4.10.24 Pasco Board of County Commissioners Meeting (Morning Session)

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the County Board of County Commission meeting at 10 10: a.m. on April 10th 2024 at this time please silence all electronic devices and mute your microphones please uh rise with me for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance oh merciful Creator your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature make us thankful for your loving Providence and Grant that we remembering the account that we must one day give may be faithful stewards of your good gifts amen amen of the United States of America to the for stands Nation God indivisible liy and justice for all Madam clerk will you please call the RO District Two commissioner waitman pres District three commissioner starky up here District Four commissioner Bradford District Five commissioner Mariano here district one chairman Oakland here thank you recognize we have a quorum here today now is the time for public comment citizens are given an opportunity to comment on any current or future item on the agenda uh under the board's review U today's public comment will be handled as follows first we will take public comment from those persons here in person uh then we will take public comment from those on pre-registered on WebEx link and are currently on Q uh we request that when you address the board uh comments are to be made um not not personally toward any commissioner or team member but rather uh directed at the issues this provides Mutual support for both between the board and the public after start stating your name and address for the clerk a three minute timer will be activated after 2 minutes a single beep will indicate you have one minute left when your time is up uh two beeps will sound and you will need to finish your comments at that time WebEx applicants will be uh disconnected uh electronically when their time is up uh Madame clerk do we have uh people signed up for the public comment session yes Mr chair I have four people signed up um I was also told there's probably others that um did not sign up that they would also like to talk so we'll go through the list first all right we have Brenda Scarboro followed by Nancy Hazelwood followed by Merl forani Miss garbor and when you get to the podium please state your name and your [Music] address rece file second and a motion second all those in favor say I I hi my name is BR scarber 17826 Palamino Lake Drive D city thank you sorry I'll have to read right off the paper good morning commissioners I don't know what the final Luchi plan will look like but I am concerned about the residential transitional neighborhoods that seem to be proposed this would disagree with the Northeast rural protected overlay from LBC and make this area transitional doing this changes the ratio from one house on 5 Acres which is the current rural Northeast protected

area to one house per acre this is a very slipp slope especially if they begin to Cluster homes which would require sewer systems which completely goes against the rural system it would become denser and suburban and no longer rural the Northeast rural plan was created so that we had a protected area and that destroys that you have all repeatedly been saying that we need to protect the rural character but this obviously does not do that I would ask you all to take into consideration when finalizing the Luchi plan all those constituent land owners like myself who purchased 5 acres of land in the protected area because your team created the overlays of those homeowners who wanted to live rurally this is what we call Rural guys I understand this is what it will turn into which is the cluster homes thank you for allowing me to be heard and not just myself but for so many others who have had the same concern thank you thank you thank you Nancy Hazelwood followed by Merl forani followed by Cynthia Elia good morning commissioner it's Nancy Haywood 34110 a nice place you didn't have to tell me this time sir um good morning again uh the person that spoke before me Echoes many many of our our feelings out there I would say about 95% of us out in the Northeast rural area moved there because it is a protected area and we wanted to re live rurally once you had somebody here that developed a plan that said there's something for everybody in Pasco if you want to live rurally you've got that if you want to live in a city you have that or anything in between we had something for everyone I'm hoping you will sustain the rural area plan for all of us um also I I wanted to thank you for having a workshop on storm water uh it's nice to be able to help with County planning for the areas we live we'd like to see a lot more of that and a thank you for the board and staff another thanks to planning and growth and Parks and Recreation Department for trying to do the right thing thing we know that they have very very large work roads and really need more employees and to encourage you to get those thank you all very much thank you thank you Merl forani cythia ellia cop move to receiveing five there's one I got a motion in second all those in favor say I I motion pass hello my name is Merl fman um I'm at 8810 Quil Run Drive Wesley chood Florida uh I'm speaking on item P57 from the afternoon schedule um I made a presentation that I said Mr chairman yes it's not appropriate to take comments on a public hearing at in public comment in the morning are those requ our judicial hearings I can't speak during public comment on a okay not if you not if you not if you're addressing the the land use matter that is on the hearing okay is scheduled for hearing but there's no public hearing for it in the afternoon so the only other option was the morning yep if it's one of the if if the public

hearing has been closed then it's not appropriate for public comment at all the public hearing has been closed I see okay so what do we do with this so should we it should not be part of the record okay all right is there any way that I can submit more material to be part of the record no the so the I'm not trying to be disrespectful I'm just asking clarification sir so my understanding is that P57 was the public hearing was closed you didn't have sufficient you it was deadlocked at 22 it was continued to today to hoping that there would that commissioner Bradford could review the record and participate in the vote my understanding is commissioner Bradford is not going to be attending so it's going to be continued again I it's also been brought to my attention that there were exp parte communic ations by both the applicant and um the public with board after the with board after the public hearing was closed that's correct which in my opinion you're going to have to reopen the public hearing for that matter because you took you took public comment in private basically um I had an attorney with me you didn't say that I had a c with me too does does that mean it's open for June sir I didn't or does that mean it's up for discussion about J my recommendation to the board would be that it would be that the public hearing would be reopened and then new and a new public hearing be held at that time based on the the events that have occurred okay well thank you for clarifying and thank you for your time thank you but it's continued for today is that say well that that's my understanding is that the applicant has has agreed to a continuance okay you let know not wasting that it's not continued until you continue it this afternoon but my my understanding is both the applicant and staff are are in agreement that it will be continued till uh I believe it's June 4th um hold [Applause] on I believe it's your first meeting in June which should be the June 4th meeting which would be here back in dat City yes yeah so it would it would be on your afternoon calendar with the 130 calendar on computer will come up June 4th in D City okay um I have a question for um okay County attorney there was the motion to receive and file um is that to be removed I would reconsider it and I would I would not make it part of well it can be part of the morning record it's not going to trans it's not going to transfer into the public hearing okay record thank you um so we need to have a motion well we've already accepted it right it can be part can be part of it can be part of your the the record the

record for the proceedings of public comment it's just not going to be part of the unless it's reintroduced when the public hearing is reopened it's not going to be part of that record right okay and next person okay we have Cynthia [Music] ellia name and address for the record yep just your name and address Cynthia laa the address is 8810 Quail Run Drive Wesley Chapel this the same subject no it's administrative okay I would like to point out that the different deadlines that have been made um a aware of us trying to get in literature emails um requests they've not been included in um the agenda a number of our emails a number of our letters that we've sent in have either been past deadline deadlines that we have not been made aware of or they in-house deadlines for you people and we don't know about um the zoning administrator has has not included a number of our letters so I would just like you to be made aware of that that sometimes even audiovisual um presentations we're not able to present because we have missed a deadline that we're not even aware of so it's more administrative I'm not talking about any topic but you need to be made aware that you're not hearing from your constituents thank you good thank you Mr chair that's all that I had that's all have is anyone else here to speak to public comment this morning if you already come to the podium seeing no one coming forward okay uh anybody on WebEx no one's on WebEx no one on WebEx so at this time we'll close public comment for this morning and uh move on to let's see here public comment period is closed uh now it's time for Resolutions sir um please read read the first resolution Madam clerk okay um if you are here for the 135th anniversary of the benedic Benedictine Sixers of Florida please step to the podium I see them here on the front row come to the podium you can all come up behind sister rera I'll go ahead and read the resolution first Okay resolution number 24- 091 a resolution by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida recognizing the 135th anniversary of the benedic te sisters of Florida whereas the benedic te sisters of Florida have F were founded in 1889 where mother do do scandin sister Josephine fed sister Agatha Geisler sister bonfice Feldman and sister Agnes Bei be um came from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to East Pasco and Raz the Benedictine sisters created a legacy Staffing St Anthony and St Joseph schools and opened Holy Name Academy a boarding school for girls from 1920 to 1959 the Benedictine sisters operated St Benedict's prep school for boys until they closed to focus on providing

services for St Leo University andraz in 1970 the Benedictine sisters brought in their educational ex Legacy with the opening of the monu school they served as teachers and School principles in public private and peralal schools throughout the State of Florida Texas and Louisiana and whereas the benedic tee sisters have a solemn responsibility to pray daily for individuals and the World by using special intentions they strive to be a resource for those in need provide spiritual guidance share their mon Monastery home for those who seek peace from a stressful world and help the elderly hungry children those with special needs and the abused and Ras Benedictine sisters at Holy Name Monastery serve as guardians of tradition living and preserving the monatic way of life generously opening their lives to others in hos Hospitality an Raz the Benedictine sisters of Florida have a history of serving on many boards Pasco County boards as St Leo Town Mayors and Commissioners Parish Ministries locally and Catholic schools throughout Florida and volunteer at organizations such as Habitat for Humanity Sunrise domestic violence shelter and the Florida elderly children childhood Coalition and raas the Benedictine sisters historic achievements have enriched the count the communities of Pasco County and Raz the Benedictine sisters at Holy Name Monastery continue to extend a welcoming hand kind heart and listening ear to those seeking to live their lives in harmony with others now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Pascal County Florida that said board hereby recognizes the 135th anniversary of the benedic te sisters of Florida done and resolved in regular session with a COR pres and voting this 10th day of April 2024 a motion appr second all right a motion second all those in favor say I I motion passed sister Roberta thank you welcome you know where we live I hope I certainly did it's a well it's a well-kept secret in Pasco County though Pasco County was very small when we when our sisters first came I think it had been an independent uh County for 2 years maybe when we came in 1889 I say we it's the generic you know all-encompassing we we were not all here some of us are have been here though almost half of that history so if you divide 135 and you get get the number that's a little around what my age is so uh I appreciate that summary of of our existence here in Pasco County we came to educate the children who were being taught on the pastor's back porch and immediately the very next day opened three different schools St Joseph Holy Name Academy and St took over the administration of St anony school and many of you I'm sure know people or yourself have have been in touch with people at that some of those schools I have some business cards here if you allow me to give them to clerk here for anyone who is interested in having one of

