12.9.25 Pasco Board of County Commissioners Meeting (Morning Session)

Down. Hey. Down.

[music]

Heat up. Hey, down. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. and happy holidays. Uh,

okay. Hey, I'd like to call to order the Pasco County Board of County Commission 10:00 meeting for December 9th, 2025. At this time, silence all electronic devices and mute your microphones. And we will rise for the invocation of the pledge. [clears throat]

Good morning.

Merry Christmas to you all in case I don't see you between now and then. and thank you for allowing me to be here and to serve you all. Let's pray. Oh, Father, we have come together again for another important meeting and another full agenda, Lord. And yet we have come together at a time that there are so many distractions with the holidays quickly approaching, all the distractions of the things that we still need to do and prepare and all of those things, Lord. And so we ask that in our time together today that you help us to set those concerns aside and give us the ability to focus on the agenda at hand so we're able to go through the agenda and successfully complete it as we need to. Lord and as we've gathered today we want to lift up a couple families. Lord, we want to lift up the family of Jesse Cass, who is one of our volunteer firefighters. We thank you for his service and we just ask that you surround his family with your arms of love and comfort, particularly during the Christmas season. We also want to lift up the family of Michael Karsski who is one of our HR employees, Lord. And I ask the same for them that you'll just in encircle them with your arms of love and comfort and just give them the ability to go through the holidays with fond memories of their loved ones, Lord. So be with us now and during this time and prepare us for Christmas that it'll truly be a merry Christmas, a happy new year and we will always be reminded of the true reason for the season. So thank you Lord for being with us today and I lift this in your name. Amen.

Amen. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. Um before we start today's meeting, I just want to um take a moment of silence for former commissioner Anne Hildebrand, whose district actually I sit in now, and who was a mentor and a friend for many years. I think she served 29 years as county commission. I believe she was the first Republican woman elected in Pasco County, I think. And um so for for all please moment of silence to remember Commissioner Hildbrand. Thank you. Okay. [clears throat] Today's a special meeting. Today we do our reorganization. And so I'm going to hand the gavvel over to our clerk.

U do we need to do roll call first?

Oh yes, please.

Okay, do roll call.

Uh, District 1, Commissioner Oakley

here.

District two, Commissioner Weightman

present.

District four, Commissioner Joerger

here.

District five, Commissioner Mariano

here.

District three, Chairman Starky

here.

And I'll gladly take that.

There you go. [laughter]

You have the gavl, you have the power. Um, I will open up the floor for nominations for chair of the board of county commissioners.

I nominate Commissioner Mariana.

Okay, we have a nomination.

Okay, second.

Okay, are there any other nominations for chair?

Hearing none, I will close nominations and no vote is needed. So, congratulations. Thank you, chair.

Okay. What is all [applause] right?

[applause]

Wait, I need to make it official. Hold on [laughter] now.

It's like a shotgun blast.

Nope.

I'm the swing person. Sometimes I'm here and sometimes

Have have fun, Commissioner Jagger. [laughter]

Exactly.

Well, thank my board members. Appreciate the recognition and uh the opportunity to be chairman

and appreciate it. Thank you chair chairman Mayor and thank you chair Starky for this this last year as uh chairman.

Thank you. I enjoyed it very much and I hope everyone

exciting

a good year.

Okay. Nomination now in order for the vice chair.

I would like to uh nominate Commissioner Weightman for vice chair.

Second.

We got a nomination. I got two seconds and all good. Um any other further nominations? All in favor for Commissioner W. Vice Chair.

Hi.

Congratulations.

Thank you, team. [applause] [applause]

Oh,

we've vice chair today.

Oh, yeah. Rules.

Okay. So, we need a second vice chair.

Um, move for Commissioner Joerger for second vice chair. Second.

Any other fir further nominations?

Okay. All in favor say I.

I.

So, chairman, may I? So what I learned recently with this second vice chair role, Commissioner Joerger, is if the chair and vice chair are gone, you have delegation of signing authority. So you may get sporadic phone calls saying quick from the clerk, can you come to the office to sign paperwork? So it actually has a little something to it. So anyway, okay. All right. Now is the time for public comment. Citizens give an opportunity to comment on any current or future agenda item coming before the board or any other business under the board's purview.

Would anyone like to speak?

Mr. Chair, I do have three individuals signed up. One is uh for a resolution that's on consent. Uh do we want to pull that resolution during resolution time or would you like to do that now?

Um let's pull the resolution.

Okay. So, do we want it for the resolution or you want to do it now? We um might as well do it during the public comment with that. We could pull it. I'm sure the board members have

during consent

something to say. Okay.

Pull during consent. Okay.

This needs to all be by the mic.

Then um the first person that I have is Alan Rose followed by I think it's Lealia Cluis. Could have gotten that wrong. Good morning. Alan Rose 10221 Hilltop Drive, Newport Richie. Today I'm just bringing more information forward about our waterways. Um, this is mainly on uh storm water flooding and uh public health issues. Right now I'm following through with this uh because of what I experienced last year. Uh mosquito control benefit, public health will benefit. Right now, engineering for when we do resoning and bring all this new construction up into our area, the engineers bring forward their designs. They bring forward their retention ponds and everything else that's required because it's over an impaired basin, what have you. But what they don't tell you is that's not addressing a flooding issue. It's not addressing the water flow. And that's what's caused I I watched this and that's why I had to go digging. And I went to D and I went to SwiftMUT to figure this all out. And then I was directed back to locals and uh locals will tell you they have engineer engineers handling storm water for their reszoning development. And the uh the engineers do a great job. It's a beautiful designs with retention ponds and everything else. They they they handle pollution issues so well yet they do not address the flow of water which is not addressed causing upstream flooding and many other issues. They do comply with the EP needs yet cause many flooding issues. And I personally watched this last year as I watched Rocky Sink flow backwards and flood up into my neighborhood. And it it was going to get worse and worse. There this there's more development schedule and it's been approved on Ridge Road and that's going to cause more flooding upstream. Just wanted to bring that forward to you. These are things we should keep be aware of because I didn't know and and you're thinking you see these retention ponds and all of this approval that's gone through. It's approval for pollution. It's approval for D. It's not approval for your flooding. So, you're going to gain flooding as you reszone and harden the surrounding areas. Just wanted to bring that to you. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay.

Lalia Cluis, is that correct? I do see that the item that you're here to speak on will be pulled during consent.

Doesn't matter. [clears throat]

That would be the only time to have the opportunity to speak is now.

What item if I get another copy of that consent of the consent agenda polls is like over there. I think Yeah, I took all my pictures.

Good morning. Um, yeah, my name is Claude Logan and my address is 1716 West Lemon Street in Tampa, Florida. And uh we are here for um the uh there's a an agenda memorandum for Logan Outdoor Advertising regarding um conversion to digital and [clears throat] I just wanted to make some comments regarding the agenda memorandum. Um, to date, three outdoor advertising companies have entered into the relocation and reconstruction agreement for quote unquote conversion to digital for a total of 106 bulletins. Um I we're we're wondering if we are held to a higher standard of u scrutiny because um all six all of the 106 static bulletins from the three companies and uh were were they sufficiently investigated regarding the legal status as to whether or not uh each was not subject to removal by their means. Um uh following the pre-application meeting required were all three companies deferred 9 months for required board of county commissioner public meeting to consider application for a relocation and construction agreement. Um we we feel like we've been held to a higher standard because um the other companies uh that I inquired with were not. Um we we don't know why we were def deferred. Um but the the intent of the ordinance is to ultimately reduce the total number of billboard bulletins in Pasco County. If you uh now today approve um our request, this will remove a total of six bulletins. Um what the memorandum uh discussed the agenda memorandum discussed was the uh bottom 50% of the requirement uh which is three uh bulletins. we um we have to add at our expense um three we have to remove three additional bulletins. So if you approve this today, you will be approving for the removal of six bulletins um uh uh in [clears throat] accordance with the with the ordinance without any further compliance issues and and any lingering u remaining legal controversy. It'll it'll all be over.

We did everything.

Yeah. We we've done everything we've done everything that we uh were required to do. Um we don't know why the we we've been perplexed as to why this has been delayed. Was that three minutes? Okay. Okay. Thank you. Uh we don't comment during public comment, but I will tell you I will keep the item. I was going to pull it. I was going to not pull it because I was happy with the explanation, but [clears throat] so you can hear the explanation. Um, I'll I'll I'll pull the item so you can hear at least the explanation. You won't be able to comment on it, but you can hear it.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you for the opportunity.

We have uh David Lambert and John McCarthy.

Oh boy.

Good morning, commissioners. And we have Ricky Guty, our district manager, and one Pasco with us as well today. The co-op returned an historic $24 million in capital credits to our members this year. And uh the county's portion of it, as you can see, is $370,822. As your not forprofit electric co-op, we work every day tirelessly to invest in uh our communities. And uh we also operate at an at cost basis. And this represents our your prorat a share of our margins. And we just want to thank you all uh for working with us. We want to thank the county staff. We work very well with those folks too. And it's just a great partnership. And as we continue to work to control costs and expand with our growing counties, um we will continue to keep our eye on every cost that we possibly can to bring the best, safest, most reliable power that that we can we can provide. So I want to wish you all a merry Christmas and a great happy new year as well.

Well, say merry Christmas. Let's go to the board members.

Yeah,

Mr. Oakley. We certainly appreciate this and a growing county like Pasco County is and your district had began because of rural nature of it has actually grown more than other areas all over over Florida and around around the Tampa Bay area. But we certainly appreciate all the work that y'all do to support us and what we got going on here in Pasco County and actually been a step ahead of the uh new developments and all that are happening in our area and you've been ready once it gets approved to go forward. So, thank you very much for that.

Mr. Whitman,

thank you.

Well, Andy Taylor's here with Tico. What are you doing today? [laughter]

What's Tico doing today? Uh, Mr. Taylor, [laughter]

he's going to let

welcome welcome to the the fine show that the with Cooch River Electric is putting on for us. Uh [laughter] I couldn't help myself. Uh but no, seriously, you know, couldn't have a better community partner in co-op than what you guys do. Not just returning money, but the jobs that you provide, the vision that you have for our county, helping helping others in places that you don't have to. um just you guys are second to none and it's always an honor to have you come before the board whether it's giving us 370 plus thousand or just to come and and talk to us. So thank you for coming here today.

Thank you Starky.

