2.11.25 Pasco Board of County Commissioners Meeting (Morning Session)

e start ma'am we get start of the meeting good morning I would like to call to order the Pasco board County Commission meeting 10:00 meeting on February 11th 2025 at this time silence all electronic devices and mute your phones please rise for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance oh merciful Creator your hand is open wine to satisfy the needs of every living creature make us thankful of your loving Providence and Grant that we remembering the account that we must one day give may be faithful stewards of your good gifts amen amen the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all will the clerk please call the role yes sir district one commissioner Oakley here District Two commissioner waitan president District Four commissioner joerger here District Five commissioner Mariano here and District three chairman starky is not present today excuse but she is listening but she's not participating help the meeting flow Now's 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 broad's purview today's public comment will be handled as follows first we will take public comment from those who are in here in person then we will take public comment from those who are pre-registered for a WebEx link and currently on Q we request that when you address the board comments are not directed personally against a commissioner or team member but rather directed at the issues this provides mutual respect between the board members and the public after stating your name and address for the clerk a three-minute timer will be activated after two minutes a single beep will indicate you have 1 minute left when your time is up two beeps will sound and you should close your comments WebEx participants will be disconnected automatically when their time is up Mr clerk do we have anyone signed up for public comment yes we have several and I appreciate those who have printed clearly so please uh some of these are a little hard to read uh Kimberly Barnes hello I'm Kimberly Barnes my address is 366 53 Palm Street dat City ready in the morning early morning of October town of 2024 when hurricane Milton hit we went outside to access what damages had been done only to find our whole house surrounded in water as far as the eye could see the water extended down our road to other roads to our neighbors the only way we were able to leave our home that morning was with a canoe that we were lucky that we had aside from rescuing ourselves and our children we had to rescue our neighbors as well all of our vehicles were either trapped or underwater days after the storm we had in some areas at least 10 ft of water sitting in our yard I understand hurricane Milton was a 100-year storm we had never had rainfall like this my issue is our problems actually began long before Milton when

the city of Dade City annexed a property right in front of us and decided to allow 302 homes to be built this development called Heritage Hills was controversial because it was what they referred to as a basin of special concern yes we are in a low-lying area we do not get we do get tired of hearing that but this development also used to be in a low-lying area they put a retention Pond directly in front of us which messes with the water table in our yard so it's already saturated aside from the Retention Ponds they put put a pop off drain right outside the fence line that drained straight down the road which is on a county easement we actually experienced major flooding from this pop off drain in 2022 long before hurricane almost flooded and it almost flooded the neighbor's house Mr Oakley actually um came out to our property that day to try to help us um he did push the city um to to do some stuff and to um to um drain some of the coverts although no one seems eager to help because we reside in the county the city doesn't really want to do much for us even though the development is in city limits multiple calls have been made to Swift Mud in the city since 2022 now that a major hurricane hit I have no answer still our house sustained flood damage and we are unable to get contractors back to our property and any work done because our road is still unaccessible we are still out of our home we are actually living in a different home than our children right now which is extremely upsetting to me because no one should have to do this but no one's claiming responsibility for this pop off drain which I believe in trapped my family and my neighbors during this hurricane in which we were not able to get out safely the drain still sits over the fence line of this development with dead trees and and it's unmaintained I am still waiting for answers after two years of who is responsible for this and why it's allowed to be placed there my husband has lived on this property his whole life his grandparents lived on this specific piece of property it is sad because we've been treated throughout the years and disregarded because our vocal concerns about the flooding even before this storm even before this development was even thought of all of this continued development flows into this Basin am I done okay thank you um is Bradford here Branford public horse please talk with the lady ma'am branford's going to branford's coming up he's going to he talk with you about the flooding I know we have teams out in dat City right now this today looking at this have been but want to take your specific situation take a look at next person Patrick Knight good morning my name is Patrick Knight I live at 47

37423 more Drive in the Hickory Hills neighborhood uh thank you for allowing me to speak on this issue uh my first comment is um I actually built a new home in Hickory Hills uh it was my retirement dream home and uh it was you know 60 70 feet above sea level I I didn't want it to live anywhere around water and uh the field behind me was high and dry you know uh all around me was high and dry U but uh this dream home has turned out to to be actually the opposite and uh I'm presenting to you some questions uh my first question is uh since we're still having a lot of flooding uh the flooding actually came to the edge of my foundation and uh there was uh some resolution with the U uh TR the tanker trucks coming in and uh that really helped a lot it helped helped reced the water but uh that that that was stopped abruptly and there was there's still water in my yard and erosion on the back of my property but uh what I'd like to know is what measure is the county now doing to purge flood waters from Hickory Hills apparently some steps were taken uh a few weeks ago but then it it stopped you know and I called the county and they said uh FEMA was out of money that's that's what I was told or or FEMA stopped and I don't think that that was a that's what I understand not a FEA is issue and I'd also like to know what measures is the county taking to prevent this from happening again I mean uh do pumps covers uh a storm waterer system is really needed in Hickory Hills and I'd also like to know uh what steps are being taken to ensure mon Side Drive construction and new development at tar Woods will not affect future flooding with all this enhanced elevations it's only going to exacerbate the problem and my last comment is uh why did this happen water drained from the lake Javita area four days after the hurricane there was no water behind us and all of a sudden flooding occurred so apparently this water was coming from somewhere else and I I was uh someone from the county on YouTube said that uh it was actually draining from the lake Javita area so I'd appreciate any comment on that thank you for your time all right so sir we don't comment in public comment but I we'll tell you the team is out there looking at it today we're looking for a long-term solution if you would go out the gentleman just went out there Branford and Jason uh talk with them please thank you next person Mar gar maren had asked me an extra five minutes she's an HOA president from Beacon Point Beacon Park so thank they have the PowerPoint up you don't have additional time for group you can the board can grant it but in public comment there's no additional time all

right so I'd like to give it's okay with the board give her five minutes she wants to speak for the whole association okay that's the resoning it's the second one okay next okay this is what I'm going to be talking about today uh my my name is Moran gark I live at 8620 regal lane Hudson Florida I'm currently the HOA president of the Estates and reserves of Beacon Woods I'm here today representing our community to share the frustrations of our community as it pertains to the construction of Beacon Park you'll notice that up there in the corner my objectives here today A Brief uh history of our community update the Board of Commissioners regarding the disruption and negative impacts on the construction phase of Beacon Park causing our Community sharing the annoyances that we have witnessed and the various disregards by the developer the employees and their various contractors engaged in this construction and lastly understand the County's approach to resolving these issues brief history we're found off of Hudson and Little Road the Estates and reserves and we're an established development of 35 years young with 480 homes paying property tax to Pasco County until a few years ago we were a golf course community Community we know no longer Matt lman closed the Links golf course Beacon Park is a development behind our houses on the north northwest side of the Estates of Reserve this development has passed a mirrored reviews needed to proceed with such development eventually eventually being approved by this very same Board of Commissioners today I'm here to discuss how the lack of taxpayers are being negatively how the taxpayers are being negatively affected by Pasco County's lack of success enforcing the approved plans set by these Board of Commissioners the permitted plans approved directed all construction routes to go from Beacon Point development off Aqua Clara and not the Estates and reserves on Tennyson and Poe if you'll note right here Aqua Clara that little yellow strip is 0.11 miles to the Beacon Park the blue and the purple going in are just under a mile for the Construction route that they're taking now and they're not supposed to be taking that currently the developer is using Tennyson and po as the entrance to circumvent the County planning and development plan that was agreed upon Construction route the developer is using hauling trucks Vehicles dump trucks 18 wheelers with diesel sod dirt and sand throughout our community I'm I'm also going to be submitting this presentation I have me emailed it to uh Gina and you'll see our Roots here Aqua claro was the agreed upon access point for the developers despite our efforts early summer of 2024 contacting County officials Commissioners sir uh sheriff's department and Pasco C uh code enforcement amongst many emails we have not prod we have not seen any produced tangible results Confusion by the county the county officials and the developer initially claimed that they had the

