##VIDEO ID:-E6GlPjmU-E## e e all right we're going to call this meeting to order it is 50:5 and we're going to reconvene the board of County Commission meeting this is a public hearing and today's purpose is to set the millage rate in the county budget for fiscal year 2425 you Julian do you have that do you want that yes sir I do um thank you chairman as we have been talking about for months this is the um end the final budget hearing for your 25 fiscal year the um all of the board initiatives as well as staff brought and board approved uh initiatives have been incorporated into your 25 budget your constitutional officers all receive an increase there's a 3% Cola for BCC employees along with a 20% increase to the employee and the employer portions of health insurance funds from the 23 true up are reflected we've created the St John's water harb St John's Harbor water plant fund we've added one additional FTE for the water utilities we've include the fiscal year 25 approved capital and we've include the fiscal year 24 carried forward capital um the millage rates remain the same as they were last year and the uh total countywide budget inclusive of all funding sources is 280 million at that I will turn it over for you for any questions that you may have of me any questions for Julian commissioner commissioner Wilkinson um thank you for that um I just have a question I have um said all along that I would like to see a larger increase for our employees since we did the um 20% increase on the health insurance so at a 4% increase that we had talked about before if we were to do that um off of the hold back and I don't know if I've got the votes I'm just asking questions if we did that off of the hold the remaining hold back we wouldn't have to change the um the budget is that correct so we would do a budget amendment but your overall bottom line dollars wouldn't change okay right because that's in operating actually I think we in a capital line for you guys so we would simply move Personnel Dollars around but to the budget itself would change minorly but your bottom dollars wouldn't have no impact okay that was just my question all right thank you any other questions I have a comment you do Mr Turner you know I appreciate the fact that we want to give our employees as much as we can I truly do but if you look at if you look what we've done for them just this year we spend a million dollars on people one or possibly a liability of that to give them better health insurance we only raise their premium 20% where it went up on the County's end a lot more than that and we ate all that so we put a million dollars in health one 1.8 million Julian that we put in health insurance to short up this year roughly don't quote I know it's hard for y'all the D talk specific numbers but roughly so we put one point 8 million we're only get to get a fraction of that back on the 20% increase so you know I just don't want everybody to think that that I'm not concerned I wish we could pay them 20% more I truly do but but in the reality of it is with us taking that big of a bu it out of the health insurance like we did this year I just don't see how we can give them any more than the what the state's given theirs thank you Mr chair thank you Mr Turner Mr Adams that yeah just like I said the the first budget meeting um the health insurance only affects a small well not a small portion but a portion of the employees where pay affects every employee um I do think I believe that there's room in the budget especially if we keep the millich where it is which I'm against that all together but I'm not going to go into the whole thing because I've been doing that for three years and got nowhere with it but um I do believe if you keep the mill the saying there absolutely is room to go even as high as 5% for the employees um so I don't think that hurts the county in any way um I think it benefits our employees it benefits our ability to retain employees I I think overall I think that's where we should go I don't know that we have the votes or we don't have the votes but uh I think the budget should include a 5% raise for all employees any other comments yeah um I'm going to follow up with that so doing a little bit of um investigative work which is what I love to do uh the prop property appraiser is paying all of the insurance increase for their both on the employee and employer side the sheriff's office is giving a 5% increase to their staff and also taking the brunt of the insurance um increase um the tax collector is fee based so there would be no increase in her budget if we were to be able to move forward with an increase to our staff and both the clerk of courts and supervisor of elections both have in their appropriated amount that we allow them to go up to um a for for I was going to the 4.1% Mr Adams act but um I originally was at 5% with you um at an employee who works at $15 an hour um a 3% raise which I'm glad they're at least getting something equates to $18 a week that's $936 a year a person at a $15 an hour rate at a 4% increase is 60 cents an hour which is $1,248 so we give our employees and I understand where commissioner Turner is coming from but when we give our employees $18 a week that's $72 a month and then we take back $30 for insurance um that's a $10 a week we gave them a hamburger um so we have this I I don't know that next year we're going to have an opportunity to give them the raise because we have no idea what the economy is going to be like we've increased our um budget by 11% and we have $369,000 $369,995 sitting in the holdback the bccc's hold back even if we gave them a 4% raise we would only need 100 a little bit less than 138,000 so we would still have a balance in the hold back of 322,000 so there's there's money in the general fund without taking it out of Reserves without doing anything and you know it's like I said before I I feel like we got to keep our employees and retain them we train them and then if they're constantly changing hands and moving on it cost us more money in the long run and if the other constitutionals can do it I feel like this is our only time that we could do that um because I have no idea what next year is going to bring with the economy so um uh that's where I'm at for open for discussion I I'll be glad to make whenever so let me um let me ask you this um because I feel like commissioner Turner you know we did do a lot of um we ate that money I say we ate it we we absorbed that money for people w we absorbed that money for the health insurance increase and we didn't have to do that out of our 20% hold back but we did to avoid that and I understand Mr Adams that that insurance only affects the people that have it and pay it FS everybody but it's still not a lot of money left for us and and again we took before we ever saw the 20% hold back a million dollars went to transportation to make that hole and I mean that helps all the citizens of putam I think we did I think this budget did a lot for everybody and I think we have done a lot for everybody but I can't see I can't see spending all that hold back when we don't know what's going to happen next year and this is going to be reoccurring from this point on so I've been in this position when layoffs happened and you know if the economy does go south but we can always go up another I mean we don't have to go up now we can go up anytime we want to go up we're able to do all kinds of things but I just don't see I could give the 138 but I might be able to do something different Mr Turner thank you Mr chairman one thing we need to keep in mind is that we went up to $15 an hour years before we had to years before we had to um that money if we put it in there it becomes reoccurring expense you may want to you may want to keep some of that holdback money for problems that are going to pop up next year that you can't see coming that we've had to use that money for in previous years and the constitutionals may decide to spend some of their money but it's still our money we give them so I'm just saying they might decide to take part of their budget we can't do anything about that but it's still our money that we're giving them so I just you know I wish we could do more but I just can't vote for any more than we've already done thank you Mr chairman thank you sir Mr Adams at so your pay increase is only recurring if you are able to keep your employees so if you can't keep your employees it goes back back to whatever the hiring level is for that pay grade the goal is to keep your employees whether it's in a private industry or a county or city or the federal government the goal is to keep your employees by by trying to be competitive in a pay wage we know we're not competitive in a pay wage overall because we just can't afford to be competitive and go right to where all of our neighboring counties are and that's really across the board in almost every position we have so where we have an opportunity to potentially keep the people that choose to stay here because a lot of them grew up here or live here so that's the reason why we retain a lot of our employees that we retain long term is simply because they're from here and they believe in what we're doing for this community the only way that you retain them is by keeping them whole and at least on Pace with inflation if not exceeding it by one or 2% um 4.1 puts us at inflation yeah with what's happened in the last couple months before where we were at the first meeting first meeting 3 3% put us right at it now it's 4 point something per. so we're below inflation so that means if someone gets a 3% raise they're losing money and then on top of that their amount for their insurance is increased so our only way to retain people is we're not going to pay them competitively we're not going to go to 56 Grand to start a firefighter EMS like some of the neighboring counties are at but if we take our people at at 40 and we get them to 44 they're less likely to go next door and drive that extra 10 m because they love this community they love this County and they love this community which is the only reason why the majority of our employees are here that are here long term is because they love what they're doing for their Community it has nothing to do with because they have a job because the job 20 miles away pays more for doing the same work so they're only here because they love this community and if we don't do something to keep those people we're failing as a commission thank you any other comments yeah my only point um about bringing this up and and you're right we can we can talk about it later but um since we're discussing this and this is part of the agenda item and it talks about the 3% Cola is you know 4.1% increase does um put him with the um with with the economy right now with but what did you just say I'm sorry I've got a head cold Paul 4 something yeah 4.1 yeah so um you know I was standing in line at the store the other day and this is another reason why made me want to bring this up again I was standing in line at the store and the lady in front of me said we were talking about the economy and she goes yeah she says my son works at the county she had no idea who I was she said my son works at the county Works 410 and she said he literally Works 7 days a week and I said oh okay and she said he um he has to work all the three the three days he would be off from the county he works mowing grass to make so he can make a decent living and I know that that's 1% of isn't going to make that difference but maybe it could make a little bit of difference in our staffs and and it's only $138,000 that's all it is out of the general fund I'm not asking for hundreds of thousands of dollars it's less than it's less than 150 it's 138,000 out of the general fund is the difference between 3% to 4 4% with that I make a motion that we um give our staff a 4% raise second proper motion proper second any further discussion yeah I just want to say um we had this discussion for the last eight years for the first couple of years I don't know we gave anybody a raise and I don't want to sound like a broken record but I do think that we have consistently tried to continue to raise uh with also baling the budget with all the different issues that we have um so um I think three would I'd like