this year marks uh 20 years of of of providing life-saving care to our community and we could we could hardly not say it twice here again 800,000 calls for service nearly a half a million transports and we've got to add emphasis to that 30 6% uh survival uh survival rate for Cardiac Care which is double the national average and as a result of all of our a a AED training in the community and the proliferation of aeds again um uh really important work also in this area of governance uh Commissioners this year we continued and completed our transition to offer 100% online permitting to further reduce permitting times and deliver more a more convenient and customer focused experience we continue to act actively engage thousands of citizens as co-creator co-creators in our community expanding our social media reach with over 150,000 followers followers over 4 uh3 million impressions made across all social media platforms this year and again just to uh put an extra emphasis on team Leon an initiative that came uh from this board after the May 10th hurricanes Commissioners again when it comes to to governance and and what our strategic priority here stands for uh this certainly exemplifies that you know that was a huge undertaking and the team quickly stood up this assistance distributed $1 million uh to over 400 households and 50 businesses in just a matter of weeks and before the FEMA assistants could arrive and uh again Commissioners uh the annual report for all of the many efforts that you'll you'll read here and certainly that I that I talk about we were once again are recognized uh for best practices in County government with eight more National best practice Awards which brings our total to1 over the past decade who's counting you know the answer to that we are Commissioners finally don't try to do this in one breath like me Commissioners uh I I want to um uh say again that uh the annual report includes so much more than this it's 80 pages I did this really quickly but it does um just scratch the surface of of all that we accomplished together this year on behalf of and alongside our citizens again um Commissioners uh as highlighted in this uh 2024 has been a very productive year and one that I know that we can all be proud of as I always like to say uh Commissioners it involved the coordination of dozens of County uh departments hundreds of hardworking employees engaging thousands of citizens along the way and again I want to thank the board for your leadership and your your continued guidance it is absolutely essential for for everything that we do at the county and I can't stress that enough and again I just want to commend our team at the county here uh and our employees I want to commend them for living our people focused performance- driven culture in this organization uh they're simply the best in the business finally Commissioners just a reminder that the annual report and the video are available on our on on our website we're going to share it far and wide we invite you to do the same because it really captures uh sort of very succinctly unlike me in uh all the things that we do in leyon county and with that Commissioners I thank you again this concludes my report and I would recommend option one again don't try to do this in one breath thank you madam chair thank you commission thank you uh Mr County Administrator um I'd like to entertain a motion and then discuss thank you is there a second second commissioner o'keith okay before discussion I just want to thank the county administ and commend him and his staff for this awesome uh report he did it in in one breath but it was just breathtaking uh to me but we've certainly uh had a lot of accomplishments and we've had uh a lot of issues and obstacles with some of the natural disasters but together we overcame them we address issues of our citizens and we're stronger we're stronger for that so thank you Mr County Administrator and all your great uh great staff for all the extemporary work that you all have done over this last year and Madam chair can I just very quickly thank the CMR team for their production of the annual report you see them lined up back there and the video they do a tremendous job for us thank you let's give them a round of applause that was an awesome video you guys do great great professional work and we certainly applaud you as well uh commissioner Welch thank you madam chair uh just want to um congratulate all the staff you know all the way throughout the organization you guys do an incredible job uh every year these uh Vince you know delivers this breathless uh um you know praise to the organization and that's really a credit to all of you folks in addition to the leadership team uh you know I feel like I have a really small part in it honestly and I think that um it's really kudos and credit to you all I think this year was particularly trying with the natural disasters that occurred and really sort of put the team to the test and and whether it's fixing roads in commissioner command's District really quickly or picking up mountains and mountains of debris or you know using leveraging our dollars to to fill the gap between getting Federal money from the team Leon program um I just want to say thank you uh I I'll say what I always say which is thank you for letting me be a part of your organization for however long I have the the privilege to do it it really is an exemplary organization it has run incredibly well and um I just want to uh congratulate the County Administrator I think that um the chair have done a great job this year obviously I think this the the the cover of this report is particularly beautiful which I think speaks to our magnificent chair who is also particularly beautiful um so uh great job CMR staff uh thank you again for letting me hang out with you guys from time to time and uh great work once again thank you uh commissioner Wills for those kind remarks uh commissioner Miner thank you madam chair I just wanted to re reiterate your comments as well as those of commissioner Welch and probably anybody else that comes after me um great report from the C CMR team uh reflects on a an outstanding Year from our leyon County government so thanks to every body uh