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BCC Minutes 08/12/2004 E (pm) (Hurricane Charley) August 12, 2004 (P.M.) TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, August 12, 2004 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 6:00 p.m. in SPECIAL EMERGENCY SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: ACTING CHAIRMAN: Tom Henning Jim Coletta (Telephonic) Tom Coyle (Telephonic) Donna Fiala (Telephonic) Frank Halas ALSO PRESENT: Jim Mudd, County Administrator David C. Weigel, County Attorney Page 1 COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ~ EMERGENCY AGENDA August 12, 2004 6:00 p.m. (Reconvened) Donna Fiala, Chairman, District 1 Fred W. Coyle, Vice-Chair, District 4 Frank Halas, Commissioner, District 2 Tom Henning, Commissioner, District 3 Jim Coletta, Commissioner, District 5 NOTICE: ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON ANY AGENDA ITEM MUST REGISTER PRIOR TO SPEAKING. SPEAKERS MUST REGISTER WITH THE COUNTY MANAGER PRIOR TO THE PRESENTATION OF THE AGENDA ITEM TO BE ADDRESSED. COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 2003-53, AS AMENDED, REQUIRES THAT ALL LOBBYISTS SHALL, BEFORE ENGAGING IN ANY LOBBYING ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ADDRESSING THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS), REGISTER WITH THE CLERK TO THE BOARD AT THE BOARD MINUTES AND RECORDS DEPARTMENT. REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON SUBJECTS WHICH ARE NOT ON THIS AGENDA MUST BE SUBMITTED IN WRITING WITH EXPLANATION TO THE COUNTY MANAGER AT LEAST 13 DAYS PRIOR TO THE DATE OF THE MEETING AND WILL BE HEARD UNDER "PUBLIC PETITIONS". ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS PERTAINING THERETO, AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBATIM RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS Page 1 August 12, 2004 (pm) IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES THE TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL IS TO BE BASED. ALL REGISTERED PUBLIC SPEAKERS WILL RECEIVE UP TO FIVE (5) MINUTES UNLESS THE TIME IS ADJUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN. IF YOU ARE A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY WHO NEEDS ANY ACCOMMODATION IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCEEDING, YOU ARE ENTITLED, AT NO COST TO YOU, TO THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN ASSISTANCE. PLEASE CONTACT THE COLLIER COUNTY FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT LOCATED AT 3301 EAST TAMIAMI TRAIL, NAPLES, FLORIDA, 34112, (239) 774-8380; ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED ARE AVAILABLE IN THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE. 1. Pledge of Allegiance 2. Motion to reconvene 3. Update on Hurricane Charley and its affect on Collier County - Dan Summers, Collier County Emergency Management Director 4. Comments 5. Meeting Recess Page 2 August 12, 2004 (pm) August 12,2004 (P.M.) MR. MUDD: Commissioner Henning, you have a hot mike. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd please take your seats. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Everybody take their seats, please. Reconvening of the emergency meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Collier County, Florida. I understand we have the Commissioners. Fiala? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, I'm here. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I'm here. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: I'm here. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. We have a super majority here with us this evening. Mr. Weigel? Item #2 MOTION TO RECONVENE-APPROVED MR. WEIGEL: Thank you. To start the proceeding, it would be appropriate for a motion and vote to take the item off the table, which is the -- the tabling was the stopping or -- of the meeting earlier today. So a motion to move -- COMMISSIONER HALAS: I make the motion -- MR. WEIGEL: -- the item from the table. COMMISSIONER HALAS: -- that we table this item. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay, there's a motion by Commissioner Halas to reconvene the meeting. Is there a second? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second that motion. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion by Commissioner second by Commissioner Fiala. All in favor of the motion, signify by saYIng aye. Page 2 August 12, 2004 (P .M.) COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. Any opposed? (No response. ) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Motion carries unanimously. Next item. Item #3 UPDATE ON HURRICANE CHARLEY GIVEN BY DAN SUMMERS, COLLIER COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR-PRESENTED MR. MUDD: Commissioner, we'd like to give you an update, because this is basically an update meeting as far as what Hurricane Charley has been doing and what the projections are from the National Weather Service. And Mr. Summers will present. MR. SUMMERS: Commissioners, good afternoon. Dan Summers, director of the Bureau of Emergency Services and your emergency management director of record. I'd like -- before I go into the current weather forecast, I'd like to sort of give you what we call a situation report, and I'd like to share with you the accomplishments of today, if I could. And again, I really want to extend my thanks to the entire Emergency Services team, both public and private, and an awful lot of volunteers who have helped us. It's been successful and they've worked very hard today, and I think they know