##VIDEO ID:N7-INPNUiWo## how you yeah good dad [Music] stre work [Music] sh all right I think we're ready to get started if everyone [Music] father we thank you right now for this hour we thank you for this opportunity we bless your holy name for your goodness and your mercy we thank you for what you have done thus far and we thankful for what you're going to do for us in the future Lord now we come to make the best decision for our Citi we ask right now you be with us and father we thank you we love you father for your goodness again father we ask you to take care of the W on countes father bless us in our and our strip that we have in this country thank you we ask your blessing upon us father we know that we all can get along we can do good and father we ask your continued blessing as we go from one good degree to another and we thank you for these blessings these blessings and all other blessings you ask right now in Jesus name I pray [Music] Amen to United States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for [Music] all welcome everyone meeting this Tuesday October 22nd 2024 6: p.m. we have a conference line set up number there is 1 917 91022 access code is 32347 pound this is not a to free number and you may be subject to long distance charges according to your long distance plan when the chairperson opens the meeting for public comment please followly below instruction if you wish to speak please D star five the Bor will unmute your line as your turn to speak and notify you by announcing the last of your telephone number please announce your name and address you will be allowed to speak for 3 minutes any person wishing to address the board regarding an agenda item given three minutes for comment a comment may only speak one time for each agenda item and with that said we will move on to item three did everyone see the additions to the agenda do we a motion to approve motion second to approve in favor I would like to say before we go to the next item of all the Commissioners uh just everyone can hear make sure your mics are pulled in a little closer so just make sure so everyone can hear we just pull our mics in a little closer we'll move on to item three Awards recognition uh 3A the board to recognize the 2024 Forest Festival road we do have a resolution if you want to approve that or however you want to do okay we uh we do have a resolution do we have a motion to read a resolution read resolution by I apologize it was last minute all right we have a motion to read the resolution by only in a second favor read itation Proclamation Florida Forest Festival whereas October 20 24 marks the 69th anniversary of the Florida Forest Festival in tatlor County Florida and whereas in 1956 the citizens of Taylor County Florida decided to Stage a countywide pine Tre Festival as an educational tool to reduce forest fires that were crippling the County's economic base the timber industry whereas over the years the festival grew and accomplished its Aim so well that by 1965 Taylor County could boast the lowest fire record in the nation and whereas in 1965 Taylor County was the top producing County in the South and then Florida Governor Hayden Burns and the Florida Cabinet proclaimed Taylor County the tree capital of the South and at the urging of Governor burns the pine Tre Festival became the Florida Forest festival and whereas the goal of the Florest Festival became and remains that of promoting benefits of Forestry in Florida and whereas special activities would have normally been planned throughout the month of October to celebrate the occasion had it not been for the damage sustained from Hurricane clean whereas regardless of the cancellation of the festival the T County Board of County Commissioners would like to declare the month of October 2024 as Florida Festival Forest Festival month and recognize the 2024 Florida F Florida Forest Festival royalty passed in regular session this 22nd day of October 2024 motion to approve by commissioner a second by commissioner Moody all in favor get a picture all right well I want to know who this is [Laughter] want get a picture come [Music] y are so [Music] cute okay one two three say cheese one more time very good thank you [Music] [Music] that's the fun part of the job oh all right we move to our consent it it question discussion all right we'll move to item 15 public request Commander Michael th to discuss BFW post 9225 request for support good evening give one seat as much as a up lately um the salute the veterans was a big big success we had we helped 3 seven veterans and actually we're going to try to do it again this coming year in November and we're asking you all help help us support that again if you if you have the funds available like it went over fantastic you know we a lot of veterans a lot of veterans family members made sure they ate good uh they got medical doctor uh dental vision you know think they need it all free of charge and they're trying to help out especially with everything going on in this world today and uh next thing I want to talk to you about we've already got with the city about it we're trying to find a permanent home at uh for our post because we don't have one no more we uh lost that's water under the bridge but uh the thing is uh we've gotten back we I guess you call an epiphany we can't serve God in our country if we're slinging booze so we want our post to be we want somewhere where we people can come bring their children play foood ball shoot a game pool drink a soda pop eat a candy bar and just have fun with your kids where you don't have to worry about people my bunch people being drunk or a bunch of people showing out and uh that's what we've uh gotten really back into is we want to stay a pillar in this community and we're asking you all help to do that that'll also help us with our fundraising because right now U we're jumping here and there and everywhere trying to fundraising and especially with this hurricane right now we we bump it into each other whether we're coming or going and like we really really use y'all's help if y'all can help us find a permanent home either in the county or the city limits that we like said there's not going to be any alcohol any drugs that will not be tolerated at all a place where people can come to their families and churches can come and B Church whatever look at the uniforms and learn about our history American history through the military we have a little Museum going back up again and that's pretty much it un let yall have some question for looking at a request for $7500 for this event and that's something similar what we done the [Music] last looking m p gave me the number who to call and talk to about that that's so yeah we want to do that as well big area more chance more people GA have more units medical units and stuff more places Park so not trip over everybody or everybody C whole offices so the event that you're speaking of for November is this again where you have the doctors and and check said when was your last one the last one was in September it's going to be an annual event every year has it been that long it's been last month but we're scheduled for next year in November not next month but next year year 2025 on November 6th and 7th it's just we the same thing you know doctors dentist uh optometrist how many attendees did you have we had 307 is the last one wow and so let me just ask you a couple of questions um Can the VA help support that have you reached out to the veterans administration to see they will help by they'll have the vet center come out to us they'll have U Suicide Prevention suicide awareness and uh we wind up having to get the state vso to come out there because our vso didn't show up and did not call us nothing just left us hang and dry so do you have to pay the doctors that come or they do it for free uh it all depends this year we we had the GU do the ha we had to pay him if we can get the VA they they'll provided for free you if we get them to do the medical dental division they'll do back for free if we can get them this year we it was a a lot of wires got crossed people weren't wanting to cooperate with us so uh yeah usually we can get them to provide the services for free as far as medical General Vision anything like that but we have have supply all the other things so um have you talked with our VA officer our local officer to see if he can help with getting some of these people involved where it won't cost anything no ma' because like I said he was supposed to show up to our event and he never showed up he never even called us he wasn't coming that's our current that's our current vso officer um it was my understanding that he did go and help a few veterans um so we can follow up with you no did not um on another day after I've had an opportunity all these guys in my post right this isn't really I mean he was not there I just don't know if it was this one or if it was in transition between the one before Dam Walker That was supposed to come up and he never showed up and he never called a celes what happened why he couldn't show up that's not a be over there that's not the reason we're [Music] here um so this is an event for a year from November is that yes sir and your request is yes that allows us time to pay we got to pay for you know we got to get the catering we got to get the shirts uh could you could you allow us to get through our budget session through July would that would that cut you out in another month would help us get to budget season to see what where I mean that way we can kind of see what options are there and then not short Change we're able that you say wait till next July well I mean if it's going to be that far out then that way we we'd be closer to be able to see what what opportunities may be there back again no we could just schedule it for our budget workshops far as I concern I'm not saying you got to come back but it help us be able to look at something that's a bit more current and accurate not so far out yes there's a lot of work involved this a lot of work I support y'all I've always supported y'all and I'll continue to support you um if everybody wants to wait and see for it out I would do this you I would talk with our being Service Officer you know and and just try to get him involved and wonder would you help with that and um you know if there's any Bridges that's been bur whatever us try to you know have a good relationship with him see what he can help we got a better we got a medical you getze those people uh the Clinic here some of them came out and helped us okay and you also was talking about a per home you looking for deing yes sir because uh we're tired of jumping from spot to spot okay what have you found nothing yet we don't know what's available I me every place we've looked at the people that own it they w$ 2500 $3,000 a month we're nonprofit that's that's pretty much our budget for the year everything we everything we take in goes right back out especially situations like these hurricanes I mean we've uh since we get it we're going it's going right back out helping with is just something you know big enough for us to have our fundraisers have place for people come to families and hang out and maybe learn some history and get to know with our veterans I just what's word I'm trying to think of let the you know some people should be their role models not some football players some basketball players some real Hometown Heroes Have you check with the old school um is there not anything available there I know at one time I'm the president on the board over there they have nothing none of those rooms are suitable they can't be fixed no about 80% of that needs to be tore down yeah have you reached out to many of the C clubs um and just kind of told your story to let everybody know so everybody can be looking for the place we got people looking uh I spoke with a couple MERS of the Masons I haven't got any response from them uh we had a guy talk to the American Legion they're kind of in the same butat we're in Jim day uh we didn't talk to anybody anybody who could you know even friends of mine to try to help us find a place yeah now I know a long time ago um when we were doing the Veterans Memorial Park down here the vsw and the American Allegiance met at the same building over there by the cemetery yes ma'am and so that can't be shared again no ma'am the old BFW uh and the American Legion they had [Music] some inner workings that uh did not work so and they have they serve alcohol and stuff over there and we don't want no part of that that's to my understanding I don't know for sure now but we don't want anywhere around alcohol I'll support when comes yeah uh so commander three of the last 5,000 I know you guys kept the receipts from that we need to get still get those sorry the court thought I emailed them out I'll double check and I I'll get them out if not then buy nor [Music] [Music] okay wait bug part of but what about the what are you going to do what are you expect