to do four and five yes but um with everything outside I think we've done over the last few years and what we've done this year I'm I'm not going to support this Mr Adams that you we're getting ready to see unprecedented growth in putham County from a building perspective from State projects from other things now whether that happens next year in the next five years we already saw and I've only been here four years so you already seen where just when we did the expansion of Highway 20 we had people leave working for public Works to go work for the contractors that were building Highway 20 and a lot of them still do today because they're getting paid 60 70 grand they do have to travel all over the state it's a pain the don't get me wrong it's a pain for them compared to working here in their Community um but they're getting paid considerably more and it's worth it to them to do that and that was some of our best people right now now we've replaced some of them people that are really good with even better people some cases um I just don't want to see where the the flashy flashiness of a big company that comes in and starts doing work here whether it's Bass Pro or it's one of these developers or it's the state contractors or even contractors that we hire to come in here um draws our people away because we're counting on a friends and family discount that's really what we're doing this County and it's not just the four years I've been here the County's been doing think about the the 10 years that no one got raises those people that stayed through that time literally were the friends and family plan because who in the right mind does that unless you just love your community and uh this isn't a not for profit right people aren't here volunteering they're here giving of their time for wages in order to move their lives forward along with the community's lives forward and if if we can't compensate that it's it's sad I don't know how put it thank you Mr Turner me yes sir okay um one thing that I've learned in my life is you can't bet on what you think might happen next year and if we start budgeting for what we think might could or would happen next year then we we have lost it um we've got to Budget on the numbers in front of us that we know would happen it hasn't been that long ago when we had had an economic turn down and we had Mariposa coming we had River plays coming we had all these subdivisions already passed and ready to go and all of them just went away um State bought the one out there at at IR I'm just telling you that was approved so I'm just saying you can't bet on what might come next year you need to wait until the thing is at least really here um so I I just can't raise the reoccurring expenses higher than what we've already raised them to this point Thank you Mr chair thank you Mr Mr Adam there was interesting Twist on my point the point is whether they come or not we still can't be holding people to a friends and family discount and expect them to continue if if they have Greener pasture somewhere else and they already have Greener pasture in every County that touches this County so it don't matter what part of the county you live in you could drive 20 minutes and be to a job doing exactly what you're doing here and I I hate to say that publicly but it's a fact and we're trying to get something I'm trying to get something that helps them stay here um we're going to run out of people that are meet the qualifications that we have for our entry level jobs and our even senior level jobs in this community because we're growing so whether has nothing to do with our County budget our budget we know today if you're talking about not going in the future we know today's budget we have enough money to give them 4% raise we know that today for this year we know that looking at the numbers it's obvious there's we could give them an 8% raise really if we really wanted to stretch it um that I think would be my limit um but if we stay at the the millage where it is now if we lower the millage to the roll back rate I would say 3% is where the most we can get but we're not rolling back at all without rolling back at all we're increasing 11% of the taxes for the whole community and we're giving the same people they pay taxes too we're giving them 3% that just uh the budget of today is what it is and there's more than enough room to give a 4% raise all right debate's over and all in favor signify by saying I I POS like sign I so we'll move on so now we need a motion to pass a resolution adopting the final millage huh oh we got I'm sorry we do have a it's a public hearing and I apologize and yes Miss Ashley you got a card thank you we do want to open up for our public to be able to miss Nancy Taylor if you'll come up and state your name and address for the record please but you have to do that you're not in the at all okay NY Taylor Crescent City um I just I know this is already a done deal but I'm going to see my little Spiel anyway so please don't raise the taxes on puam County Property Owners Cy's $300 million bond has already put three generations of putham County property owners in debt some will lose their property because they can't afford to pay the exorbitant tax increase due to this Bond my property taxes and this is not my Homestead my property taxes increased 50% from 2022 to 2023 and from 2020 to 2023 they qu went up 97% property taxes please don't raise our taxes again find another way that is fair to an entire County and doesn't affect only a certain part of the population everyone should have to pay a share and not just Property Owners alone use an increase in the sales tax so that the burden of the budget increases on all of us and not just the property owners why do you think that every time you need more money the Property Owners must pay for it I realize that it's legal via the statutes but why do you think it's okay that a subset of the population pay for the service used and enjoyed by all and what are you doing with a budget of $280 million anyway how can you possibly be $10 million short that is really outrageous for a county such as putam assuming that there are 77,000 people in the county that is $3,600 per person outrageous please don't go to the property owners to pay for your deficit find a way that is Equitable to all citizens oh and you might want to consult with Crescent City because they didn't spend all their money that was budget and cutting their millage rate for next year thank you thank you Miss Taylor anybody else in the public would like to speak anybody else okay we'll close public comment commissioner is what's your pleasure I'll make the motion that we um pass the resolution adopting the final mill rate fiscal year 2425 is that correct A and C the physical year 2025 putam countywide operating millage budget of 8. 8441 Mills which is the same as last year's millage rate but 11.16% higher than the roll back rate is 7.95 59 Ms the fiscal year 2425 putam County non countywide operating millage rate for the fire tax unit municipality Municipal Services taxes unit mstu is 1.10 Mills which is the same as last year's millage rate the rate is 11.31% higher than the roll back rate of 0.988 to Mills together the aggregate millage is 9.81 164 Ms Which is 11.29% higher than aggregate roll back rate of 8.8 208 Mills do you have a second I'll second it thank you any further discussion on the first motion Mr Adam that um I will not be supporting this because I don't support raising taxes and usually we don't have a member of the audience so I figured I would say it out loud thank you thank you okay any further comments all in favor I'm sorry would you do Miss Ashley would you do roll call vote please yes yes yes I thought she called you no yes okay we have a second motion that needs to be made Mr chair may move to adopt the fiscal year 2024 25 budget all funds we have a second second thank you any further discussion on that motion hearing none all in FA roll call vote Miss Ashley yes yes yes no yes and now we have the third and final motion I'm Mr chair I move approval to adopt the final fiscal year 20242 Capital Improvement plan have a second second have a proper second any further discussion I have discussion Mr Turner you have the floor I uh I think that when the new Commissioners get here they need to revisit this I really do um I I realize that that it's not a tremendous amount of money but it is a lot of money the total with with the $48 million that was a carry forward from previous year to 25 and the $1 million that was added for 25 even though only a portion of of that is coming out of reserves next year um what I foresee happening next year is that that uh it let me back up a little it was my understanding and and maybe that was my misunderstanding that what we were doing is we were we were passing a a a u possibilities plan for for lack of a better term that we were going to that all the different things that are on the list in the capital improve plan whether it be two more vehicles or two vehicles that need to be replaced for a department or another vehicle for a different department I thought we had the discussion that this was um that this was contingent it was contingent upon the new commission moving forward and making these commitments for next year out of their cont out of their Reserve monies for their Capital Improvements my biggest problem that I'm having here is that I feel like fact that I'm spending money for next year's commission and I'm not going to be here if that doesn't bother the two of you then I can get along with it but it bothers me I'm telling you right now it bothers me um I really think that that when we approve the Capital Improvements plan as as it reads right now that and I'm not picking on Jr's fire trucks but but if we've got a fire truck in there we've got different you know for almost every Department's got got something in there I'm not saying it's not needed but it needs to be decided on next year by the Commissioners if that particular item is needed especially if we have an economic turnd down so um I hope we don't and if if the money's still at the same level that it is right now without bad projections then it it may be that it's fine that it'll all work out but I have a trouble sitting here in in uh September of this year trying to figure out what's going to be going on in July of next year or August of next year and it's the budget when the request comes before the commission next year it's going to come to the commission yeah we want these two trucks but and they they're in your budget they're in your they were approved in your budget so the commission is not going to really look at them very hard at all because they were included in the budget so you know if if if I'm the only one that's concerned about this I'm not concerned to the point that that if if y'all aren't concerned that I won't go along with it I just think that that needed to be said and it needed to be discussed I really did so thank you Mr ter Mr Adams that yeah I can see a little bit what you're saying but the bottom line is they have the final say I mean each of these things if they choose just May that truck that you're talking about may come in higher costs than what we budget for and they may say no I mean all these things go through appropriation they're going to come before the commission again I have no problem with it whatsoever I think we're actually required by law to have a capital budget so um I think we have to vote Yes or No based on what we have in front of us and you have to allocate that money by law so Mr chairman we're we're required by law law to have a Capital Improvements plan we're not required by law to budget the Capital Improvements for next year Mr Pickins I I may be missing something I thought that we would approve a capital Improvement plan and then as these these items would be I guess priori prioritized moov to the board the next board whether it would be us or somebody else to to be able to be determined whether they're going to move those forward and expend those particular funds that's correct okay that's what I thought too and they will but the new board will do that and that that board will be able to make that decision we're just approving well at Le I miss understand and Julianne helped me out here