6.17.25 Pasco Board of County Commissioners Meeting

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All right. You ready? It is 10:01. I've been ready. Wait for opening to get up here. Good morning. Okay. Um it is now uh time uh to call to order the Pasco County Board of County Commission 10:00 meeting of June 17, 2025. At this time, please silence all electronic devices and mute your microphones. All right. We will now uh stand for the pledge of and the invocation. Invocation. I believe the chaplain is here, correct? Yes, I saw him right there. Good morning. Let's pray. Father, we've gathered once again this morning to discuss the important business of our county. And so, as we have gathered, we ask that you uh give us wisdom if there's decisions to be made in the course of this meeting. And in particular, Lord, we lift up those who are going to be honored today. We lift up Colonel uh Sawyer on his 100th birthday, Lord, and ask a special blessing on he and his family at this time. We lift up our waste and recycle workers, Lord, who work so diligently behind the scenes to keep our county clean and safe, Lord. So, thank you for being with us today and be with us in the rest of this meeting and help us to address issues that need to be addressed using your wisdom, Lord. And I lift this all up in your name. Amen. Amen. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Madame clerk, please call the role. Yes, ma'am. So, District 1, Commissioner Oakley, here. District two, Commissioner Weightman. District four, Commissioner Joerger here. District five, Commissioner Mariano, here. District 3 Chairman Starky here. Okay. Now is the time for public comment. Citizens are given an opportunity to comment on any current or future agenda item coming before the board and on other business under the board's purview. Today's public comment will be handled as follows. First, we will take public comment from those who are here in person. Then we will take public comment from those who are who have pre-registered for a WebEx link and are currently on quue. We request that when you address the board, comments are not directed personally against the commissioner or team member, but rather directed at the issues. This provides mutual respect between board members and the public. After stating your name and address for the clerk, a threeminut timer will be activated and a green light will be shown on the podium. After two minutes, a yellow light will indicate you have one minute left. And when your time is up, a red light will be displayed. Three beeps will sound and you should close your comments. Web X participants will be disconnected automatically when their time is up. And madam clerk, do we have anyone signed up? We do. We have two signed up. Uh first, Lauren Abberrombi

and then after Lauren, uh Brent Thally. So, Miss Abbercrombie, if you want to come to the podium, please give your name and address for the record and then you can start. My my home address. Yes, ma'am. Yes. My name is Lauren Abberi and I'm at 29442 Allegro Drive, Wesley Chapel, Florida in 33543. Okay, proceed. Okay. Hello, my name is Lauren Abberrey and I am a vegetarian animal rights activist. The Bible says in Proverbs verse 3:18, "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute." I have been protesting the elephant rides at the Dave City Bay Area Renaissance Festival since 2024. Elephant ride Elephants are wild animals. They are not meant to be domesticated. In the elephant ride industry, elephants are taken from their family and their natural habitat and forced into captivity. In order to get them into submission, the handlers beat them with bull hooks until their spirit is broken. They do this so they can control them. Beating elephants with bull hooks is standard practice, so it's not against the law, but it would be against the law if elephants were dogs or cats. The elephant's backs and spines are not designed to carry anything. Carrying weight on their back permanently damages their spines and causes them agonizing pain. Imagine yourself being taken from your family and your natural habitat, going into captivity, getting beaten with bull hooks, being forced to give rides on your backs, having spinal damage while being in pain in this terrible heat against your will, and you never get any pain medicine. Sounds like hell, right? The elephant ride industry is no different than the history of African slave treatment. All slaves are kept in terrible living conditions. Treating other species with love and abusing other species is called speciesism. Speciesism is no different than racism. All creatures deserve the same protection and love just like us. The elephant's trauma will continue unless we ban the elephant rides at Bay Area Renaissance Festival in Dave City and anywhere we possibly can. We have a choice. The elephants do not have a choice. If either one of you were those elephants, I would be right here speaking up for you, too. Other cities in Florida and other states have banned elephant rides. So, can we please be next? The Bible says in Proverbs 12:10, "The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel." My question to you, will you be righteous and ban the elephant rides? Thank you for your time. Are there any questions? we don't engage um during this time. But thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Brent Thally. Good morning, sir. If you'll give your name and address for the record and then you can proceed. I'm uh Brent Tully. I'm at 4321 Plaza Drive in Holiday, Florida. Thank you. Good morning, commissioners. Thank you very much for the opportunity

to speak to you this morning. I'm here to address and have some influence and give feed feedback to the draft action plans. I'm with ontime background checks. We are also current members of the Greater Pascal Chamber of Commerce. I'm also a 18-year 11 retired civil servant. I've submitted on Monday the 9th to Commissioner Starky's office a qualifying letter uh to address the 14 points from your exparte signin sheet all 14 points. Um I'm definitely not going to be able to get it in three minutes. So that's why I ask for the uh personal meeting along with uh Miss uh Marcy who by the way she's doing a fantastic job for you. I would like to meet before the HUD date if possible, ma'am. And I wanted to in closing thank the county for a wonderful job, including the Pascal County days at Tal in Tallahassee when we were there in March, the wonderful people of the county here that do your work, Wolf Blue and regular line employees. And I wanted to thank you very very much, ma'am. I'm looking forward to seeing you, Commissioner. Thank you, commissioners. Have a good morning. Great. Thank you. Okay. Do we have anyone online? No one else has signed up. Okay. Is there anyone else here who wishes to um speak to the county commission? Okay. Seeing no one, we'll move on to the consent agenda. Oh, wait. We do the resolutions. We always do that. Okay. We're going to go to the resolutions. We are going to read I think we're doing RS3 first. Is that correct? Okay. Okay, let's let's do it. All right. So, is anyone here um to support RS3 for inclusive recovery county? If so, please come to the podium. Okay. So, this is um resolution number 25-260 by the uh board of county commissioners. a resolution uh by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, proclaiming Pasco County as an inclusive recovery county. Whereas Pasco County is committed to fostering a community that supports and celebrates individuals in recovery from addiction, recognizing that recovery is possible and should be embraced by all. And whereas an inclusive recovery county is a community that actively promotes and champions recovery by creating a visible, supportive environment where individuals in recovery feel welcomed and included. And whereas Pasco County aims to reduce stigma, discrimination, and social exclusion associated with substance use disorders through comprehensive communitywide initiatives, public awareness campaigns, and strategic partnerships with local organizations. And whereas Pasco County acknowledges that supporting recovery enhances the overall well-being and quality of life for all residents, fostering a healthier, more resilient community. And whereas Pasco County collaborates with organizations such as Alliance for Healthy Communities, the Hopeshot, Drug-Free America Foundation, and other stakeholders in the county to provide resources, education, and support

starts with you guys, you know. So, I really appreciate um you know, all your support. I appreciate my team. Um Thomas, Rachel, Christina, Justin's in Montana. I ain't going to say what happened to him on his first day of vacation because it's a little shocking. But anyway, um um we can't Okay, now we want to know. He uh Okay, he he hit a deer. He hit a deer the first quarter of his vacation. Oh no. Yeah, the deer is not okay. They are. So, well, that's good. Um, anyway, uh, we can't do this without the collaboration of the community, each and every person, each organization, the Bayares, the AM skills, the, you know, the premieres. We all our responsibility is to collectively work together and form the relationship. So when our participants come walk through our door that those doors are already open for them to walk through, you know, and and encouraging them and empowering them, not not walking with them, but empowering them to walk on their own through those doors and and to show them that there are opportunities. And we hope that this um this this proclamation and this movement continues to grow so we can you know become more diverse and show that the there is recovery possible for anybody from any walk of life in any side of Pasco County um all over. So with that being said, on behalf of Alliance for Healthy Communities, the Hopeshot Drug-Free America, and all the community partners that are working together on this initiative, I want to sincerely thank the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners for this proclamation recognizing inclusive recovery communities. This is more than just a local effort. It's part of a growing worldwide movement to ensure that recovery is accessible, equitable, and inclusive for all people, regardless of their background, identity, or circumstances. Here in Florida, we're proud to be working alongside partners across county lines to advance this mission. Proclamations like this are also being passed in Hillsboro and Penllis counties as organizations from all sectors come together to build truly inclusive recovery communities across our region. Inclusive recovery means breaking down stigma. It means building systems that embrace diversity and offer real opportunities for healing. This proclamation is a statement that Pasco County is committed to that vision and we are so grateful for your leadership and helping it make it make it a a reality. And just a little frame of reference, so Dr. David Best started um you know the first inclusive recovery cities in in the UK which has since like you know um kind of u gotten into the Balkans, some Asia, Australia um in the United States. Richmond, Virginia was the first state in the United States to become officially an inclusive recovery um city. So I am proud to say that we are we are the the second and it's it's a Bay Area effort. We collaborated with Hillsboro and Panelis. So we are, you know, uh, one of two in the entire United States that have made this proclamation and this this and has, you

know, stood for, you know, adding, um, diversity and inclusion in our community. So, thank you guys. Um, yeah. So, thank you for standing with us and for continuing to champion hope, equity, and recovery in our community. We are honored to work alongside you and for all your support. Have a great day. So, if someone um was in need of your services, how do they get a hold of you guys? They can come to the Always Center which is on 6020 US Highway 19. They can go on either one of our um um websites, empowered communities.org or the hopeshot.org. Um we our lines are on every day. We have multiple lines so you can call us 247. You can also go on the Hopeshot app. The Hopeshot app. It is called the Hopeshot. Um where there are the Hopeshot app. Yeah. where there are um recovery resources, places to find a meeting, there's a hotline, there's a suicide hotline, there's um crisis hotline to get to Bayare, to urgent care. Um we partner with Department of Health who helped us um create that and um now it is available to our entire community and eventually is going to be um um available to our entire state. So, we're working on that. A lot of cool things happening. So, um yeah, but come see us, call us. We are here to help whomever, however, and it doesn't matter, like you said, substance use, mental health, uh, domestic violence. We We have a relationship that's been built, so we can connect you to that that service right away. All right, let's come down. Take a photo. Should we stay up here? There's a lot of people here. That might use stand up. One, two, and three. Here we go. And one more. Perfect. [Applause] September 20th. September 20th. September 20th. So September 20th, yes, September 20th, if you guys want to see the magic of this recovery walk, and this year we're going to be implementing um a second chance employment spin on it. So, we're going to have a lot of business vendors there to offer individuals and participants an opportunity to get back in the working community. So, I love that. Yeah. Come see it. Bill's going to be there. Make sure Skills is there. Yes. Yeah, I already asked them. So, okay, great. Yeah. Okay, we are on to RS1. Commissioner Oak, please. Okay, so we are going to honor Lieutenant Colonel Sawyer. So, if he can come to the podium and his family can join him. Okay. So, this is resolution number 25-258, a resolution by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, honoring Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Sawyer on his 100th birthday. Whereas Lieutenant Colonel Okay. Okay. So whereas Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Sawyer was born on June 6th, 1925 in Habber Hill, Massachusetts, and celebrated his 100th birthday on June 6th, 2025. And whereas Lieutenant