Well um yesterday was a wonderful day. So thank you so much for that when we uh cut the ribbon on our new veterans um village. But I also uh want to thank with Luchi, listen up Tico, uh for being a sponsor of our first miles that matter for all children's hospital. We are so excited that they are bringing a children's hospital to Pasco County in this part of Florida and I'm this is our first fundraiser for All Children's in the county and I'm just so grateful that you're one of our sponsors. So, thank you very much. I'm going to be walking it with my dog. Feel free to come out and join me.

Mga,

you can also walk. You don't have to run. Well, whenever I see a veteran project or something great in the community, your name is attached to it. So, just thank you for being a blessing to Pasco. You guys truly are the hands and feet.

Thank you. I just say we are blessed in Pasco County with Luchi Electric. You guys are the best cooperative in the planet on the planet. Uh what you do for the community, uh your business friendliness and your acumen to to save your company, save your customers money has been phenomenal. And I think it's such a warm-hearted thing at this time of year to actually help the people that have these electric bills that pretty much don't have to pay them get their credit as well. It just makes it makes the season that much better for everybody. So, thank all the great work you do.

Thank you, Commissioner. We greatly appreciate it.

With that, let's go on and take a picture. Yep. [clears throat]

All right. You better sitting here. What are you losing? That's right.

There we go. [laughter]

All right. Ready?

All right. [applause] Okay. Is there any other public comment?

I have no one else signed up. Andy's on there,

but we're going to pull yours.

I'm going to pull sheet, too.

Okay.

There was someone online on my sheet. Not on my

uh for public comment.

Yes. A lady.

Is there anyone on me?

No one is on. Not on.

But um we can call up Andy Taylor. He did um sign up, but um he had put signed up, but but he has comments.

Okay.

Do you have a check with you? [laughter]

A sponsorship.

I was I'm sorry. and Andy Taylor, Tampa Electric Company. I was coming up here to thank you all and thank Commissioner Weightman, but I think that just changed my entire remarks. Um, you know, 14520 uh Fifth Street, Dade City, for the record, Tampa Electric Company. I'm here about C2 and and Madame Clerk, I'm fine leaving it on consent. Um, it's the resolution for Jimmy Adcock um recognizing his retirement. and I think you all know him. He is retiring. He had my role with the company for 14 years. Spent the last two and a half making sure I didn't screw up. Um that resolution, if you read your packet, goes into a lot of our nonprofit support such as the Dade City Police Foundation. Jimmy and and Tiko was one of the first donors to that uh when they started that in 2018. We support Sunrise, their peace breakfast. Last week, both we work closely with uh with Luchi. We both support Sunrise. Last week at the peace breakfast in East Pasco, I was at table number one sitting with Kelly Sin and the keynote speaker. We do that. Um you know, Jimmy worked 43 years for the company. Started as a meter reader, worked his way up to the director of regional affairs. So, he did not want a presentation. I was going to thank Commissioner Weightman, but I'm not so sure anymore. Um, and thank you all for for signing that. And um, you know, we support a lot and and there's more in that resolution. You can read in your packet of what we've done with our nonprofit partners in the community and what Jimmy's done um, over the years, but happy to be here. Say uh, say thank you for that, I think. And um happy to be here. And just on a personal personal note, happy to be here for uh Mike Shoemate's retirement as well today. He was a good friend that I worked with uh is a good friend I worked with closely over the years when I worked with the county as well. And again, madam clerk, I'm fine leaving that on consent. So, thank you.

Thank you,

Andy. Merry Christmas and thanks for all the tego, too.

Thank you. Thank you, chairman. Thank you, someone. [laughter] Oh man, [laughter]

this is fun.

This is still a good one, Seth.

All right, so we're going to go to the consent agenda. Um, items I have scheduled for pull are C46, which is a withdrawal, C8, C32, C60, and C68. Are there any other items to be pulled?

Okay, with that, can I have a motion for approval?

Second.

All in favor say I.

I.

Any opposed?

Okay. Um, so C8, we're going to have a discussion on that. Uh, this is something I was going to pull pull, but I did have a good conversation with Miss Blair. I didn't uh Miss Blair, I didn't have a chance to do it earlier, but uh I was happy with the explanation. So, if you want to kind of describe what we talked about.

Sure. Absolutely.

Elizabeth Blair, Pesco County Attorney's Office. What's before you is a request from Logan Outdoor for a conversion of static billboards for the ability to have digital display. The county's program established in 2017 was set up for a certain number of billboards to come down in exchange for the ability to convert. You've entered into numerous agreements since then to take down billboards. Um the three other companies that you've negotiated with have all taken down static face billboards that were not slatted for some other form of removal. They weren't taken down by hurricanes. They were billboards purely located throughout the county. They wanted to exchange for digital conversion. Unfortunately, the request right now that's in front of you um is for the using some billboards that aren't having to come down and some that are already required to come down. Currently, there's a site plan and planning and development right now, which is attached to your memo that shows that we have billboards on this particular piece of property that already have to come down. So, under the terms of the land development code and consistency with prior agreements, those billboards can't be counted as part of the removal ratio. they can choose other billboards they own elsewhere in the county, which they do own other billboards, and put that together as part of their package. And if they submit a new application set up like that, that will certainly be able to bring that to you and show it to you as being consistent with the land development code [clears throat] and other agreements. So,

so Elizabeth, I appreciate that. And again, it basically is there not going to get credit for building billboards that have to come down.

Correct.

What I wouldn't mind doing is having a future conversation like we talked about when we had our hurricane workshop. if they want to look at some things that are on 19, we can replace some of the on 18 for the digital billboards. So when there is a hurricane, we can do it for awareness and the warnings. Uh happy to sit down and have that conversation.

Sounds good.

So I'm I'm happy with the item. I pulled it.

Uh C8.

Second. Okay. All in favor say I.

I.

Any opposed? Okay. And item C32

[clears throat]

I just wanted to highlight this because you know years ago we talked about how much blight was actually out there in in Port Richie, Newport Richie. Um these checks we've got to come out come out of our budget that would be spread around the county which at these times we need to take a look at I don't know if the board has a will to actually go look at these blighted areas to see if they should be cons keep coming there and put some pressure to get that lighted up. um you know Zephr Hills City very little um so I don't know if there's any appetite for the board to take a closer look at that for the future.

Um I mean I think we should always take a look under the hood.

Thanks for being on time. Mike,

do we

do we get um an annual update of what they've done with the money? Do we the board?

It would I would love to know what projects they're working on.

Maybe we could put a request in haven't

for a presentation.

Okay.

Do we need a motion for that or should we just

uh move to approve?

I can ask. He'll do the ask.

And we have a motion to approve C32. So move. Second.

Second.

Kind of got it. All in favor say I.

I.

Okay.

I said it, but I didn't say it loudly.

Sorry. [laughter]

Uh, and now we'll go to C60. I pulled this one just to have a discussion about the cost that we have for every project that we approve. I don't want to change what we've got because the timing of this needs to to continue forward. the research you've done is great, but um I know we had some things with the restart committee. We looked at closely how much money it took to administrate some of those projects and that's what kind of uh changed some of the things we were looking at doing and I'm just wondering how much does it take to do these smaller grants or the bigger grants and um you could elaborate on that a little bit. the administration, Mary theory Young Community Development, the administration of the grant, regardless of the award, um it takes the same amount of time to administer the grants. We're still reviewing all invoices. We're reviewing everything that's submitted for the grant before we approve for reimbursement. So, it doesn't matter if it's a $25,000 grant or if it's a $500,000 grant, the administration is pretty much the same regardless. So, if we're going to get our best bang for the buck and reduce administration cost, bigger projects are a better value-wise than the smaller projects.

Depending on the project, yes, some of these service projects are the smaller value projects because we're limited by our funding source on how much we can put allocate for services.

Okay. So, again, I don't want to change what we have now, but I just want to bring that awareness out. Maybe next year you can kind of factor that in.

Absolutely. I hear your concerns and we will look at that and come back with a resolution.

Okay. Thank you.

Move approval.

Um I'm sorry. I have a question.

All right. Uh do we have a second over there first? Okay.

I have a second.

Okay. And commission

in discussion. Um [clears throat] kind of like um with our housing authority. Um I heard recently that it's possible that we're bringing in people who aren't Pasco residents to some of our shelters. and knowing the great need that we have here, unless it's a dire circumstance, and I I know one where we had a woman who was at Metropolitan Ministries um and she was a victim of domestic violence and her perpetrator found out where she was and they had to move her out of the county. But I want to be sure that that all the support we're giving to our um uh homeless

nonprofits

nonprofits that we're focusing on our Pasco County residents first. I just wanted to say that.

Excellent. Okay, [clears throat] I have a motion to second. Any further discussion?

All in favor say I. I. Any opposed?

Thank you. and C68 Mike Carbella. [clears throat]

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We had some gonna ask Chuck Lane, gonna ask Chuck to come up to um speak a little bit about one of the elements [clears throat] of of our better futures program. So item C68 has a number of policies in them, but um specific policy regarding mortgages and the uh protection of the money uh has has come up in in conversations. And so I felt it was prudent to have this conversation with the board. I'm going to let Chuck uh kind of describe in the details and what it is that we would like to get guidance on and make sure that the board is is comfortable with what we're proposing moving forward.

Uh thank you, Chuck Lane, uh director, [clears throat] office of disaster recovery resources. So staff is requesting policy direction regarding a component of the policies and procedures for the individual housing program. As written, policies require the household to live in the home for 3 years following construction and a mortgage will be used to protect the county's interest. There are different circumstances that that trigger um these requirements. But for projects north of $50,000, the policies require a mortgage and a three-year residency requirement. So, it's important to understand that we may have rare circumstances where we discover a fraudulent application after funds have been dispersed or we may find that there's been a duplication of benefits. Um, under either case, uh, we may be required to pay the funds back to HUD. A mortgage is the most effective instrument to ensure we can recapture those funds from the homeowner uh, with reliability and with minimal cost. Uh depending on the board's risk tolerance, you may wish to leave this policy as is or you may wish to uh make changes. Landlords have more rest more stringent rules required by HUD and we will follow those rules. We're asking you to weigh in on the requirements for homeowners only. So what you see on the screen here, this is information we gathered from other disaster recovery programs in Florida. You can see that five of nine have a residency requirement or a compliance period. uh same thing, but only Lee County requires a mortgage. Uh a more common practice to enforce the residency requirement is to uh incorporate the requirement into uh a grant agreement and and then staff thereafter will monitor to make sure the rules are being followed. Uh this is information um from from uh policies from organizations outside of Florida. You can see it's pretty much about the same um the same percentage of those that require residency requirements and those that do not. Um so we're asking for your approval of the policies and procedures today. Any delay would cause us to delay our individual housing program. Um whether you would approve as is or as amended. So I'm here to answer any questions as you talk through this. Tim Lagudi uh who is the um uh program manager on the M side, our consultant for this program. He's also available for comment. Tim, please confirm that you're available. He is online. He's not feeling.

