BCC Minutes 10/22/2005 E (Hurricane Wilma)
October 22, 2005
TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, October 22, 2005
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 9:00 a.m. in
EMERGENCY SESSION in Building "F" of the Government
Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present:
CHAIRMAN: Fred Coyle
Donna Fiala
Tom Henning
Frank Halas
Jim Coletta
ALSO PRESENT:
Jim Mudd, County Manager
Dan Summers, Emergency Management Director
David Weigel, County Attorney
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COLLIER COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
-:\
EMERGENCY AGENDA
HURRICANE WILMA
October 22, 2005
9:00 a.m.
Fred W. Coyle, Chairman, District 4
Frank Halas, Vice-Chairman, District 2
Donna Fiala, Commissioner, District 1
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. 2004-05, 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 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.
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October 22, 2005
IF YOU ARE A PERSON W1TH 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 IMP AIRED ARE AVAILABLE IN
THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE.
1. Call to Order/Pledge of Allegiance
2. Updated track information for Hurricane Wilma and its effects on the citizens of
Collier County, Florida
(Presented by Emergency Management Director, Dan Summers)
3. Update by Sheriff Hunter on Law Enforcement
Procedures/ Actions/Recommendations
4. Discuss any appropriate action for the Board to take
5. Comments
6. Adjourn
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October 22, 2005
October 22, 2005
MR. MUDD: Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats.
You have a hot mic, Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay, the emergency meeting of the
Board of County Commissioners is now underway . Would you please
stand for the pledge of Allegiance.
(Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Thank you very much.
County Manager, anything first before we go to Mr. Summers?
MR. MUDD: Let's go to Mr. Summers, and then we'll get the
other issues out of the way and get board approval and we'll be in
good shape.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay. Mr. Summers?
Item #2
UPDATED TRACK INFORMATION FOR HURRICANE WILMA
GIVEN BY DAN SUMMERS, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
DIRECTOR - PRESENTED W/RECOMMENDATIONS FROM
THE EOC
MR. SUMMERS: Commissioners, good morning. Dan
Summers, Director of the Bureau of Emergency Services for Collier
County and your Emergency Management Director. Thank you again.
This morning -- and just before I get started, I could not be more
proud of this community with the partnerships with our municipalities,
our state partners, our federal partners that are here on the scene. The
private organizations, non-profits, everybody is in synch.
And if I could say one thing for sure, Wilma has been a stubborn
lady with her visit or potential visit to Collier County. She's not
scheduled with us very well. However, it has just given us more time
to prepare for this storm event. So all in all we're doing very well.
Let's go to satellite imagery right now. We still continue to see
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October 22, 2005
Hurricane Wilma as a significant storm. The challenge of course with
Wilma has been in the modeling and guidance, as well as the intensity
of this storm, how it's behaved over the Yucatan. We've seen reports
from the national networks this morning of the damage there at the
Yucatan, Cozumel and those areas.
You've also seen the visible satellite imagery there right over sort
of north and west of Texas there. That's kind of the trough that's going
to ultimately be the steering pattern for this particular hurricane.
Once this storm comes out of the Yucatan and more into the
Gulf, the model guidance remains consistent, and it continues to have
a direct bearing on Collier County and Naples area.
We have -- let me go to the Hurrivac now and tell you what --
MR. MUDD: Could you go back there for a second, Dan.
MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir.
MR. MUDD: Commissioners, you're also seeing on your slide
just below Puerto Rico, you're seeing another low pressure disturbance
that's playing games out there. And hopefully it will just dissipate.
MR. SUMMERS: Just goes to show you how prepared we are.
We'll be ready for the next one.
We'll go to our hurricane evacuation modeling tool that we use.
And again, we continue to see a very large Hurricane Wilma with
winds now sustained at 115. And we'll move forward to its current
condition.
The large circle that you see, if you recall, is what we call our
decision arc. In other words, that -- when those two lines meet, we
need to have all of our protective actions ready to go. Weare well
ahead of that in terms of the time line, because we gained an extra day
or more in our preparedness activity.
So what I want to do is march this storm forward with the models
and highlight a couple of things.
As it comes off the Yucatan, we expect this to be a Category 3
storm event. Hopefully it will begin to hit a little cooler water. Notice
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October 22, 2005
the forward motion speed here, maintaining about eight miles per
hour.
Now, here's what really gets unusual and what really -- this is the
challenge for us in the next couple of clicks. You will notice that it --
all of a sudden the storm doubles in more forward motion from eight
miles per hour to 16 miles per hour. And as I continue to move
forward, although we see a slight change in the hurricane intensity,
again, moving the storm forward, you see the time elements there.
Sunday evening at 9:00 p.m. we're just on the fringe of some of the
storm force winds. Sunday evening, 9:00 p.m. Now we continue at 16
miles per hour forward motion. And then we jump to 34 miles per
hour in forward motion.
So all ofa sudden when Wilma has made visual contact with
Naples, the forward motion really escalates. And this is where we get
into what I refer to as a meteorological surprise, in that -- any of our
precautionary activity, our evacuations and sheltering.
Again, this is just a model run. If that forward speed escalation
begins earlier, then we're going to lose some daylight in our last
minute preparation activity. So this is why we are -- we continue to
maintain this conservative posture.
We're all a little tired of being in the preparedness mode. We're
all a little tired. But in this case, we are still looking at a Category 2
storm event with a forward motion of 33 to 34 miles per hour. Right
now predicted landfall is Monday morning at 4:00 a.m. So again, we
all need to be secure well before that, in the evening hours on Sunday
night. And we'll move on through.
