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BCC Minutes 03/19/2003 S (Water & Sewer Utilities & Legislative Session)March 19, 2003 TRANSCRIPT OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MARCH 19, 2003 LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Board of County Commissioners in and for the County of Collier, and also acting as the Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such special districts as have been created according to law and having conducted business herein, met on this date at 8:45 a.m. in SPECIAL SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Tom Henning Jim Coletta Fred Coyle Donna Fiala Frank Halas ALSO PRESENT: Jim Mudd, County Administrator David C. Weigel, County Attorney Page 1 COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA March 19, 9:00 a.m. SPECIAL MEETING NOTICE: ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON ANY AGENDA ITEM MUST REGISTER PRIOR TO SPEAKING. SPEAKERS MUST REGISTER WITH THE COUNTY MANAGER PRIOR TO THE PRESENTATION OF THE AGENDA ITEM TO BE ADDRESSED. COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 99-22 REQUIRES THAT ALL LOBBYISTS SHALL, BEFORE ENGAGING IN ANY LOBBYING ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ADDRESSING THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS), REGISTER WITH THE CLERK TO THE BOARD AT THE BOARD MINUTES AND RECORDS DEPARTMENT. REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON SUBJECTS WHICH ARE NOT ON THIS AGENDA MUST BE SUBMITTED IN WRITING WITH EXPLANATION TO THE COUNTY MANAGER AT LEAST 13 DAYS PRIOR TO THE DATE OF THE MEETING AND WILL BE HEARD UNDER "PUBLIC PETITIONS". ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS PERTAINING THERETO, AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES THE TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL IS TO BE BASED. ALL REGISTERED PUBLIC SPEAKERS WILL BE LIMITED TO FIVE (5) MINUTES UNLESS THE TIME IS ADJUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN. IF YOU ARE A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY WHO NEEDS ANY ACCOMMODATION IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCEEDING, YOU ARE ENTITLED, AT NO COST TO YOU, TO THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN ASSISTANCE. PLEASE CONTACT THE COLLIER COUNTY FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT LOCATED AT 3301 EAST Page 1 TAMIAMI TRAIL, NAPLES, FLORIDA, 34112, (239) 774-8380; ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED ARE AVAILABLE IN THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE. 1. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE THE BOARD TO CONSIDER MATTERS/RESOLUTION REGARDING PROPOSED LEGISLATION IN THE CURRENT LEGISLATIVE SESSION RELATING TO WATER & SEWER UTILITIES AND TO DETERMINE ACTIONS, IF ANY, TO BE TAKEN, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, USE OF OUTSIDE COUNSEL, LOBBYIST(S) FOR COLLIER COUNTY AND DIRECTION BY THE BOARD. ANY OTHER MATTERS PERTAINING TO THIS LEGISLATIVE CYCLE. Governor sent letter to BCC regarding a 3/25 meeting to be held in Tallahassee with the Governor regarding south golden Gate Estates Lands. 3. ADJOURN Page 2 March 19, 2003 RESOLUTION 2003-120 RE: PROPOSED LEGISLATION IN THE CURRENT LEGISLATIVE SESSION RELATING TO WATER & SEWER UTILITIES AND TO DETERMINE ACTIONS, IF ANY, TO BE TAKEN, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, USE OF OUTSIDE COUNSEL, LOBBYIST(S) FOR COLLIER COUNTY AND DIRECTION BY THE BOARD - ADOPTED CHAIRMAN HENNING: Everybody take their seats, please. Welcome to the special meeting. We've got a couple items that we're going to address, and then we're going to close the meeting and start the CRA with Chairman -- Commissioner Donna Fiala. Would you all rise for the pledge of allegiance, please. (Pledge of allegiance was recited in unison.) COMMISSIONER FIALA: And God bless our troops. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Yes. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Go get 'em, guys. Let's roll. CHAIRMAN HENNING: County Manager Jim Mudd, first item on-- MR. MUDD: This -- CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- the agenda. MR. MUDD: This special meeting -- sorry for this special meeting, but we thought it would be inappropriate if we waited till Tuesday, because the legislative session is moving pretty fast in Tallahassee. And there's an item of critical interest to this county and to the City of Marco Island in particular, and it has to do with the Florida Waters sale of their particular utility to two towns in the Panhandle. Now, we've seen some news stories about they've discontinued that deal, but there's also some legislative bills out there, both in the House and the Senate, and they're numerous ones. Some are good for us and some are bad for us, extremely bad for us. And the ones that are bad for us would basically do a retroactive law that would Page 2 March 19, 2003 make it very easy for those -- that two towns to start this whole thing over again and not have to go through the public services commission or anything like that. And all the work that we've done so far with the injunction and whatnot would be for naught. And this is an effort to get the board's approval to get Mr. Mike Twomey, who has been working that particular case for us in court, to help us in the lobbying effort. The reason we're basically also recommending Mr. Twomey, because we have Mr. Arnold as a lobbyist, we feel that Mr. Arnold might have a conflict of interest in this particular issue if he was to take on this particular item. CHAIRMAN HENNING: He's not the only one. MR. MUDD: Go ahead, Bleu. MR. WALLACE: For the record, Bleu Wallace, director of community development operations. We bring to you a series of bills here that we think will cure this problem that was created back when Chapter 163 of the state statutes was enacted that allowed for the formation of these authorities to purchase utilities, among other things. The bills that staff is recommending that the board support by resolution will provide accountability that's not there now. It will also require due diligence that's not there now. And also, it will have a provision for host governments where these utilities are located to have a say in those sales. And we think this is very important to get this law and those problems cured. And we have the resolution here for you to adopt, and we'll forward that off to the Florida Association of Counties, and also to the local legislative delegation and ask for their support in supporting these bills. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Question by the board members? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Motion to approve. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second. Page 3 March 19, 2003 CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner Coletta, second by Commissioner Fiala to approve the resolution. All in favor of the resolution, signify by saying aye. Any opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries 5-0. COMMISSIONER FIALA: And that includes the lobbying by Mike Twomey, right? MR. MUDD: Yes, ma'am. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you. MR. MUDD: And it will come out of the general fund. And once we get done with our case, we're pretty sure we'll be reimbursed from Bleu Wallace's fund, okay, that has to do with utilities. LETTER TO GOVERNOR REGARDING A MARCH 25TH MEETING IN TALLAHASSEE REGARDING SOUTH GOLDEN GATE ESTATES LANDS, INDICATING THAT COMMISSIONER COIJETTA WlI.I, REPRESENT THE FICC - APPROVED Mr. Chairman, I'd like to -- while we still have this special meeting ongoing, I'd like to discuss a letter that you received yesterday vis-a-vis fax from the Office of the Governor, Cabinet Affairs, from a Stephanie Kulp (phonetic), and she forwarded a letter from Ms. Eva Armstrong, director of division of state lands. And it basically invites you and commissioners to attend a 25 March meeting in Tallahassee with the Governor to talk about the South Golden Gate Estates. Now, I've talked with the attorney's office, first of all, and he has advised me that if multiple commissioners go, you'll have a Sun -- you might have a Sunshine Law violation, so that's problematic. And David can talk about that in more depth, if you have questions. The next issue is, let's talk about the questions that are on the Page 4 March 19, 2003 second page. And I've passed you out that particular facsimile. And it's the last page of those three pages. And it's on Item 8 on the agenda for that day, on the 25th March agenda, and there's a series of questions. First of all, why did the county grant a mining permit to landowners whose property is located within the area designated as the critical project under the Federal Water Resources Development Act, and then subsequently agree to purchase the landfill from the landowner? Well, I've asked Joe Schmitt to take a look at that and go back and find out what mining permit we're talking about. But in the interim, we have permitted conditional use some items. For instance, we had a fish farming project out there, okay, where the guy was going to do fish. And we basically said three years until the project comes, at which time if it can't be included in the project, then he would no longer have conditional use and he'd have to quit fish farming out there. If somebody was going to mine that area for a period of time before they were going to flood the area, I don't see where that's an issue. But we're looking at the details and we're trying to figure out the particular property that they're talking about in question. The second question is, what is the status of the county's poten -- or the potential sale of its interest in roads within the Southern Golden Gate Estates to the Muskogee tribe of Indians in Florida? On February 11, 2003, the board of trustees approved the use of eminent domain on the roads within the Golden Gate Estates area. Commissioners, I know there was some interest in talking to that Indian tribe by Commissioner Coletta, but the board has acted in no way in directing any kind of sale of our property to the Indians, and that's how I'm going to reply to that particular item, unless you tell me otherwise. Number three, what is Collier County's application process for approving the cut-out and split-out of parcel identification numbers Page 5 March 19, 2003 into several separate and newly classified identification numbers? How long of a process is this? What is required of the landowners in order to have this application approved? I've asked by memo, of which Wynona Stone delivered to your office. I've asked Abe Skinner to answer that particular question for us, but from what I know, if you want to split your land and you only want to do it in two parcels, you can go over to Abe and pretty much get that done within a day. If it's three or more, then there needs to be a site plan or plat plan that's provided to community development. And I've asked Joe Schmitt to look and see if we have received any three-way splits on lands that had to come back to the Board of County Commissioners over this two- or three-year period of time, and he can't find any. So this is a question specifically for the property appraiser, and I've directed it that he answer the question so that I can provide it in the response back to the Governor. The fourth bullet, the State of Florida purchased a number of structures within the