Good morning. I'm here.

Um if I could, Chuck, Tim, would you explain? We talked on a conference call yesterday about the risk that's really involved here. And um you you went through the situation in New York and how that uh played out as far as what the expenses really were compared to what the risk really was.

Sure. So the the risk is minimal. Uh as Chuck mentioned, the two risks that you have with applications are predominantly related to uh information or misinformation that's been given by the applicant uh and duplication of benefits. Uh one of the back stops that we have on duplication of benefits is typically the third party data sets that we receive from FEMA, the Small Business Administration, and the National Flood Insurance Program. uh because of the government, we're working to try and get that information uh as quickly as possible. Uh but our program works off of documentation that is submitted by applicants. And so there's a very thorough review of their application, their income, and their duplication of benefits. uh for instances where we did need to recapture funds in New York, uh we worked with uh the state of New York to develop a policy and we were able to reach out to those applicants to obtain any funds that were paid in excess of what their award should be. So, uh we do feel that the the risk is low here.

I have a comment or question.

So, being a flood victim myself, I just want to throw this out there. So, If I let's say I'm not me but let's say you take the money right and in a year and a half you say I want to move I want to get out of the flood zone I can't afford to absorb another hit like this are you locked in for those three years to stay in that home

well the way the policy is written now it requires the three-year residency right requirement um we we will have carveouts in there for uh hardships and discretion of the county in order to wave that requirement Okay. Me personally, I'm I'm not for the three years. So, I I feel like if a family says, you know, I want to better myself, I want to get out of a flood zone, that they should be able to do that within three years and not have um the government telling them they could do that. So,

I'll say, Commissioner Jagger, I did the same conversation from the get-go. You could have different life situations going on. And the great thing about this program, it's disaster recovery. So, we're improving our housing stock every every situation uh that that goes on. And those people can be bound by flood insurance crimes, etc. And maybe they find life changes.

Yep.

Jobs happen, kids move, you go follow the kids, whatever. Whatever may happen, I don't want to keep anybody from going away. If they're following the rules, they're improving their home, which is substantial. It's going to make it better for Pasco County residents that may come in there later on anyway. So, we're minimizing flood risk. We're we're giving people an opportunity to recoup and the federal government wants the recovery. I'm I agree with you. If someone wants to go the next day, I don't care.

Any other thoughts?

Mr. Wayman,

not big on copying New York over anything. Um, [laughter]

then you're in favor of a mortgage. I

So, [laughter] just [clears throat] figure it's been a fun morning so far. I mean, look, this this this is our this is our money that the feds released to us and um you know, it should be put back in the hands of of of the taxpayer, be put to work sooner than later. Um so, you know, the more flexibility we have should probably do that since the time has taken for six years. And um if we run up against any any challenges uh is that the $32 million man coming from the speaker, the $32 million consulting firm that we've we've we've paid. I I have full confidence that he'll figure it out for this county and for our customers.

Mr. Chairman, if I can.

So it's completely a policy decision for the board. Um [clears throat] I But the board needs to be aware that if something goes wrong in the future, county attorney's office is going to be hardpressed to litigate your way to getting the money back. It will probably be more expensive to litigate individual cases to get the money reimbursed um without some sort of a document like a mortgage. But that's you know that's the board that's board's choice and your consultant has said the risk is low. Our job is to present those risks to you and have you make a business decision about it.

Okay.

Uh Mr. W County attorney. So say something happened.

We would have to pay the county general fund would have to pay that fund back pay back those that portion of the money or what what are the what's the penalty? That's that's my concern is if if if in fact you have funded a duplicative they received money through the feds through flood insurance or whatever they also received money for that same damage from this pot of money. It's likely that if if that surfaces, the feds will ask for that money back from you all [clears throat] and the only pot of money you have at that point in time would be the general revenue. Mr. Lane can correct me if I'm off base, but

that's correct. That's

and there is a form that these people sign that says clearly this is this is the money we're getting and they understand it's a [clears throat] uh violation of law if found that they're lied on the application.

Yes, we have a grant agreement with each with each homeowner

and and these people could go to jail if they

fraudently did did an application and found and found guilty.

I don't know jail but it is it is a crime.

Okay. Yes.

So would would um if that's the case and say that scenario were to happen, would the county file a lean against the property and recoup the what the taxpayer is having to fund up front and then if that property is sold and we would just capture and pay back the general fund, pay back the taxpayer for

for that situation?

No, sir. You wouldn't you wouldn't have no collateral.

You wouldn't be have that's what the mortgage document was for. Well, yes, but I didn't know if there was an other forms of collateral.

So, so the scenario we've just that we've just discussed would be a crime that would be up to the state attorney to prosecute. Um, that would not in and of itself, you might get restitution out of that that criminal proceeding, but it would not allow you to to put a lean on the property.

I have a question. Is there a database where you can check with FEMA and all these other organizations like where they all talk? So you

We do get data sets from FEMA. We're working on the the latest data set right now. Um but we we do get information that we can we can look at and we can cross-check what residents have told us.

Okay. And when they said the percentage was low in these other states where there's no compliance, what has been the percentage of uh cases that need to be litigated? Tim, can you speak to that?

So, that is not publicly available information. Uh, I know that there were a handful in the state of New York that required litigation, but most often when we reached out as a program to go and recollect those funds before it even got to the litigation step, the very strong majority of those applicants either paid it back in full or were able to enter into a payment plan to pay back those funds.

That was my thought, too. I mean like if they're going to perjure themselves, you know what I'm saying? I'm sure that penalty would be going to I mean it's a criminal offense. So,

um I'm fine with what we spoke about.

I'm willing to give it a chance.

Sure.

I don't need a mortgage. Uh Commissioner Wman,

thank you. So, um what approximate dollar amounts at r at risk here? Do we have an idea about the approximate dollar amount would be at risk if we did this? Well,

comparatively to the $600 million,

the maximum we could spend on one project is $330,000 for a replacement of a home and an additional hundred,000 to elevate it. That would be the maximum we could spend on any project. The average across the board will be much lower than that.

So 450 on the high end times how many? What's your estimate? Didn't we in the present? 250 houses

uh on the Yeah, probably about 250 houses on the replacement side perhaps. Yeah, that that's a good good guess. better at math than me. Calculator commission way. While you're calculating that, consider this. The average FEMA process was very small amounts of money. If anybody got a large chunk of money, pretty much that's going to come up, I would think, pretty quick. So, we're really talking about small amounts of money. Whether someone got 1750, 700 for moving, maybe it's a rental reimbursement. We're not talking, I don't think, high high dollar numbers here all the way through. And if you ever did get to that point, I don't think anybody's going to put themselves at at a big risk coming up with and especially if you got the data sets from FEMA where the biggest chunk's going to be. Um, and again, with Tim going through this up in New York and having just a handful of cases in every one of them resolving, I I think anybody everybody's going to get resolved pretty quick.

Yeah, the high-end risk is seemingly just over 112 million. If you did 250 houses at 450 a month,

that's if everyone committed fraud. Yeah, it's

And you could also, if the board desired, you could also set a threshold where at $150,000 would be the first thing that would kick in a mortgage and then we we'd do non mortgages below that amount if you were worried about the big ticket. But that again, policy decision for the board. [clears throat] So,

right now, consensus shows at least two of us, Commissioner Jagger, myself. We don't want Yeah. with the two.

Yeah.

All right. So, we got three that say we don't want it.

What do you guys think?

It's a test a test bud.

Yeah. I'll go for the majority.

Just question. Um, so we're putting at risk general fund dollars if we don't make them stay the four three years. Is that what we're doing? if if you were required to pay the federal government back. So the federal government would have to come after the county for that money and then you would be putting the only pot of money you would have to pay the feds back would be general revenue.

Yeah. Well, I I don't think that's a good way to spend citizens money that we we have control over because somebody defaults or lie to get on their application to cause that to happen. I don't I don't think we are to be spending that money down the road. They should be responsible for that.

No, no matter what would happen, we'd still have a battle. But you'd have people that would be criminally liable for anything found that they were wrong. I think as Tim said, those people are going to probably resolve themselves rather than go go through with it. Whether it be payment or getting all the money up front, you've still got a strong form saying this is what the law says. You're saying you didn't get the money. you sign that document. That's a pretty strong document not to go to jail over. I think most people, if they're really going to go that way, they're going to walk away from this rather than try to scam the government. I think

maybe a couple out there, but for the dollars we're talking about, I don't think it's a huge risk. And again, I think Tim's resolution of the ones that did were there and that's a pretty big state up there in New York. Uh if that worked up there and he's going to have the same type of uh leverage forms, I think we're in pretty good shape. A $32 million man. They want to make sure they're going to get this right. It doesn't look good on them if it doesn't.

Uh no. Okay. All right. So, consensus says we have four that say no mortgage. I'll update the policies to reflect that direction and uh and I'll ask the uh county attorney's office to review and approve. Sure. Okay.

At any point this thing gets a little squirly, we can change the policy.

We can change the policies at any time.

All right. Um

and can you bring it can you bring us the language prior to the next uh board meeting?

We need to implement, are we?

We we're implementing right now. Um Okay.

I can I can bring it to the board as a follow-up if you'd like. Um, again, we can amend these policies at any time.

Okay. I just wanted to make sure the verbiage is correct before we go to implement. So,

okay.

All right.

Okay. So, with that note of change, you need a motion for approval.

Is there anything else to discuss?

Motion.

If county attorney is okay with it, I mean, I would just say we will amend the policies per this board discussion and you approve the policies and we move forward with them.

All right. So, can I have a motion for that?

Yep.

Second.

Second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed?

I.

Okay. 4 to one passes. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

And Chuck, I want to I want to just tell everybody here if you I'm sure we all been to the meetings, but you are doing a phenomenal job communicating with the people, letting them know what's going on. I got great great trust in you and Tim to do continue a great job and help these people that are trying to recover back and I got great full faith in you and thanks for the great job you're doing.

Thank you, Chairman. Appreciate that.

[applause]

All right. Are we doing the Michael Shoemade resolution?

Yes. Resolution.

Okay. And is Michael Shoemade in the audience?

There he is. He hiding in there.

He was hiding. I didn't see him either. [laughter]

A That's so nice.