because unless I understand what you just told me before the meeting is this is budgeted once we approve this plan today is budgeted money so that means that that if somebody wants a truck or whatever's on the list I'm not trying to pick on anybody but just if somebody wants to replace a truck then they're going to go out and get a price for the two new trucks for building and zoning and they're uh and they're going to bring them to the board and say these were in the capital Improvement plan that you've already that you've already U approved and it's going and it's coming for you for final uh for final approval but it's already budgeted and it's already been approved now did I misunderstand what you told me before the meeting Commissioners the capital Improvement plan that is included in your packet is required by law for the board to have a capital Improvement plan it is required by law to have a five-year one as we discussed at the workshop where we outlined and detailed each of the capital requests in August the only commitments you are making is the fiscal year 25 section those future years are projections only the motion you just made approving the budget with the budget summary includes 100% of that fiscal year 25 Capital incorporated into the proper budget lines the capital is budgeted as of today as of the motion that just passed the when we spoke about this Capital Improvement plan at the August Workshop a number of those items are with new Revenue new sources dedicated specifically to them if you'll remember BPP 70% of it goes between dirt to pave and resurfacing as the board directed we have debt payments there the remaining items as the board directed was split between Georgetown and dun Creek that's the 25 budget capital for BPP the resurfacing dollars come in from a gas tax they go to the resurfacing Capital project those items that are coming from general fund reserves we reviewed at that meeting those are your general fund Capital purchases those are your transportation fund Capital purchases the minimum that are needed because the transportation fund is already $1.9 million in the whole so it is it comes from the general fund and your East puam Water fund all of them have necessary Capital that is going to be required to keep those operations being sustained at that meeting on in August the board approved the plan it was incorporated into the budget as we reviewed at the September tenative budget hearing and as presented to you and advertised to do today years's 26 the remaining five years that's all tenative projections but you passed or you passed by motion at those meetings your approval of the 25 plan this is simply adding to what you approved on that date the final fiscal year 24 carry forward projects it's the only amendments that have been made to that document since your last approval and the numbers have been incorporated into the budget all right any further discussion Miss Ashley if you'll take a roll call vote on that we already have a motion in a second so yes yes yes no yes is there any further business to come before this Mr sus you have something about the upcoming hurricane uh yes sir uh Mr chairman thank you as you know we've been monitoring the storm that's uh uh Brewing out there in the gulf and uh earlier today pudman County was included in the governor's executive order non putam County as as one of the counties in the EO so what we've uh are bringing here I'm going to need to ask if we can have an emergency item added to the agenda to discuss a a uh a local state of emergency document that we need to discuss for this Penning storm that we're fixing to be dealing with starting tomorrow anybody have an objection to adding that okay go right ahead sir okay so uh and that's what I need if if I could just get uh Mr chairman of the board to make a motion to adopt the resolution for the local state of emergency as of today then we will go ahead and have further discussion on what we we're plan on doing with the EO SE uh beginning tomorrow urgency item is to pass a resolution for and I can read it by by title if you'd like yes sir um tropical storm local s uh Helen local state of emergency a resolution of the board of County commissioners of putam County Florida declaring a state of local emergency due to Tropical Storm Helen adop an executive order 24-29 issued by the governor of Florida pursuant to chapter 252 for the statutes and putam County ordinances Article 2 specifically sections 16-9 through 16 through I'm sorry 16-19 through 16-26 and providing for an effective date we need a mo approval thank you proper motion by Mr Turner proper second by m Wilkinson commissioner Wilkinson any further discussion on the motion to pass a resolution for emergency order hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I POS like sign the eyes have it Mr Suggs and Mr Grimes you still have the floor yes sir thank you well I'll go ahead and and turn this over to Mr Grimes for for for an update and then we'll talk about the hours of operations moving forward Mr chairman at the appropriate time so I'm sure all your guys' phones went off at the 5:00 weather update that we are now into the tropical storm watch um moving forward um so we've met with the online today at 1:30 with with the partners also in the room uh we're going to open the special needs shelter tomorrow CU that takes tends to take a little bit longer than getting the general population up and we'll make a decision on general population tomorrow morning at 8:30 we thought we'd have a little bit more um information this afternoon but that storm did kind of stall down just a little bit um it still has not got out to the gulf uh that's truly the worry is what is it going to do when it gets into the Gulf we know it's going to be large um they're expecting the windfields as of yesterday to be up to 250 Mi 125 on each side so um that thing comes anywhere close to the Nature Coast or the big we're going to see some kind of effects of it uh so we're going to open I'm trying to get all my numbers remembered we're going to open the shelters tomorrow afternoon after the school releases we're going to send do over and start the transition into the special needs at Kelly Smith um she'll be able to open those up around 6:00 p.m. tomorrow night and then we'll make the general population call tomorrow um morning to tell everybody what time if we're going to end up Sheltering the general Pop um so we'll school district has closed schools for Thursday we're going to watch Friday because it appears like it's going to be a quick moving storm but we're going to have to make sure all the roadways and bus routes and all that stuff are open for Friday in order for them to open school on Friday but as of right now they've closed schools on Thursday for us to get prepared for Sheltering you know Thursday morning um on into the all day Thursday so uh the earliest expected time of arrival was um 8 a.m. on Thursday the uh the most likely rival is 8:00 p.m. Thursday so unless something happens is drastic tomorrow but we'll have tomorrow if we need to make any last minute adjustments in the schedule we can do I thought it slowed down I thought it's already slowed down and so I don't know they going to be able to have school on Friday and if that thing doesn't hit till 8:00 you're not going to be able to get your crews out and clear roads and even act assess the situation by your emergency team that has to go out and look at things first I don't see how you can get that done by Friday morning I I don't either but that was the school district's call they didn't want to cancel school until for Friday until they saw something on Thursday so will you address the garbage pickup yes sir I'm sorry I should have done that um so the landfill is going to close on Thursday um and hopefully we can get them out on Friday so we'd asked for the garbage not to go out on Thursday so they could pick Thursdays up I think it is is it on Saturday Mr sugs that they make up the route if they if they if they close down on Thursday but are picking up on Friday they would move the Thursday route the Friday and the Friday route the Saturday Okay so the land will be closed all day Thursday yes sir no shelter um in South butam we will if if we decide we're going to try to watch tomorrow's storm we know when to open a shelter U because it did stall a little bit right there around the Yucatan today so if we open General populations we talked about it that because brownie Pierce is um we'll open them all and then if it doesn't seem like we're going to need them all we can start phasing them down slowly U or you know cuz like last time we had one person shelter at Qi Roberts and we just moved them to Jenkins we were able to slow just go ahead and shut that one down so we'll have to see we have to the school district we tried to bring in a couple at one time but they said it was easier to bring them down than what it was to bring them up so we'll start with them all up and then bring them down as needed so if if we do go general population all of the County shelters will be open the same as usual and if we need two on air it's Middleton Bernie brownie Pierce Kelly Smith Jenkins Elementary School in anck and Aquilla and Qi Robert um also the sandbag locations will be up and running today by 5:00 p.m. um it's probably up and running now and they're self service at this point so um so that operation is up and running yeah and I see that you um added panile again yeah yes sir we we got penile there is is the one because we had it open for the the recent rain but there's still bags available at penile and sand but if there is anything and this call center will come up tomorrow um we're going to try to get the call center up and running sometime with noon time tomorrow because we're already receiving calls from the community wanting directions so we're going to get the library staff in there tomorrow right around noon time get that call center propped up and that be the 386 329 1904 1904 too many numbers but yes sir so that that'll start up and running about noon time tomorrow and then we'll bring the rest of the EOC folks in sometime tomorrow night roughly about the same time as the shelter opens up we're going to bring a crew in to get the because we really need to be inside EOC when we have shelters open in case something's needed at the shelter but the rest of the staff will come in following that what level are you going to open up to at what time or do you know yet we'll be at a level two tomorrow at noon time and then we'll probably go to a full activation of a one U following probably 8:00 tomorrow night U throughout the duration and then we'll we'll ramp it down as fast as we can it's level one is when you bring in all your ESC stations all into everywhere yes sir and right now fire rescue Chief back and chief Hitchcock have worked up a plan not to bring them all in at one time time um is kind of doing like an alpha bravo shift where we'll hold one shift over for tomorrow and then be able to send them home and then bring one shift in that was normally at home and then the second shift will cover for them so that way they do get a little chance to try to get their family lives prepped and all that kind of stuff so we're not trying to bring them all in at once we'll stagger them in over time and not have to have the full Cruise here all at once Mr s you have talk about our hours yes sir uh as we discussed earlier while we were at the Emergency Operations Center with us going to a level two activation at noon tomorrow bringing staff in to to man that and then again going to level one tomorrow evening uh so we'll have that 24 hours uh operations moving at that time and with the storm the information we received this morning that the storm uh the earliest would hit would be sometime early Thursday morning uh we look to get staff out uh tomorrow afternoon around 3 uh that way they can go home and get their stuff prepared then those that have to come back that night will have an opportunity to go home and get things taking care of and come back for the overnight shift and then we'll uh we certainly will be closed Thursday and and most likely Friday as well because if this scene does come in anytime between Thursday and Friday we're going to be out there