them right now we are 10 at Holy Name Monastery we do offer Hospitality as was mentioned uh so if you have an overflow of guests give us a call the numbers on the business card there and we can house you we can feed you whatever it takes um we started out in a wood frame building some of you may know the history it was a wood frame hotel for Catholics only there weren't too many Catholic tourists in the 1880s so they gave the building to the sisters who lived there until 1911 when we got the property up on Lake Jovita it was moved on logs drawn by oxen up to the edges of the the lake now today if that happened you'd have the TV cameras out and everything else moving a wood frame building we lived in that until 1959 when it was condemned by the fire department the bishop did not immediately give us permission to rebuild so sister janto went for the third time sat down in the bishop secretary's office and said I'm not going home until he said yes and then she began to cry when the bishop left his office he said to the secretary not to the sister tell that none I said yes so we built the building that is now Benedict and Hall the chapel there is a blackbox theater the first performance in the blackbox theater was um nuns on the move and it was written by the students of St Leo and produced by them about the sisters coming from Pennsylvania and the rest has really just been history we've opened schools we've closed schools but to our credit I believe we've been able to successfully pass on any of the Ministries we've been involved in have successfully succeeded even after we left so the Benedict and charism Carries on here in Pasco County and we we appreciate your calling attention to our 135th anniversary we're very grateful for that we feel welcome in Pasco County on both sides of the county so thank you very much yeah well thank you and um you've been a part of my life my entire life since I'm not 135 I'm getting I'm getting closer hopefully I'll get there but uh but 78 years of my life you've sisters and your schools and all of the St Leo the prep school just on and on has been a part of my life and y'all have upheld a great part of the community in district one for all this time and I guarantee you it doesn't stop here it keeps going so but uh we certainly appreciate all that you do in our community and I I can't be more grateful for all that you've done in my community to to help things be better we appreciate that and you gathered a lot of Catholics in the community uh if you go calling out names you almost have to be like you're in Kentucky and have to have blood work done to see if people get married out I mean there's so many nathy baros shers and just it just keeps on and on but there's large families Catholic families that have come here because of the work y down and I understand mother Rosemary used to check in church who was present and on Monday mornings she would go out to the ranches and say I didn't see you

in yeah thank you very much commissioner um any commission want to say say well I W I was uh born and raised Catholic went to Catholic school for uh a bit of my youth so um I just am really honored to have you all here today I think it's the first time um I've been up here for 12 years now it's the first time so um pleasure to to see you all and congratulations the first I spoke to the commission one of the Commissioners kept doing this and I thought she meant keep going keep going she really meant stop that's cute again M Mariana thank you yeah the the work you have done has been phenomenal over the years I've talked to many people have gone to your schools and been thrilled I will tell you my daughter graduated from St Leo and the education she got there just propelled her life to to great new heights um so greatly appreciate everything you guys have done thank you Mr waitman thanks CH you know the Sisters of St Leo our community really we need to thank you you all not you all thinking us you are truly woven into the fabric of Pasco County Society for so many generations and you're probably larger than you know such a significant part of the character of Pasco County and East Pasco County and what you all bring and have brought and and given to our community is unmeasurable and I don't think any of us here anybody in in Pasco could ever show how appreciative we are for you all doing what you do in the great works and just keeping a Christian Foundation alive and well uh in Pasco County so congratulations on 135 years and hopefully another 135 years there'll be another board that celebrate you all so congratulations I don't think I'm going to make that so if y'all would like to enjoin me down below and we'll get a picture I don't have it I'm taller look at okay everybody right here please thank you excellent thank you allk [Applause] than you [Applause] I was sitting on my second pen oh I was wonder what's going on there but she has a brace on I thought that was gr yeah how sweet are they next next resolution all right um if you are here for National Crime Victims week please step to the podium great I'll go ahead and read the resolution resolution number 24 -94 a resolution by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida declaring the week of April 21st through the 27th 2024 is National Crime Victims week in Pasco County whereas surviving a crime can be can have a myriad of lasting effects on victims including physical psychological social and financial issues and Ras we know that countless survivors never tell anyone

about what happened to them and whereas victims of crime deserve to be treated with dignity and respect by the criminal justice system and should have access to the services they need to rebuild their lives and Ras victim Services providers community members businesses places of worship colleagues neighbors and family members can provide victim centered trauma informed and culturally responsive support and ASAS we must listen to survivors and be willing to create new options for support to ensure that all victims of crime can receive the help they need and seek Justice and res it is necessary to create safe environments for survivors of crime providing not only support but also access to critical services andas in 2024 theme of National Crime Victims week um Crime Victims rights week is how would you help options services and hope for Crime survivors and is a call to action to create safe environments for Crime Victims to share what happened to them whereas Pasco County encourages all Pasco County Citizens to participate in lighting their homes and public buildings in purple to commemorate the passage of Marcy's law in Florida and for recognition and support of all Crime Victims now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida that said board hereby declares the week of April 21st the 27th 20124 as National Crime Victims week in Pasco County and expresses our gratitude and appreciation for our community members victim service providers and criminal justice professionals who are committed to providing our response to all victims of crime so that they may find assistance support Justice and peace done and resolved in regular session with the Corum president and voting this 10th day of April 2024 motion second got a motion second all those in favor say I I I motion passed yes sir thank you so much well my name is Joshua Gable I'm here on behalf of Marcy's law I just want to say thank you to commissioner waitman uh for filing this resolution and support of National Crime Victims week uh which will be April 21st through 27th um it's also especially uh especially special I guess um in that we are celebrating 5 years of the implementation of Marcy's law here in Florida which helped uh enshrine those protections for victims of crime uh in the state constitution so um it's a very important uh week for those folks who are victims of crime um often times their voices are not heard um so these rights give them those protections that they need uh moving forward in their criminal cases um so any support that you can give to uh victims of crime is greatly appreciated anyone who can uh light up their buildings in purple uh business owners homeowners uh that would be greatly appreciated as well and thank you to the county for lighting um the government center and also the historic Courthouse as well uh for for that week so thank you so much for your time and appreciate that thank you Mr thank chair yes yeah Josh you

know we press there's not a single person in this room who hasn't been impacted by somebody doing some bad thing at some point in time in their life so Marsh's law is it's an important passage and happy to recognize it here in Pasco County uh and with that I guess in order to light up the the building's purple uh I'd like to make a motion to light up the West Pasco Government Center in D supp house purple and recognition National Crime Victims week for April 21st through the 27th of 2024 second Motion in second all those in favor say I I I motion passed thank you okay that's it you want to take a picture with it want Pho yeah come back come back here I'm like what happened well I would I would like to say it just kind of walked away so but I would like to say that uh we certainly appreciate all that you do in in our community and it's more than needed I mean and sometimes even as much as you can do it's not enough sometimes so but we certainly appreciate you being here so everybody join me we'll get a picture hey everybody the phone and then the camera right here thank you okay Madam clerk another resolution resolution number three um if you here for National County government month please step forward National County government mon all right administrator come on up there you go all our employees are here for National don't be don't be bash don't be bashful now I can't wait to hear what you have to say I don't we'll figure it out do all right resolution number 24-9 resolution by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida declaring the month of April 2024 as National County government month in Pasco County whereas a nation's the nation's 3,69 counties serving more than 330 million Americans provide essential services to create healthy safe and vibrant communities andas counties fulfill that range of responsibilities and deliver services that touch nearly every aspect of their residents lives anras Pasco County and All Counties take pride in their responsibility to protect and enhance the wealth well-being sorry the health the well-being and safety of their residents in efficient and cost-effective ways and res under the leadership of National Association of counties president Mary Joe McGuire no is highlighting County leadership through the lens forward together celebrating the role of the county governments in connecting inspiring and leading as intergovernmental partners and Ras the role includes a responsibility to inspire County residents to engage with their communities and to lead by highlighting our strength as intergovernmental Partners andrz each year since 1991 the National Association of counties has encouraged citizens or has encouraged counties across the country to elevate