Very nice.

Even Spencer came back.

Make sure he leaves.

Is he there? I don't see him. Oh, I see him.

All of you come up with him.

You even look at

Even Spencer's in the house. This is like big.

It is.

This is the only people want to see you go. Is that the deal? [laughter]

They're working hard.

All right. Resolution, please.

All right. Resolution number 26-061. a resolution by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, congratulating Michael Schumate on his retirement and commending his long I'm sorry, commending his outstanding service to the citizens and animals of Pasco County. Whereas Michael Shoemate has served the Pasco County Animal Services PCAS department with distinction for 12 years, demonstrating visionary leadership, unwavering dedication, and a deep commitment to animal welfare. And whereas under Mr. Under Shoemade's leadership, PCAS has achieved the s has achieved and sustained a live release a live release rate of over 90% since 2019, reflecting his team's tireless pursuit of adoptions, rescues, and other life-saving outcomes. And RAM, Mr. Shummates spearheaded numerous initiatives and life-saving programs through progressive and driven focus on [clears throat] growing the organization through direct engagement with community stakeholders and raising the county's attention to the needs of the people and pets in Pasco County such as enhancing the vaccination clinic to include heartworm preventative flea and tick control and other non-prescribed animal care items. Enrazz as he led transformative shelter improvements such as new dog play playy yards, outdoor kennels and volunteer walking paths, a catio. Is that out? A catio for oh a catio for community cats, upgraded cat kennels, perimeter fencing, dog kennels, soundproofing and enhanced safety features for staff and officers. And whereas Mr. issue to establish proactive policies, procedures, and premier standards with training manuals and evaluation guides for staff and volunteers. And whereas he secured over 600,000 in grants and donations from national organizations to support spay and neuter surgeries, vaccination, vaccine clinics, disaster relief, and shelter enhancements and Mr. Shoemate c cultivated part partnerships with veterary schools, technical colleges and national organizations hosted regional shelter director meetings and led PCIs to receive tier one designation in the h in the human animal support services initiative and RAZ. He championed ordinance amendments to ban retail sales of dogs, cats, and rabbits and expanded PCIs's social media and bilingual outreach efforts to meet the needs of a growing and diverse community. And whereas Mr. Dr. Schumate oversaw the growth of the organization and the resources it provided to community, fostering a culture of inclusion, professionalism, and development, resulting in numerous certifications, degrees, and awards, including the 2021 National Animal Care and Control Association Agency of the Year award. And whereas Mr. Shumate's leadership earned two international points of light service enterprise awards, 15 Florida animal protection and advocacy association awards and five national animal care and control association awards including animal control officer

of the year, leader of the year and the prestigious Bill Liam Memorial Award. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said board hereby congratulates Michael Schumate on his retirement and commends him for his exemplary service, leadership, and dedication to the animals and citizens of Pasco County. His contributions have led an indelible mark on the community and will be remembered with gratitude and admiration. Done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present and voting this 9th day of December, 2025.

Move approval.

Second.

All in favor say I. Hi.

Hi,

Commissioner Oakley.

Yes, sir. Mike, it's it's been a while, but I I think you're too young to be uh retiring. [laughter] I know we had a commissioner come out of uh Citrus County one time. I met him over there to go through the facilities and that you made in Pasco County and all the changes that have been made. they actually are uh right at putting that new system and building it all in Citrus County because of the good work they saw here in Pasco because of what you've done while you've been here. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you did for us.

Appreciate Commission Weman.

Thank you, Chair. Congratulations. I um always wonder if I'll ever get to retire one of these days and when I see him I'm a bit envious but no something tells me you're not going to be sitting on the sidelines too long. I see Spencer back there

grinning and probably looking at poaching a few of our our teammates there just so we're watching Spencer. No, congratulations on all the great work and your team. You always, you know, you've always advocated for your team and for you all that are here. I'm sure sure you know that you had a fantastic leader in Mike and um you know you couldn't left the department in any better in any better better shape. So it's a testament to you and your work and dedication here to the animals of Pasco and the citizens of Pasco County. So welld deserved and congratulations

Mr. Starky. Um, wow. It seems like you just got here, [laughter] but um, hate to see you go, but what an accomplishment you have um, achieved and you're leaving a great legacy. Um, I'm sorry we didn't get that building yet, but we're working on it

and um, just great great luck in your next endeavor and retirement or whatever your your next plans are. Thanks so much for serving us so well.

Appreciate it, Commissioner Jagger.

Well, congratulations on your retirement. Thank you to your service for Pasco County. And I'm sure you're going to come back and visit, right?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And bring dog treats. And I was so impressed when I when I saw the facility. I'm like, those dogs and cats are so spoiled there. And I always tell people if they say anything, I'm like, go take a tour. I mean, who gets frozen peanut butter and all these treats all these times a day? What you what you guys do there is very impressive. So,

thank you.

Congratulations. Now Mike, and I tell you, your leadership through the years have been absolutely phenomenal. Uh we had some very strong animal groups out there that were not happy with some of the things that were going on, etc. And the way you rided that ship was just absolutely amazing. From we had probably a couple years we had calls and calls and calls. And to what you've done now and the team you put together, even though you lost Spencer, I don't know what happened there. I know. Congratulations, Spencer. But uh really, Mike, what you've done with the people there, I mean, I I I just can't be thankful enough. And I know the people are too. and you've earned your retirement, so I want you to go enjoy it and have a great time.

Thank you,

Mike Carbella.

And thank you. And and Mike, if I could just pile on to the accolades. I just want to thank you um for really embracing that leadership philosophy of people, purpose, and performance. Um I know the people mean a lot. I know the animals mean a lot, but we know that through the people you're you're you're accomplishing the mission. So, you've you've led this department and have laid a fantastic foundation and just um you know, proud of of the time I've been able to to work with you. I know I've learned a lot since being in this role, but even prior to that. So, you've done a lot and we just thank you for that and wish you the best in retirement.

Kathy up here Kathy Pearson, assistant county administrator public services. Wow. This is um I'm a little emotional here because Mike has been by my side since I got here. And you're right, Commissioner Marian was very, very challenging when we got here. Commissioner Starky, you know that too. And with Mike's leadership, he has turned this challenging animal services into most one of the most award-winning animal services. And I can thank him from the bottom of my heart with that. And it was truly his leadership. He loves his job. He loves his family. He talks about his family all the time. He loves his work family. He protects them all the time. Believe me, I've been in battles with him on that. So, and he unbelievable when it comes to budgets and writing awards and giving kudos to where it needs to be. And I can tell you each of my directors, we have learned something special from this man. Um, and I'm proud to call him my friend still, too. And I just want to share with you a story that I think um really sums up who Mike is. And it was a few years down the line and and we were, you know, he was really working on getting the reputation and all that back. And he says, "Geez, I just can't keep employees for some reason." And he said, "Let me share this with you." He said, "I had to change my philosophy." And I go, "What are you talking about?" He goes, "I'd be in the interviews and I'd ask these folks, do you love animals?" And of course they love animals. He said, "But they didn't love people." So he said, "You you have to love people to be in this job." And so he changed his whole philosophy and now he asked people, "Do you love people?" And and that to me stuck with me and I use that in all my interviews now because you that the people are the ones that adopt the animals, right? So um Mike, this sums it up for me. You know, Ronald Reagan quote is the greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does great things. A leader is the one who gets the people to do great things. And that's what you have done. And from the bottom of my heart, we're going to miss you so much. and but I know he's already told me he wants to volunteer at Parks and Wreck and ride the lawnmower. So, yeah. [laughter] So, Mike, congratulations and floor is yours, my friend.

Hi, Mike.

Uh, [sighs] well, hope I've got a voice here. [clears throat] I um first let me just say that uh been very blessed. You know, God's been good to me. Uh when I first got here, there was a lot to overcome and um I sent up a lot of prayers and got a lot of good answers and a lot of good support. So I praise praise God for that. It's been my honor to serve uh this commission uh the people of Pasco County. It's been a great privilege to serve with so many people who dedicated themselves to animal welfare out there and helped us along. Um, one of the great supports we've had is from our uh, Friends of Animal Services Group. U, Michael Cox, Darling Green are here today representing them and I appreciate them being here. But, uh, they funded us and pulled us out of a lot of good things, uh, a lot of good things that we could afford, uh, to make improvements out at the shelter when we couldn't get grants. Uh, we had, you know, tight budgets. It was difficult but uh they always came through for us and I I so much appreciated their friendship, encouragement and um I do want to say that you know for all the times that I've came before the board uh you have all been very uh supportive and just a lot of encouragement not just for me but for my team you know uh when you support us for various things. Kathy has been absolutely great to work with. Uh been with her 11 years. Um talk about work family. Uh the other directors in the public services branch, uh we are like family. Went out the other day and almost killed each other, but uh we have an annual outing. We played paintball this time.

Oh, fun.

I think I'm just able to walk again today. So, uh but it's been great working with all of them. a lot of wealth [laughter]

and uh and I've appreciated that. I got my family here with me, my wife Janette, uh daughter Liz and daughter Laura and I appreciate all the support that they've provided me over these 12 years. Um they've really been encouraging as well and I appreciate that so much. uh have Spencer here with me today, Spencer Conover, who uh was going to be uh my secession plan, but we had other he had other plans and I I am very proud of him. Um he's now the uh chief uh operating officer for the National Animal Care and Control Association.

Wow. So um [applause] and Pasco he's moved up to the national stage and I know that he'll be an up andcoming leader in animal welfare in this nation. So I'm very proud of him and I really thank him for the eight years he gave us here at Pasco. It was amazing. Um a lot of the things read on there I attribute to uh his leadership u as well. And uh quick story on that. When I was interviewing for the job, he confessed to me that he got fired for being a poor leader at his last job. And I said, "Well, I'm not hiring you for your leadership right now." I said, "We can train you here in Pasco for leadership because we have a pretty good leadership program in Pasco." And um but I wanted him for for all his knowledge of the industry and all his connections that he had and the fact that he had a degree in communications and I did not like standing in front of the cameras anymore. So he was going to do that for me and he did an outstanding job of it. And for all the people that work with me and for me um at animal services, the managers I have out there are very professional. They're the top in this industry and I appreciate them so much. Uh they are family and they've suffered through things with me and and um we've laughed and loved and and cared for a lot of animals out there. But for everybody, just thank you. It's been a great 12 years and uh appreciate this recognition. Thank you. [applause]

[applause] [applause]

for the pictures.

Come on team. Come on up for pictures. here since I've been here before.