doing storm damage and Road assessment and we'll have to keep the EOC activate until after all that that is taken care of so I Look to close sometime around 3: tomorrow and reopen Monday could we be sure that we put a sign on the door that says call the 1904 number whatever it is because in previous um instances we've had people come up here and we missed it one day and they just didn't know what to do and got all excited so if we could put a sign on the door that says if you have any issues whatsoever please call this number we we'll make sure it's on all our doors here absolutely that's a good point Mr uh commissioner turn thank you okay any other questions thank you for the explanation and again we all um we do ask that our citizens take heed of that when the 2:00 warning came out from the National Weather Service you saw that the major hurricane dot moved down to Fort Meyers area if you will so um it was just up in the Big Bend area so they are expecting it to to do a lot more than yeah it's just it's just too much unexpected and and then when I talked with the m folks earlier today there's a time in when it gets in the Gulf it's going to move at 26 M an hour um that's pretty quick um so we that's that's the problem with this one is we don't have a lot of time that's why we got to kind of make the decisions and we have to error in the side of caution because I mean our job is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best um so that's kind of where we are right now yeah well if it gets as big as they say it's going to beig we could get tornado tornadoes very easily over in this in the outer bands and what have you so you know I'm on board to being prepared I truly am and you know and pray for the people in the Big B cuz they're calling for 12 to 14t storm surge in the big bin and those poor people just went through it yeah they were some of them were fortunate that it didn't you know Steen Hatchy was 8 foot and it it was devastating Keaton Beach wasn't too bad because it was right in there where it didn't get push they're talking now where it's possibility all that's going to go under almost double what it was amazing just getting over it so all right so is there anything else for the good of the order if not this meeting is adjourned thank you --------- ##VIDEO ID:zlPk4GRQiVo## e e e e e e e e e it is 9:00 I'm going to call the meeting to order today is Tuesday September 24th 2024 it is 9:00 in the morning uh our invocation this morning be led by Pastor Eddie at the church of the Heights and the pledge of sorry I didn't call your whole name Pledge of the heights Paul commissioner Paul adamac please rise if you're able to do so what's about our heads father we just thank you for today Lord I Thank you for each and every one of these that you put into leadership for our county father today as we U discuss business but also keep in mind the storm that is coming this way Lord I pray over every single person in our state and our community father for safety Lord I pray for our First Responders God I pray for those that will respond after the storm I pray for safety for them and their families Lord keep them safe keep and give them strength in this season but Lord I pray for our County today Father I thank you that the best is not behind us but it's here and now and in front of us I pray that you would lead guide and direct us as we set up this County for our students for our kids for our grandkids in the future to be the best County in this state father bless each and everyone here today bless each and everyone that serves to make this County great in Jesus name we pray amen amen flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which he stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you Pastor Eddie and thank you commissioner adamac um do want to bring to mind we have an executive session so we're going to recess for just a moment and State statue allows us to go have some discussions with our attorney as a group under Union negotiations so we're going to recess and we'll be back in just a few minutes e spe for for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e long than good morning we're going to reconvene The Bard of County Commission meeting and our first item of business approval of the minutes Mr chair I move approval of the minutes of the border of County Commissioners meeting August 27th 2024 second proper motion proper second further discussion on the motion all in favor signify by saying I I oppose like sign the eyes have it we're going to recess the board of County Commission meeting go into the Port Authority meeting and the first item of Port author is any public comment is there any public comment on Port Authority item only Port Authority item only seeing no one Rush up here for Port Authority then we'll go to the port property lease Mr Sam Sullivan's not here today so Mr Suggs you have that uh sure uh Mr CH I'm sorry we're trying to get my laptop here to pull open up so I can get to the agenda again yes sir we have a uh on the uh Port Authority agenda this morning there's a lease agreement between putham County uh Port Authority and NIS uh which is a national services or Nation Service Industrial Services I believe it is I apologize we also have U Mr Patrick Kennedy and and uh uh Mr uh Alexander here today representing n as well so uh you know we went through the uh the LOI we brought it to the board thank you Jacob brought it to the board uh at the last meeting board approved us to move forward with putting a lease together Mr Commando Mr Patrick Kennedy worked on the lease agreement back and forth we got it back late Friday afternoon everything looked good so I wanted to go ahead as I promised uh uh Mr Kennedy that we would and Mr Al we'd put it on the first available agenda so here we are today looking for board approval Port Authority approval for the uh for the lease move approval anybody have any questions we have a proper motion do we have a second second on Port Authority items just one Mr chairman if I could uh before Mr Kennedy and Mr Alexander leave this morning uh thank you gentlemen for your due diligence on that and we look forward to uh seeing what goes on out there at the Port Authority thank you very much thank you thank you very much all right then we'll close our the Port Authority reconvene the board of County Commission meeting and our first item is president presentations Miss Lorie Parker good morning Miss Parker Lori Parker Human Resources um we receive nominations for employee of the month and for employee the month for September is Martha Bennett if she could come up in the library staff Miss Martha Bennett works at the Boswick Library she is a part-time employee with the library and she's been here 12 and a half years when I called Miss Martha to tell her she was selected employee of the month she was very excited and asked me do I get a crown and I said no ma'am you get money and she said oh I'd like that too so here's your check we could have got a crown for and I have a crown for you since you asked [Applause] yeah yeah Miss Martha said oh that's okay I said no I'm gonna get her one um so you're Queen for the day right that's right um with us today is also miss Stella Brown she's the director of library and she's gonna speak also on Miss Martha good morning Mella good morning Mella morning come on up here gu good morning to each of you miss Martha is a jewel she has been around for a while miss Martha is the type of person she'll do whatever you ask her to do but if she has a question she does not hesitate to ask Miss Martha is a wealth of wisdom and knowledge she shares it with anyone and everybody to help that person become a better person I was sick one time and I said Miss Martha I I I she said just do this just do this just do it worked y'all it worked so when you talk about Miss Martha I don't just see her as an employee with the library system I see her as an honest person a very helpful person a very willing person that would go Far and Beyond the Call of Duty to do whatever she can to do whatever for anybody it doesn't matter your economical status it doesn't matter whether you're rich poor in between black white green or yellow she will do whatever she can for whomever she can and with that I applaud her hly very good good deal y'all want to come up and get your picture taken Miss Martha you want to say something you want to put your crown on yeah got sorry I greatly appreciate the little bit of recognition to me it's a big recognition I would like to say just a few things that I try to practice throughout my life I'm only 35 Plus but throughout my career of working which I've had only two jobs I've always practiced respect your employer and your fellow man that you're working with we don't always have to like each other every day that we work but we owe it to our employer to be respectful while we're on that job I like to be remembered as being Dependable reliable and truthful if you don't have truth in your life you have nothing the dollars doesn't matter the person can't say if she told me the truth I can go by it that's what I try to practice and another in my employment be reliable thank you thank [Applause] you on up just bring your people you can put your on and get a picture with abely I knew all right well congratulations to myth Martha and we will be moving on U we have a 9:00 Planning and Development public hearing uh rezone re24 d008 Georgia Pacific Paca LLC Jennifer looks like you got that good morning for the record G planning and development services this application is to rezone from agriculture to Industrial heavy the applicant is Georgia Pacific pla LLC the agent is half Associates Incorporated this is a 16512 acre portion of a 23797 acre parcel located on the west side of the intersection of County Road 216 and US Highway 17 in Paca the applicant is requesting a zoning map amendment to allow for a semi- parking lot along with an inspection station the subject site is split zoned Agriculture and Industrial heavy and has a future land use designation of industrial the parcel is located on the west side of the intersection of County Road 216 and US Highway 17 in palaka has approximately 3,145 ft of Road Frontage on County Road 216 and 2,145 ft of Road Frontage on US Highway 17 according to the putham County GIS reference map there appears to be a approximately 30 Acres of wetland on site which will not be impacted by the proposed construction the FEMA flood zone layer indicates flood zone X and A are present on site flood zone X is not a special flood Hazard area however flood zone a is a special flood Hazard area should this rezone be approved the applicant will then submit to the development Review Committee to satisfy additional development requirements the DRC will review plans to ensure the development is compliant with local state and federal development regulations agencies including but not limited to Florida Department of Health putam County Public Works Emergency Services and St John's River Water Management District will review plans to ensure the development will not adversely affect surrounding properties your aerial view future land use zoning flood zone Wetlands conceptual plan staff recommends approval of the request to amend the zoning map from agriculture to Industrial heavy as the proposed amendment is consistent with the adopted goals objectives and policies of the putham county comprehensive plan and is compatible with existing development in the area at the scheduled public hearing on August 14th 2024 the Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of the resoning applic appli questions any questions for staff Commissioners is the applicant here like to speak good morning good morning my name is Laura Dietrich I'm a land planner with half Associates at 9995 Gate Parkway Suite 200 Jacksonville Florida 32246 thank you for this opportunity um staff Mr Helms and Mr uh Zach Baker have been very helpful on working with us um I just want to give you two quick points of background on what we had to do before we started this process given that it's a large campus on the northwest quadron of 17 and and 16 or 216 um there were many Parcels that have been there for quite some time and they were under different llc's so when we started to look at the fact