they have many hours of service in this project left to go. Page 3 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) We have provided extensive customer service, via our Collier information center. About 10 lines have been active continuously since this event with a one-on-one type ability for us to give information, dispel rumors and help coach people through their preparedness activities. We've provided dozens of news releases. We have contacted by telephone over 500 special needs persons and spoke with them to help coach them through their individual and family preparedness and their response action. Our Emergency Medical Services has been available for convalescent transportation. However, I will tell you that our compliance with that convalescent transportation and the relocation of special needs has been extremely low. We're getting very, very poor compliance with special needs individuals. And I'll elaborate more on that in just a minute. We've prepared emergency responders for staging areas and tapped additional resources such as forestry personnel to be within our county to be ready to respond to assist bulldozers, chain saws and other emergency personnel. That staging will formally begin later tonight, but it's ready to go. We have -- we still have with the state request for National Guard high clearance mobility vehicles. That resource request has not yet been granted but it's still in the system. Hopefully we'll have some military type what we refer to as deuce and a half high clearance vehicles that can handle a fair amount of water. We've been working -- our transportation folks have done a superior job in terms of securing barricades and debris, or what could be potential debris along our roadway, so they've worked hard to secure our roadway segments today. We've been providing real time public information updates via Collier TV, and probably well over 30 different interviews have been Page 4 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) done on radio and television by our communications and customer service department. Our Collier Emergency Management EM website has had over 5,000 hits today. We have coordinated and have now pre-staged our debris removal contractor, and his assets are currently in Fort Myers, which is appropriate for that type of heavy equipment. We already have the debris removal contractor liaison here on-site. We've been producing specified GIS maps for our emergency responders. We've been fielding questions regarding evacuation and pets and making kennel space available through the Domestic Animal Services. They have ample capacity and have only taken 15 pets today associated with evacuation. The tolls have been lifted. We have made news releases, now that we know that since our northern counties, Lee, Charlotte and now Hillsboro County, Tampa, has now ordered their evacuation. We have again put public information statements out to encourage folks to use Interstate 75 east, just as we discussed this morning. Traffic, however, and Interstate 75 north and east is flowing. There are no significant impediments to traffic at this time. We've activated the NOAA weather alert - NOAA weather radio alert system again for the hurricane warning and to give other information for Collier County residents to listen to radio and television. We have activated amateur radio personnel. We have an amateur radio communications net up and running. We have also supported the municipalities in making sure that their debris removal arrangements were either piggybacked as part of Collier County's debris removal, or making sure the municipalities have their contractor in place. Page 5 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) We have continued to answer routine fire, EMS, and law enforcement calls. Fortunately it's been a relatively light day in terms of calls for service. We have communicated and coordinated with all three hospitals. We have ample hospital bed space at this hour, so we're looking pretty good there. And we've also been in touch with our airport folks and all is well. Marco Island, East Naples and North Naples fire departments at my request have taken emergency apparatus through low-lying neighborhoods. They've activated the siren on the emergency vehicle, picked up the public address system and given emergency message, again reminding folks of the mandatory evacuation for the coastal residents in low-lying areas. That has been extremely successful in Goodland, according to the fire department reports. Let me give you the census at the shelters that we have right now. At Barron Collier, which is our special needs, primarily for special needs, we only have 26 people registered. At Gulf Coast High School, we have 18 people registered. At Oak Ridge Middle School, we have six people registered. At Corkscrew, none. Immokalee, none. And Calusa Park, for our emergency workers and other county- essential employees, as well as the general public, we have no one there at this time. So we're very concerned about compliance and action. We only have one other resource possibly that we can use, and that would be an automated telephone notification system, if we elect to do that later. And I'd like to talk about that at the end of the meeting. That's the situation brief as I have it before I go into weather discussion. Do you have any questions at this point? ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Let me just ask if Commissioner Coyle is with us. Commissioner Coyle? Page 6 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) COMMISSIONER FIALA: I thought I heard him beep in. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: He's trying to get in? Okay. Commissioner Halas? COMMISSIONER HALAS: I have some concerns in regards to special needs people. I hope they realize the danger of this storm at it approaches us. How was the evacuation going with regular residents in coastal high hazard areas? MR. SUMMERS: Marco Island Fire Department reported to us that they are now seeing a steady stream of traffic out 951. Isle of Capri Fire Department in their particular area have been relatively successful. They're starting to see mobilization this afternoon. Everglades City, Chief Wilson has reported that of course most all the hotels there are closed, boats are being secured and things are extremely quiet there. So in those critical locations, we are seeing action. We had just hoped we would see more action during daylight hours. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Are you going to give any type of a presentation in regards to just how serious this is for people that are along the coastline, that we get them out of there ASAP? MR. SUMMERS: We wanted to possibly even give you some pictures of previous storm surge events, and you have seen those, and we may --we do not have those to present for you at this time because of the forecast coming in somewhat late. But we will use Collier TV to provide some pictures, some illustrations of what storm surge examples or potential could be, if you find that acceptable. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala, do you have any questions at this time? COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, not at this time, thank you. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes, I do, as a matter of fact. I'm very concerned. I noticed the evacuation list didn't list Plantation Page 7 August 12, 2004 (P .M.) Island or Copeland. I was -- are those two areas too that have to be evacuated? MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir, they are. And there is action there. Sir, I do have a list that is a very long list, and I may have overlooked that, but work and evacuation is in process there. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes, because Plantation Island, I had contact with a person there, and it surprised me, he told me he had no intentions of leaving, and he thought he was quite safe. And this man lives in a trailer in a very hazardous area. I hope that we have availed the fire department with their loud speakers and sirens to go in there and give the message to them that how dangerous that area will become. MR. SUMMERS: Sir, we're doing every -- let me talk with you a little bit about warning and communication. There is no one single warning device that's 100 percent effective, even if we elect to use the telephone notification system. So we've used everything in our power. We've used the media, we've used NOAA weather radio, we have used the emergency vehicle public address system, word of mouth, Collier Information Center. We're given that effort in terms of communication and warning 110 percent. And we could only hope that folks have had some inkling of taking personal responsibility for their potential risks. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, all we can do is probably ask them and warn them, but we can't force them. COMMISSIONER HALAS: That's correct. MR. SUMMERS: Yes, ma'am, that is correct. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any further questions? (No response.) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Please continue, Mr. Summers. Page 8 August 12,2004 (P.M.) MR. SUMMERS: Okay, let's go back to the visualizer here for a couple of illustrations, if we could. This particular scenario where you see the ring over Cuba is actually the forecast track for 10:00 p.m. tonight. Brings this storm with winds at 110 miles per hour. Just as we had somewhat speculated earlier today, we're seeing intensification, and we're seeing intensification even as it crosses the island of Cuba. So -- and we're also seeing a forward motion change here of about up to 16 miles per hour. And as we speculated again this morning, we're seeing some wobble in that storm's path. Let me take you to the next model. Again, just a couple of hours later. Midnight. The reason I put that there is because you receive -- 34 mile an hour winds will begin to cross the Keys at midnight. And I believe we're maintaining 16 miles per hour there. We cross Cuba into the Straits of Florida and we are seeing that outer band expand. Now we're also looking at winds in the vicinity of 115 miles per hour. COMMISSIONER HALAS: You're talking that's close to the center of the storm; is that correct? MR. SUMMERS: That is correct. Winds at 115. Again, the storm continues its radius of gale force winds will expand. And now we're looking at 5 :00 a.m. And if you'll notice there, either that one or the next one, we may even -- one more. Actually it approaches us 120 miles per hour is in the forecast. COMMISSIONER HALAS: And what are we talking on the outer band? MR. SUMMERS: Let me -- I got ahead of myself, Commissioner. Let me catch up here. 8:00 a.m., Friday morning, 115 miles an hour. But notice the forward motion increase of 20 to 20 (sic) miles an hour. So I'm very, very thankful we did what we did today with the daylight hours, because we're seeing the trend of an escalation in Page 9 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) forward speed. It's collapsing our window for preparedness and shelter activities. If you'll notice, this map has been expanded a little bit. But the radius of gale force winds, the storm gains strength, and is already, at 8:00 a.m. storm force winds are already across Collier County. COMMISSIONER HALAS: When you say storm force winds, can you gIve us -- MR. SUMMERS: Storm force winds at 34 miles per hour. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. And the yellow band will indicate 60 mile an hour winds? MR. SUMMERS: That is correct. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. MR. SUMMERS: And again, back to the same storm surge scenario. We're not changing our storm surge values at this point, knowing that we could again see some oscillation in that forward motion. COMMISSIONER HALAS: We're looking - are we still looking at somewhere between eight and 10 feet of surge? MR. SUMMERS: Yes. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. MR. SUMMERS: Our last one, to kind of give you an idea about the time in which the storm will pass. Takes us to 11 :00 a.m. on Friday, 120 miles an hour estimated wind speed at the peak, 20 miles per hour in forward motion. And it will be 4:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon before the storm passes. Last graphic. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Do you anticipate any change in the course at this time? MR. SUMMERS: It is so close. I think we're going to get some wobble, for lack of a scientific term, some wobble in that storm, both east and west. Page 10 August 12, 2004 (P .M.) But the fact that the storm continues to grow in intensity and gain in terms of its wind -- the distance of the band of the winds, I think we have to maintain our current course. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Mr. Summers, this is Commissioner Coyle. Can I ask you a question? MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Since I can't see the visualizer, can you tell me what is the maximum forecast winds for the Naples area? MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir. That is 120 miles per hour. And let me check that time for you. COMMISSIONER COYLE: And that -- MR. SUMMERS: That would be -- sir, I'm sorry, go ahead. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Okay, that is assuming the passage of the eye of the storm fairly close to coastal Collier County; is that what your track currently shows? MR. SUMMERS: Sir, it does. The eye might be anywhere from 20 to 40 miles off of our coast, but our forecast error, based on the models, we still have a 47 -mile forecast error. So if you sort of split that, we're not in a situation where we can expect much of a break. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yes, I understand, okay. Now, what are the tides like at that time? MR. SUMMERS: We have not remodeled the tides at this point, but we -- even if we have a one to two-foot differential in tide, with the six to possibly nine feet that we're going to receive, we're still not in a good situation. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Uh-huh. Okay. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: It's supposed to be a high tide, Commissioner Coyle, to answer your question. COMMISSIONER COYLE: It is supposed to be high tide, huh? ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Yes. Page 11 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) COMMISSIONER COYLE: Okay, thank you. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Dan, could you put that back up on the visualizer? And where is the circle of winds where you're saying that we could be hit here in Collier County with what, 120? We got the -- as you went through the time frame, at what point are we at the greatest risk here of high winds? You had about three or four different -- MR. SUMMERS: Right. Sir, and again, knowing that we draw a circle on the map, but we know that we're going to receive bands, feeder bands, so we're going to have lots of fluctuation there. We could easily start off with some 34 mile an hour winds. We might get a gust that would come through at 50. And then if the storm gets any -- as much as 20 miles closer, we know those hurricane strength winds, which are closest to the eye, at that point we could see 70 -- 74 to 120 mile an hour as a gust. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. So just to get a clarification here, the outer band is --represents about 35 mile an hour winds, 34 mile an hour winds? MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. COMMISSIONER HALAS: The yellow band represents 60 mile an hour winds? MR. SUMMERS: Correct. COMMISSIONER HALAS: And then the red band, what velocity is that prior to being right at the eye of the storm? MR. SUMMERS: That will start off at 74 miles per hour and -- COMMISSIONER HALAS: The band? MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. The band will start at 74. Again, depending on the track and how it behaves, the maximum sustained winds recorded by aircraft reconnaissance and expected by the model is 120 miles per hour. Page 12 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay. I just wanted to clarify that for the people out there might be looking at this, and as we see the trajectory of the storm as it heads north. MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. We still again still have a scenario here where we may get a brush from this event in terms of its peak winds, but we still remain very guarded about the water, storm surge. COMMISSIONER HALAS: What type of beach erosion do you think we're going to incur here? MR. SUMMERS: Sir, I think we're going to get some. I don't have a good feel yet for how much. We do not have a tool to model that or to estimate that. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle, do you have any questions? Commissioner Coyle? (No response.) COMMISSIONER FIALA: Looks like we lost him. But I do. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Fiala? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, are we recommending that most businesses be closed tomorrow? MR. SUMMERS: We typically would not make a business recommendation. That - businesses will typically make their own decision, based on how the community is fairing and whether there is even an opportunity for commerce tomorrow. We typically address those services, governmental, school, governmental businesses. We have not made any curfew or prohibitions for business activity tomorrow. COMMISSIONER FIALA: I see. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any further questions? (No response.) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Please continue. MR. SUMMERS: That's all I have from a weather standpoint. I do not have any additional requests from you -- for you at this point, Page 13 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) unless you want us to take a closer look at possibly using a telephone automated notification system. It is a subscriber based commercial service. The sheriffs department has access to that. It is a system where we go on a computer and draw a map and we can pre-record up to a 30-second message, and this machine through a commercial service will deliver -- dial and deliver an automated notification to every property within the boundary that we draw. Now, there are expenses associated with that. They are significant. They are typically FEMA reimbursed. But at this point, I don't know -- those -- that telephone notification service is better used for a fast-breaking emergency event like a hazardous materials event or a homeland security event where the notification needs to be quick. I think we have done an excellent job, with all the resources we have, in notification. But I want to let you be aware that we do have one more tool that we could possibly use with that telephone notification service. Some people will welcome the call, some folks will not be pleased to receive the automated call. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Halas? COMMISSIONER HALAS: Presently on the Weather Channel you are running a trailer on that from the Emergency Management Center, and I would hope that everybody in Collier County is watching the Weather Channel. And I think that should be sufficient enough, I would hope at this time, with all the newscasts and all the people that are involved in creating news or reporting the news. And I think that hopefully that will be sufficient enough. MR. SUMMERS: And recall, too, please, sir, that we're in our second day of public interaction in terms of preparing for this storm. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coletta? Page 14 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Yes, thank you. I do have concerns. You mentioned the fact that we've had a very small rate of people showing up at the shelters, that it's below par for what we would expect. Possibly this might be something we should do just to emphasize the importance on it, especially if we get reimbursed from FEMA. I don't think we can over-emphasize the importance of people to leave their homes and go to shelters or leave the area if they're in the high hazard area that's going to be suffering major winds from the storm. I for one would like to see that phone call system put into place so we can give the residents one more chance. MR. SUMMERS: Sir, we will-- we have only looked at this from a perspective of how doable is it, how quickly can we do it. It is services that the sheriffs department does have. They have informed me of the cost, they have informed me of the availability. With your permission, I'd like to go back and do some additional research. And if we elect to do it or if you're in support of doing it, I'd like for you to give me the authority to make that decision to move forward with it. I don't want to do it too late this evening. If I do it, I want to do it shortly after the national newscast. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I would like to leave that final decision to you to give you the authority to do so. I don't know if my fellow commissioners agree or not. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Mr. Summers? COMMISSIONER FIALA: I agree. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: When is the national -- you're saying the national news at 6:30? MR. SUMMERS: We could do it probably -- let's put it this way: I think we could mobilize that no later than 8:30 tonight. Page 15 August 12,2004 (P.M.) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. But I'm concerned - MR. SUMMERS: Too much beyond that - go ahead. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- if we go too far out there, when -- we're going to actually put people in more danger by getting out there on the road. MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: And, you know, I heard Commissioner Coletta say that he personally called one of his constituents on Plantation Isle that lives in a mobile home and he's going to stay right there. COMMISSIONER HALAS: You can't make those people move if they decide they're going to hunker down, that's it. Hunker down, that's it. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle? (No response. ) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: I -- Mr. Summers, I feel confident to leave that decision in your hands. You are the person in charge of this event, and I feel very confident in that. MR. SUMMERS: I want the opportunity to weigh the positives and the negatives, and if I feel certainly if it's in our best interest and if it can make a difference in anybody's safety, we want to move forward with it. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Good. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Do it. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: I would agree. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Agreed, yeah. MR. SUMMERS: That's all I have for you. If you have any other questions or concerns - Item #4 Page 16 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) COMMENTS-DISCUSSED ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: That is a consensus of the board. Any other business? Commissioner Fiala, did you want to tell the public the phone call that you received today? COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. I was very pleased to receive a call from Governor Bush, and he was just checking to see if -- how we were doing, if there were anything -- if there was anything that we needed from the Governor's office or if they could be of any service to us. And he gave me a phone number to call, and I've passed that on to Commissioner Henning. And I was very pleased that he took the time to personally call and show his concern and his support. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Great. Thank you. MR. SUMMERS: My closing item is when do we need to get together again? And it may be that we do not establish a formal time but we just go ahead and have our routine communication channels as we normally would. And if you would like to leave, let's let the events work itself through and then have the opportunity to reconvene, as needed. COMMISSIONER HALAS: I think that -- MR. SUMMERS: And leave that up in the air at this point, please. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. MR. SUMMERS: That's all I have. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: And you have my phone number, right? MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir, we do. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Should we table this portion of the meeting also? MR. SUMMERS: That's correct. MR. WEIGEL: No. Page 1 7 August 12,2004 (P.M.) MR. MUDD: Commissioner Henning, if I could make one statement real quick. For everybody out there in the viewing audience. You know, folks out in the viewing audience, as you take a look now in the visualizer, you see our projections, and that's the best guess that everybody has with all the different model runs. But as we've been watching the Weather Channel and you've been watching the Weather Channel today, you'll get the hurricane expert from the National Weather Service that'll say this hurricane's going to come across ground between Tampa and Fort Myers. And it used to be Tampa, Tampa, Tampa until about noontime today, and now they're starting to talk a little bit south up to Fort Myers. If you take that track and it goes into Fort Myers, the risk of winds and everything else that we have are going to be a lot worse. So I don't want to paint a rosy picture in the fact that it keeps going to Tampa all the time. That's the best model run that we have right now, but nobody's betting with 100 percent surety that it's going to come across at Tampa and we're going to have the best part of this storm. And as it increases, our wind impacts in Collier County get more severe because the storm gets deeper -- its diameter of the storm gets a lot farther out. And you'll notice from the bands that we had this morning, these -- at first briefing, the blue band was barely touching the coast when this storm was down here by the Keys, and now it's incorporating the majority of Collier County. So as the storm increases in severity, our bands of winds and the severity of the winds that we're going to get are a little bit different. And they are now starting to talk about landfall between Tampa and Fort Myers, where it used to be pretty much centered on Tampa and everybody was sitting there. Page 18 August 12, 2004 (P.M.) And I notice that the guy on TV at Sanibel is getting a lot more air time, so that tells me somebody's starting to hedge their bets just a little bit. And so I want to make sure just because we show you a cartoon with our best guess that we get from the National Weather Service, there's still a good chance that it could be south of Tampa, and in that particular case, it makes it worse for us. That's all I have, sir. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yes. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle, are you with us? COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yes, I am. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. I'm going to make a motion, on extraordinary circumstances to recognize Commissioner Coy Ie as a voting member in this emergency meeting Commissioner Halas, will you -- COMMISSIONER HALAS: I'll second it. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: -- second that? All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye. COMMISSIONER COLETTA: Aye. COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Aye. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Aye. Motion carries. David Weigel, you had some concerns about tabling this meeting? MR. WEIGEL: Well, I don't think that it's necessary to table, because the protocol is provided in the ordinances to call a meeting and utilize those persons, starting with the chairman -- the commission and then the chairman on down. So that tabling this shouldn't change the flexibility that exists in any situation. And this morning's discussion and determination to Page 19 August 12, 2004 (P .M.) table was based upon something to follow. And it appeared from Mr. Summers' presentation that there may not be something to follow at this point in time. So I think that to table is -- doesn't really affect things either way. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Are you saying that we ought to adjourn this meeting? MR. WEIGEL: I think you can adjourn the meeting, yes. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: I think that we also could set a time no later than to reconvene, maybe even on Saturday, and finish out the meeting at that time. COMMISSIONER FIALA: I'll be available at any time that you request, Commissioner Henning. MR. WEIGEL: Well, then I think you are taking a recess in this meeting to reconvene, as opposed to an adjournment, which is -- ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. While Dan Summers is figuring out the time when we should reconvene, Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yes, I'd just like to ask a question, Commissioner Henning. I have been losing telephone contact, so I might have missed something. But does staff have everything they need in order to take the steps necessary to prepare for this hurricane, or are there other decisions we must make? MR. SUMMERS: Commissioner, Dan Summers. Sir, I think we do. I think we have 110 percent of all the community partners, the county departments. The morale is high, the professionalism is excellent and the teamwork is superior. I think we're doing very, very well and I want to thank the group that's helping us. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Okay, good, I'm glad to hear that. So you don't need anything more from the commissioners, at least until the next meeting; is that essentially correct? Page 20 August 12,2004 (P.M.) MR. SUMMERS: Sir, that is correct. I have every available resource that Collier County has at our disposal. We have communication with the state. We could use a little extra good luck right now, but I have everything I need. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Okay. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Commissioner Coyle, I've got to ask, do (sic) you have any needs, please contact myself or Commissioner Halas or the county manager. I know that you're out of town and you have property here. Commissioner Coyle? (No response. ) COMMISSIONER FIALA: I think you just lost him again. May I ask Mr. Mudd a question? ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Yes. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay, Mr. Mudd, you were saying this morning at the meeting that you were going to make a decision with regard to the employees at 2:00. What was your decision, sir? MR. MUDD: I passed that information out on the web page and got it out verbally to the constitutionals and to the school. Ma'am, at 3 :00 this afternoon the employees, the non-essential employees, went home and the county government normal operations will be closed tomorrow, non-essential personnel will not report. COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay, thank you very much. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Okay. Commissioner Coyle? COMMISSIONER COYLE: Yes. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Do you have any needs, or if you do have any needs with your property down here, would you contact myself, Commissioner Halas or the county manager? COMMISSIONER COYLE: Sure. I've already talked with someone about it, Commissioner Halas. Thank you very much. Page 21 August 12,2004 (P.M.) That's a very kind offer. I think everything that's being done will be done. I hope we get some luck. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Amen. Do you have any further questions? COMMISSIONER COYLE: No, I think the staff has done an excellent job. From what I was able to hear, it looks like they've got the problem well in hand. I think it's a good idea to get together again on Saturday, or maybe even Friday night to assess the extent of damages and maybe evaluate our course of action at that time. But whatever -- MR. MUDD: Commissioner, I think based on projection, we're still going to have some storm tomorrow evening. May I make a recommendation that we reconvene Saturday at 9:00 a.m. in the morning, and we can determine if we really got hit hard. We can give you an assessment and what efforts are being done and bring you up to speed in that particular case. COMMISSIONER COYLE: Thank you, Jim. COMMISSIONER HALAS: I think that's it. ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: Any further business? Questions? (No response.) ACTING CHAIRMAN HENNING: The board is in recess no later than Saturday at 9: 00 a.m. ***** There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 6:34 p.m. Page 22 August 12, 2004 (P .M.) BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTWYfft-k TOM HENNING, Acting Chairman A TTES,T: "', /Jï-:- DWIp:i-rrp. BR¢ÇK, CLERK , ,of :~, ~ (""',,~, ~: ~L' Q~dJf) I .¡Je ;, At~st ~ ~,.Cha1raan·s /t.J,gp~~.,OÅ 1 J. These minutes approved by the Board 0~Å.J '2../, :um~ , as presented V or as corrected . TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. BY CHERIE' NOTTINGHAM. Page 23