10.22.24 Pasco Board of County Commissioners Meeting (Morning Session)

[Music]

good morning I would like to call to order the Pasco County Board of county commissioner meeting of 10:00 a.m. meeting of October 22nd at this time please silence all electronic devices and please rise with me for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance oh merciful Creator your head is open wi 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 to the flag of the unit States of America and to the it stands one nation God indivisible justice for all uh Mr Clark would you please call the row District Two commissioner wman pres District three commissioner starky here District Four commissioner Jagger here District Five commissioner Marano here district one chairman Oakley here that be now we have a quorum presid all Commissioners are presid at the v um i' would like to remind people that this is time for public comment this is one of the times that we the board do not speak back to the public so you have your three minutes to speak we listen to you I have extra staff members here today to follow you out of the room and answer any questions you have directly to that staff member so but we're prepared to be able to hopefully answer all your questions so so uh now public comment say are given a uh opportunity to comment on any current or future agenda item coming before the board and on other and on other business under the board's perview today's public comment will be handled as follows first we will take public comment from those people here and signed in um then we will take public comment from those who are pre-registered on web webx link and currently on Q we request that when you you address the board comments are directed not personally toward a commissioner or a staff member but rather direct your questions to the issues this provides mutual respect between board members and the public uh after stating your name and address a 3 Minute Timer will be activated after 2 minutes a single beat will sound and you will have one minute left to finish your comments when your time is up to Beats will sound and you asked to finish your comments um okay Madame clerk do we have a oh excuse me Mr clerk my script never knows or man you never know okay but uh would you please uh call those to that have signed up to speak yes sir first up The Honorable Mike Fano tax collector welcome Mr Pano Mr chairman thank you very much Commissioners good morning uh I won't take but a couple of minutes I go past my three minutes I apologize couple of things I just want to bring up to dates if I may first to thank you thank you all our County Administrator Mike and his staff uh EOC um it's been a rough three weeks

there's no question about it uh you all have stepped up to the plate amazing ly but your staff has done an outstanding job and um um I don't know what more they could do and they continue to do their best and uh hopefully God willing uh some of those who are still hurting uh some way they'll be able to uh get back I have great concerns great concerns about those who are uh have been put out their home uh maybe not able to fix their home or maybe their home is unhabitable that they have no insurance zero insurance and I was concerned about this when I was a legislator of uh of the mess that would be when we got hit with a major storm and I think we're going to see a lot of people uh not having a home uh to go back to with that said uh congratulations on a job well done to everyone and thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart um couple of things we did over the past year um uh we bought a piece of property in the angelene community uh right on the uh uh north side of 52 at angelene for $2 million we're already in the process of doing our architectural work and our uh engineering work will start uh groundbreaking in next year and I tell you this because uh it's going to cost us several more million dollars to build it we're not asking for any money we'll do it from the tax collector's uh um uh uh budget uh we also purchased which was outstandingly helpful in uh this year we purchased a $400,000 generator for Orlando Lakes office that kept us going to keep an office open to Ser serve our Pasco residents um we um we are plans and the great help of Heather uh and others at your county staff and there goes my three minutes um no that's just I have a check to give you you one more um that next plan on moving our Wesley Chapel office uh which we're uh uh staying right now and doing a lease uh we're moving into going to build a new office in the Wesley in the Wesley Chapel area that the county has donated to us and we'll build a new office there um our starting salary now is at $20 an hour uh something that we've moved uh from 15 I'm sorry from uh uh from $19 to I'm sorry uh from uh gosh salary that I think started at $9 an hour now we're at $20 an hour our turnover is almost little to none uh we were able to just give out uh significant retention bonuses to all our employees recently just about a week or so ago and we're looking good at the tax collector's office um your EOC director is second to none in the State of Florida and that's what I hear throughout the state from other counties and other legislators with all of that I think I'm done um I want to give you a check for $5.6 million today okay so I hope that will be helpful so I'll give it to Harold I know he'll he'll take good care of that check yeah well thank you for coming and um the reason you have such good help is they've got one of the best bosses they could have in Pasco County so thank you very much you do a great job and and we watch you and we all appreciate everything you do do so just to

reiterate it's 5.7 million we're giving today and that's because my staff does an excellent job but also I need to you know make it clear that that check is going to start depleting over the next couple years as we build our Angeline office okay so uh this way there's no surprises okay I hope that will be helpful towards whatever you need to use it for God bless you have a great day God bless you thank you um I'm not sure this name shumi Greer state your name and address for the record hello my name is shamisha gr I live at 8205 changes Square Apartments um Newport Richard 33 655 new Resident Pesco County and my concern is that um I was impacted by the storm hurricane two hurricanes bik the bike my industry is that I'm a caregiver um I haven't been working since October because everybody evacuated I evacuated with my family so my apartment filed eviction on me you know they're not trying to work with me cuz I told them I was impacted by the storm so also I'm kind of like Advocate with flut Rising so I'm from hillsb County so that's why I'm here so I know about coming to the County Commission to speak for our resident and um also the office told me one resident had gave her her key because she was impacted by the storm no negotiating nothing just playing you evicted you know what I'm saying it's like I'm came here for a new change to get on my feet cuz I was impacted by um I had covid-19 I I was on oxygen I was very sick so I lost a lot so I came here for a new start now it's turning bad because of the storm I'm going to get evicted because I can't find resources to help me I'm not familiar with this County so it's like um I'm speaking for me and other people in the community that need help you know that's what I do so if y'all see me on the news I speak for a fun is um if you pull up Bay News 9 I speak about the fun is to help P that's impacted by um disasters also okay I think Mrs Pearson's going to speak with you okay Kathy Pearson will meet you in the back there she's going back there she's amazing she'll she'll answer your questions okay thank you um Tangier Square I think is one of our um lowincome communities that is run by a nonprofit pretty sure on 54 Old 54 got an next person uh Bridget andot is her phone oh oh might have been hers good morning okay and address for the Bridget andelot 1620 tberry Court um I'm a resident of Thousand Oaks I'm here today to address the reoccurring flooding issues that continue to plague several of our communities including Thousand Oaks 2.5 2 to5 6 to9 Thousand Oaks multi Trinity Oaks Windgate Chelsea place and the business district behind Walgreens on

Mitchell Boulevard which also includes the church property and that's only to name a few during Hurricane Milton we were told this was a 100-year storm but this explanation Rings Hollow when our communities flood during regular storms and heavy rain Seasons this isn't a once in a century problem it's become a regular occurrence that threatens our homes our safety and our peace of mind I'm here to ask three critical critical questions first what is your concrete plan to address these reoccurring floods we need more than temporary solutions about exceptional weather events second regarding the little road pumps um were they all operational during the last flood and if not why because this is basic infrastructure that should be functioning when we need it most um third and most Cru crucially how do you plan to ensure that emergency access during storms when these areas flood that although we're not just dealing with property damage you're potentially cutting off emergency services from reaching the residents in crisis at the time um let me be personal for a moment um I invested my entire life savings to move here I chose this area specifically because it was marked as a non-flood Zone high-end Community my neighbors and I believed that we were buying into a secure future but instead we live in constant anxiety every time rain is forecasted this isn't just about property values although they're certainly important this is about an emotional toll of watching our neighbors hes homes flood repeatedly it's about going to bed during storms wondering if we'll wake up to water in our living rooms it's about wondering if our retirement investments in these homes were a terrible mistake we need a comprehensive solution that number one addresses the root cause of these flooding issues ensures that all the pump stations are properly maintained and operational provides better Emergency Management during these storms and restores our community to their intended non-flood Zone status with remediation the residents of these communities myself in this area choose this area carefully we want to stay here we want to thrive here but we need your leadership and action to make that possible I look forward to your specific plans to address these issues thank you for your time we got someone to speak to you okay thank you okay that's all that have signed up and Advance is there anyone in the uh room that did not sign up wish to speak did she leave a phone number for come forward and state your name and address what was her name let me WR Pastor Jen Kwak 15925 Green Glen Lane Spring Hill Florida the pass ghost Spring Hill um I just was moved to come today and I wasn't going to come but it was really on my heart today for a few things after seeing the incredible Devastation and and you know all that this young woman just brought forward um so many people do the same thing I did the same thing I spent my life savings