We continue to watch closely the tide times. The tides are not in
our favor as the hurricane force winds make landfall here in Naples.
MR. MUDD: High tide is Monday at 5:46 in the morning.
MR. SUMMERS: So that's not a good situation for us for high
tides.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: That's a.m., is that correct?
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October 22, 2005
MR. SUMMERS: That's correct.
The other comment I want to make to you is that some of the
hurricane model guidance has some variation in the storm moving
north. Not a lot of variation in the storm's track moving south.
Moving north is not good for us, because that puts us on the bad side
of the storm for surge.
So while we have maintained a planning discussion throughout
this event of seven to 11 feet of storm surge, we may bump that storm
surge discussion from 10 to 14 feet in storm surge discussion. Now,
we have a little time to see how those model runs behave. We have a
little more time to expand our evacuation area, if necessary.
Sir?
COMMISSIONER HALAS: I have one question. Since the
speed of this storm is going to speed up the forward motion, it seems
to me it might have some similarities to Charley. Do we anticipate
that there's a possibility that the intensity could also build with the
speed?
MR. SUMMERS: The forecasters seem to be very comfortable
with that forecast intensity, due to a slightly cooler Gulf, and we're
talking just a little bit, as well as this cold front doing some sharing to
this storm. So I think we're pretty good on the intensity category
recommendation.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: Okay.
MR. MUDD: But this isn't -- Commissioner, just to -- you
mentioned and you try to correlate it to a past event. Charley was a lot
smaller in intensity than this particular storm is. If you take a look at
that red circle, you're looking at a red circle that's over 100 miles
wide. Charley was like 24. So it's about four times as wide as that
particular storm. So this is a big storm.
MR. SUMMERS: I'll run this on through and show you very
quickly how rapidly the storm does exit the area. Which is really
good news. The shorter the event, obviously the better that we will do
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October 22, 2005
maintaining this Category 2 and 33 mile per hour forward motion. So,
you know, we don't want a storm to sit and grind on us too long.
A lot of discussions and variables about the storm surge in terms
of how much wave energy it generates in the Gulf prior to the arrival,
barometric pressure activity. And again, this forward movement, this
catapulting, if you will, that we think will occur once this trough
meets and the storm meets. So we'll see how that behaves over the
next couple of days.
So any additional questions, I'll give you an operational update.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Go ahead.
MR. SUMMERS: Very good.
Let's move on, if we can. Let's talk a little bit about our media
information. Our media partners have been great; however, we
continue to run into a couple of things where our dates and times get
confused by our local press. And I want to remind our local press to
help us and verify with our PIO's on some accuracy. There's some
information out there today that shelters open at 8:00 a.m. today. That
is not the case, it is 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. So let's make sure that we're
clarified on those shelter opening times.
There will be ample time tomorrow morning -- although the
shelters open at 8 :00, there'll be ample time throughout midmorning to
get to your respective shelter that you choose. And again, power will
be on. We ask these folks not to -- to understand it will take a little
time for them to be processed and received. But again, our goal here
is to have everyone secured and identified and squared away in what
their last minute plans are by Sunday afternoon. So we have postured
ourselves very well with timing for a less than urgent response to the
shelters, just a routine response to the shelters. And we'll be able to
move forward safely.
Also, and I failed to recognize Dawn and Amy this morning, who
are signing for us today for the benefit of our public. And they have --
they are going to join us at our news conferences throughout the day.
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October 22, 2005
Let's talk a little bit about operational issues at this point. Collier
County Emergency Operations Center has all the appropriate agencies
and representatives on-site. Weare working through the space
challenges. We have a number of desk and operational areas set up in
the hallways, but that's okay, we've got the right people there. Our IT
department's done a great job of helping us modify and temporary
installations to keep us moving.
All Collier County shelter supply resources that we have, have
been deployed to the appropriate shelters. Redundant cornmunication
systems continue to be checked. Our federal partners here from DOT
and FAA, we've established satellite link communications with them,
and they have redundant communication linkages at the airport. And
we appreciate FAA and the emergency management team joining us.
They'll continue to work with me throughout the day, as needed.
We have identified, as I mentioned yesterday, the alternate
emergency operations center; working with Sprint the information
technology, and thanks to the help from Mr. DeLony at the Public
Utilities Division, we have an alternate site setup that can transfer
operations seamlessly. It won't be as sophisticated
communication-wise as we have downstairs, if we have to relocate.
But we do have adequate ability there to have a seamless transfer for
an EOC.
Press releases have been on a regular basis. Almost 30 so far.
We've actually had contact from almost around the word, with not
only nationally known publications but international as well.
An air operations coordination element will be set up under my
direction today in the Emergency Operations Center. And if and
when, and I stress if, we need any federal air assets, we'll partner with
those airbus operations and coordinate that through our EOC, using a
number of our pilot resources, not only at the airport but in the EOC to
coordinate air operations, if it becomes necessary.
We don't have any reports of shortages of local commodities in
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terms of food, fuel, water, ice and those type of things. The voluntary
precautionary evacuation and the ongoing retail gave everything time
to re-supply, so there are no real community shortages that we're
aware of.
We've been very fortunate with the help of our law enforcement
community. No significant highway concerns. Eastbound tolls no
longer are in effect on the Alley.
The state has authorized the use of non-highway diesel fuel, what
we refer to as agricultural diesel. They have allowed the use of that
diesel fuel for highway use if there's any shortage of diesel fuel. But
again, none have been reported.