Colonel Kenneth Sawyer honorably served the United States as a member of the Army for 35 years, enlisting on June 3rd, 1943, and being stationed at various locations including Fort Mckllen, Camp Shelby, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Red Bank and Fair Haven, New Jersey, Tucson, Arizona, South Korea, Chafield Barracks in Hawaii, and Reston, Virginia. And whereas he married Elma Sawyer on June 10th, 1951. June's a good month for you. Anyways, and together they raised their daughter uh Kendy Sawyer and now have two grandchildren and three great grandchildren. And whereas after retiring from the military in 1979, Lieutenant Colonel Sawyer continued his dedication to education by teaching calculus at the Florida Institute of Technology for four years. A as well as contributing to the community by founding the West of Ugi Association, Ogalli. And whereas Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Sawyer further demonstrated his commitment to service by volunteering at the fire department logging logging 15 hours per week and assisting at the sharing center in Melbourne, Florida. And whereas Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Sawyer served as the commander of VFW Post 3991 for over 10 years, helping provide food pantry bags to those in need. And whereas Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Sawyer became an active and valued member of the Dade City Senior Center on September 11th, 2019, enjoying meaningful activities and the companionship of a supportive community. And whereas the p the board of county commissioners of Pasco County recognize this momentous achievement of one of Pasco County citizens and wishes for Kenneth's continued good health and happiness in the years to come. Now therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said board hereby honors Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Sawyer on his 100th birthday and commends his lifelong dedication to his country, community, and family and expresses profound gratitude for his service and contributions. done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present in voting this 17th day of June 2025. Move approval. Second. All in favor? I. Wow. Lieutenant Colonel Sawyer, we're uh happy you're here with us today. And uh if we could, we could sing happy birthday, I guess, to him. So, let's go. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear. Happy birthday to you. I have some fans of that. [Applause] Saw your I'm glad you're here today because u that makes me not the oldest man in the room. You happen to be uh here because he's not the oldest man in the room. So you're actually 20 years and two months older than me. I'll in July I'll turn 80. So, but yes, I I need to start doing and taking the things you have over a lifetime that allowed you to

reach 100 years old. So, we're very grateful that you're here today. Said he's very grateful that you're here today and he wants to take on some of the things you've done to get to 100 as well. others. You want to speak? Yeah. Wait, thank you. Well, sir, it's it's an honor to to share birthday month with you and uh June is a great month. Um I was the 86 kids. So, you've got me beat by a few more few more decades. But 100year milestone to you and and your family. um just amazing the things that you've you've seen and experience in your life and watching this country evolve to where we are today. Um just can only imagine the stories and the memories that you have. So we're very glad that that you're here with us in the board meeting today. I hope you have a great birthday month and uh and a wonderful summer. Commissioner Joerger. Hi. Well, first of all, I want to let him know that milk was 27 cents a gallon when he was born. Um, but to the family, um, I had a a great-grandfather that lived to be 104, and I know what a cherished gift that is. And I will never forget just asking my grandpa about things when he was younger. And, you know, just you never get that knowledge and and those stories back. So, cherish every moment. And, um, happy birthday and thank you for your service to our country and God bless you, Commissioner Mariana. Is he hearing this or do you need to you go ahead tell him? She she said that her grand great grandfather great grandfather lived to 104. Yeah. You got goals. Her greatgrandfather lived to 104. [Laughter] Two months ago he said 102. It's awesome. Yeah, I love it. Okay, Commissioner Marian and Lieutenant Colonel, congratulations on having such a great life, great family behind you and and a real tribute to your service even after your service with the military staying involved. Congratulations. And I think you can do to 105. He thinks you can make it to 105. Thank you for your service. country and afterwards as well. And and lastly, I I would uh also say congratulations for a wonderful life. Happy birthday. Thank you for your service. And thank you again for your continued service. So, um how do we want to do this? I don't think I should go down. I got the remnants of a cold. So, I'm just gonna Yeah, we'll stay up here and we'll come down to give you a Does Wait, does anyone else want to speak about the family? I can always ask like what's the trick and like what's the key? I don't know if I need the microphone or not. Um, and honestly, like his trap is his hearing. Hold on. Just wait a minute. He's always waiting for me to talk. You can ask ignoring him. Usually earlier this week he was shutting the door to let me know to stop my conversation but um really his hearing has been almost

like a trap but a blessing. Um he continues to always work his mind and his body and stay away from mindless tasks. That was something he taught me as a kid like you can watch TV and enjoy a movie but avoid those those boredoms and those traps and things. Keep your mind as your strongest muscle and keep always exercising it and learning and giving back. and he took his retirement as an opportunity to explore more of his passions. He rode a two-heel bike until he was 88. Wow. Two weeks after we moved to Pasco County, he fell and broke his leg on it. Oh. Uh and he said, "When your husband gets home, have him carry me inside." I'm like, "I think we have to call the hospital." And the first time I was standing with my neighbors and I said, "You call 911 to call 911." Right. Um and after that, he he kind of was like biking had been what he'd loved because he really couldn't walk. Um, so we got him an adult tricycle and he rode his bike until about a year ago. So he always kept trying to get on and move just a little bit every day. Keep trying to move, exercising, use your brain. The senior center is amazing for him. He goes twice a week and he plays um a game called bridge. So it is a little bit longer, but it really works your mind and and there's people that have come now that are still continuing to to learn, you know, and pick up on things and and enjoy that retirement that you give and you're giving and giving back. He really taught all of us to do that. And our And who who are the folks with you? Um it's me and my daughter here right now. And then the senior services center. So he goes to the senior center out in Dade City. Date City. Okay. Yeah. So they're all here too. Um really doing that playing Sudokus. And he's kind of always tried to keep up with technology but not let it take over. Like he's still got a tablet and sometimes I have to be like it's time to go to bed. It's midnight. But he checks in with people and does sudokus and and keeps working his mind and things like that. So very sometimes the thing he sees people kind of let go and and to keep using that thing that you're giving because you can keep building that. Love it. Thank you so much. You want to say anything? Thank you all. I'm a love it. Okay. So thank you for sharing. Can you give your name for the record real quick? Holly. Thank you, Holly. Okay. Yeah. I'm curious where he rides his bike. Commissioner Oakley, we live in Watergrass over there. So, all the paths have been good. He can ride around and now he can go to Publix. So, we've got public like Caddy Corner. He can take his scooter over there and buy his lottery tickets. We're going to import to those trails. We got a 100-y old guy riding his tricycle. So, so if you have one and we meet at the bar, if you don't bring a challenge coin, you have to pay. It's a challenge coin. A challenge coin. He said, "If we meet

at the bar and you don't have it, you have to pay." What? If you And you have to pay where you know. Does he love it? Keep challenging. He challenged me to be the one. They're going to take a picture. Here we go. One, two, and three. All right. Thank you. [Applause] Give it to the grand. We I have my challenge coin as well. Thank you. This is Miss Starky. Commissioner Starky's coin. This is Commissioner Stark. That's my coin. You can use them on I won't make you buy me a drink though. I would be honored to buy you a drink. This one is from Commissioner from me and the other one's from Commissioner Oakley. both of them. You can keep you both [Laughter] from the other one from Commissioner Oakley. They gave you for I think how do I play this game? Thank you so much. Okay. Um I think we have another resolution. One more resolution two. So RS2. So, anyone here um for waste and recycler recycling workers week please come to the podium. I think we have a big group. Commissioner Starky. Yeah. I'm going to make a motion that we make sure that no hundred-y old person ever has to buy a drink. Not in my barn. All right. They're free in my bar. As your team is coming up to the podium, I'll start reading. Okay. All right. So, this is resolution number 25-259. a resolution by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, declaring the week of June 15 through 21st, 2025 as waste and recycling workers week in Pasco County. Whereas the nation celebrates the week of June 15 through 21, 2025 as National Professional Waste and Recycling Workers Week to show appreciation for those who work in the garbage, sanitation, and recycling industry. And whereas the earliest recorded garbage regulation efforts began in 3000 BC when the first landfill was developed in Konos Creek where large holes were dug for refu. And whereas since that time, sanitation workers have worked selflessly and tirelessly in all types of environments and at risk to themselves to provide sanitation services to protect communities and residents, prevent disease, and keep our communities clean, safe, and beautiful. And whereas according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the eradication of many diseases in the Western world is due in large part to higher public sanitation standards resulting from effective garbage disposal. And whereas according to the National Library of Medicine, sanitation workers face significant occupational risk related to health outcomes across a range of conditions from occupational injuries to environmental hazards. The US Bureau of

Labor Statistics demonstrates that there are 10 times as many fatal injuries of sanitation workers compared to workers in other industries. And whereas the employees working for the Pasco County Solid Waste Department make significant contributions to the safety, health, and welfare of our residents by processing over 500,000 tons of solid waste and recycling annually. And whereas during the back-to-back hurricanes of 2024, stories of service above and beyond the call of duty came from all parts of the organization. The Pasco County Solid Waste Team's dedication and selfless service were instrumental in the timely collection and safe management of over 1.3 million cubic yards of storm related debris. And whereas Pasco County values and celebrates our solid waste workers for their commitment to our residents, businesses, and communities. and we want to elevate solid waste history, individuals, and the profession. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said, but board hereby declares the week of June 15 through 21, 2025 as waste and recycling workers week in Pasco County and encourages all citizens to support solid waste activities this week and throughout the year. done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present in voting this 17th day of June 2025. Approval second. All in favor? I. Um this is Commissioner Waitman. Yes. Who's working today? Everything's done by 9ine, right? Early early business Yeah, you guys start before you know most everybody. No, truly um the industry, your team, um no offense to the first responders in the room, but you all are just as vital to every community throughout this state, throughout this country, throughout the world, and keeping our communities safe and healthy. You showed during COVID when volume shifted, you know, from commercial and every everything closed down and the volume shifted to the curb and you have to work with your haulers to pick it up, how to get get rid of it. The world was sick. Our world would have only gotten sicker if y'all had not kept showing up every day and making sure that everything that was there was disposed of safely and responsibly. And um you know there's no secret the work you do is very dangerous. So safety is always a priority uh in the in the industry in the business. And um you know it's a it's a thankless job. It's a smelly job but somebody's got to do it. And once it's in your blood it's hard to hard to walk away. And uh those of you that are been in the business a while you know what I'm what I'm talking about. So, honored to have you all here this morning and uh very grateful for all the incredible work that you do to keep our county uh healthy and um clean and clean. So, thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Oakley. Yep. I certainly thank y'all for all the work you do. Um your job never ends. It just continues.

