8.25.26 Pasco County Board of County Commissioner Meeting (Morning Session)

Please call the role.

Commissioner Ron Oakley,

here.

Commissioner Seth Weakman,

present.

Commissioner Katherine Starky

here.

Commissioner Lisa Jerger

here.

Chairman Jack Mariano

here. This is time for public comment. Citizens are given an opportunity to comment on items listed on the agenda by participating in a Microsoft Teams meeting during the meeting or attending in person. Um processes on the public comments page and must be completed to be uh present. May also comment items list in the agenda in person inside the boardroom. Board will take public comment items on the agenda. is requested when you address the board that comments are not directly personally at a comm commissioner or team member but rather directed at the issues. This provides a mutual respect between the board members and the public

and we have a quite a list of people signed up.

Yes, we do.

Okay, let's take do let's say list them off three at a time, please. Okay, the first three. Holly Sexton, J Pas, William Lawless.

Hello. I have documents that I'd like entered into public record. Please move

second.

All in favor say I.

I.

Please state your name and address. Holly Sexton 13811 Melanie Avenue Hudson Florida. Thank you. Again, my name is Holly Stexton. I live in Hudson. Our local water utility company is a risk for our public health and safety. I found in my research that they're falsifying documents on their utility breaks and not reporting to the FD. FD only had one report to show me and to talk about out of 48 utility breaks. I'd ask that Pasco County step in to oversee this utility. This isn't just a matter of inconvenience of the water being shut off at this point. It is a matter of public health and safety. It is an emergency. Pasco County is a great community. We pay a lot to live in Hudson. Having the oversight of the county would give a little comfort to our residents in Hudson. Hudson residents shouldn't have to feel like they should privately test their own water to see if they can drink it. I've heard from more residents in the last month and a half who don't drink our water because they're scared. They're scared of our utility company. Our utility company isn't following best practice. They're not doing the repairs to best practice. They're consistently saying that our water is at 20 PSI during a break when our water is at zero, no pressure. That's going to get somebody really sick if it hasn't already. We have no shut off valves in Hudson so they can isolate their issues. So when there is a water break, they shut off the whole community. That's restaurants, a medical building, a school, condos with eight stories, and numerous homes. This isn't something that's just inconvenient. They're not following protocol on best practice. Sea Ranch is roughly 2,800 ft long. Best practice, they should have a shut off valve every 5 to 600 feet. I don't know why we don't, but we need them. I don't see any repairs taking place that are proactive, only reactive. We need some proactive management and some trustworthy sampling of our water system. I'd please ask that Pasco County look in for some oversight. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Jay Pasqua. Behind him, please, is William Wallace. Please state your name and address for the record.

Jay Passwood, second aisle, Hudson, Florida. I first want to thank Commissioner Jagger for her work in Moon Lake. I also want to thank uh Commissioner Mariano for his constant communications with our developments and everything that's going on in the waterfront community. But I wanted to speak about a couple of things and I know I only have two and a half minutes, so I'll do the best I can. There's a lot of things that are not communicated with citizens of this county. There's a lot of things we don't understand. And I'll start with the first one, which is item P44, 1001, docks and seaw walls. We're obviously making a change here to something. There's nothing there that's telling me what we're doing. So, I'm trying to find out what's going on with that. Also on your agenda, you have $443,000 for odor control. I'm kind of confused of what that's for. There's no explanation for it. The last item I want to talk about is flock cameras. I'm sick of big brother. I'm sick of people watching us. I'm sick of people invading our privacy. I'm sick of people looking and trying to find out where we go. There's a lot of things that go on. I understand there's some safety issues involved, and I'm not totally against it, but the fact of the matter is is that they're being put in places. You don't need to know how many times I go to Walmart or Home Depot. Speaking of Home Depot, Home Depot now has four cameras that face their stores that the taxpayers are paying for. I don't understand that. Not at all. In addition, the internet is killing it. There is nothing but reports about law enforcement officers that are abusing it. One being recently in Lake County. He accessed the cameras 717 times to find his ex-girlfriend. This goes on and on and on and on. No one is coming forward to discuss the privacy. No one is coming forward to say, "Hey, this is what we're doing to protect your privacy." So, as for cameras, I know you're going to Axon. I know there was a hot debate about it last time. I know they're changing over to Axon, but there's got to be some kind of justification to why you're watching the citizens of this county. Yes, it helps law enforcement and I agree. But where's the privacy in this? There's a lot of things going on, especially with now in 2027, they're requiring cars to have cameras in them. So, between your phone, your car, and I understand, get rid of your phone and your car. That's not going to happen. But there's a lot of tracking going on. The Biden administration, unfortunately, wrote a 2,700page report on how they want to monitor cars. How much information about citizens do you need? And and with my last 20 seconds, thank you for raising my taxes $300. I didn't really need that on my properties. And with that, you should put probably an oversight committee together with citizens to overlook this flock situation. I support it in some, but in

a lot of ways, I don't. Thank you for your time, but I urge you to communicate with your citizens. Thank you. Next, William Lawless. Good morning. William Lawless, 4319 Ruway, Newport Richie, Florida. Uh, I want to let you know that I'm a 50-year resident of this county, 32 years of law enforcement in this county. uh former FOP president and current FOP labor rep for the Tampa Bay area. Chairman, members of the county commission, thank you for this opportunity to speak today regarding the continued use of what I'll call roadway monitoring cameras because there's a variety of different brands that go on for flock cameras, Exxon, and and so forth. So the issue ultimately is about public safety and whether the use of roadway monitoring systems commonly known as flock cameras uh are functional. They provide an asset to this county, an asset to the sheriff's office and public safety in this community. This issue is ultimately about public safety and whether we will continue giving enforcement uh a proven tool that's helping to protect citizens of this county. Those cameras have produced real results. The Pasco Sheriff's Office has used these monitoring cameras to solve homicide cases, locate missing adults and children, identify human trafficking victims, and a variety of crimes and sprees throughout our community.

These aren't hypothetical benefits. These are real actual public safety results. Those aren't the I'm sorry. When a child goes missing, minutes matter. Uh, you know, when a homicide occurs, evidence is destroyed quickly and again, minutes, hours matter. But the possibility that tool could be misused as was described previously. Uh, should not be a reason to eliminate a valuable tool to law enforcement. Consider what happens without it. Imagine telling a parent of a missing child that deputies had the technology at one time to locate that child quickly and rapidly, but that that particular tool was taken away. U the choice should not be between constitutional rights and public safety. We can easily protect both. We can maintain strong oversight and accountability, which the sheriff's office does have. The the evidence from Pasco demonstrates why these cameras matter. the crimes they've solved, the missing people they've located is all well documented. This is not hypothetical uh data. And behind every one of those successful cases is a victim, a family, and member of this community. I respectfully ask the commission to continue supporting Pasco County Sheriff's Office and roadway monitoring. In regards to your privacy, uh the US Constitution protects our privacy and I'm a firm believer. I'm not a believer in big brother, nor am I a believer in anybody taking those privacies away, but the safeguards this agency has have proven that there's not been a violation of any type. Appreciate your time. Thank you.

I'm going to call the next three. Tom Smikes, Nathaniel Paulie, Daniel Forester, please come to the podium. Good morning. My name is Tommyers. I live at 10315 Armadillo Court, Newport Richie, 34654. I live in an ER estate residential subdivision. I'm back again to discuss the need to change ordinance 530-16 to be rewritten in order to safeguard what an er estate residential subdivision is. I currently live next to a commercial semi- restoration and repair shop which has been operating for two and a half years. Code cannot police this and I will explain why. The building is at the back of the property with privacy fence so it's difficult to see. Now he has planted bamboo all along my property line. So in time code will not be able to view activity from my h from my property or from Lake View Drive. According to Pasco County Attorney, he can have as many commercial vehicles as he can fit inside the building, which is 3,200 square ft. Four semiis. If he tucks and hides them outside and shields them, shields them by the building, he can he can have even more. We have semis coming and going, moving inside, outside for service. Semis left running for 30 minutes, all 40 foot from my house. The noise is unbearable. Pasco County cannot get a search warrant because this is a homesteaded property. Code cannot go on the property without the owner's permission. Code is not 911. Sometimes it takes them days to investigate a a complaint. They don't work nights or weekends. A mobile mechanic can come over and work on the owner semi. This is to the opinion of the Pasco County attorney. So, how do we know whose semi he is working on or who it belongs to? because code cannot ask for vehicle registrations with this ordinance allowing any commercial vehicle to be parked or stored. How is this not considered a dispatch uh location for a trucking company run out of a residential neighborhood or a storage facility for all the his friends semis which come for routine service and maintenance which he currently provides. Besides uh this is what's happening. We we we have the same semiis coming and going and different ones coming in for service. My neighbor isn't my neighbor hasn't been on the road trucking for over two years. Why would he? He's got a very busy semi repair restoration business and storage facility. All this within 40 foot of my house. This is unacceptable. Thank you.

Mr. Snyers, you did hand our clerks a document. We need a motion.

I'm sorry.

Move to receive and file.

Second.

All in favor say I.

I.

If you would. David Allen's right here. I know Sam Bondie's on his way down and I think Chase in the back maybe showed them the latest information.

Thank you.

Thank you everybody.

And I'd like an update on on it not from staff at some point.

Nathaniel Paulie.