South Golden Gate Estates area that are apparently non-permitted structures as part of the restoration plan. These structures are scheduled for demolition. What procedures are needed in order to prevent Collier County Code Enforcement Office -- go for it, Code Enforcement -- from issuing additional notices of violation statements and potential assets? And we can fix that internally as soon as we figure out what those properties are within Code Enforcement, as long as they're going to demolish, and they can give us a schedule to do so. I think that's a pretty easy process. But again, this is the first time that we've seen this particular question by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection or the South Florida Water Management District. Come to think about it, this is the first time we've seen any of these questions by any of those folks. So we'll get that response. Go to the fifth bullet, in the filing and processing of eminent Page 6 March 19, 2003 domain court cases, the chief judge for Collier County restricted the number of parcels to a lawsuit and limited the order of taking hearings dates to two days a month. This has prevented a timely acquisition of those parcels in eminent domain. What are the reasons additional parcels cannot be added to the lawsuit and more hearing dates to allow the court? (sic) I've asked Dwight Brock to answer this particular question. From what I understand a number of years ago, the chiefjudge decided to limit the number of parcels in a case, so that he could limit the number of people that were involved and had concerns in his particular courtroom. And the other thing that this also does is this gives us the ability to collect more fees on court cases and, therefore, the court system has a tendency to pay for itself. Something now that the state is in the process of paying for the court system that they could probably learn from this process, because they're going to find out the court system is substantial, and if folks aren't collecting the right amount of fees, then there's going to be additional burdens on sales tax revenues of the state. But that's why it was done in the past, and I'm going to let Mr. Brock get into the particulars of that particular thing for this item, and asked him to do so yesterday. That brings us down to the sixth bullet. What is the county's intention concerning putting on hold a 1999 lawsuit that asked the judge to declare it a public right to use the Miller Boulevard Extension? Why not dismiss the action? And I think this was quite clear because we just did this at the last board meeting. We basically put the case on hold, pending the eminent domain actions, because -- and the reasons for that is this board had interest in how the residents in that particular area were going to basically get out of that particular area so they could continue their lives. And Miller Boulevard Extension was one of those roads that was needed, in our opinion. Page 7 March 19, 2003 And I think so far you've made good decisions on that particular item. And we'll basically talk to them, and I think if they want the latter to discontinue the case, it would be nice if they could please tell us what the evacuation routes, the normal everyday routes that are going to be for these people in the areas that are what I'll call isolated and how they're going to be able to get out and in and continue their lives, knowing that Miller Boulevard would be there. And I think if their staff could provide that and they could give us assurances, that would be something that this board would consider. That brings us to the last bullet: Would the county be willing to assist with police and other code enforcement for garbage and trash disposal? An example is a landowner-- and the answer to that is absolutely. We do that all the time. We don't want any part of Collier County to be trash ridden. And you have a mandatory trash collection proceed that everybody pays so that their trash is picked up. And whenever we spot dumping, we try to correct that and find out who the culprit is. So that gives you an idea of how the answers are going. What I need from the board is, is we're preparing this response, and we plan to respond to each one of those. I need to know what we want to do as far as the invite for Tuesday. You do have a board meeting that day that has been advertised, and you have the budget to decide and some other things, how you want us to respond. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: This -- of course this is the first time I had a chance to see this just before I came in. Nancy told me there was a communique to Commissioner Henning that just came in yesterday. And I realized the time element being what it is, that I wouldn't have a chance to review it ahead of time. I will be in Tallahassee on the 18th-- excuse me, the 25th, the day of that one meeting; is that correct? The only problem is, is that I was planning to stay for the comtnission meeting to be able to deal Page 8 March 19, 2003 with whatever came up until about 2:00, I was going to leave, and take the plane to Tallahassee, be able to be there for the FAC, which I have reservations to be there and meet with numerous representatives. But I'm not too sure how this should be handled. If you're looking for me to go to represent the county, I'm more than happy to do it as a commissioner, but I've got great concerns about the meeting itself that's taken (sic) place. I know Commissioner Halas will be on the -- be piped in through the speaker system on the phone. He has Emmitsburg already planned. And I don't know if we could accommodate two commissioners. And I've never missed a commission meeting. I'm not too sure what to do on this. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Halas, let me just chime in here. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Sure. CHAIRMAN HENNING: I think that maybe, Commissioner Coletta, the proper avenue is ask the Governor to postpone this item on their agenda, being that we do have a meeting and it doesn't give us enough time to respond to all these questions they have. But let me go to Commissioner Halas. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Yeah, I think -- I'm not sure what the county attorney has, but I feel that it's imperative that commissioners go to Tallahassee or to Washington. And the reason I say that is I recently found out that the -- most of the commissioners in Lee County and Charlotte County went to both Tallahassee and Washington to lobby for bringing back monies to this -- their respective counties. And I feel that if we want to get involved in this process, that I think it behooves a lot of the commissioners to get involved in the lobbying efforts, to bring back some of the monies that we as taxpayers send up to both Tallahassee and to Washington. CHAIRMAN HENNING: We have a specific item on the Page 9 March 19, 2003 agenda today, and that's dealing with Southern Golden Gate Estates, so we need to give the county manager some direction how to proceed with this -- the questions that are brought up by FTAB. Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I think Jim Mudd outlined it fairly well. The Miccosukee Indian Tribe business was a -- what do you want to call it -- a stab in the dark to get the attention of the Governor and his cabinet when it came to access issues and the Picayune Forest. Obviously it succeeded in getting their attentions as far as changing any outcomes dramatically, other than the possible eminent domain on the homesteaders that are there. I don't think it's been all that successful. I don't think it's a viable thing, and I'm sure that Jim Mudd will explain that in great detail. And possibly the letter should come from the Chair. I would suggest that. The other thing I would like to see us consider is that we also direct the chair to write a letter to the Governor and his cabinet, to ask him to postpone this meeting because of the fact that we haven't had a chance to respond with a meeting of our own, and plus, we'd like to have a representative there to be there for our best interest. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Can you make that a motion? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes, I'll make that a motion. MR. MUDD: Can I add one thing, Commissioner? CHAIRMAN HENNING: Yes. MR. MUDD: If we're able to respond to the questions in this particular letter and answer those issues, we could give the Governor the option to either -- if those answers are sufficient to answer his concerns, then he might not have to continue. And I'd leave that open in that letter. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Well, the concern that I have with that, we need representation up there when these questions come up, because they might -- whatever response that we have, they might Page 10 March 19, 2003 have more questions. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: That's my motion, what Commissioner Henning just stated. COMMISSIONER HALAS: I second that. CHAIRMAN HENNING: There was a motion by Commissioner Coletta, a second by Commissioner Halas, thank you, for sending a letter to the Governor, asking for it to continue. Commissioner Fiala, and then I want to go to the county attorney. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, if we don't find out right away that they want to continue -- I didn't realize the motion was coming up -- will we then make sure to send a representative up there? CHAIRMAN HENNING: That's a very good point, that if the Governor is not willing to continue this item, because they do want to acquire this land posthaste, then what is game plan two? And I think after we get through this motion, maybe we can follow up on those concerns, some very valid concerns. Mr. Weigel? MR. WEIGEL: I was just going to say, echo what Jim had said, is that if a response is provided, conceivably through the Chair, and the message, if a letter were used under your signature that staff has provided these responses -- obviously we'd have it worded very carefully -- but it may be that several of their questions essentially go away, although they may have more questions. But they know they we are responsive quickly as opposed to clearly not putting off on any answer to any of those questions. And I also know that there's going to be a commissioner presence up in Tallahassee this next week. I'm going to be there, too, and some of county manager's staff will be there. And so just a thought is we could offer to Governor Bush to stop by and just talk to the Governor, and maybe that would assuage some of his concerns, because he probably has not heard any of this directly from anyone. Page 11 March 19, 2003 He's hearing it maybe second- or third-hand and then voice his concerns, and so it might be an opportunity one-on-one with the Governor and significantly reduce some of the issues, without even the formality of a Governor/cabinet special meeting. Although the one could always be done at another date. I just wanted to hold that out that they may find even in their busy schedule that they'd like to meet with someone from the commission even next week to some degree. We offer them what we can in the context of our board meeting requirements here, and the fact that we are physically going to be up in Tallahassee. Additionally, Jim had mentioned a possible Sunshine issue. It is interesting and curious that the DEP representative