right to go through the Estates and reserves wasn't until December 23 of 24 that David Engel County employee produced the agreed upon Construction route and I quote the 2022 Mass grading permit conditions and the only hall route for this project is aqua Clara Drive accordingly David Engel sent out the notice to the Builder to cease and assist all traffic on this on our entrance well during the holidays our community experienced a significant disruption over 180 dump trucks entered and exiting carrying loads of dirt sand Diesel and causing Road messes the construction vehicles are still using our neighborhood today our residents remain concerned we have property damage to at least three properties that I know of the maintenance on our roads no videos have been taken by the county or the developer for our roads but they were taken for aqua Clara the developer will not return phone calls to our residents that have damage we've called for noise ordinance and we have loud machines running day and night and oh by the way the screeching alarms at 5:30 are even on Sundays that's also a code violation we've had hazardous conditions we've had uh persistent speeding contractor Vehicles hitting hitting almost hitting a resident with his dog and the contractors parking on our streets making it difficult for our our residents to maneuver around significant dropping of sand and dirt still continues and now there's mud environmental conditions we've got diesel leaks all over our roads and in the packet you will see the diesel marks on our roads what was the County's response it's been minimal the county has responded to a limited lip service in emails setting plastic barricades street sweepers last week for the mud and conducting one week of traffic evaluations none of these actions have changed the behavior of the developer the employees or the various contractors they're using um our homeowners are expected to follow the laws we're held accountable to the various code enforcements so should that developer be held for those same the county agencies have not held this developer accountable nor have they enforced these plans agreed upon by you so I leave you with this is it unreasonable to ask when will the developer be held accountable for this greed upon permit and how will our homeowners know these expectations for the county codes for these laws to be implemented for this developer and why are there not concrete barriers stopping in the developer today I appreciate your um uh your time for listening to us thank you maren I've got David Allen in the back David Engle here as well uh they're ready to go meet with you when your board members downstairs to talk it for further and I will I'll just say to the board this developer is the worst one I've ever dealt with they have been rude they've been just ignored everything and trying to take advantage of where they could use a local Road

they say to get into it instead of using the construction road that was given to them in a very in a very positive way compared to what they were supposed to go on Buffalo Drive initial so it's it's very very tough in the residence if there's any more of my residents from my community I saw one or two come in come with us thank you thanks thank you thank you very much thank you Daren and Victor Lumis good morning how yall doing this morning okay I'm not doing too good uh my name is Victor lemis I live at 12518 Fort King Road in Dade City Florida and I'm here to address the continued flooding on the access road to my house we have no entrance no exit uh commissioner Marina was gracious enough to come out and inspect and View and uh we address the problems and I just want to reaffirm that this is a safety hazard we have been locked out of our property for four months there's no access for emergency medical emergency fire if there's a fire if there is a heart if I die you're carrying me out in a body bag we have to get this water off the road your constituents need to have access to their property you know this is the United States of America the most wealthiest richest country in the world and we're living like we're in a third world country I don't think that's acceptable I hope you all don't think that's acceptable all my neighbors on Moore Road and Hickory Hills are fighting the same battle and we need a short-term resolution immediately and a long-term resolution in the future and I don't think that's asking too much you know I'm at the point now where the train is leaving the station here at Pasco County and it's heading up 75 and it's not going to stop until it gets to the governor's desk so I'm asking you be part of the solution not part of the problem thank you thank you Tim I I'm going to say Elden of on Apache Street who's after that Scott wsmith smooth yeah okay Mr Tim or Tom Tom FR Tom Tom FR um here representing bmar Acres Club Incorporated and we are a 1673 unit mobile home park in sepher Hill Florida okay uh may I pass out a handout a motion some move second all fa say I I any post I think I think you have seven right okay um are we came here to make an appeal to this board okay um we would like this board to address our issue our issue is we believe that Mike Wells the Pasco County property appraiser is charging us non-ad valorum special Assessments in violation of Florida statute 193 okay the packet has numerous handouts I've been fighting this since January of 2024 okay and one of the handouts uh then attorney general Charlie Chris back in 2024 said that the Florida legislature

had the correct idea and not charging common area properties of a subev for non-ad vorm taxes and the reason they didn't do that is so they could not be sold at a tax auction we have been paying this for years okay nobody anybody I've talked to hasn't helped us with this issue okay the property appraisers office says this statute Florida 193 doesn't pertain to them okay um Jordan wolfg Graham one of your attorneys stated to me that statute 193 doesn't apply and she quoted me a case on the city of Gainesville versus the state and the department of transportation that case does nothing more than to support our case that these taxes are charged to us in air because that case ruled that the city of Gainesville could charge these utility fees and we're not arguing the fact that these fees have to be paid in Pasco County we understand that all we're saying is that they should be spread over all our development and that Gainesville case said that the state if were they were charg the utility fee as a utility fee would have to pay it but if they're charged it on the as a non edor special assessment they were exempt from paying it and that's the same contention that we're making we our request is to be placed on the the March agenda so that we can discuss this further and to have an opinion you will have time to digest that then and then we'll have an opinion from you guys okay as the reference in this matter we do not want to go to litigation to be clear we understand that the county has to have a certain amount of money in order to run what we're saying is the wrong parties are being charged name address the lot owners need to be charged instead of Corporation as a Scott walkth 36919 Tera a Zephyr Hills thank you m sir you can keep coming if you want yes it clearly states in the statute it says the value of each parcel of land that is or been part of a platted subdivision that is designed on the plat or approved plat as a common element for the exclusive benefit of the lot owner shall regardless of ownership be prated by the property appraiser and included in the assessment of the Lots within the subdivision which constitute inventory for the developer or are intended to be conveyed in this case they have been conveyed into private ownership for the exclusive benefit of the lot owners within the subdivision that's a lot written by lawyers for lawyers to interpret but our interpretation of this law is the Count's entitled to its money they're just charging the wrong parties okay and we would like that straightened out all right we'll get with our County attorney the office to review it I mean obviously I've never seen this document before and just hearing of this for the first time so it's going to take some time to look at it but we'll have them reach our County attor to reach out to you and set a meeting up to to review it thank you very much thank you so much thank you Eric Clayton name is Eric Clayton live at

12704 Green Oak Lane uh in Hickory Hills and I'm here to speak on the the flooding in the Hickory Hills area I wasn't supposed to have to deal with this um my house was flooded in 2004 my dad fought this fight uh he's since passed so now I'm fighting this fight um we were told then that it was a 100-year flood and that it would never happen again and then this Melton comes through and dumps an outrageous amount of water on uh the community and now it's a 200-year flood U Mr Oakley and Mr Marino both have been out to my property to see where this water lays at and where it's supposed to be moving and I think you both know at the moment that the water isn't moving this all backs up to Mr Lumis property and all the other people in Hickory Hills and if we could fix the elevations this water would move through out to 301 under 301 and all the way to the wuchi river where it's supposed to I realize it's not as simple as how I'm saying it and there's a lot of things that go into getting this done I'm also aware that to grow a community you have to build well when you build you take away the Earth and you put in concrete the concrete can't absorb like the Earth can I'm not opposed to growth what I'm opposed to is that we need to fix the things that we can fix before we do this growth it's that's how communities in you know grow I get that I would just like you guys to remember us you know in 2004 it was um commissioner Shader you know we're going to get this fixed I have spent many a day with Mr Oakley who's been gracious enough to hear me out over the past five to 10 years uh and you know we're going to get this fixed I would just like to see a little follow through you know in the near future um just a lot of people being affected by this and I again I I know it's a a bigger task than I'm making it out to be but just a little push to get things done before we build more would go a long way I appreciate you guys letting me speak today thank you uh Robert Tucker morning Robert Tucker 37451 more Drive Hickory Hills I just want to reiterate what Mr Clayton just said other than the fact that I've been in the neighborhood for 32 years in 1998 we had a flood the water Rose to a level that was reasonable I would say no one really lost their homes at that time to my knowledge the water flowed out under the Railroad Bed that all of you are familiar with and know that it's there between 98 and 2004 the property owners on the east side of that Railroad Bed went through reconfigured the drainage Outlet ditch actually added soil backfilled and so in 2004 when we flooded the water had nowhere to go it could tried to go but it couldn't because it was being impeded by the one cover excuse me the one C and the elevation changes on the east side of that Railroad Bed So at that time the county came in they placed pumps graciously and they pumped 247 until they got the water