to move to Florida from Illinois mainly if I'm honest for the weather not so much about the investment in a physical thing in a home but in myself and and to thrive and to live in a place where I believe that I could Thrive I lived in pelis county for many years and after the congestion just honestly squeezed me out because it was just incredible the the vast number of people that retire to Pasco County and I understand that we're trying to do something similar in our own way in Pasco County um you know I think that the congestion and the rate of development and all the things that people previously had been concerned about uh we find oursel in a position today in Pasco County where people are flooding even Inland where they might be in um an xzone a non flood non evacuation Zone and that they're being flooded there are many many issues that I know that are going to take time to address but you know this is what was on my heart today I don't usually bring a word from God to y'all but today I just needed to share Psalms 145:17 the Lord is righteous in all his ways gra gracious in all his works the Lord is near to all who call upon him and to to all who call upon him in truth and if we're truthful with ourselves and with one another I would encourage you what I am receiving from people that have reached out to me in many different ways many different formats you know social media wherever it doesn't matter I don't even know some of the people and they are very concerned about the lack of uh what appears to be the lack of oversight with regards to the building and P perhaps we should consider a moratorium in the same way that Zephyr Hills did to identify these storm water issues to identify the issues of the current residents the people who have already invested all of their life savings into this community and look to you for your leadership and seek you for WI counsel and so I just pray that each of you do seek wise counsel um not just from men okay your time's up thank you Kathy you want to speak to her or you got somebody there okay okay there's someone in the back that can speak to you outside there there yeah that's good anyone else in the audience wish to speak that was not signed up come forward if you're want to speak yes sir state your name and address for the records my name is Edward SE and 5852 SE Forest Drive Newport rich in Pasco County uh I just wanted to come up here just to thank uh the whole board for the organization and the help uh that was out there for everyone who suffered through these past two uh hurricanes um it was amazing to see so many boots on the ground um coming from the Commissioners all together so uh I just wanted to say we appreciate that and uh and thank you very much because um it just showed the UN that uh the board has with the community and and how uh they're reachable and and easy to speak to and it was just a

wonderful coordinating uh situation that was done really quick and fast very fast so um as resident of Pascal County we I just want to thank you okay thank you sir thank you for all you did too y okay anyone else in room wish to speak see no when we have anybody on WebEx we do not have anyone on calling okay all right then we'll close Public public hearing and uh move in to consent somewhere I've got a full sheet uh I have uh C3 pull and discuss c38 pull c54 pull C63 pull uh a ac52 pull uh C C15 withdraw c22 withdraw c49 withdrawal c64 withdrawal and c65 withdraw do I have um a motion on the rest of the items on consent move the res of the Cent agenda second I got a motion in second all those in favor say I I motion pass 5 z uh we'll start with uh C3 commissioner Mariana yes I'd like to uh present this resolution um Mr sepi was just up here and his mother Grace was um have done just so many great things in Comm I just wanted I wanted them recognized today so appreciate the board's IND deligence if we could read the resolution bring that to you would we do that now or after we approve the consent why don't you finish the consent agenda and then and then yeah we can do that do the resolution next okay we we'll wait on reading that and we'll move on to c38 to pull uh Mr chairman uh c38 was pulled on our request uh just as part of the copies weren't there and just ask that to be contingent on Clerk's final review okay so that item plus these other items are the same thing because they're well we can handle them together uh C you're going to have to need you're going to need individual motions any we got to do individual move approval c38 with the clerk's final approval second got a motion second all those in favor say I I I motion pass 5 c54 PA c54 was just received received um a short time ago and again with the combined agendas there was a little bit of volume this time so we'd ask it to be contingent on clerk review so moved second got a motion and a second all those in favor say I I I I motion pass 5 Z can can I ask a question on that one I mean we've been doing that for a while so what's what what's the issue on it I mean this isn't the first year we've done this right no ma'am this is the first renewal however it's uh there was a error we had a change in leadership in the fire department so there was a oh just change of change of leadership yeah okay that's understand change yeah C63 C63 again this is a situation where you've delegated authority contingent on Final documents being prepared to the County Administrator for uh his execution uh as this is board document we just asked that we coordinate for U attestation as a board document and then will be distributed in normal process okay move appr second got a motion and second all those in favor say I I I

motion pass 5 z uh c152 this is a agenda this was on the agenda and again just contingent on clerk uh having a chance to review and and we' recommend approval okay pfm is obtain obtaining signatures of the uh folks who were awarded under this under the multiple multiple vendors which is why it didn't get to the clerk's office on time okay move approval second got a motion second all those in favor say I I I I motion pass 5 the other items on the back are all withdrawn so that that ends the consent agenda except we'll go back to C3 thank you Mr yes I wanted to pull this because I I really wanted to recognize um matter of fact Ed and Gracie come on up please I wanted to recognize gracious Pantry they they do a phenomenal job for us seniors um I get this first experience probably a couple months ago and I just wanted to at that point bring them forward to to show everybody what they're doing and fortunately I think the rest of the board has now seing what they've been doing as we've been going through this and uh um again to just I I can't tell you how many time how much I appreciate what you do for our seniors every step of the way and I told you I want to try to give as much help as I can so I think uh starting with the recognition is probably a good way to go CL resolution uh resolution number 2513 a resolution by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida commending Gracie's food pantry for their service to the citizens of Pasco County whereas Gracie's food pantry was founded by Gracie pronounce yes oh good in 2013 and since then has successfully op opened six pantries and feeds approximately 2,000 to 2500 people per month and whereas Gracie's food pantry provides High high quality nutritious food at no cost to those struggling with a wide range of issues and whereas Gracie's food pantry depends on volunteers to help sort pack and distribute food and relies on sponsorships from local businesses to help alleviate or alleviate operating costs those sponsors also provide information to patrons regarding health benefits pharmaceutical benefits Medical Offices Home Improvements and more and whereas Gracie's food pantry values the lives of every everyone who comes to receive Food all their pantries are set up to provide a dignified shopping experience where the patron can choose the items that they would like to bring home and whereas since 2013 Gracie's food pantry has fed approximately 51,000 excuse me 840 people not including additional families and the homeless population and has been recognized by several organizations such as the Pasco County Chamber of Commerce excuse me and West Pasco Border Realtors and whereas Gracie's food pantry has a mission to eleviate hunger and Foster food Security in the

community by providing healthy and nutritious food essential resources and supportive services to seniors veterans and families in need and whereas Gracie's food pantry believes that everyone deserves to have access to food that nourishes their body and they are committed to creating a community where no one goes hungry now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida that said board hereby commends Gracie's food pantry for their service to the citizens of Pasco County done and resolved in regular session with the Quorum president voting this 22nd day of October 2024 move approval second got a motion in a second all those in favor say I I I motion pass 5 welcome thank you thank you very much Mr chair before I let them talk and I want them to talk but I just want to say the um to give you an example you know I I went to their different places they do the distributions of this at different places I was amazed that it was so seamless and so well-run um and the people are so appreciative of it when I recently just came across them um I was called them because I knew the Pasco Brave down in new p r was going to be shutting down so I gave him a call to go down and uh you know take a look at whatever you might need which you can fit with your different pantries uh to make it all work so they go down there and uh going to say grace outw worked him loading up the truck uh she was she was phenomenal she just like gets right in there and goes um when we got done one of the things that was in there was they had a a pallet of produce apples ready to go and uh he said to me he says I can't take those but you might want to call the volunteer way so no only does he think of himself and what he's doing but he wants to help funnel it and I'll I I will tell you that CEO came down met with me probably like a half an hour later and we brought out the whole pallet we unloaded the whole thing actually end up put my truck but we dra it all over to the volunteer way it was gone the next day so all those people get that extra nutrition from good healthy stuff because of you're great thinking and then give me a great idea and um that CEO to to jump on down the volunteer way to to make it all happen but I I just can't thank you enough I know it's I've just seen you guys with your passion going through it and I just wanted to recognize you and and show your appreciation and just thank you for what you're doing I'd like to add something too if that's okay I just want to say that I I had Ed on speed dial and it didn't matter if it was 8:00 at night he would and Grace if they would come and help serf 200 meals and they were there in a hot second so um also we spent several days together the entire day we didn't know each other at all and uh Ed would just open up his car and they would have tons of fresh like you said Fresh Food Water Supplies and they are they are truly amazing and Miss Grace I found her her secret to her