I'm not sure if Mark Suddeth has arrived yet. Weare joined to
document this event and to provide some additional meteorological
research by Mark Suddeth, who is the operator of the hurricane
interceptor research team. Mark is nationally recognized for his efforts
in providing meteorological efforts to local emergency managers, as
well as the National Hurricane Center. He is supported in this
nonprofit effort by Sprint and Lowe's. And Mark will have credentials
to go to various areas to document storm surge, wind speed and
intensity and provide that real time data back to the emergency
operations center for our decision-making capability.
The debris removal issues have been thoroughly addressed in
several planning meetings yesterday. Contractors identified. Our
public utilities division, Mr. Jim DeLony and his team, have worked
with our fire service personnel, emergency medical services
personnel, Florida Power & Light, and law enforcement to put some
priorities, if necessary, on debris removal.
Understand that our plan and common practice means that we
generate our debris removal activity based on life-saving activity. And
basically our conceptually, that's from the hospitals out. And that is
the way that that process works. And our emergency medical
services, fire service folks, already have a strategic plan in place and
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actually may have some time today to do a rehearsal. So I think we're
in very good shape in that process.
We have identified some additional refuge capability, if we need
it in Immokalee. We have adequate shelter were space in Immokalee.
We have some reserve facilities.
Commissioner Coletta, when we do our briefing at 10:00, we'll
work with you on some of those outreach issues specifically that you
had concern about. We'll make sure -- we'll check with you after this
meeting in the EOC and continue to beef up those resources. So we're
addressing that very carefully this morning.
We have briefed -- Congressman Connie Mack joined us
yesterday. Wanted to make sure that we had the full assets or
communication that we needed at the federal level. And Department
of Homeland Security, we had a good briefing with him yesterday.
And --
MR. MUDD: Commissioners, if you don't already recognize--
CHAIRMAN COYLE: I'm going to recognize Congressman
Mack is in the audience with us today. Thank you very much,
appreciate your support.
We also have the City of Naples Mayor Bill Barnett with us. We
have everybody represented here today.
MR. SUMMERS: And as we do downstairs, so we're in good
shape.
Thank you again. And he's offered his assistance as needed, and
we appreciate him checking in.
We continue to work very hard addressing our persons with
special needs population, as you directed yesterday. We used some
commercial resources to notify those individuals yesterday so they can
give us some feedback telephonically on their needs. We have
ramped up that team to deal with those special needs individuals. We
continue to maintain this surge in last minute registrations. Weare
able -- this it is a stretch. Weare handling it. We don't have any
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unmet needs associated with that, and we do not anticipate being out
of shelter space. We expect to be crowded, but we expect to have our
resources in place to do that.
I have to tell you, Commissioners, that this surge in special needs
population registration and disaster assistance or new service levels,
I'm going to have to reevaluate this. And I want to bring you an after
action report after this to readdress the special needs population
because of new levels of service expectations, what our current
staffing is and some innovative programming to do better for that
special needs population. So we're doing okay, but there's room for
improvement. And I'd like to follow up with you at a later date.
We continue to plan and make site visits today on what we call
points of distribution that if, and I stress if, we get into any commodity
distribution such as ice, water, tarps or meals ready to eat, that's not a
certain; again, that will be dependent on power outages and retail
impacts and those type of things. But we are reviewing those sites
today. We have several federal, state and non-profit partners that have
teamed up with our staff and identified those facilities.
I will tell you that we may choose to use a couple of retail
parking lots that we have not had prior communication with, and we
would like to have some of those retail facility folks check in with us
and we'd like to have at least a verbal approval to use their parking
lots for a day or two without impacting their retail business, if we need
those parking areas, due to traffic flow for commodity drop-off.
We continue to have active participation from Marco, and the
City of Naples and our briefings to Chief Moore and his staff from the
City of Naples; Chief Murphy from Marco Island and his staff; Chief
Paul Wilson, Everglades City; and Mayor Hamilton, we continue to
have great dialogue and teamwork there. And special thanks to you
all for that help as well.
As I reminded earlier, there will be another press conference at
2:00 today. That went extremely well yesterday and I think we got
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some good information out.
Mr. Chris Walsh and Kathy Parrish from FEMA are here in our
emergency operations center. Their title is field observer. I'll be
getting information from them about military asset that may be pre-
staged, as well as their stage partners and situation reports. I'm
familiar with that system. As you know, I spent a fair amount of time
after Katrina working with FEMA in their Region IV Atlanta
Operations Center. So we have a good dialogue going on there, and
they'll keep me posted of any federal and state assets that are either
currently being deployed to a staging area or are at our disposal.
I have no unmet needs at this time with the Emergency
Operations Center. Again, with the great partnership that we have in
the community, I think we'll move forward.
I have four issues that I kind of want to bookmark with you that
warrant your attention and discussion this morning. The first is a
request to spontaneous and converging volunteers and organizations.
There will be a number of organizations that will want to move
forward into Collier County to donate food and ice and water, in
addition to the federal and state complement. I want your support and
encouragement to have these organizations call our Emergency
Management Office so that we can coordinate with the Sheriffs Office
to help identify need, to help identify any coordination issues that we
need to get them on the ground. We will publish a number and make
a news release at a later date, distribute that through state and FEMA
so that if we have a number of agencies coming in inbound, we can
assess their capability, we can make sure that they're properly
deployed, and as usually the challenge in emergency managers is to
avoid the duplication of effort.
So we want to make sure that all of these organizations are
strategically placed so that we can take advantage of their generosity
and shorten the hardship time of our residents.
We want to remind folks, there's no pedaling of goods in Collier
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County, as a reminder for any street merchants that may show up.
And we'll have our code enforcement people address that accordingly.