that there's a Western campus and then a Central Eastern Campus which is vacant currently we wanted to bring everything into hole and kind of clean up our clean up our house so we first started with re-recording the parcels at the subject site before you today and bringing them all into what is now called the Georgia Pacific patka LLC and we are now also going to do the same for the Western site that's current so that way everything is under one LLC named after its local home the second thing we did was combine all of these Parcels so that it was one holistic parcel so there weren't a lot of issues with any future surveying and and questions there was one question in the LPA Hearing in which one of the parcels that was combined actually has an easement that crosses over and attaches itself to the railroad tracks and I believe that was probably at some point when a Spur connectivity was accessible and suited the site I'm not sure if that's active anymore but nonetheless the easan is still there so if you had a question about that um but the large parcel there's 165 plus acres that are subject to this resoning request there is still ample Land north of it but that is all in heavy Wetlands that is not in any intent in the present or the future to be developed um I don't think it could be any way given the quality of those Wetlands so the subject of this is two-thirds of that partiel the 165 give or take .12 acres and it currently has uh industrial land use but it also has two zoning categories High industrial and agriculture so we wanted to go ahead and bring that in into the fold and and make it all industrial and it does sit exactly in the industrial overlay that puam county has so it's consistent with those policies as well the bifurcation of the partiel is where the overlay stops and you can see the rest of the parcel protrude above that and we're leaving that a um also in your policies there are a couple statements um in your future landage devopment policy A1 1936 States that industrial category for the flum consists of areas that are intended to be the primary industrial locations in the future but additional industrial locations are allowed in several other future land use categories associated with manufacturing assembly processing or storage of products so technically if they wanted to be able to proceed with that they could buy your policies but we thought it was in the best interest to go ahead and just marry it all up so and there's one other one that came up in the LPA discussions and talking about about um commercial uses that would be in in or adjacent to agricultural uses and it talks about the fact that those sites that are designed that are in keeping with those types of uses such as assembly processing and storage or manufacturing as long as they're accessible to one or more Transportation facilities such as airports water ports and or adjacent to paved County and maintained roads which they are so um we are working also with DRC soon I believe in two weeks we'll be meeting with them on site plans and working through concurrency as well if you have any question oh and just so you understand we're taking the parking lot of the track tractor trailers that currently exist on the Western campus we have to remove that parking lot and build a new one on the Eastern Campus because the facilities that exist on the Western campus are going to be expanded by 600,000 square feet there is a potential for an additional 3 to 400,000 square F feet to be built on the subject site here but that is not a part of this application today that's something that may take place in the future but of course it would have to come before staff and yourself if that word ever comes fruition so good thank you all right any questions this is one of two readings so we're not going to do anything today but assign it to a future meeting right in a certain time correct Zach you have a question you ask him a question is that right what I said that is correct sir yes you so you would just have a majority plus one vote I think it's plus one rich can correct me um to determine the date and time if it's not going to be a 5:00 meeting okay all right so before we move on it is a public hearing so we will be asking the public if there's anybody in the public that would like to come up and speak for or against this project please work your way up to the microphone anybody for or against this project going once twice gone thank you uh so Commissioners what's your PO a date of the first commission meeting in September October October Excuse me yes 8 yeah okay Mr chairman I move that we move uh that we uh take this for the second reading to the October the 8th meeting at 9:00 in the morning or soon thereafter second we have proper motion proper second any further discussion on that motion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I iose like sign the eyes have it thank you very much okay next is public comment on agenda items this portion of the agenda is designed to allow citizens opportunity to bring matters to the attention of the board this is on the consent agenda items only we will have uh time later on for uh miscellaneous items so is if anybody would like to come speak we ask that you leave you keep your uh comments to 3 minutes and time will be kept so is there anybody that would like to have public comment on agenda items only agenda items only please work your way up to the microphone and seeing none that that will we will end that item and Commissioners we have a consent agenda item commissioner Pickin any items you wish to pull I have none Commissioner Adam at I have none commissioner Turner yes sir I'd like to pull item h h and is that all all commissioner Wilkinson I have none okay so the chair and I have none the chair will entertain a motion Mr chair I move approval of consent agenda items a b c d e FG I J K L M second have proper motion proper second any further discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I I oose like sign the eyes have it Mr Turner item H oh yeah I just uh wanted to ask a quick question on it sorry I didn't get yall before the meeting um we we've been trying for several years now to write this to get these write Downs to be less and less and less and we bought new software a couple years ago that was supposed to help is that helping us and are we thinking that this is going to get any better uh because the write Downs are still pretty significant and I know that we're not going to ever get rid of all of them but do we look at as it is it trending better yes sir your write Downs are actually decreasing significantly from where we started um when the new software was implemented as well as the new team over there Miss Amy and her team has done a great job in ensuring that we have um submitted everything to the relevant insurance companies within the time frames so the turnaround is very high our collections rate is actually increasing um what you're seeing though is still a product of the fact that our service calls are increasing so as your pot grows even when you're collection rate is increasing you still have some write Downs um so it is improving there is a greater increasing collection rate on those um the majority of this is ambulance billing so that's why we're talking about it there was a very small um sanitation right off everything else's ambulance I noticed that it it started at a million five back in 22 and we're down to 661 with more with more calls and before that it was double or triple that in the in the Years prior to where we are today when did we buy our software was it was it in23 no sir 21 or two okay and and also remember just because we're writing it off the financials does not mean we stop trying to collect the debt it just is not being carried on the financials so those accounts that are outstanding will still be receiving um notice of collection you know at bills and that type of things we will still maintain that ity okay good deal Mr chairman I move approval of item H second no proper motion proper second any further discussion hearing n all in favor say say iose like sign the I have it going to move down to codes enforcement and uh is anybody here for codes Enforcement cases okay we got two people in the audience okay U Mr Moore do you know who these what item these people are representing no sir what item are you representing item what letter on your you don't know okay that's that's okay we'll get to it we'll get to it okay the first codes case item a just real quick we can Cod case 26491 address 108 Horseman Drive violations unsafe structure original fine is $118,100 total cost for enforcement action is $3,854 Property Owners recently purchased the property it's now compliant and requesting a fine reduction board approves we recommend a reduce fine to be paid within 90 days commissioner is what your pleasure Mr chair I move approval of um $3,854 to be paid in 90 days or C code case 2006-14 4 91 proper motion do we have a second second second proper second any further discussion hearing none all in favor signify saying I iose like sign the I have it next code case 2006 00167 Steve Cullen is that anybody in the audience no okay address is 206 Teresa Avenue violation was unsafe structure original fine amount was $ 38,43 total cost for enforcement actions $2,155 Property Owners recently purchased a property it's now compliant requesting to fine reduction if the board approves we recommend the reduced fine to be paid within 90 days Mr chair I move approval of code case 2006-1 167 $2,155 should be paid within 90 days second proper motion proper second any further discussion all in favor signify say I iose like sign the eyes have it go ahead Cod case 29402 address is 100 Sequoia Drive property owner is dream USA Holdings violation was care premises original fine amount was $ 36,2 n3.4 total cost of enforcement action is $177 Property Owners recently purchased the property is now compliant and requesting a fine reduction if the board approves who recommend a reduced F to be paid within 90 days did the applicant hear no okay good commissioner is with your pleasure Mr chair I move approval of code case 2009- 0042 fine reduction of to $177 to be paid within 90 days second proper motion proper second any further discussion all in favor signify by saying I iose like sign the eyes have it cotation 2011 814 address is 230 Lake Shore Drive property owner's name is Elizabeth Carol John's per violation was permits required original amount was $1,280 total cost of enforcement action was $481 15 Property Owners recently purchased the property it's now compliant requesting a fine reduction if the board approves we recommend a reduced fine to be paid within 90 days applicant here seeing that okay commission what's your pleasure Mr chair move approval of code case 2011- 814 code reduction of to $481 15 to be paid within 90 days second proper motion proper second any further discussion all in favor signify saying I I I oose like sign the eyes have it continue please code case is 2012 230 address is 100 secoreia Drive property owner's name is dream USA Holdings violation was unsafe structure due to Fire original fine amount was $ 74,7 168.50 uh tax deed sales were anticipated when I filled out the paperwork and I receiv received a tax deed um funds yesterday of $76.79 the total cost of enforcement action was $1,729 Property Owners recently purchased a property it's now compliant and owners request from to F reduction as Port approves we recommend the reduce fine to be paid within the 90 days applicant here no Mr chairman I think I need to take this one go right ahead Mr Turner do mind I uh on case number 201223 z a move that we accept the staff recommendation of $1,729 minus the $76.79 that is a surplus of tax deed Surplus for a total fine of $1,652 121 if paid within 90 days proper motion do we have a second second prop we have a second any further discussion on that I have a question yes M wison Mr Thomas the photo that you have attached atted to that looks like the same photo that is was on the same property the same property that's correct yes ma'am okay so just for two different F two different cases yes ma'am because we had we the original fine was a the original case was for a certain violation we had already taken it to the magistrate