us to do for the hous I talk to the city they said the city and county both own buildings I we can afford to pay some rent but we just can't afford nothing out raes and I don't know what the city or the county has in their possession that they can work with us on about 3,000 footage about yeah about3 highway I'm not sure if that's something available or how to get in touch I mean seems to be pretty vant know I'm just think good think [Music] just location here maybe we can research it and see who it belongs to that won't take but a few minutes can inform do we have [Music] anything fin any financial support is that where we are is to wait until our budget season or well I think the first step is to get the receipts which I'll search my email to make I could have missed it it's been a busy few follow through the very well projected so get those to the court and then as long as that all balances out then reconsider during budget workshops is that what you wish to do the budget Workshop I understand that's long way away maybe these guys are trying to plan I'm not sure but that's the of the board that's what we do as far as I'm concerned I would be willing to go ahead and pledge because after next year we probably really not have after next year be along the same lines with you I mean even if we did the same amount as we did last year and if we see in the budget session we can do more then I'd be in favor of that so are you in favor of pling $7500 now I just said the same as we did 5,000 last year and I'm saying if we do the same as we did last year we can do more in our budget session then so we do so okay and that would be contingent upon receiving the receipts from okay so so I think the they request that they're going to want it to be expensed out of this year's budget because they're going to need it in July or August that'll be that'll still be in this year it won't be in because the next year won't start October 1st next year so I just wanted to make sure so even next year's budget season I mean really it's not going to go into effect they're going to probably want the money before they're going to want money before October first I mean if we even wait till the budget season and say we can do 2500 more you're not going to get it until October 1 so here's where I am then you know our veterans have sacrificed for us and and I've spoke about this a lot of times they they've given of their times many have given their lives their families have suffered along with you know with them being gone and active duty and everything and so I appreciate what yall have done for me and for our country so I'm going to make ation second that we allocate $5,000 now and um and and then if we can do more we will but for right now $5,000 Reserve forcy can you yes we have a motion we have a second by Comm D all in favor thank you guys all right we're going move on to constitutional officers other government units item 16 the board disc to consider approval of budget amendment number four and transfer from deserv for contingency for the T County Sheriff's Office agenda by Sheriff L Pat yes sir I mean that's just the overtime that we've incurred from the two hurricanes deie and Helen and it's already fell over into this budget year so that's how much short we would be that's why we're going ahead and asking to have the funds transferred back over to Motion in a second to approve you all in favor thank you got one question those additional funds we could ask for reimbursement on it'll actually be much more than that sorry I didn't mean to R um when we coded it I think it was like around 220,000 for us we're just asking for the overtime for that part of the year so it'll be a much more higher return for few but it's all eligible for reimburse yes yes it's already coded for that and and we do all the 214 forms and everything that are required to do Mo on to uh 16a over on the additions General business the board would follow up on August 12 2024 to discuss issues agenda I puta um people reaching out to me they were here before when oured and at that time um the by consent the board of and I went back and looked at the minut that decided to go ahead and and do what we could to make Provisions for them so I ask for to be put back on the agenda for tonight in the meantime um Mr Owens called me today and uh spoke about coming up to talk with leanda and I said sure go go talk to her so he came up and uh he was given the go ahead to go ahead and sell this property he's had a bar for all these months and they've been patiently waiting so thank goodness they've waited and so he was told that he could go ahead and and sell his property I'm just wondering and I understand my understanding is that the this has been that this was resolved several months ago and so I guess my question is if it was resolved several months ago why have we been sitting on this for these months who W and nobody knew anything about it until it was put on the agenda he came up here to find out today oh yeah this is all already been resolved you can go ahead and St your property what happened my understanding is that this was this was resolved with either his father or his grandfather which I was not aware of I and and this particular application for Amendment to the ldrs is for a different land land class or a different zoning type area so I I was not aware of everything that had gone on behind the scenes with him and when commissioner figal asked me about him in particular I started digging into it as I said I would and when I backtracked everything my understanding was it was not expl to him but it was resolved with his whoever the whomever the owner of the property was where there was subdivision so I didn't realize until I dug into it and I I hated that this wasn't communicated but I I did not realize that it had been resolved until I took the time to to step it all back who I grou known it know on our side I think Kenneth is the one that resolved it uh he looked back and found out that this could happen um and then I know today when Mr Owens came up here he said that Bobby Johnson was in the midst of looking at the paperwork at that at that very moment he said that the one that asked him to check into this and so when he walked in Mr Johnson was looking into it he says what a coincidence you come in I'm looking at this now I that you're okay but I know that his father and grandfather have been deceased for a long time so I don't know who was who was uh talked to but the bottom line is um I'm just glad that um that he can sell his property and that he still has a buy I just hate that we took these people through months of Acy when it was already settled now the other uh issue is that there's another um person over on um between Johnson's stri Road and work at wooden road and these folks were here they sold their home down south they sold everything in their home they came up they bought this piece of property only to find out that they they can't build a house on it so here they are without a home or anything so what have we done since that last meeting to try to resolve this issue I would like to speak to the situation with Mr Owens that when I started digging into it this was a different the the property was under someone else's name so I did not make the connection at the time that it was the same personal and I hated that he went through months of Agony but I had no idea that it was because of the way the description was now about the other property owner that is a totally separate issue it but it is it centers around subdivision of property and in that apparent parcel as we went through in August it was divided too many times and not only that but this particular parcel is not eligible for any type of building permit because it does not have access it does not have Road access which is one of the requirements of subdividing property so in in order to make that even happen in that land use category it would take a comp plan Amendment now what I did is after the August meeting I sent a draft application for Amendment to the Taylor County Land Development regulations along with an email explaining what we were facing to the regional planning Council I followed up with them several weeks later and asked them for a status I sent them a copy of the draft um the Draft application um which would allow easements 20 foot easements but only in agricultural use zone property because that is more consistent with our comprehensive plan so with the hope that that is something that would maybe be allowed since we do allow for family splits within ad use property but I don't believe that is going to solve this particular family's Pro problem because they are in a mixed use I think a mixed use Ral residential um land use classification and easements in that land use classification are not consistent with a comprehensive plan so if the regional planning Council upon review of our comprehensive plan and our Land Development regulations feels like this is even something that is doable then there's a process you have to go through through that and ultimately you have to receive approval from the state so it's not something that can be resolved on a local level unfortunately so when you and I talked last week you said that they had told you when you reached out to them pretty soon after our meeting in August yes they told you that that they'd have an answer in about 3 weeks corre so I ask you to have we to check on that and um have you heard anything back from them so they're not answering uh they're not responding to us in my opinion in a timely matter you've got people that have sold their home and everything in and and this needs to be done whether it's and and I don't really need say where we need them they're not helping us anyway but I think that this Board needs to take action to fix this and commissioner Moody don't you have somebody in your District that's kind of in the same situation I do but thing is you'll open up the can of worms if you start giving one piece of property dividing it up you'll end up with a mess and that's the reason they have the pl in place to try to control that and that's that's the reason they have that and I mean they can there's a way they can do it they can go back to all the other landowners that's been split up to and all them can sign some kind of affidavit to bring it all back together but it takes all the land owners in that particular area so there is a solution Mr Bobby told me he can he can explain it I mean it's beyond me kn exactly what all takes place Mr Bobby said is a way to go back and get all of it if you can line up all the people that it split up to you know each individual and get them sign some paperwork there is a way to do it but now that's something they have to work with Mr Bobby on that well I'll I'll reach out to them and get them to get in touch with him then because I mean I just think it's it's a shame that people have property they can't they can't build a house on there are some people that's got property that's been SP so many times and people died beat over to the Grand young or young and or Grandma and it it it turns into a complete mess and Mr Bob explained it all to me when I was questioning about peace prop on the bucket road down there that people couldn't build on and they already cleared the land had it already to build a home on and it wasn't it wasn't qualified but there's a way around it well Mr chairperson with when you have this particular property I'm thinking of when it's already been subdivided even if you join it all back together you have to follow the subdivision process and that's something that's laid out by the state of Florida and chapter 177 yes sir so even if it's all joined back together I don't that then they would have to turn around and go through the subdivision process and I don't know if that's feas for every for every land owner especially when you have all of these all of these um lot slits especially in a mixed use roal residential um land use category and not in a where it's where it's doable I mean it's allowable an act but only for family members so it's either way you look at it I think it's a very complicated process does that mean that we don't pursue it we throw the Hat in or do we try to help these people I wasn't suggesting that we don't pursue it I I just said that it would be difficult I I am I mean and I understand that we have not received a timely response but I think the original discussion was that we would see if this was feasible for an the agricultural Zone Properties or the land use categories and then try see if it's feasible to pursue something similar for other land use categories do do you recall that Conrad well I am we had a meeting at my office with regard to that yes then the last thing that I heard was that U Bobby said that he was going to try and handle it you recall as he walked out of my library uh but we again uh with respect to um the regional planning Council um doesn't surprise me that uh you don't get an answer