everyone part of Leon County government for doing such an incredible job um we are well served as as as Citizens we are well served by the people in this room and all throughout uh our organization thank you madam chair thank you commissioner minor any other Commissioners okay all those oh commissioner Proctor I'm sorry thank you madam chair uh thank you uh M administrator for this um superb recort uh this recort uh scores why the 5% uh raises that we have afforded our staff beginning October 1st uh 2024 25 that we thought it not robbery to um increase uh obviously the uh consistent work and I'm pleas that we've done that and we felt very guilty and we not done so hearing this end report Commissioners I want you to know uh Beyond Shadow doubt that dong is the Nick s of County administrators 're not like him uh rarely in one mind generate such lofy and high standards uh for a community to uh sustain its growth uh those 110 National Wars uh unparallel and equal to by our government are you name the multiple counties surrounding us and put them all together and none of them uh has probably reached a total of 10 national awards uh V I commend you uh we sometimes qual over the second down you know first down calls but of course I back up when it's third down and fourth down for you to call uh but appreciate you um always understanding that in both our minds uh we'll see the highest good for the county and citiz please that our credit rating is high that we have H Tax line not going up on taxes uh on our milary and um I'm excited for the terrific success of Amazon that promised a th000 jobs but has um doubled and reaching over 2,000 jobs that right there um needs to be uh just all out amended then I want to that uh it's because of uh our County government make no mistake is the heart and it's the soul of this community our Leon County government uh because of its stability and because of its sustained accountability to the public and to our own standards um Leon County is why the state capital presence uh uh can do as well as it does Leon County is by the city government is able to stand and we trying to say you cannot subtract all of the work that Vince reports year after year and you have the same stability under dirting all these other forces so Vince congratulation and I want to say um that the fall uh as a new assistant County Administrator um watch them over the years uh the fall is going to add velocity uh to Senior Management no doubt and then finally Commissioners uh I challenge Vince even Nick Sav uh I challenge all of us to think bigger uh I want to say that the next big project that we ought to agree to is a Convention Center we need a new Convention Center that our state capital is not the only one in the southeast United States that does not have one I'm sorry that I'm a scratch record and say same thing over and over but the next big thing has to be uh our convention center and we need a new one and we need it sooner and later thank you madam chair and congratulations we thank you for your work please don't leave us in the next Administration don't go anywhere we need you here thank you thank you commissioner Proctor and I think we all um share the same sentiment that we have the greatest County Administrator on planet Earth and he has the greatest uh staff on planet Earth and of course very well deserving of 5% raise and we wish we could give you more we've got to be fiscally responsible but you guys are certainly very well deserving of all the hard work that you do and let's just give uh count administrated all of our staff a big round of applause please you guys are awesome you are awesome all those in favor of the motion on the floor let it be known by saying I I I commissioner Proctor I thank you so it's unanimous thank you so much Mr County Administrator we're on 24 you think we have time let's try thank you madam chair item number 23 uh commissioner seek your approval of the 200 uh 25 FY 2025 chsp Grant recommendations the amount of $1.3 million it also includes the addition of a million dollars that the board's already allocated in light item funding to the emergency homeless shelter over the next two years uh and uh Commissioners it seeks your approval for contracts with the emergency homeless shelters which will establish greater oversight uh to ensure continued and Collective effort in reducing homelessness in the community as outlined in the item Commissioners the contracts with the shelters will set specific requirements on operations policies and procedures that align with best practices and Effectiveness and efficiencies at the shelter we'll be doing this in collaboration with the city with the big with CSC with the uh Big Ben COC uh and others to ensure that uh we have federal and state uh uh best practices in place and that we're um coordinating these activities with all of our stakeholders uh Commissioners this item finally also uh seeks your approval to extend the current uh joint County and City contract with the coc for the continued utilization of unspent ARP uh funds that were previously allocated uh by the Commissioners for our street outre Outreach and capacity building Commissioners with all that we're recommending options one through four happy to answer any questions you might have thank you one moment Madam shair I believe I have one speaker on this item thank you Amber tinan there she is Miss Tiner thank you good afternoon Madam chair Commissioners Mr administrator Madam Attorney Amber tinan United partners for Human Services 2477 Tim mble place we represent United partners for Human Services we have had a long-standing partnership with both the county and the city to provide capacity building supports to chsp funded agencies um we just want to commend you and thank you for your direction at your January 23rd meeting instructing that the uh 2426 chsp process stay intact and want to commend your staff shington Abby and Jackie for implementing that sorry I had to run so I'm a little out of breath um as you know the work that our chsp agencies provide is instrumental to ensuring that those most vulnerable in our community have what they need um and we can we commend you on your commitment to the prioritization of the