My name is Nathaniel Paulie. 238 Chancery Drive, Holiday, Florida. Um, before I even start, I want to thank Katherine Stark's been working on this issue already, and I really do appreciate that. So, I know that progress being made, but I want everyone to know what's going on. Um, my wife and I run a school in Holiday. We've been operating for 11 years, and our goal has always been to give kids that opportunities that we didn't have growing up here. Our school offers college prep, AP courses, dual enrollment, college testing, as well as technical education. We've got an automotive program affiliated with Ford Motor Company. We do boat repair, woodworking, electrical wiring, culinary arts, 3D printing. We also have music and painting courses. We offer sports, and when people can't afford them, we cover the costs. We know what it's like growing up without money for those things. And we accept ELC, which is a huge hurdle, so low-income kids can do our marine science program. Last year, one of our teachers volunteered his own time to start a kickboxing program for our students. He coached us professionally in a local gym and knew most of our kids couldn't afford that and had parents working late, weren't able to get there. We thought this would be a good opportunity for our kids and we had an unused building. We put money into it. We installed martial arts flooring, wall padding. We installed punching bags. We treated the interior with flame retardant paint. Our fire inspector looked at the building, told us he didn't see any significant risks of children being injured in a fire. But we were told that the building did not have the proper use classification code to operate for the 3 hours a week we were using it. So, we shut the program down. He called to make sure we disassembled the floor mats and took the bags down. This takes in my current situation. Right next to my school, I have a drug encampment. About a year ago, a neighboring property started inviting homeless people in the area to come live in his yard. There were roughly 30 people there living under tarps with trash piled everywhere. We had drugged out people wander around parents' vehicles during school drop off. We had people defecating in the bushes next to the Fifth Third Bank. We had people using drugs in the bushes nearby. Pit bulb from the property that's always loose dug underneath our playground fence and was run around. Luckily, no kids were around the playground. Um there's trash being burned in a barrel with smoke blowing over our playground. Um there was a hooker who broke into a local trailer next door to flip tricks. Um, I mean, and I'm sorry, even saying this, I feel like even bringing attention to this issue harms holiday, which is not my intent. Um, we spent months calling, reporting, documenting, trying to get the situation addressed. Eventually, the property was demolished and the land was cleared. We were very grateful. Again, Katherine Starky helped

with that. Now, the property owner has returned and the same people and the same problems are beginning to return with them. I've got drugs, crap, dogs loose, and what sure looks like hookers. Things that kids should not be around. This shouldn't be a thing in holiday. My wife had three brothers. All three of her brothers are dead. All three overdosed. We are currently raising her 14 and 15-year-old niece and nephew along with our own three-year-old and a six-week old. I want my community to improve. It's why we're running a school in Holiday. We grew up here. Sometimes it feels like the people trying to build something positive are the ones who are being asked to jump through the most hoops while the people destroying the community are given a pass. We wanted to provide martial arts for training for kids. We couldn't do it. They want to live in tents, do drugs, and crap in the bushes. They are doing it. We have a building where we wanted to remove an obvious partition wall and a place where we wanted to put a door back where one had been removed in the past. I was told that Pasco had lost the original drawings for the building. We were told we would need to have an architect recreate them. I got a rough quote of $20,000 before I could start a permit process. For a small business and holiday, it's a significant cost to make relatively simple improvements. So, it just didn't happen. Sorry, guys. I got zero seconds. Um, we wanted to demolish and replace an old trailer home on our property with a metal building to expand our technical programs. we've hit similar issues. Um, I understand why regulations exist. I'm not asking to eliminate safety regulations. Um, in holiday, it'd be great if I could have someone help me recover building records when they've been lost. Um, even for modest renovations that don't change the fundamental safety characters of building, it would be great to be able to get help doing those. Um, even the renovating, like we have trailer homes, a mobile home park, they're trash. I wanted to demo one.

If I could, I need you to wrap up. U see Anthony Mstrachio over there. Maybe you can talk to Anthony. No,

that's fine. Yeah, there were eight preschools in our areas before. We're down to two. You know,

can I make a comment? Sure.

Also, um if you we are just starting a small business concierge service. So, if you also if David Engel's here and would like to help this small business owner, that would be great. Thank you.

I just want to invest in the area.

Thank you for the great work you're doing.

Thank you,

Danielle Forester. Freda Forester after that

and Kevin Nichols Glazier after that.

We have a mic. We can give the show

Daniel Forester 1331.

We're going to give you a mic, sir. Pardon? Move second.

All in favor say I. I

Daniel Forester, 13318 Starfish Drive, Hudson, Florida.

Today I'd like to speak to you. It's not going to speak into it, though.

Pull it right up to your mouth, sir.

Daniel Forester, 13318 Starfish Drive, Hudson, Florida. Uh today I'd like to speak to you about a a topic that's countywide certainly, but I'm speaking to my little neighborhood, which is uh north of uh Salt Spring State Park and west west of US 19, the canal region over there. We are totally overcome with feral cats and this problem is only going to get worse and I feel it's very important to bring it to the board's attention. Where did the cats come from? Hurricane displacement. I think Newport Richie got the ducks. We got the cats. Uh and then also Salt Springs State Park. If you flip the page to your first handout, that's the uh uh uh fish and wildlife conservation policy where they do not support trapneuter release and they will not allow any feral cats on state property. It's because of all the damage to their wildlife. That damage occurs elsewhere. But that's not my concern. My concern is safety. I just got released from Tampa Hospital 10 days ago with yet another uh recurring leg injury. And as you can see, if if I got it, even a cat attempted to scratch me, I have no defense. Uh if you flip the page, here's the important thing. This is our state uh Florida.gov website. Outside cats are by far the most common domestic animal found to have rabies in Florida, largely because they are not kept up to date on rabies vaccinations. dogs, cats, and ferrets are required by law to be vaccinated against rabies in Florida. And then it goes on to describe rabies. Uh if you flip the page again, when I roll my wheelchair out starfish drive and try to turn down Saltwater Boulevard all the abandoned trailers that are still waiting to be piled and plowed out, this is what I see. And I feel a personal danger and I would ask the board to the these cats are being fed by people have who have no idea. All they're doing is prolonging the death. They've been trappers in that area at least twice in the last year. It's not helped. So the cats are still roaming freely. And if you flip the next page, here's where we're in trouble. This is directly from the from the uh uh animal services an email. Hello, the vet clinics do not license straight cats, nor do the vet clinics or the county follow up with future vaccinations for stray cats. We're in trouble here. I just get a look at it. Thank you.

Do we have anyone here from animal control? Okay, Kathy.

Thank you, Kathy.

Freda Forester.

My name is Freda Forester. I live at 13318 Starfish Drive, Hudson. And I have some documents here to move to receive file.

Second.

All in favor say I. Hi.

Hi.

Well, I'm here for this. I'm here for the same reason that my husband is and a lot of other neighbors who still live in our little community. And um we have a neighbor right across the street who um at one time he claims he has 11 cats. There could be more now, but there are constant in our neighborhood. He has his own sign to make sure nobody touches his cats. But yet, I see him every day. He feeds the cats healthy uh meals underneath his RV, as you can see there in the little corner um by his house, and then he lets them go wrong through the neighborhood and defecate all over his neighbors properties. And we are forced to have to clean that up. There's blowflies on it constantly. I even got bit by a blowfly when I was cleaning up. So, animal control said, "Well, use cat deterrence," which we've done that. It helps a little bit, but it does not get rid of the cats. They're still there. And we just keep putting up with this. I talked to the guy that has this colony of cats. And he didn't even seem concerned. He said, "Well," he said, "I know what you mean. If that were happening to me, I'd be upset, too." And that's all he said. But the cat's still wrong, and he still feeds them. They're not out there killing insects and lizards. They're they're doing what they want to do. I clean it up. You can't even be out in your own backyard without smelling it. It's just horrible. And all of our neighbors are going through it. And as you can see, if you turn the pages, this is what I have to deal with. They poop all over the flower garden. They poop under my uh tomato plants. And then at one point, now I I had to write this in on the third page. There's cat vomit in my driveway. I I took the picture after the fact, but I saw it happen, you know, in my front yard, and I went back and took the picture. If a cat's vomiting in your driveway, it can't be very healthy. And then my last photo I have is from a ring camera. This was two nights ago at 10:30 at night on the 23rd. Two cats roaming in the driveway. They lounge there. They take over. You can't go outside for the odor. you have to continually clean and it's not healthy and it's very stressful. So, you know, I know you guys can't just change laws, but but if it could be illegal for people to keep feeding these cats, I mean, they keep them going and then they're there and they're always a problem. So,

I'm that's my deal for today and I thank you for hearing me.

All right. So Kathy Pierce in the back, talk with your husband, but there's a picture of the signat colony TR method. Do not trap or remove.

Number one is probably an illegal sign, but number two, it's a pretty good indicator where staff needs to go to go look into that. Thank you.

Thank you,

Kevin Nicholas Glazier next. After that, Sean Sweeney and Arthur Madden.

I don't think you need that. Good morning. My name is Kevin Nicholas Glacer and I'm here to speak about the cause of potholes. Uh to get to the point, potholes are caused by residual florine in the stone underneath each pothole. The florine reacts with water creating hydrogen fluoride which is used in industry and glass etching. So what's happening uh is the florine is hardening the material pulling out the oil and then the hydrogen fluoride turns it to dust. This is happening throughout the world and um also in the ocean. the ocean. If you just go down to Green Key Road, look to the north when the uh tide is out, you can see potholes appearing. And then you you bring your eyes closer to the edge and you see the source of those potholes, all those stone parts and pieces. What this all goes back to is an event in which florine rose to the surface hardening the entire surface of the the earth. Um to show you the difference between the geological time scale model and a spatial analysis perspective. Uh consider uh coal coal seams. In geology, they teach you that coal is 200 to 300 million years old and it was produced by extreme pressure and time. However, from a spatial analysis perspective, you arrive at the year 2370 B.CE. when this great flood uh started. This was a year-long event. Covered the entire earth. And as the waters were pulled away, the florine reached the surface, hardening the entire surface, pulling out the oil of all these dead creatures laying everywhere. If you dig into coal seams, you look at the sandstone and um shale below above and below, you see imprints of tropical vegetation along with u dinosaurs, um fish, birds, as well as human artifacts. The human history only goes back 6,000 years. And yet coal seams are said to be 200 300 million years old. Obviously it doesn't make sense. And that's one of the reasons why potholes have been misunderstood. Uh the the release of florine came from u a rock called antonite which was the excrement built up for thousands of years by a particular creature that I've been investigating. That's about all the time I have, but my name again is Kevin Nicholas Glosser, Germanser. Um, my email is Kevin Nichol Nicholas Glacergmail.com.

Thank you very much.