right away at all um we think our contract with them for $122,000 a year um I'm not trying to protect them in any way but they do represent a lot of counties and they get a lot of things and uh I personally would rather them come quickly and say you can't do it without an amendment or not just H have us hanging there so if I'd request that we get a hold of them and say look you know we need a yes or a no or maybe as quickly as possible and and you know the other thing is if our County Administrator reaches out to them and 8 days later they have still not giving her the courtesy to return her call something's wrong with that at least you can make a phone call I can't believe they busy they couldn't make a phone call well I'm not trying to protect them talking about scotton and that planning counc I'm going over tonight there's something I can tell them to step up on the game or something now we've have a lot of things that happen in the last four months last 30 18 months by and I can understand things spping through the crap and but now some of this stuff is calleda by not called by the County Administrator he called by the people that own this stuff now that man is sold his land down there in South Florida wherever it was come up here to build a house without having have all the knowledge he need to have we can't blame it all on our people we got to blame it for blame F to be on the one that's trying to do and the one that's doing well that starts with real but now let me tell you this if there's a way to do it we need to find that way to do it to that's our to help our constituent everyone out on the pocket road is still hanging you know yeah and commissioner I'm I'm not blaming any anyone it's a very unfortunate situation that these people are in and I don't know who fault I don't know if you blame the land owner you blame the realtor or you blame the person themselves but I mean I would probably if I went somewhere I mean I know I know better now but 10 or 15 years ago I wouldn't have known any better if I wanted to buy something and it was for sale I probably I wouldn't know to check into all of this stuff so yeah what happens is is the real are going to get their commission if they can build on it or not so they going to push to sell that piece of property somebody buy that pie of property but I they're not going to go to Bobby and and say well can this gentleman build on this pie of property they going to go ahead and work hard as they can to have a closing to get their check and it happens all the time I've seen it down at the beach several times people go you know real s piece property you know tell them this tell them that but the real he's not liable in a way I mean that's just way it out so the people got to be aware you have to be aware of what you doing when you buy a piece of property or because there's so many R if you if they had come talk to Mr Bobby first they would never bought the problem or if they done some title work that's right should hard a longer that's true it's set up where have to hire law I'm tell that's where we're getting to because I mean the average person just doesn't know I think to to do these things and do their due diligence they don't know that there's an old saying it's a Latin term the doct of cave at impor the buyer beware that comes when you buy a car you know but uh it's unfortunate that um a lot of times we learn by doing don't we and you know I don't know what the people paying for the property you know I have no idea but if it's a quite a sum then rationally you would check it out you wouldn't let that that money go without checking it out now if they were borrowing the money to purchase this property and they went to the bank the bank would require them to get Title Insurance you know but it probably I'm just supposing and we not supposed to suppose but I'm supposing they sold their place they had some cash and they bought it without vetting it the property um and again I would say I'm not trying to check Regional pan cancel but you know we need to know something from them you need me to help you try and get Scott to answer that why don't I just give commissioner Demps a copy of my emails and can you carry it with you Thursday ma okay that's a good idea okay we can agree I mean I understand concept of these rules back maybe whenever they were put in place but I mean things evolve over the years and change and what I think we've said here before what work then may not work now so and I can tell you the Dynamics of our entire don't County well what happened is about what happened is that the state passed these statutes that we had to have a comp plan okay and what happened a lot of times with regard to that we got a grant to do the comp plan and we got a cookie card cookie cutter comp plan that a lot of the folks in North Florida got it was all that's that's what happened and so we've had to deal with that for the last 20 something years um a lot of times the legislator passes things they don't consider what it how it would affect the small counties okay because all the whole thing is to keep from Urban spr spraw that's that's what this this was and of course they're having it Down Yonder down south but it uh it they passed these things and it's caused these we're not the only ones believe me so if I can help let me know I just make sure that I'm I'm clear okay so what you're saying then is is they have this cookie cutter plan and then they present it to say Taylor County and is Taylor County required to have one yes adopt that so we don't have a say so in it they shove it down our throat well that's what happened that we uh and of course no one knew what a comp plan was when they came to tell us what a comp plate was you know that's that's true that's true but since that time we we can make text amendments to yes there is a process to change that and there are certain um mandated changes that are that we you know that we have to go through every few years and so we are going through that process now of well Regional planning council is going through the process now of helping us with this the statutorily required um comp text amendments but if we wish to make an amendment to our comp plan we can as well and so this may be something that the board wants to look at but you know something else you have to take into consideration is how it affects your future land use map which for the most part now Conrad helped me out with this that has been fairly effective hasn't it right so I I think in general the comp plan and the future land use Map works for us because it it clusters your development so people can get goods and services and they have access to infrastructure well yeah and it's kept us from having landlock lots right you know where the our truck can get there right and the school bus can get there right and the ambulance can get there right I mean they're good things about this it's not all bad right but it's very unfortunate especially with you know the particular people that we're referring to who are some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life and it's it's heartbreaking so I mean if there's a way to help them I certainly don't disagree with that I just don't know how to speed up the process because I I do believe it's going to be a comp plan amendment to change um to allow easements in in those land use categories yeah I think we established that it was where a fire truck could get in there you know was we talked about the um the measurements and right and everything we established that you could get a fire truck down in there so right um and and it's worked in some ways and I think there's pros and cons to um just about everything so with this one I don't think it's all pro there's certainly some cons to it so um I'm just trying to help these people because I I feel I do too I I really that's just how I am Mr for Thurs thank you on 16 B the board to discuss status of S ped Bri repair attended by commissioner F yeah we decided that we were going to go ahead with this I just need to know the status on it before it falls in and kills somebody um well so the board executed the CI contract a couple of meeting ago I believe the contractor has agreed to hold their pricing and we expect for them to commence with construction starting around the end of January is my understanding it has to be the contract has to be fully executed and the funds encumbered prior to the the calendar year um in order to utilize our arpa funding so that's pretty firm the January oh yeah thank you stff 17 the board to review and consider approval of the grant preapplication package to the Federal Aviation Administration requesting funding assistance for phase one of the taxiway realignment project at the period airport agenda by H mealie hello he mealie can you hear us can you hear me clear you there yes okay this preapplication is an amount of 3,15 um [Music] 255,000 would be discretionary funding and 600,000 would be fa entitled funding this will be our third time to commit the pre application the pre application has always been approved we've submitted the grand application two other times we have not receiv received funding due to the lack of funds available at FAA we will continue to resubmit if we do not re funding this time again because taxi wde reignment is required for us to be in compliance with fa standard I think probably what it's happening is your larger airports are receiving funding first but obviously we don't have $3 million Ling around for the tax re we have received some funding from seot but not funding to complete the project so I just need approval free application the actual application will be submitted in spr if the application is approved and we would receive funding in July 2025 there is no mat requirement from the board any questions from the board motion to approve by commissioner we got a second second second by commission all in favor I thank you we it the board consider approval of contract with Trinity Electrical Services Incorporated to complete the apron flood lighting the contract with try is in the amount of $284,900 the project is 100% funded with two different fa and one F question [Music] WR 19 the board to review and consider approval of additional Disaster Assistance funding strategy recommendations for 2024 2025 unincumbered ship funds agenda by gr okay we we can amend our ship loal local housing assistance plan should we choose to we can only use it to amend for unencumbered fund which in July we receiv received our 24 25 by funding in the amount of $350,000 normally we have used the fund for down payment assistance rehab and Demolition and new construction I'm asking the board to consider um using this funding in the disaster strategy plan to provide mortgage assistance to provide um insurance deductible payment assistance and to include rental assistance now when I I prepared the agenda document we were unaware that the state is um rolling out a rental assistance program for hurri however I would like to include it in the plan but not set any limit of this time just so we don't have to amend it again I I I I've discussed this a couple times with M Wanda and I think people really need our health right now as we all know and having the ability to provide mortgage assistance so people can hang on to their homes during a period of time or to provide assistance for people to be able to pay their insurance deductible we we can either set a liit tonight we can set it next board meeting after we've had time to do more research but I'm asking your approval us at least amend the local housing assistance plan so we can provide this assistance I know we obviously want people to build some to get in back on the tax R but I think it's really important at this time to help people hang on to what they do have um you know having having a place to go call home is so important but I'm asking your consideration and and hopefully approval to amend our housing assistance plan Mr chairperson so I think what the board can consider um as as Melody said when we originally spoke about this we did not realize the state was going to turn on their their rental assistance program or their temporary housing program and um and then there's the non- congregate shelter program so I don't I don't know that we necessarily need to to mimic what the state can provide but we don't have all the facts about that program yet we're still waiting for for the the state to turn it on to make it available so um in the meantime if you would like to amend the lhap that at least we get the ball rolling if you want to consider like as Melody explained you know mortgagees Assistance or rental assistance or some something to kind of fill in those gaps and then if you choose to just have people go through the state for the non- congregate Sheltering of what they call the direct housing program we don't necessarily have to duplicate those efforts if if you don't wish to and we could offer additional resources um the only down side is that if you