beauty regimen because she is absolutely gorgeous in her 80s and uh she outruns uh circles around EDS so um just thank you guys for everything thank and I first met them at a trinity chat luncheon and um they were the featured speakers I guess so um and I was able to visit their the pantry yesterday in um what's the name of that location you were atanda Janda Village yes and um and on Thursday in holiday they will be providing um their pantry and we're bringing I think 200 or 150 lunches oh my staff's not here yeah so um uh so if you want to come over if you haven't seen them in action you can go from the dedication on Grand Boulevard over the holiday um Lakes to the clubhouse and um bring bring your own donations I brought them some yesterday I'm going to bring more up Thursday so what a blessing you are to the community and um I'm just so grateful that you're doing what you do thank you thank you chair wa 51,8 40 meals that's probably way short from what I'm hearing I tell you I mean it's God's work right there and without you all and your mission we'd be in a lot worse shape your organization and so many others that have stepped in to help people just get something to eat and and uh help them gather their thoughts before they figure out what their next steps in life are going to be so thank you for your love and your compassion and your care for Pasco County and for each other so we're very grateful that you live here thank you yeah ID like to thank you for what you do for for your community and the people in your community so when you work so hard sometimes you get tired but the reality of it is if you love your work it never seems like a job so I'm sure you love your work and you've really helped a lot of people in Pasco County we certainly appreciate that so thank you if you would please tell a couple of stories about what you find when you're taking care of these seniors what it means to them some of the things you tell me about it gets them through the next cycle from payment well um so many of them are so grateful when when I first started the a food pantry um I I I was uh I went to my manager where I live and I said we need a food pantry and said did you ever rent a food pantry before I said no but I learn and the reason why I wanted to start it is there were several residents that were having crackers with water for breakfast lunch and dinner or yogurt breakfast young lunch and dinner or whatever they could afford some of them even shared their pets food and um I I felt that because their pen their social security didn't last them till the end of the month I felt that if I could subsidize that time and give them something to eat they could be healthy and stay longer and they were my friends and um I feel that everybody is my friend and I love them all and um in all my in all my pantries but I want to also say that without God we could not do any of this okay yeah we uh we experienced we also help families on the besides the

pantries they call us up and uh especially when families have uh young families have children it's kind of heartbreaking to we we went to this one uh young lady's house she had three children one was a little girl and uh I could hear her in the background and as we're talking on the phone with the grandmother please we need food we need food and I said to her I said who who is that she says oh that's that's my granddaughter she's 3 years old she says I didn't coach her to do that she just knew I was calling a food pantry so I said well you let her know that we're coming and uh so we got together about nine bags of groceries uh and uh we went to the house and here's this little blonde little girl little chunky cheeks you know and oh thank you thank you it it was heartbreaking because the young this young girl was happy to see bags of food as if they were toys you know that's how excited she was and uh that's what that's what keeps us going and yeah if it if it wasn't for uh god um he guides us we're just tools you know he helps us to go in the direction we need to go and with these past as I said before uh with these past two storms that passed by um the organization and the ability to uh take the lead from the Commissioners offices um and be able to guide us in the directions we need to go was it extremely helpful and we were able to feed and help so many people um it didn't matter the age it didn't matter where they came from the fact of the matter is they went through a trauma and we were there to help so again I want to thank everyone here too yeah we thank you thank you very [Applause] much come back we're going to do a picture come back come back oh okay thank you so thank you foring [Music] back one more one more ready one two and [Music] three we'll see you [Music] you for your help more less before we go to the next item I'd like to thank all of our staff and and all our employees and staff throughout all departments and our leadership and our EOC uh all commissions for all what you do CU it is very amazing what we've come through in the last three or four weeks and everybody's held up very well so it's hard work but when you're doing the right thing it's it's not that hard we know we try our best to serve every citizen that we can can so I appreciate each and everything you do with that Mike thank sir I can look well it certainly is nice to see everyone in I don't know Jeff dressed up d uh with ball caps on we're in um you know to to Echo your your comments there commissioner Oakley yeah it and just to add on this this was quite historic and and what what an event and what a what a trying um um test of of

our team um both you know at the board level and we thank you for the leadership I mean we we have been in touch daily for the past uh for the past several weeks on this matter so your your leadership in that with our our team of course both my executive team and our emergency management team pulling together various groups across this County to prepare for um weather and and recover from two storms you know back to back as well as our constitutional teams we would not be anywhere if it weren't for the support too with with the sheriff our First Responders as well as the school board amongst a whole host of other other players as as we move through that and let's not forget our not for-profits and and our engaged citizens too as they as they continue to help and so I wanted to give a a brief um discussion here on on both of these hurricanes both just so we can pull it all together and well just as an example Mike what you're talking about what I was talking about is today we expected a lot of people from the public here yes sir and you'll see the room's got extra chairs everywhere you can see and we reached out to staff to have members behind our OAS to take care of those questions and answers and get people the right answer we prepared to do that for this meeting knowing that a lot of people have been through hard times but that's some of the preparation you've seen over the last three weeks that the staff and everyone's been doing also through the EOC so it's just an example of what we do to reach out to our citizens and do the right thing yes sir with that I'll let you yes sir yeah and we we will and there still is a lot to do no doubt right this is uh this this state is is kind of a new normal for for the short term uh for sure uh but our team will continue to work tirelessly so I want to just really recap a few things of the events and then just talk about a little bit about what we have done and if the board would like to have any other discussion on that we we can it's it's not necessarily just to rehash the past but A lot's happened in the past month we actually canceled a board meeting uh in in the middle of this and it all started with hurricane helain which made landfall September 26th uh I think that was a Wednesday or a Thursday in September I I don't recall it came right off the heels of us passing a budget um and uh came with shores of category 4 near Perry it was not a direct hit but it was a large storm and pushed an unprecedented amount of storm surge to to our County we saw instances of storm surge 12 to 15 feet in some areas affecting mostly our communities west of us9 in fact actually closed US 19 but this was a national level disaster too not just the Pasco County State of Florida this storm pushed all the way up and over 200 people lost their lives as a result of of Hurricane Helen um actually just probably one of the one of the worst in in our history we barely caught our breath and we had hurricane Milton bearing down on us making landfall just south of Us near

CS as a cat 3 was a extremely strong Cat 5 at one point in time 185 miles per hour if I remember seeing some of the some of the reports um very scary scary storm um this we saw your typical hurricane uh impacts wind we saw hurricane forc winds in our County uh in our in our entire region actually um you know Millions lost power as a result of this but more more more ATT tuned for Pasco County unprecedented levels of rainfall 15 18 inches in in some areas and that's a lot of rain in in a very short period of time uh which has led to prolonged riverine flooding and and you know this just sets the stage and I say unprecedented because this is unprecedented uh you know we we often you hear us talk when we build infrastructure the the hundred-year flood event this and that and the other and you know a 100-year flood event is only something that has is a storm that only has a 1% chance of happening that's what that is um and and it's kind of been the standard at the state and you know as we talk about resiliency and things in the future there may be conversations about about how we look at those types of things but but until then that is that has kind of been been the standard with that and these hurricanes have basically turned that on its head they've turned a lot of things on on their head and we're seeing more and more of these storms um I want to shift to the response of these storms because you know when you you do a lot of work to prepare for a storm uh you know you you you pump down in areas where you can you ensure floodgates are working the way that they're supposed to work uh you ensure residents have access to sandbags perhaps and and the ability to uh protect their property as well as evacuation orders and things so we as a County uh for these two storms issued to local states of emergency in fact we have three local states of emergencies that that I sign every week right now to maintain our are that one for Debbie back in August and then one for helain and one for Milton and we we contined to do that because that makes us eligible so our taxpayers don't have to bear the brunt of these costs um we issued evacuation orders for both storms and I will tell you the evacuation orders in the first storm in Helen um it's you know we we should have had more heating of those evacuation orders fortunately we did see um a ten-fold increase in evacuations at least in terms of our shelter populations when when Milton came through um but again as as I mentioned before the storms were were catastrophic and our Emergency Services teams were inundated uh with calls I was in the OC on both both nights when when these hurricanes came through I remember specifically Helen uh because the calls for service kept popping up and popping up and as I'm sitting there in the 911 Center watching the calls for service that our guys cannot reach to and and same with with Milton hundreds of calls that were backlogged I think even up to 800 probably at one point in time I think during Milton of just calls for service that we could not get to and so

uh our First Responders um ended up plucking approximately 12 provided 1,200 rescues uh from both storms so We rescued 1,200 individuals uh from flood waters or or dangerous situations as a result of these these storms these storms also uh Force road closures whether they were through wash outs through extended rain periods or just simply rain Waters or flood waters over topping evacuation routes US 19 was inundated and we it had to be closed during Hurricane hilling we had portions of of many Road state roads out out on the east side too that are that are closed as a result of the riverine flooding Little Road also yes and and Y and and over over top there just just south of Mitchell uh yes and and and we witnessed that and these are these are major routes thank goodness we have Ridge Road you know in a lot of cases so again these are these are ways that we do that I want to I want to just if I if you could indulge me here for a second I've got two short videos of just just to demonstrate some of the conditions that our First Responders were working in uh to rescue people can you play I don't know if I can do that here or not maybe I can so you can see there's an individual literally holding on to a stop sign as our as our make it there you know how tall those stop signs are where is this I Hudson Hudson yes I don't understand people we need to replay this when the next warning comes to evacuate and then the next one here um similar similar instance oh these are dark areas it's night um there's no electricity people are scared y a palm tree is there someone holding on to the bottom of that tree yeah yeah the first responder is kind of keeping the boat steady on the on the tree as they as they rescue the folks out of the water it's amazing we didn't have anyone perish it's just to one more amazing like how soon after throw your legs up the storm did folk did our team start going out there our Our First Responders responded immediately commissioner as long as the the wind situations and and I'm sure I've got reports of of folks probably bending the rules a little bit to preserve life and safety um they um we we we will continue to operate as long as those those winds remain below I think 40 miles per hour is is that and if you've ever been in 20 or 30 m per hour winds I can tell you the difference between 30 and 40 you really can't tell um but our First Responders with the Sheriff's Office our our our dive our dive teams our our our um uh trench rescue we had everybody out there and and they performed marvelously out there in those conditions and in fact there there was there were some conditions even too when you looked at the power loss of of Helen where where we had to make the decision to actually cut power in certain areas our first respond was going in even in insulated suits feeling tingling in the water you know and so