awareness of County responsibilities programs services during the month of April and whereas Pas county has been a proud member of no for over 10 years and is dedicated to serving the community to create a better future through the vision of becoming Florida's Premier County and creating a thriving Community enhancing quality of life stimulating economic growth and improving organizational performance now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida that said board hereby declares the month of April 2024 as National County government month in Pasco County and encourag All County officials employees schools and residents to participate in County government celebration activities done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present and voting this 10th day of April 2024 move to uh approve second and a motion second all those in favor say I I I motion pass so um so this is something that n is doing um all across the uh country and um looking up here at the no website with a little information of our 3,69 counties um it's interesting that counties are one of America's oldest forms of government dating back to 1634 when the first County governments and they were called shes were established in Virginia and um as we noted here there are 3,69 uh counties and four 40,000 County officials that are elected and 3.6 million County employ employes across the country so some interesting stats so um just a time to celebrate what what who and what we are and so we'll just let you say a few words yeah I'll be very very brief uh it's it's wonderful to be in our Shire here in um and I've always thought that local government is really the the the has the most effect and the most impact and can be the most meaningful on on a citizen's life you know we we often times get caught up in what goes on on at the federal and the state level but so often overlooked is what happens at at your local local government level and so we all play a role as as elected officials you you set the policy in the direction as as administrator we we execute that policy right down to you say 3.2 million uh employees that do the work day in and day out um as public servants and so we're all public servants and and I think that you know as a citizen as as as an employee and and just as a as a just just a person of the world I think I think it's amazing work that we do here at local government so I think we all should be applauded uh team members board Etc on on this on this entire thing so thank you for bringing it Forward I think it's a great thing I'd like to Echo that about our all of our employees and uh the good work we do we're all basically uh working to do things for all of our citizens I mean we open the door and we're welcoming and and changing things to make them better for our citizens so we have a lot of work like that to do and we're the like you said we're very close to our citizens when we make uh agreements and to go forward on

building and things of this nature uh the state gives them the right to you know divide their properties but the fact of it is we have the ability to make it look the best it can look and it takes more than just our County Commissioners it takes all of our staff and we have got a good staff that's out there helping us do these things more and more so we're in we're in U County's uh Personnel Service to everyone in our County because that's what we do we're here to help them work through the things for if we miss the fact of making the Landscaping PR is it should be in our County the architecture of buildings being the nicest they can be and what we really want we're missing it and the care of our Y and the care of our community for our safety and I mean just in hospitals in our County right now all the different hospitals that are coming here in Pas it's the best thing in the world and the benefactor of of that is they're all going by to be the very best they can be each and every hospital and our citizens are the benefactor of that result of that health care so they get the very best healthare here in Pasco County so but our staff we can't do any of this work without our staff and we certainly appreciate all of our staff that work with us and do the things they do uh and try to help our citizens get through the daily chores of different buildings and developments that we have coming in to make them the very best they can be so you like to say something Jack or yes sir um you know and I think County Government Mike you say is the most connected to the people I think it's critical especially in Pasco County the responsibility we have that wi 91 92% unincorporated so we've got to provide a lot of services that most counties don't even get involved in the Parks the libraries I think the intensity storm water improvements we made over the years have been uh definitely helping our citizens every step of the way the connectivity between our citizens in getting these developments that are coming through giving them the voice to to come forward and and Comm communicating with them sometimes overly so Jeff um but I mean that responsiveness is key I think for people and I think they want to see it and I think it should be done that way across the whole nation but I think with counties where we're definitely more responsive yeah Mr way thank you CH just goes to Echo the fact of firm believer in State's rights and firm believer in home rule in our in in local government cities and counties alike being able to make decisions for the citizens that elected them into into those seats and so it's imperative that we work together and continue to have a common goal of providing the best service we can to our taxpayers and uh try to find a way to hire the best and brightest to serve our taxpayers that we all all communities across this country have just the best places that they can live work and play so thank everyone here who who uh taking a probably a pay cut to work for Pasco County Government uh your service is not

in vain very much appreciate you and uh continue the great work thank you would we like to go down and have a picture with our administrator long time okay our next resolution Okay resolution number four uh Christopher Low are you here come on up to the podium did I pronounce your last name correct okay just want to make sure it's your time I'll go ahead and uh read the resolution first Okay resolution number 24- 092 a resolution by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida recognizing Christopher Low for 34 years of service to Pasco County and congratulating him on his retirement whereas Christopher Low began his career with Pasco County in 1990 working for Road and Bridge for 9 years until he landed with ambulance billing during a stint on light duty and found his forever home as an ambulance billing Clerk and RZ the pasel County Board of County Commissioners is committed to ensuring the Safety and Security of all those living in and visiting Pasco County and Christopher Low has been an integral part of building the successful ambulance billing division of the Pasco County fire rescue Department Andres Christopher was instrumental in developing the process and procedures while the ambulance billing division grew and digitized ensuring Pasco County residents get the quality they deserve and as Christopher provided Stellar assistance to each ambulance billing supervisor throughout the years with commitment and loyalty andras Christopher was selflessly has selflessly assisted in training each new hire and the next generation of certified ambulance billers andr Chris has come to a time in his life and career to pass the Baton onto the rising generation of dedicated individuals serving Pasco County and its residents as he embarks on Great Adventures in his favorite Pastime cruising the ocean an Ras Christopher's daily presence and knowledge will be immensely missed not only with his immediate colleagues in the ambulance billing division but also by the Pasco County fire rescue family as a whole andrz the ambulance billing division Pasco County fire rescue department and everyone who knows Christopher would like to express their best wishes for the cruising of a happy and healthy retirement now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida that said board hereby expresses its sincere gratitude to Christopher Low for his 34 years of dedicated service to Pasco County D and resolved in regular session with a quorum present and voting this 10th day of April 2024 move approval got a motion in second all those in favor say I I motion pass welcome thank you I just like to say it's been an honor and a privilege uh serving these last past 34 years working

for Pasco County and especially for fire rescue they have made uh become like a second fan way to me and I'm going to really miss them no yeah thank you thank you Mr started uh I came to Fire Rescue five years ago as a an assistant ambulance building supervisor and I'm now the ambulance building manager Christopher has been a big part of my career here at the county and has guided us all for 34 years going from the stone ages to where we are now so we can't thank him enough for all that he's done right of course like to say 34 years what a great career uh um we're getting a sense that you were passionate about what you were doing um and that that passion radiates with your whole team as it seems uh Fire EMS has been very important to the county and it's it's such a a great burden for our Fire EMS responders to go out and do it but we need people as well in the back making sure the collections happen the ideas about how do we charge the insurance companies how do we make the collections happen because if you don't have the funding coming in it's hard to give them the resources they need every step of the way as well so what we did for over these past 34 years been phenomenal we greatly appreciate it we're happy to give you this resolution and honor to you thank you Mr W thank you chair yeah Mr L we just went to my Chief's first graduating fire class and sitting next to County Administrator and all the Fire EMS uh class was coming up and receiving their graduation certificate and then came the next class of of billing clerks and you know tone kind of changing the room a little bit not as many cheers what have you but I told Mike I said these folks right here don't know how intrical and important they are to our organization in making sure uh fees are collected to ensure that our fire department our es EMS services are are able to have the funding to run efficiently and and and get what we need to to get the job done so thank you for all your work I recognize your team the generation that's coming after you congratulations on 34 years and I hope you get all the sunburns you can capture from from now through your retirement so congrats M sty so um you started at the county in 1990 and that's when I started dating my husband actually and so my gosh you've seen a lot of change um um just congratulations and I think they're still your family and I'm sure um that you can hang out with them anytime you want so don't think it's the end it's it's just beginning of something different I'll be visiting yeah so congratulations Chris for 34 years is a long time I spent 51 years in my business before I walked away but I didn't cry I guess I didn't have the same feeling there every time I wasn't playing on it when I walk away from this when I

walk away from this job working with the people and the staff we have like you have worked with you for 34 years the short period of time that I'm here when I walk away I believe I'll cry too so I uh certainly appreciate all the staff I certainly appreciate all that staff that helped you go through that 34 years without having too many heart attacks or issues of that nature but to help you get through what you had to get through and in the process I know that we've trained someone to maybe step in and hopefully do as good a job as as you do and for the staff that's what we're here not everybody's a supervisor not everybody's the leader but that's why those people behind us are learning every day to be able to do the job that you've done for that 34 years and we got to be thankful for them learning and willing to step up when it's their time to come into that type leadership and do that kind of job so we certainly appreciate all the work you've done in 34 years and um I just applaud you for for for being here and doing what you did it makes a lot of difference and the Brotherhood of the fireman there's none better none better than the EMS and the fireman i' I've seen it and it it's just amazing what you see the Brotherhood that you have and when Miss sty said that you come back and visit with them they they'll welcome you back anytime to visit with them I'm sure so would y'all like to join me down below want to take a picture yeah Mr chairman excuse me up JJ JJ wants to speak I just want to say something real quick um you know I really appreciate his time uh we treated him so well we kicked him out of his office last month after all these years we're doing a rehab of the facility but let's not forget it is one team the chief says one team one team but the ambulance billing clerks brought in over $3 million over projected budget last year so these people work hard for the county and that allow allows us to do all of our work right so I just want to say thank you on behalf of public sa it's wonderful all right that's great M Mr chairman oh yeah Mr chairman if there's if there's additional people please come up yeah what you want I was going to say Mr chairman let's get all our uh fire Executives here as well let's give give the picture congratulations all the white shirts I retired one day to it's down there right [Music] here like wondering look at these two guys oh my gosh you need to stand behind them think so talk JJ I think sandbag of the revenue projections oh now you know no all right thank you all [Applause] app another go ahead and get started on that wonderful yes how about you nice to see you again how are you all