Mr. Mudd I believe is going to elaborate on county offices for
Monday. I believe it is our plan to meet with you on Tuesday
morning, 8:00, for an update. And new information now in
conforming that Collier County is going to close schools on Monday.
Most importantly now, we want to have a discussion with you
regarding curfews for our law enforcement community so that they
can be prepared to take the actions that they need through this event.
And Mr. Mudd, I'll turn it back over to you, and we'll work
through those particular items, if there are no other questions at this
time.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Commissioner Halas?
COMMISSIONER HALAS: In regards to air operations, are you
-- what two airports are you looking at? Are you looking at Naples
Airport and Immokalee Airport for that?
MR. SUMMERS: All of those air -- yes, sir, that is correct. All
of those airports will be reassessed immediately following landfall.
We'll make a determination as to which air asset is most appropriate,
whether it's helicopter or fixed wing or some combination thereof.
And again, we have to address that based on storm surge
potential. Naples Airport and their team are plugged into our EOC, so
-- and Sheriffs Department and Medflight have resources there, so we
have no concern that we won't be able to coordinate and manage that.
We've got a good working relationship with FAA and their DOT
partner. I don't think it's any problem that we won't be able to manage
that mission, if it becomes necessary.
Commissioners, we've done a very good job with our mandatory
evacuation, our precautionary voluntary. This is not a scenario, in my
opinion, by any stretch of the imagination, where you're going to be
lifting people off of rooftops. We have other organizations, airboats
and Florida Fish & Game, that have adequate small boat activity.
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We're identifying additional high clearance vehicles. So that is a
much safer way to extricate someone, if that becomes necessary.
I suspect that any air assets that the EOC deploys will be
primarily as aerial reconnaissance, just to help us with damage
assessment, look at any particular areas. I do not see this as a heavy
rescue environment, okay, in this particular event.
Mr. Mudd?
MR. MUDD: Commissioners, I'd like to -- the next speaker is --
I'm sorry, sir.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Commissioner Fiala has a question.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. Can you please tell me where
we are sheltering the special needs persons?
MR. SUMMERS: Yes, ma'am. Palmetto Ridge High School.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: You mentioned some parking lot
requirements. You would like to see some people volunteer the use of
their retail parking lots. Do you have any specific parking lot
locations in mind so we can contact those people?
MR. SUMMERS: Sir, we are narrowing those down this
morning. A number of sites that we had already pre-selected, we ran
into a problem with the turning radius on tractor-trailer units -- due to
the size of tractor-trailer units that we are anticipating. That was a
problem that we just came across. We will identify those, get them
out to the press and then hopefully if we make a plea for those
organizations to call us, they'll give us a call.
MR. TORRE: Two that we were looking to coordinate, one was
the Coastland Mall and the outlet mall on 951. But we're currently
coordinating that down at the EOC, as well as several others of the
well known shopping centers around.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Is there anything we need to do from
public announcement standpoint to help you with that?
MR. TORRE: Not at this time, but thank you.
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October 22, 2005
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay, fine.
And by the way, earlier this morning I was notified that
Cleveland Clinic is beginning to take some of the special needs
people, too, so they're providing facilities for those.
MR. SUMMERS: We're doing very well with our partnership.
A stretch a little bit in the registration, but I think we'll get through
with it on the health care issues pretty well.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay, good.
County Manager?
MR. MUDD: And Commissioners, just to clarify what Dan said
about stretching, I mean, we had 1,200 registered. And, you know,
we've always had a program to register your special needs so that we
could log it in and make sure that we had the equipment, oxygen,
medicine, that kind of thing, in order to help them in that process.
And all of a sudden because of this, we got 500 plus more, okay. And
it's very difficult when you're trying to take down that information,
you can -- in about an hour, you can get about 20 of those folks logged
in. So all of a sudden the phone banks started to if ring. So we're --
they're going through a rigorous element right now to get the essential
information and get those folks into this system and get them properly
located for this event.
MR. SUMMERS: Mr. Mudd, let me elaborate one other point.
Commissioners, this event is only going to impact a few counties.
If I get into any medical crunch issue, our state health partners can
easily call the assistance of surrounding counties, I can easily ask
FEMA for some additional disaster medical assistance teams. So
although it's a little tight right now, we have well within their ability
just simply to pick up the phone and bring some additional depth to --
bench strength or depth to that resource, if it becomes necessary.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Thank you, Mr. Summers.
MR. MUDD: Commissioner, the next big item that we need to
talk about, and we'll talk about admin. stuff after this, but the next big
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October 22, 2005
thing is we need to talk about curfew. And I'd like the Sheriff to
basically talk about that. He had talked yesterday with me, and I know
with Commissioner Halas last evening about --
CHAIRMAN COYLE: And me.
MR. MUDD: And you do too, I hope.
-- about the curfew and the requirements that he believes he
needs to have. So if I could get --
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Sheriff Hunter?
SHERIFF HUNTER: Good morning.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Good morning. Thank you for coming,
Don.
Item #3
UPDATE BY SHERIFF HUNTER ON LAW ENFORCEMENT
PROCEDURES/ ACTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS - PRESENTED
W/RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE
SHERIFF HUNTER: My pleasure, Mr. Chair.
We had a couple of items that you and I were working on
yesterday afternoon. Good morning, Board.
Well, I'll give you a quick update where we stand. I understand
-- and we have Florida Highway Patrol Lieutenant Franz (phonetic) is
in the room with me. We had the opportunity to compare notes.
It appears that all traffic is flowing very well on all the major
arteries. And that's good news. In fact, it seems to be a bit light today
as opposed to normal weekend traffic. That's a good thing.
Fuel's available, food, and provisions seem to be very much
available and not a whole lot of competition for it at the moment.