hearing and then we had another case for a fire and okay thank you for that clarity thank you I'm good any further discussion okay all in favor signify by saying I I oppose like sign the eyes have it okay Devin Glover are you here okay hang on start working your way up if you want to speak go ahead Mr Moore code case is 2014 660 address is 304 Hurley Street interlocking property owner is Deon Glover violation was unsafe structure original fine amount was $8,800 Property Owners recently purchased the property it's now compliant requesting a fine reduction if the bo approved we recommend the reduced fine to be paid within 90 days thank you Mr Glover would you like to speak okay good all right good commissioner is what's your pleasure Mr chair I move approval of code case 2014- 00660 fine reduction to $2,110 to be paid within 90 days second second proper motion proper second any further discussion all in favor signify by saying I I oose like sign the eyes have it next next one Thomas cocas is 2021 1610 address is 112 albor and Satsuma property owner's name is CH Chris Huff violation was care premises original fine amount was $2,112 tax surplus funds were anticipated when I did the paperwork since then uh we received $27.64 yesterday the total cost of enforcement action was $2,110 Property Owners recently to purchased property and requesting a fine reduction if the board approves we recommend a reduced fine to be paid within 90 days is Chris Huffy here today okay be right ahead Mr Turner Mr chairman with regards to uh case 2021 0016 a move that we accept $2,110 minus the $276 Surplus from the tax sale for a total of $2,823 cents if paid within 90 days we got a proper motion do we have a second have a proper second any further discussion hearing none all in favor signify by saying I iose like sign the eyes have it next item codas is 22 6242 address with 335 North County R 315 property owner's name is Legacy real estate Investments and funding LLC violation with care premises original F amount was $1,293 total cost for enforcement tax is $1,856 Property Owners recently purchased property it's now compliant and requesting to F reduction if the board approves we recommend a reduced fine to be paid within 90 days is the applicant here okay see that Mr chair I move approval of code case 22-00 6242 fine reduction to $1,856 to be paid within 90 days second proper motion proper second any further discussion hearing none all in favor sign saying I like sign the eyes have it next item Cod case a 23 3795 address is 121 woodl Road Satsuma property owner's name is Richard new violation was unsafe structure and Care premises original fine amount was $7,295 total cost for enforcement actions $1,417 Property Owners recently purchas of property it's now compliant and requesting the fine reduction if the board approves we recommend the reduced fine to be paid within 90 Mr new would you like to speak come on up please by default I figured it was you this one nothing I'm just making a joke sorry I said by default it had to be you because you're the last one on the list all right so yeah last is the best so uh I worked with officer Z and Mr n if you'll state your name and address for the record please my uh my name is Richard n and my address is 121 wood law Road Satsuma Florida sir thank you okay so basically I worked with officer Z and the the place we bought it it was a foreclosed home and it had uh three violations one was the grass one was the power line and the other was the roof so I had to replace the entire roof I actually had to go back for a permit adjustment resheet the whole roof reframe it put it all back together I had to hire a contractor for power so they reconnected the line so now I have power in the structure and I had M the grass down so all three violations were brought into code sir thank you thank you sir any questions okay good thank you Commissioners what's your pleasure Mr chair I move approval of code case 23-37 9595 for a fine reduction of $1,417 to be paid within 90 days second proper motion proper second any further discussion hearing n all in favor signify by saying I I oose like sign the eyes have it just for the audience um today this board just wants compliance so that's why you're seeing us reduce these fines we have a lot of deric places out in the county and when they come into compliance we get the hard try to get the hard cost of the taxpayer money back to you um truly if we were to charge some of these fines they would still be derelict in your neighborhood so that's why you're seeing us reduce those down so thank you very much for your patience Mr Moore thank you for bringing that to our attention today and Commissioners any appointments Mr Pickins I have none Mr Adam Zach um I'm going to remove Lindsay Lambert from the library board and appoint her to the fair authority to the where Fair Authority for District 5 okay Mr Turner do you have any appointments I have none today Miss Wilkinson yeah Fair Authority for district 2 Ed kerw Ed kerw okay and is that the end of the your yes sir that's all and I have none so that's good uh new business Public Works grining of national gas pipeline Mr um this is a partiel of property the county owns there's currently already a gas line on it it's at the corner of Browns Lane and Reed Street um it's a very small like point 014 acre piece of property that we own right there at the intersection like they're just trying to put another gas line next to the current gas line that's already on the piece of property move approval proper motion second second any further discussion on the graning hearing none all in favor signify byan I iose like sign the eyes have it all right this is time for public comment on misscellaneous items this portion of the agenda is designed to allow citizens an opportunity to bring matters to the the attention of the board believe me it is not reasonable to expect the board will engage in debate or deliberations about matters on which the board has received no prior information as part of the agenda please limit your comments to three minutes your your time will be kept and public comment cards are conveniently placed at the meeting room entrance and should be submitted to Miss Ashley to my left your right uh she's the clerk of the court and um we will start right now with our first Miss Deborah wisham if you'll come forward please morning good morning M wisham you need to state your name and address for the record and pull that microphone right to you okay I'm Deborah wisham can you hear me 124 CR Road Paca Florida I have a packet for each of the Commissioners can I bring them to you Miss wisham can I yeah give them to Miss Ashley and she'll take care of it the next speaker wants to talk about bringing the road into the road system is that not the road is not in our road maintenance system now no well the issue I'm concerning is um the CT on 126 124 CR Road or in the area it's a c that putham County put in over 30 years ago and I've called like three times throughout the years and they've always come and fixed it and I called two years ago they came and looked at it and came out that day and did a fantastic job um okay y'all got your pockets um you're good we got did each of you get one yes ma'am okay I've got one for every here if y'all want to share it you're you're fine just my concern is um the covert that is highlighted in Orange that area that um has washed out and is a covert the county put in over 30 years ago and I've I've called like over the 30 years I've called like three times they've always come out and helped they've done a great job um this time there it affects two residents they're both over 70 and Mrs Williams is having to walk two blocks to get to her house because she can't get our car pass and the ones at 124 crant they can't get past either they having the park on the other side of the Little Creek so that's my concern is that these are um current taxpayer citizens and there's no reason for a a senior citizen woman to have to be walking two blocks to get to her residence um see what else I didn't cover this is the only access to this these two residents there's no other like you know they don't have a a choice of taking a different road to get in there's no other access to it so I covered everything and another concerned as fire and rescue could not get past this cover to get to these residents andk I think this is an issue that needs to be um addressed I have spoke I I contacted the county and they uh they were the ones who you know it was Miss um Chase uh sent me some of these papers and I've been contacting she you know she was saying saying that maybe I needed to um get signatures from all the residents on the road there was five people that had not signed I've gotten signatures from two of them the ones that won 11 CR Road told me they had signed years ago I left them um Miss wish time's up anyway I left commissioner adamac has a question for you commissioner amzac you have the floor we have we established I guess through Miss Chase that this is Private Road this section is it I guess that question is for JP it's a private road um yeah we we looked it up in our database it's a class three Private Road they had told me I'll I'll tell you this I I have a Culver on my road it's a private road I replaced it myself I spent about $4,000 and replaced the Culvert I I mean I don't know that setting a precedence of replacing private road culs is Grady that is my district I I'd love to help you but I think it's the citizens in the private roads responsibility maintaining the road um they had told me spend thousands of dollars every year maintaining my road they had told me years back that the um Culvert area was grandfathered in and and they've always come and repaired that covert I'm you know that is that from a drainage easement thing maybe how does that work which is M wish let me say this if you don't mind Mr Adams that years ago things might have been done differently but um we had an audit done and we found out that we were doing work on private roads in areas that we shouldn't have been doing we don't do that anymore and um and I don't mean I think they were just trying to be U understanding to the cause but truly my worst nightmare as a commissioner was trying to take a public a Private Road into the public system and it was the worst experience of my life uh because everybody wanted it until they found out they couldn't do they couldn't drive their foiler on it they couldn't they would lose control over who was going down it so a lot of people you'd be surprised at how many people want to keep their private road Private and uh but we have we do have a scenario you can get with Mr Stout on how to bring that into the system but it's it's a pretty daunting task to get it into this I will continue to there's like three residents that I don't have the signatures from yes ma'am I going going to continue to work on that but this is a covert that the county put in and you've got two senior citizens current taxpayers and they can't get you're you're going to have a over 70y old Widow walking two blocks having to pull groceries two blocks to get to her house s it's not about that it's about a private road and people have kept it private so and yeah go ahead Mr Turner D you need to understand this isn't an isolated incident this has happened since I've been here seven years at least three times that I know of 182 year old Gentleman on a walker had to walk two blocks to get to his house because he lived down a private road the state statute says we cannot work on a private road so it's not like we don't want to or we're not empathetic to your cause that's just not the case we're prevented from doing it um is there a is this a county there's not a county easement it's not anything it's basically a class three private road with and that's not a county easement that's going across at where the covert is not that we're aware but we'll be happy to dig into it further but I mean at at at the level that we've gone it is all private well I I would appreciate it if we just made sure absolutely sure that it wasn't a County easement or count County cover or count you know whatever it may be and if it is then we might could do something with it but if it's not our hands are tied de we I'm just tell