safety month activities done and resolved in regular session with a COR presid and voting this 10th day of April 2024 move to approve second motion and second all those in favor say I I I motion pass thank you yes sir thank you madam clerk for your eloquence um Mr chair Commissioners Mr Stein sneer and carala thank you for your uh your flexibility and getting this on the agenda we've got some stuff special stuff planned this year for building safety month and I'd like to talk about that quickly um Pasco County Building Construction Services is proud to take part in the inter interational code council's observation of May as Building Safety month um we do this to raise awareness about building safety building codes and the men and women who keep us safe um this campaign reinforces the need for the adoption of modern regularly updated building codes and helps individuals families and businesses understand what it takes to create safe and sustainable structures this year we're focusing on how Building Safety is a personal local state and Global initiative that begins with you we use building codes as a tool to protect citizens from everyday disasters like the ones you mentioned in the resolution I think in Florida we had all of them last month including those snowstorm and the Panhandle um as well as property maintenance standards which help prevent deterioration of our structures over time leading to structural collapse or Worse other property loss these codes ensure that the places that where we live work worship and play are are safe and they accommodate the needs of all people of all abilities um this year to increase our Outreach efforts one of the things that we are doing to celebrate the building safety month is taking our show on the road um born out of a meeting with the the Shady Hills Community Association one of the things we're doing and I don't think we've ever done previously is we're going to go out to the LC Logan Center on Friday May 4 or excuse me Saturday May the 4th from 10:00 to 3: and we're going to have a development services day that focuses on both community outreach question and answer but also to help our folks who are who have transportation issues or difficulties navigating some of our electronic resources they're going to be able to come to us right there in their neighborhood and get the questions they need answered and and possibly leave with a permit if they can so we're going to have everything from a permit Tech plans reviewer building officials minimum standards folks to kind of help sort out all the issues that anyone might encounter with BCS we're very proud of being able to do this we don't know what we're going to get but we're hopefully to excited to get the word out and we have some great Community uh Volunteers in the area that are going to help us do that um we're going to bring our 18 we're about 12 to 15 people will be out there again that's that is 10 to3 at LC Logan

on Saturday the 4th um and then finally as a new request this year in order to increase awareness and increase compliance with billing codes we are requesting the board wave all after the fact permitting fees for the entire month of May um for those uh who don't know an after the fact fee is when you have unpermitted work and we find out about it after the fact that fee is there as a little bit of a penalty or a fine to uh to ensure that you don't make a habit of doing that typically what happens is our minimum standards folks will go out and generate a violations case and that process can take some time well one of the things we'd like to do is clear out some of the backlog but really entice folks to come into compliance with our building code because at the end of the day Public Safety is our number one priority not not penalizing folks for maybe not doing doing it right the first time um so we're asking the board to wave that in in an upcoming resolution I think later in the agenda and uh we just as by way of the numbers since 2016 we've had over 2100 building permit violations for unpermitted work with about a thousand possibly outstanding in 2023 we had 544 uh cases of unpermitted work and so we really would like to clear that out and I think that if we get we cross that threshold over 100 I think I owe the minimum standards team lunch personally um but we're very excited to to see and and try something new and try to do that increase those Outreach efforts and work with folks to have our buildings come into compliance and be safe so with that thank you for your support and I'm happy to answer any questions Mr chairman just some comments and uh I'm I'm delighted that we're doing uh this amnesty program uh it runs the enti meth of of May the benefit to bring in everybody into compliance is huge the incentive that's out there I think is hopefully something we can promote and and have a lot of success so I appreciate you guys bringing that forward that is under the consent on the C6 so I'm sure that'll be coming right through yeah I um that kind of goes against my grain is give forgiveness I'm not doing a permit begin because I'm I'm a stickler about I want people to do the permit so but I'm okay with doing that uh given for one time we we need need not do this every year agreed yeah you can't wait till right because I want them to do it the right way to begin with I know other Commissioners want the same thing so but it's it's a good thing here in in Pasco that we do see that we've had this issue before we're going to correct it we're going to go forward with a better step forward with getting our permits on time on timely basis any other well I I just think it's very Innovative what you're doing um I'm really glad that we we have you here I think you're doing a great job and um uh it'll be interesting to see how many come forward so and how many you forgive so please give us a report so then thanks for all the work you're doing Mr White thank you yeah good good luck with getting folks to tell on themselves

so be curious to see the the data on that but no it's important a PR campaign is commissioner commissioner interim chairman Marano stated earlier uh especially if they're businesses right getting applies get your permit you don't want something to fail or get in trouble and then all of a sudden you have 50 work comp claims because your employees were hurt in your building because you tried to take a shortcut so I hope especially our businesses if they have have a couple of violations that they can use this time to reflect and get back into compliance and take advantage of of the Goodwill of the counties uh extending out there that way for for their sake and for the take their employees that uh everybody can be healthy and happy and continue on so thank you very good did you want to say something stay up here we're going to take a picture Roy did you want to say something to this or I see you sitting up on the front row so I'm just watching my man's back you know well that's good that's good support well with the the the pr campaign is important very important but to my staff's credit I believe there's like little league baseball going on next door and that's kind of why we planned it on a Saturday so that we got you a little league ball going on so people might see this as they're driving by who knows this came out of a discussion uh just an organic collaborative discussion with the Shady Hill civic association folk Pastor Jen had this kind of idea we started to kick it around and boom here here we are we're doing this and so um let me also say this is also a nice rehearsal for Emergency Management if we are in a situation where we have to to mobilize a group of people and and go and set up somewhere else to conduct business this is a small dry run to that effect and so there is some value there as well so really hats off JP uh my internal project manager Melissa wener for putting this idea together and making it happen Okay thank you let's uh go down and get a picture so everybody here please good thank you all app okay that was our last resolution this morning so the next order of business is our consent agenda I have a pull sheet that has uh C9 to be withdrawn c34 withdrawn c113 pull and discuss and c14 Pull and discuss is there anything else the Commissioners would like to pull at this time Mr chairman yes sir if I may C6 um while it can stay on consent shouldn't have really been under District 5 that should should be under de development services building construction services it is a resolution uh it is not a ceremonial resolution it is basically waving the the building fees as you just heard in the previous ceremonial resolution so it just it's just in the wrong place in the consent it should be added to this no it I'm just noting for the record that it should be it should

have been on under development services building construction services rather than commissioner Mariano it as long as that's on the record it can stay oh okay we're fine all right thank you any other items need to be withdrawn or pulled at this time Commissioners we approve the remain consent agenda second got a motion a second to approve regular uh consent agenda all those in favor say I all uh like sign R so pass 40 uh Now we move to uh c9's withdrawn c34 withdrawn pull uh C13 to pull and discuss yes Mr chairman pulled this item I had to send a few pictures over did they come up just okay um 5 is a great uh addition to the trail system we have in the county alongside is on Beacon Woods East there's a linear trail that was given to to the county we never accepted it so um there was an accident there this past year the pictures will show you kind of see some gaping holes that are there some gaps underneath if you can keep on Flipping sidewalks got we got signs up there saying it's closed people are still riding on it uh see the signs of on the sides of those there's like Gap underneath mhm with his air could collapse at any time we're going to be building a trail to the side of it you can kind of see those gaps into there on the first left side that's what it's like so it's dangerous that's where someone has gone so it's not our responsibility to fix it because it's not accepted by us but I'm going to say if we're going to build this Trail before we build that we should be tearing part of that out working uh with the association to do it Carl mckisco was looking at this know they try to to look at it I don't know if we had done anything with it to make that happen but as this is coming forward now the urgency to get this done before we put our trail and I think is critical so if Mike if you can work with our team and the association to kind of come together for what to do with this uh it'll be I think in the benefit for all the citizens and with that I'll move approval second a motion second all those in favor say I I I motion pass 40 uh next item c14 Mr Maron yes I just want to highlight this sidewalk project along kitten Trail which is uh much needed and appreciate staff moving so quickly to move it up the line to uh to get it done quickly and I'll move approval with that second okay got a motion second all those in favor say I I I motion pass 4 z um that ends the consent agenda and we'll move on on to [Applause] I go to the regular agenda and it's r36 I believe yes [Applause] okay morning my name is Tyler Matthews I'm here to represent Florida Department of Transportation I'm the Brookville operations engineer uh that maintains and uh does roadway construction on state roadways for Pasco orando and citrus counties uh on a on a quick