having to make those make those decisions to to reduce reduce the power yeah Mr chairman yes you know I got I got two slight stores I had two G two two families that were getting ready to go they were packed up did the stuff they were getting ready to go and one gentleman was so tired doing as an elderly senior citizen Donna jire he fell asleep after it got done and they get trapped uh another another former deputy with his with his son they were getting ready to go out of Sea Pines and they got stuck because it came in so fast so for us to be able to take care of these people that maybe were going to get ready didn't get ready they were probably probably doing the right thing it was just a fast moving storm and all of a sudden bam you were trapped it so that was a great move going I know we said we're not going to be able to go get you but that was phenomenal work for the whole team to go out there and just save lives that was awesome and your your Point's well made sometimes it comes fast and these these evacuation orders we issue them days in advance or as far in advance as we can and we and it's a balancing act because you know pelis evacuates through Pasco Pasco Evac you know so there is a little bit of orchestration when we when we time our our evacuation orders too so sometimes if you do wait till the last minute you you may not get out but our but our team perform marvelously and and I forgot to mention too we we had support too of not only our our Pasco County Sheriff's Office as I had mentioned and our First Responders here but we had folks from Ohio Louisiana um Texas that came and and supported us too with with uh both during the rescue piece and urban search and rescue post storm as Waters were receding through both storms so uh just a fantastic showing as as a country out here do you want to add something commission before I on you know I um as as I've done for the last three hurricanes but this one much more for two and a half for well almost three days until Thursday at 2 or 3:00 where I just couldn't do it anymore I packed up my golf Harbor's house and moved it pretty much myself to my ESA house um into a storage but I was the only person that I saw in Gul Harbors doing that and even my husband know it's not coming we'll be fine and um you know and all the other ones the water went out but uh I I think it'll be different in the future um I have a question on these two and this this amazing rescue how did how did you know they were there how did we know they were there because they're not calling from holding on to the tree so um and then thank I'm just so grateful to our First Responders but I I hope so much that our our folks evacuate next time I think Chief Gwyn can shed some color on that go ahead hi commissioner Ryan Gwyn uh interart pasal fire rescue this actually was uh spawned from a a 911 call that came in and both of these rescues were actually found as they were still searching for the individual that made the 911 call so it's kind of you know by happen stance that these two individuals were even picked up to begin

with and as you can see it's very dark there's no power anywhere in the neighborhoods to be able to recognize these people to just be able to hear screams in the background is you know you know an act of God that we that we made these rescues so is it raining in this photo I think I saw pounding rain coming by you could you can't always tell and uh she's holding on to something oh my I wonder how long she was holding on to that sign probably for quite a while oh breaks my heart what a nightmare yeah and again you know the the Investments that the board has made uh in in these uh in these operations and quite honestly we've identified areas where uh we were short of equipment and maybe we need to invest in some different different types of things we're able to save life and property as a result of that so just thank you uh thank you for that I want to switch now a little bit to um the riverine flooding aspect this is a video that was put out by the uh Southwest Water Management District to talk a little bit about it so we haven't really covered uh a lot but listen the ankot River flooded uh on this side and uh you know as the public comment talked about Thousand Oaks uh again that all drains into the ano Basin and the anod Basin which is tily influenced as well you know pushed back and then also a lot of the a lot of the tributaries flooded in and again unprecedented amounts of rainfall that that we saw through through those areas so I just want to show you this quick video just again perspective on the flooding and what we are currently even experiencing now the with Luchi River it's still at Major flood stage and will be for a long time uh weeks we believe but go ahead and hit play please thank you many rivers in the Tampa Bay Region have been severely impacted by flooding from Hurricane Milton the only floods of record higher than what we're experiencing now you'd have to go back to 1933 and 1934 I'm Dr Mark Fulkerson I'm a chief professional engineer with the southwest Florida Water Management District I'm pretty sure we probably got trillions of gallons of water that hit the Earth's surface that water's got to go somewhere a portion of it evaporates a port portion of it tries to soak in the ground where we stand near the town of Trilby the wuchi river crusted above what the 1960 Peak was because we had hurricane melon in early October which is right at the end of the wet season all of our Creeks lakes rivers Wetland swamps everything's full or aquifer our ground waterer levels are full so that just causes that rain to not really have anywhere to go really soak in the ground and it's going to run off the surface a lot more the wuchi river is 160 Mi long and its Watershed or the area of land that collects that rain and and runs it into the river is over 2,000 square miles it's all or part of eight different Florida counties we get a lot of rain across the whole thing it takes time for that that rain to hit the land surface

and to make its way to the river when we get flooding like this we send Crews of folks out into those affected areas we're doing inspections and assessments of the flooding we're looking for debris making sure a lot of the rivers are flowing there's not down trees that are maybe holding those flood waters back on someone worse we're also out there trying to document the flooding and to gather elevations from those Peak flood levels so that we can better understand how a rainfall like this has affected each of these Weds so that we can then share that with the public and help everyone make better decisions there we go and so of course we continue to experience that flooding but early on from both storms uh I'm I'm very very proud of our team we were able to deploy immediately and begin damage assessments and in fact including aerial assessments which uh which are kind of a new product for us which which will bolster our capability to both understand what what happened from a flood perspective and and calibrate models but also uh to help us help us continue to assess damage uh we estimate over 400 structures were destroyed as a matter of hurricane Helen those basically become uninhabitable uh but over 5,000 structures considered to have with major damage that will require repairs you know and as Milton continues to re wreak havoc with not only riverine flooding but closed basins we have closed basins that are popping off into other closed basins just because the water has nowhere else to go that will take time as well uh because we cannot pump those closed basins out until there is a place to pump that water too um and and it does have to percolate naturally but but over close to 30 structures destroyed right now that we know of we we still we still continue to to assess 1,600 structures with with major damage and of course you know the the big change the big difference is Hurricane Milton provided widespread power outage unlike Helen where that power outages were were contained mostly to the west side of US1 19 we're estimating uh probably and this number will probably go higher a billion dollars worth of worth of damage just just in this County alone and again we talk about power restoration that obviously is kind of the first step to help our citizens feel normal again right uh hot shower or lights on at night air conditioning right these are these are things that that come through and as I mentioned you know during Hurricane Helen we we had two two stories of two very different types of power outages in Hurricane Helen we were hampered a little bit because of the um saltwater intrusion into electrical into electrical components actually this is a picture of an actual fire that that started um in in one of the in one of the neighborhoods I think over in in SE Ranch area actually um you know power power was restored breaker was clicked snap spot fire and so we we were able to uh use best practices and while it may have taken an extra day or two to help folks get their power back on uh I I feel like we did a very good job of

educating the public and making sure that we got power back on the right way and of course Milton with the widespread Regional damage our our power companies were were out there working tiously W wreck uh did a phenomenal job I think they were they were first done and then offering to help uh both uh especially with too who too had widespread damage throughout their entire service area both Hillsboro pulk and and Pasco County and and Duke Energy again uh did did did what it needed to do so um very happy to report that the any power outages now at this point are strictly related to to property damage um on the recovery side again we provided early resources during both storms and this was hampered right we we this was kind of a start and stop we we just when we finished with with hurricane Helen we had points of distribution that were established and a point of distribution or a pod as it's called is a place where we can hand out water where we can hand out food uh to those who need it um we try to collocate um comfort stations with those pods where we can and those Comfort stations include trailers modular trailers that have clean restrooms showers the biggest the biggest draw laundry facilities right and so making those for those that are displaced or have their their homes damaged is great but we also recognize too that this is also straining on folks mentally and so we made it available immediately uh and thanks to our partnership with with Bay care A Mental Health Resources uh hotline which is still available to folks uh we made it available of course to our employees because getting through a crisis like this for some people it could be the last straw for a lot for a lot of folks so it's it's very difficult to deal with this our Human Services folks took in over 1300 request requests for service and so these are folks that that may or may not need case management but these are folks that are desperately in need of of things whatever they whatever they may be that could be housing that could be meals that could be uh a whole host of of Human Services um activities and of course we started early with debris management uh and again I know debris management can be a touchy issue depending on on where you're at in the county and and the timing but I will say that Pasco County uh was was first out of the gate our our debris Crews with our Public Works and solid waste team were out there working within 24 to 36 hours of both storms uh trying to clean up and as we as we waited for our larger contracts uh to get into place and I I'll go can I say one thing yes ma'am before we get it really too deep into debris is just that so many people of our own employees had flooding and had damage and didn't they weren't even touching their own homes to be able to serve the public and work tiously to do that so I think that needs to be said and just a huge thank you to them because they were they put the county and the citizens before their own needs I think director fosa just started taking his shutters down this weekend um