Every days there's more trash and more trash. And when we go through the storms and all the pickup and the movement of all the debris and everything, y'all are still continuously working hard. We get you a little extra help at times, but uh y'all just continuously do a great job at at what you do and for all the citizens of Pasco County and help keep us clean throughout the county. So, I certainly appreciate everything you do. Mr. Jagger. Yep. I just want to say thank you for everything you guys do. I know it is a tireless job and sometimes a thankless job and um I found out today very dangerous job. I did not know that. So um thank you for everything you do for our county and u keeping us clean and picked up and especially like during the storms you you guys were heroic and um we thought the governor put you know tough standards on us. Uh the county was we did it in record time. So, thank you, Commissioner Mariano. And I want to say the the whole organization runs so well. Um, the facility that we've invested a lot of money into, you guys keep it spotless. You keep it running smooth. The people at the the gates are very friendly. So, to do all that is phenomenal. But to talk about the storm, the dedication, I mean, you guys in the booth at the EOC continually working things through, trying to work with the state, trying to work with FEMA, trying to find a way. What can we do to get the trash picked up? and your diligence and pushing so hard to try to get the trash picked up uh led to us picking up on Penelis County's order they had and made it to all 67 counties after that. But that made such a difference when you could see the people that in the neighborhood wanted to go work to go pick up their trash. It was just inspiring. And I remember there's one grappling truck we had. We had a lady who just was next door to the house that had just got burned. She got stuck in traffic and her refrigerator went. She had to put all the trash out. And what happened out there was you had household trash with other trash. And when that trash started to stink so bad, she was like panicking. What can we do? And went over and picked it up. And one of you guys in the grappler truck that I talked to, was he there? Right there. Come on up here. Come on up here, please. This man inspired me. I'm picking up the trash. We're trying to get it set up alongside. And I say to him, you know how, you know, we're working and working, working, and I he says, and I think I got this right, so you can correct me if I'm wrong, Jim. He says, I work 57 days in a row, and for my county, I'll work another 57 days in a row to help us get us out of this. I thank you. [Applause] But what you guys have done is just phenomenal. You help people get through it. So, I I just can't thank you guys enough. Great. great work, great leadership, great teamwork, tremendous. And um and I would echo um gosh, what we went through. I hope we don't go through that again, but thank you for always

answering my calls when I'm calling um and um yeah, over and above and great job all of you and I know our citizens are very grateful to the great work that you all do. So, thank you so much. I think there's too many people for all of us to go down. So, come on. Sure. Can I can I say? Yes. And then um if any of you all want to speak? Yeah. I I think I want to echo off of what Commissioner Weightman said. You know, it's no, you know, our public safety uh folks can can share the limelight uh today because quite honestly, as the resolution points out, the work that we do, whether it's on the collection side or ultimately landfilling and disposing of stuff, you've saved more lives and transformed the the the foundation of modern society as a result of your work. And if you've ever traveled to third world countries or outside even even there where they they are collecting trash and they are doing things you guys do it way way better and uh and it's amazing uh just the tireless hours that I know go into it. Uh you are the silent service and we just appreciate everything that you do. So thank you. Now now's your time to Okay, now's your time to recruit, fellas. Now is your time to recruit. Try to keep it brief. It's tough to cop the previous two people that spoke up here. Um Kevin Pisca uh director solid waste thankfully I've got John Batista as a wingman as I'm pretty new to doing this for countywide but got a great team around us. Commissioner Wademan thank you so much for the sponsorship your expertise in the industry really it's been very helpful to our department. You challenge us but also you support us and uh thank you so much for that. Uh when we learned about the resolution, John and I were talking and John Batista said, "Hey, let's get the haulers in here as well, right?" Which is smart. Uh without the haulers, what are we? And they do such a great job for us on solid waste and recycling. And on the flip side, we brought in representatives from ReWorld Coanta operating our waste to energy facility. Same thing, best-in-class facility. They do such an excellent job for us. And in the middle, we've got the Pasco County solid waste team, which uh you know, unless you go over to a a self-drop, sometimes you don't see them that much, but they do so much for the community. If it's community outreach, education, uh recycling services, household hazardous waste, you know, they have to do the difficult job on assessments sometimes, and then there's a lot of administrative support that goes along with that. and they do really a great job and they do it with an attitude of safety, environmental compliance and a can do attitude. Um, this team is great. I've never seen such an energized group, very low turnover, inspired and engaged. And to your point, that goes to the hurricane and what we went through. So many of these team members were either affected or had relatives that were affected and they continued to show up and do the job. Uh, as you mentioned, Commissioner Mariano, right, Tim, 57 days straight, you had Tim Treshler that

I think almost became a fixture in the EOC piece of furniture. Um, within 24 hours of Governor Dante saying, "You have to do 247 operations." We were doing that. So many people went from dayshift to operating night shift with four hours to sleep. And they they've done so many of these things. And at the end of the day, no injuries, no accidents during that period. And we had four unannounced environmental compliance visits from Army Corps Engineers, OSHA, EPA, and uh DP. And it's just so proud to see everything that was done with this team. And really, it's about their their dedication. So, John, [Laughter] John Batista, operations director, Saw Waste. Uh, I just want to thank you guys. Um, everybody was involved, especially during the storm. I mean, you know, Jack was doing people's laundry for God's sakes. Uh, Lisa was uh recruiting haulers. Uh, you know, Seth was I was on the phone 2 am with Seth, you know, in the middle of the night. So, and and Commissioner Starky, same thing. you know, lots of phone calls and communication and I appreciated everybody. Uh, you know, you guys are is just as good as doing this as we are. We have a great team. We have great haulers, waste management, waste connections, Republic, Waste Pro, Waste Aid, who am I missing? Coastal. Coastal. Uh, and the Coan people reworld. uh and such a great team recycling um assessments u environmental. So we have a great team and uh thank you. That's it. All right. Um Commissioner Waitman will come down and we'll stand behind here for a photo. Come on up here. Yeah, you guys come up here. She's going to try to sneak back. That's really interesting about turnover. Yeah, that's got some Florida think. Oh, that was awesome. I'm gonna get a picture of that. All right, here we go. Just a couple. I got a cold, so don't shake your It's It's It's better, but just in case. All right, we're not going to make it through all these. Okay, we are on to the consent agenda and I have the following. Uh C9, state financial assistance agreement as a poll and revise. C10, another state financial assistant agreement pull and revise. C15, request to declare surplus real property withdraw. Uh C28 accept deed and accept road in the county's road system for maintenance withdraw. Um commissioner waitment we have C26 authorization to short list and delegation negotiation and execution agreement to county administrator for solicitation on call your parkway. Pull and discuss. C30 the asphalt paving systems uh item pull and discuss. and C44 contract for sale and dedication of park site. Pull and discuss. Is there anything else any commissioners wish to pull from the agenda item?

Okay, seeing none, we will move approval on all the items left on the consent agenda. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. C9. Mr. Smith. Good morning, commissioners. Steve Smith, Planning Development, Economic Growth. The item before you, C9, is a state financial assistance agreement with the state of Florida Department of Transportation for infrastructure funding. There was a scrivener's error in the recommended board action for this item, which is corrected on the copy before you. With that change, the planning, development, economic growth department recommend your approval. Move approval. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Thank you. C10. Good morning again, Commissioner Steve Smith, Planning Development, Economic Growth. The item before you C10 is also a state financial assistance agreement with state of Florida DOT for infrastructure funding. There was a scrivener's error in the recommended board action for this item which is corrected on the copy before you. With that change, the planning development economic growth department recommends your approval. Move approval. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. Thank you. All right. We are on to C15 which is a withdraw. C28 is a withdrawal. C20 Oh, they're out of order. Okay. C26. Yes. Commissioner W. Thank No, I just want to say Brford, thank you for listening to us and and Mike on the call your Parkway Extension, especially the north section from Parkway Boulevard to uh 52. Um it's it's one of those roads as we grow we don't realize how important that segment of road is especially on a hurricane evacuation route and with the challenges that are now you know up and down air and cutoff and so I was just excited to to see something formal come through and just wanted to thank you both uh for your attention and your diligence uh on this important segment of roadway. So with that I move approval. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. C30. Yes. Thank you, chair. I just pardon me when I see uh big ticket items on the consent agenda. $46 million. I don't have an issue with the item, but to have a $46 million item on the on the consent agenda, uh I just figure I'd I'd pull it. But there's also a good story behind it too with the road paving assessment. And I thought it'd be a good time to highlight the multi-year contract uh and the work that that the Jason and his team are are going to do. So, thank you all. Well, what um when I saw you pull this, I wondered, are we doing any of the projects that Commissioner Mariano keeps talking about with that spray spray jet technology? Yes, I hope that we are. Good morning, members of the board. I'm Jason Mkel, public works director. Um, you know, first of all, Commissioner Waitman, thanks for acknowledging um this item. I do want to just give the board credit um for approving this last year. Um, you know, this has been a very successful program this year. We are um very close to coming back to you um and telling you that we have spent every