Can I get some of you over here to go over here? Can I get like two more of you to come over here?

All right. Ready?

I like it. Congrats, Mike.

I'd just like to say thank you for our animal services team. You guys are doing a phenomenal job. Please keep up the great work you're doing. We appreciate you.

We'll go to R76. Confirmation.

75.

75 first. Okay.

Uh, no. I prefer if we do R76 first.

Okay.

So, I'm going to go back to R76.

Sorry. [laughter] confirmation of committee development director Mary the

I got I still got tears running down my eyes

not because you want to hold I got to pull my agenda here so Kathy Pearson assistant county administrator and I am proud very proud of Mary um who is hopefully going to be confirmed today by all of you as the permanent director of community development. Mary has um been with the county since 2020 and has just done about every job there is at community development. She really has and she served as the assistant director for a very short time until we grabbed Chuck to become the D disaster recovery. So, um that's why we have two interims today. So, with that said, um Mary is uh has a bachelor's degree in business management and a master's degree in public administration from Hodgees University in Fort Myers, Florida. She's been with the county for a long time and knows a lot of people. And so, she's just a wonderful to work with and she's a hoot, I'll tell you, she's a lot of fun to work with. And with that, I respectfully um ask you all to confirm Miss Mary for the permanent position. And Mary, if you would please say your last name. I'll make sure I get it right. I know I got it wrong there.

Theory Young.

Oh, okay. Right. Do we have a motion?

Absolutely. I make that motion.

Second.

All in favor say I.

I.

Congratulations.

Welcome. Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you, commissioners, for your trust. [applause and cheering] You've

ever seen that before. [cheering] Woohoo. Pasco County is my home and being able to work here is extremely important to me and I am honored that you made me the director of community development and I can enforce our mission and continue to serve the citizens of Pasco County.

Well, you do a great job. Thank you. Great.

Thank you again.

Thank you.

Now we'll go back to Mike. Should we go back to R75 now,

please? Sir.

Okay. R75 confirmation of animal service director Gary

Herrera. Gary

I don't know. Poor Gary. He's heard all those accolids from Mike. He's like probably shivering. I'm glad he's still here.

I I guess you want to separate Mike [laughter] Gary there a little chair. Do we

We did a nationwide search. We really did. And and we were very lucky to find Gary Herrerero. He comes to us from Sumpner County. Um he's got a wealth of knowledge in animal uh services. He's been a K-9. He's with the sheriff's department for many years in K9. And a fun fact in his earlier days, you know, Medieval Manor, the jousters, he was one of them. So he knows all about the horses, too. So, um I think he's going to fit right into our culture. Um Gary holds a um bachelor's degree in business administration, Columbia Southern University. And guess what? He just got his master's degree this week. So, we're very proud of him on that. And um I'm just so excited. I I think he this is what he said in the interview. He said, you know, coming to Pasco County is my NFL.

We are the NFL guys, right? So, that sold me right there. So, Gary, um hopefully the commissioner will respectfully I'm asking your permission to please confirm Mr. Gary Herrera.

Okay. Well, well, chair, we've got to move up from paintball. [laughter]

Just saying team, if you're sore from paintball,

uh, no, I'm just

second.

I move.

All right. I have a motion to second. All in favor say I. I.

I.

Congratulations.

Welcome.

Yep. Thank you. And uh uh thank you for this opportunity. I'm looking forward to stepping into the role of animal services director. I'm looking forward to serving this community and uh keep supporting the staff, volunteers, rescue partners, and all the residents that care about the animals for this county. My commitment is very simple, and that's to keep on building to everything that this great man has built and to keep progressing the animal services industry forward. And most of all is to run an animal services that you guys and the Pasco County is proud of. So, thank you for your trust and I'm ready to get to work. All right. Thank you. [applause]

All right. Now we'll go to R77, confirmation of Office of Disaster Recovery Resources Director Charles Lane. Chuck,

it's Kathy Pearson again, assistant county administrator. Um, wow. What can I say about Chuck? Chuck is phenomenal. You said it, Commissioner Mariano. his his he he always tries to get to yes. He hardly can never say no unless it is a no. He has been um a pleasure to work with. His ideas are off the charts. Um I'm just so excited that he has agreed to take on this position and you know is it it's scary because it's only for six years, right? So you know he he took a leap of faith and said I'm going to make this happen. And you know, Chuck has been in this business for over 10 years. He's got a um bachelor's degree in business management management as well as a master's from private um uh college and assumption university up in Massachusetts, my home state. So that's why he really got the job. No, I'm only kidding. But no, Chuck is phenomenal and I think you've all seen it and he's committed to make this disaster recovery the best it can be for our citizens. and you'll hear his report in a little bit. So, with that, I respectfully ask you to confirm Chuck as the permanent community development director, uh, Office of Ambassador Recovery. Thank you.

Approve.

Second.

All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed?

Chuck. Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you. [applause]

I I guess I don't have a cheering section like Mary did.

[cheering] [laughter]

Uh this this is this is an incredible opportunity. I mean, I knew this would come with an an immense amount of work. Um but I'm I'm I'm dug in. I'm prepared. I'm willing to do what it takes because we have an opportunity to really change lives in Pasco County with this money. So, thank you for the opportunity.

Great job,

Verate. [applause] And I'll tell you my fellow commissioners um you know last week or a couple weeks ago we talked about uh we had a Cranch meeting and um I got a email from them and it kind of like showed that we they wanted to get some more help and and information. So you know Jason had Barto come out went on site and Chuck was Chuck was there the night and uh gave him information helped them out. So, if you get like civic associations or whatever that need help and want special attention, Chuck will be there with the team and and help every step of the way. And I I appreciate that dedication. You you're you're doing a phenomenal job. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Starky.

Um and yeah, um we're working on a date for the team to come out to Gul Harbor. We only had one person there in in holiday and um so we'll we'll see if there's any others that we can help. Of course, any other community is welcome to come when they're given their presentation, but I think we have that date set, but thank you, Chuck.

You're welcome. Thank you.

All right. Very good. Well, good luck, sir. Thank you.

Okay. Ready for my update?

Um, actually, let's say right to the quarterly update. Okay.

Okay. [laughter]

Um, I have PowerPoint I want to run through with you. Uh

[clears throat]

uh Chuck Lane, director now not interim director, office of disaster recovery resources. I'm joined again by Tim Lagudi. Tim, please confirm that you're plugged in.

I'm here, Chuck.

Tim's going to share in this presentation with me. As as we said earlier, uh Tim represents IM. They are our implementation vendor for this uh for this undertaking. Um so this would be my first qu uh quarterly update since moving to program implementation. I'd like to update you on the status of the better future program and I'll ask uh Tim to provide details on the progress we've made with the individual housing program since we launched last Monday. Uh on the screen uh I'm sorry um on the screen you can see uh each program we plan to roll out the amounts allocated to each program and when we plan to begin receiving applications or accepting applications for [clears throat] each program. The allocation amounts were established in our action plan which you approved earlier this year. As for program launch dates, HUD asked has asked us to focus on helping residents with housing needs and small businesses uh that are have been impacted by the storm. The planning program will be an early launch as well because we expect some planning studies to help set the table for projects in future phases. Uh we'll launch infrastructure and mitigation in March and we expect that round to be quite competitive. So, as you know, my team has worked very hard to launch the the individual housing program as soon as possible. Uh, we were targeted on a 121 launch and and we hit that date. I'm very proud of that. Earlier today, you approved the policies and procedures for that program. Over the next two months, staff will request board approval of policies and procedures for the remaining programs. Sorry about that. One of the uh remaining pro one of the reasons we were able to launch the indiv individual housing program on time was because you all approved a contract for our system of record neighborly software. They're well suited for our program. Uh and they were able to con custom configure an application for our individual housing program in about 3 weeks which was very impressive. So thanks to Neighborly, the efforts of my my uh disaster recovery team and IM were off to an excellent start. So our primary focus last month uh for the last month has been to get the individual housing program started. Our residents have waited a long time for this level of assistance. The screen shows the major activities under the individual housing program and the maximum financial investment under each activity. The maximum rehab cost for a traditionally built home such as stick built or concrete block is $175,000 uh and $330,000 to replace a home. You can see the respective amounts for a manufactured home. uh maximum reimbursement cost of $75,000 for a traditionally built home and $25,000 for a manufactured home. Uh the these amounts are are life-changing for our residents. We've done a ton of community outreach. Our uh media relations and communication teams has worked overtime to get word

out through uh a range of media opportunities. We hosted six public meetings across the county and we're doing more as specific groups uh make requests such as uh as the event that was at with with Commissioner Mariano. Um we're uh we're conducting mobile intake events right now. We have three more scheduled this week, including two today. Um we want to meet people where they are to help them complete applications in person. Applicants need to know they can complete applications online, in person at one of our intake events, or at our office located at 8239 Youth Lane. If someone has mobility issues, is not comfortable with the computer, we'll come to their home if we need to. If that's what it takes to get it done, we will do that. We want to make sure that no one misses this opportunity. It's just too important. Um, as you know, we're required to spend 70% of the funds to help low to moderate income households. This means households earning no more than 80% of the area's median income. Those income limits vary by household size and you can see them on the screen. Uh consistent feedback we heard at the public meetings is that the income limits are low. We consistently we were consistently asked if we could if we could serve a higher income category. So our action plan allows us to serve households who earn up to 120% of area median income. And those income limits are now on the screen. Um we were initially planning to wait on that for a later phase. In response to the feedback, we will open up applications for a limited amount of funding on a first come first- serve basis for those earning between 80 and 120 20% of area median income. For the higher income category, uh we will limit assistance to th to those that are still displaced from the storm. That will ensure that we're helping the hardest hit folks. Um, so altogether there's $25 million budgeted for the individual housing program and of that we will set aside $20 million uh for the higher income category.

Can I stop you for one second, Chuck?

I have a question. I I just want to say, you know, with Chuck so involved, his team so involved, part of the reason this was coming forward is he looked and listened to what was going on in the meetings and some of the issues that were going on, and he developed something that should take care of a group of people, even though it was just one, but others are going to be set with this. So, Chuck, thank you for responding and and making something happen with this. That's a great great great move. Shows you're really paying attention what's going on out there, and I appreciate it.

Yes, sir. Thank you,

Mr. Starky. um at uh the um might have been at the regional meeting with all the commissioners which I had to zoom in after my other meetings. I heard that some of the other counties or cities have added other monies to the pot so that pe people with a higher income level can access some of this money. I don't know how that works. I I don't know if we've looked at that, but um I I want to help as many people as possible. And so I'm very glad you've gone to this 120. Uh but I just wonder if there's more we can do to help.