Next, Sean Sweeney. Following him, Arthur Madden. Good morning. My name is Sean Sweeney. My address is exempt. For the past 20 years, I've been a law enforcement officer in the state of Florida. I'm here today to speak in support of law enforcement's responsibility responsible use of license plate technology. At its core, this technology is about one thing and giving law enforcement another tool to protect victims, locate people in danger, and solve crimes more effectively. First and foremost, license plate readers can help us serve victims and solve crimes. When someone is robbed, assaulted, burglarized, or has their vehicle stolen, investigators are often worked with limited information. A witness may remember only the color of a vehicle, part of a license plate, or the direction it traveled. License plate reader technology can provide investigators with another piece of the puzzle. This does not replace good police work. It makes good police police work more effective. Second, consider the importance of this technology when dealing with kidnapped or missing children. When a child is missing, every minute matters. If lawful enforcement has information about suspect vehicle or license plate, a network of license plate readers can help identify where that vehicle has traveled. Providing investigators information that can help focus the search. For a parent waiting for their child to come home, time is not an abstract concept. Anything that can anything can responsibly help law enforcement locate that child sooner deserves serious consideration. Third, these systems provide a deterrent effect. Criminals take advantage of an anonymity when off when offenders know the vehicles traveling into and out of an area may be identified as part of a criminal investigation and increases their risk of being caught. that changes the calculation for someone considering committing a crime inside Pasco County. Finally, license plate readers are a tremendous force multiplier. No law enforcement agency has unlimited personnel. A deputy cannot physically be on every street at every intersection in every neighborhood at the same time. Technology helps bridge that gap. A license plate reader does not get tired, not become distracted. It can capture vehicle information while deputies are answering calls. investigating crimes, conducting traffic enforcement, and responding to emergencies. But this technology should not replace deputies, investigators, community relationships, or constitutional policing. It should support them in responsible use matters. Appropriate policies, training, oversight, data retention standards, and accountability should accompany those technologies. The question should not simply be whether technology has risks.

Almost every p powerful public safety tool does. The question is whether we can use that technology responsibly while protecting individual rights and make our counties safer. Ultimately, this is not about cameras. It's about victims. It's about families. It's about giving law enforcement tools necessary to bring people home and hold offenders accountable. Thank you.

Next up, Arthur Madden. The next three are Christy Zimmer, Jonathan Fedora, and Jeff Gray.

Hello, Arthur Madden, 8661 Citizen Drive. I want to first start by thanking the board for um almost two years ago entering into an interlocal agreement with uh the sheriff's office reference license plate readers. Um, a backstory is so I've been on the job almost 25 years now and I vividly remember sitting in Refferant in front of me roll call and he's uh he's reading his bolos, right? I remember the vehicle make model tag and color and we all wrote it down. We all went in service and I remember putting forth good effort to find those vehicles because I know they were attached to a crime. Uh but all too often it's uh you're deviated because there's calls for service. Um time is of the essence when we want to catch bad people doing bad things or bad people that have done bad things. And that's what license plate readers do. They they augment. They're a force multiplier for law enforcement. Um so I believe the the BOCC entered into the agreement with the basis of trust um almost two years ago. trust for both the license plate reader program and for the Pasco Sheriff's Office. So, the board trusted the license plate reader system as a tool for law enforcement to help protect the citizens of Pasco County. They trusted that the system as it was designed will help law enforcement locate vehicles involved in crimes, locate stolen vehicles, and aid in locating missing persons or abducted people. How do they trust law enforcement? The board trusted that the Pasco Sheriff's Office would use these systems with professionalism and integrity to carry out their daily duties with the passion of solving crime and bringing justice to the victims as quickly as possible. Almost two years since this agreement has been in place. You can read online, you can uh you can read social media and you'll see that there's been misuses. It's it's blatant and and and it's spoken been spoken about today, but not here in Pasco. As you sit here, as I stand here, um the Pasco Sheriff's Office has in fact implemented policies and procedures to ensure this tool, the license plate reader, um was not abused or misused, but used with the due care of respect for the citizens of Pasco County and the victims in the cases they work on.

That's all I have. Thank you guys. Thank you for your service.

Christy Zimmer.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am asking you today to do something very address for the record, please.

Christy Zimmer, 3615 Pine Cone Court, Atlanta Lakes, Florida.

Thank you.

I'm asking you today to do something very simple. do not sign this contract for flock or acts on surveillance cameras. Not yet. This is not an argument against law enforcement. It's an argument for constitutional policing, responsible government, and protecting the rights of every person who lives in this county. The legal landscape has just changed. On June 29th, the United States Supreme Court decided Chatri versus United States. The court held that when police obtain historical location information that reveals a person's movements, they are conducting a search under the fourth amendment. And the court made an important point. It does not matter simply by the information was collected by a private technology company rather than the government. The principle matters here. Flock and similar automated license plate systems do not merely photograph a license plate. They create searchable records showing where vehicles were observed, when they were observed, and potentially how these observations fit over time. The question for the board should be should therefore not be can a camera photograph a car on a public road. Of course, it can. The question is, what happens when the government turns millions of those individual observations into searchable record of people's movements? That is where constitutional concerns arise and Florida gives our citizens an additional layer of protection. Article 1, section 23 of the Florida Constitution expressly says that every natural person has the right to be left alone and free from government intrusion into private life. The Florida Supreme Court has recognized that this is a fundamental privacy right. So, this board should not be asking only whether a vendor says its system is legal. You should be asking whether the government's use of the system is necessarily necessary, narrowly controlled, and consistent with privacy rights guaranteed to Floridaidians. There is another reason to pause. Florida law already specifically regulates automated license plate recognition systems. It addresses retention of ALPR data and places restrictions on handling and disclosure of identifying information. Yet technology is moving faster than the law. We are now seeing systems capable of connecting vehicle observations with increasingly sophisticated databases, investigative tools. That means the board is not simply voting to purchase cameras. You are voting to create or expand a government surveillance infrastructure. Once that infrastructure exists, it is extraordinarily difficult to put the genie back in the bottle and there are practical risk at well. Recent incidents have demonstrated that surveillance databases can be misused by individual officers. a powerful system does not become safe merely because it the policy says it should be appropriate. So I'm asking you to abandon technology. I'm I'm not asking you to I'm asking you to demand safeguards before deployment. Require a written policy governing searches,

require document investigative justification, require meaningful auditing, require strict limits on retention and sharing. Require judicial authorization when a search becomes a reconstruction of an individual's movements. and require this board and the public to know exactly who can access this information, where it goes, how long it remains available, and what happens when the contract ends. Do not make this county a case test case study. Thank you.

Please do not clap,

Jonathan Fedora. After that, Jeff Gray. Hey everybody, Jonathan Federa. I live at 3810 Roundtable Court. I'm here to discuss flock and hats on cameras. I moved from New York 5 years ago to escape overreach. Okay. During CO, it was miserable up there. I moved three businesses down here thinking that that would be fine and here we are again. Same type of overreach. Uh the last speaker brought up that case June 26 chatree. Okay. This is not constitutional. It violates our fourth amendment rights. All right. When these things happen, people that have businesses will leave again. Okay. We I brought 20 jobs down to this county across the three businesses. The last thing we need is flock and axon cameras. I've never been in trouble with the law. All of my uh interactions with the law have been great down here. Okay. This is a tool that doesn't just read uh license plates. Okay. Picks up on other devices that are in the car. It is a complete overreach and it violates our Fourth Amendment rights. One of the things I will tell you guys is I went with somebody else in this room and we on Saturday held a sign to block the camera. Not destroy it, block it. The vast majority, there was not one negative interaction there. Not one. Everybody that saw it waved at us, gave us a thumbs up. Uh some people bought us drinks and snacks, and most people said thank you. The vast majority of people in this county do not want these cameras. I am asking you guys, please do not move forward with this. It really is a overreach. I would love to see everybody else's opinion here if people could stand up if they actually supported this. It seems like law enforcement loves this idea and I understand it could make their job easier, but not without violating our rights. We have to draw the line somewhere. I hope you can draw it here. That's I'm done. Thanks.

Next.

Clapping.

Do not clap. We've got it actually listed as protocol. Thank you,

Jeff Gray. After that is Tom Cileto, Cindy Sakarta, and Melissa Horn.

Jeff Gray, 4300 Lakes Boulevard, Lakes, Florida. I'm here representing the Fraternal Order Police, John Nelson Memorial Lodge 29. It's been there for over 40 years. I've been a resident of this county for 51 years. Mr. Weightman was my principal back in the day in Newport Richie when I went to school. I've been with the sheriff's office 39 years. There's a lot of talk about the positives and negatives of these cameras and I understand where everybody's coming from, but I think sometimes we get a little carried away with what its real purpose is. It's reading tags. It's not reading anybody's face. It can't track your movements. It gives us a direction to travel. Doesn't give us where you're going. Just doesn't work that way. But what it does do in times of great crisis and need is it gives us a lead. Investigators need leads to f solve cases. Correct? They just it just doesn't happen without it. We need live testimony from witnesses. The citizens have to participate in the system where it fails. This is a tool. Period. All it is is a tool like anything else on a deputy's belt. The car, the computers, all of them are tools. Tools are abused. You go after the abuser, not the tool. People that have spoken before me talked about there's been no events of this with Pasco because we do have strict authority. The sheriff takes care of these things. He holds us all accountable on a daily basis. You all know that. You see it. You see it in the reports that come out. We will continue to always do that. We will continue to evolve. And to the to the citizen that worries about the technology evolving faster than the law, that's a very true statement. But it doesn't mean you throw out the tool. Talk about it, discuss it, understand it properly. It's not tracking anybody. There is no facial recognition. And somebody made a comment about Home Depot earlier. Cameras on private property are private cameras. those businesses have a to have those cameras there. And I know the Fourth Amendment keeps coming up and I have a lot of confusion on it because I don't know that this is a Fourth Amendment violation. You're when you're in public, if someone snaps your photo and you call the sheriff's office, we're not we're going to tell you there's nothing we can do that they took your photo. You're you're in public. So, I agree with some of this where we need to really look at it closely, but I don't think it should go away because it is a tool. It saves lives. It finds missing children. Silver alerts. Do you know flock camera picked up a silver alert out of Florida all the way up in Tennessee. That's how they found him because of the flock. Saved his life. Dementia. He just got in the car and started driving. It's a tool. That's all I have. Thank you.