last dollar this year. Um we're we're close. So, all all projects are are in are in the planning stage. money's encumbered and we're going to have a very successful fiscal year 25 in our first year with this program. So, it's very very awesome news and I want to thank you again for that. Um, Commissioner Commissioner Waitman, um, that is a big ticket item. I agree. It's it's huge. You don't really see that type of number on the consent agenda. I agree. But really what we're looking at here is um, our next three years of the contract with two vendors. So, we'll have two vendors, a second vendor to help us um with with this project because one vendor it's it's hard because they have other customers, right? And some of these jobs are hard. There's there's weather conditions that they deal with. Um you know, there's certain times where we really like them to get some work done for us, you know, school when school's out and other and other times of the year. So, having a redundant vendor, a second vendor that could really help us is great. Commissioner. Well, I just want to add to it as you know, we made this change from PAS to this type of uh paving where we charges on our tax bills for everybody in the county. And I've had people that actually would be very negative about the PASS and other things that we do actually speak up and said this is one of the best things we've done is put this on the tax road where everybody pays toward uh paving the roads. and it's it's very welcome to hear that. So, good job. Thank you. Thank you. And and just to final the final the point, the big ticket number, um really we're looking out three years with a opportunity to add more years at the end of the contract. So, it does it does have a a large total, but just so you know, um we had one successful year. you know, future results aren't aren't, you know, any an indication of or our past past results aren't a result of the future. But, you know, we are um you know, confident that we are going to continue to execute on this program. Um we have our three-year program already published online as as the public can see. Are we into the another year? Have we dropped one year off of that three year? Well, we're still in fiscal year 25. So, we're still officially in fiscal year 25. As soon as October 1 hits, we'll be in in the next in the next. So, we'll add the next year's near next year's list of roads in October. Yes. So, we're still on the initial three-year list. Yes. That's right. Yes. Correct. Um and then your uh um your question regarding the spray technology. Yes, we um we have one vendor that does that um here for us and wherever possible we work with them for the best potential to use that technology. Um and that's where we will we'll use it where we work together and say hey that means and methods is the right for this road um and we work together to um to use that. So yes we are using it. Great madam chair. Yeah if I could the um on the spray jack technology when when I

look at the the basic fundamentals of putting down a base of asphalt and then having the t go down right before it untouched the bond is so much better for 005% I I think it's just the best value. I think the industry will get there eventually. I mean, Switzerland, drive over there, you don't see you don't see a pothole anywhere. They've been using it for 30 years. I think if you work with the gentleman from, let's say, October till even like spring and even do a whole bunch of those jobs in between, he'll have the machine, he'll have have it set to go and we'll get a better long-term road. If we want to make these roads better, as we talked about, we want to make a better investment on these things every step so they last longer. this technology should last longer just by basic fundamentals and the coefficients that are out there. So I think if you work with APS on getting them from let's say October till even the spring, you can probably hit a whole series of those jobs and it won't slow them down whatsoever with their other jobs that they have elsewhere. So if you really would take a look at that, I think there's an opportunity there. But I want to thank you for the great job you're doing. You're getting the roads done. People are happy and I think it's going to be something that I'll be talking about raising that number up because I know more people want to get it done. And I think if we work on something keeping the PES for the dirt roads where they can pay extra and not bankrupt the system by having more done, I think we've got a great opportunity there too. Thank you. Thank you. Um uh last night when I was driving home from the airport, um I I came up Gun Highway uh took the Sun Coast to Loot Lake Fern came up Gun Highway. Um are we do we have any projects slated? I don't know if you can answer this one, but there was a big hole big chunk first missing on Gun Highway on and I believe it's across the border to our part, but do we have any plans for fixing that road? It's in bad shape. Well, I'll take a look at it. That may be an MO thing. I drive it every day, too. So, I definitely Well, I just want to alert you that there's a big pothole there. Yeah. Thank you. They take your Okay, we'll take a motion. Approve. Second. All in favor? I thank you Bradford pothole truck stat all right commissioner waitman two rivers thank you chair yes another another similar reason for pulling this $18 million on the consent agenda but again uh supportive of of this project um what a fantastic park this is this is going to be and uh excited for for the future of the park system uh in East Pasco County this is this is going to help Wesley Chapel and Zephr Hills really everybody all around and um you know it's it's just tough when we have to acquire parkland and it's you know this is a a very good piece of parkland um the most prime location for potential commercial development on this site. Uh so un understanding the value of that land and what it what it means for commerce. But uh you know it's um the

generational value that this site will provide and quality of life to our county is just pretty pretty exciting uh to have. So thank you all for working through the deal. Mike and Keith uh you guys I know it was a labor of love getting this thing done. Uh but again just just a large number which is why I pulled it and uh I'll I'll approve C44 with a motion. Oh well, Commissioner Wait has some com. I mean Commissioner Oakhead. Yeah. I um I'm very grateful this is coming forward and it's another park in district one which is pretty large and we need as many parks as we can get. So it takes a lot of funds and all to come up with uh more parks and better parks throughout the super park will come later, but Two Rivers Park is going to be great and actually work with uh Robert Thomas on this on this particular park to name it uh Bob Thomas Memorial Park at Two Rivers. So it's it's very welcome site coming in district one. So certainly appreciate everybody's work toward this. So, thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. So, I just say it's like it's going to be a great park. It'd be a great asset. I'm going to just say that, you know, Kathy, Keith, your whole team does a phenomenal job with parks. Uh people like them. They want to see them. And I think continually people say, "I'd rather see it when my kid's little than when he gets older, want to get them done." But I do want to say I think in the future when we're negotiating because we're paying a lot of money for this land, a ton, more than we've ever paid before. I think we got to start working these developers at the start to say we're going to put a park there. We want a good price. And I think if we try to negotiate something to say we're going to build it quicker, so you're going to sell more homes rather than coming at the end, you'll have a lot more leverage to get it done. But I mean, we there's got to be a bet of value that stretch the dollar out that makes it better for everybody. Yeah. And I'll second Commissioner Waitman's motion. Okay. Okay. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. Um I want to go mention something on on the consent agenda item number 11. I don't have a map. It just has the legal. So, uh, but I want to be sure that, uh, that area has no Kogan grass and that that they're taking care of that, um, before they develop it in a responsible way because that I think that area has a lot of co grass. Okay. Uh, we are on to get my schedule here. Think we are on to one of the Rs. Which one is here? R51. All right. R51. Actually, I have I have others. Yeah, sure. R 52. That one is time certain. Good morning, commissioners. Um, Brford Aduma, assistant county administrator, public infrastructure branch. So, today is a big day for Joseph Amoa and I almost ruined it because I had a flat tie. This is the day that I wouldn't want to miss. All right. So, I call Mike to see if Mike can help me out if I don't get

here by in time. So, um, most of you have in one way engaged with Joseph um, in the past. Joseph is currently our assistant public work director. Uh he's been with the county for almost five years. Uh you do have his resume and qualifications before you. But briefly, I want to talk about Joseph's um experience and also education. With education, he has the highest education level of a masters and PhD in civil engineering. Uh water resources. Um, also he's been with the county for five years. Uh, he knows the ins and out of the county when it comes to storm water issues, but his specialty is in water resources, which covers almost everything, including utilities and all. Joseph went through our rigorous interview process and I don't know how many of you have been through that, but anybody who comes through that, it's it's really um the person is ready for the job. Joseph mainly the reason why I'm here to present him for your confirmation uh is mainly about his leadership. His big picture thinker. Somebody who is a strategist. somebody who can look in the future and say well I think maybe we are handling things right now but this is where we should be planning uh to move towards um somebody who has excellent people skills he's able to work with people bring people together talk to customers without getting customers all upset um also um he was selected because of his leadership qualities and philosophy which uh part of that is making sure that his leadership is governed by core values which is Pascals integrity, respect, empathy. He's very focused on performance as well. But I believe we talk about uh people purpose performance and there's a reason why the people come before the performance and we can have both. We can have somebody with strong leadership who can rally people together get customers move in the right direction think about the future at the same time provide us with the performance that we need. Uh I believe we need more strategist in addition to the tacticians that we have and also the people in operation. Uh I feel this is the way we get to be the pre premier county. And with that Joseph few words to say thank you. Good morning commissioners. Brford almost read my entire speech. All right. So yes, Joseph Moa, assistant public works director over engineering and environmental divisions. I want to quickly first thank um Mike the county administrator in Bramford. That's the county administrator um over public infrastructure and the interview panels for the trust and confidence in me to lead the utilities department. I believe that I do have the leadership qualities to lead the utilities department to the next level of excellence. I'm a problem solver and a forward thinking person. I lead and manage by core values like he said of integrity very important to me,

respect, loyalty, very very key and empathy. Um I focus on my people, my employees that work for me and then of course the citizens we serve. I promote teamwork, empowerment and outcome based not about how much a project will cost. My vision is to work with outstanding team. we currently have at the utilities department to actually take the department make the department um Florida's leading public utility. That's my vision. We will modernize our operations and service delivery by building a strong workplace culture, leveraging technology and innovative strategies to improve customer service, operational efficiency and overall effectiveness. I recognize that um we are facing some challenges in the department in the county. However, I know that the department has a great and formidable team and together with our partners, the Tampa Bay Water and so on and so forth will work hard to deliver excellent water, wastewater and reclaim water services to Pasco residents, um the businesses and the development community. I'm really excited about the opportunity and I look forward to working with the board um to address current and future needs if confirmed. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Yes, I've worked very closely with Joseph. We've had projects where one was over in Gulf Highlands that used to see on the news all the time it would flood and we talked about that project. We worked on that project. When they came back with the engineering, I just didn't see it working. He sat down with me. We had Fig Brford and we kind of went through the whole thing about why it was going to work. And the first storm we had was Hurricane Debbie. Not a drop of water in the road. They just finished the LSWA before that was coming in. I've seen him work with civic associations. I've seen him work with groups of people that were not doing what they should do to help their own people. And Joseph stood up to them professionally but factually and made it all happen. And if not for that leadership part, it doesn't go. Uh I know we got a couple of big items coming up. I know Commissioner Oakley's got his hand up, so I'll let him go before I make a motion. Commissioner Oakley, I look forward for your leadership. I know you've got a lot ahead of you because there's more development coming in some areas without the water and the sewer there now, but I know there's negotiations going on that uh that you're going to be working on and you'll be a right person to make that work out. So I believe in Bramford and his u stamp on you as being the person to step in that position. I fully agree that you can do it and we'll all help you get to the right place. So thank you. Yes. So when you were describing him, I felt like you were describing you. So I feel like having two Brfords and will be amazing. So we we cannot have enough of um people like you. I look forward to your leadership and I echo what Commissioner Oakley says. If if you have the stamp of Brford, then you have the stamp for my approval. So um I look forward to working with you. Thank you.