I I still like can't even move in my house so correct yes and and there's there's a lot of that uh and thank you for that for that comment um as I mentioned before we had more folks take advantage of our Sheltering opportunities during Hurricane Milton tfold as you can see roughly 485 and during Helen over 5,800 during her hurricane Milton and look at those pets um you know it's we we have a chuckle about it with the number of pets but pets are like family to people and so our Animal Services team really stepped up to not only handle the dogs and cats tortoises and the Flying Squirrel I'm even told we're in there so um but but nevertheless right there there are people that will not evacuate because they don't want to leave their pets behind so it's important uh and again so we have numerous uh numerous federal state county volunteer organizations working together uh again to help to help recover Senior Services provideed shelf stable meals to folks uh and again our our team members in Community Development are getting folks in hotels we're case managing throughout the storm our public transportation teams offering free rides trying to get people to comfort stations or to shelters back and forth uh did did Yan's work and again we're now looking at temporary housing this is the next step right and so you can see we've got a number of of of sh of people that are still in shelters folks that require case management and uh we have we have set up something we're calling Pasco hope so you remember a couple of board meetings ago we we purchased a property on Grand Boulevard um and uh we are we are adding what are referred to as pallet homes as well as um uh trailers um our Public Works uh teams utilities teams uh facilities teams went out and and prepared the site in an expedient manner I and I think that by Monday we will be able to begin uh temporary uh Sheltering housing temporary housing for for residents displaced uh by by the store storm so we already have 100 candidates potential candidates that that meet certain qualifications already identified and this this again uh is to help people get back up on their feet so you know just a lot of team effort you know Kathy Eric Jason you know from you know JP the the whole the whole team here really pulled together to uh to make make this happen it's one of a kind and I think on Thursday we will be doing a little more of a of a public outing on this because it it is it is something that we should be proud of it's something that we have provided to our cens even when Kevin Guthrie from the state was here on Sunday he was impressed blown away at how well this this county is responding to this disaster and you mentioned our our employees well we also had employees hit and hurt by the storm as well and so we we had to decide that there has to be something that we can do for them and so as a County uh we we do have a disaster leave leave pool so we have a pool of ours that have been donated over time and so we're allowing folks to draw off

of those hours uh we also you know we we we usually do a buyback so we allow folks to to sell some of their PTO time but recognizing that if you've got bills to pay if you've got things that you need to get done to repair and recover your life from a storm because I need these employees to work for us right as as commissioner points out they're trying to get their life so they're kind of stuck stuck between two competing priorities right um we could at least provide them with a little liquidity and allow them to sell back some of their PTO time and of course we we have offered offered uh you know the ability for our constitutional officers to do similar programs because these public service you know we we we need them now and and we need to give them the peace of mind that their homes and families are going to be taken care of we also offered uh free again the the mental health through Bay care um and and an employee Resource Center this is a Pasco County um employees helping Pasco County Employees through through donations um and and thank you to PA Paula Barac who has really kind of led the effort uh from our Public Services branch in setting this up for our employees debris so debris is something that um will be with us for a very very long time um you know we we did some things um during the Helen Milton transition as I'll call it because we were extremely concerned about um the debris from from Helen becoming missiles or uh underwater hazards to our First Responders going in to do to do rescues and things like that and so uh we moved very expeditiously with some expedient very expedient Contracting uh to try to get as much of that up as we could within the span of less than 72 hours um we we did very well um I'm very proud to say that that it worked uh we we had very little of that debris move around which is which is fantastic um so debris pickup is going to be a combination of forces it's going to be combination of our County forces and then augmented by our larger contractor uh resources and I'll get into that in a little bit but there are significant challenges when it comes to debris removal 1.4 million cubic yards of debris the scale of this event is like none that we have ever seen that that is 10 times larger than what we experienced under hurricane Irma in terms of just total amount of debris and quite honestly I think that number is probably higher you just you you know you're these are estimates at at this point but uh the scale just that alone is enough to litter 700 football fields right of just you know one yard deep worth of worth of garbage across across so the scale is high but Maxim in Fe FEMA reimbursement rates because the cost of that cleanup will be in the tens of millions of dollars and so the federal government um through FEMA is is stepping in providing some additional reimbursement opportunities for us which we need to take advantage of I think the governor made that very very clear in a statement that he made here in Pasco County and uh

and we can close roads and we can get heavy equipment onto roads and load things differently uh I think we can put a dent in this and so the first the first we we we tried it over a series of three or four nights and now I think we're doing it on a regular basis um we captured about 94 tons of of garbage uh the next night it was about 110 the next night we're we we did we did 200 uh on Sunday night with with with this with this and so kudos to our team uh for really making that work and kudos to to to the leadership of that team for coming up with these ideas that are that are leading the way and so our landfill operates 24 hours for that for that side in order for us to continue to make those make those things efficient so yes thank you for bringing follow up with just one second is that also I'd like the community to know that the whole floor a delegation work together to try and get this garbage reimbursed by FEMA yes that it took the entire all of the everybody and there's a lot of behind the scenes work I know you all were we're instrumental in that as well as our our delegation at the state level and the federal level to really kind of say hey we've got back-to-back disasters here we need to think about things a little differently and can we free up some of this administrative bureaucracy stuff that'll help us get things done and so uh I just appreciate all of that help and support because it is making our jobs uh easier out there Mr chairman yes yeah and don't forget to look this way youum first time relax since y are talking a lot I have a Time certain at 11:00 however the I can continue how many more slides do you have I know we interrupted you I tell you what I'm not trying to cut you short let me finish with debris and then and then we'll talk about kind of the next phase which is building building back better I I think it would be a logical stopping point if I I have a question on one thing on the debris yes ma' um just um driving around yesterday I I drove all the way down through Bailey's Bluff and everywhere and I noticed that some people put the debris way up close to their door where that Claw is not going to reach so um they may have cleaned a whole street but that house that put all their stuff way up by their door and in front of their garage or wherever how legally can we go get that without driving on their yard and just destroying we w't the answer is we can't we can't and we won't and you won't get reimbursed if you do yeah okay so we need to get that message out there because I saw quite a few houses that I saw they got left behind and I'm sure that's the reason why yeah there there there is information that's out there and again of course we we we continue to beat the drum on that Mr Mar I just want to say Mike you have been so phenomenal in this whole thing uh and I know from the past week with me and the calls we've had between femur and uh congressman bakas who did a phenomenal job getting the letter Senator Scott pushing pressure and I I know I bombarded with you guys just forwarding

on emails that I got textas going on what was going on at my district but I got to tell you when I walked into the in the meeting yesterday with the board would me to go talk about this as calm as you were I thought I was going to get a glaring look but he was so professional every step of the way and we got all the discussion and your actions that you made to like get the IP out already coming up on Thursday I'm just going to say you're a tremendous leader and what you've done through this is phenomenal we've got a ton more work to do but I just want to give you some Kudos cuz you're not getting enough of them what you've been doing through this whole thing has been absolutely phenomenal so thank you for that I appreciate the kind words and it's it is a team effort we are backed you know that we can't we can't do this alone and uh I just appreciate everything that this group has done uh to support uh me and my team so we can go out there and do the things that they do they make it happen at the end of the day so as long as you you know I forgot I need to interrupted he'll be fine and you know I got to give a shout out to Jeff as well Jeff's team has been phenomenal through this uh we we've actually I feel like we have we we've we've we've got a we've got a different model working and and things have been phenomenal so the support that we have gotten from the county attorney's office Jeff I would just say thank you uh to you and your team as well for that and and did this not show and maybe to all our federal supporters out there how much we need our new EOC yes yes and hopefully we're you know that's got to be our gift to all our First Responders who worked so hard now that we've seen what other Counties have and what we're dealing with you know we we've really got to um lift that up and get get going on our new E Yeah so just the last couple of things here with with debris removal and then I'll I'll pause the presentation Mr chair we allow do who to come up um interlocal agreements we've entered into interlocs or in the process of entering into interlocs Zephyr Hill state city in San Antonio where we would assist them debris removal I believe the Westside cities have piggybacked on our agreements so they're kind of handling their their debris and again we continue to evaluate additional sites because we know we're going to need them um and and looking at ways and then this is just a map you you know kind of showing that we we've broken the county down into zones and this is the type of interactive thing that you will see online here where it kind of shows which zones we're working in and then there will be sort of a 72h hour look ahead so you'll know when we'll be in your neighborhood but just because we're in in your neighborhood may not mean we hit your house because as quick as we get stuff cleaned up I'm seeing stuff get pushed more stuff coming right back out so process thank you Mike and the team for Contracting John power to come back to