That's all good.
I wanted to make the board aware that other than the usual plans
that we have in place, we have -- we want to make the public aware
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October 22, 2005
that in the event, and the probability will be that there's a strong
likelihood we will lose power and therefore communications will be
restricted, constricted. The ability to contact the public and the public
to contact us may be limited. The agency will have some satellite
substations, if you will, that we will be locating throughout the county,
other than our regular substations. We will park high visibility
vehicles in a manner in which they will be very visible by the public,
so that the public can come to us beyond our extraordinary patrols of
neighborhoods and industrial parks and business areas. That will
permit the public to come to us, report any situations that they believe
needs immediate attention by public safety. Again, in the event that
radio communications and regular telephone service is constricted in
some fashion.
I have a list here of where we will be. I will publish that today to
the board and to Dan, through Lieutenant Reed, and we'll make sure
that we get that the out to the public.
Weare attempting to work on the special needs issue that you
raised yesterday, Mr. Chairman, and we do have some limited
information. I know Dan has -- emergency management has some of
the information pertaining to some of our special needs citizens,
especially those who are non-ambulatory or the ambulatory with
special needs, maybe those requiring oxygen, et cetera. There are also
a whole 'nother -- there's another population of special needs out there,
such as emotionally disturbed, mentally ill, et cetera, that we're
attempting to define a little bit better and provide some proper housing
for as well. We'll work with Dan on that as we put that list together.
I mentioned to you and Vice Chair Halas last night that I am
going to make something of an unusual recommendation to the board
in reference to the curfew that we've been discussing. Typically the
board would impose a curfew post-event for purposes of crowd
control, traffic control, safety on the roadways, in consideration of
debris fields and hazards that would be normally encountered in such
Page 16
October 22, 2005
an event.
I'm going to ask if the -- that the board consider the possibility of
a pre-event limited curfew, very close to the event moment, if you
will, in those areas that the board has directed evacuation; those
critical impact zones where the board has directed evacuation. And for
again a very limited time frame.
We would be looking at probably 10:00 p.m. at night to about
6:00 a.m. in the morning, pre-event. That coincides pretty well with
post-event curfew recommendations made to the board previously.
That permits law enforcement to reserve staffing energy, if you will,
prior to the event. If you have people who have mass evacuated out of
areas, there's no longer the natural surveillance that would occur from
national traffic patterns throughout that area. So therefore, buildings
and personal effects, personal property become more of a target.
If we have the curfew, it makes it very much easier for law
enforcement to discover unusual movement in those areas and to
suppress that to the extent possible. And we would include the usual
caveats of any -- certainly any required emergency provision of
service or the need to move to secure service would be part of the
exceptions included in the proposed language that we would offer to
the board through your legal counsel.
So I would strongly recommend it and ask your favorable
consideration on a curfew pre-event. Again, limited. I think we don't
need to move it yet. But when the shelters open for those people not
sheltering in place, they want to go to a public shelter, we should see
some movement at that point from the directed evacuation areas that
the board has already considered west and south of 41 especially. I
would recommend that we coincide the pre-event curfew with the
opening of the shelter so that we can coordinate that a little bit. As we
make facilities available for people to evacuate to, then we can impose
the curfew on that evening.
MR. MUDD: Just so -- just a point of clarification. So Sheriff,
Page 1 7
October 22, 2005
you're asking that the curfew start in the mandatory evacuation areas
start Sunday evening at 10:00 p.m.
SHERIFF HUNTER: Correct. So assuming -- I wasn't going to
be presumptuous pertaining to when the shelters were going to open.
My understanding was they would open tomorrow morning at
approximately 0800, 0900.
MR. MUDD: Yes, sir.
Item #4
RESOLUTION 2005-365: A (PRE-EVENT) CURFEW ON
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2005 AND MONDAY, OCTOBER 24,
2005 FROM 10:00 P.M. TO 6:00 A.M. IN THE AREAS OF
MANDATORY EVACUATION, ALLOWING ADJUSTMENT OF
THE TIMES AND AREAS OF THE IMPACT POST-EVENT-
ADOPTED
SHERIFF HUNTER: I would recommend we begin the curfew,
therefore, at approximately 10:00 p.m. tomorrow night and run that
through to 6: 00 a.m. And if we have another evening we need to
impose that pre-event curfew, we do the same. Again, that helps us
with the staffing energy in the agency, and then we'll rotate into a
12-hour shift pattern after that, as we get close to the event window.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: I have one question for both of you, Mr.
Summers and Sheriff Hunter, about the effects of the curfew on those
persons who are helping care for people, either the elderly or those
with special needs at any facility, whether it's a nursing home or other
facility. They might wish to move from that location to their home
going off shift, and their home not being in the primary flood zone
area.
Is there any special procedure we can follow to permit those
people to do that?
Page 18
October 22, 2005
SHERIFF HUNTER: Yes, the proposed language, and I'll quote,
if I may. There's restriction on pedestrian and vehicular movement,
standing and parking, except for the provision of and obtaining
essential goods and services.
So anyone who's a caregiver, authorized to provide care to
individuals, certainly would be interviewed on a stop, but if they have
a legitimate purpose for moving about, then they would be permitted
and probably escorted as they move about, trying to deliver those
essential services, or secure them.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Should they try to get some letter of
authorization from the facility they're working with to prove that
they're actually doing this, so it would make it easier for you?
SHERIFF HUNTER: That would be well advised.
MR. SUMMERS: Commissioner, Chairman, correct, the Sheriff
is -- we're in 100 percent agreement there. All of our agencies that we
have out reach with are constantly reminded to make sure that they
have at least two forms of identification with the organization they're
with, their personal I.D. badge, their driver's license and even other
forms of residency identification.