funding for Human Services a lot of times this funding is used for federal match and draw down um so again we appreciate that and we also support your line item funding for homeless shelters and we appreciate the continued partnership and look forward to another great year thank you thank you Miss Tiner you know the speaker Mr County minist there are no other speakers on this item thank you commission thank you is there a second thank you EXC I'm sorry oh okay I'll see if he does okay there is a than M motion and second options 1 2 3 for commissioner matters I would like to recuse myself from all items including the um funding of uh Family Promise uh specific to item number three I believe it is with the emergency shelter as well as I believe there was a piece of diversion dollars that's a part of um item one as well okay so you're recusing yourself I believe you said from all items I'm sorry madam attorney um yes so you would need to recuse totally from options three and four and bifurcate votes in options one or two or you could just use to recuse for all the options based upon your employment with um bigman homes Coalition given all that you just said I can't understand a bit of it I'm just going to recuse myself from not it them all together Madam chair okay thank you one of information for you Commission proor uh my point information chair is U we carry forward a $426,000 uh which were not spent last year Umpa Sunday in 235 from the county and 191 from the city uh what what what is the street Outreach and what is the community engagement that this money uh somehow get spent last year for this what what is going to do this year and and is possible that we can uh move that Mone to different category thank you madam chair I'll ask shankton to fill in the blanks here I believe commissioner Proctor is um discussing the funding that we provide to the COC with the arpa dollars and those dollars help fund the street Outreach um programs that are provided through some of our homeless service providers those are the teams that go out and engage those individuals that are unsheltered in our community so we could get them into our shelters or get them connected to resources so they're no longer on the streets um on the capacity um building component it's also helping our homeless providers and getting them the technical support that they need to um be able to efficiently and effectively um provide those resources um what this also gives them opportunity to do is um participate in trainings that's provided by Hud as well as Statewide by COC so that way we can continue to be able to and they can be actually be bble to implement best practices here in our community in um addressing homelessness in uh tallas Leon County okay thank you you have a follow question commission we loaded last year with this money and spend it all and we loing up again and then try to spend what we did not spend last year as well well this will this will continue to allow them to um um spend down those dollars um for the next two years and um the reason that's for two years since it's oper dollars we have to contract or have these dollars obligated by the end of this calendar year um and so they will be able to um spend down the entirety of those dollars by um uh 2026 which is the deadline where all the dollars have to be spent okay I truly want this money spent it it it it burns my heart when money like this is not spent it's a that we didn't reach Folk and I reconcile that the he Aid is not needed um so when I see it it just a red flag in these categories of we're appropriating money and so I'm very hopeful that when we come back we'll be down to 000000 so all right thank very much Madam thank you uh commissioner Proctor uh all those in favor of the motion on the floor with I'm sorry Comm commissioner command okay I didn't see you go ahead thank you madam chair um I want to just bring um I have some thoughts here and I would like to get hear some of the board's feedback um so in January and I'm trying not to convolute my thoughts here with then one of the items later talking about Pensacola Street you know but there are some there are some overlap because some of the majority of these providers are on Pensacola Street um but I want to keep it specific to um chsp and some some of our partners um I sat in a meeting in January at I mean I'm sorry in August just recently in the Pensacola Street Corridor hosted by the sheriff um our some of our nonprofit Partners were there shington was there representing Leon County and there was an alarming there there was an alarming data that was shared with us um from the Carney Center was that in the month of August there was roughly 125 individuals who were experiencing homelessness that visited the Carney center from outside Leon County um the reason why I feel like this is alarming is because our primary focus as a board I believe this is Christian Cab's opinion should be taken care of Leon County Citizens first um that that should be in my opinion our Prime primary priority um what I'm seeing here is now Leon County taxpayer dollars are going towards um folks coming in from out of town and visiting the Carney Center which is great I'm I'm you know I am I am not ashamed to help them and support them but the the problem is is we have limited resources as a local government and I I I am concerned that we are extending our resources right or that We are Becoming also a destination because we have the services um you know so I I just I spoke with the County Administrator and I spoke with shington in our briefing and I had the idea of you know I believe the Carney Center charges $10 a night for folks that are outside leyon County and it's free if you reside in Leon County is that accurate sh I see you nod your head shington um do we have any interest as a board to making a contingent of funding so that the Carney Center would have to increase their Fe for for those coming from outside of Leon County to stay there for a night that is my question if there's no if there's no sentiment there all good but um I just want to make sure that we have the resources to take care of Leon County residents first and 125 people I believe one of our early the month of August