Next. Tom Salado.

Good morning. Uh Thomas Salado, 18235 Floralton Drive. It's in Spring Hill, 34610. Um I'd like to speak about data breaches. Um I have a 35 year background in this. That's my career. After I graduated college in 1987, I worked for an international engineering company located in Odessa. Their focus was the food processing industry. Keebler, Pepperage Farm, Kelloggs, General Foods, you name it, we worked on them. I worked in the computer programming services division where we developed software to control the plant. Inclusive of the software was data. Of course, recipes. Recipes were private from other employees at various levels. Upon leaving said company, I went out on my own. I formed Micro Solutions of Pasco for many years. From 1993 until about 2013, I travel the state and the county, excuse me, in the country providing data consulting and programming services to many clients in various industries. And a short list of my data solutions developed would track personal information, financial information, medical purchasing, insurance, banking and a lot of times with this data collecting were pictures or videos. Data privacy and protection. Every client engagement started with concern for the client's data. Going back to the beginning, first company I worked for, we would receive contracts and the legal team would review it. Within the contracts, legal verbiage was technical verbiage. Technical verbiage that we had to review and understand how the client expect their data to be protected. inclusive of protecting the data where documents company staff sometimes even outside vendors are required to acknowledge and sign. The last gentleman spoke about that and many others about the sheriff's department. The reality is no matter what legal do documents are in place or policies and procedures, any staff with access to the data essentially holds the keys to the castle. At this point, it is not a question of if the data will be breached, it's a question of when. A disgruntled employee or vendor with just enough knowledge of how the system is protected is a data breach in jeopardy. A very popular way breaches occurs through weak or stolen passwords. In a person gives a password to another person and then uses that opportunity to perform improper use of his unauthorized access. I'll give you a similar real world example. I'm sure we all have experienced. You've been at a store performing a transaction. that requires the clerk to receive a higher level access, maybe a return or a higher limit purchase. The clerk requests help. Another person assists the clerk by yelling their code across the store. Not only did you hear the code, but the other associates did. And with an innocence of helping another, a security breach has occurred. May I have extra time? About 30 seconds.

You go. Human errors and misconfiguration examples include accidentally exposing databases, misconfigured cloud storage, sensitive sending sensitive information to the wrong recipient, or failing to follow security procedures. These examples are due just a few of a hundred thousands of failing points that have occurred within small businesses to huge enterprises. Our personal data is not to be misused, improperly stored or shared with others no more than its intended purpose. Our data is not for sale by any means. All of us have experienced sharing our data without our permission. We hear about data security breaches all the time. Just ask John Morgan from Morgan and Morgan. He has made billions because of this issue. I hope by me being here today will help shed some light and concern for our commissioners that our privacy is just as important as our companies a company's recipe for success. Our county is facing many technical related issues. Solar farms, data centers, flock cameras. These impact our community in different ways. I'm at my last paragraph. It may be a time for to form a committee of professionals in the industries that can review the implications of these technologies, perform the proper research, and provide guidance to a solution mutually beneficial for our community and others involved. Thank you,

Cindy SCAR. Sorry about that. Melissa Horn and then John Moody.

Hi, my name is Cindy Scarda. I'm at 29157 Coochi Lake Drive, San Antonio, Florida. In researching the flock and acts on cameras, I came across this article from a news site, krgtv.com, local news in Missouri. The Pilaski County Sheriff's Office announced Thursday that it will discontinue the use of flock license plate reader cameras. In a statement, the sheriff's office said it will not renew its flock contract and will not replace the cameras with Axon, another company that produces cameras for law enforcement agencies. Palaski County Sheriff said he believed his deputies had used the techn technology professionally and responsibly, but also noted genuine public concerns about privacy, government surveillance, and mi misuse. I can continue defending flock, explaining its benefits and safeguards, but sometimes leadership isn't about proving you're right. Sheriff Ball said, "Sometimes leadership means listening to the people you serve." Although technology is important, Sheriff Ball said that no piece of technology is more important than the trust of the people we serve. Uh he said discontinuing flock will not stop his deputies from doing the hard work they do to serve and protect the community. Um I want to read a founding quote from one of our founding fathers Thomas Jefferson. He who gives freedom for safety gets none of them reinforcing the idea that freedom security are not mutually mutually combatable if one is sacrificed for the others. Uh this quote and others from our founding fathers underscores a core principle of American political philosophy. Liberty is a non-negotiable foundation of society and security measures should not come at the expense of fundamental rights. So I believe that this is an overreach. I believe there's other ways. I don't know the cost of these cameras. Could that money be spent more wisely in hiring more uh sheriffs or deputies and police officers or more uh office staff? I don't know what these cameras cost or what the replacement would be for uh replacing the flock cameras. I don't know if that's been discussed or whatever, but maybe that money would be uh better utilized elsewhere. So, thank you for listening to your constituents. I applaud you for allowing us to take the time to share our concerns uh about our freedom, liberty, and uh our security of our privacy. So, thank you very much.

Thank you,

Melissa Horn. And then John Moody.

Like to submit a picture to go along with my issue. Uh Melissa Horn, 13704 Genevita Drive, Hudson. I am here today to talk about 14301 Clamshell Lane. This has probably been brought up to you before. Um homeless and squatters have been in this property for over a year. It there is junk scattered throughout from the front of the house to the back of the house. As you can see in the pictures, they're now living in a makeshift tarp, running a generator at all hours of the night, homeless. I don't know how they're getting fuel to run a generator. However, the owner of the property there is too, according to the Pasco Property Appraisers Office. One of them is currently in jail. Actually, I believe he was just released uh for stealing and theft and burglary throughout the community. As you can see by the front yard, if you're missing anything, it's probably there. Code enforcement has been called numerous times and yet nothing is done. The sheriff's office has been called numerous times and yet nothing is done. Neighbors report, this is not my direct neighbor, but I live in this neighborhood. Uh neighbors report traffic coming in and out at all hours of the night. Nothing is done. They're now encroaching on the empty vacant First Baptist Church on the corner of Old Dixie and Hudson Avenue and nothing is done. Um, again, neighbors have complained numerous times. News reports have gone out there and interviewed neighbors, including the church next door that has expressed concerns about the safety of their parishioners, the safety of children attending the church, and also their property and their vehicles while at church. There are two legal owners on here. Uh, one of them claims to be MIA, but yet they're claiming homestead exemption. So maybe that's something that needs to be looked into as well. Um, when I called code enforcement office to inquire, I'm being told it's handled by the county attorney and they're not at liberty to discuss any of that matter with me. When I called Jack Mariano's office, I'm told the same thing. When I called the county attorney's office, I'm told they're not at liberty to discuss it with me. Um, I've lived here for 9 and a half years. Code enforcement has had no problem tagging me and numerous other residents for a licensed tagged and insured boat trailer, boat, or jet skis in my driveway. Many of these residents pay over $10,000 a year to live in this beautiful waterfront community. I I just don't understand how this is continuing to go on. I know it's not happening in other waterfront communities because I'm also a realer. I traveled around the county. It's not happening in Gulf Harbors. It's not happening in Tarpon Springs. It's not happening in Hernando Beach. Why is it happening in Hudson Beach? Um, thank you,

Melissa, if you would. I've got Sam Boundy coming down. Chase is in the back and David Allen is in the back as well.

They should they should be able to talk with you.

Next up is John Moody following Michael Pterik and Brian Sebria.

Morning, commissioners. John Moody, 12821 Spur Road, Hudson, Florida. Um, I'm here to talk to you today about R41 on your agenda, which is the proposed policy memo 36 regarding multif family properties. I'd like you to know that as a sitting planning commission member, none of the planning commission has been presented yet with the draft version of the future land use element of the Pasco 2050 comp plan. There have been a number of workshops scheduled and cancelled and the only folks that have received a cop a draft copy of that proposed element are our local land use attorneys. Once that element was provided to the land use attorneys, I received calls from every one of them. And I understand I haven't seen this document so I can't comment on the document but I understand that there are some potentially serious issues land use issues potential Bert Harris claims that exist within that document. I see today staff has presented you with a proposed policy on multifamily housing and I feel like this is an issue that needs to be vetted with the stakeholders and needs to be heard before the planning commission before the board adopts a policy without proper discussion. And so I'm asking you today to please recommend that this matter be heard by the planning commission, that there be public workshops scheduled, and then we can have a policy discussion. Maybe some of these concepts are good, but until we've fully vetted them, we have no idea. Also, on flock cameras, I ask a lot of my friends, "What do you think of the flock cameras?" They tell me they don't care. I'm not doing anything wrong. And I agree, I'm not doing anything wrong either until somebody redefineses what's wrong. And a few years ago during CO, we had a lot of people redefine what was right and what was wrong. And a lot of us were told to do things in the name of public safety and we were told to follow the science and now it turns out that that science has been disproven and that those things did not promote public safety. So, I'll ask you to consider that before you adopt the flock cameras. The other thing I'll say about that is flock is a nationwide network. Okay? Pascal County can access information from other states, other states can access it from here. The federal government can access what's on these cameras. So just because the Pasco County Sheriff's Department has good policy about how we use the cameras, that doesn't mean the sheriff in Tennessee or the sheriff in North Dakota has the same policies and can't abuse that data. So that's something to consider. Thank you.

Michael Pteric.