We do not have -- we have the ability, if it becomes necessary, to
issue windshield placards and personal I.D.'s on a case-by-case basis,
but part of our pre-event planning with the private sector is to remind
them to have those ID's. In the event that law enforcement has a
subject that they can't validate that appears to have public purpose,
they are welcome to call the EOC and we can attempt to verify that
with other lists. We're in 100 percent agreement with the Sheriffs
recommendations.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay, thank you.
Commissioner Halas?
COMMISSIONER HALAS: Yes. I'm glad that the Sheriff
brought this up about curfew. We've asked a lot of the residents to be
involved in voluntary evacuation. Of course a lot of them left the
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October 22, 2005
coastlines, and we want to make sure that their property is taken care
of. And I believe you are going to have increased patrols presently
even before the curfew, to make sure that those personal properties are
taken care of; is that correct, Sheriff?
SHERIFF HUNTER: Correct.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: Because if we don't protect the
property now -- and I'm just wondering if we should move the curfew
up. That's a prerogative that we can give you at this point in time.
Because I think a lot of people have left, and we want to make sure
that they're taken care of so that the next time we ever have an event
like this -- obviously things went very smoothly as far as the traffic
flow out of here. So in case there's ever a repeat that people are
assured that when they leave that their property is well taken care of.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Commissioner Henning?
COMMISSIONER HENNING: Sheriff, so your concern is
securing the area of the evacuation that we would evacuation (sic), or
is it just pre storm, or both?
SHERIFF HUNTER: Both.
COMMISSIONER HENNING: Okay. Here's my concern, is
this storm hasn't been very predictable. And I think that we need to
give latitude when we make the motion to cover any delays of this
storm. Let's say that the event doesn't happen on Monday, as
predicted. Maybe it will happen on Tuesday. We want to try to give
you the latitude to make those judgments on the curfew of the affected
evacuation area.
SHERIFF HUNTER: In my comments, I was hoping that the
board understood that that is exactly our predicament. And that if you
begin opening shelters, evacuees are likely to begin going to those
shelters. They will then abandon, if you will, or evacuate their
residences and businesses, and those need protecting. So we wanted
to coordinate the curfew with the opening of those shelters and make
that as close as possible to the event moment so that we don't
Page 20
October 22, 2005
inconvenience people, we don't in any way suppress normal business
activity. 10:00 p.m. at night, that would provide for people getting
out, eating and conducting business. Plus any provision of essential
movement is considered in the language here, so it's really a nominal
curfew, if you will, that has a great deal of provision for exceptional
circumstances.
What we're trying to do is monitor pre-event, protect people's
property and not dissuade them from leaving their homes because they
feel that those homes may not properly protected, as Commissioner
Halas had properly acknowledged.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Thank you very much.
Mr. Summers?
MR. SUMMERS: Well, and just an additional point of
clarification, we're going to see deteriorating weather conditions
during that period as well, so both of those -- that curfew I think is
very wise and assists the Sheriff. And also, it is that additional
reminder that you should be secure and well in place before that
becomes effective. And it's also a subtle reminder of deteriorating
weather conditions. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Anything else, Sheriff Hunter?
SHERIFF HUNTER: No, I think we touched on it. Mr.
Summers has already eluded to the recovery phase, the stage recovery,
the three phases for reentry, and I think that -- we'll publish that again
to make sure that everyone is understanding as best we can of how we
go about doing that. Two forms of identification preferred.
Preferably something with your picture on it, plus rental agreement,
utility bill, tax bill, whatever it may be, in order to identify the actual
address you may be trying to locate.
Otherwise, we do have some early indications that the city police
department would also be interested in this curfew and the critical
impact zone that has already been identified for direct evacuation by
the board. And we're working with Marco now to determine whether
Page 21
October 22, 2005
they also might be interested. And I'm sure you're going to be
following up on that as well. But we do have some early interest from
the City of Naples for that as well.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Mayor Barnett has already expressed his
support for the curfew, I think.
Mayor Barnett, anything further you'd like to say about that?
MS. BARNETT: Good morning, Commissioners.
No, we're in total support of that. I think the hours are good, and
of course, yeah, the flexibility, if need be. And Chief Moore and Dr.
Lee, the City Manager, we've talked about it this morning briefly, and
we're on board with you, absolutely. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Thank you very much, Mayor Barnett.
And thank you, Sheriff Hunter, for all of your help and the efforts
of your department. If there's anything more we can do to make it
easier, let us know.
SHERIFF HUNTER: The same here. Thank you very much,
Board.
MR. MUDD: Commissioner, before you leave the subject, so--
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Well, we need a motion, but go ahead.
MR. MUDD: You need the motion, but let's try to get it as
specific as we possibly can get it.
I'm going to make a recommendation that the next time this
board meets is at 8:00 on Tuesday morning, okay? So we're basically
taking a look at two nights of the mandatory evacuation areas on a
curfew. That would be Sunday and Monday night, from 10:00 p.m. to
6:00 a.m. That's the first item.
And then you can reexamine the curfew issue Tuesday morning
at 8 :00 a.m. when you meet. Everything I've seen basically says that
the storm will be gone by Monday evening, Tuesday. And that's the
latest I've ever seen on any forecast.
The next item I'd like to make sure the board gives the Chairman
and! or the deputy chairman in his absence, is the ability to extend that
Page 22
October 22, 2005
curfew, depending on damage, for Monday evening. And that will be
in direct coordination with the Sheriffs office and the demands based
on damage. Because there could be businesses or what not that get
damaged pretty severely on Monday. And I'm hoping this doesn't
happen, I'm just talking if.