utilize your ship funds then that's two homes probably that won't be built but that wouldn't happen for how long Melody a couple of years it would it would be two to three years before the home could be built because we only have enough money in that program to do one demo and new con construction um we probably don't have enough money to do two that's why I thought that would be a good use of this un incumbent funds to help people right now um or we could do one demo and two Recs but that amount of money doesn't go that far right now we have you know all theion funds that will go towards demo and new construction and we will be getting our huran hel fund we're doing new construction but we don't know how much and I just thought this would be an opportunity to Awful um assistance we haven't in the past um as I said to to help people get through this to hang on to their homes and not lose their homes if the board chooses to do that you will set the limits on the assistance that we would provide and you will set the period of time if you say we will provide mortgage assistance for just three months or six months the amount you would like to do or help people meet their insurance deductibles and you would set back amount that you would be willing to provide to and all sh program is for very low income low income and low to moderate income you don't you don't just because you agree to make this amendment doesn't mean you have to do that until you choose to I mean but I I want us to have the ility to do that should we choose to Mo that all three of them just true so you just need a motion to amend it and then set those conditions later the future day yes depending upon what we can if you if you approve Amendment I'll go ahead and move forward with preparing that Amendment and we can get to the state after the am is approved we can go back you know I can do some research for you on what other counties are doing to kind of give you an idea since we've not used our money for this in the past plus order housing has been great I've asked them so many questions they sent me uh an application process that can streamline things ially drug Mr CH and Mr I think because I was searing for the aners for us we can go back later and set the amount you would like to expend for strategies and set the timeline on how you would like to do it I'm tonight I'm just requesting that we do amend it so M what you if if this is amended tonight then are we saying that we have to spend this money in this manner I just it just get because you have the ability that if you say okay well we did the amendment but there's all kinds of programs now and people don't need this assistance now you still have the dit and Rec construction you still have the rehab and you still have the down payment assistance in your plan so all those are in your plan you can still do that um we do have the ability since it is part of Disaster Recovery that um we we have to do certain amounts every year in the L and say we're going to do $2,000 you know $120,000 we don't have to do a month of budget amendment either we don't have to make that request because it's considered Disaster Assistance only like I said only to allow us that option and once it's approv the board can revisit it and we can set the anoun that that you would like to do I understand I just I just know that it's yeah if we classify this money as assistance due to disaster so to speak then it's a tough one just because there's whether it's whatever class you want to class of folks a lot of everyone has a bunch of their own money during this disaster and it why not me you know why why didn't I get some of the money I don't care what class you put them in but it's the person that may able to spend unnecessary money that they feel like they didn't have to spend just like the next one if you give it the one and and there's not enough money to go help every one of week you know it's just a tough one so but I mean I I don't mind doing the amendment and but I just I want to look at it a lot closer before we just go you know and it and it is only for that funding year it's only for 2425 it's only for for that funding year because we can only use uncom funds and none of those funds were in covered because we have just received it so it's not like we can go back and say okay I mean we've got housing applications pending right now for 2324 fund we can't take from those people we can't say never mind we're not going to do this we we cannot do that it can only be unencumbered an unencumbered year and it just so happen the way you know all this selling line that we had just received that year okay all right so we have a and I second it on the table to make this amendment so we'll call for a vote all in favor thank you m Mr chairman thank you so much she's we do have applications pending they've been pending for a long time for Hurricane adion here we are about to go into 2025 not the first person has got a house or even got it started on and we paid this company a lot of money to help us and nothing has been done we can I would like to agenda that for the next uh meeting or the workshop and talk about what in the world is going on nothing so what do we have to do to get something going on and that's what I want agenda for the next meeting yeah ridiculous Melody the status of all those applications I know you asked for one recently and they did make a visit to the airport correct last was it last month that's correct they came to the airport and help people with their applications for two days and um you know I mean you know I've been on them and we just you know we've discussed it and um we just we we have to we have to move forward and I assure you um we are working on it I asked them to provide me with a list of all the applicants and I will have an updated list for you at the next board meeting um of the applicants that have applied and [Music] um I I don't know what to say because we we are concerned and um we need to you know we're on our second major hurricane now and um we're we're concerned but I will provide you a list I will um you participate in the workshop and um I do know um all I can say is we're we're we're staying on them and um well why don't know why don't we just invite the Consultants to the workshop so they can explain if there is a deficiency if it's an issue with application or if it's an issue with documentation or what happened after they were on site to to help our people rather than for them I think contact Miss Reynold and um ask her to TW be there but but you know I know [Music] um I'll just do that I we'll just invite them to the work all concerned yeah we'll just invite them to the workshop and then they can answer for their own for they can they can explain and and again I will I will provide you with a list of all all the applicants I've been intending to do that anyway so that y'all can see you know who in your District may have app and um so I I want to get that to you but you know I know we need to be moving and and I know of several cases where some of the applicants are virtually homeless and and we really need to be providing them assistance and I'm not insinuating that anybody on our staff has not done their job uh I don't believe that is the case um I I we need to be looking at this company thank you mie all right we'll move to item 20 the board to continue discussion of Fire Rescue by C good evening everybody um the last the board meeting that bring back some information with some numbers and some information so you could make better decisions and further discuss so that is what we've done um additionally on top of what you had in the packet we've also provided a sheet that shows health insurance cost monthly um for us and other area departments what we could gather in that time period um at the various levels of employee only employee child employee spouse and employee family just to give you a little more information [Music] are you talking about for insurance or well no just we gave you this as you were looking at the salary so youd have the information of what our employees pay for insurance compared to other places as well just a little bit more it wasn't in the original packet that I turned in for them and I'm glad that we that we can provide uh help with the insurance for our employees um I think a lot of people probably come to work for us because of the insurance um must not necessarily be true with starf fathers but but um anyway I mean I'm really glad that we can do that and I I really hope that we can continue to do that um one of the things that when we get into the the more the family plans and those that's where we take care of all of our employees very well um the the difference for us I think is what we're seeing is not so much with the city there but the Jefferson counties and the Dixie counties it's the employee only covered it's the the 19 and 20 year olds that are getting out of school that don't have families yet and they usually don't think about those benefits yet so that's I think that's the biggest difference like so we're really set up once you've been here for a while if you're getting your later 20s 30s and you're starting to get married that's where that is a a very good benefit like I said and not just at fire department for all of the county that our County does an amazing job somebody who sits on the insurance committee meeting I know we do a lot of we just need to a shop for more affordable benefits and that needs to start now not that budget season uh but what percentage of your fighers have take advantage of the insurance and I'm not talking about the single coverage but how what percentage take advantage of the spouse and family I would say at least half of them are employee only um people they don't have children or wives or anything you know if and I don't know if you can answer this or not but if do you have any idea that if you ask a that's making almost $10,000 less than a laboring in County if you ask them would they rather have a Better Living wage or the insurance what do you think that would say I think that would greatly depend on which firan you were asking um said guess somebody that's in their 40s with the family that's you know if that $10,000 was one or the other you know you're going to spend it out of the way versus if you have somebody who's in the early 20s that's on employee only coverage they're already getting it for free so it's not I I think that 20-year-old person would say I'll worry about that in 10 years from now when I'm married and have kids the people some of the people that I've talk to um given the choice would rather have a Better Living wage and the ones that are on the poverty level could probably go and get free insurance anyway and we do have people I think that would uh certainly fall into the poverty level and and they're entitled to free insurance so I think some of these people would rather have an increase in Pay than insurance we was just like wanted we wanted to provide you that information to that just just everybody can see that Mr chairperson I mean if I could I don't disagree with commissioner Fel and I would say it just depends all all across um our demographic it depends on whom you ask I believe when the sheriff was having similar problems recruiting um deputies that was an issue the insurance was an issue so um if I'm not mistaken so once we added that you know that demographic to our plan he was able to recruit more effectively but I think in Dan's Department maybe it's it's flipped and um we do have a certain percentage and I is it 50% maybe Dan who maybe start their career here and then and I don't know if that's their intent but they may travel here they may not live here but they start their career here because there are fewer calls perhaps and um and then they may wish to move on to a different department um I think and I think that as we go through the next year our budget workshops and our Insurance committee meetings this is going to come up time and time and time again because um what our employees want is it's split some employees do work here for the insurance benefits we have a very rich plan the board is very very generous then we have another group of employees they want the money and so perhaps as we go through the process next year we may find a way to meet people in the middle so we have something to offer everyone and it's more Equitable so one employee may not be receiving an $118,000 a year benefit over another so it may level out um the playing field but all that being said I think the the biggest issue is you know the possibility of having to Brown out a station and and that's that's you know that was the number one concern that Dan wanted to bring forward and I'm certainly concerned with is if we have to Brown out a station what are you know what that could look like and if I may add real quick too and like that's terrible but just even as long as we stay that we stay short staff so like right now we have two firemen at station one one