down where it needed to be after that the county came in and added another covert and at that time we were told this would never happen again well here we are and the reason the C the Cs are there but the water's sitting in the Cs because it cannot flow because of the elevation changes on the other side of the railroad bed and no one seems to want to address that so that's my question is why and thank you for your time Janice [Music] stuffy hi Janine Duffy 5550 Front Drive Holiday Florida so I'm I everybody's in such a mood today which I understand but these are exciting times ahead we um we have a new president who is for the people um fighting for American values and putting Citizens first um and since you proudly call yourselves Trump supporters um I know it is safe to assume that you will follow his lead correct um the residents of Pasco County are looking forward to seeing the great things you're all going to do to support president Trump's Vision lower our taxes audit the budget dis dismantle mosquito control protect our land and water stop resoning a 5-year moratorium on all residential development to catch up on severely lacking infrastructure help those flooded by our overdevelopment adequate services for mental health and addiction last but not least a full AI audit on every Department in our County let's start there thank you for making these a priority and moving in president's Trump's speed we are looking forward to the changes we are in a new year and I think it's time for everybody to flip the switch act like Republicans do what the people ask things are happening at the top they're going to come down let's meet in the middle I'm trusting that you're all going to from now on make better decis decisions for your residents that live here we've been crying out for years thank you Donna Deo which we call back for there come back to it okay uh Lisa Moretti morning pleas mer 16331 Iola Woods Trail sorry about my voice I'd like to draw your attention to the recent Planning Commission meeting because unfortunately it turned into something of a circus it was a quasa Judicial hearing on the Evans 8 project and the disrespect shown to our commissioners and our County staff by the applicant was simply remarkable um at the end of the meeting I approached the applicant to say please come back to the table for a community meeting and sit down with us so we can find a solution that will work for everybody at which point he began screaming at me and trying to bully me which I don't take well I don't believe in bullying you I don't believe in bullying our staff and I certainly don't believe in bullying me and so I stood up for myself downstairs I was in the hallway just standing by the bathroom

and he again came up to me and got in my face and bullied me again that's unacceptable in our County during a quasa Judicial hearing also people that are affected parties should have the right to respond to things that are said that wasn't allowed and we run meeting in a very prescribed Manner and so when the applicant is constantly jumping up to the podium when not being asked to come is not acceptable I felt so badly for Mr Goldstein because the applicant talked over him and was rude to him was rude to Mr Engle it was absolutely deplorable behavior and I think it's unacceptable in our County so I'd like to remind you all that we're stakeholders too that we care deeply about where we live and we care deeply about what you do and how we all can work together so I'm hoping that you will ask the applic representative I get it he's supposed to represent his client and he does it in the best way he thinks possible but bullying you bullying this community that's not the way to do it on another note I'd also like to add to the growing body speaking about flooding issues the folks over in King Lake and part of the connected CI still have issues there too so I hope that you'll also consider them in when you address what kind of things are going on in the county thank you so much D Donna Deo yep I would like to speak about the flooding oh I'm sorry name and address support the record okay my name is Donna Deo Stanford family property and my address is 8 621 Aaron cut off okay and um I just would like to speak about the flooding that we were we're having over off of a Aaron cut off and it it was definitely we had the storm and by that this point it should have subsided but it did not and um come to find out Aaron had these big pumps pumping property pumping to my Lake okay their water cuz they didn't care about us they only cared about theirselves now Mr waitman I understood that you stopped the pumps the first time but lonard did not listen to you you did not keep a watch on it I guess some way the watch didn't keep on it well they started pumping again and they pumped a lot my son rode out in his kayak it was up to his knees one day the next day once y'all shut the pumps off again you went out there and made them take them out okay they're down to my son's ankles what is that telling you the water's starting to subside now the county allowed lenar Holmes I'm sorry I was out speaking to somebody um the county allowed lenar Holmes to pump the water on into my Lake okay and the it's going like they have the property tilted there which we're still going to have problems because of the way the engineers allowed lenar holes to build there I mean so you're going to have problems on Aaron C off every time something happens you know an event but most of the times I've lived out there that area my family has for a long time since

1975 okay so I've never seen this I realize a hurricane came through but there was other hurricanes and storms and stuff okay I'm 71 years old and I've seen other things so I just want you to know kind of under your St Steward chip y'all kind of felt us cuz y'all didn't keep making sure that the pumps were not pumping cuz one and there was no filters on these pumps and now there's a bacteria in my leg so there is pollution which I'm not happy with it so I want to thank you for shutting them off the first time but the fact that someone did not keep check on it cuz the water probably would have been down more that my son found it about three weeks ago I'm sure you've probably I've tried to talk to you this but you've seen the film that KY took and I mean that's proof of that lenar caused it and by this point it you would have never had to have trucks out there pumping on air and cut off never it's never happened like that and that that's my opinion okay very nice to let me speak thank you thank you Mr chairman that's all we have signed up in advance there are none online is there any anyone else here from the public that would like to speak sorry come right up sir and if anyone else would like to speak please line up behind this gentlemen others will end public comment go into the queue after this first of all I'd like my name is Jack two Brenda to at 310 Diana Drive and uh you guys have a heck of a job I wouldn't want it I want to thank you for your service first and foremost uh I'm not here to complain about something uh I want to bring something to your you're aware of it you guys know the homeless situation in the county uh we have a not for profit that we started uh we want to comply all zoning and coding so so we would like to get direction from uh our commissioner in district one and U see if they can help us find property that would be suitable for me to build a shelter uh and maybe even help with the property um nobody wants a homeless shelter in their backyard and uh but you know they still they need to love and they need a place to stay so basically I'm just I'm in the season of my life where I want to back and I need your guidance so I love some of our credentials uh if I give them to them or give to commissioner Oakley whichever you prefer move approval take fa I yeah I'll take them thank you yes sir appreciate your time thank you uh so we're going to end public comment in here is there anyone else on online somebody standing over there oh I'm sorry hello thank you for allowing me to talk my name is Paula chakon I live at 12526 for King Road and um my property is sitting in a 10.4 acre as this water it's been flooded it my road is unaccessible for the past four months the only thing I have available at my house is maybe unless is in an acre that's where my house is

sitting um we've been struggling to go through a back doors house through a neighbor to another neighbor to get to my house um we had to put our way our dogs had to be gone for our property because it was not safe for them now at this point the water has to smell there's so many mosquitoes my husband has to go get propane on his own and water for us to cook and to drink and it's not safe I have health issues and in case I would have to get an emergency call there's no way the fire department or the ambulance will be able to go in there and I really like ask for you guys to help us because it's been four months that we have no access through our road we have no access to the waste management we have to be carrying out the garbage somewhere else and I really ask you guys to help us with all this thank you thank you for your time and listening to us Mr chairman uh the group that was outside has moved downstairs the speaking to this you might want to go down and join them want me to downstairs yeah the group you might go they they move downstairs because it was too loud okay I'm okay all right so that'll close public comment inside here is there anyone else online no sir okay I I'll just make a quick statement just to let everyone know that uh our team is at actually working very actively commissioner Oakley he's helped me on my side I'm helping him on his side uh we're all working together to try to solve these issues not only for the shortterm which is critical because we don't want to see an ex exacerbation of the problem that we had last year with the storms coming in but also for the long term as well and they're actively working on us right be patient with us as we as we try to go through it you are being you are being listened to ENT um okay FAL Clos public comment now is the time for resolutions yes sir resolution number 25116 a resolution by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida presenting the 5A High School's fire science program with the donation of a E1 typhoon fire pumper as a token of appreciation for the program's partnership in promoting fire Science Education and exposure to the career path to the Youth of Pasco County whereas the Pasco County Board County Commissioners recognizes the importance of education and Workforce Development especially in the fields of Public Safety and emergency response and whereas the fire science program at 5A high school has demonstrated a strong commitment to providing highquality educational opportunities for students interested in pursuing careers in firefighting and emergency services and whereas this program has fostered valuable Rel uh Partnerships with local fire service professionals agencies and organizations in Pasco County strengthening Community engagement and support for public safety education and whereas 5A high schools fire science program has contributed significantly to the development and exposure of the next