help in that clean up because he's in his past he's been there doing that and knows how to do it so I think it'll make things move he's on the contract so but he's uh going to help with that removal of that debris and he went through it right after I first got elected so thank you sir thank you I'll step person for that I I'll pause I only have a few more slides left but let's do the time sir okay good morning David Engel planning and economic development director it's my pleasure today to introduce the board uh you you know him but reintroducing Dr Patrick who uh doctor who is the CEO and president of maford mfet uh cancer treatment and research center and he's here to give an overview and EST report on Spiros thank you thank you thank you David welcome yes sir thank you Mr chairman thank you to the Commissioners we're just very excited about our partnership together and what we're building here in Pasco County uh we do feel that we will develop treatments here that will go across the globe uh and we're excited by what's happening together we could not do this without uh the county Support uh from the county to the Sheriff's Office to the EDC we've had nothing but support we've been to with the EDC to Japan to try to drum up business uh together we've uh been to Europe with them and so it's just been very exciting to be here uh with all of you we think there's tremendous potential uh for the future so we feel is as you know this a Spiros campus Spiros means hope in Latin hope for patients hope for cancer patients hope for patients with autoimmunity with infectious diseases we think we can develop this with the state of the science today um with mfet anchoring that down it's a 775 acre campus we have phase 1A which is uh a number of buildings already going up uh with all of your help uh that we're excited about we feel there are a number of focuses in this campus uh one is uh delivering the best care to patients today so we have Pat patient care facilities we want to get them closer to the patients so they don't have to drive in to our other campuses and so that's uh one of the major focuses we have Partnerships coming along with other Hospital systems and then we want to uh work with biotech uh to develop the treatments for tomorrow it's uh very important to develop things in the lab but unless we have a company behind it it's not going to scale across the globe so we do feel that bringing in biotech companies and big Pharma small Pharma is going to be important to this in order to scale our influence uh and third we want this to be a great place uh to work so we want to attract the best and brightest uh employees throughout the country notice the cyclist down there on the right I just wanted to draw your attention to that thank you commissioner so um uh we do feel everyone wants one of these in their backyard a big biotech cluster uh and so what's going to distinguish us and number one it's we're all working together it's we've had such tremendous

support we don't think that happens in every Community uh by the county by the state uh we think um Florida is a very business friendly Community uh and we have a strong anchor in mafa Cancer Center uh we do look around the country and where these are successful it's where you have a very strong anchor and uh we have uh we we work very hard with our uh patient care we have uh over 600,000 uh outpatient visits a year at 990,000 unique patients see us um every year so that provides a a background not only for patient care but for research we do $300 million worth of research a year which is funded through our operating margin federal grants and state grants as well as um philanthropy and we think this is going to be a very very strong anchor uh to develop this biotech cluster and and we're really excited about one particular technology that we're experts in and treated 13300 patients more than anyone in the world on and that's te- Cell Therapy te- cells are an immune cell of the body that can go out and see cancers in this uh video the te- cells are the little blue cells it's like David versus Goliath the tumors are the big green cells and when the uh te- cells see the tumor they do what I call the kiss of death uh and they secrete proteins to poke holes in the tumor and the tumor dyes as indicated by the orange dye when the orange dye comes in that's the dead tumor and then the immune cell will just go to another uh tumor cell and kill it and go to another tumor cell and kill it well we've learned to take these immune cells out of the body put genes in them to help them even uh kill the cancer better recognize the cancer function better uh we've learned to grow them to billions and give them back uh to patients uh and so uh with this and the important part is these immune cells also live for decades in the body so giving the patients what they want every patient that comes to us wants a long-term durable response and so we do feel that uh these treatments will help to Anchor and start to uh um Galvanize our biotech Community this is cell therapy companies there are thousands of cell therapy companies out there they want to work with mafa cancer center and these are the first biotech companies that we think we're going to be able to attract it's very important that these immune cells live for a long time in the body uh a couple weeks ago I had a patient come to me we had treated him when he was just out of high school we had to wait till he was 18 so we'd be eligible for our trial uh we gave him immune cells um and at that time uh his melanoma it started in the skin went throughout his body including his brain he had a bleeding brain mat uh he um pretty much wiped out his cancer a few uh a couple years ago he came to my clinic with his baby uh that he had after going to College getting married have a job and now I just saw him a couple weeks ago his wife is pregnant with her with her second child and so it's just very fulfilling that these uh kinds of therapies can have the impact

that they have and we feel that by bringing in biotech companies uh that can uh produce these therapies innovate them they already FDA approved for a lot of the malignant leukemias the the blood tumors but now the next step is to get them to work work for all the solid tumors which cause 90% of the deaths from cancer and so that's where we're going to head um and that's why it's very meaningful what we're doing together so we really appreciate that um this is just what we're building there if you go there uh we'll welcome you anytime I know a lot of you have been there uh we have uh a proton Center uh going up a proton uh is a particle that we can hit at the Cancer and it also stops so if the patient has left breast cancer it will hit the breast cancer but won't go further into the heart that's why it's so important to have proton for certain diseases uh where the disease is close to a structure that you don't want to hit and the proton there a lot of people have proton centers this is a state-of-the-art really best in the country uh a machine that we're going to get from uh a very high-end place in Belgium that's going to be able to do and deliver all of the proton energy energy that would normally take 30 minutes and less than a second with that it would just Shred the cancer so we're very excited to get this up the walls are going up walls are very thick for something like this and pretty soon we're going to have the equipment in a few months coming in through the port and shipped up to Pasco our our our our property there and so we're really excited about that we have an ambulatory Treatment Center that will have IV Therapy radiation therapy everything that the patient will not have to travel um out of Pasco County for now we have have a a 300,000 square foot Research Center there uh that's going to help to innovate we're going to have uh dry Labs we we're moving our engineering team there it's um really important to have uh the hard Sciences mixed with the bi biological sciences so we're bringing in we have we've had a machine learning group uh for uh four years now way before it was fashionable and so AI machine learning very important uh we're going to have that house there as well as our Engineering Group our head engineer Greg Sawyer he should come here and talk to you guys sometime he's very special he's had melanom himself throughout the body came to mafa cancer center 10 years ago got a Curative immunotherapy trial and then he switched from working on the Mars rover to cancer W and so he a very compelling story and and so um he's watched his boys grow up and he's just dedicated to cancer he's already started companies he's bringing in engineering companies he's going to do things like scale cell therapy because to grow billions of immune cells it's hard to do that for the 10 million people across the globe that die of cancer every year so we're um he's going to help us scale that it's really going to be an engineer that's going to help us do that so that's all going to be be happening in our Pasco

campus I want to thank you again um when I have a number of people from mafa get today here uh Jamie Wilson our head of uh government relations John aler our VP of construction operations out there we have uh Meritt Martin uh my chief of staff as as well so happy to take any questions and I want to again uh just tell you how much we appreciate your help and collaboration M sty well I don't have any questions I just want to uh thank you for coming and giving us an update um I actually have not made it to one of the tours so I I need to get that scheduled uh but we're just so excited that you're coming and of course we we are here for anything that you need so um I'm I don't know my I'm just so proud that's it's in our County and we we talk about it around the world how how special this is and how special you are so Mr Mariana thank you it's just amazing what you have for technology coming our way and and the facility of building out here and what a great addition you're going to be to this County so greatly appreciate you coming and share shareing us what's going on thank you Mr commissioner very impressive I I love that we're going to have this right in our own backyard because if I understand correctly it's it's Miami and Jacksonville right with the proton therapy therapy they have proton therapy and I think this is going to be probably the the most upto-date state-of-the-art machine in the country so really excited about that yeah and also just like recruiting you guys are going to be able to recruit The Best of the Best because who who wouldn't want to live work and play right here in Pasco absolutely it's uh it's wonderful to be in the heart of one of the fastest gr counties uh in the country with bicycles and everything uh that people want uh to have it's going to be a wonderful area to live in Mr wa I'm serious you got to give them a good quality life they want to live bicycle brought off at to Pasco County but no but it'll bring their the quality of life that will will bring help bring their employees here anyway Doctor Who I you know just incredibly grateful out of all the places you all landed you landed close to home and landed in Pasco half of what you said went way over my head uh as far as the medical ease of what you're talking about but just incredibly grateful that moffett's here and to speaker Moffet who really kicked off you know what Moffet Cancer Center has become today and very grateful for your partnership and having USF in our backyard and um just to see what the future holds not just for employment and economic benefit and National and international notoriety but for the lives of of uh you know folks of all ages that we might be able to save and uh you know see what their Futures might be able to do uh because they had an opportunity to live so thank you for all of your work you know what you're doing uh you know you're going to bless generations to come so thank you Mr chairman I I had one more thing um so we have a program that we we help Fund in