at station six and one to station 7 so even before we get to browning out you know on the best case scenario we have a big house fire like one Woods Creek you know I mean that we had assistance from the city but if we get further away we have at best four firefighters in the middle of summer heat so you know if we can get back to full Staffing where we want to be that one extra person makes a whole lot of difference when you're having to drag hoses in the sun all day long so trying to prevent that you know what what we're facing but also trying to get back to a normal status what is full staff For You full staff we keep a lieutenant on at station one with two firefighters one firefighter in Heaton Beach and one firefighter in Cen hatche for total of five all 247 and then how many total do you have we have three shifts so 15 15 firefighters plus myself and the fire inspector at work Monday you go back to what brings this this topic up again because Chief has been coming and raising his hand this is probably the third or fourth time the chief has probably come and rais his hand that I'm losing employees and I'm getting down to the threshold to where we may have to Brown out of station if we BR out a station then that hinders us from even serving the public correct and and it may not be when we say brown out it's that's not you know no one's over there we may it may go to Monday through Friday which I think is how we started station six right now where one shift is below minimum Staffing so there's one shift that we're currently utilizing over time to back fill because we're only the one shift down we're the one so we're having people that anybody wants to work overtime that's how we're how we're keeping keeping keeping open right now some point I mean all about people you working over time and getting overtime but at some point you work people to the point that you brought out and then they end up doing something and we're not making it mandatory over time we're opening it up because that's that's when I was here last time when I said to make it mandatory where we're just constantly especially if we get another if we lose one or two more um we can't keep up with that it can't be mandatory right now because we we just went below that critical threshold we're still able to say anybody who who wants to work over time once they start getting filling in too much the the new is going to wear off of that really quick and they're not going to want to volunteer to work that well I mean I love of these guys I mean I sever of them probably that not really personally but I know that they these guys the way their hours work you know instead of being off they got another job or something that they' committed to so they're having to pull back from another commitment and and they don't really want to do that for a short term knowing thaty you're trying to sta here stations and they don't want to lose what they've already been doing and kind of their lifestyle and the way they've been living unfortunately too like I said once we're even even when we're we ride three short for a time period especially for but it's not good for the morale of the fire department where when you're sitting that low for so long and they they start looking around like do we need to start looking do we need to look somewhere else um and we we don't want we don't want that spreading in in the firehouse because we want our people we love our firemen they work hard for us um and we want to say we wanted to have long careers here I want to see every last one of them retire from here there's a time where people will value their time with their family and their personal time of ahead of anything else I've been in a position where I worked many many many many many hours and you get to the point that you you will reach burnout and and over time you can say yes you're paid overtime and you're making money but a person shouldn't have to work themselves to death and they shouldn't have to work to be away from their family and not to have their personal time to work overtime just to pay the light bill and just to live so and I know right now our situation is you need them to work over time in order to have the coverage and part of our responsibility we're required to provide fire service and that to me doesn't mean that you can close a station down because those people that are depending on that station if their house burns down then where we going to be then they're going to be in a lot more trouble then so as we talked last time what may be some of the answers to some of this and instead of having people that have to work over time just to make even with it over time these people don't even make what other people are making I think it comes down to their pay and I made I made this spreadsheet that's just a little easier to follow if you start over on the left hand side you can see the highest paid counties and in every category if you look C to the right Taylor County is the lowest by four um and we have to do something to get these people where they're making a decent living without having to work overtime to make it now as I pointed out in my conclusion down here um of course the city of Perry is our closest geographical competition city of Perry stting salary for the farigh EMT is $53.99 ours is 44 868 which is a difference of a little over $99,000 a year that's a lot of money um if you did an hourly increase of $3 an hour that would put us to be competitive with our people right next door the city of Perry so that would make Taylor County at 53136 compared to the city of Perry at 53 9.90 that's pretty D and close there um and if you look across there the city of Perry is the highest and then Madison County in DIC County I was really surprised when I put this in a format that I could really really compare these side by side I was really shocked that even Jefferson County and even Waka County pay more than we do that's shameful that is shameful but then when you get down and you look at the next line of the far fighter medics in my opinion it's it's even worse but a $3 a $3 hour race would give would still leave them $6,000 less than the next lowest pay which is wulla county even 6,000 less than the next lowest County I will add the one reason why we way we are traditionally lower on our fire Medics is because Madison Dixie SW all those they run a fire rescue with any EMS based fire rescue so their fire firefighter paramedics are working a lot on the ambulance so they're spending more of their time and they're having to pay more because that's a so they work a slight their fire Medics work a slightly different kind of field than we do um so it would be expected that because they're not having to work on an ambulance and run those kind of calls than as many that we would be a little bit lower on than that that would be expected be a little bit let's just look at the far Ed too then I mean we're at 44 the city of per there's a $9,000 difference just look at us to W Cola County look can do better than this and if we just like I had talked about for several years you know and I know that the administration and and some of us have you know been worried about the um what do you call it where everybody doesn't get the same thing um and I think that that's put us really at a disadvantage because just by giving a little bit to everybody you're never going to get these essential Services up to where they should be everybody will get a little bit but nobody will ever get a good living wage so my proposal has been all long that you take one department and do just what we've done here we've got some good data to compare it with and and bring those people up to a good living wage next year you take that next Department gather the same kind of data and see what we have to do and eventually everybody's going to have a good wage versus back here where we're so worried about this whatever you call it where everybody gets the same thing and nobody gets very much at all and you still keep people on the poverty [Music] level I just had a question for chief Castle um just because I can't I just can't recall so the numbers that you provided the starting annual salary do all of those include overtime um do you know not I don't believe they all do some of them like I think believe Dixie County included built-in overtime and their numbers okay um a lot of these I just had to go based off of how they advertise can get a hold of everybody okay so some of them specified that they did builtin over time and just knowing Dix account count through the years I know that that that probably includes the built-in overtime because they're on a 40 Hour Work Week um I don't believe Swan's was some are some aren't I I don't know of them all not sure no and I I don't believe the cities did either I don't think they had built an overtime there if they just had and they just got a 3% too thank you I should have to work over time to still make far less than other other counties and some some of that like some of that buil over time is the way the ships fall because we work a 53h hour work week so just the way if if you work your normal ships there's some overtime that's just built in just for working your ships so that's not necessarily working extra days we we we tried to factor in and say that there is so much but that they also do have what we call Kelly days and that so in that period where they would have an extra day in there if it's a built-in day of overtime they they have the option to say I'm going to take that day off and not get a built-in day of overtime um how many hours a year do they work we budget for 2756 what rate at the 1628 that so you budget with the overtime factor in that's without that's the salary without factoring over time but we do fact over time and that's you well the same way in the in the increased amount in the First Column that's the same we we factor in so much overtime so there's a little bit some of that has to be factored in is built in over time and then other ones is incidentals the V storms or big calls we have to call people in so we have to factor in a certain you know they're still working um almost 700 more hours a year because I think it's either 2,000 or or 2040 or 20 so they're still working 700 extra hours a year to make this I mean however your shifts work out or what but this number 2756 that's more than the average that's that's extra hours A lot of them the average average 40 hour employee is 20 280 believe 280 and it's because the shifts are 4896 so they work 48 hours straight they work two days on three days off right but at the end of the year they still work they do 700 almost 700 hours more let's don't lose s of that no that's why that's why we wanted to make it clear how how it how all of this is budgeted so so everyone understood that they work 2756 hours a year and because the hourly rate is a little confusing um just and we wanted to be very transparent and then we budget about ,000 a year overtime and so when Dan came up with the like for the firefighter EMT the 478960 the problem is that these people are paying far less than people in surrounding counties and they work many more hours a year and that's why Dan you can't keep anybody and that's why you can't attract U people that are going to stay here they're not going to do it if they go to they go to Madison County and make 9,000 almost $9,000 more a year they're going to do that and like and that's where instead of just talking about it as the dollar that's where I kind of wanted to show it as how much is their what is their annual salary I'm to see that kind of you know it's not a is it a 50 Cent difference is it you know it when you do the math at the end of the road it's a much it shows the difference of how much we make compared to everybody else whether it's good or bad so would you say d your number one raing for losing employees could be for I know we lose we lose a good good bit of employees because they can go to other departments and make more money um I think there's a good reason why we don't get applications is because other departments especially because most of the people are coming from counties away so if I'm going to if I live Three Counties away and I'm applying for jobs if I can get a job that's only two counties away and they're going to pay me more I'm going to stop there I'm would you think that some of the folks end up sing for Taylor because may not be an opening at one of these other places that are you that that pay more money and they just kind of fill in the Gap until loc open up if they came here it's because everybody else would be full and then but yes if if they got a chance to go somewhere else the chances of them staying here long term is Slim because especially being in F FRS Matson Dixie swanie Jefferson you looking down that list these are all F FRS counties so if they work here for two years that FRS time goes with them if they go to any of these other agencies so their retirement isn't affected if they go if they jump