generation of fire service professionals and Public Safety leaders and whereas the Pasco County border of County Commissioners desires to support and enhance the educational efforts of the fire science program at 5A high school and whereas as a token of appreciation for the programs outstanding contribution to the youth at Pasco County and its dedication to promoting fire Science Education the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners has agreed to donate an E1 typhoon fire pumper to the 5A High School fire science program now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida the said board hereby acknowledges and expresses its appreciation to 5A High School's fire science program for its outstanding contribution to to the education and career development of Youth of Pasco County recognizes the value of and encourages the continued partnership between Pasco County and 5A high school and donates a E1 typhoon fire pumper to 5A High School's fire science program as a symbol of its appreciation and an enhancement to the educational resources available to the students of the program this donation will assist in providing students with hands-on experience and training in the operation and maintenance of fire apparatus furthering the program's mission to prepare future fire service professionals done and resolved in regular session with a quorum pres voting this 11th day of February 2025 a motion move approval second second all in favor say I I okay all right well first of all I am honored and excited to bring present this resolution to you all today as a mom of five and someone who worked for the school board for the past 10 years um I'm a huge advocate of all theem and all the technical education opportunities that our students have I want to thank uh Pasco fire rescue for donating the fire truck to our students so they have Hands-On learning experience while you guys are training to be firefighters my son is in the cadet program and every Monday he comes back so excited and just learning so much so I want to say thank you to Pesco fire rescue and 5A high school for everything you do inside the classroom and outside the classroom and I want to thank you for in investing in our youth our future firefighters it does not go unnoticed so thank you okay thank you commissioner uh Ryan Gwen fire chief um first of all I have to start by thanking everybody in the county that made this possible it's not just fire rescue you for the resolution the entire board for uh this isn't the first donation we've made with 5A this is a continuing relationship that we've had and it's been super beneficial thank you Miss Gina for getting the resolution on thank you for Fleet for helping us find the apparatus and be able to donate uh you know it really is a Monumental task to get to this point so um but we're proud to have this relationship we've worked with 5A

they are trying to grow inhome Pasco County firefighters and that's exactly what we want and that's exactly what we look forward to so it's been a great relationship so far we've enjoyed it um and we can we hope to continue it so with that I'd like to give Dr Romano a second thank you so good morning and we just are here to show our sincere gratitude thank you Mr chairman Commissioners and staff um on behalf of Pas Pasco County schools and the 5A high high school fire science academy I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude for the generous donation of this fire truck this contribution significantly enhances our training capabilities and provides our students who are here with us today with invaluable Hands-On experiences our long-standing partnership with the Pasco County fire rescue has been instrumental in the in the success of the 5A High School fire science academy we um several years ago when I first came on board in the uh director position of recurent technical education um fire chief Gwyn and our team and his team went up to to alacha County and learned about their program there and brought that back and it's been a long-standing partnership um since the very beginning we are deeply appreciative of fire chief Gwyn and his team's unwavering support and dedication to our program their commitment has been a Cornerstone in preparing our students for future careers in fire service I would now like to introduce Lieutenant Smith our fire science academy instructor and his students who will now share a brief word of gratitude thank you again for your supported this program good morning Commissioners my name is Lieutenant Steve Smith I'm the instructor at 5A High School's fire science program on behalf of the staff at Pasco County Schools Career Technical education program and 5A high school I want to extend our deepest appreciation to Pasco County fire rescue for their extremely generous donation of a fire engine to support our program this is more than just a vehicle it's a transformative gift that will profoundly impact on our students uh education and future careers thank you again Pasco County fire rescue for your continued and unwavering support without your support our program would not be as successful the Practical hands-on experience this fire engine provides is invaluable while a fire hydrant offers a basic understanding of water pressure the fire engine allows us to simulate a wide range of realistic firefighting scenarios our students will gain Mastery of crucial techniques including hos line Evolutions pump operations and emergency vehicle familiarization skill simply impossible to teach effectively without this equipment this enhanced training will not only increase their competency and confidence but also significantly significantly improve their job prospects upon graduation your contribution represents a vital investment in the future of our community by equipping our equipping our

students with the highest quality training you're directly enhancing Public Safety thank you again for your unwavering commitment to 5A high school and our community your support is greatly appreciated I'd like to introduce two of my firefighter three students Maya Amerson and Ryan Mel to speak about our program and appreciation of the donation [Applause] hello I'm uh Ryan m i a student at 5 high school 5 fire3 I want to give our our appreciation to our fire truck as we were learn basic operations of pump operations um how we're going to set up our engine how engine set in Pasco County and how to work not work on a fire engine sorry on how we do our pre-checks for an engine check our equipment everything like that and like I said Thank You final rescue and thank you for yall for your support thank you job all right Mr Oley yes sir thank You' all for coming and uh it's just great news to continue hearing good things happening with our firefighters your support as your Radu in students into the world of work and do the things and already been trained I know is going to Chief W and his team are looking forward to using them because I think they've already started the dshift and uh more and more and more things are happening to the good for our citizens of Pasco County so for all of you I appreciate and support everything that you're doing to make firefighting better for our citizens thank you Mr W thank chair you know what a great way to retire a piece of equipment put it back to work so Chief and JJ and everybody thanks for thinking outside the box and partner with the school system um you know there's a pipeline coming out of Pasco schools and very glad to see that y'all are trying to capture those who are eager and and want to serve and uh continue their life's journey here in Pasco County so thank you all I like to say I greatly appreciate this program uh 58 near near and dear to my heart my two girls graduated there and had a great time there thank you Eric all right um and this program is exciting to me when when I first started back in 2004 we had firefighters we had EMS sometimes we're cross Train sometimes not we Tred to push to make that broad spectrum across and I think with this all the improvements where no more volunteers everyone's paid the careers are good and now with the dshift even better we can do so many other things in your life as well as being a firefighter to to give you a great quality life I'd like to see how how we're going along the line maybe you can educate me a little bit more Lieutenant um I would like to see a program that we could put together that when they actually graduated high school they could be ready to go almost to be fully certified maybe not all the EMS but the other parts of it to be done because if you can set that stage up it's a little expensive and time consuming to actually go through that whole process but I

think as a fire fire fighter supporters as we all are that if we can help make it to that next level up even if we got to do some more enhancements to the program we'd I'm sure we'd like to see that happen to help these guys get at least the firefighting part done and let them go work on the EMS while this while they're working or something um we're open to that discussion every step of the way all right all right all right you guys want to um stand here we'll take a picture yeah with somebody I guess we'll stay up here you get stand next to me I made the right decision 00 before last night [Music] all right one more one more all [Applause] right 100% behind you thank you thank appreciate thanks for helping it is J it's the allar that com thank you there's a quite a few parchments on that on this s Mr chairman uh members of the board just to for the record note that the donation on the resolution is also contingent on c22 on the consent agenda that's upcoming nothing like pressure [Laughter] okay you ready for the next one we're ready for next public comment yes a very special one here all right resolution number 25117 a resolution by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida commending the 2024 star performer star leader and Star Team of the Year if they're present if they could come forward whereas each year Pasco County recognizes a star performer of the Year star leader of the year and Star Team of the Year from each branch and whereas Hannah brilley Wade bed Wade bed Ward uh Larry arcade Patricia Christ Yingling and Sergeant Michael Brady have been selected to receive the 2024 star performer of the Year award and Karen Stanley Eric Jacobson Scott Brown Christopher dutter and Captain David G G garolo have been selected to receive the 2024 star leader of the Year award 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 so many so that so many so that singling out just a few teams would have understated the work our team did for the community for this reason the 2024 Star Team of the Year award will be shared by all Pasco County team members and whereas for an organization to become Premier it must attract grow and support a Workforce of servant leaders that are dedicated to improving the lives of people contribute to a purpose larger than their individual job and perform at the highest possible level day in and day out and whereas these 2024 award recipients consistently demonstrate Pasco County's core values through an impeccable work ethic dedication to service excellence and achieving quality outcomes in every situation they serve as an example to their fellow team members of going above

and beyond and exemplify the expectations of star performer of the year star leader of the year and Star Team of the Year now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida the said board hereby congratulates our 2024 Star Award winners for Pasco County and commends them for outstanding efforts in serving our community to create a better future denim resolved in regular session with the Forum president voting this 11th day of February 2025 approval second all in favor say hi hi hi Larry glad to see you made it back one time one time during the storms one time we're out in Green Key and uh this gentleman's on his ground reaching into a tube to go see if the water is Flowing or not so um I just want to say Mike carella uh before you speak I want just say a couple of things you know Pasco County I want to say right now is Premiere we're going to get better and better and get better but we are Premiere I want to say everywhere I go we talk about the storms and what went through and what every team leader every team person all the way through the people with that you work with every day uh the people are thrilled with what that response was every step of the way and I know all the things we're working on and we're going to deal with growth issues and flooding issues and all the things we're still working on but that makes us striving to get better and better which we're going to continually do but I want to just say that I think that you can feel good about how the people are perceiving what's going on in this County and a in a positive positive way so I want to thank you and all your team members for all the great work you're doing Mike y thank you thank you thank you um this is phenomenal and I think that it's it's wonderful that this is happening on the heels of Employee Appreciation day where we showed our employees how much we how much they really mean to us but this group behind me right here really excelled uh they excelled as As Leaders they've excelled as as individuals in their careers and as the resolution points out it was so difficult to really pull a team together after what what happened last year we we actually learned the meaning of team I would say that we all we all worked together broke down silos and barriers it was simply amazing but again I can't say it enough that the support of the board uh here with these folks here um is is just phenomenal as you as you say Mr chair that is it helps us get to where we are where we are in in being Premier so I just I thank you I thank the board for this recognition rley y I can tell you um I know we're getting Premier when we got these kind of leaders leading for our staff and our staff they can tell you and I know each one of them would say that their team behind them is the best so it wouldn't wouldn't rise everybody to the top without a great team behind us all so I appreciate everything y'all done during these times and um Never Say Never because there will be some back