the county that um I was involved in starting called am skills it's American manufacturing skills we used to call it skills initiative but now we just say am skills it's a it's um right now it's a 13,000 foot training center in um robotics mechatronics all things manufacturing and we are we got money from the legislature to expand our high school program so we will be opening up um um a uh we're not going to call it a Manufacturing Academy I don't recall the name of it um but we're going to be in um the high school in Angeline with our amskills Academy that will be uh a feeder for um workers for you so we're excited to have that relationship with um amskills and Moffet and I'd love to give you a tour uh over here it's over here on holiday but we go out into the communities but certainly we'd love to give you a tour and we've been called one of the best one of the best in the nation as far as a training PR program goes so well thank you uh we're going to need that we are going to need uh for example to grow these immune cells to billions we're going to need um workers um we're going to need workers with twoyear degrees with foure degrees with six-year degrees with 8year degrees we're going to need the whole gamut of workers to help us save these lives uh not only in Pasco County but we're going to develop the treatments that we think we can go scale throughout the globe so thank you yep Dr Hugh I can't I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for you and the mfet team to be here in Pasco County um cancer disease is is very terrible to everyone it doesn't doesn't eliminate anyone anyone can get this disease and it's very harmful to all all our citizens so you being here and the fact that they have the being close close to my and be able to get the right kind of cure in the future that we hope that one day we see a total cure which I know you're working toward but um it's it's so grateful that I am of of what y'all do and and being here and being close to our citizens so uh it will pay dividends and I hope you come up with that cure sooner than later so but thank you thank you Mr chairman and the death rates are starting to come down and we do think working together we can drive them down further faster so thank you very much y okay thank you okay Mr and and we we all want to come out when that uh proton machine is coming up from uh the airport we're going to get out there and wave Flags or do something shoot fireworks I said we need to have a proton cam so we can yeah I'm sure they'll have a drone following it right Merritt you're gonna have a drone over that um proton yeah it's going to be an exciting day might open up a wormhole we got to be careful okay Mr Kabal thank you sir I've only got five more slides left here just want to talk a little bit about recovery efforts so again our Public Works team uh continues uh continues to work um we have uh over 26 storm water pumps

currently deployed I know the state's providing more assets as well uh and again these pumps will pump and will deploy when it is appropriate and safe to do so so they are monitoring water levels daily I I I don't even think I mentioned the Cypress Creek Watershed Cypress Creek Watershed in the center of the County uh certainly uh some unprecedented levels of flooding there too um but as such we even had Road wash outs or full-on collapses of Roads uh I think at least at least six roads uh are completely washed out that's a picture there of of curly Road uh actually uh here here in the is that North of 52 uh yes yes yes yes on the East uh Northeastern portion of the county um and we're currently getting quotes we have contractors in our stable uh that we can work with and I know our team is already out getting quotes to do to do uh repairs yes sir one thing I would like to bring out I've heard some from some contractors that they're asking for bids for some projects but they we I don't know if we've given them all the parameters they need to come up with the right price for those fixing those roads so sure and and and again they need to meet and be sure they have the parameters to give you I think there's a balance between how much information we can give to the contractor based on the expediency right I mean if I spend nine months designing The Fix You will be very unhappy with us oh yeah uh so we we we certainly will have to you know we we compensate contractors for the risk I can talk to you later about of course absolutely um so we again um Fallen trees and roadways pump trucks we have moved water and again we have we have gone through and done an evaluation of our public damage as a result of this and and we we have received uh uh the green light for FEMA reimbursement so there's there's different categories of FEMA reimbursement category a is debris removal which we have at 100% for 90 days uh when that 90 days ends we're still having some discussions on that because of the two storms uh but then uh B is your Preparatory actions and then you've got cat C through which handle various things such as utility damage road damage damage to Parks public facilities and we've qualified uh for those usually on a 7525 uh type split so um it's great news federal government uh has heard all the work and so we're we're we're looking forward to uh not breaking the bank in responding to this storm which kind of leads us to building back and building back better if you will um we we in the local state of emergency have waved building fee permit payments right so the the permits are free but they are still required so so again we have we have team members out there in the public we've tried to go to where the hardest hit areas are to to make uh these these pop-up permitting sites to encourage folks to to do uh to permit um we are putting them to the front of the line so they do get expedited review so if you have storm damage uh to your property uh you don't it's not going to sit there and and and wait forever to to

get approval often times I think they're even doing it on the spot at some at some points Mr Murphy shaking his head so excuse me um and again we have these pop-up permanent sites at Gulf Harbor's SE Ranch Excuse Me Maybe presentation's over I don't know um popup per sites over at Gul Gulf Harbor tax collector office so thank you uh to tax collector for allowing us to collocate on a few few of those aisles up there uh C rank civic association and Luchi Boys and Girls Club and we'll continue to re-evaluate uh the need for those but this is an addition to online permitting as well as our our our usual spots we wanted to add this by Statute temporary structures are allowed for up to three years so if your home with storm damaged and you are repairing it there there are some thresholds that need to be met you can by law uh key have a temporary structure there uh to live in while you are making repairs to your Prime residents so I just wanted to make sure folks were aware of that Florida Department of Emergency Management began individual uh damage assessments and so that's basically kind of going door too and kind of validating certain things and so there's there's a procedure and a process to do that uh residents can use those estimates that that come out come out of that for their substantial damage estimates so that's that 49% rule you you hear us you hear us talking about um to dat we've issued more than 600 permits uh four demolition permits as well as plenty of re roofs Electric mechanical permits uh so far in excess of $13 million worth of worth of work has already started and so again I think the uh the uh development services team for going out there and being ready to help folks rebuild um um as quickly as possible and so on that uh on the 14th uh FEMA uh held a meeting uh virtual and in person over at our Hudson Library it was it was well attended online um but there were a lot of questions too about what's the count doing and so we've decided to go ahead and push a town hall style uh meeting at the historic courthouse on the 24th that's this Thursday that's at 6: PM I believe um where we'll have County County team members on on hand to do that but you don't have to go to Dade City to do it there is a virtual option as as always we we are a big County with with a lot of with a lot of different needs and so that that will be there FEMA will be there prior to that I believe from 400 p.m. to 6: p.m. um check our website with the times but to to answer FEA type related questions to reach out to those folks on the east side that are just currently even still experiencing uh this This Disaster and with that I will Avail myself to any other questions I have team members here too if the board would like to discuss anything else on this matter Mr Maran uh I just want to say the uh the response has been phenomenal um the team has just dedicated and and the debris there's one gentleman out there I saw yesterday picking up in Hudson and uh made a difference when the

other company failed and he says I've worked 27 days in a row and it says I'm doing it because my County needs me I thought it was just the heart and soul of the way this whole County staff has been has has operated everyone from the EOC you call in things happen Andy which you've got with the tremendous team you put together and uh JP I tell you the the extra calmness you show through this whole thing the organization of your people and when they're out at these places that they're they're looking also if if they see there's a need for someone to get help with some food or some ice whatever I mean those guys are out there just serving the people and it it just so impressive it's meant so much to the people that I just like down and out so you know with our community coming together in so many ways but our team here doing it as well the food that's been donated over and over again I mean uh it's just just been incredible the outpouring support and I and I will tell you as bad as this has been so far and as much work I'm going to tell you when these storms start coming down and then the water start receding a bit the east side is going to take a tremendous amount of work to get that back get that back together too because that's just uh it's going to be it's going to be a it's be a long journey to get through to take care of that too but I think if we get the high focus to get rid of this trash that's out there right now that's uh in the way we can start working on the bigger debris and then helping people on the on the east side ESP special recovery because it is going to be a struggle yeah they've started moving some of that debris yeah we are we are hyperfocused on that we we understand that debris removal is is a is a top priority as well as getting getting those things um reimbursed by FEMA as well and and you do mention it you know 27 days and I mean I've got team members here quite honestly who have who have done the same thing tirelessly often times through long long 18 to 24h hour shifts and and I I see a lot of EOC folks and our our media team and folks here as well I if you could just indulge me I'd just like to give them a round of applause if that's okay thank you we recognize there's still a long road ahead and they'll they'll continue to work tirelessly uh you know for for the citizens of this County so again thank you for that the last thing is just to remind FEMA will actually be available through our town hall as well uh for additional question questions too so I think it's going to be a great resource for folks okay all right any other questions well I I I just too want to say thank you to everybody um I'm finally not feeling 100% exhausted I I can't tell you how many times I went to bed at 8:30 um having two houses impacted by the storm and my son losing his house and moving in with us um it's been a lot but I know some of you have gone through it as well and I I'm just really grateful to everybody and when this is I don't know it's going to take a month a couple months but we need to have a a big