around so you laid out what your uh I think cost wise I think if we were in the in the I think if if we met in the middle the $2 puts us more in line to where everybody else is no it doesn't well I'm not saying that to be the top I'm just trying to get and if you look at even at $3 that's still going to put us less I mean you should be taking up for your guys that are working for you Dan oh right I that's why why I'm hearing in the first place man but I'm I'm can but on the top one I'm also looking at it as the department head and of the the first one the annual cost by increase I'm also trying to balance that out by the impact on on the county as well um that's in a perfect world I would love to see it's all got a very very very sizable um increase but also being a responsible department head I I got to look at that total in that top column there um trying to trying to be responsible for that too and knowing that we have we we're going to have to come up with money this year which did we ever look that uh I have the amount that's in reserves to your your statement is that if the starting salary was closer to basically $50,000 then that would be um a reasonable base rate is that compared to our area when you look at the Sal everyone else I think it in more in the mid-range of of the rest of the rest of the county so if if I'm looking at this insurance cost in the city of Perry is just for the employee I only $160 a month correct and help me make sure I'm all right with my math but my math says that's $1900 basically annually that a City firefighter if they are opted in the city's insurance plan is really reducing their salary is that comparable M and that's where I said with my suggestion at $2 would be it would offset kind of start offsetting that difference where I'm not trying to get have our insurance costs the same as they better than theirs and their their hourly rate I would like said with us being in the middle of the salary range if you look at their employee only cost for their insurance that puts them like said it's around $2,000 or $2 to $3,000 if they're currently about right around $544,000 that puts us more more at an even well I think it may be putting you to an advantage for folks that are taking the insurance seriously because T county has no costs mind an advantage to the people that were trying to compete against do Mr but let's let's talk a few minutes about some of these comparisons because if I look at all these counties I believe the majority if not all of these Counties have a higher millage rate than Taylor County has and some of these are are actually maxed out they're already to the top we're 7.2 Madison I believe Madison and Dixie I'm certain are and I believe the number of these other are but I I'm fairly confident is that 7.2 is is less than each of these counties and further than that I believe the majority of these counties also have a fire assessment are you familiar yes and you tried a fire assessment I'm not suggesting an assessment I'm not for an assessment I'm just making a factual observation that our county has a lower millage rate without a fire assessment currently and these counties I believe um I won't say they all are but I believe the majority of these counties given their fiscal position are capped out on their Mage and are currently assessing for fire services and I may be wrong about that but what I'm what I'm saying there is because of their position and their require their uh taxpayers are are footing the bill at a different level than what we currently experiencing here so my my objective if there's a way that we can get to that is to not trigger a fire assessment primarily nor should nor increase the millage rate if it's within reach but what I want to understand from our clerk if I could if we were to agree at $2 an hour for our firefighters how much does in addition to would that be that's yeah 14571 okay if but that's not figuring any other departments except for our fire service correct is that put over time in it to for that extra I'm not certain yes one of I agree cost be Associated and we gave that raise we broke that information down from a dollar all the way up to the the $372 for $20 that was discussed at the last meeting so that information is all been provided Mr chairperson if I could just point something out um the current insurance benefits I think we all need to realize may not be next year's insurance benefits I think we're going to have to look at our plan and there will be a question if we can if the board can continue to fund the current plan at that rate or or what we're going to be able to do so I think that we need to consider that whatever our health insurance benefits are today may not be our health benefits health insurance benefits moving forward would you agree Mr cour yeah yes so we we've we've been working with the insurance to U provide some options some different options there they'll be they'll be bringing that to you soon so um so there's you know we do have some opportunities to change that if the board wishes to do so um I would I would think 145,000 would I don't have the numbers in front of me but I would think that would probably be in the M year fund proba be close to a half a meal I would think um probably increase just because some of the neighboring counties are at 10 mills does it justify and make me feel all warm and fuzzy that that's the reason that we're not doing the right thing for people that are not not making a a living wage that that doesn't give me a lot of of of good feelings about that so I can't I can't go there with that and it just really amazes me that that we always go to raising taxes are cutting essential Services when it comes to something like this instead of looking at um at more affordable benefits and looking at cutting spending we don't go to the obvious we want to go to the most Sensational thing that says oh well then we're going to have to raise taxes and we're going to have to cut out our place and fire and that's not it we we need to stop spending and look at more affordable benefits but and it feels kind of odd to me very odd to me that I'm sitting here and I am advocating for and trying to get your employees a fair living wage more than you are that's kind of a a different that's different for me that I'm I'm trying to get your employees more than you are just an observation I'm not oos more I'm just I would imagine Chief would probably take $5 if he thought it was I would and he's been here numerous times I wouldn't think that'd be a fair statement to the chief to think that he's not working his butt off for his I'm just telling you what i' be doing i' been trying to get my people every time I could but I understand I I hear you I hear you let me say something I don't know if y'all been getting phone calls from other Department's employees not but I've had call some other department and if they don't get some money along with the firefighters we're going to have an issue I can tell you I mean it's going to be a problem and we are going to have like I said the last meeting if we talked about this if we're going to give a raise we need to give it to everybody we you don't need to be giving it just to one group and then say well maybe next year you know good well P next year we going to be shorter than we are now so we ain't going to be able to give no $2 or $3 an hour to another another department next year unless some miracle I'm looking at essential Services that's why I'm looking at fire I'm not looking at we can do without some road we cannot do without a you cannot do without with without motor trater operators you cannot do without CDL Drivers you can't hold the trash without CDL Drivers you got to have people qualified for things too they didn't just get off the bus they went to class and got certified and then a motor grader operator he it takes him a long time to qualify to do it right do it right way here long enough CU they're on the property level too but here's the thing we're in financial situation coming for this coming year everybody any can figure know that it's not going to be the same 12 months from now when we sit here and we going to have to I'm fine with giving all the our employees a dollar raise instead of that 50 Cent and doing that if I mean if they can't take that I mean they need to find them something else too but I'm talking about he's calling me and saying Jim we going to have a problem and some of them even threatening to quit if they get to a $3 and they don't get to a $3 but they satisfi with a dollar but how does that and I hear what you're saying I hear what you're saying but how does that resolve the problem that we're about to have to close the fire station because we don't have enough of firefighters how does that by giving everybody just $1 because you got some people that call you up and they're complaining and they call me too and I understand if we have started this two or three years ago like the way I wanted to by this year these people would have been made whole but no we wanted to give everybody the same thing so here we are it's going to come back and Bight us I'm telling you it's going to come back and Bight us that's all I got to say Mr chair person if I if I could I think that I understand that we have some critical budget issues that we're going to have to resolve very quickly and I don't know no matter what the board does tonight our current I would say our current funding is not going to be adequate next year so if you choose to fund the firefighters at a higher hourly rate to stabilize that department that would that would at least accomplish that now if you choose to give all employees you know the other 50 cents or whatever you would like to do but I would I would like to stabilize the fire department because if if you're talking about station six that's that's a pretty I mean that's a populated area and the fire station not only offers I mean their first response they put out fires and logistically they are one of the it takes it's one of the longest response times if if nobody was Manning that station how long would it take either the Steen Hatchet truck or the in toown truck to get to station 6 territory any right so and I I understand it's not sustainable I mean obviously it's not sustainable and we're going to have to take a very hard look at the services that we do provide in my opinion just when you look at the loss of Revenue at the coast and you look at the loss of revenue from the mill closures everything a lot of things are going to change next year but um I I and I would like to give all employees something but I do feel like we need to stabilize the fire dep Department one way or another and that's I I just hate to Brown out a station I and that's the whole reason we brought it to you and it's difficult for us to Advocate one Department over another that's just that's difficult but I do feel like we need to try to do something to stabilize the department one way or another I've seen this department standing in front of this Podium raising his hand numerous times I've have not seen other departments raising their hand numerous times like this guy well but I will say in all fairness that other departments we've had the limp along we've had shortages in other departments it it may just not have as critical an effect and the the whole reason that you know we wanted you to look at the health insurance was not to you know that's just a snapshot in time but I would fully expect some of those benefits to change next year as well we have to we're going to have to make some changes but I think the question is okay is there is there any what can we do to stabilize the department and and then come up with a solution for all departments and all operations that's sustainable and that is not going to be resolved tonight I don't believe do you Gary I mean that's a that's a that's a huge task yeah I mean I would say you know if you're talking about 145,000 in the mstu Fund bring everybody up $2 I mean that you're going to be $120,000 short to start next year right so we'll have to cut out something else is nonessential yeah and there's I mean mstu is you had about 27 Surplus in there this year so if if you go to 145 then you're going be about 120 short right right to begin with right so you'll have to balance with Reser I mean we would have to take it out of reserves come if you did this year it's not to come out of reserves this year and then you know you'd have to figure out how to make your balance next year right and that would be I mean that may be the case across several funds if you want if you wish to consider raising other employees salaries um there's not adequate Revenue in some of those funds either so you would have to balance with reserves and the other funds I'm not for that until we have cut spending and there's a lot of ways that we could cut spending and we could we could sh for more affordable things benefits and other things but why would you go in and spend your reserves without