because it continues to happen but our staff and our employees seem to step up when it's time to step up and do the right job so I thank you all for that Mr wait thank chair you know you can work about anywhere you want to in this country and the fact that you all chose to come to work in the public service field you know likely taking a pay cut for what the private sector is doing right now just means a lot and we represent the citizens of Pasco County and also you as well and so thank you for choosing to work for Pasco work for the the folks here and you can rest assured that day in and day out you have some support of this board to help do your job as effectively as you can as safely as you can and try to have a level of a work life balance that makes your work life and your private life good so hopefully we continue on that Trend here in Pasco County and congratulations to everyone countywide uh on your wonderful work this last year and looking forward to see what we can accomplish in 2025 commissioner y I just want to say thank you for your sacrifice thank you for your service and your dedication to Pasco County we are the premier County and I'm I'm super proud of um our fire rescue and all of our um First Responders and again I'll just say that thank you for the great service you're doing uh I know you got great team members behind you but we greatly appreciate every you did and congratulations being recognized by your peers uh Mike I've got eight flyers and two plaques so you going to help me out to B these out I think just with so many stay up here again unless you want to come down yeah we'll [Applause] stay stand here guys right wants to be in the middle [Music] camera almost get everybody's okay Now's the Time for the consent agenda we have white item C15 has been withdrawn are there any other items to be withdrawn or pulled seeing none can have a motion to approve move approval second all in favor say I I I any opposed okay and now we have a Time C for 11 o'clock Mr Cronin you should right good morning everyone happy Tuesday it's uh Bill Cronin Pasco EDC it's my pleasure to present to you um the quarterly reports for our final Q4 of last fiscal year and q1 of this year and because we're doing both at once I'm going to go through them fairly rapidly and make sure that we've got enough time for for Q&A afterwards oops okay that's not yeah the the Powerpoints not the metrics reports that's all right so while he's doing that I'll just I'll share there's one we finished off last year really well um probably one of the most important things that people want to look at that's that's q1 can we get Q4 they want to know how we did with the um the jobs and projects the capital

investment coming into the community uh with the growth that we've got coming in so it looks similar to the to the other one but it's Q4 [Music] okay verbally I'll tell you as as they're looking for it uh last year we finished the year with 14 wins and WIS our companies uh uh projects either new companies coming into Pasco County or uh expansions where we're competing with other places in the United States and the key driver for those are are always jobs and capital investment coming in new jobs to Pasco County uh our goal last year was 14 uh we hit it and it was pretty much right almost at the very end of the fiscal year so we did we set our bar just about right uh we ended up with 1182 new jobs for the community for last fiscal year and um $360 million of new capital investment and that uh Sub sub went over our goal of $250 million for the year so that one we're really proud of and that's uh that's new bricks and mortar that's new capital investment in terms of machines uh things that we get to keep here in this community that go on our tax rols and also offset uh the taxes that our residents have to pay and of that there we go and you'll remember uh that was an announcement um that we made for bedo I believe or was that um I'm sorry my yeah that was uper Hills announcement go ahead and yep there we go so of the the pipeline and the activity that we've had you'll see most of it's still in advanced manufacturing but you see also Life Sciences creeping up 19% of our business recruitment activity a lot of that has to do with mafa and the the new cancer center in Sparrow campus coming in but also all the smaller uh spin-offs and a lot of it businesses that cross over with uh life sciences distribution Logistics we're seeing that go down a little bit uh we're still a big consumer state but we've got a lot of distribution centers already here and I think a lot of us don't necessarily want to see more and more of those large boxes up against our roads like some of our neighboring counties so that's actually good news there um we went out and again most of our time is still spent with our existing business about 80% of our programs are dealing with existing business to help them grow uh worked with with Career Source we actually made a referral for one of their programs company visits that's still our bread and butter that's when our our staff goes out meets the company looks under the hood understands what they're what they're up against what the obstacles they have how they can become more efficient uh last quarter at the end of the year we ended up with 82 direct company visits and then Workforce connections and this is where we work with our partners several of some them you've seen here today phsc am skills others to help make sure that our Workforce is getting trained we've made 37 connections for those programs

throughout the year uh $2.5 million and earned media value and that's when other people are telling our story so uh it's one thing when we tell the story you guys pay us to tell the story we're pretty much the marketting crew for business in the community but when the others uh media outlets and other Publications tell our story we know we're getting their attention uh website continues to get big hits I think it's always interesting to see what they're looking at uh ready sites is one of the those that they continue to look at but you look at where they're coming from uh California New York Georgia Virginia and Texas now three of those uh are pretty high tax states and you know why they're looking at our area but some of them are competitors in the same industries that that we are so it's not unusual for them to look at places that does the same Industries pretty well uh engagement and followers still growing up there that doesn't really shrink people don't really leave uh the engagement once they start following our social media and those resources and getting the news out to events and seminars industry peer organizations uh we still do a lot of that getting out doing public speaking making sure people know what resources are available here and they know what kind of a business community that we have uh that photo you might remember was uh end of last year one of our staff members received the um uh young innovators award the Dan Webster award from the state uh still really proud of our our team to get these Statewide recognitions uh as individuals makes our team that much stronger and then uh where are we with our stakeholders well we've got almost a hundred now investors that's the private sector uh folks that come alongside us and help to invest and offset that burden from the taxpayers so that uh they understand what we do as economic development and helps their businesses grow as well too uh into the year we ended up raising 584,000 of private investment uh from local companies that support our mission and then uh i' would say also from the penny for Pasco I'll just dive right into it and uh leave some time at the end for for U Q&A my tech of course we we had an announcement with one of our sites there uh double Branch Ranch which is corner of U 52 and I75 I'm sorry double Branch uh is now you see the moving dirt that should be going vertical here soon with a couple of new spec buildings going on site and we're continuing to get visits and inquiries on the ready sites program you saw last year we had over 24 inquiries 29 responses to rfps people that were looking for sites to move their companies presentations to Consultants 22 and then seven site visits that's when they actually come want to look at the site kick dirt and we know they're really serious at at that point those are all really good numbers for us um internationally we joined with global Tampa Bay to host a trade mission to uh Vancouver uh one of your Commissioners

joined us on on that event uh we also had a meeting in Mexico City with IMC followed by one-on-one appointments for foreign direct investment and did some speaking events down there as as well too uh export counseling 60 uh that's where we're actually teaching companies how to export how to find markets overseas get their products out and make more money and bring it back here to Pasco County so we had the one trade mission for the year which is our our goal which was the Vancouver uh this next year we'll we'll have one coming up here in just a few weeks and then trade related events throughout the year we had eight enhanced marketing continue to tell this story and this is over and above what we do in our general activities so when special things come out like a new ready site those things get uh additional marketing above what we would normally do and then Workforce connect it's still our bread and butter is our Workforce and our talent and that program uh has really become more of a tool uh we still call it a program but it's a tool that we use in almost all of our business retention and expansion efforts and our business recruitment cuz people want to know what we've got for a Workforce and how they can navigate that spectrum of Workforce training providers executive success program that was the last class so uh we phased out executive success program and the pen Network this Fisco year uh as we were asked to remain flat for the year in terms of of funding uh and as we're waiting for the ernston young uh strategy and rolling out some of those new recommendations making room for for that uh Smart Start continues to do great uh I think the the location here in D city with the food incubator seems to still be one of the most popular ones but I think uh the U holiday location is quickly coming up uh as being also as popular because we've got the maker space there the CNC machines 3D printers things like that and we hosted our very first rapid prototyping boot camp for inventors uh so they can go out and make their invention make a prototype and then they get access to that facility uh to use and train on the Machinery we expect to see more and more of that and that's U that's not limited to just people on the West Side that's countywide you can actually use that program and then uh events with Smart Start 983 participants throughout the year that's almost a thousand people in incubators and startups that are looking uh to grow their very small business a lot of people think that we just work with those big companies that do the groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings there's a thousand participants right there of those small companies that still need handholding and they need us to uh to work with them uh to grow their Market here there's nothing better than showing that you're helping your existing business and your startups especially when we're recruiting other companies of how we take care of our existing business it's the best testimonial that we have there's the team