the county did put this covert in yes ma' like I say in the I've caught them like over the 30 years like commissioner Harvey said the way they used to do things back before that state audit is not necessarily how we're allowed to do them now okay and this the covert area only affects the two residents I mean the other people um a lot of them have signed the road I'm still working on tour three but actually over the covert that you know only affects two residents and they they both have signed thank you m thank you for thank you Miss Judy Williams please and you want to know how to get the road into the County maintenance system Miss Williams Miss Williams hello Judy Williams I live at 126 cramp Road thank you and I'm pushing 73 years old this culbert drains the water that flows off of on off of sto Landing Road and the mondex they diverted to water Giant culbert on St Landing Road flows all this water down across a cow pasture and through these culverts they washed they have rusted away and so the water is Flowing between them and washing the dirt out above them and we have this giant Cass that we barely have a little foot path that we could walk across to get to our houses and and I have fallen in my house and laid there and thinking I can't get rescued to me I got to get myself back up off this floor and should my house Catch Fire and burn down there's no way we're getting fired upon to me and it just feels like to me the only reason we have this situation is because Stokes Landing Road is draining their water through our that c and it's not even on our property that these are at Randy and I both are nether one of us own this property that we my sons and my neighbor man with their tractors through this summer have been filling it back in and the next strong rain it washes out again and the neighbor will come and say the cold will starting to wash out and we'd quick get our vehicles on the other side of it so we'd be able to get town but then when we get home I have a little red wagon I have to drag my groceries back to the house and I have to keep stopping and catching my breath at my age I should not have to do that but it just we wouldn't even have this problem that stok Landing Road wasn't sending all their drain water through these HS and that's I feel like there is a drain issue easement situation for these cers to even be there is because of a Stokes Landing Road diverting all that water to us and I've been out there since 1977 was when my husband and I built our home out there and it's just through the years we've had so much rain and now we're having a hurricane this week we just got my son the tractor and filled it in so I could get here today but now we got a hurricane coming Thursday what are we going to do again we're trying to locate cul we found some maybe in Jacksonville but uh we don't have the equipment we don't have the capability to these things are 4 foot culverts 30 foot long and there's two of them and it's just it's beyond our capability Miss Williams thank you Mr adamack you have the floor I guess I have two questions for staff I mean from an emergency services perspective is there any exceptions to that that type of thing not being able to pass it because you couldn't get an ambulance to those three houses when it's like this um so as timing would have it um TR traditionally the answer is no okay the exception to that is during a local state of emergency if there is a road that is impassible local governments counties are able to repair the road not to make it good or perfect but only to the extent of making it pass for that time frame okay and then we're we're already going to verify if that is an easement a drainage easement that we may be able to do something about it if that's the case correct yes sir m M Mr Stout's already sent Miss Marine an email to get her to start pulling the information on it as we speak so maybe by even by the end of the meeting we'll have some kind of answer back for you me not when I did my covers our covert actually collapsed me these culverts actually look okay it's just a matter of filling them with different material probably so you look at what the pictures of the two CS the bottom half Miss Williams just rotted away if this was mine I I would put sandbags in there instead of sand and go over the top with stone and sand I think what you just said the bottom of the course rted Out Mr Turner you um I it's my understanding if this water is coming from another neighborhood and that's where it's flowing through that it's my understanding that that gives us some leeway I don't know what that leeway is but um I know that when at down at um in the Hile Ridge area when we were blocking all that water up we were blocking water up and it was flooding all the houses behind it we actually went on Morris's property and got permission to go in there and change a culvert that was blocking the water up and flooding all the houses back up back up the road from their ways so do do we have to wait until this one actually collapses and floods floods the houses upstream or or can or can we is it when does it deemed that we can go in there and change it I think maybe since we had Mr commando today maybe it' be a wise opportunity for us to take advantage of that and go out and let him look at some of these and see if we can determine if there's any leeway in that statute uh the way that we're able to handle the staff level is just that it's if it's a public we can absolutely do it if it's private we can't but if Mr Commando I take him today soon as we finish here and we'll go out and look at some of these individual one-off items that I think that I mean that that that does affect drainage in area maybe we can come up with a different opinion um at that time okay Miss Wilson that does lead me to that leads me to another question um Rich can you because we're having this issue throughout in other areas of the county um as far as the the drainage are we responsible for the for the water for the all you know for for the I'm not speaking very good but for the drainage not responsible for all the drainage within the county I mean there's drainage on private property just like people who own private roads are responsible for those roads they're responsible for the drainage in fact um private property owners are responsible for making sure that they don't alter the drainage um to reform their property now there are certain County Drainage Systems that are part of County Roads um that's part of a county-owned easement or right away we are responsible for those so it just depends on whether or not we have ownership of the property so we're not necessarily in charge of the flow of the water only only when it comes to public rways yes ma'am okay thank you thank you m Williams appreciate you coming today next speaker Mr Dan steel and your question is the state money that you read in the paper going to rural roads yes it is but come right up and ask your question yeah my name is Dan steel I live at 202 meleane out here in West butam and he I'm going to bring up this article here Governor danis two weeks ago uh gave the uh 30 counties $122 million for safety preparedness and for uh evacuation and stuff like this here which comes out to about $800,000 for the five of you no but Larry you know we'd like to have all all the four point little4 million dollar just for West butum okay now we have got some real bad roads out there and my question is I don't know this money goes to 30 counties how does putam get more okay than that because some of the count I mean I've been in a lot of these counties I've been I've lived over the cus County and uh they've got some pretty decent roads and some of these here like uh these Counties have got a lot more money than putam does because putam is probably one of the poorest counties on the list how do we get our share of the money is my question for one thing and how can we get some of these emergency roads and stuff or real bad roads and stuff fixed on this money Mr shair if I may you may so um that was a particular Grant and putham County did get a large portion they we received 9.8 million and that 9.8 million is not to be divided Among Us County Commissioners and it's not to go on all the roads that we would love to be paved it is very particular we apply for Grants and those two grants were to repay resurface County Road 315 from the Maran county line to State Road 20 so that is where that $9.8 million will go the state we apply specifically for a grant the grant says this is what you do with it and that's what we do with it so that's there is no leeway to take that money and put it on on another road it's very specific but the good news is it is in your end of the county yeah well U because I'm all for for West fham out there in fact uh well that's where that 9.8 is going on how on on state I mean on County Road 315 315 sir which is is nice fact I yeah because it hasn't been redone in about 20 years yeah but uh there's a lot more issues out there uh that uh I'd like to bring up later on because they're using PR but was a County Dump there are so many people moving into tents and they have they don't get garbage pick up and I know one place where there's someone that dumps it every week in the same spot well you're welcome to the dogs tore it up one day and I got out and looked there's a bunch of certificates in there from McDonald's they've dumped the same bags white bags I have not went in and tore them up or anything but more than likely it's the same people have been dumping trash there well we have codes enforcement in the Sheriff's Office you're welcome to use either one of those I've went to the Sheriff's Department I've been to code enforcement within a quarter of a mile of my house there's four trailers one of them is parked in the road right away they've got a pipe coming out the side of the trailer dumping sewage right on the ground and the sheriff department I know I've talked to one of the dees that he's pretty they're all drug dealers they walk my house up almost every day yeah and you can call the health department on that sewage they they'll come I will I'll go back and also the current re re uh surfacing that's happening on 315 is paid by the state also so when you look at County Road 315 it's probably over 13 million doar the State of Florida is paying if we had to pay it I can tell you there's no way we could afford to pay that so thank you Mr steel for your time Mr Roberts you're upk thank you Mr Travis Roberts if you'll come up and state your name and address for the record you want to talk about for Gates Ferry D Roberts 110y Circle S Florida 32189 okay I I want to find out what's going on with for Gates Ferry okay I'm going to give the reader digest version here real quick because I've only got three minutes in 2017 irah hit you guys started said right then not all of you because some of you weren't here but it was going to be fixed this is a place that's been historically you were fixing that no how am I going to fix it I'm a private citizen what I did did I miss something no I'm sorry Mr Roberts I don't mean to be rude but you came before us begging for permission to fix that oh yeah no no I did not you're that's a false what I came be for you guys is because you were going to spend Millions PR Tomkins had originally set it up it was going to be spent the money was going to be spent over there I came in and said with um Mr Ralls and them and said let me see if I can get it done cheaper which I did to the tune it was like 60 Grand so you did fix it no I didn't fix it okay I set it up went before Tallahassee went before fot all these guys and you guys are not going to throw the blame on me for this I came and said there's ways to do it cheaper and to keep it historical you guys said okay we'll give you a chance I went out found the dock Builders got with the F dot got with everybody and we wind up getting it done for instead of 1.9 million 60 Grand at that time Mr Turner which I respect his thing said he didn't care about the fort Gates that if it wasn't there it didn't matter no that's not true oh yes it is I can get the video I'll put it on the put way this afternoon for you thank you sir anyways it comes out and also uh First Coast News did a thing in 2018 now here we are seven years later