Good morning everybody. Michael Ptok address is redacted. I want to start out by saying I am 100% pro law enforcement, 100% pro- fire rescue, 100% pro public safety. However, everybody that got up here to argue for the flock cameras used theories. It's an idea. All these great things are going to happen. But nobody came up here other than a silver alert and gave you any statistics to how many cases have actually been solved with this. There's no efficacy that's been shown to you to keep this going and keep the spending going for this program. Liberty is a freedom from government overreach. It's specifically stated in the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the Constitution, the fifth amendment, the 14th Amendment. My position is from the fourth amendment with unreasonable searches and the fifth amendment spec specifically stating no person shall be denied liberty without due process. Automatic license plate readers do not grant the due process for its citizens. But what's the other cost to the citizens? Because in the end, we the people, we the taxpayers burden the cost. My annual tax bill went up again. I'm only assessed at $296,000. My tax bill went up to $4,500 for the year. There's been a billion dollars collected from the penny for Pasco. 20% is for public safety. I don't see all of the dollars adding up in a responsible manner. Let me give you an example. And I'm pro fire rescue, but we have a fire MSTU here. And for my one home, it's over $500. But we're paying not one, not two, but three fire rescue bonds in this year's property taxes. We've already collected a billion dollars from the penny for Pasco. The spending just keeps getting moved around like a shell game. Do you guys realize we have to sleep overnight at the district park to try to get baseball fields for our kids to practice on? If you're not one of the first two teams in line to sleep overnight, you don't get a baseball field. We tried bringing USA Scout baseball to Wesley Chapel this year. I had over 150 kids try out. I've had to move all those players to Tampa because there isn't baseball fields. As you've pointed out, the average age of our residents and families has decreased. We're putting money out for government surveillance of law-abiding citizens, but not putting out the money to build the baseball and football fields that our kids need to keep them out of trouble. Thank you.

Next up, Brian Sarapia. And then Rebecca Tepp and Adam Brazelback. Good morning. My name is Brian Serabia.

Excuse me. One second. Brian, chair. Um, he's going to speak on two different topics. Can he get one additional minute?

Good.

Thank you. Uh, I'm here as a citizen of Pasco County, but it so happens that I am the division director of the Newport Richie State Attorney's Office, which means I oversee all of the crimes that get prosecuted here on the west side of Pasco County. Um, I believe I just heard someone ask for statistics, so here you go. Uh, Kevin Barnes, case number 2021, CF00002017. Crystal Corin, case number 2021, CF 002063. Christopher Nef, case number 2021, CF 001951. Tiarara Johnson, and uh Antoine Greer, case number 2026, CF 3379. Tommy Donaldson, case number 2024, CF00001950. All of those people are currently charged with murder in the first degree pending over there in the courthouse. Those are just the ones I've been working on in the past two weeks uh for one reason or another. Uh so each one of those cases uh license plate reader was an integral part of the investigation. Some of them it was the defining uh reason why we were able to proceed with the case. Uh additionally there was a major drug trafficking operation that was coming through Pasco County. case number 2026 CF 003504 where seven different people were arrested and facing very very serious charges. That case was made through license plate readers which included uh license plate readers across the country because we were able to track the trafficking operation from El Paso, Texas. Uh and again those are just the ones I've been working on in the past two weeks. So, I've heard some of the people say that uh it's a it's unconstitutional. It's an overreach. And the reality is it is not. I am an attorney. I work with Fourth Amendment issues, 14th amendment issues, constitutional issues every day. Uh and the Constitution simply does not speak against this. These readers capture information that is read readily observable to anyone in the public sphere. And if a company chooses to make that information readily accessible to our law enforcement, then there is no constitutional implication. And the reality is these cameras exist anyway. Do we want Elon Musk to be making use of all of them and collecting our personal data for his purposes or do we want to give law enforcement the benefit of being able to utilize it in the investigations? Um, I would note just because people don't like something or because they're afraid of something or because they don't understand the realities of a situation does not mean that it's unconstitutional, illegal, or improper. Uh, I would note that to say law enforcement can't use this tool would be like saying that they can't use Google, they can't use Facebook, let's cancel their internet subscription. We might as well limit them completely. Uh to use an example a little bit more my age and some of y'all's 80s and 90s it would be like taking their phone book away. Why

give them a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers? These are just tools, compilations of data that is already being collected. Surveillance is everywhere. Most of us probably have Ring cameras. They're on every block, every street. Uh there Google is taking pictures of everything. I use Google Maps. I'm sure you guys do, too. Teslas are all over Pasco County. It's hard to drive down the road without almost hitting one. Uh those are constantly video and audio recording everything around them. The surveillance is out there. The only question is, are we going to allow law enforcement to utilize it in a positive way? And I'll tell you what, the license plate readers are less intrusive than all the things that I just brought up. Ask yourselves, why do we have license plates? Why do we bother? Why are they there? There statues prohibiting switching them, obscuring them. They are there because we want them to be visible. Because we want them to be able to go.

You have one additional minute.

We are. May I wrap it up, please?

Sure.

Anyway, cases I believe uh one of the um Arthur Madden brought up that they used to watch for license plates. Uh we used to get witnesses in the 80s and 90s would say, "I saw a license plate, maybe a partial plate." At about this time, license plate readers allow us to get more exact, more credible evidence to avoid wrongful convictions, to avoid wrongful information, to avoid scenarios where an injustice does occur and also to solve the crimes. Uh, and I also find it ironic that a bunch of the people are who claim to be advocating for less government intrusion want you guys to intrude and limit the ability of some of our fellow citizens to do their jobs. Thank you.

Rebecca Teft, following by Adam Roselach, and then Amy Baird.

Um, Rebecca Teft, 6155 Missouri Avenue, Newport Richie, Florida. Um and I hope that I am have the right information. I actually came to talk about a zoning approval changing from agricultural to um what do you call it building houses and it is on the property uh located on Denton Avenue.

That's going to be this afternoon at 1:30. Oh,

they'll do a the staff will present, applicant will present. We'll take public comment at that point in time. That'd be a better time to come by.

All right. Can I back up then and do my flock thing?

Sure.

Okay. I had them backwards. Okay. Sorry. Give me just a second to get my my stuff. Um I'm just going to make a couple of quotes. Um, from the Reese report in July 2026, surveillance systems that make every aspect of public life permanent and trackable are fundamentally incompatible with the free with the free um the freedom outlined in the US Constitution. The loss of privacy creates a relationship of dominance. And I do understand how wonderful this tool is for the police department, but I also trust with the thousands of cameras that we already have, they can complete these jobs without the use of mass surveillance. Um, you know, they are they are everywhere. The the I have I am lawying. I don't break laws. I go bowling. I go to the doctor. But every time I do that, it is in a database. This goes in even though we only access it three days, 30 days, it goes into a worldwide database that is tracking me and it even though it says license plate, the license plate has my name, address, social security and date of birth in this system that is wide open for abuse and that I don't feel very safe. I feel like I am being stalked and I don't do anything wrong. So, I guess I'm just going to stop there because I'm getting passionate. Thank you everybody. 130 for the zone.

130. Yes. Thank you.

Okay. Adam Brazzle back. Hello, Adam Brusselback. I live at 3636 Hunting Hunting Creek Loop in Newport Reich, Florida. I was here two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, you were told that the court had settled the Fourth Amendment question. It hasn't. When the Fourth Amendment came up, you were told that a federal ruling from January held that there was no expectation of privacy in the public right away. That's the Norfolk case. It's one district court in Virginia. It's on appeal right now and it was decided before the Supreme Court ruled in Chatry in June 29th. Chatri held that getting a person's location records is a search even when the private company holds the data even when the window is short. In that case, the window was 2 hours. Two things the board was told was that a private company Axon or her flock holds it and that it's only 30 days. In Chatri, the government argued both of those. The court said it was a search anyway and a search needs a warrant. The assurance you were given is resting on a case that got decided against before the Supreme Court weighed in. Next, the claim of image. Still, I'm sorry. Next, the claim of still images only that the officer made in his presentation the other week. Um, Axon's current pole cameras do plate reading and live video streaming at the same time. That's out of Axon's own user guide. So, when he claimed no video, it's still images of license plates only. That may be true of the flock system that's up today. It's not true of the system that they're switching to. Third thing, Commissioner Jagger described this as being for the harshest of crimes. The list read into the uh the record a minute later includes trespass. The list is broader than the description. Setting up a surveillance state to stop people from using boat ramps after dark is a waste of my tax dollars. They sit on the county right of way, which makes it a county liability. Norfolk is in federal court over this exact question right now and you're betting county money on the outcome of a case that you have no control over and you wanted to do this without even reading the contract. Take them down. Thank you. Amy Bear Amy Baird, 8118 Pla Road, Newport Richie. Good morning. I am here today to oppose the ALPR devices in Pasco County. I was in Date City for the last meeting, too. I did not walk away from the last meeting feeling like my county commissioners were listening to the growing voices of opposition. While I understand that the Pasco County Sheriff's Department presents itself as being responsible with the data that the flock system cameras have been collecting on all of our county citizens. I do not believe that to be the case. I remind you of their history of

systemic predictive policing in our school system. This was against our very own children. In the early 2020s, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office had a policing program that used student data, grades, and childhood adversity histories, and flag juveniles as possible future criminals. Pre-criminals, bunch of kids. Yep. The list of potential offenders was kept in secret by the Pasco County Sheriff's Department. This brought an investigation by the US Department of Education and resulted in a lawsuit being filed. A settlement was reached for that lawsuit with four plaintiffs for hundreds of thousands of dollars in December of 2024, the very same month you guys approved the flock cameras. So, do I trust the sheriff's department to handle our data properly? No, I do not. Many citizens do not. The sheriff's department has been collecting data on us since the flock system cameras were approved by you, our board of county commissioners in December of 2024. So, I have some questions for y'all. What is the status currently of the contract with Flock Safety? Does anyone know?

We don't we don't respond.

What is the status uh of the flock safety um contract? We need answers on this even if it's next meeting. If it has been ended, why are the flock cameras still up and are they still collecting data currently? This brings up another point of dispute with the sheriff's department narrative. Control over the data that is collected does not rest solely with the sheriff's department. You've heard that several times today already. There are other parties who have access to that unconstit unconstitutional drag net of data and can choose to share or even sell that data. Not to mention if it is even secure and subject to being hacked. What is the status status of the contract with Axon for installation of their data collection cameras? That's another question we need answered.

And um what kind of data points are going to be collected? Additionally, these devices are being placed in our right of way along the roads under the county land development code section 406.5.

Excuse me, ma'am. I have to stop you.

But good. Sh Daniel's right in the back. He can answer those questions for you.

Okay. Very good.

Thank you.

Okay, we have one more speaker. Chase Daniels would like to speak if you'd like to come to the podium, please.