I'll I'll I'll monitor that as much as possible and whatever we can bring to the table.

It was either it might have been Penelis County, might have been St. Petersburg.

I'll do I'll I'll research that.

Yeah.

Okay. So, we're on on our ninth day of accepting applications. As I said earlier, we're off to a strong start. I'm going to turn it [clears throat] over to Mr. Lagudi to give you a brief update on the activity that we we've received so far. Tim, uh, thanks, Chuck, and good morning again, commissioners. Here's an update on how the community is engaging with the Pasco County Better Future individual housing program. On the screen, you'll see our public response as of Monday, December 8th, around this time yesterday. Uh at that time we had 420 total applications in the system with 316 started and 104 fully submitted. Our call center had already handled 251 calls with an average handling time just under 13 minutes. About 40% of those calls were for appointment scheduling. Uh we've been holding mobile intake events around the county. 21% for application assistance and 12% for eligibility questions, which tell us that residents are not only interested, but they're actively trying to move forward with the program. Uh, since that snapshot, interest has continued to climb. We're actually at about 455 total applications with 128 submitted. So, that growth demonstrates, you know, strong demand for the program and that our outreach and support channels are working. Uh, we can move on to the next slide. At a high level, the application process for the individual housing program is designed to be straightforward and supported by our case management and program staff. Uh first, residents can start an application online or by calling the program's call center where staff can also help schedule an in-person or virtual appointment if they prefer guided assistance from our case management team. Uh we're also holding mobile outreach meetings around the county where we've held a 100red meetings to date uh in our first three mobile intake meetings uh last week. uh and yesterday and we'll even go out to applicants homes if they need additional assistance. Second, applicants work through the application. They upload or they bring their documents to a program office or a mobile intake location and receive help from staff as needed. The goal here is to remove barriers, whether that's technology or paperwork or simply understanding whether or not they're eligible for the program. Once that application is submitted, our team reviews it for eligibility and completeness. We assign a case manager which is a one-to-one relationship between the resident and becomes their point of contact throughout the life of their application. Uh they can follow up with any questions and we move qualified applicants into the pipeline for funding and next steps on their housing improvements. Uh eligible applicants will move into the site assessment stage where we complete a damage assessment and an environmental review which is required by HUD. Applicants who have construction or will have construction performed on their homes will move into the pre-construction meeting stage where

residents are assigned a general contractor. Uh they'll be able to select floor plans for mobile home replacements or for their reconstruction projects. And for any construction project, uh residents are also able to select any finishes uh for any of the work that's being completed. Uh we then complete a final quality control review just to ensure that we have uh all the documentation that's needed in place and that the award is calculated properly. Uh if they are a reimbursement award, we then trigger the reimbursement which will be a check or an a to that applicant if they've been confirmed for a reimbursement award. And then all other applicants who are having construction performed on their homes will move into the construction stage where the general contractor who's been assigned will complete any repair, reconstruction, replacement, or elevation that they've been deemed eligible for and I will hand it back to Chuck.

I have a question.

How do you select the mobile locations? How do we select the mobile locations? Uh the ones to be repaired to be replaced.

No, I'm talking when you do mobile applications.

We what we did was we we used the same sites we had the public meetings. We tried to keep it as as consistent as easy on the residents to remember as possible. So we went right back to those same locations where we had the six public meetings throughout the county.

Okay. Gotcha.

Okay. So, if you have, let's say, a um, you know, like some of the mo the elderly, the mobile home parks that get hit hard, are you sending anybody in there to kind of get the word out?

Uh, we can. Um, and we will when we need to, if we feel there's a need to do that, we absolutely will. Like I said, we'll go to people's homes if we have to to help them fill out an application. We're not going to let anybody miss this opportunity because they can't use a computer or because they can't get up and go to a mobile site. We're going to make sure we capture as everybody that we can.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. You know, maybe if you, you know, get a flyer or something, distribute it in the parks because they're, you know, they're not very techy.

Okay.

So, um, that's just a suggestion.

Okay. Thank you for that,

Mr. Chair. Mr. Sharky,

what are we do? So, I have I have a neighborhood that is a a travel park, but people have turn their travel RVs into permanent structures. We're not investing in those. I would imagine

we're not we're not able to. No,

the fund that's not eligible for funds. I know the county is working on other means to try to work through some of those issues.

Yeah. But but hope you know maybe we can help those residents in another way. Right.

Well, part of a a later phase is we're going to create housing and then maybe housing opportunities for folks to relocate.

Okay. But I just want to be sure we're not rebuilding travel trailers.

No, ma'am.

Okay.

Not allowed. Commissioner Waitman, to Chuck, to two things to Commissioner Stark's point, we boot those folks out. I mean, by the time we get to any kind of housing, those folks may have moved on or whatever. So, I mean, there's a I think a bit of a sense of urgency on where where they're going to go and how they're going to get there, not a couple years down the line. I don't know what the answer is, but that's just a concern.

Understood.

Um, and then the the other piece, if you go back, go back one slide, please.

What's your estimated timeline from application from a customer puts in an application to the last to the last from the first green box to the last green sp box? What's your measurable? How quickly what's your goal on how quickly to process each case? Well, c certain pro projects are going to, you know, with the repairs and rehabs, it really depends on the scope. Um, and that's all there is to it. Some will be quick and some will take up to six months to do that rehab possibly. Um, so the pre-construction timeline, we're probably looking at at at potentially three to four, maybe five months post constru u construction thereafter. Um, you know, uh, a rebuild is going to take three to four months. Again, the rehab projects are it just depends on the scope. Tim on our end, uh, county administrator,

what processes can we put in on our place to help these folks like move them out of our standards?

Yeah, that I was I was I think the intent of the commissioner's question really is is how, you know, construction is what it is. What is the administrative and the, you know, the permitting and those those types of things, you know, to get us to pre-construction and construction and and are we perhaps going to find ways to streamline through through permitting? you know, do we have those things that we're thinking about?

Yes, I'm I'm working closely with with uh with JP on on the construction side of things. They're going to assign a uh a re a plan reviewer for us. Um they're going to expedite these. Um I'm working very closely with the construction services department so we can get through these as quickly as possible, find ways to get through them qu more quickly. So that is top of mind on this project.

Okay. Thank you, Chuck.

Okay.

Okay. Just to uh just to wrap up um next steps, we're going to launch uh the planning program to include an innovative housing study. We've heard a lot of different types of housing uh such as uh shipping containers, alternative construction u uh alternative materials for construction. We're going to ask Florida Housing to do a study for us um to guide us on the how to best implement these innovative u uh options. We'll uh we'll launch a small business and nonprofit recovery program in late January, early February, and with the remaining programs to follow by spring of 2026. That includes my update. Um I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Uh Chuck, I want to just throw one idea with with your um products, affordable items that could be used. There's a new um instead of a drywall board out there, there's a new magnesium board. Um gentleman by the name of Chet Panado. He's got a plant out in Zephr Hills. He's using that and it looks like it's a really good thing to take a look at. He's got so it's very affordable as well. So maybe something to take a look at.

Yeah, we'll discuss that with our contractors.

Right. Any other questions with Chuck? [clears throat]

Okay. I know we got a couple other presentations. So thank you very much. Keep up the good work.

Thank you

and congratulations.

Okay. Mr. Bill Cronin,

our 73 quarterly presentation. Good morning and happy Tuesday everyone. You guys have had a real celebrate celebratory environment this morning and uh first of all let me say a couple things. Uh congratulations on the passing of the gavl. Uh chairman Mariano looking forward to working with you. Uh Commissioner Starky, thank you for your support over the last year especially with international and all the stuff that we do uh including the chicken ordinance that shows some real perseverance there. And also uh special thanks to Commissioner Weightman as our liaison uh to the Pasco EDC over this last year. Uh you had a couple resolutions earlier today. Uh I wanted to comment uh Mr. Mike Schuay also was involved with our international exchange of workforce too. Uh so that was something that touched multiple programs. And of course Jimmy Adcock uh was a supporter of lots of different nonprofits in the area, but he served as chair of the Pasco EDC. And believe it or not, 10 years ago, he was the head of the selection committee that brought me here almost 10 years to the day. So I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but you can thank him for recruiting me here to Pasco County. Uh and lastly, let me thank you for u uh the approval of our new budget. Uh this will be the last time I'll be presenting to you in two presentations. One with ourou and one with our penny for Pasco uh uh CFA. We now will be reporting under one structure um under that penny for Pasco contract. So everything that we do for you now will have a contract contractual obligation metric aligned with it. Uh you see our our cover slide there. Uh we did win some awards this year. We were lucky to have the county actually participate in the IEDC annual conference with us. So we've got some county staff as well as our own and the president of the international economic development council with us for those awards and that is our national accreditation agency. Um so here this is the end of the year uh quarter 4 that we're reporting on. we had 21 wins. Uh that's really good sign of the barometer in terms of how we're doing and all the activities that we do that lead to those wins and that's when companies say they're going to actually either expand or locate here. Um some of the good stories in that number of 21 is uh four of those are direct recruitment domestically. Four of those are international recruitment coming from abroad. uh 13 of those are local businesses expanding and that says that we take care of the businesses that are here and that we continue to focus on uh the companies that brought us to the dance that we continue to help them to grow. Uh one of the other trends that we're seeing in here, not as positive but it's real world is that we're seeing less jobs and less capital investment per uh company win coming in. And I think what you're what you're starting to see is the beginning of automation, AI, uh a consolidation in resources. You keep in mind companies goals is not to

hire people. Company's goals is to make lots of money and become profitable. So we need to find more ways to get more of our people employed and um and and continue to that prosperity that they get from having a good job here in Pasco. So we'll continue to focus on the metrics that work that get those 21 wins and uh increasing that over the next year so that we can get more jobs since there's less jobs associated with each of the projects. Now uh also good news still really heavy in advanced manufacturing. Uh this is the gift that keeps on giving. uh manufacturing tends to have other jobs, indirect jobs associated with manufacturing, not just the job in manufacturing. So there's suppliers, there's drivers, there's all kinds of things related to that. And of course, life sciences continues to grow in the process too, uh with the Spiros project and with Moffett and what we're doing with the land there. We're going to continue to see uh those projects coming to us as well as us going out to them. uh active leads actually um those are current leads and current projects right now pipeline is still really good 154 uh projects or leads in the system 125 projects I don't know it's been about two years since we were operating at the uh about the 30 project level you remember me coming in saying an average average year uh time was about 30 projects we've been in triple digits now for almost two years of projects that are coming in and visits. I mentioned before taking care of existing business still the most important thing that we do. Uh we've had 80 visits out in the field and actually got one of our companies to take advantage of one of the training grants that were available. Uh remember for about half the year um Career Source didn't have grants available. The the portal wasn't open. Uh so we were able to get one in after that. And then when you look at the referrals uh to all the different workforce partners out there um you see 41 different referrals. That means making sure that our companies are getting services from either those federal or state funded programs uh in workforce development and we're the marketing for the business area. So, 6.1 million in earned media. Some really good coverage on lots of stories. Um, some interesting stories as well, too. You'll see uh the top headline, the UK defense firm that opened in Pasco County. That was one of those foreign direct investment projects. Uh they actually came to us during uh SOCOM's soft week, special operations forces week. This was a company with some really cool technology that can use u a lens from a distance to pick up fingerprints used in uh catastrophes. Uh they started out investigating bombings. Uh but they can also be used for law enforcement um and of of course for genetics as well too. And they landed in our incubator. So that is one of our smart landing programs that they actually will be working out of our incubator. They are now a US company. It allows them to do

business with the US military and local agencies here. Uh some other notable headlines I saw in there. Pasco turns sewage into gold with a new fertilizer plant. Many of you were out at the Merill uh brothers um uh grand opening. They surprised us and hired probably about double what they thought they were going to and they put a big investment there. So, shout out to another one of our local companies getting traction in the news.

