Loading...
Agenda 10/10/2017 Item #2C10/10/2017 COLLIER COUNTY Board of County Commissioners Item Number: 2.C Item Summary: September 7, 2017 - BCC/Budget Hearing Minutes Meeting Date: 10/10/2017 Prepared by: Title: Executive Secretary to County Manager – County Manager's Office Name: MaryJo Brock 09/26/2017 2:29 PM Submitted by: Title: County Manager – County Manager's Office Name: Leo E. Ochs 09/26/2017 2:29 PM Approved By: Review: County Manager's Office MaryJo Brock County Manager Review Completed 09/27/2017 8:34 AM Board of County Commissioners MaryJo Brock Meeting Pending 10/10/2017 9:00 AM September 7, 2017 Page 1 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, September 7, 2017 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 5:05 p.m., in BUDGET SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Penny Taylor Andrew Solis Donna Fiala (telephonically) William L. McDaniel, Jr. Burt L. Saunders ALSO PRESENT: Leo Ochs, County Manager Nick Casalanguida, Deputy County Manager Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney Mark Isackson, Office of Management & Budget September 7, 2017 Page 2 CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good afternoon. County Manager? MR. OCHS: Good evening, Commissioners, and welcome to the first of two statutorily-required public hearings to adopt the proposed Fiscal Year 2018 budget. Commissioner, if you'd like, we can start with the Pledge, and then we'll get Commissioner Fiala in. Thank you. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders, would you lead us in the Pledge, please. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) COMMISSIONER FIALA TO PARTICIPATE TELEPHONICALLY DUE TO EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES – APPROVED CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And so, Commissioner Fiala, for obvious reasons, could not be with us tonight. She's in Ohio and could not get back to us all this week. So at this point we are going to see if we have a motion to allow her to participate in this meeting due to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So moved. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: There's a motion on the floor and a second. All those in favor, say aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: (No response.) CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign. (No response.) September 7, 2017 Page 3 CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. Welcome, Commissioner Fiala. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Can you hear me? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We sure can. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Good; that's great. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Welcome. Thank you. All right. MR. OCHS: Madam Chair, if you don't mind, I'll turn this right to Mr. Isackson to begin this evening's presentation. FY-18 PELICAN BAY SERVICES DIVISION BUDGET HEARING Item #2A (PELICAN BAY SERVICES BUDGET AGENDA) MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, County Manager Ochs, and good evening, Commissioners. The first item of business up on the visualizer is our discussion of the Pelican Bay Services Division budget, their budget hearing, which includes the preview executive summary, any public comment then, ultimately, the adoption item, C, which is a resolution approving the special assessment roll and levying the special assessment against the benefited properties within the MSTBU. I'll call up Mr. Dorrill, who will provide a briefing for the Board. MR. DORRILL: Good evening, Commissioners, and thank you. Within the executive summary, the purpose of this item is to have the Board review and to approve a resolution establishing a special assessment roll and a special assessment over those benefiting properties within the Pelican Bay Services Division in the community of Pelican Bay. Florida Statute, Chapter 197, is very specific and it refers to the Uniform Method of Assessment. Our budget includes both ad valorem and non-ad valorem taxes, and in this particular case, the amount of the September 7, 2017 Page 4 non-ad valorem assessment for next year, $4,067,300 or $534.09 per residential unit, and then there is an associated capital assessment of $118.76 per unit which results in $904,400 for a total of 7,615 units or equivalents within the community. The total combined assessment for next year is $652.86. It does represent a modest increase. The increase is primarily attributable on the maintenance side to a healthy expansion of contracted tree trimming with outside vendors and also some capital purchases that includes vehicles, utility vehicles, some associated mowers. And with that, I'd be happy to stop for just a second as an executive summary and see if there's any particular questions or questions of the public. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I see none. Commissioner Fiala, any questions? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, none whatsoever. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much. Item #2C (PELICAN BAY SERVICES BUDGET AGENDA) RESOLUTION 2017-150: APPROVING THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT ROLL AND LEVYING THE SPECIAL ASSESSMENT AGAINST THE BENEFITED PROPERTIES WITHIN THE PELICAN BAY MUNICIPAL SERVICE TAXING AND BENEFIT UNIT – ADOPTED MR. DORRILL: And then, in turn, the recommendation is that the Board adopt both the resolution establishing the assessment roll in the number of units that I attributed and also levying a special assessment against those benefiting properties within the community for 2018. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much. Do we have September 7, 2017 Page 5 any speakers? MR. CASALANGUIDA: Not on that one, ma'am. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We did receive some correspondence in terms of -- I believe there's only one hearing on this; is that correct? So -- MR. DORRILL: There -- historically, for 20-some-odd years, there's one hearing on the non-ad valorem side. I think the ad valorem millage gets wrapped up into your second hearing because, as I said, we do levy a millage rate to pay for our street-lighting program there. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't have any problem going forward with all of it, whatever portion only requires the one hearing, but there was a request to delay that portion of it because of the situation with the hurricane; that some people couldn't be here. I don't know if you heard that or -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I did. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I have not. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Dorrill, there's a portion of this that -- where there is only one hearing. MR. DORRILL: And that would be this one, which has to do with both the maintenance and the capital programs. The separate millage is part of the overall and would be aggregate millage of the county that is an ad valorem assessment and millage rate. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And I think the request -- because I think that the doctor came before us before. Whether there's a hurricane or not, I have a sense that the idea was to do it close to when folks are coming back. I think that was -- MR. DORRILL: You know, I don't disagree with that, but I will tell you since Westinghouse created the successor to the services division in the 1970s, the assessment portion of the budget for almost September 7, 2017 Page 6 40 years has been adopted as part of a single hearing in conformance with Florida law. There is no requirement for the portion that utilizes special assessments to have two hearings. There's not a provision within the statute to have a second hearing. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Understood. If we do delay that portion until the next hearing, would that create a problem for you? MR. DORRILL: No. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. And you have to be here for that as well anyway? MR. DORRILL: Historically, no. But I get paid one way or the other. I will tell you, in fairness -- and I recognize Dr. Doyle. But in fairness to the appointed members of our advisory board who work very, very hard in support of the services division and specifically the budget process, they find it a source of aggregation and insult to somehow be treated separately. But on balance, I'm not opposed to having to come back. But I will tell you that the advisory board, who work hard to recommend a budget to you -- this is a multi-year, you know, approach and complaint or concern on the part of Dr. Doyle, and we acknowledge that, but the Board has developed the budget that is here. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: What was the Board's, the advisory board's, vote on the assessment? MR. DORRILL: They recommended, I believe it was, 9-1 in support of the -- it was either 8-1 or 9-1 in support of the budget as submitted. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I would also like to say, Commissioner, that I received more comments and more information from folks that were in support of the levied non-ad valorem than I did from Dr. Doyle. Dr. Doyle is the only one that had voiced an objection September 7, 2017 Page 7 and suggested a delay. And I think we could, you know, duly note that he has expressed his objection but move the process forward as we usually do. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's fine. I just wanted to raise that issue because we did have that correspondence. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I did -- now that I think about it, I did have that conversation with Dr. Doyle as well and had urged him, you know, to obviously bring as many people as he could that would be opposed. But I haven't heard anything other than him, either. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Certainly, it's a separate subject matter, but it bodes the discussion that we had yesterday about even having this meeting, so if -- COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I think -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll make a motion to accept the resolution as presented. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I'll second it. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. There's a motion on the floor and a second. Any more discussion? Commissioner Fiala, any discussion? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Nope, none. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. All those in favor, say aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign. (No response.) CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. MR. DORRILL: Thank you very much. September 7, 2017 Page 8 CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Stay safe. MR. DORRILL: If I could, 30 seconds. As an old county manager, I was privileged to attend a briefing earlier in the week that was run by your manager and also your emergency management people. And as somebody who spent a lifetime in public administration, it was one of the most impressive things I had ever seen. And I think the public can be justifiably proud of the hands that they're in and under your leadership in particular. Thank you, again. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Hear, hear. MR. OCHS: Oh, that's very kind. Neil was the one who actually hired me here in 1986, so he gave me a chance to come to town. So it was nice to hear that from somebody that I respect. Thank you, Neil. All right. Mark? FY-18 COLLIER COUNTY PUBLIC BUDGET HEARING MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, that brings you to your Collier County public budget hearing, your first hearing. As I mentioned in the overview memo, there's some pretty strict protocols that have to be followed with regard to the truth-in-millage statutes. And if you'll indulge me, I'd like to begin reading some remarks into the record. I will stop at every particular section so that the Commissioners can, at their discretion, engage their staff in any questions or have dialogue amongst themselves. So let me first begin by welcoming everybody to the first of two public hearings on the Collier County Government Fiscal Year 2018 budget which begins October 1, 2017, and runs through September 30th, 2018. The public budget hearings in September must follow a specific September 7, 2017 Page 9 format pursuant to truth in millage TRIM guidelines. Your agenda contains the specific sequence of agenda items to be covered. Pursuant to statute, this hearing was advertised as part of the TRIM notice mailed to all Collier County property owners. The final budget hearing is two weeks from tonight or September 21st, 2017, and this hearing will be noticed as part of the statutory advertising requirement contained in the truth-in-millage statutes. The notice of proposed tax increase ad will appear in the Naples Daily News on Monday, September 18, 2017. This type of ad is necessary since the county's tentatively adopted aggregate millage rate is greater than the current year aggregate rolled-back rate. Final tax rate and budget decisions will be made at this final hearing on September 21st, 2017. Agenda and speaker slips are available in the hallway. Anyone interested in addressing the Board of County Commissioners regarding the county budget must complete a speaker slip. Following some introductory remarks regarding tax rates and changes to the tentative budget released in mid July, there will be an opportunity under Agenda Item 1C for public comment unless, Madam Chair, you decide you want to call them earlier. That's your prerogative. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you, sir. MR. ISACKSON: The TRIM notice mailed to all property owners indicated that by close of business September 11th, 2017, was the deadline for property owners to contact the Property Appraiser and file a petition for market-value adjustment with the Value Adjustment Board. Your Agenda Item 1A is a discussion of the tentative millage rates and increases over the rolled-back millage rates. Rolled-back discussion is required by state law and is the first substantive issue to be discussed. They are the percentage increase in millage over the September 7, 2017 Page 10 rolled-back rate needed to fund the budget and, two, reasons ad valorem tax revenues above the rolled-back rate as calculated by the State DR 420 forms are being increased. Now, let me just make some introductory remarks here, and then we'll open it up for discussion. Rolled-back rate is defined as that tax rate necessary to generate prior year tax revenues, and this tax rate is calculated not including taxable values associated with new construction, additions, deletions, and rehabilitative improvements. The board-adopted budget guidance for FY2018 included a millage-neutral operating levy position, the same tax rate as last year and, for that matter, since 2010 for the General Fund. The added levy earmarked for Conservation Collier was eliminated when the maximum millage rate was set by the Board on July 11th. For the Unincorporated Area General Fund, the millage rate was, once again, set at the Fiscal Year 2007 rate of .8069 pursuant to Board guidance, with the additional marginal ad valorem dollars above the millage neutral operating levy devoted to continuing the median capital landscape program at maximum funding levels. Levies from the General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund together represent 96 percent of the total aggregate taxes levied across all Collier County taxing authorities for 2018. The Fiscal Year 2018 tentative General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund operating and capital budgets as presented are based upon board-adopted budget policy. Again, the additional levy for Conservation Collier has been eliminated based upon Board action on July 11th. Both General Fund and the Unincorporated Area General Fund tax rates are higher than the rolled-back rate. Collier County taxable value has increased over the past six fiscal years, and the increase for September 7, 2017 Page 11 2018 is 8.41 percent and 9.02 percent within the General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund respectively. Within an increasing taxable value environment under millage neutral operating capital policy guidance, the rolled-back rate will be lower than millage neutral. This event occurs in Fiscal Year 2018. Between 2009 and 2013, during the economic recession, General Fund budget reductions year over year and midyear totaled $122.9 million. During this period, a millage-neutral budget policy existed, and taxable value dropped $24 billion. Cuts in operations as well as capital transfers occurred. Starting in FY2014, taxable value began to increase and has increased steadily to its current value of 83.6 billion. During this period of increasing taxable values, the county has maintained a millage-neutral tax rate policy, and through this policy, additional ad valorem revenue collected has totaled 81.5 million. This additional General Fund ad valorem tax revenue has allowed the county to restore and fund up many capital projects, programs, and operations cut during the recession. The General Fund budget model places a premium on preserving and protecting sufficient cash balances, maintaining adequate reserves for a coastal location, ensuring that the county's excellent investment quality credit rating is maintained, and allocating sufficient available resources to maintain our substantial public safety infrastructure and operational investment. Mindful of this model, the Board each year decides on a tax rate policy, and budget decisions are crafted around board-enacted budget policy. Referring to Exhibit 1A, Page 1, millage rates for each Collier County taxing authority have been established pursuant to Board guidance. The roster of tax rates adopted by the Board on July 11th, September 7, 2017 Page 12 2017, represent the maximum property tax rates that can be levied in FY2018. The Pelican Bay MSTBU millage rate is .857 per $1,000 of taxable value, and based upon the respected dependent district MSTBU DR 420 maximum millage forms, all dependent millage rates are not approved unanimously. It is recommended that this rate alone be voted on separately because it will require a two-thirds vote. The cumulative aggregate rolled-back rate for all Collier County taxing authorities, exclusive of debt service, totals 4.0016 per $1,000 of taxable value. The proposed aggregate tax rate for all Collier County taxing authorities exclusive of debt service totals 4.1790 per $1,000 of taxable value. This represents an increase of 4.43 percent over the aggregate rolled-back rate and necessitates a notice of proposed tax increase ad for TRIM purposes and not simply a budget summary ad. Final millage rates will be adopted by the Board on September 21, 2017. Commissioners, I'll stop there, and allow -- open it up for discussions. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, do you have any questions or any comments? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Commissioner Taylor, you are so nice. You always count me in. I really appreciate that. And I have no questions. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much. Commissioner McDaniel? MOTION TO CONTINUE THIS BUDGET MEETING UNTIL 9/14/2017 DUE TO EVACUATION ORDERS REGARDING HURRICANE IRMA – FAILED September 7, 2017 Page 13 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, I have a question for the County Attorney. Good afternoon, sir. Is there any way that we get in trouble by delaying this hearing legally? I'm having a very difficult time having these discussions with the latest hurricane update that just came out on -- at 5:00, and having this -- and you heard me yesterday speak about it, and I still have a concern. And I didn't ask the question with regard to legality. MR. KLATZKOW: If the Board wishes to continue this to another day, it may do so. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Under the state of emergency, we can do that, still adhere to the advertising requisites and things? MR. KLATZKOW: It's not the easiest thing in the world for us to schedule this but, yes, you can do so if you wish. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, I'd like to make a motion that we do, in fact, do that to the earliest convenient period of time after the storm. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Hearing no second, the motion fails. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, can we have a discussion? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Of course. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: What would be the impact of doing that? I just want to make sure that I understand what the impact of that would be on, you know, the budgetary process and anything else that relies on that. Because I said the other day that I shared the same concern. I mean, we've urged people to -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Evacuate. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- evacuate. And so, I mean, I have the same concern; that if we want to be consistent, to have a hearing, a public hearing on the budget on the eve of the storm when we've told people to leave town just, it concerns me. So my question is, is there some logistical impediment to doing September 7, 2017 Page 14 that other than it being obviously -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Arduous. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- arduous, right, and just creating a lot more work in terms of trying to re-notice everything? MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, there's a provision in the TRIM statute -- COMMISSIONER FIALA: Don't we going to have a second hearing? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Pardon me, ma'am? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Don't we have a second hearing on the 21st of September? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, ma'am. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And it is the last hearing. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Pardon me? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It is the last hearing. It is the last -- it is the last hearing. You know, oftentimes, Commissioner Fiala, things need a little bit of time to gel through the process. And there are a lot of people -- again, it's -- I felt this way yesterday, but there are a lot of people who aren't here who would have liked to have been here. And it's -- the 21st, as we spoke about yesterday, is the last date that it has to be done. And I feel strongly that we're doing a disservice to our community by forcing this meeting in right now on the eve of the storm. MR. KLATZKOW: Commissioners, there was an executive -- emergency executive order that was passed a couple of days ago specifically on this matter, and it suspends the normal TRIM notice requirements. If you wish to continue this to another date, you may do so after the storm's event. It's your prerogative. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And the motion specified to the earliest convenient date after the storm passes. September 7, 2017 Page 15 MR. KLATZKOW: Well, no. We've got to give notice, and we don't -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Let me ask you a question because -- as opposed to -- I would ask you to change the motion, potentially. We are in the public hearing right now. MR. KLATZKOW: Yes. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And we can continue this public hearing. It's already been noticed. MR. KLATZKOW: Yes. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We can continue to it a date and time certain. MR. KLATZKOW: Yes. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: You don't have to go through all of that process in terms of dealing with that TRIM -- that statutory -- or that order from the Governor in terms of the time periods because we're in the hearing right now. MR. KLATZKOW: Well, you're in the hearing right now, but there are certain time periods -- there's certain time periods between the two hearings that you have to make, but you don't necessarily have to make it anymore because of this executive order. What I'm saying is if you wish to continue this to another time, you may do so. If you want to continue it to a date certain, you may do so. If you want to continue it without a date, you may do so. It's entirely your discretion. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It gets to this -- COMMISSIONER SOLIS: What you're saying, though, is -- what's the time period that there has to be between the two hearings? MR. KLATZKOW: Normally I believe it's 15 days, but we've suspended that. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Suspended the 15-day -- September 7, 2017 Page 16 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: TRIM notice requirement, yes. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- between the two hearings? MR. KLATZKOW: Yes. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's the problem. The other one's set for the 21st? MR. KLATZKOW: Like I said, there would be some logistical issues that Mr. Isackson would have to take care of, but it will be done. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. MR. KLATZKOW: What I'm saying, it's entirely your discretion how you wish to handle this at this point in time. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I think Mr. Isackson was going to say something. MR. ISACKSON: I'll ask Mr. Ochs to -- as County Attorney Klatzkow said, there was an executive order. We didn't have that executive order when we met with the Board under their emergency provisions. That was distributed to us after that particular -- that particular meeting. This is a notice of continuation. It's contained in the TRIM statutes. I'll suggest strongly that you continue this meeting to a date specific, and I -- MR. OCHS: If they want to continue. MR. ISACKSON: If they want to continue the meeting. That would be my only request. And I think we get around any notice requirements if, in fact, you do that. That's my suggestion. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If you want me to be specific, I would name, you know, Thursday a week from today, if you have to -- if you feel better having a specific date; if it's the pleasure of the Board. Again, I'm -- I'm uncomfortable in having these discussions at this state -- at this date and time. MR. ISACKSON: If, in fact, they want to do it. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: We have a lot of people here who made September 7, 2017 Page 17 the effort. We're kind of negating who's here in order to find people who aren't here. I'm a little concerned about that. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I would certainly agree with you completely if we didn't have a second public hearing where we're not -- we're not going to make any decisions tonight. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And so it's not going to be a situation where the public's not going to have an opportunity to weigh in on anything that's in this budget. And so I would prefer going forward with it just because we've moved in that direction. I don't have any problem continuing it, but I would prefer going forward in light of the fact that we do have a second hearing that will address anything that anybody wants to address in terms of the budget. This is really closer to a workshop than it is, you know, a hearing because we're not going to make any decisions tonight. MR. KLATZKOW: Well, you're adopting a tentative budget. As long as you don't go above that in your second meeting, you're fine. If the majority of you are comfortable with the budget as it is now, or less, one of the two, you're fine doing it that way, sir. MR. OCHS: In terms of the tax rates? MR. KLATZKOW: Yes. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: But when you say we're adopting a tentative budget, we adopt it on the -- MR. KLATZKOW: You're adopting a tentative millage rate and a tentative budget. If you wanted to, for whatever reason, increase that millage rate, okay, at that point in time we'd have to get out all sorts of notices and everything else. It can be done; that's why we're here. But if your intent is not to do that, then Commissioner Saunders is right, you're having two meetings, and -- CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Right. MR. KLATZKOW: -- this is more of a workshop than that September 7, 2017 Page 18 environment. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I don't know if we need to put the cart before the horse, but I can tell you I have no interest in increasing the millage rate. So I think we're safe in that area. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I don't think any of us do. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: My main concern, just as a point of discussion, is that the people's hearts are not in having any kind of a rational discussion right now with regard to what we're doing. They're -- there are a lot of people who cannot be here, who are not here who have voluntarily evacuated who could and would participate who are not. And with deference to those that are here, thank you all very much. Personally, I'm sorry that we are here. I would rather we delayed this yesterday and been putting up plywood today. But be that as it may, I'm still very uncomfortable. And it's no disrespect to you, County Manager. I just -- I feel it's a disservice to the -- to the population of our community to continue on with this right now. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So the motion was to -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Continue. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- continue it till next Thursday? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That was my -- if it made staff more comfortable with a date-certain, if you would rather leave it up to the discretion of the manager for the first available convenient time, I'd be happy with that. That's the motion to -- the motion was to continue it until the most convenient time after the storm has passed. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Could I ask a question? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Of course. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Of course. How's everything in Ohio? September 7, 2017 Page 19 COMMISSIONER FIALA: Being that we're going to have a second meeting at which time the public could definitely be there and there's no hurricane or anything involved, and they could weigh in on things, and the decisions aren't being made tonight anyway, I'm not quite sure -- because, as Commissioner McDaniel said, he wants to make sure the public can weigh in, but they would be able to weigh in at that meeting if they're -- you know, if they want to. And no decisions are made here. What we're doing is just -- this is one of these preliminary things that gets us to the second meeting. I would think that this would be something that we could -- we could finish the meeting today, look forward to the 21st, make sure that everybody knows that the meeting will be open to everybody, and that's when the final decisions will be made. And I think that, to me, that makes perfect sense. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Is that a motion, ma'am? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, I'll make that motion. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'll second that motion. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We didn't vote on the first one. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No. There was not a second on the first motion. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I think he was going to change his motion to a date-certain. Didn't you? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I thought he seconded it for purposes of discussion. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No; no, he didn't. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, you didn't? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: No. He said wait a minute; I want to discuss it. I said there's no second on the motion. He said wait a minute, and he started discussing. That's why -- September 7, 2017 Page 20 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You all pick what you want to do. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: There was a -- you made a second motion to move it to a date-certain. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I did. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I didn't realize that I needed to do that on the first motion. My apologies. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'll withdraw my second, and then we'll make sure Commissioner Fiala -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just as a matter of -- COMMISSIONER FIALA: By still having the second meeting and not having two meetings -- I mean, we're having one now where there are still people there, but what -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: This room will be packed. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Do you think that having two meetings with the public there -- wow. I mean, the public can speak out at this one or they can speak out at the next one. I just -- I don't think we're slighting them, actually, and that's, I think, what the whole crux of this is is that we don't want to slight the public but that we're going to have another meeting. No decisions are going to be made tonight. I don't quite understand why we can't move forward. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chairman, you do have a motion. It hasn't been seconded yet. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'll second it. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. So, Commissioner Fiala, just for Robert's Rules, would you kind -- I withdraw my second to your motion, and if you would withdraw your motion until we can vote on Commissioner McDaniel's -- COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: -- motion. Thank you very much. September 7, 2017 Page 21 All right. So we have a motion on the floor and a second to move this meeting until Thursday. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And on the motion, I'm going to vote against the motion. I certainly understand the rationale for it. But we are going to have a second hearing. It's just from a matter of procedure and having public input. I think we're going to have plenty of that. So I'm going to oppose the motion so we can go forward this evening with the public hearing. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. So there's a motion on the floor and a second to move the meeting until Thursday of next week. All those in favor, say aye. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Motion fails. So we'll continue with our meeting. Thank you. MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners. We're still on Item 1A, if there are any comments or discussion from the dais. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think we had a lot of discussion. Item #1A DISCUSSION OF TENTATIVE MILLAGE RATES AND INCREASES OVER THE ROLLED BACK MILLAGE RATES – PRESENTED CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: With 1A -- so we're -- okay. September 7, 2017 Page 22 The tentative millage rate, that's what we're discussing, okay. We're not discussing specifically the Unincorporated General Fund and the MSTUs within that fund; fine. MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, I just put on the record items related to millage rates and increases over the rolled-back rate and why certain things are happening. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. MR. ISACKSON: That's what my remarks were intended to do. That's what's contained within Item 1A on the agenda. Item #1B REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF CHANGES TO THE TENTATIVE BUDGET The next item is a review and discussion of changes to the budget. We have roughly 35 pages of resos and things of that nature that reflect changes to the document that have occurred since July 11th and since the board workshop in June. That's Item 1B. The primary change is the Tax Collector's budget, which is submitted in August of every year. And there are other routine changes that we normally make at this time, given our looking at the SAP accounting system, looking at our revenue streams, and we make some routine adjustments to the budget. You see that very transparently in the documents that you received. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I have no questions. Any questions? MR. ISACKSON: Are there any questions on Item 1B? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, do you have any questions? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, I don't. Thank you. September 7, 2017 Page 23 Item #1C PUBLIC COMMENT MR. ISACKSON: Madam Chairman, then you would turn to the public for any comments. MR. CASALANGUIDA: Madam Chair, you've got six public speakers with your first speaker being ceded time from three other speakers. Would you like me to call them up? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, please. MR. CASALANGUIDA: Mr. Ken Oehler, and if -- Mr. Oehler, if you could have the other folks that ceded time just raise their hand. Louise Hoy? MS. HOY: (Raises hand.) Francis Hoy? MR. HOY: (Raises hand.) MR. CASALANGUIDA: Good to see you, sir. And, Colonel Sandy? COL. HARTER: (Raises hand.) MR. CASALANGUIDA: Thank you. Mr. Oehler, you can start there. Your second speaker will be Mr. Chris Hudson. MR. OEHLER: But he's not with me. MR. CASALANGUIDA: No. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And you would have 12 minutes; is that correct? MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's correct, ma'am. MR. OEHLER: I hope to not take 12. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Oh, thank you very much for making the effort of being here. MR. OEHLER: I sent these to all of you via email. September 7, 2017 Page 24 CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much. MR. OEHLER: But in case you didn't read them or have time to. You've seen that. I've got one for Commissioner Fiala. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You can probably leave it with the county -- Deputy County Manager -- MR. CASALANGUIDA: I'll make sure she has it. Good to see you. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- or the court reporter. MR. OEHLER: Okay. Thank you for continuing the meeting tonight. I've got the same concerns at my house, and we have a lot to do to get ready, and hopefully it won't hit us that hard anyway. But I asked for the time to speak to you for a significant countywide budget increase for sidewalks and a request to continue the installation of sidewalks in the Palm River community. My name's Ken Oehler. I'm the president of the Palm River HOA. And we're essentially a voluntary organization, so not everybody is in it and not everyone has to be. But the area of our village where we wish to have sidewalks installed is the older part of the community built in the early '70s. I guess sidewalks weren't very important back then. We were really pleased when the county put in a sidewalk along Cypress Way East, mostly along the area where the condos are. And I'll show a picture of that in a minute. Here's -- who has control of the photos? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Troy. MR. OEHLER: Here is a truly scary picture, and it is common in our village. You've got two cars passing each other, a car coming up behind it, a family -- looks like a family of four, a small child on there -- all trying to pass at the same time. This wouldn't happen if we had sidewalks. I wish I'd had my cell phone with me when I saw on another one September 7, 2017 Page 25 of our streets the landscaper truck, a woman, a young mother pushing a stroller with a baby in it, and a car trying to pass her. Again, no sidewalks and very narrow streets. So the residents of Palm River are asking you to greatly increase the annual budget of $250,000 for sidewalks to $3 million. Now, I know $250,000 sounds like a lot of money, but I'll give you an example of how little that covers. And I'll show you a photo of what we want to do. But in the meantime, there's another one -- okay. Here is all of Palm River. The streets that are marked in yellow are the only ones that we want sidewalks put in. The ones in blue or green either have them already or have recently been done. It's a little over two miles worth of sidewalks. And that -- that's what we would like you to do. Recently one of our residents circulated a petition. She got over 200 responses to it asking for sidewalks to be built. So we went to the Pathways Committee. We were advised -- at the Pathways Advisory Committee. We were advised at that meeting that the sidewalk installation last year, the one little strip on Cypress Way East, exceeded the county's entire budget for the entire county for sidewalks. We were told that -- well, I went to the website for the budget area. I couldn't get through all 860 pages of budget information there. I gave up. I was looking for where it said $250,000 was all that the county dedicates to sidewalks for the entire county. But we got that money -- that number from you, Commissioner Solis, from Dan Schumacher, and from the Pathways Committee. Now, what they told us in our meeting with them was that, again, we exceeded the entire annual budget, that we couldn't expect to get another sidewalk put into Palm River for the next eight to 10 years, if then, and if we wanted them, we'd have to form or have a petition for an MSTU and tax ourselves for sidewalks to be built in our community. September 7, 2017 Page 26 When we looked at the amount that you budget every year, we figured out, for the county itself, it would probably take you 50 years to put sidewalks in the areas that have narrow streets and no sidewalks. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Was the -- and I'm trying to recall. Was -- the sidewalk that was put in, that was tied to a grant, wasn't it? That -- I think there was -- weren't there grant funds that that's -- that were tied for -- specifically for the installation of the sidewalk? I think one of the issues is that a lot of these improvements, I think, are tied to specific grants that go through the MPO. MR. OEHLER: I don't know. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. MR. OEHLER: It wasn't brought up when we went to the Pathways Advisory Committee. What they did tell us was that sidewalks get preferential treatment where there's the speed limit of 45 miles per hour or more and people have been killed. I hope we don't get to that point. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. One of the issues -- because I've looked into this. One of the issues is that we have numerous areas in the county where that's already the case, and that's one of the problems. MR. OEHLER: Well, I realize it's a problem, and $250,000 sounds like a lot of money. It's 25 thousandths of a percent of your budget. It's a rounding error. I'll help you. I'll help you move money around. I'll find it. And I know you won't let me do that. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I think Ms. Scott -- Ms. Scott, can you give us some information? I think we'll keep this pretty open and fluid right now. We're not going to take this away from your time, sir. MR. OEHLER: Okay. MS. SCOTT: For the record, Trinity Scott, Transportation September 7, 2017 Page 27 Planning Manager. I was not in this position when that previous project was built, but my recollection is, is that it was a public/private partnership, if you will, with the community coming together with the sidewalk along Cypress Way East, and -- MR. CASALANGUIDA: Not Cypress Way East. It was Piper Boulevard -- MS. SCOTT: Piper Boulevard. MR. CASALANGUIDA: -- where the developer donated right-of-way. The district chipped in, and the county chipped in. But I believe the one on Cypress Way East might have been a LAP project or -- then it was just county funds. But there was no public/private there. MS. SCOTT: It was a county-funded project. I do know that it was not a LAP project. It was not funded through the Department of Transportation, the Florida Department of Transportation. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It was not? MS. SCOTT: It was not. MR. OCHS: Trinity, why don't you explain the process that's been established for sidewalks. MS. SCOTT: Certainly. The Collier County Metropolitan Planning Organization adopts a Comprehensive Pathway Plan which we utilize as our basis for how we proceed forward with projects. That plan also incorporates multiple walkability studies which look at individual areas. And currently there is a Bayshore/Gateway walkability study that's been completed in Naples Manor as well as in Immokalee, and we're getting ready to start a Golden Gate City walkability study which really gets into those finite details of those particular communities; more detailed than the Comprehensive Pathway Plan, which is very detailed in and of itself. So these are additional walkability studies. So we fund from September 7, 2017 Page 28 those priority lists. And, currently, the sidewalks that are identified on this map are not in the MPO's Comprehensive Pathway Plan. So our recommendation has been, since the MPO was currently in the process of updating this plan, to work through the MPO process to get their projects into this plan. Now, I understand that members of the community went to the Pathway Advisory Committee in April. And I pulled the minutes from that meeting, and there was a considerable discussion about it. And I think that the Pathway Advisory Committee was reflecting that -- they have limited dollars as well. So we have $250,000 that we put each year from the county budget, which I utilize to supplement grant funds. And so currently we have in excess of $4 million of FDOT money that's coming back to us, that I'm using that $250,000 a year to supplement that, so trying to make our money go further. But what they were talking about is that they only have approximately $1.5 million each year that they're putting towards sidewalks. And we all know that there's a lot of sidewalk needs, and they certainly will look at areas that already have identified safety issues where there's a high crash rate or high speeds, and those projects typically will filter up to the top based on their prioritization criteria. So I think that that was probably what was being reflected back to the community. But it's important to get on the plan. So the MPO process is really the place to start and get on the MPO's Comprehensive Pathway Plan. MR. OEHLER: My turn? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, sir. MR. OEHLER: Okay. I started to tell you about the petition that was sent out. About 200 people responded positively to it saying, yes, we want -- in fact, I walk every morning, and I walk in the section of September 7, 2017 Page 29 the new sidewalks. People ask me all the time, well, when's the county going to finish this loop so that we can do the whole loop. I said, well, I don't know. We're working on it. The petition that was sent out didn't mention an MSTU, but in talking to the residents, there isn't anyone who says, oh, yeah, increase my taxes so we can have sidewalks. Really. And what they say is, listen, some of us have been paying taxes, or at least this house has been paying taxes, for 40 years. We ought to have sidewalks. Now, we're a community of 1,900 doors, about 900 single-resident homes, and then the rest are condominiums. If we were to go to everyone in the community and get a positive vote for an MSTU, that would be fine, but we won't. And if we go to only the streets where there will be sidewalks installed, then the cost per home is going to be astronomical, and it will certainly get voted down, which is why we don't think an MSTU is the way to go, which is why we're asking you to increase the budget; move some money around. I had to do that all my working career. I figured out ways. And I'm hoping that you can, too. Now, there's -- there's an old adage about if you build it they will come. That strip on Cypress Way East was never -- nobody would walk on that because they had to walk in the street, and it was really unsafe. Any time of the day you will find people walking that -- that section. It would increase security. I mean, you get more people walking the streets, and you've got, you know, eyes that are open, the bad guys don't want to be seen doing what they do, and there will be people out there all of the time. So summarize quickly. Move some money around, increase the sidewalk budget to $3 million a year and, of course, start with Palm River. September 7, 2017 Page 30 Now, another side issue. I know, you know, there was several articles in the paper about all the flooding. I know you've all gotten calls about, you know, floods on their streets and everything else and that there was a consideration for a separate infrastructure tax. I'd encourage you to pass that especially if it would include sidewalks, because in many cases to alleviate the flooding and the storm drains and everything else, you may even have to put in sidewalks. So I would encourage you to do that. And, with that, I would entertain any questions you may have. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much for your comments. And I think -- I hope you understand that because you're one of many neighborhoods throughout the wonderful county we live in and there are many neighborhoods that have challenges in terms of safety as you do, we've got to follow a process, unfortunately. MR. OCHS: Oh, I understand that. I understand. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And so, if you could -- I mean, you just gave me reasons that would convince me, if I didn't live on a street with a sidewalk, why it's important to have sidewalks, and that's the safety of the neighborhood itself. If you would consider going back and polling your residents about an MSTU, you know, it would help -- it would move things along. But other than that, I would encourage you to go through the process, the MPO process. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Can -- CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, of course. It's your district. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And it's really important that you do that, because even if we increase the budget, if you're not on the plan it won't get to you anyway. I mean, are you clear about that? MR. OEHLER: Yeah. I think I would need some guidance there to get on the plan. And let me just as an aside -- COMMISSIONER SOLIS: You certainly could get help with September 7, 2017 Page 31 that. It's just -- but it's just very important that -- I mean, just increasing the budget isn't -- it doesn't necessarily help you is what I'm trying to say. It has to be on the plan. And so that -- I've been urging everyone to get involved with the MPO because that's the process we have. That's the process we have to deal with. And in order for any work to be done, you know, it has to be on the plan. So -- and I'd be glad to help with that as well. I think the -- I don't want to speak out of school, but I guess I will. I mean, I think the Pathways Committee is changing, and I think that would be where to start. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's an understatement. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I think -- so in any event, that's where it needs to start, and we have to follow both sides of this, both the budget and the plan. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Ms. Scott would be very, very helpful in guiding you through this maze of procedure that's necessary so that you will be recognized, your community. MR. OEHLER: She'll be my next stop. As an aside, I will say that everyone that I have dealt with before coming here has been immensely helpful. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Oh, that's nice to hear. MR. OEHLER: And I haven't had an unfriendly conversation or, "no, you can't do that." It's just amazing how helpful you all are. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Commissioner Saunders? COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No, I didn't have anything to add. We do have an MPO coordinator, and that would be probably the right person for him to talk to in terms of getting information about the MPO, and our staff can give you that contact information. MR. OEHLER: Okay. Thank you very much for your time. September 7, 2017 Page 32 COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm -- I have one more thing, and I just would like to say, again, staying with the system that is currently in place is a path to travel. We have a budget initiative process for the upcoming budget fiscal year that starts in January, February. We've had -- I know I have had several discussions with staff about rearranging the available funds that we, in fact, have for a different prioritization on how we're doing what we're doing, and that's a process within the guise of the MPO as well, that we can -- that we can also explore as well, so -- MR. OEHLER: Thank you. I'll help you. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you. MR. OEHLER: Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much. MR. CASALANGUIDA: Madam Chair, your next speaker is Chris Hudson followed by Representative Bob Rommel. MR. HUDSON: Madam Chair, Commissioners, Chris Hudson, resident of District 5, State Director for Americans for Prosperity, Florida. Tonight's budget discussion, I just want to put in our bit from Americans for Prosperity, and that is no new taxes, take a look at your spending, cut the waste that exists; it most certainly does. And if you need any assistance finding that waste, there's a number of philanthropic think tanks that have been happily point it out. I also talked to leadership -- and I know Bob Rommel is about to step up, who -- we're excited in Tallahassee. They're going to start taking a look under the hood at CRAs and take a look under the hood at a number of the government entities and budgets that exist in our county. And then on a personal note, talking to my neighbors putting up shutters -- and I know that that opportunity to postpone to date certain didn't happen, but I'll say thank you, Commissioner Solis and September 7, 2017 Page 33 Commissioner McDaniel for making the motion. Two meetings is what's statutorily required. There's a hurricane. You are putting on social media and Twitter for individuals to evacuate, to board up their homes. You can't have them do both. It's wrong. It's a disservice. I hope that in the future you don't do that again. It's sad. Thank you. MR. CASALANGUIDA: Representative Bob Rommel followed by Patty Toulet. REPRESENTATIVE ROMMEL: Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chairman and the rest of the county commissioners. I do appreciate -- hello. Do we have a budget to get a new microphone here? I'd appreciate -- CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: A new mic; that's going to raise your taxes. You don't want that. REPRESENTATIVE ROMMEL: Well, I'll pay for it. I do appreciate no new taxes in Collier County, but I'd like to let you know that I got a lot of phone calls and emails today from constituents in the area that didn't know that the budget hearing was going to go on, and they asked me if I was going to attend. And I was helping residents in the area board up their homes, tie down their boats, and I do think it's a disservice. This is a public hearing. The Governor's urging people to leave the area, and you're requesting they come here for a budget hearing? I do appreciate Bill McDaniel and Andy Solis for bringing up it -- to postpone it, because the second hearing, there is really no discussion. It's over. It doesn't give the public time to have input into the budget. It's done. But I do appreciate not raising the taxes. And maybe in the future, when we see there's a state of emergency and we're requesting residents to leave, we postpone budget meetings like we did most of September 7, 2017 Page 34 the other county meetings today. So thank you. MR. CASALANGUIDA: Patty Toulet will be followed by Barbara Troy. MS. TOULET: Hello, Commissioners. My name is Patty Toulet. My husband and I have been volunteers at DAS for many years. Recently the front page of the Naples Daily News covered the issue of the importance of cooling the dog and cat kennels at the shelter. The efforts to get this done began two years ago. First let me begin by stating that the staff at Domestic Animal Services are the most dedicated and hard-working employees I have ever encountered. Darcy Andrade has the utmost respect and support because DAS is now more efficient, productive, organized, and well promoted. The most important achievement for the shelter under her helm is the live release of rates -- rate of animals from 38 percent years ago to currently over 90 percent. In the meantime, dogs, cats, staff, and volunteers have been enduring temperatures over 95-degrees in these antiquated and rusted kennels. Three of the buildings house, on average, 90 dogs a day. There is an adoption building, a building for strays, and an isolation building for medical and quarantine cases. When the intake of dogs increases, they have to double them up by making kennels even smaller. The fourth building is stacked with an estimated 200 cats and kittens. They are referred to by some as being kept in small ovens. Because of the low tolerance of cats and kittens, they can and do completely shut down or develop upper respiratory infections due to the heat and humidity. I believe these buildings were built 17 years ago to accommodate very few animals because they euthanized the animals if they were not claimed after five days. Now no animals are euthanized for space. So the current buildings are not adequate to kennel all these animals as in September 7, 2017 Page 35 the past. Additionally, there are many available cats and dogs for adoption in the back buildings but cannot be brought up to adoption due to the lack of space. Also with the influx of people moving to Naples and the fact that DAS does not, thankfully, euthanize for space, these buildings, in my opinion, have outgrown their purpose and are failing. In that Collier County has a few new commissioners on their board, I invite you all to come to the shelter to experience for yourselves the sweltering heat -- finish it up? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: You've got a little more time. MS. TOULET: -- heat and view the poor condition of these shelters, you will definitely see the many necessities at the shelter, which cannot be all covered today. We hope these concerns impress upon you the need for buildings that can handle the day-to-day challenges. It is essential for the welfare and health of these sheltered animals. Thank you. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do you have a question? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: For staff. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Oh, for staff. Okay. So you're going to speak about the DAS issue? MS. TROY: Yes, I was. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. Go ahead. MR. CASALANGUIDA: Is this Barbara Troy? MS. TROY: Yes. MR. CASALANGUIDA: She'll followed by Todd Truax. MS. TROY: Hi. Good afternoon, and thank you for allowing me to speak. I and my fellow yellow shirters are volunteers at DAS, and we urge you all to vote for the much-needed and very-necessary change September 7, 2017 Page 36 due at DAS. We volunteers are the voices for the animals, and we're fighting for their living conditions, improvements, and they're our homeless residents. There's over 90 dogs and cats at the shelter living in kennels without air-conditioning. And, Commissioners, it is past time for the kennels to be renovated and making sure that our cats and dogs are kept safe, healthy, comfortable while they wait for a forever home, and they are there through no fault of their own. We live in South Florida, as we all know, and the winters are warm and the summers are unbearable. And the summers in the buildings are distressing and stressful and overwhelming for the animals, the dogs and the cats, and also the employees and volunteers. With only the adoption building having air-conditioning, that is a temporary fix, and it's in for a few summer months and then pulled, and we still have hot times in October and April, and it's rough. It is awful. The overflow buildings that house the strays and the sick bay don't have any climate control, and they're horrendous to be in during the summer. It's not safe, healthy, or humane in any other building that's considered a home for animals or a workplace for people. We're failing in our responsibility to take care of these pets. We lock them in kennels in high humidity and temperature, and it's cruel to them and to the people. We urge you to do what's right and vote for the change at DAS. Vote yes on it. Vote for quick improvement on it. And I thank you for listening. And in the name of all the dogs and cats who need to be rescued, thank you. Do you have any questions? CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Any questions? Commissioner Fiala, do you have any questions? September 7, 2017 Page 37 COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, I don't. I'm listening careful, though. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you very much. Thank you. MR. CASALANGUIDA: Madam Chair, I have one slip, final slip, for the audience. It's Todd Truax. If there's anybody else who hasn't provided a slip -- MR. TRUAX: My name's Todd Truax. I am a resident of Bonita Springs, but I ran a nursing home or two here in Collier County. And I think our kids went together, Commissioner Saunders, so... COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Could be, yes. MR. TRUAX: Good to see you, again. I think our kids were in the band or something. So I'm here to second what these two ladies said over here from DAS. I'm a dog owner, I'm a bird owner, I think I've got a little fish -- beta fish at home, too. So if you remember from the last Hurricane Charley, I had seven days without power, and I had to go live with in-laws, and I didn't get along with my father-in-law, but I still suffered through at his house because he had air-conditioning. So I can't imagine those animals suffering. You know, they don't have my father-in-law, but the heat is unbearable. And I couldn't imagine them suffering as long as they do every day, day in and day out until either they're adopted or they're -- whatever they do. I don't know. So I brought my leash. If you have a dog that needs a home, I'll take it today. It's that important. I don't want any of these animals suffering. I have another collar with me, too. I have a Weimaraner, 100-pound Weimaraner. He's a pushover, but I'll be glad to have company. And my wife would hoard dogs if she could. So I just want to second whatever they're saying about saving the animals and making it comfortable and humane for them in this heat, because it's going to be a hot one, and it has been for 17 years, September 7, 2017 Page 38 apparently. So that's all I have to say. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.) CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. And that's -- no more speakers? MR. CASALANGUIDA: No more speakers, ma'am. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Saunders? COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Commissioner McDaniel was first. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I had a question of staff. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And so do I, when you're finished. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And it has to do -- Steve, if you're ready. You and I have had several discussions since I began this journey serving as county commissioner with regard to DAS in Immokalee and the facilities that we have in town. Where are we with our discussions about budgetary processes, capital reinvestments, air-conditioning, remodeling, so forth and so on? I mean, we have a very, very difficult situation in Immokalee with the location of that facility, its access due to our facilities gating off the folks that do want to bring in strays and have them there. How are we coming with the budget process with this proposal? MR. CARNELL: Well, thank you, sir. For the record, Steve Carnell, Public Services Department Head. And, first of all, thank you, ladies, all of you, for being here tonight, and Patty and Barbara, all of you for what you do every day. These folks are troopers. They really do add and extend our able to care for animals. Their role is invaluable. Let's answer that, Commissioner McDaniel, in two sequences; September 7, 2017 Page 39 Naples and Immokalee. The Naples shelter, as the women have communicated, and Mr. Truax as well, we are right now in a present situation where the -- we are using primary air-conditioning during the summers in our primary dog adoption building, which is where we have our largest population of dogs, and we are limited to that. That's as good as we can do right now because of -- we will limit -- we have a lack of electrical service to the complex in terms of being able to carry a higher level of capacity in those buildings right now. As it is, the air conditioner that has been in place -- and this is the second summer we've done that -- we've been having trouble with popping breakers and not being able to really sustain the service consistently all summer. It's been there, you know, pretty much every day, but we have had -- we've had brownouts throughout the summer at times with the one air conditioner in the one main building. Now, in going forward, we do have in this budget a half million dollars budgeted for design of improvements to the Naples shelter. And we're going -- we're working very aggressively with our facilities management staff. We've already drafted an RFP for it to get on the street as soon as the budget is adopted to begin that process of hiring an engineer who can help us come in and design, at the very least, a prototype type building that would meet all of the modern standards for our lighting, climate control, sound and so forth to really modernize our level of service. As Patty mentioned to you, one of the good-news stories in all of this is the fact that our live release rate is so high right now and, as a result, I'm glad that -- I'm happy to report that our overall animal population on site is lower than it's been in previous years. So we are exposing fewer animals to the heat of the summer. But they're right. We do have extremely hot conditions this time of year, and it's further exacerbated right now because of the hurricane. We've September 7, 2017 Page 40 had to withdraw the air-conditioning in advance of the storm. So the air-conditioning will be back in place as soon we can get it back in place. But that's the -- that's where we are with Naples right now. We're going to be going forward here shortly to hire a design professional to look at the full-blown design solution; that could include at least a prototype building addition to add inventory and capacity to the site and potentially look as well at renovating the other buildings to bring them up to some kind of standard and what would be involved with that to be able to provide more air-conditioning capacity to the other buildings on campus. Immokalee at the moment is where it was when we talked earlier this summer. It's not in the budget for FY'18 in terms of addressing it, but there is plan right now to see if we can procure a mobile clinic. And we're looking to make arrangements with a funding partner, and we're waiting on the funding partner to see if they can step up. We'll know more about that in the coming months. But the idea would to be use a mobile clinic that we could deploy primarily in Immokalee, but it really would be available to be moved around the county from time to time for events, but the primary location would be Immokalee. That clinic would include enough sufficient space to house animals that are turned in to us in Immokalee -- they'd be transported to Naples on a daily basis -- and also to provide adoption services and other basic animal care at that facility. And as Commissioner McDaniel has mentioned, one of the problems we have in Immokalee is a lack of visibility. That shelter was built to what I'd say the old paradigm. And I'm talking about a building that's 40 years old. And it was built back in the day when the view of animal care was out of sight, out of mind. It was the dog pound. And now we're trying to adapt to a more modern approach, to a September 7, 2017 Page 41 more humane approach. And, really, we feel like the way we need to get there is to increase visibility. And as the commissioners pointed out, you really have no visibility with that building. It's not anywhere near town in Immokalee. It's out off the beaten track, if you will, and it's not readily accessible right now with added security to that larger compound. So we hear that and we see that problem. And our plan right now is if we can find a funding partner -- and the intent would be to come back to the Board, hopefully before the end of the calendar year, with some kind of plan for procuring that clinic and implementing it. In the meantime, we'll leave the Immokalee building open out there. It still serves a useful purpose in terms of being able to temporarily house animals during the day. But eventually we'll phase that building out if we can get this mobile clinic in place and get it functioning and working at the level that we want it to work at. So further questions? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If I could paraphrase what you just said. There's a half million in this budget for design for -- MR. CARNELL: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- for a new facility. MR. CARNELL: Naples. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: In Naples. We're waiting on a partner for a different facility in Immokalee, when -- and the passage of this budget will get to a plan stage, planning and design. Then we have next year's budget for funding availability after we go through planning and design, then we put it out for bid for construction. We're still looking at two years before we can even start construction. If I heard you -- MR. CARNELL: That would be largely correct. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Largely correct. MR. CARNELL: There may be a possibility, sir, that we can take September 7, 2017 Page 42 a portion of the half million dollars and do some renovations to the site. But I'm talking about Naples. But it's not -- you're still having to deal with the issue of electrical capacity to the site. And so I can't promise you that we can move any faster than what you just said at the moment in terms of where we are right now. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I'm not -- I don't mean to be -- I'm not complaining. I'm just talking about the process. And it's important that, especially the yellow shirts, our volunteers, the animal lovers and folks of our community that love our pets understand the processes that are, in fact, put in place. We're dealing with an issue that's been going on for an eternity, and it doesn't happen quickly. So it's frustrating. It's frustrating to me, similar to the folks in Palm River with sidewalks and it -- as a process, it's a matter of prioritization and how we're doing what we're doing as a community. But I wanted to ask that question specifically so there's a timeline in everybody's mind as to the, in fact, processes that we must go through in order to do what we're doing. I understand Mr. Carnell's thought processes. If, you know, potentially -- if we designate those funds for planning and design, we're not using them for maintenance. We're not using them for upgrades. That money's got to go off through the statutory process, the CCNA, and how we're relegated to, in fact, conduct business when we're doing construction on government facilities. Am I correct? I didn't mean to look at you. MR. OCHS: Yes. MR. CARNELL: Oh, go ahead. MR. OCHS: Yes, you are. If it's going for, you know, design and engineering, it's not going for maintenance and repair. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right. Maybe if you could -- before the bell rings on the 21st, we could have a discussion and an September 7, 2017 Page 43 estimate of what it would take to upgrade the electric facilities to allow for some -- without putting good money after bad, some renovations to the facilities in Naples. MR. OCHS: Yes. And that's largely the concern -- you hit it on the head, sir -- good money after bad. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right. MR. OCHS: And those buildings were not designed to be air conditioned. I'm told that it would be fairly difficult and expensive to retrofit them in a way that would allow them to be air conditioned efficiently. So the alternative is, you know, are we better off designing a new facility, and would it be more cost effective in the long term to build new to the current standard than begin to throw good money after bad to upgrade an electrical system to run a very inefficient air-conditioning. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Let me throw a point or a thought at you in lieu of that. And I'm certainly an advocate of not putting good money after bad. But I'm working with a gentleman right now that's a breeder of national security terrorist dogs, and they -- short money, 25-, $30,000 portable kennels on wheels, all new, upgraded that could certainly be retrofitted -- that might be able to be utilized as an interim process to this four-year reconstruction plan that we're on for rehabilitation of these facilities. And that would be for, where I'm thinking, a process where we could take care of what we have going on and assist with what deficiencies are in Immokalee. Just -- and something for us to talk about. We've got a couple of weeks before the bell rings on the 21st. But just peace said. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Yes, sir. Commissioner Saunders? COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: A couple questions. Obviously, to design and build a new building, I think you said four September 7, 2017 Page 44 years. Is that kind of what you're thinking? It shouldn't take that long. But is that what you're thinking? Maybe two? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's two years for -- excuse me. I didn't mean to interrupt. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. Then in terms of just the current condition, I understand that it would cost some money to improve the electrical system there so you could have air-conditioning a little but more consistently. I'd like to kind of see us do both. I hate to see these folks as well as the animals suffer for two more years while you're building a new building, and I understand the desire not to throw good money after bad money, as everybody was saying. But I think we need to find a way to get the electrical system fixed to some extent so you could have some air-conditioning there, even through it would be inefficient, during the two years that we're looking to building a new building. I personally wouldn't want to live in a facility like that, I wouldn't want to work in a facility like that, and I certainly wouldn't want to send animals to a facility like that. So I would suggest that between now and the 21st, give some thought to doing both of these, proceeding with the design work on a new facility but give us some information on what it would cost us to at least improve the electrical system to the extent that you could put some temporary air-conditioning in. MR. OCHS: Will do. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you, Mr. Carnell. MR. CARNELL: Just so you'll be clear, I was -- when I mentioned the half-million-dollar budget, that could very well be the price tag for the design, and we may not have a penny to spare just in that particular budget. But, Commissioner Saunders, to your point, I'm having an ongoing dynamic discussion with our facilities staff, and they're September 7, 2017 Page 45 thinking very creatively. And they're saying things like this to me about we may be able to renovate portions or come along possibly with companion upgrades to the electrical service. We haven't costed it out, but we'll see if we can come up with an estimate and give the Board an idea. And we don't want to, you know, put that service in, as everyone said, and rip it out two years later. But if we can put that in place and make it be part of the new improvement, then we're money ahead, potentially. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, I'm not sure that -- I mean, I understand if we spend some money to upgrade a system and then we tear that building down, we've spent that money. I understand that, but at the same time we've got two years of folks working in those -- under those circumstances. So I'd like to see the -- and we don't have to have exact figures, you know, for budgeting purposes in terms of an upgrade of the system. We just need to kind of have a ballpark so we can appropriate for it. MR. OCHS: We'll do it. We'll bring it back on the 21st. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I have a question, and it's not about the DAS, although I heartily support the conversation here. I have a question about the sailboats at Sugden. I mentioned that before. There is a request that perhaps we could get two or three more for the handicap children that are being taught to sail. They have a need. Is that possible -- is that doable, or is that even factored in? MR. CARNELL: It's not presently appropriate in the coming-year budget. And I need to really close the loop on where we are with the staff with that analysis right now, Commissioner. And I don't really know where we are right at the moment with that. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: With, you mean, the need for the -- MR. CARNELL: Yeah, the possibility of having money September 7, 2017 Page 46 available to buy more sailboats. I don't know if I've got money for that right now identified. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Well, I'm assuming you don't; that's why I'm bringing it up right now to see if we can possibly get it, and maybe you can come back with an answer. MR. CARNELL: I can give you an statement, sure. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I've got one last question that Steve may have the answer to. In going through the budget changes -- and I apologize if I was supposed to ask these questions before. And I see Scott Burgess here from the David Lawrence Center, and I see that in the General Fund there's some references to funding for the coordinators for the treatment courts. And I just want to understand where things stand as far as the -- I know there was a request for additional funding from David Lawrence, and -- this being my first go-round in the budgeting process, I want to make sure that I understand that that would be a General Fund item, is it not? MR. ISACKSON: The David Lawrence Center is -- there's contributions from a General Fund through Health and Human Services to the center. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. And I'm -- are we -- that's in there somewhere in here? MR. ISACKSON: We have a base level of funding, sir. The additional request that the Lawrence Center has asked for is not presently in the document. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's not. MR. ISACKSON: No. I think it was -- Steve, help me out. Was it additional -- MR. CARNELL: Yeah. Actually, it's somewhere in the middle. David Lawrence Center made a request for about a $784,000 increase. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I understand. MR. CARNELL: The staff budget and the Board tentative September 7, 2017 Page 47 budget includes a $300,000 increase. So we still have a delta, Commissioner, of about 480-something-thousand dollars. And where we are at the moment is we're looking for alternative revenue sources to help with that, and the most logical candidate is the reinstatement by the State of Florida of the Low-Income Pool Funding Program. And, of course, we're trying to work through that with Tallahassee in terms of the available money and dollars and how the program will work, and at the moment we don't have a clear resolution. And what our -- to cut to the chase for you, our advice and our recommendation is that you adopt the budget as proposed -- and I've talked to Scott about this -- $300,000 increase over the FY'16 -- FY'17, I'm sorry, and then we revisit this when we have the numbers, which we could have this as soon as the next BCC meeting, possibly -- I mean, it's moving that quickly and dynamically right now with the State -- to find out if we can make more dollars beyond that $300,000 increase available in the new year or, if we can't do it in September, we could have a discussion in an October board meeting about it as well. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: My concern is that since the budget request was made, the State cut the funding again. So where we thought we were at least making some minor headway in addressing this, we are, essentially, back to square one where we started at. And, I mean -- and I know that it's -- obviously, the legislature has decided to do this even though it's clearly something that everyone in the state appears to be very concerned with. But, again, if -- it just seems to me that if we're going to try to be proactive, we haven't gotten anywhere. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I've got a comment. MR. OCHS: Well, from our funding perspective, and the Board's funding perspective, your FY'18 budget contribution to David Lawrence is about 18 percent higher than it is in the current FY; 300,000. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right. No, I understand that, and September 7, 2017 Page 48 that -- right. And the hope was is that that would be a significant increase and things would move forward and we'd start being able to at least address, you know, some of the issues that we're having with using the jail as our mental-health facility. And it's just -- it's frustrating to me that we've spent a lot of time and energy on this. And, obviously, County Manager, it's not -- this was not your doing or what anybody here's doing. It was the legislature's doing -- that they cut the funding almost exactly to the penny the increase that we were going to give David Lawrence. I just can't express how frustrated that makes me. Well, I'd like to have some more discussion with Steve about that. And, again, I think this is one of the biggest issues that we're going to face. And we're just going to have to make some tough decisions, so thank you. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner McDaniel? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I would like to second everything that Commissioner Solis just got done saying, and I'd like to make a suggestion to staff that we minimally fence off the requested increase from David Lawrence. If we don't necessarily specify it to be designated as an increase to them, fence it off for -- as a priority or -- out of the revenue stream that we have available, fence it off and designate it for mental illness and drug addiction treatment facilities somewhere along -- and I don't know the proper wording, but just to acknowledge the fact that, as Commissioner Solis said, that, you know, we as a community are recognizing the necessity for the administration and the treatment of folks that are suffering from mental illness and drug addiction, and we fenced that requested amount off. They didn't ask for that amount for fun. There's a reason behind it. And then make the final decision on the 21st but know that that's something that we would like to see. If it goes to David Lawrence, great. If it goes to -- I know there September 7, 2017 Page 49 are a lot of other activities and facilities in our community that could use extra funding in that regard. So we would at least have that money fenced off and available to put towards the pandemic that we have going on around us. We all know that it's going on. So I think from a prioritization that would be prudent. MR. ISACKSON: I suppose, Commissioners, this may be the appropriate time for me to give my normal speil on how dynamic the budget is. We do some 650 budget amendments a year. If there is policy direction to fund up the Lawrence Center for a specific amount of money or if there is a desire for the Board, as Mr. Carnell was saying, to wait for -- to see what the LIP funding is and then come back with a separate executive summary after adoption of the budget and there's direction to provide another tranche of money to support the Lawrence Center, then we'll listen to that direction, and we'll go find the money. The gentleman at the podium says, well, you can just gone find it. That's my job, in conjunction with the County Manager. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's policy. MR. ISACKSON: If that's policy direction of the Board, then that's what we'll do. So I just want the Board to be aware of that. The budget's a dynamic document. It isn't just filled with line items and object codes and things of that nature -- well, it is. It can also easily be amended, adopted, massaged based on planning, based on changing dynamics throughout the course of a year. So I'll just leave you with that. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, thank you. That's actually very helpful. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. That was a good -- COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's not necessarily set in stone, so thank you for clarifying that. September 7, 2017 Page 50 MR. OCHS: Just don't make a habit of putting your hand in that cookie jar too often. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: He's good, but he's tough. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: There's only one -- there's only one cookie jar right now that I'm concerned with. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Commissioner Fiala, do you have any questions or any comments, ma'am? COMMISSIONER FIALA: The only one I was wondering about, you were talking about the sailboats for the kids that are developmentally challenged, the kids that are handicapped, and so forth. I was wondering if we would be allowed to accept a donation of boats as long as they comply with whatever we need for our Parks Department to have, and if you need three -- I had somebody over in the boating industry saying there's some people that would donate if there's something that's really needed. So I was wondering if we would be allowed to accept those things as a donation to that sailing group -- CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Mr. Klatzkow? COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- at Sugden Park. MR. KLATZKOW: If the donation is something that the county wants, then absolutely. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Good. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. Now, do we have to describe what exactly we need? Because I don't know what you need for the handicapped kids. There might be certain things that, you know, put them into positions on the boat so that they're safe or whatever. But if we could get those specifications, I could give it over to them and see if they would donate them. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Oh, that would be wonderful. I think you could work with County Manager Oaks on that, Commissioner Fiala. September 7, 2017 Page 51 COMMISSIONER FIALA: Great. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And we'll get some -- COMMISSIONER FIALA: I feel so great that you brought that up. I mean, you know, that's something that can help those kids. I appreciate that. Thank you. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: And it's such a great program over there. It's such a perfect place to learn to sail. It really is. It's a lovely little lake. Thank you. All right. I think we can go – Item #1D ANNOUNCEMENT OF TENTATIVE MILLAGE RATES AND PERCENTAGE CHANGES IN PROPERTY TAX RATES – READ INTO RECORD BY MARK ISACSON THE MAXIMUM MILLAGE RATES FOR THE 2018 PROPOSED BUBGET MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, if there are no items under 1C, let's turn to 1D, which is affectionately my favorite time on the agenda where I have to sit here and laboriously read the millage rates, the rolled-back rate, and percentage change from the rolled-back rate. I will tell you that what I will be reading into the record are the millage rates, the maximum millage rates that were adopted by the Board in July. And after my reading of these, the Board will be asked, under Item 1E, to adopt a resolution adopting these tentative millage rates as we go forward into the final hearing on September 21st. So I will begin. The General Fund, the proposed millage rate is 3.5645; the rolled-back millage rate is 3.3951. That's a percent change from the rolled-back rate of 4.99 percent. Water Pollution Control, the proposed millage rate, .0293; the September 7, 2017 Page 52 rolled-back millage rate, .0279. That's a percent change from the rolled-back rate of 5.02 percent. The Unincorporated Area General Fund, the proposed millage rate, .8069; the rolled-back millage rate, .7690. That's a percent change from the rolled-back rate of 4.93 percent. The Golden Gate Community Center, proposed millage rate, .1862; the rolled-back millage rate, .1752. That's a percent change from the rolled-back rate of 6.28 percent. The Victoria Park Drainage MSTU, proposed millage rate, .0346; the rolled-back millage rate, .0346. That's no change from the rolled-back rate. Naples Park Drainage MSTU, proposed millage rate, .0061; rolled-back millage rate, .0061. That is no change from the rolled-back rate. The Vanderbilt Beach MSTU, proposed millage rate, .5000; the rolled-back millage rate, .4686. That is a percent change from the rolled-back rate of 6.7 percent. There is no rate levied for Isles of Capri MSTU, and there is no rate levied for the Fiddler's Creek MSTU. Going to the Ochopee Fire Control MSTU, the proposed millage rate, 4.5000; the rolled-back millage rate, 4.6201. That is a negative 2.60 percent change from the rolled-back rate. There's no levy for Collier Fire MSTU. The Goodland Horr's Island Fire MSTU, proposed millage rate, 1.2760; the rolled-back millage rate, 1.2294. That is a 3.79 percent increase from the rolled-back rate. The Sabal Palm Road MSTU, there no proposed millage rate. The rolled-back rate is .0883. That is a negative 100 percent change from the rolled-back rate. Golden Gate Parkway Beautification MSTU, the proposed millage rate, .5000; the rolled-back millage rate, .3359. That is a 48.85 September 7, 2017 Page 53 percent change from the rolled-back rate. The Lely Golf Estates Beautification MSTU, the proposed millage rate is 2.0000; the rolled-back millage rate, 1.8538. That is a 7.89 percent increase from the rolled-back rate. The Hawk's Ridge Stormwater Pumping MSTU, proposed millage rate, .0409; the rolled-back millage rate, .0409. That is no change from the rolled-back rate. The Radio Road Beautification MSTU, proposed millage rate, .1000; the rolled-back millage rate, .0936. That's a 6.84 percent increase over the rolled-back rate. The Forest Lakes Roadway and Drainage MSTU, the proposed millage rate, 1.3431; the rolled-back millage rate, 1.0083. That is a 33.2 percent increase over the rolled-back rate. The Immokalee Beautification MSTU, the proposed millage rate is 1.0000, the rolled-back millage rate, 1.0267. That is a minus 2.60 percent decrease from the rolled-back rate. The Bayshore/Avalon Beautification MSTU, the proposed millage rate, 2.3604; the rolled-back millage rate, 2.2302; that's a 5.84 percent increase over the rolled-back rate. The Haldeman Creek Dredging MSTU, the proposed millage rate, .7348; the rolled-back millage rate, .6885. That is a 6.72 percent increase over the rolled-back rate. The Rock Road MSTU, proposed millage rate is 3.0000; the rolled-back millage rate, 2.7775. That is an 8.01 percent increase over the rolled-back rate. Forest Lakes Debt Service, proposed millage rate, 2.6569 the rolled-back millage rate, 2.5179. That is a 5.52 percent increase over the rolled-back rate. Collier County Lighting, proposed millage rate, .1640; the rolled-back millage rate, .1650. This is a negative .61 percent decrease over the rolled-back rate. September 7, 2017 Page 54 Pelican Bay MSTBU, the proposed millage rate, .0857; the rolled-back millage rate, .0816. That is a 5.02 percent increase over the rolled-back rate. And, finally, Commissioners, the aggregate millage rate, the proposed millage rate is 4.1790; the rolled-back millage rate, 4.0016. That is a 4.43 percent increase over the rolled-back rate. Commissioners, Item 1E is a resolution to adopt the tentative millage rates which I have just read into the record. Item #1E RESOLUTION 2017-148: ADOPTING THE TENTATIVE MILLAGE RATES – ADOPTED CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do I hear a motion? COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So moved. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'll second that motion for continuance. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: I'd let you second that, Commissioner Fiala. Thank you very much. Any discussion? (No response.) CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All those in favor, say aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign. (No response.) CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. September 7, 2017 Page 55 Item #1F RESOLUTION 2017-149: ADOPTING THE AMENDED TENTATIVE BUDGET – ADOPTED MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, under Item 1F is a resolution to adopt the amended tentative budget which includes the funding change resolutions which were included under Item 1B on your agenda. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'll move for adoption. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Do I hear a second? COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I'll second it. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Okay. We have a motion to adopt the changes as discussed, and we have a second. Any other discussion? (No response.) CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All those in favor, say aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Aye. COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Those opposed, like sign. (No response.) CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: It carries unanimously. Item #1G ANNOUNCEMENT OF FINAL PUBLIC HEARING AS FOLLOWS MR. ISACKSON: Finally, Commissioners, your final public September 7, 2017 Page 56 hearing on the Fiscal Year 2017/18 Collier County budget will be Thursday, September 21st, 2017, in these chambers at 5:05 p.m. That's all I have, Madam Chairman. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Madam Chair, could I ask the County Attorney a question? I think the motion that was made by Commissioner McDaniel and seconded by Commissioner Solis earlier on dealing with this hearing, I think there was a lot of merit to that. Now, we've obviously conducted the first hearing. We have our second hearing on the 21st. If we get into the second hearing, and there's a significant turnout and there are some issues that need further debate, my assumption is that we have to approve all of this before the first of October to keep on schedule there. Would we be able to schedule a third hearing, just continue -- have a continuation of that second hearing for a week so other people could participate? It would still be the same hearing. We would just continue it for a week. It's just a question of whether we could provide some additional public input, time, if necessary. MR. KLATZKOW: I think so. We're in unchartered territory here because of the hurricane. I mean, we have a process that is very well understood, and then we have this new process. I think you can, and I'll know with certainty when we get there. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. I think it was important to finish the first hearing, but I also agree that it's important to have as much public comment as possible. And so when we get into that second hearing, maybe you should be prepared to answer that question. MR. KLATZKOW: Commissioner, you can continue this one right now and then just hold another one or -- I mean, it's -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't think it would be wise to continue this first hearing. We had to have the first hearing. We're going to have a second hearing. We want to make sure there's plenty of public support. September 7, 2017 Page 57 MR. KLATZKOW: So you're saying you want to do the second meeting over two days, in essence? COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Potentially or, you know, on the 21st and on the 28th just so if we need additional time -- you know, if we have 300 people show up and we need some additional discussion. Just the question is whether or not we would be able to delay that final vote for a few days to have a second hearing. MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah, I think you can do that. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. So I would offer that as a potential to get the input that you're looking for. But, I think -- again, I think it was important that we got through this first hearing to stay on the schedule. I just throw that -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I mean, the process is what it is. We're through it. We have adopted a tentative budget. And I appreciate your thought process. I think, if I'm not mistaken in what I was reading, that the 21st was the drop-dead date for us to set the millage rate to allow the Tax Collector to put out the -- COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That could be. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- to put out -- to put out the actual tax bills such as they, in fact, need to. So -- COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Maybe it depends on whether or not the emergency proclamation is still in effect or something. I don't know. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And that's a -- there again, that's -- we could do it if the emergency proclamation is still in effect. And, you know, it's something we should probably talk about next week at our -- assuming we have our county commission meeting next Tuesday. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: That's another decision. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: But some process discussions September 7, 2017 Page 58 with regard to our budget so we're not, at the last second, right before the Tax Collector has to put out the tax bills and things, to be able to afford the community some communication with regard to this. It's -- and we can talk about it next week. I'd be happy to. I actually have a couple of resolutions that I'm trying to get whipped up. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think the County Attorney understands what we're -- MR. KLATZKOW: No, I think you're good; I truly do. You can hold your meetings over several nights if you'd like to get to more public input. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I just want to make sure there's adequate public opportunity. MR. KLATZKOW: We just need a -- the last day is the only day of concern. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And what is that last date? MR. KLATZKOW: At this point I'm not entirely sure. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think it's the 21st. COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It could be. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: All right. Any other discussion? (No response.) CHAIRMAN TAYLOR: Hearing none, meeting's adjourned. September 7, 2017 Page 59 ***** There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 6:41 p.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL ________________________________________ PENNY TAYLOR, CHAIRMAN ATTEST: DWIGHT E. BROCK, CLERK _________________________ These minutes approved by the Board on ____________, as presented ______________ or as corrected _____________. TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF U.S. LEGAL SUPPORT, INC., BY TERRI LEWIS, COURT REPORTER AND NOTARY PUBLIC.