Maybe Chase can answer that question was just asked.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak before the board? Uh we're going to go to online, but if you would uh let's line up behind Chase.

Maybe maybe let the other speaker speak and then if you're going to have Chief Daniel speak, have him go last.

Um I've only got one more here. So

is there one more?

Yeah, there's one more. We'll get some online but

couple more.

There's a couple

but I got five.

I think now that the question's fresh gohead and answer the question and

absolutely Chase Daniels Pasco Sheriff's Office 8661 Citizen Drive. Uh thank you very much commission and and thank you to uh to the members of the public for the uh for the very robust debate today. Um to to answer the the the primary questions surrounding uh flock and our shift to Axon. Uh so we do currently have uh flock cameras. That agreement is in place until September 30th and then we'll be switching to to Axon. Um, again, just to to reiterate uh the things that you've heard before, these are a very very beneficial tool for the Pasco Sheriff's Office. As you can imagine, we we used to have uh juveniles that would come up out of Tampa and St. Petersburg, and they would um, you know, come up and they would essentially steal cars in neighborhoods right along the Sun Coast, right along Interstate 75 with essential impunity because they knew as soon as they got below the county line, it was very, very difficult uh to locate them and find them. Um, with with these cameras, we have seen a lot of those crimes essentially go away. We have seen a lot of benefit uh through these. Certainly do appreciate the the time that I've spent with with Mr. Goldstein's team and Todd Bailey and his team. Um you know, as you all have reviewed our contracts and our agreements. Uh you know, I know typically it is just budgetary and then the the sheriff enters the contracts, but but we certainly appreciate uh the time that we've spent with you as as we've gone through these uh your review of them and your thoughtful look at these. Um and again, just to just to reiterate the the benefit of these. Um if there are any other questions, you I'm certainly happy to to provide those. the gentleman earlier who who talked about uh who talked about success stories and cases. Um I did uh present two weeks ago a PowerPoint I'm happy to make available to anyone. It's also available through the uh the county commission the YouTube page as well uh for anyone who's looking for any of that information. Um but with that I'm here for any other questions or or anything else but but thank you very much for for your time and your attention on this matter.

Can I can I have Chase clear up one question?

Sure.

Do you mind? Um, Chase, can you just clarify um that um when the gentleman made the comment about uh not reading the contract that that is that is not our role that we don't do that?

Yes.

Yes, ma'am. So, so the the board uh on December 10th, 2024 entered into an interlocal agreement permitting the sheriff to put license plate readers in county rightway. Uh it was the sheriff's sole decision at that point on on who to enter into in the vendors in our uh our procurement process and contracts. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. All right. And next speaker. And is any other speakers please line up? Pair this lady.

Your name and address for the board, please.

I have not been sworn in.

That's all right. We're not doing that.

Okay. My name is Karen Garton. I live at 11334 Leisure Lane. I had a stack of documents like this. And originally I was going to send things to the board members prior to me coming today, but two of you um Miss and there wasn't one for Mr. Whiteitman to send. So I'll stop there before I get to why I came today as far as previous people that came up here. The cat TNR pro uh project that they have at different facilities, they expect you to come pick up that cat and bring it back to where you found it. So, it's not eliminating the cat problem just by getting it fixed. It's now your responsibility. Um, the potholes, we have looked into that because we just had our street done. Johnson Road looks absolutely beautiful. The one thing I fought for was fixing what caused the problem, and that was flooding. This last rain, we had one of the beginning houses on James Street up to the door, which is almost three feet from the ground. So, the flooding is there. that road will have a diminished capacity. Um I did look at what we were doing today as far as um the agenda. One thing I want to bring up was one of the items to change the hotel into a living facility. I didn't write down on this piece of paper what it was. Wanted a continuence. One of the issues I have is we've had continuences for certain projects that could last six or eight months. after a first continuence or a second, can they re h can there be something put in place where it has to be put back in the paper and reintroduced to the public? Because at this point, it's like it gets dragged on unless people know that it's still active.

And just so you know, that's already in the code. There's already a requirement that after um 60 days has to be readvertised.

Okay, I appreciate that. Now, I was going to wait until the different things came up, but for the flock cameras, I don't understand how we can have board members, granted only two have a law degree, it is a 100% violation of the Fourth Amendment. And as board members, I think you should at least know that. Now, we do have cameras that have existed for decades. They're state cameras. They're live. They have been there for a long time. And majority of the cases that they were talking about were not um come to an end by a flock camera but by a state camera and that includes a lot of the silver alerts. Um any obtained information are also being used for predatory towing for uh plates that bounce back as a repo vehicle. Um I did speak to Home Depot. Those are not their cameras. And they were under the impression that yes, police if they ask for it, they can access the the data, but that data is being sold. Plain and simple. We had no right to ever put those cameras up in our possession or say it's ours. If I could just have one second left. Um, my main reason for coming today is an issue that I've personally had to deal with with the county. And at this point, I wanted to give the board notice that in the next week, I will be sending out a package stating the inconsistencies and the apparent veil, invisible veil that this board and certain departments have given overreach to code enforcement and police officers for intimidation and harassment of senior citizens. Mhm.

I have specific examples of deputies and code that have misused, intentionally misused 911 and use an exemption that did not apply. I had to rebute it on

redactions. Let me stop you if I could. I want you to talk to Brford about the James Street. I know Scolop Drive was an issue that we still dealing with out there, but that drummer was a big project this was very happy to get done. But Brford, would you talk about the at the uh about the flooding part of the James Street? I was just trying to look it up. I couldn't find it. and David if you would talk about the concerns she has as well. And thank you ma'am. Here you go for the other issues. Email should be online but

thank you. Next speaker.

Good morning. I see friendly faces. My name is Wayne Scott. My address is redacted. Um I want to talk to everyone just about who I am. So uh the relevance of what I'm speaking about today. Uh, I'm a retired New York City police officer and I was a IT guy and um I used to do security cameras. So, I think my opinion on the flock cameras would be a little bit um relevant. There's a lot of officers that came up u Mr. Lawless I know we stand on opposite sides of this just because of my experience. There's a business um owner here that came up earlier and he spoke about he moved here because he wanted that freedom and that is something that I think a lot of people here don't really understand and appreciate just yet. And I'm hoping that my sense of um what these cameras are and can become will warn you and alert you to put things in place and maybe even take a pause on them. I do not believe it's a constitutional argument at this point. Maybe how it's being used would be. I don't think um the officers that came up here are talking about did the flock cameras help in solving a crime and is that good or bad. It's how they were used in what specific role they played. Um, in New York, right now we have a Democrat socialist identified mayor and in 2007 I was working as a police officer and the guys from California came down and they said, "Man, I remember when things was like this. You guys are about 10 years away from where we're at." I laughed. I was like, "There's no way. That's impossible. Look at where we are 20 years later. It's small steps that lead down this path. And yes, they're paved with good intentions, but I don't believe these items are being used in the proper manner. And I'd like to introduce common sense back to everyone. Before coming up here and speaking, I actually went and looked at the locations of flock cameras. from a security point. If the cameras are there, they're seeing everything. If the cameras are just pointing at the individuals, then there's something wrong. And I invite you guys to go and look at the cameras because I went to 52. I went to Little Road and I saw these cameras. If I want to read license plates, I'm going to go to the intersection. They're on the off streets. They're on the sides. That doesn't make sense to me. And it shouldn't make sense to you when you're trying to survey and capture the most license plates possible. It It's just bad. Good luck. Take it.

Hi, good morning. My name is Alexandros Mero Deonos. I live on Moo Road. I don't feel like giving the address because we have a camera here in the back for the TV. Uh, regardless, I want to tell you guys a little bit about myself.

Sir, unless you're statutoily exempt, you need to give your name and address.

Okay. Alexandrosonas, 5169 Moo Road. So, as you guys might know, Moo Road is very busy. I have about eight cameras on my house. Uh, there used to be a lot of, you know, transients walking around, so I put them up for the security of my house. Now, just a little bit about myself. I've been in access control uh working for uh large integrators. You guys, you use their services every day. Uh Facebook, Google, uh the NSA, uh you name it, all the alphabet agencies. So, uh my experience comes with security and video cameras. Now, I'm 35. I've been in this industry for about 12 years and I can tell you that the AI integration with these cameras is making all of the difference with how it's being used. Uh you might just say these are license plate reader cameras, but they're not. Uh, in about 2018, I previewed a software that was developed by, let's say, a foreign country where it wasn't just picking out faces. It was picking out um what somebody's holding, a cell phone, a pencil, a backpack, separating all these out, and then it was creating a database of all these faces that it would pick up. And unfortunately, that's the capability of these flock cameras and the axon cameras there. This technology is no longer exclusive to being expensive. It's widely adopted and we need to mitigate how it's used so that it's not abused. Um, somebody had brought up the um the discussion about databases. Uh I you know I worked for Johnson Controls for about seven years. They were hacked. They had to pay like a 500 or sorry $50 million ransom fee to try to get their information back. Long story short, uh the the government the state doesn't nearly put the same um how can we say

protocols in place to try to protect our information. All this information is held by private companies. Right now it's Flock. Tomorrow might be Axon. So if Flock's hacked, who really controls all of our information? That's a big issue. Never mind, you know, the hack that happened uh a year ago where most half of the country's social security numbers got stolen, etc. But uh long story short, I've been in this industry for about 12 years. the way that the technology is being used uh is easily abused and has there was a Panelis Kelly County deputy who is now on trial for this exact reason for stocking cracks. So, thank you. I appreciate your time.

Okay, seeing no one else after this, we're going to close public comment and go to online.