here would ask that the board, our board, be present up there, because the very discussions that I've had with the attorney general in the past concerning, call it out-of-pocket board meetings, was typically well, if it's another place in the county, that's okay. But they have had cases where a board of county commissioners has met out of state and they consider that very problematical, because the people that are interested, a la the constituents of the county, have a problem being at that board meeting out of state. And the 400 some miles to Tallahassee is just as problematical as the difference between the borderline of Indiana and Ohio or Michigan or something like that. So it could be problematical from a technical Sunshine standpoint for this board to be up there. Although, if they really wanted the board to be up there in the form of two or more persons of this board, I expect that we could work out the logistics with extreme notice and other requirements taken care of ahead of time. But I always counsel the board so that we don't get complaints filed here locally by citizens locally that have an inability to see this board deliberating on matters that are of concern to this board and this community here. And I'll continue to advise you that way. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? Page 12 March 19, 2003 COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I was -- if the Commission so wished, I could see at that time that I'm in Tallahassee that if it becomes necessary, I could arrange for an appointment with the Governor, and of course I assume that Dave Weigel would be available to go with me and possibly a member of Jim's staff will also be there. The issues aren't all that convoluted that we can't deal with them. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: You know, I think there are a couple of issues here that we've got to deal with. If I read this letter correctly, we're being invited to attend their next meeting, which is already scheduled. They are meeting, the Governor and the cabinet is meeting on February -- or March 25th, whether we're there or not. I think asking them to postpone a meeting with us is counter-productive, because they're going to be discussing this issue on the 25th. If we're not there, we've got a real problem. Furthermore, I think there's a serious difficulty telling the Governor and the cabinet that you can't meet with them on March 25th when in fact we're going to be there. Okay, some people are going to be there. So I would suggest that we do send a letter into getting -- we'll have a representative at this meeting. And if it means Commissioner Coletta misses the board meeting then, you know, I think that's a good reason to miss a board meeting. I would be happy to volunteer myself, but I've had to cancel out of going to Tallahassee at all. So I don't have plans to be there because of some other issues. But I believe that -- you see, here's what's going to happen: If we meet with the Governor and we tell the Governor something, he's going to talk with the DEP and they're going to tell him something else. And so the Governor is going to be having people hit him from Page 13 March 19, 2003 both sides. The only way we can get to the bottom of this is get all the parties in the same room and say here's our position and here's why we did certain things. And I think it's essential that we be there. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala, then Commissioner Coletta. COMMISSIONER FIALA: I totally agree, and I thought that maybe Commissioner Coletta, even though we answer the questions and the Governor might be satisfied, he should be there. But maybe one of our attorneys who's also been dealing with this issue, just to give any legal advice that might be requested, or assist Commissioner Coletta. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yeah, I'll do whatever the will of the Commission is. Of course, I don't like the idea of missing a commission meeting. But possibly we might be able to look into the possibilities of a double-feed where we both can call in and I can catch some of the more important issues of the meeting and still be able to make these meetings in Tallahassee. I agree with Commissioner Coyle, it is important that we're there. We can't dictate to the Governor what to do and what not to do. I'd be willing to go there as early as Monday to make sure everything's in place and change my schedule around to accommodate it. And I'm sure that, David, you might be able to adjust your schedule also? MR. WEIGEL: Surely. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yeah. So if that's the will of the Commission, I change my motion to take that into consideration. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Are you -- COMMISSIONER COLETTA: To include that in the motion that I will go to -- at the Commission's direction, I'll go to Tallahassee to represent our interest. Page 14 March 19, 2003 COMMISSIONER HALAS: Can we have the motion read back to us, what we're going to put all into this, so we don't have -- COMMISSIONER COLETTA: She loves us when we do this to her. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Maybe we ought to just cancel that first one. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Okay, let's cancel the first motion. CHAIRMAN HENNING: You withdraw your motion, Commissioner Halas? COMMISSIONER HALAS: And I withdraw my second. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER HALAS: And let's get started again and make sure where we're at. COMMISSIONER COYLE: When you formulate the motion, it might be a good idea to include in the motion direction to staff as to how we should respond. And I think we need to respond to the issue of the possible Sunshine Law conflict. So we have to explain why all the members of the Commission are not appearing there. So I think what I'd like to do is to make sure that we send a letter to the Governor and his cabinet, indicating that we will in fact have a representative, but we can't accept their invitation for all the commissioners to be there because of potential Sunshine Law violations. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay, somebody want to formulate a motion? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I think Fred just did. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Is that it? Okay, I'll make that a motion. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: How about Commissioner Henning's response to the -- with the facts to be able to let him know what's happening directing (sic) him? Page 15 March 19, 2003 COMMISSIONER COYLE: Well, of course I think we need to tell them what our intention is, that we'll accept their invitation to attend this meeting, but we can't all go there because of the -- COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Right. COMMISSIONER COYLE: -- Sunshine Law. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: We're directing Henning to do that, correct? COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yes, that's right. And -- but the problem of responding within the next week really depends upon whether or not we get all the information in the next week. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Right. COMMISSIONER COYLE: And I don't know if we'll get all the information that quickly. So I'd hate to commit to having a response before the 25th. We might go there with the response, but it depends entirely upon how complete the information is. The thing you don't want to do is go there without having a really firm answer on these issues, and it might take us that long to get some good firm answers. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle makes a motion that Commissioner Coletta represents us in Tallahassee to answer these questions before the cabinet, or -- and also state that not all the commissioners can be there because of Sunshine laws. And whatever staff can answer in the response, the other things that I hope that will be continued, or -- COMMISSIONER HALAS: That he'll carry that information with him upon meeting with the Governor. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Is there a second on the motion? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second. CHAIRMAN HENNING: There's a second by Commissioner Fiala. So County Manager Jim Mudd, does that give us enough time Page 16 March 19, 2003 line, in your opinion, to respond to the Governor on Tuesday? MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER FIALA: And did we need to mention in there about David Weigel going up as well? Is that -- MR. MUDD: No, that's already happening. And Beth Walsh, who's the legislative assistant that I have, will be there, too. And that was her on the phone. She's changing her airline reservations right now. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. I guess I need to ask Jim, in your opinion, are we doing the proper thing? MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. I think you don't stand the Governor up. I think you will have a good -- we'll have a good process of getting all those answers done for Commissioner Coletta. We'll have a good written response and basically lay out a testimony for him so he'll have that, and he'll have that written product. And that will go -- we'll go over it with David and with the county manager's office so that that will be there. And then we'll prep him and he'll do a good job for us. Plus, he's also the district commissioner from where that particular project is at, so I can't think of probably a better person that knows it more firsthand than he. COMMISSIONER COYLE: And he can explain the sale of the land of the Miccosukee. MR. MUDD: Absolutely. How he was out there mucking around. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Better take a peace pipe with him. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Whoever you assign this item to do the research for the response, I think if you look back in the minutes on the fish farm in the year 2000, you're going to find the South Florida Water Management had no objections. You're going to find that the Audubon Society or whatever organization -- COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Wildlife Federation. CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- Wildlife Federation had no Page 17 March 19, 2003 objection. Actually, they supported it. So I think that's the reason -- COMMISSIONER COLETTA: And that's a good argument. CHAIRMAN HENNING: Right. And I think you'll find that a former county commissioner now working for the acquisition also voted for it. MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN HENNING: So there's a motion on the floor and a second. All in favor of the motion, certify by saying aye. Any opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries 5-0. Any other business on the special meeting? MR. MUDD: No, sir, that's it. CHAIRMAN HENNING: All right. We're going to adjourn the special meeting. Page 18 March 19, 2003 There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 9:20 a.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CON:~_~~L ~. TOM HENNI~G, Chai nan ATTEST' DWIGHT;:,E~. :B'~K, CLERK Attest ~ to C31iI~Im'- "::~' .... : signature only, ~:-~--. - ... Thcse:minute~' approved by the Board on As presented ~/' or as corrected TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. BY CHERIE' NOTTINGHAM. Page 19