Chairman,

how many years has we've been partnering with Merrill?

Oh, since I've been here. Since I've been here. Since So, it's about 10 years that they've uh uh actually came to us. And originally, I think we were talking about um some other materials other than the one we were just talking about um that had to do with with stables and things like that. Yeah,

they're probably what our longness standing

one of them so far

as far as uh

as far as you know

partnering.

Yeah. In in the investment that we

especially for a tech. Yeah. Yeah. I' I'd say you've got some others there that um uh I mean Metler's coming up on 10 years here as well too. And of course PAL uh aerospace some pretty big ones out there. But this one has a real grassroots feel to it that it's people that we know and

we should yeah celebrate those milestones with those companies. They didn't run they started when times were tough and

that's exactly right.

I just jump on Mel for a second too. Part of the reason the impetus to drive that forward is we looked at how much money we're spending to send it. Uh the limited space it was going to be available the high cost was going to be uh I had some uh fellow commissioners from St. John's that I talked about this with before. They've been working with them and gave him referral and I know at least one of them went to their site to go look at doing it. They've got a problem that's costing them a lot of money. So, Merrill's doing a great job and hopefully they'll keep it expanded, too.

And it's a good product, too. Doesn't hurt to have a good product.

Um, we're getting a lot of hits, 19,000 um, uh, page hits just in the fourth quarter this year. And what's always interesting is what they're looking at. They're looking at our sites. Um, they're look, that means they're looking for a place to move their business, which is great. And where are they coming from? Georgia, New York, South Carolina, Texas, and Ohio. Commissioner Weighten. And that doesn't mean they're moving here from New York. We That's They're looking from New York. So, um, some really good companies that are coming out of out of there. And then 14,000 followers. Considering we don't have dogs like uh the sheriff's department or uh animal services, that's a pretty good average to have following a business related social media. Uh that's our locals that are that are following our social media. Companies looking abroad aren't really looking at our social media. These are companies that want to know what services we provide and how we can help them. And a good degree of engagement, too. almost 75% of that is engaged with us, meaning they're having conversations with us in the social media. Uh trade events, 86 year to date. Um well, of course, that clock starts over with the new fiscal year. Presentations to industries and association, 27 to date, and we had 18 conferences that we represented in the community. our private sector side, 92 total investors, uh 45 policy council members. That's the most we've ever had. And uh and board members and pol policy council members together, $76,000 of private sector investment in the Pasco EDC this last year. And that includes both private donations as well as the events that we put on uh that we don't use tax dollars to fund. um one new investor uh CRNI as a accounting firm and then some upcoming events for you all to take note of. Uh we have our annual economic forecast which is always a sellout in uh January coming up. We'll have a speaker from JP Morgan Chase as well as an economist uh from the University of Tampa that'll be featured for that event. That will be at the Hyatt. Also, our food vendor fair. Uh, now is our sixth annual and that's out at the stalling center at our food incubator. Uh, bring your stretchy pants. That's a good time to sample all kinds of good things that they're making at the food incubator. Annual Netfest, 27th annual Netfest will happen in March this year. Um, we will still have the chili cookoff and it will probably be a little chilly in March, so uh we won't be sweating uh at times. So, a little bit earlier this year. And then grow Pasco also in March also sixth annual event will be at St. Leo and that's a all day event of um different u uh entrepreneurial programs and speakers and workshops for our small business. Uh I'm going to cruise right into the penny for Pasco in the interest of of time. Uh you also have in your packets the metrics for each of the individual items that we do but you can stop me if you've got a question on this. This is the

ribbon cutting for Smitecch, uh the company out of the UK. Uh the gentleman with the tie and the shorts on is the uh the inventor.

Oh boy.

Um and very much an inventor. Um but he is now uh located as a Pasco County and that is at the Wesley Chapel uh Grove Center. Uh Ready Sites got included in 40 responses this year in RFPs for companies looking for a site to locate. My uh is now starting to do their groundwork. If you've been out to Boduko, Boduko's gone vertical. We got a lot of vertical stuff going on right now. Um that was probably one of the biggest highlights as well too that I need to mention is Boduko coming to us and saying we're not just going to build what we said we were going to build. We're going to expand beyond that. And that was a reflection of the welcome that they had from this community and the ease in doing business and the cost savings they have by moving here. Um, we had 29 different site inquiries, uh, 40 responses I mentioned before in RFPs for ready sites, 27, uh, presentations to developers, site selection consultants, uh, for projects for those sites. So you remember it took us a good 5 years to get that site program up and going, but now we've had um we've had Amazon's robotics center, we've had Boduka, we've had Mitec um we've had several now they're taking advantage of the sites that we've prepared. So it's got traction, it's getting legs and people are looking at it internationally. Um, we convened a round table with our local partners, uh, including the port and airport. See what the trends are, what trade lanes they're looking for that our companies can take advantage of, and where we might go on missions, uh, to do some of those business connections in the future. Um, also we have now two free trade zones in Pasco County. I don't know if everyone realizes that, but HIT Promotions, which was one of the spec buildings uh next to Gary Line out in northwest Pasco, uh is the first free trade zone that we've had in quite some time uh here in Pasco County. And we just signed um uh freedom um sales to a free trade zone also. So now we have two that are free trade zones. And we can do that with other businesses, too. Free trade zone doesn't mean that the land is a zone. We can actually make the land inside somebody's building a free trade zone. So, if you're interested in that, send them our way or if you know people that are interested. Uh export counseling sessions. Uh spoke to 55 unique companies helping them to find markets overseas. We had two outbound trade missions where we take the companies abroad and eight trade events over the year. uh enhanced marketing. Again, the hits that we were getting on the website were partially a reflection of that, but peer recognition, too. So, the awards that we got earlier with the IEDC and the FEDC were all centered around how we're doing in marketing compared to our peers around the United States. Reminder, there's 16,000 agencies that do what we do in the United States. So, getting awards from uh from the cream of the crop means a lot to us and and to my team, and I'm really proud of them for that, too. and our workforce uh connect program

continues to help people where it it really makes the most difference and that's the jobs and and making sure that our employers can access the jobs even with all the people moving here. Uh we still need to make sure we get the right person for the right job and Workforce Connect does that for them. uh Smart Start. We uh again we're able to be part of the um Scallop Fest this last year and we had some of our vendors or our um uh our kitchen uh uh incubator members came out and served some food and and I think you also had Dre again.

Chef was awesome

doing awesome stuff. Some jerk scallops I think we had. Uh

he had an open grill going with the point distillery spiced rum combination was phenomenal. but he was engaged with all the people there. Did a great job.

What a great way to market Pasco County, too. And right before lunch where we're all getting hungry. Um, we also had some uh a hands-on workshop at AMS Skills uh during this last co um uh quarter and our co-starters for causes graduated as well too. We had the uh second cohort come through of nonprofits that we teach them how to scale their business. All in all, Smart Start in the incubators really busy, 1473 participants. My hometown was only 1,200 people. That's a lot of people that have come through the doors of of Smart Start over the past year. Uh we have 88 members right now and that's across the three locations and countywide. Uh we gave out four microloans total on $101,000. Uh we've got probably about $2.5 million on the street doing work right now through the microloan program and we've provided 454 individual counseling sessions with those companies that were stuck or needed help. And that's the team. Um we've got one new team member since uh since I saw you last and his name is uh Tomas and he's out in our Dade City incubator. comes to us from Colombia and uh which is works really well since you know our incubator there is in Tommy town and uh largely Spanish-sp speakaking area um so we're really thrilled to have him on board but I will stop there for questions in the interest of time

if I could uh any question of the if you can hold on them because we got a presentation still that's coming up right behind it unless you really want to press on it commission

I I just want to say one thing

sure commission

I just want to make sure you know we um participate ated in the EDA grant for um what was it? No, David um gosh, he just contacted me yesterday. The wave,

they're going for a big EDA grant um that has to do with McDell and Soft Works and all that. So, um we gave I think $100,000 because they have to it's a matching grant.

Yeah. Yeah. We we signed a support letter for it as well too.

Yeah. So, we we hope for good things out of that.

That and the wave is an accelerator. So, a little bit different than what we do in the incubator. It's for the next level,

right?

Okay.

Awesome. Thank you again. Appreciate it.

All right. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

All right. R74, Madame Clerk.

Thank you. Yes. Um R74 is the quarterly investment summary report for the quarter that ended September 30th, 2025, which is the end of the county fiscal year. We have um coming up to the podium Sean Ganon. He is the institutional sales and relationships manager with PFM. PFM manages a portion of the investment portfolio. And we also have Matt Lazar. He is the finance director of my office and he and his team also manage the other portion of the investment portfolio. So I will go ahead and hand it off and let the gurus give you the update.