And lastly, I would agree with everybody. I all the projects we've worked on, I've so enjoyed your patience and your dedication. So this is a wonderful appointment for you and congratulations. Move approval. Second. All in favor? I. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Okay. Um, it's got a little tricky. Okay. So, you're you're up. Which number is this? 51. Our 51. Okay. All right. Thank you. Good morning. Joanna Cheshire, chief of staff, county administration. Uh big day for Pasco today. We've got a lot of great things going on, including this action plan. Um I'm going to roll through this PowerPoint. This uh this slide here is um a reminder to you all. You've seen this before. This is just kind of a reminder telling you that how communitydriven this process was. We're very proud of that. We've met with the public, our cities, community stakeholders, you all one-on-one and to come up with a draft action plan. The draft action plan was on our website for 30 days uh for public comment. We got a lot of feedback. Over those 30 days, we received 122 public comments that included in person, via email, and on our web page. There's no surprise here. The biggest uh areas of support and comments were around housing infrastructure and mitigation. the summary of so we we took all those comments including what we heard from you all uh to kind of update the action plan um nothing groundshattering I mean there the um percentages didn't change based on the feedback we received but there were a few changes here that we wanted to highlight uh we updated the housing section the repair reconstruction and elevation program uh to include things like condos and co-op something beyond single family housing uh as well as the acquisition of real property so not just single family housing housing. We expanded the planning section to include more areas to uh you know capture innovative housing, economic development and workforce. We also updated the better future new construction area for affordable housing to include innovative housing types as well as land acquisition. We also clarified that the small business and nonprofit recovery program which which is in economic revitalization area to that includes job training and reimbursement. Much like we're we may be helping homeowners, we want to help small businesses as well. We also clarified that match funding is available uh kind of like the Elevate Florida program. This slide again is uh not new news for you all. You've seen this. These percentages did not change. Um this is the same as before. And just a reminder, this is the start of things. This is to get the action plan approved, sent out to HUD, and then as we learn more information over this next six years, we're able to make some changes. And this is also a reminder, this is the timeline that we've stayed on. Uh today is the 17th. We hope that you all

approve this action plan. We uh intend to send that to HUD by the end of the week. Uh we hope to get approval in August, the grant agreement in September, and then start rocking and rolling after that. I do want to thank the team. Um, this really makes my my government heart happy. Uh, I can see my grad school professors just happy where uh, you know, theory and practice really came together on this process. So, huge thanks to Connor and Marcy uh, for the the contributions to this. Um, also just there's areas of the organization that dropped everything to help us advance the ball with this process. So, purchasing, media relations, communications, as well as the county attorney's office. So, thank you so much. Um, we're also want to thank Marcy, too. She actually I don't know if you knew this, but she just stepped on the off of the national board. She was the president of the National Community Development Association. So, we're very proud of her um and her representative her representation and putting Pasco on the map. Um, Connor, your attention to detail and your ability to connect with people um and really communicate complex situations uh very valuable to us. and Marcy, your years of experience and your knowledge of CDBG um is priceless. Your empathy um really both for both of you, you know, talking to the public through these public hearings and input sessions really meant a lot. Um and Tim and Jessica with our consultant are here today. They've been to meetings that they didn't really even have to go to. So, thank you to them as well. We're happy to answer any questions you may have on the action plan. Chair Mariana, so first of all, I want to thank Mike Carbella. Um, Mike, you took this as a special isolated project in a sense and it's it's 585 million. So, it's hard to say it's just a project. It's a big big deal and you wanted to make sure you took it. We had control to it to kind of watch it over real close and I think it was a brilliant move. Uh, Joann been great with it every step of the way. Connor and Marcy, you're getting the public input has been amazing. And I'll tell you, looking at this document is just amazing. Uh, what we got in there and the flexibility that we'll have. We can look at this like every year if we want to make changes like we may start with planning on a big uh facility that we want to get a shovel ready. We're we're set for that. We're set for mitigation projects. We're set for the housing. The input from the people uh that that we saw out there was amazing. So what you've done here is phenomenal. It's all high level. We're going to get to all the details later on. But for what making this first step, I I couldn't be prouder of how great this whole thing has gone and done. You guys have been phenomenal. I have to kind of echo that same same sentiment because they've done a great job and they've they've reached out to all all that I can think of and presented and presented and and got a lot of answers back. So it I think it

was very much a rewarding thing to hear that FEMA said that this program uh stood out because it was the best that been for a presentation from a county and the area for this kind of work. So got to thank Marcy and the team for all they do to make that happen. Yeah. Thank you. So, um, can you No, I just want to thank everybody um the the speed in which your entire team, Janna, Marcy, the consulting group that that y'all moved to put this plan together, I mean, it's that's lightning quick for government, right? I mean, I don't think we fill potholes that quick, do we, Brford? Just a challenge. Just a challenge. Uh but but you know, lightning roadrunner fast for government. You know, now we have a plan and we're submitting it and um so you know, wonderful work to everybody that was doing it. Now the now the hard part's come. Um no secret a couple of had meetings with the especially on the affordable housing side. The uh affordable housing multif family apartment sharks are going to soon to be circling really really fast. I think that uh any of those players that need to come need to be vetted. Um, look at south, you know, south counties, uh, the examples of what's been built, uh, and the number of units that's been built. It's in the thousands. So, I think we need to be very deliberate on the partners. Where are you speaking of Lee County? Over 2,000 apartments have been built on this program alone. And they'll be looking at it and they want to build a lot more. And I'm concerned again, I've said it before about this with a sprawling subsidized apartment complexes coming across this entire county, which this is just part of the process, right? We vet where it's appropriate and, you know, redevelopment, so on and so forth. But now it comes time to now we have to execute and spend the cash and it brings interesting players to the table. So, um, you know, I think this gets a little bit trickier, but I trust the team. um your guys' passion and efforts on this uh everybody sees it and we thank you and um so congratulations and on the step two I guess this is what this is step one's done now the step two step thank you all um okay so uh well I wanted to to talk about what commissioner waiting yes we're going to have a lot of multif family folks coming knocking on the door and just having returned from a wonderful confence I think I don't think we should be afraid of density, but I think we should be very concerned about what these units look like and how they feel and how they fit into the fabric of of our communities. And so I do want to have that discussion uh at some point. But um uh it says here we're going to have initial programs begin roll out the winter of 2025. So that's right around the corner. What do we think is going to be rolling out so soon? What how how will what will that look like? Yeah, the individual housing assistance I believe. Can you guys is there more to more color to add there?

So, h how will our citizens know that they can get reimbursed? Sorry, come on up Marcy. I think the public needs to know this. So, how will our citizens, you know, what can they start doing to get ready? Okay. Uh Marcy Yesberg, senior program administrator for the Office of Disaster Recovery Resources. Uh so we will make sure that uh that with media relations a lot of information will go out. Uh as you saw through our public comment periods and our public hearings we reached a lot of citizens. So there'll be opportunities for people to apply for things online. They'll be uh we'll be working with uh the libraries in different places, government buildings around the county to to open up little small application places for them to come. Uh if citizens are listening now and they're thinking about either they've started work on their homes and they want reimbursement, that is part of the program. We will also be doing repairs, reconstruction, and elevation. For those that are looking for reimbursement, they could start now by getting their receipts in order because paperwork is the key. The same thing with any applicant. They're going to have to prove their income. So, we might ask for tax returns, bank statements, payubs. So, everybody should start working on getting their paperwork to begin with. So, Marcy, do you have like a one-page flyer that I can put in my newsletter or, you know, that the commissioners can hand out when they go to community meetings? We will. We don't have it yet because we need to put the whole program together. We'll need to we'll need to put all the um policies and procedures and everything. And we're also uh have an RFP out now for an implementation consultant to join us in this venture. So, as soon as we have that information, we'll make sure that uh everybody gets it, all the commissioners will get it. Okay. And as you know, one of the things that I'm really looking forward to is all the people who had their signs that the non-conforming signs that were damaged and that now they can get some money to build conforming signs. So, I think we need to be calling the sign companies to make sure they know that this money is coming um so they're not, you know, going around us and putting up back up the non-conforming signs. And um and uh so I I'm hoping some I don't know who that would be, Mike Carbala, but someone needs to let them know. And I had asked that we take an inventory of the damaged signs right after the hurricane, and I don't think that ever happened. um or if someone did do it, can they let me know? Um but uh and I I wanted to make sure all our commissioners knew that I think Marcy's the one who told me that the um HUD folks said we had Well, what did they say about our submission that we got great accolades on it? Yes, they they read it word for word and they said it was the best plan they've ever read. Love. Right. I want to make sure you all you know, I I was uh on that I was on that global Tampa Bay um trip when I got that call and um you know, the other