and uh if you like i' go right into q1 so that uh okay can we get to okay sorry guys have you jumping through hoops today well that while that's coming up Bill when you mentioned the incum for food um Regency Park library's got a nice little setup there it might be good for them if they want to do an event to they could actually go up there and do it too yeah yeah so we've used uh some of the incubator members I think uh we had the event at um uh sun west last year we had some uh one of them catered the event we've also had a pitch competition at uh St Leo where one of the um uh incubator members won the pitch contest and now they actually have a bricks and water facility within the wellness center um it's one of my favorite programs out there of course I like to eat and I like the food that they turn out but uh it is something that is Deep In Our Roots in terms of Agriculture and food in the community too so it's nice to continue to work in that area yeah they they did a great job of this callest you had two actually two vendors cuz one could make it one of the nights but they were phenomenal every step of the way the food was delicious people loved it and good news is advent Health has already said they're going to sponsor it again so we've already we got a dates coming up so we're going to look forward to having again we'll get the word out so uh q1 again we had another ribbon cutting groundbreaking this case it was a ribbon cutting Gary line you might remember the uh company came last year well they're open and they're haven't added I mean they've got so many employees out there over uh 400 remember this had a uh uh uh a career day or a hiring day and they had them lined up around the block and this is the almost the most Northwest portion of our County to be able to show that much Workforce in that area really sent a powerful message to people that we we've got a skilled Workforce that is here and ready and they don't want to drive down to Tampa and St Petersburg every day to work so Bill how far ahead at the schedule were they filling up all the jobs we're going to go get oh um they ended up it it came so fast that they needed to bring in extra people just to get through the applications they really didn't anticipate they were going to fill them that quick we were way ahead of schedule in that um and they were they're very surprised in the process too so um yeah speed to Market is important for these companies when they're coming in so everything from you how how quickly we get the ground ready permitting but hiring training all of that because up until then they're not making any money so the all of these things are important that's where we all come together as a as a team uh so far this quarter five wins already if you look at the jobs and the capital investment numbers they seem pretty anemic and let me tell you that of those five two of them we haven't reported the jobs numbers and the the capital investment so next quarter you're going

to see that we got a commitment from both of those winds already to expand and we're negotiating and probably without incentives going to be able to get those to expand even further one of those two wins I'll give you a little foreshadowing is a company that we know from Brazil that uh had originally committed to 400,000 square feet building we've got them at a million square feet now um so with a million square feet I don't know if there's media in the room still um million square feet we know there's going to be a lot more jobs coming to the community uh and capital investment that comes along with that but first and foremost will be that that footprint so 400,000 to a million uh and that's just in this last year that we've worked with them that they've said yeah we want to do more in Pasco we love you guys and we want to continue to see that grow so stay tuned a little foreshadowing there uh still heavy in in Advanced manufacturing Life Sciences um high-tech still up there and you see a good cross cross pollination between high tech and some of these other uh Industries they're kind of like peanut butter and jelly high-tech and Life Sciences now if you've been to the hospital as a doctor lately um you see all the tech that's involved with that well that means that there's jobs involved that you don't have to be a doctor but you can still be in life sciences that's really good for our community and our Career and Technical education uh programs uh already making referrals out to training programs and visiting companies like I said uh as far as last quarter 21 already this quarter and then um I don't know if you recall but I just showed you the um earned media value for last year it was 2.5 million for the entire year first quarter of this year we're already over $3 million and one of the reasons is one of our companies who started in our incubator started in our food incubator Y lasses and has the uh I'm giving them a commercial they've got bricks and mortar right across the street here um they were picked up by MSN and uh it got all over Nation Nation Nationwide news and uh over $3 million worth of hits really drove that up um with their extension um and the fact that uh she's a US Marine veteran as well too so go buy some some uh shortbread and show show some love we we really like to see those companies grow and expand and she's exporting now too internationally um still top Landing sites California uh Georgia New York Virginia same same locations that tells you they're still not taking care of those bu their business in some of those States and we're still getting uh uh the same growth and followers on regular social media too already attended 21 events uh this past p uh first quarter attended three conferences and seminars but made eight presentations to Industry groups and usually most of those groups are anywhere from 50 to a couple hundred people uh talking about Pasco and doing business in Pasco we're up to 101

we're a C3 we can educate and Advocate which we do um c6s can get out and do some true lobbying for it I think lots of times there's so much going on here that they just have to pick pick what their priority is and uh usually there's more than one priority for each legislative session so making sure that uh it's in those top one two or three for an organization sometimes is hard because there's so many things going on here but that's that's who I see as being uh the groups and manufacturers Association would be one as well too I'd just be curious to see the impact to say somebody like a whomever pick one who you think that might be the most impacted by and and see if they might be willing to share that information or have a discussion in uh maybe breakout session or something during the EDC or just oneon-one but um just find tangible taxes to be an interesting tax so thank you Bill no I think that would help us become more competitive that's for sure M rookley yeah I bill looks like you've had a great year and uh kind of busting at the seams which the whole county is with all the development and everything we've got but you know we've got I just heard here recently that we've had over 160 muds in the pipeline and so we're going looking for a bigger and better push in this year too because a lot of things are coming forward and along that comes a lot of good business good jobs for people in pasc good County where our citizens can live here play here and also work here close to home and that's what we want to get to be so we're so CL I think we are our Premier County because we offer an awful lot that we used to not offer and jobs was one of those so we' brought that up to the Forefront and I I think you'll see contined growth on that thanks commissioner I think it's it's really important for us to continue to focus on the job piece of those muts yeah a lot of people are seeing the growth around here and I think some are are panicked about uh uh the residential growth but once the employment center C piece of those MPS fills in and people aren't having to get on the road and drive to for their jobs that congestion will change and we want to keep that local I mean there's no sense that we should House people here and have the job somewhere else right we can't change a whole lot about some of those developments but we can sure make them look like they should look and we can architecturally and uh with landcape and those issues we can make that look like we want it to be and especially in East Pasco Count's got more growth than probably other areas right now in this County um we need to make it look like we want it to look and we're very ryal and we want to keep that atmosphere out there too y so thank you m oh you guys are doing a great job it's so exciting to hear all the projects and you know everybody um interested in our County and um we're one of the fortunate counties that we still have land so it's important you know I feel that you know we're not giving away our land that we really do the research before we you

know who we have come in our community so and what that looks like but thank you for all you do oh thank you commissioner we do brag about our Green Space as well too and for a lot of companies that that makes a big difference 84,000 Acres of protected Green Space is a pretty big deal um especially in a state that doesn't have that um we're one of the few places that has people and land and we take care of both well I like to say you're doing a phenomenal job as always I want to tell you about a couple of opportunities coming up um recently met with a container homes company that's thinking about where they wanted to locate happens to be a local person so I told them about the Hudson Industrial Park very interested in doing that because he a lot of a coastal impact that'll be there that he wants to kind of do it along that way um we're going to try to have some meeting coming up I think you might already been noticed on it another one coming up uh company called Energy Tech uh they're expanding commuter uh commercial launch of this sixth generation Vin sodium ion battery uh could be a huge thing for the nation um especially with trying to relay or you know get off the China supply all the way through new technology that's out our six Generations was not that new but uh up and coming that I think it's I want to definitely get your involvement so we get some State help uh to bring this one in you can count on it and thank you again you guys you're you're some of the best extensions of of our team and uh and we don't have to pay you you know I think uh you end up to be some of our best economic developers as as a commission but and of course our partners at the county too and one one suggestion I got for next year I know you can't do it now but uh on netfest I know it's coming up pretty soon it's going to be a big event uh yeah you happen to run it the same week as Chasco if you could maybe take a look next year and and try to avoid that it's on a Thursday which is not a bad night but uh there is a golf tournament going on which I'm I'll help and run but I'm going to do both but just it's going to be a little bit tight for me to get know we tried to do it a little earlier so it wouldn't be so hot um but yeah we'll take a look at that and maybe we can arrange for some uh back and forth between the two events as well we actually still could buy your cowboy hats and Boots now all right thank you again for all you do and your support thanks for the great work you're doing appreciate you all right take care thanks and your team okay so now we'll go to committee reports uh commissioner Oakley oh I have a few um had the opportunity to visit with the Advent Health this week they uh had a ribbon cutting on the new cath lab did we have some pictures or not maybe not if not oh there you go yep and that's in Zephyr Hills and Advent Health in Zephyr Hills so yep very new new very