All right. Great. Thank you. [clears throat] So, uh, you know, for the makeup of the presentation, I'll give a brief market update. Um, Matt will come in and talk a little bit about the the overall investments and I'll come in, uh, specifically with the regards to the portfolio that we manage. Um, but you know, this slide here is a good quick hits, some good highlights for what we've seen recently in the markets. Um, and just to recall, the portfolio that that we uh, PFMS management, we manage for you all is operating funds. It's capital reserves. It's shortterm. Uh it's not related to pensions. There's no stocks uh in in there. Um so uh it's very dependent on labor news, macroeconomic news as well as the Fed. Uh so talk a bit about that as well. Um but the the overarching story, excuse me, uh the overarching story recently has been about the labor market. And I actually thought Mr. Cronin example was uh fantastic because what we've seen here and what he touched on in Pasco County is actually happening across the country. There are corporations moving and coming in places, but they're not hiring as many people. Um the data that we used to get from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has not been as readily available uh with the government shutdown and and issues there. Um, so we've had to start relying on private data sources such as ADP. Um, and actually indeed.com does a a uh study that they do where they they point to new postings uh and then different data points they collect on whether there's a salary listed in the posting or not. Um, so the trend has been mildly concerning when it comes to labor and that's really been the driving force for the Fed's policy. And if you recall, the Fed policy dictates a lot of the investments that that we touch uh that Matt and his team manage because it it impacts interest rates. And in the short-term fixed income world, they move pretty quickly. When the Fed makes movements, yields on short-term bonds also move quickly. So, um they're actually meeting today. So, they meet today and tomorrow, uh the final meeting of the year, and they will decide what they're going to do with interest rates. uh there was yesterday about a 95% chance they were going to cut interest rates. So the expectation is that they will do that third and final cut of the year uh tomorrow. Uh what this does and the impact this will have is as advalorum receipts come in as new investments are made um those investments are going to be made at at 25 basis points or a quarter percent lower than we would have been able to make them today or yesterday. So uh that's the the the main impactor here happening you know in regards to your portfolio. Uh and on the next slide here I'll touch on uh the yield curve and not to go too in depth here but you see that it's shaped like a Nike swish. Uh that's because there is a lot of pressure downward on interest rates with the expectations of um jobs being cut. Uh there is challenges in the labor market. Uh folks have uncertainty.

So when there's uncertainty, they often don't load up on uh salaried employees. It's it's difficult to uh you know, not to be you insensitive, but difficult to cut an employee when you started paying them a salary. Uh so it's a a you know, a cost that a lot of folks are not willing to take on in the current moment. Uh but we'll see if if that uh changes here once once the the ship writes itself. Um, and it's pretty brief on the market update, but do you all have any questions before I pass it back to Matt to talk about the portfolio?

No. Carry on.

Perfect. Matt Lazar, finance director. So, uh, Madame Clerk, I realize next time we should bring a giant check because we can put cool numbers on there. That'll probably help this conversation for next time. But what I'm going to do here is I'm going to marry the report you're seeing here uh to the quarterly summary investment that is part of your board packet.

It's not it's not as effective when it's their money. [laughter]

They'll be excited. I haven't got there yet though. It's unexpected. So you'll be excited. That's right.

Um so what you're seeing here presented uh if we start in the top left, you're seeing the diversification of the portfolio that the clerk's office manages. And that is from a high level. the different investment partners that we work with closely, including PFM. Um, having those conversations and and making sure that we're also diverse in where those investments go. There's two different types of diversification. We don't just want to say we're diverse and show you different investment partners. We do get the data to show where that investment is going. And that is important because we don't want to be too oversaturated in one market. uh we want to kind of spread out any impacts especially when the Fed is meeting and they don't give us a lot of information. We want to sure we minimize any impacts um that we have there. So that is from the diversification perspective. As we go lower down on that chart, you're going to see that is the county's investment portfolio which currently stands uh at $1.9 billion. um you have the unrestricted portfolio which is 1.3 billion and then restricted uh from the means of we'll look at it as a from debt service perspective of about 500. So when you look at those two numbers a large chunk of the county's portfolio currently sits as unrestricted not meaning it's not committed to a certain special revenue project but that is deemed unrestricted from debt service. So, we look closely at that information obviously in compliance with Florida statute as well as the county's investment policy that gives us the four corners of where we manage the investments. Um, we we look at the different cash flows, right? We know at the beginning of a fiscal year, we see an influx of revenues from tax revenues. So, being ahead of the game so we can make those investment decisions to maximize what the county is going to receive in return. And this is where that cool check would come into play because for the uh past uh quarter four uh ended September 30, the county experienced $13 million in realized earnings with just over 11 million of that being in the unrestricted portfolio. And for the fiscal year, excuse me, that I'm just so excited. I guess the fiscal year that extend ended September 30, we saw a total of $80 million in realized earnings. Over 66% of that was within the unrestricted portfolio. Um, and

how much was that?

66% so just over it was 80 million total for the year and then it's about 53 million in unrestricted funds. And we heard you loud and clear at the last meeting so I can actually give you some more details. Right. the general fund of that 53 million uh or 80 million toller $12 million went to the general fund this year. Um as you guys are aware interest earnings are they're in flux. You don't know what that's going to be. So that is a conser the county wisely budgets very conservatively. So the budget for those group of funds was $4 million. So over budget three times more went into the general fund uh than what was budgeted. Um, so

I didn't call this in any of my budget hearings. Do any [clears throat] of you

I don't remember hearing anything about this. Thank you very much. [laughter]

I am so sorry. So there is that.

That would be the check to break.

Yeah, that's why. See now you guys would have been impressed with a giant check. [laughter]

I'm hearing mil I'm hearing millage rate reductions is what I'm

That didn't come from the clerk's office. So, but that also what we do from the clerk's office as interest earnings come in those that is quarterly. We take a look at those interest earnings and those are allocated to the different funds. So, it would make sense that the general fund would see a large chunk of those earnings because it goes based off the equity that a fund puts in. The general fund is a large operating fund so it's going to see that large increase. um along with the file fire services MSTU which also saw about another um I want to say $3 million in um revenues from just the interest earnings side. So that just to we've heard you at the last board meetings kind of where does that money go? That is where those those sit as we go through the quarterly process. So I will pause there and you can pretend I had the big check but any questions before I move to the next slide here?

Any questions?

I I had one question

Mr. Turkey.

What's a Florida Palm?

That is a local government investment pool uh similar to the Florida Trust or Florida.

I don't know what that is, but it's called Palm.

Mhm.

Yes. It it um it is the investments that the schools created.

Yeah.

Okay.

I I remember when that was crashing when I was chair of the school board and I had to make a decision whether to keep the school board's money in or not.

Well, it's well it's high performing now.

Yeah. We stayed in. We kept it from crashing. Pasco County and we got our money back.

Okay.

That was when I think everything was crashing. S was crashing

like 20 207 208 somewhere around in there.

Yeah. U right here.

That was that was rough. That was rough times.

Next slide. All right. On the next slide, this will be really brief. This is just the county's investment policy in picture form. So, uh, in the gray outline bars, that is the restriction of the different sectors of investments that the county allows per the policy. Shaded in blue is where the county, uh, sits as of September 30th. So, you can see we're well within the uh, the allowable limits for the various investments. And that is a big part of monitoring cash flows because as money comes in, that can really shift those bars a lot. So, making sure we're putting in different buckets as necessary. So, we monitor cash flow, which you'll see in schedule two of that investment packet. And then if you had any other questions or want to see further detail, schedule five goes into further detail on the different types of investments, especially when it comes to different uh investment pools, local government investment pools. Um, I will turn it back over to Sean unless you guys have any other questions for me.

Any questions?

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Matt. And um Commissioner Starky, the the reason you may not recognize Florida Palm is because it went through a name change. Uh so it used to be Florida Education Investment Trust Fund.

Yeah.

And it was created in 2010. So

I was I'm thinking you were probably thinking with the SBA when it um

SBA is the one that exploded.

That was the one that exploded and broke the buck. You couldn't get your money out like they had locked it down.

Yeah.

We stated stabilized it. So, um, just to to touch on on this slide, I know we're, you know, short on time, but the the two data points that I want to touch on are yield at cost and yield at market here. Um, so they're in that top left table. They're kind of, you know, a few lines down, but yielded cost represents a number where it is actual earnings expected from the portfolio, the longer duration fixed income portfolio uh, that we manage. Yielded cost represents if on 9:30 when this report was generated, what would the market give for that mix of securities that you see in the top right? So that that's a diversified, you know, the different sectors that would be. Um, so as you can see, your portfolio is outperforming pretty handily when it comes to uh the the comparison of of yield at cost, you know, actual represented yield versus the yield at market. Um, so a nice number we like to see there. It's expected to continue to decline as interest rates move downward and there's reinvestments and there's maturities and payowns. So, um that number the yield of market number moves more quickly. It changes every single day. You cost changes on a a trade date if there is a maturity, a purchase, a sale, something like that. Um and to look at the the performance numbers for the uh quarter, one year and and other various time metrics. Uh just to touch on this briefly, you know, there is outperformance in the the you know all aspects of the the total return here. Um you know Matt touched on interest earnings. So I'll be fairly brief on this slide. Uh the real benefits to or or um addatory sectors were were corporate notes. Um so historically they've given around 50 to 60 basis points of spread um above a treasury. So a treasury is yielding 4%. uh corporate note often will yield somewhere around 4.5%. So being able to diversify across sectors um by different names, you know, very high credit quality, double A, single A, uh AAA, uh has been very beneficial to the performance of the county's portfolio. Um and again last just look at this portfolio specifically. Um this is the interest income, the acred interest income uh for again for the portfolio that PFM manages. Uh this does not include the restricted funds that that Matt alluded to. Uh this does not include any of the LGIP balances. So this is just the portfolio. Um and and one note, you know, we have worked very closely with with staff to ensure that as interest rates are expected to decline, we are taking a look at at liquidity, taking a look at upcoming projects and determining if we can put any funds further out and lock up higher interest rates before we expect interest rates to move downward. Um which is where everybody really expects them to go. You saw the yield curve. You saw that the Fed again meeting today and tomorrow. everybody is kind of on this downward trajectory. So as we look to extend duration uh in aggregate and as we look to add to the

this portfolio um to you know hopefully retain some of these budgeted interest income numbers uh because they will be coming down as interest rates come down and that's just a a natural function of the cyclicality of the interest rate market. Um so with that I'll wrap up unless there's any questions.

Any questions? Okay. Well, great news. You guys are doing a phenomenal job. I know for years we've been working on this, but it's going great right now. So, keep up the good work. Thank you. All right.

Thank you.

We'll break for lunch. Back at 1:30.

Okay.

I'm going to also

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legal. If you suspect an illicit discharge, please contact Pasco County Department of Public Works at 7278-34-3611.

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