personal note I was really great to see sister Roberta up here I went to the Holy Name Academy in San Antonio St wow so that was really cool um and then also um deputed Chief um Sean whiteed I was part of his firefighter explor program so uh want to let you guys all know that that Pasco County and and how it looks and and how we operate is important to me um and so also a public servant with fdot uh so real brief um history on why I'm up here talking about invasive species I did not uh you know this is not a passion project for me so uh on March 19th I joined commissioner starky um on a ride along along State Road 52 uh we noted areas of invasive cing grass on private property and within the state of uh Florida RightWay uh some of these areas were also identified in active construction projects so during this ride along I uh was invited to discuss how the Department of Transportation handles invasive species in state rway FD recognize a list of top invasive plant species on our website and in our standard specification handbook uh the top two of these species being Cen grass and tropical soda Apple which we encountered on our right along nasty um so to protect the right away of these invas species we require our construction and maintenance contracts uh to follow specifications for identifying and removing such plants since our right along the areas can you can you repeat that sentence again sure to protect the RightWay of these invasive species we require construction and maintenance contracts to follow specifications for identifying and removing such plants yeah so since our right along those areas that we've noted are being handled as part of the program so those that were in the construction projects were sent to the contractors to eradicate that c grass and then areas without outside of construction projects um our maintenance folks have begin to address that uh for construction we use our um standard specifications handbook uh while holding contractors responsible uh for providing the best product as possible uh with respect to vegetation we reference section 570 of performance Turf uh this is just a chapter in our specifications that outline placing sod in the RightWay and what our expectations is for that side uh contractors require to monitor it for exotic and invasive pest plants um if a invasive or exotic pest plant is uh found within 30 to 60 days contractor is required to eradicate it at no expense to the department if it's after the 60 days we still tell them to eradicate it but the department May compensate them for that so either way it is our plan to eradicate it and not let it live uh if um so part of uh part of that section 570 is Turf establishment so we expect um when you throw a square Assad out it's not going to grow quickly so it does have some time to establish if there's any kind of latent seeds or anything that could grow they're also expected to monitor that um if um if dur an establishment there is no we make sure there's no uh competing vegetation

exotic or inv basic plants um you must monitor the turf areas and remove all competing vegetation um uh such remove such vegetation regularly by acceptable Meats um and then follow further on in section 570 we talk about the responsible party uh being the contractor once the construction project is over all maintenance is handed over back to uh the Department of Transportation or the maintaining agency if it is on a County Road or a city Road um but the turf establishment remains so if they laid sod two days away from final acceptance that 60 days Still Remains so they must monitor it and then eradicate anything that's invasive after that uh for our maintenance division we're held to a standard of the maintenance rating program which we call MRP uh that is three periodic inspections per year of all of our state roadways um and it's random we pick about 35 points uh within each of our areas uh in district 7 uh these inspections evaluate all aspects of the roadway and include vegetation ele elements Landscaping Mowing and turf conditions uh Turf in the mowing area is required to be 75% free of undesirable vegetation alone or in combination Cogan grass and tropical soda Apple are included in the undesirable vegetation list in the MRP handbook if it's greater than 25% consumed with these invasive species it fails that point and it affects our MRP score uh for areas of invasive vegetation that are found within the RightWay fdot has an inventory of these locations it's a spreadsheet that stays on my computer which is fun to provs occasionally uh on this inventory we track the area uh if it's isolated and also if it's encroaching encroaching on from public or um private property which we witnessed plenty of that um we track the square footage previous treatment dates and we also document the type of herbicide we used and we've uh we discussed it on our ride through we use the glyphosate uh herbicide for our treatment fdot uses a combination of contracted support and iner uh in-house herbicide applicators uh that are certified through the Department of Agriculture uh and required continuing education hours uh we recommend you know poor application can hurt the applicator and the environment so it's important that you get certified application uh that's all that I've got that concludes what I've discussed if you've got any questions um so we have well I very glad that you're here and I see my administrators making lots of notes we have some staff that's going to talk about what we're doing and then I think we could take questions does that work like does that because I have some questions in comments that sounds good I'll have our Public Works team come up first and then uh development services but I'm very encouraged from what I hear is there I probably if I was really on the ball I would had Swift Mud here as well cuz they are very on top of their COC grass you have a little bit

better with Ed blumel from the commissioner agriculture's office here today well I'm going to ask him for money I'm glad he's here good morning Mr chair good morning to the board and staff um good to see you all again my name is Barrett doe and I serve as the assistant director for the public works department over operations and Technical Services uh so we had a great meeting with commissioner starky uh on the 28th of March uh to discuss a landscaping project and kogan grass came up so very uh excited for the opportunity to share what we're doing internally at the staff level here so as you all know um Cogan grass came into the US in the early 1900s and has been named one of the worst weeds in the world it's invasive it spreads easily it outcompetes other species for resources which is key um and nothing eats it so it's it's definitely a problem while there's no single one treatment that can effectively eliminate the grass uh we feel that with unified effort we can at least mitigate the spread of the species so um last summer what we did is uh public works created a kogan grass or invasive species standard operating procedure which trains staff how to identify kogan grass what to do when it's encountered and how to make sure that that it does not spread once it's it's encountered because that is a a big deal once it's ENC once once you encounter it what do you do to make sure it doesn't spread U herbicide and soil removal removed to the county landfill um have been our practice once encountered and we are still monitoring and tracking we have a database um indicating the areas where we found and treated kogan grass within the County Ride of way so we are making sure it doesn't come back once removed well you've only treated a few spots a few spots correct that's correct yep um in addition to uh what Public Works has done with the standing operating procedure we have added language that applies to all applicable contractors uh during the solicitation process kind of echoing what uh fdot is doing so once we are going out to bid for a new mowing contract or Landscaping contractors we have now added language saying that you must provide us with an invasive species action plan which is an umbrella that covers krass um the same thing can be said um uh as well as a the same thing can apply to our Capital Improvement projects for example a landscaping medium project when those contractors come on board we need to make sure that that they address invasive species so we've added that to the solicitation to the bid process um also I'm happy to report on February 9th a kogan grass action plan meeting was held with the Department of Public Works planning and E economic growth growth uh Parks wreck natural resources and the development review Department the purpose was to collaborate what the county can do as a whole to to tackle this because it involves um it's going to take a multi-pronged effort to to tackle this um and I I'll let the um the team uh the

department speak but in in in summary uh the zoning administrator from Peg is working on facilitating a CH a change to the Land Development code which addresses the handling of invasive species incling including kogan grass natural resources has also added a condition of approval to zoning approvals that can be uh conditioned during reviews and site plan approvals processed by the Dr drd team so this this effort will be huge in the mitigation of the of the spread um once that has been completed uh Public Works is going to take the lead on including other departments like the tra traffic operations uh traffic engineering department as well as utilities because there out and about a lot too um they they can come across this stuff at any time of the day or night and so we're going to include all applicable departments we feel like that's going to be key to U mitigating the spread and lastly uh what will also be key and the most important is a public private partnership um during the fdot presentation private property was brought up several times so we will need the Public's buyin to help the county mitigate the spread and we've already had talks of developing some sort of an incentive program um there there's going to be uh kogan grass uh awareness brochures um things like that going out so um we we're currently exploring those options um and we will reach out to all municipalities as well um as we share borders with them um to to see what kogan grass action plans they they have what they're doing so we can all get on the same page we'll be in communication with fdot throughout the process um making sure we have a unified effort on all fronts and Public Works will share the finalized countywide action plan or package to all stakeholders including the board once it's completed and um just want to thank planning and E economic growth parks and wreck natural resources development review Department County attorneys have been involved of course our team at Public Works Mr aduma for his guidance and Mr carala for his support and uh happy to answer any questions thank you and if we could get our F do gentleman back up um thank you go ahead and stay up there I'm glad we're addressing this you know commissioner Mariano has heard me talking about thisle times since I got elected and now we've got a huge problem one you know 10 years ago we had a little problem um just driving here today I think marada is full of it in their entrance feature um so um I'm really encouraged to hear what f does um and I know that Swift Mud does not you know as soon as they find it on their property they they take care of it as well um one of the thoughts that we had uh was you know it's going to be tough to how do we deal with the private landowner and the public right away when they butt together um one of our thoughts was maybe doing a like you know Swift does fire braks um that maybe there needs to be a clear zone between the private land owner's land if it has an invasive grass and the public right

away because if it's not then the Ryon go underground and they just every time you mow it it spreads and makes it thicker um it it blocks out every other plant correct I mean that's kind of what you were saying um and I wondered you know with the commissioner of agriculture's uh staff staff for here I'd love to see if there would could be some State funding and our lobbyist is over here uh for some kind of program like this because unless the state helps we're not going to get rid of it it's it's it's a big big lift and if we don't get it under control it's just going to cost us more and more and more um do you have some thoughts no I wanted I wanted Roy to come up real quick and talk about some of the things because I think the private side that you mentioned to and and Land Development some of the stuff that they're working on it just contributes to this discussion that's okay Roy morning Mr chairman Commissioners Roy masjer development services so um thank you oh so I just have a one just a one one pager here and just to detail what what we're going for um and that's based on Land Development code amendment that we have we have underway um our Land Development code amendments is based on on on Research provided by ifus and also the Florida invasive species Council the fisc guidelines um my group also did research on what's going on in the state of Alabama they have a pretty aggressive uh invasive control program you know also the state of Georgia uh we're approaching this again through the through the Land Development code procedures we uh we have Land Development code that's gone through the the ODC ODT process where we're changing the code in 24 different places everything from preliminary PL submittals to Community Gardens to many different places in the code uh 24 in total uh we're targeting the Planning Commission on May 16th for this amendment uh the bccc first reading is targeted June 4th and what you see on this on the screen right here is just an example of how we're changing the code and I would Point toward um we're asking for for BMP guidelines types of treatment providing for the appropriate method of disposal to prevent propagation ongoing maintenance and monitoring controls of invasive plant species so we're not only asking for a for a identification of these species on your property but we are asking for how you're going to collect it and dispose of it that's the key how are you going to dispose of it I would also add that we are referencing the FC guidelines and that's not only for kogan grass that's going to be lodium soda Apple Air potato yeah that's so bad you know you know uh Brazilian pepper you know all the all the big invasives I think it's important that we reference this group's guidelines they this is the see the central Authority in the State of Florida forace for for invasive control as they update their list then the people who would be doing Land Development will have to know what