And if that happens, he would probably like to have that ability
to have it expanded, if need be, based on damage. And then we can
reassess based on the damage to the entire area Tuesday morning
when you meet at 8:00 a.m.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: And just for everyone's information,
either lor Commissioner Halas will be in the EOC full-time from
probably Sunday right through the event. So we will be able to make
decisions such as that and work with all of the supporting agencies, if
necessary .
Okay, is there a motion?
COMMISSIONER HALAS: So moved.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Commissioner Henning?
MR. MUDD: Sheriff Hunter, I hope I didn't speak out of turn,
but I wanted to make sure that there was some latitude in that
particular --
SHERIFF HUNTER: We need the latitude. We've had quick
conversation here, kind of side bar with legal counsel, and obviously
one of the issues would be post-event curfew. And I think there's a
greater probability that we will need one rather than not. And in the
event that there is no quorum or we suffer some inability to acquire
quorum, it's not a bad idea, I think, my sense is it's not a bad idea to
have the curfew acknowledged and standing, and then if we need to
withdraw it, it would be simple, I believe, to do. Obviously the board
could go either way.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Commission Henning had a question
first.
COMMISSIONER HENNING: Well, I was going to make a
Page 23
October 22, 2005
motion.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Were you? Let him ask a question and
then we'll take your motion.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: In regards to after the effect, do
you recommend that we should change the curfew hours from sunset
to sunrise?
SHERIFF HUNTER: I would say yes, but I want to recognize
the fact that food is going to be very difficult to find, provisions,
supplies, if people have not yet secured them. Very difficult to find.
And although there is exception language in the curfew, I'm fairly
comfortable with the same hours. We can modify that through board
action.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: We've got the ability to modify it
through the motion --
SHERIFF HUNTER: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: -- that we're going to make here.
SHERIFF HUNTER: I'd just go with that. It's imminently
reasonable. No one I hope can argue with the 10:00 p.m. curfew. But
certainly we will ask people, the public, especially citizens, to
restricted travel after the event and try to stay off the roadways. There
will be extreme debris fields, we believe, and lots of hazards.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: So let me make sure I understand,
Commissioner Henning, before I get to you, we're going to have a
motion to establish a pre-event curfew from 10:00 in the morning till
6:00 p.m. for Sunday night and Monday night--
MR. MUDD: Commissioner--
CHAIRMAN COYLE: 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Sunday night
and Monday night. And then we will also have the capability to
establish a post-event curfew, as needed.
And I would suggest we give the chair or the vice chair the
authority to coordinate with the appropriate agencies, through Mr.
Summers, to decide on the hours of that post-event curfew.
Page 24
October 22,2005
Does that meet your needs, Sheriff?
SHERIFF HUNTER: That would be fine.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay, Commissioner Henning?
COMMISSIONER HENNING: I make a motion that we
authorize the Sheriff to enact a pre-curfew for this event, starting
Sunday at 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. And also Monday, 10:00 p.m. to
6:00 a.m. And allow the chairman of the board or the vice chair to
evaluate with the Sheriffs department and the emergency management
director in case any times need to be adjusted.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I second that motion.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay, we have a motion for approval by
Commissioner Henning, the motion as stated, and second by
Commissioner Fiala.
County Attorney?
MR. WEIGEL: Just last clarification. Both Sheriff Hunter and
County Manager talked about the fact that the area of the curfew
appears to be the same area where the mandatory evacuation is, which
includes the three municipalities: Marco, City of Naples and
Everglades City.
COMMISSIONER HENNING: That's part of my motion.
MR. MUDD: Commissioner, one other piece. And
Commissioner Henning said and adjust the time, that post-storm might
have to adjust the area of the curfew, too.
SHERIFF HUNTER: Yes.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: As needed.
COMMISSIONER HENNING: And that will be determined by
Dan Summers.
MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. I just wanted to make sure that was also a
variable in there.
SHERIFF HUNTER: I concur with Mr. Mudd's reflection on
that. It may be a county wide at some point, as opposed to a limited
area.
Page 25
October 22, 2005
CHAIRMAN COYLE: To restate the motion, so that there's no
misunderstanding, Commissioner Henning is recommending a
pre-event curfew from 10: 00 in the morning till --
MR. MUDD: 10:00 in the evening.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: 10:00 in the evening until 6:00 in the
morning for Sunday night and Monday night. And a post-event
curfew, as needed, with the flexibility to change the timings of any of
those, pre-event or post-event, being given to the chairman or the
vice-chairman, who would coordinate with all of the agencies
involved.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: I have one other question.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Is that correct?
COMMISSIONER HENNING: In the effected evacuation area.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: In the affected evacuation areas. Okay.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: I have one other question.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: When we pass this Resolution, is
there somebody from the Clerk of Courts that will register this today?
MR. MUDD: We're working on that right now, sir.
MR. WEIGEL: And in fact, there is. Trish Morgan is at the
Clerk's office. I've confirmed telephonically she'll be ready and
waiting for the revised draft that comes through.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Any further discussion?
SHERIFF HUNTER: May I?
CHAIRMAN COYLE: I'm sorry, yes, Sheriff.
SHERIFF HUNTER: Without beating the proverbial dead horse,
but if I understood correctly, the board had an interest in also
addressing this idea that not only would the times possibly be subject
to adjustment, but the area might be subj ect to adjustment. And was
that part --
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Yes.
SHERIFF HUNTER: -- of the modified motion?
Page 26
October 22, 2005
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Yeah, it was.