first making your budget very lean and cut out what we can do without that's what we should be doing that's that's that's good business there I know at home I don't run to my savings account cut out something I cut out something I keep that because I may need that one day this here I can cut this out or cut back on this and that's what government should be trying to do we just wanted to present the data to you so you could go into it eyes wide open and and again we did not realize until after the budgeting process that we were facing the um this critical shortage um we I think I think it was two years ago we were actually our salary was much more competitive but pre we were pre yeah and then after that we were able to stabilize again I mean the board has given $3 an hour in in raises and also given incentives you've been very very generous we just can't keep up with other departments because they're right then I mean they're they're outpacing us yes and that's like I said last time I was here or two weeks ago it was the same thing I said it's it's not that the board hasn't done for the fire department you know nobody's saying that it's just like you said it's other the other departments in our area are outpacing us and they're just they're they're fighting they're fighting fighting a battle for the same people that we're trying to get and I said it's just that they've just outpaced us we're just losing we're losing I would like to see us give a $3 a $3 an hour R to e fors uh both the Fara EMP and the Fara Medics I still going to be below we're still going to be below but we won't be the lowest so maybe that would give us some advantage that these people would be more interested in applying for a job and stay and especially if we even if we have to cut the insurance benefits if we can still provide something there uh to keep these people here cuz we have to have firefighters so my question is if you cut those insurance benefits you're cutting those salaries because those folks that have families and and they're going to carry Insurance are still going to have those same expenses so it's just moving numbers from one category to another one when we're out of place currently I don't know what the the insurance committee brings this year I know idea what that's going to be I can you know speculate that it's likely to be uh you know differ is in costs and coverages I think that's typical and I think that's a consideration for that point in time but for us just to say we're going to do x amount of dollars and cut benefits I think I think you're still cutting salaries because that same um amount of funding is still going to come out of the salary whatever that amount is that employee is still paying that it just depends on how far that salary is going to go so what I'm I'm still looking at is the turnover in all our departments whether it's law enforcement of Public Works or the fire department is at a at a higher rate I'm not saying that we have to accept that I'm saying given an understanding what that rate looks like that for me it makes a more practical um decision of keeping all those things balanced and not fraction and that's that's where I've been and that's where I'm still at I've heard from from those employees and they're quite um disappointed and and I can't say that any this kind of reaction this one Department level um isn't going to cause a change reaction across all our other departments as a matter of fact I was told pretty clearly that's going to be not just a a consideration but An Occurrence so those are the things that I'm looking at as far as not having roads or not working roads if you don't have roads then your time if you don't have roads that are accessible your time's going to be affected if you can't get there at all what else does that do so it's not to say that it's just one Department over another one but understanding all the Department's experiences through the the last hurricane and the elements in which they work through and the ways that they perform I just can't of a good conscience only consider oneart Mr chair there are we have employees that their spouses work and their spouses are offered Insurance where they work now I know there are some companies that if your spouse works and is offered Insurance then we're not they have to take that and we should follow the same thing if you have a spouse that's offered insurance they need to take that insurance because I mean they're going to what they're going to do is say oh we can get it through the county cheaper but if we're going to look after our bottom line if your spouse has Insurance then they should be able to they should have to to to take that insurance that's the way it was at the Mill and it worked I know when I worked at the hospital and he worked at the Mill I had to take the hospital Insurance because in that my and so that way if we you know that would help out from what commissioner Newman is saying I think that would help that that bottom line let me say something I've been listening I've been hearing pros and cons this poverty level I think this county is probably what $337,000 average you're talking about 44 it cost everybody same thing to go to the grocery store to get the same thing if you go buy a Lo of bread buy piece of meat all that is the same now I I do feel for the five Fighters I know when they're working or when they on own job they might not be working they might be sitting up sleeping or washing the truck or whatever but at this particular point in our life and what I see coming down the light it ain't pretty and I don't know if i' be willing to vote to anybody to get anything done even for myself it just I mean what I see and what have happened in the last 13 [Music] months even though if a person leaves another one will eventually come always do what let I ain't forget let me tell you something I applaud you for your and I applaud this kind of minist trying to come to us and get as much as they possibly can now Pam my hat talk to her she's a fight good God she been jumping but we got to stop somewhere down the line and say set in the boat I don't think right now it's time getting to up at the last meeting I did come say well I give go $2 if we had 17 people we paid them $2 an hour more that was more than then I I I really went out on the limb but when I got to thinking about it I don't know how many people you that working we can only give 50 Cent an hour and that's what we going take with unless we raise everybody a dollar an hour I don't want to do that I don't want to raise anybody I mean it just don't make sense do right we close the first what we going do somebody's house burns up not your neighborhood well the city the city is going to react to a fire if we can't if he can't cover it the city is going to go to it right going go to the beach we have an agreement that they come out 5 miles from the city right there's a lot of folks here in five mile radies here that you're talking about that the city is going to help you if I I used to I had friends that was working at city fire station for years and I hunted with them and they they was I was sitting over one evening and they had a fire in the county that was real bad fire and the city went and helped them I said I know they do help that you know so I mean it's is a you going to have you you've done it before and you know they going they going to help you if you call them but J if they have to go to the beach the house is going to sty and Perry can get there and then be down but that's okay I mean we have to take responsibility for that when it happens you know and that'll be on that would be on us I remember when they if something got lit at the beach it burnt down anyway they didn't have a fire truck down there then we got volunteer fire trucks finally and they did save a few houses but I mean you got volunteers now I mean some and not many but you do have volunteer you know and again just just and W Eyes Wide Open um it's the response time for for medical emergencies as well because in that area and I'm and I'm very torn over this this is very difficult but the reality of it is and and we just want y'all to understand in that area in particular it is going to take anybody 20 minutes 15 20 minutes to get there and and if we have to br out of station and that's what we have to do whether it be now or it be next year or whatever we have to do to make sure that we can offer essential Services then that we'll face that but with it being an immediate concern um we just want every even if the city helps us it's still a long response time and and that's what we wanted to impress upon y'all is that you know whichever way you go it's that response time that concerns and if you have someone having a stroke a heart attack or if they're in trauma okay if they've been an accident and they've lost a limb I don't want to wait for Perry to get there I don't want to wait for steam haty to get there not only for me but for anybody time is of the essence and saving a lot you can build your house back maybe but you sure can't replace a l I think we pretty well know what's going Happ how this is going to go I would I know you mention $2 you $3 I was going to recommend a150 I mean U on this action and then of course we're going to look at again we're going to look at all employees in the next budget session so they were given a150 and then we ended up doing another dollar in July for the next budget of course they ended up with $250 on the fire station of course you got a a a recruiting plan that hopefully that will even help too to to bring on more local type folks so uh and be able to retain them and not just get them temporary so anyway I think you live with $2 I could I could go down from three you could go up to and a his for two well I get it but I just I think at at the will of what I'm hearing from the board I mean it's just it's nothing I mean if I just drop it and we close our first station and somebody loses their life or whatever we're going to be responsible my conscience is going to be clear but we'll be sued and we have to live with that decision I think you and I are on the same wavelink understand that something needs to be done when somebody calls me they got three other they can call that say not to do it not that's exactly right I'm not going to have that blood on my hands but anyway um so just to if I if I may um a $150 annual cost would be an additional $109,000 anyway I don't appreciate you sorry I don't get anything maybe 50 cents appreciate you com Chief thank you for all you do U all right we will move on to administrator item 28 the to discuss agreement for dr- 4734 public assistance Lo through so this is just um for you to consider I am not necessarily recommending this but I wanted to bring it to y'all I want to I want to lead off with that so this is an effort by the state and and I appreciate very much um the the offering um what they are offering to do is to basically loan us $1.1 million to act as a a bridge to bridge the gap of the thema claims that we have not been reimbursed for however um I think it makes myself and the clerk and the finance director and probably our attorney a little anxious because if we accept this money number one it has to be put in a separate interest bearing account and if we and then we'll have to pay back whatever femo does not reimburse us for and I will say the whole experience through AA is um painful as far as the FEMA claims it is taken up an incredible amount of time by our finance director um Marsha I'm I'm the last one I don't spend as much time but we have spent a lot of time vetting these FEMA claims and we don't know exactly what we'll get reimbursed for so I I do appreciate the offer from the state but conscious conscience I would say I don't necessarily recommend it we have I think we could continue to work with FEMA to try to get our reimbursement I think we're making some progress and rather than risk you know repayment um maybe we should just wait to see how these FEMA claims settle out we don't need to go in right do you agree [Music] okay I don't think that's the way this works so I I don't know if there are any questions and I didn't want to preempt any conversation but I did want to lead off that agree don't like the agreement no sir he did not like the you going broke you know agreement you make don't be all right can't do nothing about it I don't think that's the way that works either oh yeah see what can happen though is you know you don't pay it back then they cut your Revenue share so you're I do appreciate the effort I really do and I think it was meant um it me it means well but then again you you look at their agreement it's um that's all I got to say I didn't write out woohoo 21 can administrator discuss information items so I did want to update the board um our recycle building um where we process all of our recyclables obviously was damaged pretty substantially with Helen there was some damage during Adelia but Helen has done a substantial amount