commissioners from the other counties and the mayor, they're all talking about their plans and that if they need if we needed help, you know, if they wanted to we wanted to see their plans and I said, "No, no, no, sorry, but they said ours is the best plan they've ever seen. So, if you want to call us, feel free." So, that was that was a great moment. I have a quick question. When did you say the the program the beginning roll out for the money would be? It says uh winter of of this year. Okay. I'm working with a constituent right now who still doesn't have walls up and he can't do anything to his home because he doesn't have the money. He needs a reimbursement. So, okay. So, the beginning of January, but go ahead and start getting their stuff together so they can apply. Yeah, exactly. I I I think that you'll see it this year. You'll see it in 2025. Uh and then but they should get their information together and again for people that have already started work um know that they could get reimbursement as long as they qualify. Okay, perfect. Thank you, Chair. Yeah. property appraiser or tax collector might pull their hair out. But would it be appropriate to send something out in the trim notices or or you know it's going to hit everybody who owns a property in this county whe you know a blurb about signs which I think is a great great help for our businesses and whatever just like three key bullet points whatever you think your top issue should we move that way. That was a brilliant idea. I mean we're not going to No, no. We're talking about putting a a flyer in his If people don't have walls. Yeah. Yeah. If people don't have walls, they don't have internet probably. Yeah. Something. Yeah. I love that. So, we could put a two-side document. Yeah, Madam Chair. So Mike, if we can get it, work with property appraiser, uh, tax collector, whoever it may be, if we can get it into the mail of the document that's already going out, there's nothing more than just the cost of the extra paper. I think it's worthy of a shot if we try to make it happen. Deadlines. Yeah. Okay. Um, I think this takes a motion. Move approval. Second. All in favor? I. Congrats, guys. Great job. All right. Uh we are 1 minute away from 11:30 and our time certain. So we're going to move to our time certain at 11:30. Commission on status of women. Right. Good morning. Good morning. Great to see you ladies here. Good to be here. I've got a little bit of a group with me. Well, I'm Jenny Yingling. I'm the current chair of the Pasco County Status on uh the Commission of Women, and we're here to do our annual report to you all, the board. But first, if you wouldn't mind, could the other ladies on the commission introduce themselves? Absolutely. I don't see my Jenny. Vanessa Hilton, I was the vice chair. Vanessa, you're with the school district. Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. Gan Aby. I represent district one and

this is my second term on the commission. Good morning, district commissioners. I'm attorney Sarah Ray Makers with the law office of Phillips and Ray Makers representing legal. I've been on for I think four months now, so I'm really enjoying it so far. Thank you all. Good morning. I know most of you. I'm Lindsay Moore. I'm the law enforcement agency um appointment to the board or to the commission. Um this is my first year on the commission. So, thank you. Thanks, Lindsay. Good morning. I'm Denise Nicholas and I'm very proud to represent District 5. Stephanie Pletz. I represent the Big Blue Barbecue. Good afternoon. I'm Michelle Chamberlain. I represent District 4. Yay. Yay. Three. Four. Three. Three. Three. Miss Alelli uh with Pasco EDC. I've been on about seven years now. Woohoo. And I represent district two. Thank you, Commissioner Waitman. Yes. And the chair. Um, so we just want to take a little bit of time and highlight uh what we've done over the last year. Um, so if that's okay, we have a PowerPoint. Am I clicking or is Tony clicking? This is way more than I normally do. You guys are in trouble. Well, you already know. I'm Jenny. I'm the chair. Vanessa is my co-chair. And this year we have done some exciting things in our county. So the first you've got to meet all the lovely ladies that are here in attendance with me today. But we wouldn't be um whole if you didn't recognize some of the other wonderful women that we have on our commission. We work very hard to um represent uh the women in Pasco County. So we're going to celebrate a little bit of a milestone. Um, Cheryl Plet, who is with Premier Health, is going to roll off. She is going to be the first woman to roll off the commission, meaning that she served all three of her terms. So, it's kind of really exciting. Um, so we just wanted to recognize her um and let everybody know um what a great asset sheet she was to the commission. Although she is rolling off, she will not go anywhere. We will still reach out and use her for all the resources that she has. Yes, committees. There's no rule about that. All righty. Well, let's look back at what we did last year. So, um, every every month when when the commission meets, we um bring a guest speaker in and we try to make sure that that speaker relates to some issues, needs or concerns of the women in our community. So, this past year, um, we had lots of great people come. One of them was Michelle Bradley. Michelle is the only female owner of Akiki's franchise. Um, so that was kind of really exciting. That one. She was awesome. You were at that one. Commissioner Starky was at that meeting. And so that was really exciting to hear um how how women in this community, especially Michelle, um, not only are running businesses, but they're running families and they're productive u members of our society. So

always inspirational and exciting. The second um and was my favorite. I think I was at that one too. I think you were too um was Michelle Dubie. And Michelle Dubie runs a mobile farmers market. You got it. And um it was really exciting to see how innovative um she is about getting fresh food in communities that don't have fresh food and then providing fresh fruits and vegetables to um to people in need in our community. So, it was really exciting to learn a little bit more about Michelle and what she is doing. Um, she runs her farm just right off of Old Pasco Road. Um, and she left corporate America to give back to uh the community. So, very exciting. I know most of you on the commission are familiar um with Nicole, but I'm not sure if they are. I I met with her. If you're not, you should get familiar with her because she is doing some amazing things. She's got great partners out in the community. Advent Health. I know that she kicked off a a big event last Thursday at the Boys and Girls Club down in Luchi where she's their summer partner for fresh food, fruit and vegetables all summer long. Um, very exciting. I know Commissioner Weightman and I were at an event. Um, and she was the um, or Durb host and she had all her fresh um, fruits and vegetables. Um, that was two weeks ago. Um, so she not only is she providing those opportunities in our community, but she's also um giving back as well. And now I'm gonna invite Gan up to highlight another great um presentation speaker and field trip the commission got to go on. Thanks, Jenny. I wanted to elaborate a little bit on our community partner, St. Leo University and just to recap um their support for our commission uh for our inaugural women uplifting women lunchon in May of 2023. We were able to have Dr. Cindy Lee from St. Leo University as our guest speaker. Her topic, Inspire Your Career, tied in with the university's CAP program, or better known, Center for Alternative Pathway Programs, which offers cutting edge alternative short-term micro credentials for individuals who want to keep current with the workplace skills of today. I always called it the bestkept secret in our community for women to brush up on skills, learn new skills, or prepare to get back in the workforce after raising a family. She was also part of our panel discussion and provided resource table. At our second annual women up women uplifting women lunchon, Dr. Ebony Perez, social work chair from St. Leo University joined our panelist in 2024 for our theme, economic stability, women's health, and social justice. Later that year, Dr. Jen Shaw, vice president at St. Leo University, spoke at our November meeting about Career Closet Initiative, which provides professional attire to students and community members for job interviews and career events. And I'm proud to say that our Pasco Commission made several donations from our uh closets uh toward the career closet at St. Leo. From our women up women uplifting women lunchon event that year, St. Leo University CAP

program, now referred to as the skills academy, received a scholarship in the amount of $225.79 from our leftover funds to help a deserving student. December 2nd in 2024, St. Leo University hosted our monthly meeting in the student activities building on campus at St. Leo. Our a tour was provided and a lunch from the dining hall and it was very delicious. St. Leo continues to be a resource for the women of Pasco County. Thank you. Very nice. Is anyone going to speak about this year's lunchon? In one moment because it was fabulous. It was um but just so you guys get an idea of um of what goes on at our meetings and who we're bringing in. So, as you can see, we have some really dynamic speakers that come in, but Commissioner Starky, yes, we're going to tell you all about the third annual women uplifting women lunchon. But to do that, I'm going to invite Vanessa, my co-chair up, and she's going to talk about our exciting um lunchon. You're welcome. I can do that. It is my pleasure to share the details of this third annual women uplifting um lunchon and event. Uh the purpose of this luncheon this year and really for the past three years has been to gather together women in Pasco County with a shared commitment to empower, uplift and celebrate the achievements of women in our community which directly aligned to the mission of the organization which you saw this year. In alignment with what we heard from the women in our community, we had wonderful a wonderful keynote speaker, Miss Effie Santos, who helped our attendees reframe their mindset in a positive manner, even when dealing with unthinkable situations. Effie joined three other diverse women from our community in leadership on a panel which engaged such meaningful topics as time management, asking for support, which is not always easy, finding balance, and everyday challenges in our community. You can see on this slide that our event was packed. Each year um we have grown um from our first year about a hundred attendees and actually us planning for maybe 50 people will show up and uh we got a hundred to over 150 this year. We also this year charged a nominal fee for the lunch for the very first time. And not only did we have more participants, we also maintained a waiting list until the till the day of the event. Uh this is now a known event as we sold out in about 48 hours. Yeah. 48 hours this year. And what that says is that the women in Pasco are eager to gather, to connect, and to support one another. We have wonderful community partnerships and support that has also grown each year from our very own Commissioner Starky to Rosie Pollson with the state committee uh to Nikki Alvarez Souls who was our keynote in 2024 um and our MC this year. Um as well oh another shot as well as all of the sponsors that you see here. Some are return sponsors from previous years as well. so much support for this event in particular and our commission.