that list is and respond to that list rather than us calling them out one by one and having to revise our code we're just referencing this list as it gets updated Land Development Community will have to have to respond to that updated list you know something that comes to my mind as I'm driving here I know there's a whole pasture of kogan grass on the right hand side and I can tell you that that's not egg there is no agriculture benefit to have a pasture of coke and grass so they could very easily lose their egg exemption because cows don't eat it nothing eats it no trees can grow in it it just there's people could be in I think you be losing their egg exemption if they have a field you'll find property owners that are neighboring some of our developments and all that' be more than happy to also get rid of it at the same time yeah yeah um but I think this is this is really good and um and I wish we had done it a while ago but better late than never well I think the most came about when you brought it up about over overpass Road after we developed overpass road we spotted it there right close to the park so that's where it's first noticed here I've seen it along 5 I'm sure there's other places but yeah driving over here is what really gets my blood boiling R you know so I'm kind of behind but I had a I had a question for the do uh gentlemen this is not to kogan grass but this is on your swes um when they grow up and and they get really thick do you ever mow them or is I have some businesses on 54 that you know have some issues but I've spoken to a couple of those businesses so um it depends if it's a Swale or if it's a pond so some of those areas are linear ponds so they do hold water like most of the time of the year um we don't typically trim those down or manicure them unless it's a permit violation with Swift Mud or there's a safety concern um but we have been speaking with some of the business owners that have asked if they want to come out into the RightWay we usually send them an email and says if you're comfortable with that we we allow that so that they can they can address it to their liking okay they can at least trim it so that it's not a wall in front of their business y um well you guys have any thoughts I mean I think this is great that um to learn what's going on what the state does and then what we're planning on doing so okay that's good thank you CH bar maybe I'll be Happ but mosquito controls always running around spraying and treating things maybe we could reach out to them partner with them oh good idea get them certified and have them chemical on their trucks and they see it and document it and spray it they might be a a nice partner to have could be in Sp Tre okay it' be good to reach out to them and find out they could be a partner on that so and I just want to make sure you all share information there because there was a lot of good data with the EP

Mr chairman yes sir I just want to say um you know Mr carbella when you came on as the administrator one of the key things was you getting the right people in the right position uh bringing Roy and and Jason in were like huge uh to spot Talent like Barrett doe who is doing a phenomenal job um you know thank you for what you're doing and bar keep up to great work thank you yes thank thank you very much very much yeah fto ft has been a great partner Pasco County tell you and they still are and as I'm bringing Ralph up I've got one item I need a a vote from the board on and it has come to my attention that fdot has asked for a letter of support for a federal rural grant for the State Road rural safety and economic Mobility project of the widening 52 from 41 oh yes to Bellamy move to approve to for bellany to actually this grant will allow us to do the entire section at one time with the sidew which will speed up with the sidewalk with a 12T shared use path to encourage uh alternative to Transportation that's on the North side but wherever wherever we need it cuz in some places the developer is going to put be able to put it on the southide so I actually need that vote I've got the letter ready to go and uh with my modification modification all right we'll we'll talk to fdot on that modification so but uh so I have a motion in a second all those in favor say I I I I and that passes 40 and my assistant Marie can go ahead and get that started it's ready to go all right with that Ralph you got the floor thank you Mr chairman Commissioners uh good morning Ralph Lair intergovernmental Affairs officer today we're going to have a 2024 session uh legislative session recap and uh I'm going to have our State Legislative Lobby team Sunrise Consulting Sean Foster and Andrew khil come up and uh give a presentation for you about all the wonderful things that the legislature did to us this year you say all wonderful things wow they got to come out wonderful now sh are in up wonderful nice little bow tie there yeah thank you all for letting us have the opportunity to to come speak before you all want to say too that Workshop that we did Mike was very helpful a lot of the issues that we worked on that we talked about came before session and I would just no one forget because maybe we can talk about setting a date of doing that again over the summer uh but I think that was very helpful for the session and of course I think can help plan for next year's session with some ideas and issues I think that'll come up uh Andrew kle uh has done a phenomenal job on on the local issues I do want to say I can't bring that he actually because of how well he's doing on uh the type of issues for counties and cities the Florida League of cities tried to hire him from me a a few months ago so I'm glad he stayed with us he is he is uh I am not kidding you he has really come in rolled up his sleeves on these issues and uh when we go into these me meetings

in Fair where I think uh Jack you guys came to me a couple of those meetings we had in Tallahassee you kind of see some of the the lead that Andrew and our firm kind of takes in this because obviously we represent you and a couple of the counties but we are very interested in these issues uh this session did not get extended we got the budget done all time there's always a rumor that the budget's not going to get uh done on time but it did 2025 sessions coming up March April as you know it changes January febrary March April I always kind of give you an update 2,000 bills passed uh 16% a little bit higher than average actually twice as much and uh there's other significant legislation that was very leading which the leaders had in the house and the Senate healthc care and social media uh that they had uh kind of the areas in and around Pasco County that were a great benefit to us as you can see some of the items the Pasco County Sheriff's Office Wellness Center 1.65 million we're just talking about the fdot uh got the Pasco County Bridge construction 25.3 million Newport Richie got a mobile Library not all these of course yours but ones around Newport Richie Fire Fire Station 1 million and even right here in our backyard not too far zepher Hill septic to sewer 1.5 million kind of gives you an idea right here in your backyard want to give you before I go into the budget real quick just kind of yes sir what was it what was a bridge can you go back yeah that one too am I messing it up the bridge is a state project that just Pasco County Bridge construction I details 23 23 the pedestrian bridge I'll double check a separate Bridge 25 pedestrian bridge could you repeat that into the microphone so that yes I was saying it must be and Ralph might be able to confirm I believe commissioner that am I'm looking at the amount that was yeah I'm I'm going to double check that number right now and I'll we get money for a pedestrian that's not the one one you're thinking about okay he's going to look that up actually he carries his computer everywhere goes you know this is why he brings it overall budget $17 billion um things in the session went around as you communicated we've saw in our reports very very well between the house and the Senate right at the end uh the governor came back in and had some initiatives that he wanted so it kind of escalated the budget uh live local as you can see ship 174 million affordable uh sale 84 um I will say this we have been a very healthy spot for our for our budgets but I do want to give a couple indications to moving forward this budget is is quite higher about four billion higher than it was just a few years ago and so a lot of those indications are are inflation right the price cost of building roads and others uh but I do want to give you something that was really significant just a few months ago the first time since July of 20120 sales tax expectations did not meet expectations so what does that mean

meaning the revenue estimated conference meets every single month and quarterly to give you ideas on how it's going to be for the next year or next five years for the first time sales tax revenue did not meet expectations after covid it's kind of yes ma'am isn't some of this money from the feds as a kind of a padding from Co so we're not talking about these sales tax revenues no Sal tax so a great question of that entire budget 50 million is General Revenue meaning 50 million is what we collect through the state the rest of that 50 to 117 is trust fund and passed through the federal government so the part that I'm talking about right now is just the the 50 billion that we have seen grow um we're seeing some slowdown in sales you're seeing some slow down in in home sales right the dock sales tax some of the items that have come up higher than expectation were our investments were higher and so were our corporate but it was just pretty significant the first time that we've seen sales tax revenue not hit their expectations for almost four years so it's kind of giving some Revenue estimated in conference folks some caution uh looking at what some of our Revenue collections could be next year that impacts you all if we're seeing a lower sales tax revenue collections counties will see it um commissioner Mariano so there is an as I put on the slide fdot Pasco County there is an a direction to fdot and I don't have any further details for you but $25.3 million for Bridge construction in Pasco County oh okay is it pedestrian does it spell out what kind of brid get conf Sean what what percent did we miss getting that Revenue that tax revenue how much will we short on that for well their expectations I'm not reading my glasses were 30 million short um what we have seen what was so significant go commissioner is that we've generally have exceeded it by over a 100 million so and any other quarter any type of time that we've seen that they've actually exceeded their expectation we actually didn't exceed it but actually came below it so pretty significant yeah I mean 100 million a year is you know over 1 billion some reason it was delayed right yeah but um and I'll just say water projects going back to this real quick I want to give you a little bit update this is not in our our update but um we're going to see probably some major changes in how water projects are done Ralph uh I've met with Senator all Britton he's an incoming Senate President he doesn't really like the way the Water Project are done he sees sometimes that areas who have leadership get more preference so obviously if you have leadership you're happy he'd like to see more of a a priority driven process when it comes to water projects and um he spoke to me about it actually spoke to some other groups I understand recently also so we may see some changes I would still say though that may be one of the priorities we want to look at again for next year and kind of dividing that up as we did in the workshop U but expect a different process if he's successful on how Water Project right