Jonathan Beckard, 4637 Merkross Lane. Uh good afternoon, commissioners. I am here today asking you to vote no on extending the flock cameras. I support law enforcement. I support giving our deputies the resources they need to catch criminals and protect our families. But there is a fundamental difference between supporting law enforcement and building a surveillance network that records the movements of thousands of innocent Pasco County residents who are suspected of absolutely nothing. The Fourth Amendment protects Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures. Technology may have changed dramatically since our Constitution was written, but our fundamental rights have not. When a network of cameras can record where vehicles travel, when they were there, and potentially allow that information to be searched across jurisdictions, we should be asking a very serious question. How much of our privacy are we willing to surrender in the name of security? And there is another side to this issue that concerns me just as much. Who are we trusting with this information? Not just today, not just our sheriff's office who could potentially gain access tomorrow. Independent cyber security research researchers have demonstrated serious vulnerabilities involving flock equipment, including a widely publicized demonstration claiming a flock camera could be compromised in under 30 seconds. Flock disputes characterizations that its system has been hacked and says vulnerabilities identified by research researchers have been addressed. But that that actually demonstrates my point. There's no such thing as a guarantee that a connected surveillance system will never be compromised. Software changes, vulnerabilities are discovered, employees make mistakes. Credentials can be abused. Technology evolves. And the information we're talking about isn't meaningless data. It's our movements. It can reveal when somebody leaves home, where a vehicle was seen, and potential patterns about where people travel. Now, think about that from perspective of organized criminals, stalkers, predators, or human traffickers. Florida consistently ranks among the worst states in the nation for reported human trafficking, including being ranked third nationally in reported cases. and Tampa Bay has dealt with serious trafficking operations involving law enforcement agencies from right here in Pasco County. If protecting our children is the justification for surveillance, then we also have to consider what happens if surveillance information ever gets into the wrong hands. Commissioners, instead of Pasco County spending money on this technology, I ask you to consider another option. Invest that money in people. Put more deputies on our streets. put more investigators behind trafficking cases. Give our law enforcement officers the manpower and

training they need. A camera cannot replace a deputy. And technology should never replace the constitutional protections generations of Americans fought for. Public safety and constitutional liberty do not have to be enemies. We can protect both. Protect our children. Protect our privacy. Protect our fourth amendment. Please vote no on extending the flock camera contract.

Thank you.

Okay. and online.

The first signed up is Kathy Julian.

Okay.

Jeff Cannon,

I'm here. Can I have just one moment? Maybe two minutes. Can you come back to me?

Okay.

Okay. The third one signed up is Anthony Sosine Senes. Sorry that I Yep, I'm here. Can you hear me,

Anthony? Yes.

All right. So, I'm Anthony Sikines, 13147 Somerfield Way, Dave City, Florida. At the last meeting, I asked this board to terminate the interlocal agreement in the county's participation with the sheriff's alpha network. Today, I want to address some of the arguments we heard in response, not only last week, but also today. We heard that deputies need a case number before searching the system, but that safeguard applies to the search, not the collection of the data. My vehicle does not need to be associated with the crime before the camera records where and when it was there. The system collects first, investigators decide later whether there's a reason to search it. We also heard about data retention that it's only 30 days. We also heard in the news that Flock is changing its defaults to seven days, but um really none of that matters even if we accept that it's only 30 days. It doesn't answer what happens to the information when it's accessed, downloaded, or shared during those 30 days. So a rolling day, a rolling 30-day or 30 minute or 30 second database is still government surveillance. We heard that the cameras don't photograph our faces, but that doesn't really matter. The useful information is that my vehicle was at a particular place at a particular time. That's why all the law enforcement's up here saying how valuable it is to them. It's the exact reason. Um, we also heard that private cameras exist at retailers, HOAs, etc. But the existence of private surveillance isn't an argument for government surveillance. I'm very pro private surveillance and pro personal liberties. So that's fine. If Home Depot and Lowe's want to have them, that's fine. that the board's not deciding what Home Depot and Lowe's get to do in their parking lot. They're deciding what Pasco County permits in its public rideways. Yes, we also heard compelling examples of the serious crimes that these cameras help investigate. And those benefits do deserve consideration. I mean, it is important public safety is very important. But if helping solve a heinous crime is enough by itself to justify surveillance, then what surveillance capability would this board ever say no to? There's also a legal question that deserves independent review and it was brought up previously from some of the other speakers um about the carpenter and chattery decisions. Um I do believe that you know the county attorney should review those and they should provide information to the board about the legal status. Whether this has been decided as a fourth amendment issue or not, it doesn't matter. What we'd like to do is get in front of it and uh make the right decision, not do something just because we can do it and just because it hasn't been ruled unconstitutional yet. Um officers are issued a firearm. It's one of their useful tools for their job. However, they do not pull their gun and point it at every person they ever come in contact with. It's a great example. The FL cameras do that. They're

collecting, you know, millions and millions of license plate captures that are shared with agencies across the nation. And we say it, you know, some of the crimes are solved with it. What What amount of crimes? We talked about cases, but we didn't talk about how many. Is there a substantial amount because it made that big of a difference compared to the amount of collection? I mean, how did we ever police and prosecute before this?

A vote to keep this agreement is an affirmative decision to continue using county property for surveillance system. So if you vote to keep it, then justify it.

Show Pasco residents what you independently verified, not what the sheriff's department told you.

Where do you believe the limit on government surveillance should be and why this system falls within that limit?

If those questions have not been answered, then due diligence has not been done. And if you still vote to keep it on what that means, this board is affirmatively choosing to use county property as part of a mass surveillance network. My request remains the same.

Yeah, that three minutes is supposed to automatically shut off. three minutes on on online. We shut it down.

Jeff Cannon, are you ready now?

Yes, I am.

Uh, so Jeff Cannon, uh, 9130 Magnolia Street. I just want to bring up a couple points. Um, if you look at the the Axon agreements and the information that they have online, the sheriff's office says is ready readily available to the public. Flock and Axon actually have an agreement to share information with each other. So even if we go to the Axon system, Flock is still going to have access to data through that sharing agreement. Um I also want to point out that 100% of the time when the system has been misused and abused, it has been discovered after the fact. So to sit here and say that we don't have any issues in Pasco County, we're not going to know about those issues till after the fact, until after an audit is done. Um, and I want to bring up some points about the effectiveness of the flock system or the the license plate reader system itself. Um, reports published by the FBI in mid two 2026 highlighting Atlanta, the home base of flock safety, where over 5,000 camera blanket the city, show that crimesolving metrics remained flat or worsened between 2021 and 2025 despite an eight-fold expansion of the surveillance network. So, the FBI has statistics that show that these cameras are not even effective and we're just everybody's on board with them. Um, I'm also concerned about the new AI capabilities that these these systems have. Um, in one description, uh, an officer opens a chat box and picks from a menu of 69 canned prompts or writes their own. One built-in query lists witnesses as the vehicles most seen in the neighborhood over the past two weeks. Another one finds everyone arrested more than twice in two years exempting only drug offenses. Then builds a dossier on top three. A workup turns into a name, a birth date into relatives, phone numbers, and online accounts pulled from police records and commercial data brokers. Uh 14 of the prompts need no plate name or description at all. The officer supplies a location, a window of time, and a behavior. a car that hits three retail stores in three days or several banks in a week and the system returns a uh returns the people who fit. A filter strips out the buses and delivery vans so ordinary drivers making those rounds stay on the list. The associate finding logic is spelled out in the code. It counts how often other plates appear at the same cameras within a twominute window of target car. flags any of that that shows up three or more times above a 75 confidence score and hands back up to 20 names. So, these cameras are definitely tracking people and the AI uh technology and capabilities that they have um in some cases are returning false hits and deputies are pulling over people that uh maybe the the tag reader system or the AI misread the plate and they're

okay. Next up is Steve Church. Is he there?

Steve, you're on. You're muted, Steve. On your control. We got to move on.

Okay, the last one signed up is Ben Franklin.

Oh, appropriate. He's not there.

All right.

Try to one more time and we'll go.

Steve, one more try. You're still muted. Okay, we're going to end it. We're going to end public comment. Um, we've got some resolutions to do and consent agenda before lunch break if we can. Um, for all those that didn't have information to all the commissioners, uh, please reach out to us. We'll get you the information if you want to send us your information. I know there'll be a long talk about this a little bit later today. With that, I'd like to move to RS1, um, resolution for Commissioner Oakley on International Overdose Awareness Day. We're going to try to do these very quickly. Okay, very good. Resolution number CA 26-332, a resolution by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, declaring August 31st, 2026 as International Overdose Awareness Day in Pasco County. Whereas, the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners observes International Overdose Awareness Day to raise awareness of the overdose crisis, reduce stigma surrounding substance misuse, honor those who have lost their lives to overdose, and acknowledge the grief of families and communities affected by this devastating issue. And whereas overdose has touched the lives of many individuals, families, friends, and communities throughout the nation, including Pasco County. And whereas substance use disorder is a health condition that can affect anyone. And with support, treatment, and access to resources, recovery is possible. And whereas Pasco County is committed to fostering a caring and supportive community that promotes education, prevention, treatment, recovery, and hope for those affected by this substance misuse. And whereas we are committed to increasing awareness of over overdose prevention, reducing the stigma associated with this disorder, promoting harm reduction strategies, and expanding access to treatment services with a firm belief that collaborative efforts are key to achieving these goals. And whereas community partnerships among health care providers, behavioral health professionals, first responders, recovery organizations, faithbased groups, and individuals with lived experience play an important role in supporting wellness and saving lives. And whereas International Overdose Awareness Day provides an opportunity to honor and remember loved ones who have been lost, acknowledge those who continue their recovery journey, and offer encouragement to individuals and families seeking support. And whereas through the board support of the recommendation from the opioid task force over the last four years, 34 projects have been funded to positively impact the community in the abatement of overdose deaths supporting prevention, treatment, and recovery for those suffering from substance use disorder. And whereas the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners encourages all Pasco County citizens to participate in lighting their homes and public

buildings in purple to promote awareness, understanding, prevention, treatment, recovery, and healing. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said board hereby declares August 31st, 2026, as International Overdose Awareness Day in Pasco County, done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present in voting this 25th day of August, 2026.

Move approval.

Second. All in favor say I.

I. Commissioner Oakley.

Yes.

I'm looking out here at all these people lined up behind you. How many more people do we have involved in overdose?

It's a whole community effort, Commissioner.