celebration when it's all over yep thank you everyone and there's another fact too is the fact that we're uh taking pictures of this where we see high water and this so it'll help us in the future with developments to make sure we set them at the right Heights and possibly avoid some of this uh flooding that we're have in some issues and and some developments now uh we want to not have those flooding issues so um it's pretty good I I I was wondering if we could get a map because I'd love to I don't know the start and finish of I have an idea of Cypress Creek I think it goes under 54 um because I think we've been buying part of that as one of the wildlife corridors but I'd love to see um on a map the the flow of the with Luchi through the county it's hard to see it when you're looking at the satellite so I just want to understand more where these watersheds go with Luchi is out of spank about a half mile each way I mean with Luchi is actually up in Georgia right now so go ahead Andy yeah but so when you look for it on the map it's good time for you to speak sir I knew we'd work into having a presentation by you no sir uhuh it's all no um we can get a copy of the Watershed and have it display we'll get it on a big map for y'all and and get it out to youall it'll take a little bit of time cuz we got to use GIS and we got to use NWS and nowhere to get that map done but we can do it great I understand that GIS is working on taking a map of how this looks right now so that we can use it in the future for the benefit of uh developments and people that are going to be building in future for some reason we'll avoid some of the mistakes we've had in the past so well unfortunately this time it was Mother Nature that took over oh yeah so that's right Mr chairman if I could back in 2004 I was city manager in Dade City and last time that Dixie Avenue area in around 23rd Street really flooded like it was and uh the um learned a lot about the outflow from Javita through denlinger and around uh behind uh 20 21st Street 23rd Street by the high school out Royal Oaks under the old railroad bed uh around to you know south of Dade City and around to around Jared Ford and boiler Pond and all of that chain to the Larin canal and the problem is that's all very flat and it's very slow flow and when the river's up and it ain't going nowhere and that's what we're seeing now I had the opportunity to drive around East side of Dade City yesterday and the water around people's homes and the streets still flooded there on the east side of um the bypass and 301 and up in those areas so it's uh there was a graphic that you all put out that explained that outflow from Javita on around which I thought was excellent and I tried to capture it so that at a point in time which I hope would never use in the future um but that was an excellent graphic explaining a lot of that out flow around the uh and through D City yeah and fact to add to that is I hope in the future when we get U Morningside Drive coming across from

301 over to Fort King by the hospital that some of that flooding is happening in that area there around Hickory Hill some of that will go away with the right cover height and it'll take water out before those homes get flooded so I've been working on that since uh since I was with swift blood in 2007 to 2011 I've been trying to get that covert lower yes the building of morning Side Drive is hopefully going to give me that opportunity to have that done so um yes a a a question uh was how did the Moffet property hold up does anyone know David knows I don't know what up David you got the answer no excellent excellent good um you know the woman who came from Thousand Oaks and Trinity Oaks just and I don't I've got her name and I yeah um I hope that she I hope that my assistant went out and got a phone number because I want to call her but I don't I don't recall how long ago she said she moved into that area but I know before I was a commissioner and during my first early years we had massive meetings with the it's called the Trinity flood task force with congressmen Senators Swift Mud Army Corps everybody uh monthly to try and figure out how to help with that flooding and um the the state in the county went in and spent millions and millions of dollars frankly cleaning up some of the waterways there that the neighborhood did not keep up like that BMP 5 There Were Trees growing in it and you know what guys I haven't been out seems to me I drove by that road the other day and I don't think it may have grown in again so we need to look at that BMP 5 and see if it's been made tained as a clear Waterway um however we will never be able to keep water from going out of a bowl it's just a question of how quickly can we empty that bowl um and I know every time a storm a big storms coming I just want those residents to know that I call staff but they're already on it we're we're lowering the water levels we are opening the gates and we are trying to move as much water out as we can but sadly that Community is really a 15inch lower bowl and uh I a resident recently contacted me and asked me what happened to the PACE program and I don't know if we ever really formally said that the the resolution of that PACE program where they were looking at holding the enclo river back and storing it on the starky Wilderness preserve um is that it was so costly that it was cheaper to buy the homes out that repeatedly fled and I do believe we had some neighbors contact the County about being bought out that get water in there and the answer you so so we either need to buy those residents out or find a way to help them to elevate their houses uh and some of them it's just it's really a matter of 6 inches or a foot and they will be out of the water and so um maybe we have a t a meeting for that Community again and with FEMA and insurance people and um and let them know their options but we will never be able to stop a

river from going in there yeah we just can't it's just that's Mother Nature there m and and the HOAs are in those areas uh their job is to keep those uh areas clean yeah but when I got elected eight years ago they were having the same problem then yeah yeah so we need to keep them clean so I I and I'm not sure whose responsibility frankly bmp5 is sometimes when we take on a a a Swale or a pond or something maybe it's our responsibility and we're not doing it so I I don't know the answer to that but we need to go look and make sure that you know what I'm talking about Jack that long one I walked it with Congressman Bill Swift Mud has the contractors that can clean those ponds but the HOAs have to pay for it for those communities well I I I think sometimes we take over responsibility yeah you know and I started with those meetings long ago uh and when we had the Army Core there Swift modes there Congress bakus had people there we had all the HOAs that were there and I I think you know Dr gills and L Friedland laid it out with Dan wayar it's a matter of conveyance getting it out there and sometimes not going to convey either but what we did for the improvements were great but I think what what why that HOA suffers so much is maintaining it is when the drought happened from years ago all these sugar Maples came in and multiplied and all of a sudden the wetlands got higher than the river flow so it couldn't even drain into them like it was even designed it may be a good thing to go take a look at with the storm water team to let's go try to see if we do some emergency thing like we did over in Palm teras draining out that you know di out that spray field to go dig that trench that we know where it's supposed to go and maybe this is the time to get it done because the Army Corps kept a lot of that work from getting done this may be the time to go do it under the storm event because as they're going to suffer because when we looked at like the reserve passed away when we cleaned that one out cuz that was like plugged in and that was something was like a was a foot wide it's probably like8 feet wide now yeah where the water could flow and get it out there and you look at oid oid is after that and what is oid oakd is dry as can be because all right all the covers and everything else all the drains are open if we can help that HOA get that thing dug especially where we have the advantage of the storm that's in right now and the flooding itself right now I think it's the ultimate approach cuz that may this may be the one time to get that fixed once and for all because all the great things we did we got permitted this is one they wouldn't let us go in and do might be the perfect thing to go take a look at the other suggestion that had come out of some of the engineering um work around that whole mess was to put a very large Culvert under the um Center of Mitchell Boulevard and you know maybe maybe we can look at those numbers

again and see if it makes sense and maybe get some if we can get some federal money for it okay the other thing I want to uh I brought this up on one of our 130 calls after Irma I think it was was Kevin here Kevin was here Irma um we got a federal contract to clean up part a part of anklet River and I went and watched them a couple days they were pulling they were using inmate labor with a a contractor and they were pulling the trees out of the river and allow clearing the flow um but they only did a section of it I believe they went from starky Boulevard bridge to little road so if you've ever looked at any of that River going further south it is filled in with trees and um and so maybe we can um get on that and maybe there's some out on the other in other rivers that you know we can expand this and CLE clear out some of our rivers and get that flow going better Mr Stein Steiner Mr chairman I'll remind you again that if the court told you you couldn't do it you still can't do it in a state of emergency now I'm flip side of that this may be the time to approach the core I'm saying and see whether well wasn't all together clear um I just want to make sure that that you know that the state of emergency doesn't give you the doesn't give you permitting Authority so if you've got issues with either D or the core you still got to go through those processes uh but now may be the time that the core might be willing to take a second look at what they had denied several years ago um and allow it but just that caveat for the record right thank you for the clarity Mr chairman yes Mr Stein Snider I actually appreciate that opinion that's the first actually uh Andy FAA does tell me that we are looking at that with tetratech and and it could be something that's reimbursable so we're we're we're exploring that legally all right we're in point uh let's uh recess for lunch and be back here at 1:30 [Music]