now water projects are submitted through a legislative request they go through the committee process and they're approved by the committee leadership within that uh committee and then above that so it's one of the last items I always get asked about that as robal knows it's one of the last items that comes out of the budget because they're holding that for negotiation so that may be one of the reasons why they're wanting to make a change um P County Appropriations we got the the Park Way by uh Boulevard we're just talking about that sidewalk project the Wilton Way Extension uh to pedestrian overpass pass the Pasco fire radio replacement and the senior center so I'd say for a tough year we came out pretty good in some of those areas I feel we could have done a little bit better and um this was pretty contentious I know you worked a little bit on this if you want to talk about this one for just a bit um so I I know that um get get out good morning Commissioners um so this is the uh public camping the homeless bill um this was a very uh um contentious Bill Sean said in the legislature and what this bill does is it limits people just can't be sleeping everywhere loc local governments will need to designate uh for recurring normal use of sleeping public camping it has to be um someone you know a person who's sleeping somewhere in a right away one or two times that's fine it's it's the ongoing their local government probably not Pasco County the ongoing allowance of people that just sleep all over the place on public lands is kind of where this bill came from so you as a commission will have to designate if you have public uh land and public buildings that you'd like to allow uh people who are homeless to sleep on you'll have to designate that land you have to get that land certified that area certified through DCF there's going to be a program that you're going to have to apply to DCF get DCF to give you a certificate that this land can be used for um I'm not sure what the word I want to use housing the homeless that's that's not the term I want to use um and then that's only good for a year and then you have to reup it um during a state of emergency uh people who are displaced well you know that this this law will be suspended um and that bill was already signed into law by the governor okay lots of questions on this Kathy and I talked about this yesterday what does this mean preempts local governments from authorizing we don't authorize people to sleep on public property unless they're you know in our one of our parks in a cabin or a regulated campsite so so there are some and that's where this came go ahead so there were some local governments and County governments in the State of Florida that were allowing public camping uh in their under a bridge in Miami that kind of that would be an example on sidewalks near beaches uh right away so that's what uh what they were referring to when they uh when they put that language in

the bill the California model um so does let me ask question question the bill allow you to purchase property to make sure they're on a certain area the only can no you can use property and set it up for an area uh for camping if you so choose to do it's not telling us we have to and although they did put a small portion of money it's not going to be used for that all right and and I'll give you an example I think pelis County I'll ask there is has something looking at your Chief of Staff did they do that when you were there the one next to the jail facilities that they have next to the jail in penel County Safety Safety Harbor so some of the people are saying that they were looking at expanding that area some tents and everything outside for other folks instead of keeping on of jail and I I was being told that this was a law that they were looking at putting some Provisions if you decide to do this you're setting up you know these tents and you're trying to house folks so some of these Provisions would have to be there through DCF so okay question yes um because um and Kathy I don't know if you want to ask these questions too but we so somewhere someone has the idea that if um some we've got someone living on on the side of the sidewalk in commission of Bradford's District on Massachusetts um and not only that yesterday when I was driving into my office a 100 yards past that gentleman who's got a village around him now um I saw a a U-Haul rental van where a gentleman was unloading his stuff into the woods right next to some offices on State Road on Massachusetts and I don't know what you guys did about that um but I you know I really I was on the phone so I text texted my staff to do something immediately and they forwarded it to Bradford's staff so I'm anxious to hear what they did but um so so the difference on that Comm how do we you know does the sheriff arrest someone if they're living on a sidewalk and can we what do we do I mean can we or what do we do the difference between what you're what you're saying folks down the street in behind somebody's property and otherwise this is where you are setting it up and saying come here or this is a space that you can allocate as a homeless and if you're going to do that and if communities are going to do that these are the provisions so the difference is you know you're you're never going to stop overall homelessness people buy a park people buy you know a force this is saying if communities are going to do this they're going to set it up these are the regulations that they feel that make it safe for the for them and for the community at large so part part you know what's challenging is if someone's trespassing they're breaking a law there's a law against trespassing but all we do is make a move um and I was wondering you know and if we put them in jail that's a big expense to the taxpayer and we don't have room so is it possible or or maybe do we want to look at a law allowing this and I don't mean for this to be inhuman but if someone is

repeatedly caught trespassing and they want to live outside can they live outside on our jail property not in the jail and their tent on our property and if we put a a porta poty that's the idea behind if you all if the county uh chooses to uh to Camp certified a host DF but that's that is voluntary no that that well that is voluntary but by doing that what do we do when they don't want to come out of the woods that's the problem is what you just mentioned if somebody was arrested when pelis is trying to do a diversion they're building that camp next to the next to the Sheriff's Office and these are some of the provisions that you'd have to do by it so in other words they don't think that people should be in jail for for some of these but they also want to make sure they get the resources so I think you all have to that's a conversation um and tax doll to commissioner we're we're obviously you for the last budget working on a number of of of items Pasco hope project is we're trying to bring that into fruition that's voluntary I correct but it's also a low barrier shelter that that could Absol you know contribute as assistance to the program obviously the board we we need to have the conversation on you know what what the next move would be if if Pasco hope is or isn't successful um or needs to be expanded and how we want to handle that this this is authorizing the tools now Sean there is a provision in here about litigation or right there is so that the part that I think you know we and other municipalities and counties are worried about is there is that provision that was put in there that businesses and residents could sue a local government uh if this law or or if public campign occurs in public areas near businesses um could occur uh and so I've had this discussion uh with our County attorney this they didn't put any enforcement in there and and ways that we can address that um it's a catch 22 as as he uh as he mentioned um but one thing that um a possibility that we could do uh addressing with that issue is is show what we can or or or have within our ordinances uh I I had a meeting with uh Kathy Pearson our assistant County Administrator and Chase Daniels with the sheriff's officer office uh we we I looked around at the state at the counties the municipalities and and they have strong loitering ordinances ours is is pretty simple it kind of aligns with the state uh with that and and what what these local governments have done is they they they call out public camping and rideways near businesses on beaches uh they give warnings uh to the individuals they give documentation uh and what's provided in the county for homeless uh if they are caught doing it again they could be fine and and serve time that is already covered in the loitering law uh so that would be one suggestion is to look at the ordinance and posi U Beef It Up so so we have some language but ultimately and I've even had this discussion uh with Sean and Andrew I think uh this is one if that happens

we'll go to court and and then possibly have the the the language or the or the bill tossed out or sent back to kind of put some enforcement in there and uh and protection in there to the local government uh so they aren't sued because if if you have signs up say no ordering you have an ordinance that says no ordering and after hours there are people doing this you don't have the manpower to go around and and and make sure that people are abiding by the law in public areas um so so it's concern and I think you know it's like I said it's we all local governments fear that concern yeah and I I don't think our issue so much is the on public land as it is they keep going on private land in our County well that's yeah that's a Marana has a question yeah I I think this conversation is something I want to talk about anyway panhandling in Camp so I think under committee reports we're can get into this a lot a lot more yeah um I don't want to tie these guys up for because we still got Park signal do question yeah if if I may meeting so yeah thank you and on uh May 14th is our workshop on on affordable housing so I think there's some there's some parallels here homelessness that we can discuss y we have and I'd love to hear what some other counties are doing you sure okay and in the interest of time quickly um last year we passed Senate Bill 170 any ordinance that the county adopts must do a business impact statement any business stakeholder who doesn't like it they can sue you over it last year Land Development code was specifically Exempted from Senate Bill 170 uh Senate Bill 1628 adds the Land Development code to that provision okay so 328 we've got two Provisions in here where we going to have some conversations one I'm going to leave 773 uh at the end when it comes to the taxation bill there were some changes in here you'll see um as you know very familiar with this bill local government must reduce parking was one of the requirements uh clarifies density I don't need I know you guys of any of the bills you guys were very very much involved in this there were some clarifications on affordable units and quality qualifying development units there was also some language that the Florida I don't know if you all were aware this finally changed the Florida Housing Finance Corporation is really just as we discovered ministerial in and in handing it over when when the studies done by the developer it's ministerially you know goes through they actually gave the right and the power to the property appraiser uh to maintain the ultimate authority to Grant those exemptions so there was some clarification in in that language um you also know about some of the other language we'll talk about when we get to 7073 about the amendment uh through the shimberg study also um so these are two building permit pieces of legislation I put them together on one slide they are related but but not the same your bill on the left Senate Bill 812 that um let me back up just a second when Senate Bill 267 was filed um 267 relates to residential