Yeah, and it is it's it's a family effort, a friend effort, community effort. We we can't seem to do enough to help those that have fallen to overdose. Very, very important. Happens in all families. Just some people don't see anything happening good tomorrow. that they lean on something to solve that issue right now and that's the wrong way. So, but I I thank you and each and every one of you for the work you do that possibly saves a life down the road for citizens of Pasco County. So, I'll let you speak. So, Commissioner, in the interest of time, I'm really want to share uh the spotlight with Eric Monroe from our uh mobile integrated health team and also with Kristen Ford from our human services team who are really the heroes and demonstration of the impact that they're creating in our community to improve conditions for all residents in Pasco.

Good morning. I just want to say thanks to the board and the uh opioid task force again for funding um you know, part of our project here. Um, I'm happy I supervise our mobile integrated health team. We have paramedics, social workers, and a nurse practitioner on the team. We go out, we pride ourselves on giving folks that access to care. So, uh, anytime a overdose or a substance use person, um, our frontline crews kind of run on them. We'll go on the uh backside followup to ensure that they get connected to uh the appropriate resources that they need. And we can also offer uh some uh medicated assisted treatment uh prescription refills and stuff like that with our nurse nurse practitioner. We go we want to identify them as a whole. We know that they're not just an overdose. We know that they're a person. So we approach it as a medical and social program that we go out there and help them uh with those uh with those things. So I'll uh turn it over to some of the other community partners. We got some so many in here.

We we we're like super late. We need to move. Yeah. If you don't mind.

Okay. We we appreciate everything, but I got Lester Cipher behind you.

I just want to thank you for recognizing international overdose awareness day and for helping raise awareness about the overdose crisis. It's been honored to work alongside the mobile integrated health and addressing this issue. I'm incredibly proud of everyone involved in the mission to pro prevent overdose. And as someone in recovery myself and as a certified recovery peer specialist, I know firsthand that an overdose does not have to be the end of someone's story.

Well, thank you and congratulations. As you can tell,

a little bit little bit great support. Everybody there. And now I'd like to bring up Lester Cipher. Thank you for your patience. Jean, come on up with him.

Where do you want?

At the podium. That's great. Right there.

Yeah, right there. Perfect.

Resolution number six.

Right there. You're good. Yeah.

Not yet. Not yet.

And a second.

CO2-333. a resolution by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, commending Lester Cipher for his years of service to the citizens of Pasco County. Whereas the volunteer way was founded by Lester and Hilda Cipher in March 1992 when one family asked for help with food. Today, the Volunteer Way serves an average of 28,500 families each month across Pasco and surrounding counties, providing healthy and nutritious food that helps stretch household budgets and improve lives. And whereas Lester Cipher retired as CEO from the Volunteer Way on October 31st, 2019 after 34 years of serving our community and helping countless individuals with food, shelter, clothing, and other essentials. And whereas since his retirement as the Volunteer Way CEO in 2019, Lester continued serving people in need by acting as chairman of the board of directors for the Volunteer Way, a position he officially retired from on August 24th, 2026. And whereas Lester has always had a calling to help children, families, mentally handicapped, lowincome, and homebound elderly, and to alleviate their hunger with a faith-based approach to service. And whereas Lester did not receive a single penny of compensation during his 34 years as CEO of the volunteer way. And whereas Lester has received several awards throughout the years, including the Spirit of Service Award from the Florida Senate, humanitarian award from Christian International Outreach, Outstanding Human Humanitarian Award from the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce, President Bush's Daily Point of Light Award, JC Penney Golden Rule Award, the Community Hero Award from the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Agency of Distinction Award, and has been a recipient of the Florida's Point of light award twice. And whereas according to all these, Lester has worked with and served over the years, he has a heart of gold and has always treated his staff like family and will be greatly missed. And whereas Lester has been an irreplaceable force in helping our community's most vulnerable members and the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners extends its utmost gratitude to him. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said board hereby commends Lester Cipher for all his years of service and thanks him for his generosity to the citizens of Pasco County. Done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present and voting this 25th day of August, 2026.

Move approve. Second.

All in favor say I.

I.

Bless what a what an amazing man you are. what is amazing amazing care that you've given all the citizens of Pasco County for all these years not only in Newport Richie but now Moon Lake um I know Commissioner Jagger has been there many many times to go along and and it helped that community out especially so what you've done uh is just remarkable um I know God is looking down at you smiling every step of the way for the great work you've taken care of people and you you've got a heart of gold probably wearing the right shirt today with that said if you'd like to say a few words

I I' I'd like to thank the board. It's an honor receiving this uh over the past years that uh I've been volunteering and my wife volunteering also. Uh it's been a journey that God has put us on and I just thank God every day that he gave me the opportunity to serve and I just love it. I t I got more out of it than I gave. It was just, you never know when you open up that door what's coming next. And it's been a lot of fun, a lot of work, but a lot of rewards. And I thank the board for honoring me with this.

You're you're a great great man. Uh God looks down on you very favorably. And again, for all the people that you've saved from hunger, thank you. I'm going to get down. I'll take a picture. Thank you. We're stand here and take a picture. Congratulations.

Yeah. Come right back here just a little bit. Thank you.

Ready? Three, two, one. and Mr. Bill Cronin come forward. I think you might have some family members here. Oh my goodness.

Is that Bill talking?

By the way, I love the sound of the kids giggling. Just made my morning.

All righty. Resolution number CAO26-334, a resolution by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, recognizing Bill Cronin for being named the 2026 Ununice Sullivan Economic Development Professional of the Year. Whereas Bill Cronin has been passionately involved in economic development for over 30 years, demonstrating unwavering commitment and dedication to enhancing the professional landscape of Pasco County. And whereas the Ununis Sullivan Economic Development Professional of the Year Award was presented to Bill Cronin by the Florida Economic Council on Thursday, May the 14th, 2026. And whereas the Ununis Sullivan Economic Development Professional of the Year Award is given annually in recognition of the achievements of an outstanding economic developer within the state of Florida. The award was first given in 1985 and was renamed in 1991 to honor Uni Ununice Sullivan for her dedication and commitment to the economic development profession and the Florida Economic Development Council. And whereas since 2016, following a nationwide search, Bill has served as the president and CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council, the EDC, and demonstrates extensive knowledge and experience in the economic development field, including 10 years of work with the state economic development agency, Enterprise Florida. And whereas Bill holds a bachelor's degree in international affairs and political science and a certificate in Asian Studies from Michigan State University. He serves as a member of the International Economic Development Council and Pasco Hernando State College Foundation Board of Directors, is co-founder of the Human Traffic Foundation Incorporated, and is involved with the Urban Land Institute, Florida Tax Watch, the Sun Coast District Committee of Scouting America, Global Pathway Studios Foundation, and the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay. Bill's enduring dedication to strengthening the economic development landscape in Pasco County has made a lasting impact. And whereas under Bill's leadership, the Pasco EDC is recognized as one of only 92 economic development organizations accredited by the International Economic Development Council as an accredited economic development organization. And whereas since 2016 when Bill became president and CEO, the Pasco EDC has assisted companies with business expansions and relocations, resulting in over 1.8 billion in capital investment and over 11,600 new jobs in Pasco County. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said board hereby recognizes Bill Cronin for being named the 2026 Ununice Sullivan Economic Development Professional of the Year and for his exemplary service to the citizens of Pasco County. Done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present in voting this 25th day of August, 2026.

Move approval. Second. All in favor say I.

I.

I. Now, Phil, I almost have to start this over again because there's actually a new award that you just you just received with our Smart Start program. Uh, Smart Start was included in the Times America best incubator and accelerators of 2026 and that's a phenomenal achievement as well. So, just another thing, but we're not going to redo this thing over again. I'm just kidding. Uh, but your your service, happy 10 year anniversary as well. what you've done to this county and I think the team that selected you years ago was very smart to wait for you to the time was right to bring you in. Since you've done that, you've helped us tremendously uh led the way with our penny for Pasco being renewed with EDC money to be in there to create jobs for our citizens so they don't have to drive to Tampa, Panelis, etc. But they can work right here and all the great companies you brought in. Uh the list is too long. I don't want to leave anybody out. We're not going to me mention them all. But uh if you would please come forward and say a few words. Thank you. Thank you, commissioners. And it's it's rare for me to be at a loss for for words, and I I will keep it brief, but um I've been doing this, as you know, for for a long time in a lot of different communities. And being recognized, first of all, this is home, and you can tell we've we planted roots here. We have family here. There's u there's three generations now here, and it's why we do what what we do. But is nothing better than being recognized by the people here in our own community for what we do. Um, you guys have heard me say before, I think what we do is is God's work when we're out helping people and creating jobs and getting jobs so they can lead the life they want to live. So, first and foremost, glory still goes to God. I think uh next I'd like to say thanks to my family for all the times that I've been on the road and missed events and things like that. I'm glad that they're here locally. I can be with them. And then the team behind me is uh is really the the top-notch. These are the best of the best. And uh the Pasco EDC, you all have afforded them the ability to really shine through your support uh through your personal support, through the budget, and also with the support of the staff here. So, um this is really a reflection of of Pasco. So, I really appreciate it. Thank you. Well, then hang in there just a minute because right after this we'll do the consent agenda real quick and that's going to be a good item on there for you.

Okay.

So with that, let's let's everyone come forward. We'll take a picture up. Hey, what's going on? Sorry.

Ready. Three. Now

I didn't know that.

I'll take my time. Okay. And to move along, I have uh want to do the consent agenda real quick. We'll save the pull and revises, but we've got two to be pulled and revised. C30 C37. Anybody have any other polls for the consent agenda?

No, sir.

No. Have a motion.

Approval of all other consent. We just confirmed that Commissioner Starky is not online and voting on this.

We got roll call.

We'll do a roll call vote. Okay. So, I have a motion to second. Second.

Yep.

All right. Roll call vote.

District one. Commissioner

I.

District two commissioner Seth Waitman. Hi.

District three. Commissioner Katherine Starky.

I.

District four. Commissioner Lisa Joerger. Hi.

District 5. Chairman Jack Mariano.

I. Motion passes 50. And we will break for lunch. We'll be back for 1:30. Thank you all very much for giving the extra time to get this done.

Okay. Yeah, we'll show you. Never doesn't have.