Each year we've recruited speakers and resource partners who can directly address the um uh topics and issues that the women in our community have said are important to them. We've facilitated a survey after each event to get to know the women we are serving. And with more on that, I'll turn it over to Lauren. All right, I will keep this section brief for you guys, but you'll see um the first year we had about 37 respondents and 47 the second year. And this year we were able to take it. Um I called Tony and I was like, "We're only at 47 and we had that last year. We need more." So then we called uh Tambry and her team pushed it on social media a couple times. Commissioner Starky's office pushed it out and we hopped up to 85. So that's very exciting. Okay. So, age demographics, you'll see that um this is trending with the county and kind of our average age is going a little bit down. So, we're pretty high in the 35 to 44 range. And then, um the race and ethnicity seems to correspond with our um core county demographics as well. This is just individual income for all of the ladies who answered the um questions. So quite a spike in the ladies uh making over 200,000 this year that responded. So yay them. And then do you have any children under 18? This had a pretty significant increase. So we had about 30 um that said yes under 18 and then 55 said no, which again they could still have older children. We just didn't ask that one. Okay. So then this one, what is the most impactful challenge or problem that you face in your daily life? So economy and finances. We know that's a struggle nationwide right now. Um we thought it was very interesting as we were reviewing that there was a significant increase in mental health concerns, time, energy, and motivation, stress. So um that will play into some of the resource partners that we try and bring in throughout the year to um help get those out. Okay. And then which of the following help rellated challenges impacts you the most? Um you'll see some of the key words are affordable access, flexibility from work, um lack of paid sick leave. So um these are some some big issues that I know um everyone is facing. So that's why we're going to keep reaching out to Cheryl even though she's trying to leave us. So how responsive do you think your local government is? Um, the majority of them said, "You guys are all pretty responsive." So, that looks good and pretty in line with all the previous years. If there was one change that could be made in your community that would result in the greatest positive impact on women, what would it be? You'll see that one is um significantly higher than the remaining ones. Cost of living, affordable housing, child care. It's ongoing trends you guys hear about often. Uh, how familiar were you with the Commission on the Status of Women? So,

um, this is pretty on par for um the people who attended the lunch and that were familiar with us. And then you'll see that some were not familiar at all. Um, so that was probably the people that we sent it to out on social media that had just seen it for the first time. But our name is getting out there and people do know us. Um, again, the man the average price of childare So that is uh hugely unaffordable responded uh public education system. That one's a little bit um below what we'd like to see, I'm sure. So we have our new superintendent in and we know he's making some changes and moves and we um he we're sad to see Vanessa go on our commission after today. She's been a great asset, but we are going to be welcoming Tony in um for our next meeting. So then we'll continue to grow that relationship and see how we can help with that. And then this one um leadership roles. So this is just how women are feeling um do they think that they have equal opportunity to leadership roles? So a lot were unsure on kind of what that meant. A lot also thought maybe they don't and then kind of even keel on the yeses resource guide. You'll see that this is a part of our future planning um that Jenny will go over in a little bit, but I just wanted to let you guys know that we do have a plan for this. So during the event um we hosted this year, we took the responses from the survey last year and we really thought about the types of partners that we were going to bring in as resource tables in the back rather than letting sponsors just have tables. So we had our open spaces and vibrant places table that had the public library system, parks and recreation. We had a family leave support table which we had representatives from Danny Burgess and Gus Berakis' office. We had affordable housing table which had information from the Habitat for Humanity and Pasco County Community Develop Development Resources. Uh we had nutritional uh support with um UFAS, the county extension um and Dubbie's mobile market and her nonprofit um that Nicole runs as well, Access to Fresh, which helps get that into um additional homes in the area. And then business support, we had Smart Start, which is a part of Pasco EDC's programming for small business support and entrepreneur support. and the office of economic growth. And then we had child and youth resources with pay center for girls information and the early learning coalition. So there's a couple other ones that are mixed in there in the responses. So what we're going to do is collect some of their brochures that are already existing, put it together in a comprehensive guide, ask Joanna to have her team make us pretty cover pages for it, and then put it online for everybody. So that is my area. So back to Jenny. getting the microphone in the clicker. So, with all that information about what a great event we had, and I know

Commissioner Starky, you got to attend. Um, it was a packed house. It's sold out. PHSC has been a great space for us over the last three years, but we have outgrown it. Yes, we have. So, we are definitely looking to um out to see where we can um grow our event. And as we all know, it's a little limited in Pasco County. So, we are eager to try to grow that event. So, we're going to make one request today from you guys if that's okay. But currently, um, our funds are about $5,000 and we'd like to see if we could increase that by $2,500 in order to offset um the growth of the women uplifting women lunchon event. Um, and those funds would be used to help us secure a venue, help us to secure um our keynote, help us to secure printing and those kinds of items. And then we'll still work through our sponsors um who have been quite committed to us over the last three years um to offset the cost for food along with a nominal um buyin fee from the women that attend the lunchon. So, I'd love to hear a motion. I'll make a motion. Second. Thank you. All in favor? I. Great. Thank you guys so much. Now, with that, what are we going to do next year real quick? So, I just wanted you guys to know that the focus doesn't end when the lunchon ends. So, we're already starting to plan for next year's lunchon. So next year some of the things that we are going to focus on are community engagement um and visibility support for womenowned businesses um policy and data advocacy and public education and awareness. So the one thing we'd really like to share with you guys today is our big project that we're going to click kick off um at the beginning of next month. But we're really hopeful Lauren, where's Lauren? This is one of Lauren's babies that we've talked about for a while. We're really hopeful that we'll be able to work with Mike Fasano's office in creating a uh registry for womenowned businesses. It would help us to capture um womenowned businesses, veteranowned businesses, and we think that data would be crucial in moving forward in the county, not just for the uh status of women, but as a whole when people are um looking to invest and um and make Pasco home. So, that's something that we're really committed to and I know Commissioner Starky's team um Jenny's here somewhere. Yep. Set down on there. She she has been um so helpful to us and she's agreed to help us look through policies in the best way to execute that because our goal on the commission um isn't just to meet and and and have a lunchon. Our goal is to push forward. And so, we'd like to lead the way in capturing that data so we can continue to grow as a successful um county. Great job, guys. Thank you so much. So, without further ado, we just want to thank one person. Yes. Tony has been amazing. We are always so fortunate to have and Tony has not disappointed us. He has been the right hand. Um he's probably tired of my emails and my text messages, but we wouldn't be able to have pulled off the lunchon, our work plan, and have such a great year for Warren for Tony.

So, thank you guys again for allowing us to serve on your behalf. Thanks, Tony. Appreciate it. Great report, ladies. [Applause] Sure. Um, we got to do it quick quickly. We had 11:45. makes us look good. All right. Ready? One, two, three. Perfect. [Applause] All right, we have an 11:45 time certain the regional planning council. I see Elena's coming up. I see Ren Crawl, the CEO, is also there. Hello and thank you so much. Uh good evening or I guess good morning still afternoon. Uh my name is Alana Todd. I'm the principal environmental planner with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. Um, I was born and raised here in the Tampa Bay region. Actually spent part of my life here in Pasco. I went to Northwest Elementary School. Um, but I'm also joined by our executive director, Ren Crawl. And so, thank you so much for this opportunity to uh share a little bit more about the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and some of the services that we uh have to offer uh you as our member government, Pasco County. Uh so first off I I just want to give a quick shout out to Commissioner Mariano who is our representative on behalf of Pasco County. Um so thank you Commissioner Mariano for your service and partnership on the TBRPC. Uh so broadly our mission is to serve our citizens and our our member governments by providing a forum to foster communication, coordination and and collaboration and identifying and addressing needs regionally. Great. So, we are just one of 10 regional planning councils in the state of Florida. We were actually the first to be formed back in 1962. Um, next slide. And so, our board meets uh six times a year, every other month. Um, and each of our member governments send a representative to those council meetings. Um, and every year the council elects new leadership. So, this year our chair is Mayor Moini from the city of Duneden. Um, and then our vice chair is Penelis County Commissioner Renee Flowers. And then, uh, Citrus County Commissioner Rebecca Ba is serving as our our secretary treasurer. Um, and then the city of Largo's mayor Woody Brown is, um, our immediate past chair. So, we uh, serve six counties from Citrus County uh, in the north to Manatee County in the south. Um, and our membership also includes 23 municipalities. Um, in addition to representatives from our 29 member governments, uh, the council also includes 13 gubinatorial appointees and three exeicio members including the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. So, our focus areas are really responsive to some of the high priority regional concerns and and those include economic development, emergency preparedness, environmental planning, and resiliency planning.

And we I like to think of what we do as as sort of three pillars. Um so the first is we support um Pasco County through our our regional government liaison program. Uh we also support Pasco through planning support and technical services. That's our second pillar. Um and then we also help to convene our cities and our counties throughout the region to work on issues that affect our our entire region. So that's our third and and I'll walk you through each one of these pillars and and give you some examples of each. So the first is our government lays on program and and we see that as creating this hive of information in our regional planning agency. Uh that means that all of our staff work together closely and we think of it as bees in a hive. Um so they make a conscious effort to connect with the communities all over the region and share what they've learned with our whole team. Um and this way everyone gets involved um and we get a broad view of of what's going on in the region. Uh so through the government leaison program you have a dedicated staff member focused on issues in your community uh looking for ways to support Pasco and your liaison is uh Sarah Vitalale who is our director of civic technology. So, one uh benefit of working with the TVRPC is that we are a public agency and Pasco County can contract directly with us. Um this eliminates the need to go through some of the procurement process. Um and so we have some of the services listed on this slide. Uh but we're trained in planning technologies um including geospatial analysis, 3D visualization, and and economic uh modeling. And so our staff completes projects as we get grant funding. Um I want to take a moment to highlight some of our recent projects to give a full picture of of um how we can support Pasco. So uh first off we have our our project Phoenix. Um and that's been a resource in the region for over 10 years. You may have seen our video uh enactment of a category 5 hurricane uh hitting the Tampa Bay region. Um and in um the update of this project, we created tabletop exercises for emergency managers to accompany that updated video. Um and then we also recently completed an economic valuation of Tampa Bay uh which demonstrated the yearly snapshot of the contributions of the Tampa Bay estuary to our regional economy. Um and then back in 2022, our resiliency co coalition and our full council adopted the first regional resiliency action plan. Um we've already received funding to uh complete two actions that were included in the plan. Um the first is a regional uh regional scale greenhouse gas inventory which will be completed for our clean air Tampa Bay project which is funded by the environmental protection agency. Another project to highlight is uh the the resilient ready project um which we worked with three local governments to provide technical analyses and some design services for their floodprone uh study areas. Next slide. So another