in the place is still shut down that's did you fix it for 60,000 oh yeah it was 60,000 you fixed it for 60 I didn't fix it the county fixed it you guys own it I can't fix anything I don't own it okay okay so I appreciate if you quit saying it's the Cy's Landing both sides at that time I said the other side needs to be done at the same time never was I took my Troxel my nits all the mics that were there including press Tomkins Mr Pickins has been involved with it Mr Adam sack's been down there a few times it's still not open seven years later we got another hurricane coming and then to top it off you guys cut the Dem man's check and then say because Mr Hackett died that Dale Jones doesn't have any with it I've talked to the attorney and they said that you know according to their paperwork and I believe I don't want to Mis phrase here but Dell Jones does not own it yes he does he's a partner in it that's in you guys's paperwork that I pulled up oh so what's going on with it because every time I call it's a different story it's a different person thank you Mr Mr chairman I'd like to I'd like to address this and Travis I want to thank you for everything that you have done can you turn the Beeper off yes everything you have done on what I call the East Side okay it's done the only thing that's not done is the transition from the dirt to the wooden Landing other than that it's fixed okay um the other side and you can talk about the mic three mics okay I understood that there was very little damage on the West Side that's not true I'm GNA leave that where that is because those people aren't with us anymore right now we have our Scott noes our County engineer that we've hired and he is evaluating the damage over on that side and that's not going to be a $25,000 fix I was about sick to my stomach because I had been told that it was going to be limited amount of work over there okay so we haven't forgotten it so I don't know I'm not gonna have Scott come up I'm put him on the spot but I'll have some type of answer I hope soon Scott okay also we can go back to the contract okay Dale Hackett did die okay I know that you reach out to Tabitha and then also to Rich Commando our County attorney about that okay the contract was going to be over in September or October one way or the other the county has honored that contract for the period of time that Ferry has been down okay I do not believe that this board will engage in convers we can enter conversation but I do not believe that the county will extend this contract for a service that's not being provided okay you could probably say that we shouldn't have provided it back then but we did on recommend recommendations of our previous County attorney and the county has honored that and what I understood my last conversation with tabasa and with Rich Commando that you did not have the documentation that said that Dale was one of the owners has he operated it yes I know he's operated it okay he's down there today but until we have that that documentation we can't even move forward into discussion but the actual evaluation of the other side is being done now and then what we would have to do is find the funding to fix it and that's where we are right now and I do suggest with this storm that somebody needs to move that barge from in front of the landing so we don't have the same reoccurrence that we had eight years ago I truly believe if that barge was moved we would never have had this problem that's all I have to say right now thank you Mr Pickins thank you Mr Robert and we'll continue on is there anybody no Mr Robert cut me off on my three minutes is there any can I get my last 30 seconds you have your time ran out he responded my last 30 my watch is there anybody else that would like to speak Travis if you have that excuse me if you have that information you'll get it to Rich and we can further the conversation okay anybody else would like to make public comment seeing none we're going to move down to Clerk of the Court Mr Matt Reynolds The Honorable Matt Reynolds good morning Mr chairman um I don't have anything just wanted to say you know praying for everybody through the storm and hope all all goes well good thank you sir Mr County attorney Rich Commando uh I don't have anything formal just join in the same please take this storm seriously as I'm starting hear people that say that this is just going to be no big deal a little bit of wind and rain and as they're talking about it hitting landfall just south of Tass is a major hurricane um the model seems to be shifting our Direction so I don't want to be an alarmist but everybody should be prepared thank you thank you you're correct on that and I tell you what's this the second one that's hit Dixie County I mean poor people over there County Administrator Mr Terry thg yes sir just a couple things Mr chairman uh just want to let you know that put County equipment auction will go live on 9:30 and will close on 10:7 it's post on the website as well as on Facebook so want to make sure that everybody knew that was going on and as Mr Commando and Mr Reynolds has already alluded to and yourself you know we got the pending storm out there you know we had an update this morning at 8:30 we have another briefing weather briefing at 1:30 today uh if you don't mind I'd like if it's okay with you Mr chairman to ask Mr Grimes if he has any comments or anything he' like to share with the board as he facilitated the call this morning at 8:30 please Mr Grimes yes sir thank you Mr chairman Commissioners um the the the track is got we're on the very far right hand side of that track um they're expecting the storm to intensify and grow as it hits the Gulf of Mexico depends on if it slows down or it speeds up the issue we're going to have with this one is we don't have a lot of time to act um once it hits the Gulf of Mexico today they're looking at a landfall it's the earliest time of arrival is 8:00 on uh Thursday morning U with the most likely being sometime Thursday evening so so we don't have a lot of time to react uh we're going to look at this 1:30 briefing this afternoon if it maintains the same course or any kind of tick to the east I don't see where we have an option but to go ahead and start our Sheltering operations because we don't have an all day Wednesday to get the special needs set up we've talk been in contact with uh the superintendent of schools and the associate superintendent um about uh potential School closure later in the week um we have to prepare for the worst in this and hope for the best um I would much rather have everything ready to go and not need it then need it not have it all set up and ready to go uh we're going to watch that 130 advisory real real close and I think we have a 505 this afternoon um I think that according to Mr turnup seed this morning the they're going to relook at that declaration that was sent out yesterday afternoon uh which he thinks will be included in it today when the governor's office takes a look at it this this morning um other than that we just need to make sure everybody stay safe we've been very very U wet in a lot of areas uh with any type of significant wind at all we're going to have a lot of down trees and power lines uh shows two to uh 2 to 4 Ines of rainfall um that doesn't sound like a lot but in an already soaked area that's going to be in a significant amount um my other concern with this one is is if it does come anywhere to the southwest of us and comes anywhere close to the area the aster area is already at a flood tide currently as we speak and that's going to push that tile up through the river and affect our low-lying areas as well um we're already just below um we're in an action state of the tide currently in in that duns Creek area I think we got 6 Ines to give before we're in a flood state so um we just receded off of that northeasterly in the um the Moon last week and it started and it's back below the bulkheads but with any type of change shift in the East and the bad part about this is where it comes in at A T 10 15 miles to the east makes a big difference uh in the topography they're already calling for Hurricane force winds in Jacksonville just by the current track if it makes any type of wobbles along the way we could be seriously affected so we'll be taking a real close look at that 1:30 this afternoon if we need to make adjustments we will thank you thank you yes sir thank you Mr Grimes as you know we started this prep work yesterday with the with the information that we received first thing yesterday uh so uh sandbags I believe are are set and and are out now so public can can get some uh sandbags and start getting prepared for what what we hope is uh nothing disaster but you know we have to be prepared as Mr Grim said so we'll take a look at the 130s Mr Grimes alluded to earlier we'll come back at the 505 and if we have to make any decisions between now and then we will communicate with the five uh elected officials and we'll see what we need to do come 505 today and move forward and make sure everybody stays safe and that we're doing the things that we need to do not only for uh for our staff here but our citizens in the community so thank you Mr chair thank you Mr chairman just so you know that also the state health Department started their call down list yesterday for the special needs I just want to make sure we get called today that they have started making those calls to figure out how many people actually want to be sheltered in special needs and that's kind of the reason we got to start a little earlier because we had to transport those people to the special needs facilities so we had to get extra ambulances and stuff on boarded to to move those folks into the special needs that that need Transportation yeah thank you and I appreciate that and I I agree with you that it would rather be more prepared and not need it than than to be lacking and and I'll say this as those of you and I said it this morning on the radio that have been affected by the water here in the past month uh the rain that you've had and the flooding pay attention to this because West putam honestly hasn't had that problem so not every place in putam county has experience flooding um we could use some rain we could use some water out there but you know panile Stokes landing area y'all have been hit very hard that water is trying to flow out of Silver Lake out of Mud Lake and head down to the river and you're in the way so there's I mean there's a lot of rain coming that way and we just need to pray for our neighbors so thank you commissioner adamack do you have any comment um with the updates we have I have nothing I'm sorry with the updates we received I don't have anything okay good thank you Mr Turner I have nothing to add other than just that I would like to reiterate with everybody else we need to pay attention that it's a whole lot easier to be prepared and not need it than it is to be stuck in a bad spot spot so um just pay attention that's all I have Mr chairman thank you Mr Pickin yeah those are pretty much my comments I want to go ahead and thank the public works department uh law enforcement uh all of our staff Emergency Services Stefan and his group out there the county um the average person doesn't see what happens during the preparation like this but we have a command center out off of off of Highway 19 that U is is pretty impressive and a lot of the County Employees will take different roles there uh for different um needs uh that may arise so um and I just want to thank them for that and especially in the areas of Georgetown duns Creek the river the low-lying areas the river is already up I live on the river and it's already three or four feet in my yard I expect this to either way this goes to put it in there about 20 feet and uh so people just need to be prepared the roads are going to be underwater there's going to be flooding uh so just be safe thank you thank you Mr M Wilson have nothing and um and again I want to reiterate if you can stay off the roads if you don't have to I know people will be evacuating from our Tallahassee area and probably headed south so do what you need to do to be prepared for you and your family that's the end of my comments we are going to recess this meeting and we'll pick it back up at 5:05 e