new equipment and uh to get the job done so also I had um the ple speaking at the first first prian church in Dade City uh just gave them an outline what's going on in in East Pasco County based on the flooding that we've had and and a lot of the issues from this flooding so a lot of people think the flooding just started recently because we had more than a I heard somebody say this morning one in 200 year flood we actually had a one in 500 year flood um and it always floods when we have those kind of events here first time in my life during these floods that I saw the river actually come up to 301 and underneath 301 going to the west and that hadn't I've never seen that in my lifetime I've been here the entire 79 years so it's uh those things that happened then went on to the opportunity to go to the governor's lunching and uh there at the state fairer last Thursday and got to see uh my friend Wilton Simpson and uh others and uh Mr Moffett was named the uh citizen of the year in the Tampa Bay area and it was welld deserved so a lot of people there I see that uh some of them from D City that lived in Tampa for years but they like uh Tommy touchon that they just did the new uh park down here at coming in the south out of D City the new park he dedicated to his uh mother and uh for many years ago but that's that's a new design on that Park very well welcome um then we had U Pasco County Fire Services there we go more and more new firemen coming into Pasco County and the um the dshift is on its way so we're we're uh we're getting a lot of uh it's it's a total change within the last two to three years of our support with the firefighters and all that how we've changed people are wanting to come to Pasco County instead of being run off before two years ago we lost in public safety we lost like I think 72 um employees and this past year we only lost two so it's a big change and I I don't know what that number will be this year but it's I Haden heard that number yet but we've got a lot of Good Farming I know uh in that graduating classes this week there were some EMS and firefighters actually were coming from Plant City back into Pasco County and they actually live in Pasco County already so was just great to see that uh had the opportunity to participate in the Employee Appreciation day yesterday well I could tell you some secrets about that but probably I probably not need to talk about it but there was three men there from our staff that I'm not going to say what I said to them yesterday that wouldn't go over good but we had three Davids picking up trash so but they did a great job and stayed up with it uh it's like the Three Musketeers David Allen David Engel and and David G Team all working together and made a great team out there but all the staff and everybody that helped we certainly had a I think everybody had a great time especially in the what do you call that the puffball or something what is that ball that everybody's in uh cabala took a hit and

went on the floor and well he never made the floor cuz he's got this huge ball thing around him so but it was lot of fun watching that and seeing different ones to it um but just a great day and I think everybody really enjoyed it that's two years in a row at that park it I don't know why but that Park seems to allow us to be able to do that with you know feeding anywhere from uh 2500 to 3,000 people and I think they told me at one time they made to take out to different firemen and I they took out uh over 700 dinners to feed the fireman others that had to be working at the same time we had appreciation day so we surely thank everybody that took part in a great thing for Pasco County and this is the kind of thing that continues to make us Premier thank you it oh sorry I'll get my pictures ready to go very respectful and patient I appreciate that oh slightly humorous yes uh so good stuff yesterday Mike and and Team U enjoyed being the SLO man with uh commissioner jger watching my six as SLO the SLO lady SLO woman um that enjoyed seeing all the happy faces commiss Oakley's right I mean Chapel District park works out fantastic great offerings for all the employees to do all the different activities throughout the day I don't know if you have a headcount but it seemed like there was more participation this year than last year um just just beautiful weather a chamber of commerce day uh some more good news so Pasco count I don't know if Keith here thought I saw him maybe earlier but Pasco County um we're going to be hosting the 2026 Dixie s ball World Series at starky Park which is pretty cool and um you know as that event draws draws near want to make sure that it's a a fantastic experience the um Chris Nelson from the West Pasco girls fast pitch softball Association put at a bid and we won and so there's going to be um 18 teams from nine different states coming to the starky ranch District Park softball fields and and as we know you know we we're trying to balance the needs for fields and field space and softball if softball keeps growing it might be uh something we need to take a look at especially if we're starting the sports Coast brand takes off and we're starting to capture more you know notoriety and folks coming into the state from from out of state and uh so 18 teams from nine different states and also include four teams from Florida which is pretty cool and so that'll take place uh July 17th through 22nd and um so as that draws near for 2026 um you know hopefully we'll get some good pictures and notoriety out of that uh the last thing just to put on everybody's radar I don't know if goldstein's here but if I'm not sure you saw email but we have another live local act application quite frustrating uh going into an existing luxury apartment complex that sits directly uh West off Oakley Boulevard behind the Grove um it's a it's a really nice

complex as it stands today and it's a Canadian based company and uh they're looking to see to file their exemptions we'll see what the housing court from up and Tallahassee says and uh we'll take it from there but um you know the live local act uh isn't going away it seems and there's definitely holes in the program and uh significant unintended consequences especially for Pasco County and so since we're in the legislative session we have another real life example for our lobbyist to use and um you know maybe we get our delegation or somebody from up there to come look look at the complexes that are applying uh you know obviously they're going to want to come in and Target Wesley Chapel uh which has seemed to have been Ground Zero um you know it's the highest producing tax revenue District of the county commissions and I think they're just trying to find a way to gain the system so anyway just wanted to give an update there if I comment to that sure far away so and I say this wrong but on a land use decision we have all the flexibility we want in making a decision to for Denial on anything correct in the comprehensive plan you have legislative you have legislative discretion when you get to quasi judicial you have much less discretion right so that mean a zoning yes the zoning so I'm going I'm going to say I think we need to just at this point until we get this whole thing resolved from here on through we should put a hard stop on any Apartments coming in on land use decisions because you could get stuck some other the time down the road and just kind of let's send a message out there so we do have flexibility we can't do in zoning but we're going to do a land use so at least consider that and if we want to decide to go further with it then so be it but I think it's something we can do and we probably should send a message out there we don't want to see this live local stuff I think it's clear that we say no to the live local we've got it what we're seeing now is existing complexes what's it a fiveyear role or three-year role from when they had their Co essentially um I don't know how we deter that I mean well if you put a stop I mean if we so moving forward like what would be that line because you have projects in Q well you continue to opt out every year and then while they can apply if they if they are outside the target area if if you've opted out of live local then it's not discretionary for the property appraiser to give them the tax break and I can let David fill in the details for you but but but the first year we had issues because they didn't give us the ability to opt out we're now into it into the next year that when we had the when they modified the legislation the second term we can now pass those resolutions which the board has done but how do we do that to existing builds so the opt out applies to existing builds too so when we opted out

out so the particular apartment complex you're referencing the property appraiser intends to inform them that we've opted out and that the school board has opted out so as long as we can continue to opt out we should be generally safe on the tax side we're not safe on the land use side but on the tax side we're as long as that shimberg report still continues to show that we have a surplus and the Tampa Bay MSA which the last two years has showed that we have a surplus in fact we have an item coming com to you on the next agenda where we're going to opt out again this year because we still have a surplus so as long as we continue to have a surplus in that 80 to 120% of Ami range we can continue to opt out the other thing I want to add is on new land use approvals new imputes um anything that has multif family entitlements we make them wave the right to seek that tax tax exemption so to what commissioner Mariano's comments if the board goes that route and there's not inventory than what's our vulnerability in 12 to 24 months is that like I'm not sure I mean I'm not sure that's going to necessarily help you because you need to keep up your inventory the fact that we have a surplus is what allows us to opt out so if you stop allowing it completely at some point you may lose your Surplus and then you won't be able to opt out so I'm not my personal opinion is I don't think it's a good idea to necessarily say we're going to stop all multifam because you at least the way the legislature has structed structured it you need to still have a surplus in Tampa Bay MSA to be able to opt out so then industry would probably pivot and attack our industrial more commercial Zone properties use the land use piece I mean yeah I also tell you Ralph L just sent me there's a proposed bill this session that's even worse in my opinion because it it allows existing office and hotels to convert to multif Family Apartments and get tax breaks and be exempt from zoning land use this thing just keeps evolving to a bigger pile of crap I I don't disagree with you when when Ralph sent me this proposed Bill I said this is even worse than live local because this means that you could have approved a project for office or light industrial or hotel assume that's what you're getting they create jobs create tourism all the things that we want and then a year later they convert to apartments and there's nothing we can do about it this is so the new bills live local on steroids yes in a more negative way so the legislators potentially passed some of the worst piece of legislation in a very long time out of there now they're doubling down and filing something that's even they call it something nice they call it adaptive reuse which makes