project I want to highlight that I'm really proud of and we just got the funding to do um is our Tampa Bay Coastal Master Plan and we and we just had our kickoff meeting uh the other week. Um so broadly this the coastal master plan will help illustrate flood risks for the region's most vulnerable communities um and habitats and it'll propose a suite of placebased restoration and structural and non-structural flood risk reduction projects. Um so in essence we're creating a roadmap to guide implementation of flood adaptation projects. Um and we'll be developing this plan over the next four years. Uh the plan's boundary includes all seven counties within our resiliency coalition. Um, and we'll be looking at flooding both within coastal and inland communities. I was wondering um how that could tie in with our HUD money, but it's going to take that long. I don't know if we can I don't Jack, you have to pay attention to that on that. Yeah, we try to maybe we try to incorporate some of that stuff now so we can actually look at ideas what we need to go do. Yeah, that's a great idea. And all three all three counties got the money so it would be wonderful if we could figure out how that can help. Absolutely. Yeah, we're looking for any ideas you have and and working with your staff over and through workg groups over the next four years to develop this plan. And um not sure if you're familiar, but Louisiana has their own coastal master plan. So that's what we're modeling ours after. They've been able to bring in billions of dollars in funding to implement the projects within their plan. So we're developing this plan, but then we're going to be handing it over to you all to go and implement. I hope it includes protecting Encloak Key because it's washing away and It certainly can. That's why it's really important that we get you all at at the meetings and then we can make sure to prioritize the areas that that matter to our different communities. Okay. The next project I wanted to highlight is our um resilient shoreline model ordinance template. We got funding from the department of environmental protection several years back to create this model ordinance template. Um the aim is to ensure that local shorelines are resilient to changing sea levels and tidily influenced flooding through uh to provide community flood protection benefits but also ensuring the ecological integrity and the resilience of our coastal habitats. So this uh ordinance template think of it as like kind of a choose your own adventure. you you take copy paste whatever you want from this ordinance to incorporate with within your own core code or um you know your land development regulations or or your comp plan. Um so it introduces three standardized title flood barrier classifications including natural shorelines, hybrid shorelines and hardened shorelines like seaw walls and bulkheads. Um it accounts for future water levels and sets a uniform minimum height for those barriers at five feet.

Um and then it makes way for living shorelines and environmental enhancement so that we can work with nature which is a proven to be an effective um protection method um and at the same time enhancing water quality and improving uh natural resource benefits. So it also helps to define the appropriate locations for these different title flood barriers and and a hierarchy for their application. Slide. So the third pillar of what we do uh is convening our local governments and other partners. Um and we have a variety of committees to discuss regional issues and resources. So the first um is our our agency on bay and coastal management and and actually Commissioner Mariano serves on this committee. Um but it's uh over 45 members that we've been convening since 1985. It was the first management entity for Tampa Bay. Um and and we uh convene four times a year to talk about regional environmental issues, especially those impacting Tampa Bay estuary, Sarasota Bay estuary, and then our aquatic preserves. So the next uh committee I want to highlight is our regional resiliency coalition. Uh this is a much newer coalition, but it allows our local governments to work collaboratively on mitigating current and future uh climate hazards. We also have our storm water management, public education, and training committee. Um we meet several times a year and and we also provide grants for storm water communication initiatives to member governments in FOD district 7 and Pasco staff have applied and gotten funding from um this this grant. Um I want to say almost every year you guys get some funding from this grant to do storm water education. So I applaud your efforts. Um and then so as a a requirement of the federal and state law, the TBRPC facilitates the local emergency planning committee, the LAPC, which is charged with facilitating regional hazardous materials emergency response and compliance with hazardous materials reporting laws in the Tampa Bay region. Um we have several other committees as well. Um I'm curious why you have the Courtney Campbell Trail on there. Yeah. So that um we actually coordinate the Courtney Campbell Scenic Highway Corridor Advisory Committee. Um it's a several different representatives. We're basically the management entity for that. You are the um we so we have one for the Sun Coast. Uh what is that called? There's a name for it. I used to serve on it. Um yeah, I don't know if Okay, I know what that is, but it's probably shouldn't be called the Courtney Campbell Trail. should be called the Courtney Campbell Scenic Advisory. Yeah, it's the Courtney Campbell Scenic Highway Corridor Advisory Committee. It's a mouthful, but that's the full the cork. It's like the cork or the it's got a weird name acronym. It's part of DOT, right? And so basically because the Courtney Campbell got that the scenic highway designation. Um you have to have a one of these advisory committees of different partners to ensure compliance. We can maintain that designation. So we

convene that group. We may need to see what happened to the Sun Coast Highway one. And maybe if because it used to be run um by uh the lady that was a school board member who um retired um that worked for DOT, I can't remember her name right now from Atlanta Lakes. Um and then Steve Diaz from Hernando. Yeah, Joanne Hurley. So, um I'd be interested to find out what happened to that cork and um see if we need to maybe it can rest with you guys. Okay, great. Next slide. Oh, one for that. Great. Thank you. Um so, one last thing I wanted to highlight was um a recent uh sort of effort we we did um as part of our our storm water committee. Um we did storm water stewardship month. So, I worked with uh staff from all around the region uh to highlight the impacts and and of storm water runoff and pollution. Um most residents don't know that storm water isn't treated before it ends up in our waterways. Um and so we put together this month month-long campaign of educational resources to be shared by our local governments and other partners um to educate residents on what storm water is, why it's important, common sources of pollutants, and then what they can do about it. Um and so each week we had a themed uh week, whether it was, you know, just highlighting what storm water is or what those common sources of pollutants are. Um, and then we posted these graphics on our website. Uh, we also made a proclamation template um, for any of our local governments interested in proclaiming May as storm water stewardship month. I think the Penllis County did. I'm pretty sure um, the city of Seinal did as well and a few of other local governments. We also made a video that we have posted on the website and there's a storm water stewardship pledge available as well. Um, so that is just kind of one example of getting all of our the staff from our local governments together to work on messaging and and what resources we really need to be creating to help in promoting storm water stewardship and and education. So that is all I have for you today. I'd like to I want to get a copy of that flyer and I'm going to put it in my newsletter. I actually have eight residents I believe in Aristto taking out their swailes in the back. It's a swift mud issue now and their their storm their runoff is going right into the wetlands there. Um, so we're going to have to get swift mud out there. But can you go back to your about four slides back? Okay. No. Uh, the one that showed the four I think there were four pillars. Okay. Yep. Right there. Economic valuation of Tampa Bay. Yeah. Um, I'm curious about that one. And um, just uh, copy of that and wondered, you know, there's such a discussion about density and affordable housing. I wonder if you all have thought of taking up that um discussion for the region. I know that those are issues that we have definitely discussed density and housing and and we try and bring those to our council meetings, but we also I

mentioned we have a comprehensive economic development strategy or SADS and and we're working on creating a committee to help help at implementing that. And so those are definitely issues that would be relevant to that committee. Yeah, I think that would be a good topic for you all. And I had mentioned to Commissioner Mariano, the guy who used to head up um my committee at Niko, his name is Mike Mike Matthews, is now the um lead guy for the agency that oversees all the economic development agencies like yours in the country. and he said that the EDA did a no last week for over a billion dollars and that your agency is one of the place one of the agencies that can apply. Yes. So I are you thinking of applying for a grant? Um I see I see Miss I might have to turn to my director then and I think affordable housing and density and transportation I think that's a great one to convene for the area. So great job along. Yeah. did a great job. Commissioners, I'm Ren Crawl, um, executive director for the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. Uh, yes, Madam Chair, we we are uh applying for those dollars. We've been on several calls about the NOFO with EDA. Um, actually, it's been easier to apply through the years. We've had we've taken advantage of these funds because they've been offered regionally before. Now, we're it's more competitive. So, it's nationwide, but we've we have a great relationship with the EDA. We've done a lot of projects. Project Phoenix, a lot of the ones that Alana mentioned was EDA funding. So, um we are hopeful that we're going to keep those dollars uh in our region, right? Absolutely. I know he said that there um the sooner you get it in the better because they're rolling they're rolling them out. It's like$1.3 billion dollars. So, it's pretty big pretty big notice of funding opportunity. Uh, Commissioner Jagger, I was wondering if I could get a copy of the flyer as well. I'm having an event on Saturday and we're doing an overall cleanup, so I would love to have that information to Absolutely. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Commissioner Starky, can I share something with you real quick? I brought it I thought I would catch you before the meeting. Does anyone else have any questions while while she's getting there? I just say Alana, great job. We were at the last meeting there and I says I need you to come up here to talk to us. Um it was the previous year two years ago now we were trying to look on baffle boxes. We talked about them etc how it treats water going in and uh Alana was phenomenally helpful because Tampa Echie which I'm actually chairing now um had a certain group that got to deal with the bay. It's got to all the it's got if it doesn't touch the bay you can't use any funding. Well, she was so creative. We got to the idea of Lexi, let's go partner with the regional planning council and the US Drury. So that eight 8.5 million plus dollars, half of it still available for the counties. Nice. So I know Ren, I used to have Harry Fur a rep. Now I got Sarah.

But I would tell you for the next year or two, I would really like to stick with Alana. Let us go work together on this. I've got Anthony Thomas in the back here. I got Terry Petus over there for the things that we've got done to like try to get these projects moving and going forward. I think it'd be a great help for us. Absolutely. And uh with Sarah, I just have to point out that we've got u we've got a lot of expertise on board, but now we have Sarah as well who is going to be really diving into what we're calling civic technology. So there we're we have the best software, best computers that I have no clue how to work, but they do. And so we for example we can uh let's say you want to build a new city hall somewhere. Uh we have the capability of going on to a QR code. You can take a QR code and go out to that piece of property, look through your phone and there's the building. And so it's in it's your citizens can actually see what your zoning is going to look like, what new codes might look like. Uh so that's some great technology that we have available and this is available to you uh anytime as a member of the council. Well, great R. I'm looking to forward to working with both of them. But we'll we'll keep Alana. You know how to find No, I tell you you got a great team down there. Great stuff. So, thank you. Thank you. Um we were cleaning out the council library. Yes. And I believe uh Jay Starky is your family. Yes. That's a book that's um Swift published. Next time I see you, I'm gonna share that. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ren. Thank you for making the trip as well. Great presentation. And if you would share all those presentations, too, so they can get a view of everything we're doing. So, we need we need some of those emailed up. And um I see David is walking out to to speak with her. All right. So, we're going to break for lunch and we'll see you back here at 1:30. [Music] County waterways and wildlife depend on you to keep them healthy. Excess fertilizer.