construction and permitting also just generally permitting generally 812 relates specifically to plan developments um when 267 was filed it had some of 812 in it they kind of the legislature separated them into two different bills um so Senate Bill 812 relates to any kind of track home developer um who's applying to develop many homes by October 1st of this year the the county will have to have a way that they can request up to 50% of their permits for a subdivision in a planned Community um the local government will need to start maintaining a list of private vendors who are available when there's excessive development going on lots of houses being built private vendors who are available to function as a staff Aug to get the permits and the plans reviews through the local government um applicant can use a private provider to expedite the permit process um generally um the developer can go ahead and contract for sale but he can't actually close on the property um until the final plat is approved that's 812 267s building permits generally um residential uh commercial there's time frames that are now there were already some time frames in statute these are much shorter time frames um used to be like 10 days uh if you receive an application to determine if it's complete or not now you have 5 days to determine if it's complete or not um and then so many days to either approve uh deny or approve with conditions or deny the permit of those time Fram frames are all shorter um Senate Bill 280 vacation rentals um I know we talked a lot about this during session with Ralph um pre 2011 ordinances were already grandfathered in every other part of vacation rental regulations uh preempted to the state um this was their legislator's idea of providing in in in May I quote some tools to local governments allows for a registration fee so not actually lenser at the local level but at least a registration where the vacation rental will have to provide you with um who's on call 24 hours who who owns you know some some some some requirements or some threshold to get your quote unquote registration the local government then can suspend the registration if the vacation rental has so many um deficiencies and delinquencies go ahead can Mr chairman yes can we do that even with the ordinance we have now that doesn't preempt our grandfathered ordinance to have ORD adopted huh oh okay so the ordinance is is vested say what sir the vot the ordinance that they have on the books is vested pre 2016 right so so then you then you are fine with your current ordinance but you're specifically say regist not lure so the bill allows for a local government to have a registration that's probably a question for your county attorney but I would think if it's registration not lure um any and all ordinances that were pre 2016 are are fine anyways well that solves a lot of our problem so you can call your friends at uh County up on the northeast

side of the state thank them um uh dpvr will be in charge of of uh they will be the regulator from now on and there's a way that a local government now can contact dbr and say oh we've had all these issues can you suspend the license but I can talk to you more detail about the bill if you have any further questions um 479 this is the transportation impact fee Bill Mobility uh funding system long story short they want local governments who interact who overlap in a development to work together to calculate what what the impact fees should be the local government who is the one issuing the permit the actual permit will be the one to necessarily collect that impact fee divy it up back with the other local government who's working with them um using you have to use certain data when you're developing the impact fees it has to be data that was within past within past four years um and provide again you know proportionate distribution it it's really I don't want to use the word forcing but requiring local governments to work together so that people aren't charged mult times for impact fees I'm not sure where that happens but that's what is said um it happens in South Florida but a question for you on this one um would this affect us say uh if we if there was a Pasco County development near the county line or the border of Pasco and the nearest grocery stores in Hernando County um could they take some of our impact fees since maybe their roads are impacted so I off the top of my head will not tell you yes from reading the bill but I will tell you yes from a conversation that happened in a committee and we'll have to rev con there was a specific example of Sarasota County and Manatee County working on a project I can't remember the details but that was discussed in a committee while this bill was being heard so I will get back with you I'm sorry yeah okay uh 73 had to do with Special Districts itive Control District it creates a 12-year term limit for elected board members um I would expect some more items to come out there's thousands of they found out of these Special Districts one of the items that they didn't was pretty simple they didn't have on their strategic goals and working on those a few of the districts they all went through an audit and nothing crazy came out of any of the audits that they did for the districts around um but they were looking at seeing some of the capacity that these Special Districts had to increase millage rates on folks and you could see some of the reductions that they made on that also Pace we all know about Pace loans Bad actors in Pace loans um pce loans are for various energy efficient items energy items they've expanded The pce Loan program to include uh water treatment as well so you can you know if you're getting some kind of specific on-site sewage treatment center septic tank uh you can use a pace loan and then they also put in some extra regulations and oversight because a lot of these Pace loan folks I guess from my

understanding um can be potentially Bad actors and predatory on homeowners um so that's what this bill does um C no go back cyber security um oh jumping over okay okay yes surprised so a little bit of information obviously first I want to to thank uh David Goldstein with your staff your County Administrator um and all of you all really this was a uh very difficult session I know Pasco County was very much targeted at times but I think we did a very due diligent job representing not only our County our cons but also many around the state so one of the items that we'll talk about real quick is how do we allow a uh a taxing authority to move forward and we talked about the provision that we put in the shinberg study um just to go again the shimberg study is used to detail the surplus of of deficit uh or surplus of affordable housing and rental units through through a region so there was even some discussions about regions and and how they come to that number some of those areas aren't able to get those regions so I would say first I want to say the president's office really had an open door with us our legislative delegation was very very helpful on this um it's going to provide some of the information beyond the shimberg real quick just let you know those who still when you find out you have a surplus uh in 2025 2026 those who already receiv received it are obviously grandfathered in uh the taxing Authority the county upon adoption of an ordinance or resolution is going to have to be approved by 2third of the vote of the governing body when they can show through the schimberg study that the need is being met I think that is in the simplest terms that we can put put it out there um it it was very taxing I just want to I know a lot of us there was conversations and things in the newspaper from the Senate President um but I would say we kept to it um I had many F times we're running into the office to go talk to Jennifer as you all know very much and many times that your County Administrator and I were on the phone quickly and talking about this this this amendment I want to thank first of all the Senate president's office they had even major push back in those Final hours and the final day of saying you know they weren't happy with this developers and and lobbyists who represented these de um developers were pushing back for more severe changes because they knew that it would push the need to not be there as much when I when I say that I think we're very fortunate now from getting to look at it and I was told if we weren't happy with 100% of what was in that bill that they would come back and help us change it and make sure that we got the information from the shimberg study that we needed so right now we felt we weren't getting everything that we needed from it uh but they promised to work with us meeting the president's office and you know the funding comes from the legislature to the shimberg study uh to do the shimberg

study so I'm pretty confident that they're going to be able to work with us um I know this was a sensitive subject but I really think for the best for the county we came out this resolution came in there and I want to thank you all again um thank you all very very much for coming to Tallahassee talking to your legislative delegation talking to everybody that you could to help get get this across uh commissioner waitman I know you were waving the flag on this you know a long long time ago we saw this coming and um I think there's going to be both benefits one I think you're going to see affordable housing is going to be increased in the areas where there's a need and where is the need the need is truly under that 80% right we don't have a need between the 80% and 120 Ami the 90% meets what's already happening with rents um and all of a sudden when you had this picture when you showed them what an 80% Ami was with your delegation the not in the president's office but other legislators the light went on all of a sudden of what nonprofits are truly trying to do for Amis uh below 80% for folks so thank you all again I'll take any of the questions that you have on that I think that was really our last slide I know we took a little bit of side last thing sovereign immunity uh reill local business taxes uh under chapter 2005 did not pass uh tourism development tax changes did not pass as you all know and County Commission term limits so those are some items that we will be following up with you over the summer kind of give you an idea just like we did with Senator Ben Albritton on his emphasis being on uh how they do water uh projects in the future and I see a finger pointing this Mr Mr Mar has some questions yeah tell this was in my years the most difficult situation to go through with the state legisl of all the things we had to go through by far the the results could have been devastating uh commissioner waitman you're your early leadership and picking on about checking every single uh Development coming in if we had Provisions Jeff you and David together making sure that we had the right Provisions going denu you as well helping everything go through but uh the work up there Sean was was amazing on your end uh you and Andrew were like incredible to work with teaming up with Ralph working with carbella probably back and forth in the phone just trying to look at all the things David being a a leader in the in the state as far as you know the go-to guy to find out what's really going on but the the meetings you gave to us uh the communications you kept going even after the session started and we're back here uh for you to keep on pushing and pushing and pushing it got better and better and better and uh without you and Andrew up there fighting for so hard and doing so effectively wouldn't happened so thank you for your great service well I I appreciate it like I said it was a very uh difficult time I know for everybody and I appreciate you all's communication and willingness to work with us it kind of made that job a

little bit easier up there uh we have the benefit we don't represent any developers any builders you know there's no conflict of interest with ours we have one focus in mind and that's serving your interests very well thank Youk thank you yeah I know we're I know we're out of time today I we have a big lunch meeting but um and we have a little more time before we have to have our ducks in a row for the next session but certainly want to take a look at Appropriations around the state and see how we fared and see if we're you know on the right track for the plans that we we have I mean I know this is out there but do you have any idea when it's going to get signed so I was told two different scenarios one I was told in the next two weeks and the next one I was told at the end of June so I will tell you when the one I was told it was just in two weeks hasn't happened yet so that one so yeah and it was it was so it was it came from the governor's office expect everything to be signed in the next two weeks he was actually even holding off on some appointments and some uh the governor is holding off an appointments and endorsements on folks until the budget got passed um so I hope sooner than what we have seen in the past okay that that's a big one he just said we did send him the retirement bill which is a pretty big bill on the budget so that could give us some indication when we see it come through so and so when when is the deadline to sign the bill if there's well a couple years ago if you recall he did it the day before your fiscal year started is that July July 14th or something July 1 July 1 start it was June 30th and you had July 1st he literally did it two days before and that's only time I've ever seen that happen in my recollection and I know you're taking a deep breath right now there was other money that is going to passco through our nonprofits um yes I know I encouraged as I I encouraged nonprofits and the cities to please ask for money so there's there is more money coming to the county may not be through us so we were I was going to I was just going to say we just set up h a time where we're looking at doing our Workshop uh for our next legislative session and we'll probably toss around some ideas uh I'll get with Sean and maybe we can even have our um delegation uh interact with us on that I mean it is an election year uh all of our uh State reps have to uh go up for election um but it's something we'll consider but but no we'll be having a a workshop and we'll be playing it way in advance for next year's session great all right all right all right thank you we got a break for lunch so we're going to break from lunch we're going to recess for lunch we'll be back here at 1:30 to carry on with public comments public [Music] hearings storm drains are meant for clean rainwater most other discharges are illegal if you suspect an illicit

discharge