of damage to that building we are not able to even safely work in that building right now so we have had to suspend for now our recycle operations except for metal and appliances but as far as um you know our cardboard and our plastic we are on hold now until we can try to figure out another solution um which we will be working on we've um reached out to a contact to see if there's just another mechanism until we get the adjuster report and we know exactly what's entailed in repairing that building I don't want to pause recycle operations indefinitely obviously so we are seeking Solutions I really just wanted to bring it to your attention I don't even um we have not received the report yet but we should Marsh you think in about a week maybe we'll get they were there today right so I'll have a better idea of where we stand I just wanted to bring it to your attention if you hear anything we're kind of on pause right now with cardboard and and Bottles we don't even have we don't even have anywhere to store it because of the roof damage and the the damage to the sides of the building where is this building at it's out near that old landfill by the prison down that road by the prison right yeah this is been in pretty bad shape prior to any storm so I think the two buildings that probably the two buildings that got the worst hit from Helen is a courthouse roof um had some damage and that's probably going to have to be replaced and the recycle building obviously our parks on the south then were hit pretty hard but I should have I'll have more information by the next board meeting as far as exactly what we're looking at but some of those Parks will have to be substantially rebuilt unfortunately so we are planning to um go to Hodes Park um this week and maybe next to try to clean up what's left of it so at least we can open that area people can still take their lawn chairs and once we clean it all up we have a sled we may have a picnic table left I don't want to leave that part closed indefinitely because I want people to enjoy I mean it's still a beautiful spot but we are going to um we did start our hurricane cleanup crew and we will start um cleaning that spot up um this week hopefully maybe next week we have a lot of moving pieces and parts right now there's there's a lot of concrete slabs down there people can sit on yeah oh yeah that's why I mean and that's why I hate to have closed I'm just being careful Oh you mean just in general Yes Man I mean but I mean people can enjoy the water I just want to make sure we go through and and get everything we can out of the sand and just make it safe it is we do have signs up now that it's closed um but we will be working to try to make that open to the public of course the um the um postal Park had a lot of damage and that's but that area is being used for the point of distribution right now so we're putting that to the side and we'll we'll focus on haj's part um in part in partnership with do and Department of Corrections almost all of our County Properties the trees have been trimmed um they're going to go through and start um picking up the vegetative debris this has saved us an incredible amount of money and a lot of our time um as far as documentation and filing for FEMA reimbursement and all that so I'm very very grateful for that partnership they have been a huge help um also my last item we are planning unless the board has different direction to move forward with our Veterans Day plunion um Marca reminded me that I don't know what happened to October but October is almost gone so this is on November 11 okay which is on a Monday unless the board does not wish to hold the luncheon but by that time the um it will not be that building will not be used as a shelter any longer so um we can move forward unless you you wish to not how is it funded so we have it it's in our budget so we do budget for that and that's typically I mean we should have enough to to have our lunch in and we have decorations that we reuse from year to year typically the chamber helps us with the entertainment and they fund that um and I will reach out to and ask her if they can fund it this year um but and Mara does a lot of hard work on that luncheon the majority of the cost is D yeah I wonder if if you reached out like to n Oro or whatever they're called if they might be arrested since they're in the that's possible I can actually mention that well I'll reach out to Nemo that's a good idea because typic in the past um GP would help us with that um so I can reach out to some of the other entities I was thinking Duke and Mr Mixon was very familiar with the that's a good idea too we can reach out to Namo and to about thank you man comments and concerns from from nons 23 yeah um I just would like to know what the status on Dead Man's cir is I lost my mother and my aunt there in1 and that's been what 23 years ago and I've been trying for 23 years to get that Cur something done to it we bought the property adjacent to it several years ago and where are we what's what's going on well I think we were just waiting for um that to be funded and I think it's for this year it's it's scheduled to be funded for this year 2025 yes ma'am after the purchase we were told Florida do will meet the cost for the resour yeah well we met with them 10 or more years ago right here I did and whoever the County Administrator was then and they told us right then that they would fund it right and so it's it took a long time I think the property closing was just last year I can't last year or year before but we knew I mean they had not 10 years let to say that a long time but I I'm most certain I saw that on the the plan that this first quarter of 25 what my recollection is well I I hope so I hope that happens and um I've had a quite a few calls from these captains in Ste Hatchy and as we all are aware they're not working and they brought these out of town people into work and as of yesterday I spoken with anybody today but as of last night they said that they still were lots of them that were not working unless they've been put on today and I know I talk with uh Jason cha last year last week he was going to try to do something about it that was the first of the week I contacted him throughout the week and as of last night we still have our people that are not working that desperately need to work and we've got out of town people making all the money I don't believe that's I I think there's been some update since then but what I was told yesterday was that there were a number of local captains who were on standby which means they're they're supposed to be collecting standby pay which is $400 a day to be on standby and the process is is that um Florida Department of Emergency Management has to enter these these work orders and it has to go through a process and as these areas open up then the captains can go to work now the last time I checked and I'm trying to I did not get a list but I thought I was told that there were somewhere between 15 and 20 local captains on standby pay I have not received a list yet and um they are just waiting to go to work so they may start in Jasper or live o or some place like that but then the hope is as you know as things progress that you know at least are close to home and I was also told that they are paid mileage now I I'm still trying to work through some of the details with the the the spokesperson I'll say for the group um but Contra that's SC the the information through the contractor well I wanted to verify it with with a local Captain I know what I was told by the contractor I wanted to verify it with the captain but as of last night um from what I understand people were much happier because they knew they would be going to work now I haven't gotten an answer today I did ask that question but as of yesterday there were two out of town captains and the Hope was that as they brought captains on and got them off standby that they would go to an out of town area and our local captains could stay local who's telling you that L who's telling you that the CEO of the company okay because the actual people are telling me something different I know when you and I talked on Friday you said everybody have been hired except for one and he was in Jasper and these people are telling me that is not true they are not working and they've turned their application in and they feel like that um they're saying okay we've got your application but yet they still are hiring they've hired these people from out of town over our people how does that happen I wonder well they have control over they can hire the whole project is funded by the state right State the state funds it and they hire and contract a b and c big companies and then they subcontract to these other folks the states going to hire these people they can't go and say hey you going to hire they can recommend it and we can all Shake our head KN our head and say hey you need to be hiring our local people we know that's what should happen if it was us hiring these people that stay are we could hold the leverage on and say well if you're not going to hire local people we'll go find somebody else that will hire our local people we can't run and say since the State of Florida won't do it we got get Colorado somebody to do it that's not how it work yeah and I I I I know what's going on I I just don't understand that if if our people that represent us in Tallahasse whoever it is you can't if they cannot help us local people they need to be replaced situation I'll say it is people have been working I've talked to them you probably all probably talked to them but let me tell you when you call even as someone wanting to do get you do and W a contract to do work you best steer away from the threats if I got somebody want to go to work for me and wantan to contract with me and I get threatened do you think I'm going to [Music] hire you think that's the case oh I know in some of it it has been I just say in this condition our state representatives have been absolutely diligently working with us contractor to try to help the situation I think some of the the confusion is because some of these folks may be on the standby pay but aren't aware and can't confirm if they are or they are not that doesn't mean they're not employed or they're not going to be working it means that while that uh transition period is going on and more work is being released in some cases an adjacent County that the contractor is is working and our representatives are working and our local staff is also working so that we come to the same place where our local captains are able to work locally in the debris removal and so I mean I don't believe it's in how to join our state a partner fa I've certainly been speaking with our County staff to understand that and and I'm not glad that we have folks that are having to travel but given an understanding of how many um jobs or projects have opened and that these number of folks are either on standby or are actively working I think we're headed in the right direction but surely I don't think the threats are going to be successful I think what I'm just trying to say is this the people in Tallahassee it seems like to me that they they could when they gather that they could do something that would require that local people be hir first and if that's if that's in the laws then that might help this situation I know that that Jason Sher nobody can go to this ABC company or whoever they are and say you got to do this but if they do something in talahasse to help ensure that our local people are given priority then that's what needs to happen U and that's probably what we should be talking to them about for any future and there'll be another one I'll bet you so he's probably learning curs in every event I just want to see our local people that need these jobs really bad that they're giv priority over somebody from down south that just doesn't feel right um so anyway oh you want to cut me out huh what' you say you want to cut me out okay so you know when we were talking a while ago you said you don't want to give anybody anything are we still giving everybody in or you you want to give that up too oh I don't want to give that up I okay you had so much up there tonight so much to take in I'm going let I'm going let slide my hats off to everybody who's working and I know feelings and emotions gets involved in all this stuff trying to do and satisfy we just have to do the best we can what we got to do it with okay that's it right say people are real proud of the mosquito pray mosquito oh SK is not near as bad as the were and they didn't some areas we took out SK but I don't know how they spray and went in those areas but I talked to one man he was complaining about MOS skites and he called me back and said I heard that plane last night and I went out he said I went out night and he said there was mosquit in my yard they work work and I'm proud of State getting that done for us that's what all nothing else a motion to9 line muted