one of our early agenda items early this year I believe it was early this year when we discussed homelessness the numbers that we had there was roughly 800 people that were experiencing homelessness in Leon County roughly so in one month that's a 15.7% increase from folks from outside Leon County um you know I don't know that there's a there's a a one-time solution for this but my primary focus is that we're we're prioritizing Leon County funds for leyon County residents first thank you madam chair thank you um commissioner caban any other comments a commissioner oy thank you m commissioner kaban this is uh definitely an important issue and uh we've been reading about it um we read about the the fee and so um I think it's worth discussing whether it's at another item or or another meeting um but you know I I'll just give you my my first thoughts on it is I would initially not be comfortable trying to direct the kery center to increase what they charge I think that's I'd leave that to their operations and I also think that um uh if no matter what we do if what we do if folks are sent here who are unhoused and they're not allowed or not afforded to get into the KY Center they're still going to end up unhoused on our streets um and so that's sort of a a Poss negative outcome of doing something that could be cost prohibitive or prevent them from going in and I would leave the pricing of that to the KY Center however it's not something I think we can ignore and one thing I've been thinking about this is do we have so if any locality organization is purposely sending their citizens to our County and City supported homeless shelter they are taking advantage of our citizens resources if it's systematically or P purposefully I would be interested to know what would our legal Authority be if we could if we are able to have evidence or information to pursue other localities organizations that we become aware are systematically sending people to use our communities resources uh thank you commissioner o' um Madam uh count attorney are those statistics are you aware of that are being calculated kep a record of or is there any way we would could be ar prized if something like that is occurring and I don't know I don't think we have received any uh complaints or anything from the C Uh current Center or from our partners that try to service our individuals that are unsheltered homeless Madam chair yes please um I do not have any information about whether that practice is occurring or not um if it if it is uh I'm currently unaware of any legal mechanism for us to seek any sort of contribution or reimbursement from um other governmental entities for engaging in that practice but certainly if that's something that the board is interested in could review that and come back and let you know if there's something available uh thank you madam count attorney and I guess we're pretty much at the mercy not so much Mercy but I think if it becomes a big problem or a big issue it would be raised and we would be uh advised of it perhaps maybe by by the the Cy Center or some of our other nonprofits that deal with that segment of the population commissioner wel thank you m Madam chair real briefly I mean is it something we could ask for an agenda item to come back that analyzes I mean I've heard anecdotally this is happening too it sounds like you've gotten some relative concrete information at least in a snapshot I mean this is very concerning obviously if other municipalities or jurisdictions are sending people here and they are being directed to our our provider that that is a significant problem and there's got to be a way that we can maybe come back at the next meeting or two meetings or something down the road and have some level of of information that verifies or confirms that's happening and then maybe some solutions maybe some research into what other jurisdictions do if they experien the same issue where you have folks showing up at the bus station from Pensacola from Jacksonville from Orlando and they're being told with instructions to go to the Carney Center what recourse do we have I'd like to I mean I would like to ask for an agenda item that explores that issue well let me ask this question before we get to a motion has anybody any any of the Commissioners or Mr County Administrator are we aware of any such complaints yes mam chair well I was just going to say we we've got the experts here certainly certainly people who do it every day and they they can provide some response to us yes um I will show those are concerns that have been raised by our partners be it from Carney center from Hope um CC those are those are concerns that are raised because we are the um the urban part of our community of um of the big Benin area so that is a that is something that um has raised and so that's one of the reasons as we shared um and as you sure you you've seen the media that in working with the Carney Center when we provide them additional federal dollars last year um one of the things we did was we began meeting with them um bi-weekly to find out how can we better address this issue and serve as a deterrence and one of the things they did was they did conduct an analysis to see what other shelters have done in the community and one of the things they were doing was CH charging for those people outside of their communities a fee and that fee was generally about $10 per night so that way it could help with deterrence um and I'll share that it's kind of working because we have received phone calls from people who are homeless from other parts of the community saying why do I have to pay to come to the Carney Center and we say because you are outside from our community that's why and then then they say well I'm not coming then like okay so um that's that's part of the things that that it it it's not perfect it's something that they're continue to work on of course um it's something that as part of this oversight Commissioners and working with the COC and working with the city we will continue to um work with the Carney Center as well as our other shelter partners and figuring out how we can continue to reduce the number of individuals that do come that do come to our community um from other