it sound like it's some great thing but really it's being able to convert Office Buildings hotels to multif family residential Apartments even and these could be hotels and Office Buildings that we gave a break on Mobility fees to because they were hotels and Office Buildings or maybe we gave them tax incentive because they were Office Buildings and then they turn around and convert to Apartments I don't know if that bill is going anywhere I don't know if Ralph is here to speak to it but but but I mean all the stuff that Mr Cronin works on to get all these winds with office and light industrial could just well it's concerning you hear this Ford we want good quality hotels we want to go from C Level to b and a level hotels commission Mar AO advocates for it all the time and it just this is just it's Troublesome and as you say Wesley Chapel is the highest district going on when for instance Advent Health uh go ger built a hockey rink out there that came in that brought in all sorts of hotels all of a sudden we get stays up here that enabl us to go build the W Sports campus brought even more so they the money that it generates is phenomenal right here rather than going somewhere else I I think we did a great job with hiring three lobbyists one one especially close with the governor and maybe we need to go when we go up there uh set a meeting up with the governor's office to try to find out where he is at in the bill because if he's against it we know it's going to well it may not even stop because they may have a super majority me the bed taxes are incredibly important to the legislature right let's let's not hurt the bed tax opportun the opportunities that the B bed tax provides every County I just wanted to follow up layer intergovermental Affairs officer um from what um David Goldstein said house Bell 409 adaptive reuse of land that just was filed they're in the house it does not have a senate companion bill at this time we continue to follow that bill and see where it goes as for the live local bill that passed a couple years ago Senator pasido has made the statement in an article that she will revisit the issue since there's been so much negativity coming from local governments uh regarding that legislation so we stand poised to sit down and talk with her I've created a a a a onepage discussion point that we can share with our delegation as well as her if she wishes to engage uh that conversation with us uh and we will continue to do um your wishes as we move forward in in this legislative session who filed the bill uh Caruso representative Caruso from where pardon me where's he from um he's on the east coast of the county I will say during the uh special um session he had a um he butted heads with the speaker who then I believe stripped him of his chairmanship in his office so I don't know if his bill will move at all this it's just interesting

say I don't know it's a republican member I I heard everything I needed my question okay do you think there's a chance R for a permanent out opt out provision that you could put in there I don't know if they'll if they'll address that issue I mean I think you're seeing more and more local governments following us and and seeking the uh opt out with the tax exemption uh and have been uh very appreciative that we were able to get that in um you know previously in the previous session so that's good to see that our local other local governments besides Pasco County does see that it has a negative impact on them and uh you know they're they're doing the same thing is opting out of the tax exemption what we're trying to address hoping moving forward is either permanent uh and also address the land use issue I think if you could get the permanent and I and I hopefully with the lobbyists we've hired in our delegation if we get that out there that would solve the we have to worry about from year to year to year and we can actually plan properly for what we're going to go do it would make a lot easier for everybody this is just my opinion I think the reason why they they don't want to make it permanent I think they want you to prove that you do have um enough uh product in your community to to receive that so they want to make sure you have a surplus um that's just my opinion but that's what we will work toward is trying to get a permanent solution thank you on the tax exemption M wa thank you chair Ralph so essentially this the bill and Florida legislature is forcing local governments to build multif family housing stock rental stock so say an incorporated city or county you know they they want to prioritize levels of home ownership over rental this if you want to I mean it's going to be a full-time job for somebody in or a job for for somebody I mean Mike we're going to have to keep up with rental stock potentially and then be very deliberate on where when you know to commiss Mar's point where and when multif family product is approved that way we're not in violation but it doesn't it doesn't stop the the the spread of the multif family product it doesn't allow proper planning to put the multif family product in maybe a particular area that we want to see it in I mean if we we end up segregating certain parts of the county and say only multif family here and you just have whatever County just loaded with all the multif family product hey it's going to have a bad look it's just a mess it completely handcuffs the planning operation for every Council and board in the state so I think that's an important piece that we really need to discuss with them um the other thing I would add to that is that our real deficit on the rental side is below 50% of Ami we just got a report done I just got it LLY today we don't have much of a when you get into the even above 50% 80 120 we don't have a serious deficit of rental housing in that income range so part of

the problem with with local is it just misses the Mark I mean our need we have a need for rental but it's below 50% of Ami and then we have a need un owner occupied we actually have a this report shows that we have a deficit of owner occupied affordable housing but live local doesn't tackle that at all doesn't do anything to help owner occupied affordable housing so I think you're right commissioner weitman that our bigger problem in Pasco County is probably affordable owner occupied homes but Li local is not addressing that it's only looking at the rental even the opt out is only looking at rental it's not looking at owner occupied and so it's not that we don't have an affordable housing need in Pasco we do but Li local is not targeting what we actually have a deficit of and I'm happy to explain that to anybody no listen Comm yeah I just want to add something to it because we've approved quite a bit of multif family coming in my district out around curly Road and P2 there's if you think about the numbers of some of those apartment complexes that are coming in we're going to have an overabundance Apartments coming especially in that area that comes in with Bop so we'll be seeing that for a while yeah I don't I don't I mean I don't I'm not predicting we will have a serious shortage of the yeah I upper income apartment units in Pasco but we are going to continue to have a deficit in the lower income when I say lower income I mean below 50% of Ami so that's where we have a true need throughout the county not just in any particular but what you're going to see is what they're approved as they going to go file who they file with HUD uh they're going to file for the exemption a year or two down down the road like you're starting to see the trend of existing luxury apartment complexes without estate owners or investment firms filing for the exemption and say Commission Oakley's point is they come on with connected City because currently the plan the only title that are left or what multif family I mean the the vulnerability is great in what's potentially approved and so we approve it for one thing to day and then 12 or 24 months later you know the exemptions are are are there so and it's going to be the same thing in Bop or wherever else in the county it's going to be a game it a game that they're playing I agree with you and I I guess if we were getting true affordable so what the legislature did not remove is the opt out for or the tax exemption for below 80% of Ami that was you can't opt out of that currently however we don't have a single apartment Builder that's actually seeking it because they won't build below 80% of Ami they they they probably because they're at that point they're starting

to lose money without some some some kind of subsidy so you're right that the only people that are really seeking the tax exemption or playing this game are the ones that are charging market rate rents anyway so that's why they're not meeting our need I'll say later on my committee reports after we get done today I'm going to actually bring up a project that I think could actually go after the low Mii Ami for not only rental but for ownership right along the coast and be a lot safer and hurricane resistant another question is um if they opt out when they're first coming in to build their development for multif family within the next five years they can't opt back into that if if they are subject to one of our newer approvals they have a condition this is they can never opt for that tax exemption okay but that's only the projects we've approved since live local that have that I mean if it's a project that was approved prior to live local we had no idea that tax break was ever going to occur and the three that actually sought the tax break were all happened we approved those well before Li local ever existed and then they built their project they've been up and running sometime in the last 5 years and then they sought the tax exemption now fortunately the first two were denied by the property appraiser that was good and then the third one the property appraiser basically going to tell them we opted out so don't even bother pursuing this the only reason there's a minor technicality which is that each taxing Authority has to opt out so we opted out the school board opted out we're not positive the mosquito control opted out or not even though they have a very small amount of the tax bill in theory they could seek the tax exemption for just the mosquito control taxes but I'm not even sure that's worth doing or I guess it's mosquito control and Swift Mud may not have opted out but as a county and for all our citizens we do need to look at affordable housing and afford aable Apartments when we can I think in my opinion based on the report I just saw if you have a project that's below 50 60% of Ami that's something that we do have a shortage of and that you probably should be encouraging right in addition when you get to home prices owner occupied that are below 300,000 that's something that we have a shortage of that you should be encouraging because we don't a lot of the single family that we're approving now has no restrictions on price or affordability and so it's we probably have a surplus of housing single family housing that's higher priced and a deficit of what's lower price right okay all right it's noon time so we'll take break for lunch we'll back at 1:30 okay thanks sir e e e