parts of um of the state as well as outside of um the state of Florida thank you thank you sh any followup mam chair umiss we have our partners out there um in ccys and the Carney Center but I think uh we all understand as as you guys fund us Leon County and other entities within Leon County that I can speak for for Our Hope specifically that um we do not serve folks within our shelter with Leon County dollars that aren't Leon County residents so and I I think that probably holds true for for my partners as well but that that problem does exist where we will have someone come um to our to our doors and say that they are uh from other places have been sit there because they they've heard that we've had capacity and stuff like that and we deal with the best way we can uh but but I think we can find comfort in that we are we understand that the dollars that are given to us through chsp and and I don't want to speak for my partners but I think they would they would agreee the dollars given to us through chsp and other funders within Leon County um those dollars are are spent specifically on Leon County residents we do make sure that we had to ask the question of residency for to make sure that we're Serv on County residents thank you commissioner mad did I see your hand commissioner caban no commissioner minor thank you madam chair it's um this is also a problem I've heard you know I've had I've heard many citizens in leyon County Express their concern conerns about this and as shington said it it it's a problem partly because of us being the only urban area surrounded by 10 rural counties um and if you talk to the big bendoc COC and and talk to the other providers and the other counties we never have enough budget for this if you talk to some of those rural counties they have nearly zero and so it it's a it's a problem that you know it's almost there's there's no solution that that that that is that is optimal right if we provide resources for folks that are homeless um folks from the rural counties are going to go to where those resources are um it's a we need to find a solution it's you know in in Prior years I think it's been 15% you know from out of out of the county to come in and use Services here we we know this because of the point and time counts that we do every January uh required by the federal government to do a point and time count which literally counts the number of people that are unsheltered or living in our our homeless shelters and actually asking them if they'll if they'll answer where they're from how did they become homeless how long have they been homeless so we have that data it's required by the federal government so we we have the we have the data to be able to really analyze what's going on the the big solution to this is is to is to raise this up to the state level and raise us up to the federal level because a lot of time and effort is spent by communities all across the the country sending people to other communities that are looking for shelter um we do that here in Leon County we ask people that are on the street do you do you have family that live elsewhere and if the answer is yes if they have a sister or a brother or parents that are somewhere else we try to help them go to their families that are outside of the Young County we do that we do that with good intentions because someone that is unsheltered has a good chance of reconnecting and and making U um building a sustainable housing situation if they're close to family so we do that um I I'm I'm sure other cities throughout the nation are doing that too um but that's not exactly what you're talking about commissioner kaban and it it's a problem that we need to address uh I'm willing to work with this with this County Commission with the Big Ben cooc to try to find ways where we can address that more carefully because I agree with you I mean our job here is to is is to is to address the needs of Leon County Citizens uh we also so I sure surely we all want to help folks that are in need of shelter um but we have to figure out how to find that right balance and so um I I'm I'm open to other Commissioners here and and and other ideas about finding a solution that will help us move the needle toward making sure our taxpayer dollars are spent on taxpayer resources thank you commissioner Min and Commissioners I know we have others that want to to say something but let me say this we have a public hearing schedule for 6:00 okay we recognize that it has been an issue with transients and as um shington indicated the current Center addressed that issue by assessing $10 for out of state or out of City individuals that come here so they know it's an issue it's nothing new they have addressed it from an administrative standpoint so I would recommend that we follow the lead we've got our leg on that have their on the individuals on our homeless population on the Cy Center uh at this point I think it's premature to ask staff to bring back an agenda item what I would like to do is vote on the option on the motion that's on the floor with commissioner uh Maddox recusing himself and sort of table the request for an agenda item until a until a later time okay we have a public hearing at 6:00 commissioner cand real brief M CH I'll be brief thank you um for allowing me um to speak again but my issue here is I'm going to I agree with you I believe we've been charging the $10 for some time now right uh April so okay I I see that's not that long do you want to raise it is it something independent you my thing is I just want to make sure like this comes doing commission time I want to make sure this comes back to us with an update at some point relatively soon yeah so that's my thing is when can we have this come back to it okay staff can do that with perect awesome awesome okay we have options one two three and floor four with commissioner Maddox I believe you're recusing yourself on all options am I correct to be clear yes ma'am out of Chambers okay all those in favor let it be known by saying I I I commissioner Proctor I thank you with commissioner Maddox recusing himself Commissioners we're going to take a short break we have to be back promptly as six for our public hearings thank you [Music]