All in favor, please signify by saying aye.
COMMISSIONER HALAS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
COMMISSIONER HENNING: Aye.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Any opposed, by like sign.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN COYLE: It passes unanimously. Thank you very
much.
Item #5
COMMENTS
SHERIFF HUNTER: And if I may make one more point before I
retire -- well, not retire. Retire from the room.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: I saw the eyes brighten of some of these
guys in the audience.
SHERIFF HUNTER: You thought I was going to make an
announcement this morning.
Let me recover for a moment, Mr. Chairman. And wipe the glee
off your face.
I did want -- I wanted to ask the public to be mindful post-event
that what they'll probably see on the roadways -- and first I'd like to
commend emergency management. They provided generators at
signalized large intersections, so that we should see signals, assuming
they remain in place, should see signals at many of the very large
intersections.
However, those intersections that we can't signalize, they will be
directed personally by members of the agency and/or other elements
of law enforcement or potentially the National Guard.
Page 27
October 22, 2005
I'd ask for people to be very mindful of that, to watch and be very
careful at those intersections. They will not be lit, most likely, so
therefore we will have reflector signs in place, asking people to obey
the traffic laws there. So be mindful that we will have people on the
roadway, and we're trying to make that as safe as possible. And give
us some latitude. Think safety, slow down, watch for the debris,
watch for the hazards, and we won't have to adjust those times then to
sunset. We'll be able to work with the public a little better. But be
mindful of people on the roadway.
And again, thanks to emergency management for their good work
pre-storm.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Thank you very much. Now you may
retire.
SHERIFF HUNTER: Thank you.
MR. MUDD: Mr. Chairman?
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay, County Manager.
MR. MUDD: Again, I made mention that our recommendation is
-- and the reason for this is to give staff and the EOC time on Monday
afternoon to take a look at the damage assessment to the community
and try to gather that with all the different phone calls to come up with
some kind of report for this board.
So my recommendation is that Tuesday at 8:00 a.m., that this
board reconvene again and we talk about post-storm actions and what
this community looks like, and you get an idea of the actions that are
transpiring right now to get us back to normal. Because that's the key
after the storm is to get this community back to where it was prior to
the storm being here, so that people can get their lives back together
agaIn.
The next item--
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Sheriff, I --
MR. MUDD: I think the Sheriff has come out of retirement.
SHERIFF HUNTER: Yes, I'm back.
Page 28
October 22, 2005
CHAIRMAN COYLE: He's back.
SHERIFF HUNTER: I just wanted to make an announce amount
real quick. We do have a representative from Marco Island Police
Department here in the room. They have just received word that
they're going with the curfew as well.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Good.
SHERIFF HUNTER: And so that would secure the entire
jurisdiction. All jurisdictions are represented.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Thank you very much.
MR. MUDD: Commissioner, I also make the recommendation
that county government offices be closed on Monday. And then we'll
ascertain what our situation is for Tuesday. But for now, on Monday.
I had conversations with superintendent of schools, Mr. Ray Baker,
this morning, about 10 minutes before this meeting, and I told them
that was my recommendation to this board. He meets with his board
later today, and he basically said that at this time he'd like to make the
announcement that schools will be closed on Monday also.
The -- with county government being closed on Monday again,
remember, the storm, we start getting winds Sunday night at around
11 :00, it makes landfall around 6:00 in the morning. And if this
model run and latest prediction holds true, the storm force winds will
have left us by about 1 :00 or 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon on Monday.
There's no garbage collection on Monday. Believe me, there's no
garbage collection on Monday, based on that model run.
I would also like to reschedule the Board of County
Commissioner meeting for Wednesday on the 26th of October. I've
already worked times with Ms. Sue Filson, your Executive Director in
your offices, to make sure that she freed up Wednesday and Thursday
morning, just in case this would happen. She has done so and had that
flexibility put into your schedule. So I'd like to make the
recommendation that the board meeting be on the 26th of October, on
Wednesday again. Tuesday morning, 8:00, if it looks like things
Page 29
October 22, 2005
really turn bad for us, we can take a look at that, too.
But to just let people -- get an idea that it won't be Tuesday
morning, it will be on Wednesday, based on what we see so far.
While I'm talking about the board meeting, I would -- there's an
item of particular concern on that item, and that's Item 9(A), agenda
item. And you have 24 candidates for one petition. You could
dialogue that particular item for four hours.
I would ask you, the day of the meeting, in the morning, if you
could provide me with the list of the top 10; number one candidate
number one, and you're tenth candidate number 10 so I could at least
get that together, show you as a board how you kind of voted, and
then that might be a catalyst to speed up that discussion on that
particular item.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Now, we should remember one thing,
and I would just like to mention this for the board's consideration, we
have one person that we will appoint ourselves. One person to the
board. And then we will recommend five to the Governor for
appointment. So there will really be six people that we will get to
choose on that day.
I would say one other thing, and that is that the control by the
two counties of that particular board is dependent upon who we
appoint. Who we appoint and who the Governor appoints. So we
must be very careful. But if you can nominate the top 10, we can
select perhaps the top nominee to be our appointment to the board and
then the next five ranked nominees could be the ones we recommend
to the Governor. So we could do both things at the same time with the
same process, all right?
COMMISSIONER HALAS: And number one is number one.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Number one, yes, that's it.
Thank you very much. Go ahead.
MR. MUDD: Commissioner, and the last item that I would like
to talk about -- well, there's two more items, but I'm going to help
Page 30
October 22, 2005
Band Aid Dan a little bit.
The last item is it gets down -- because for the folks out there in
the national audience, you have to understand, Florida operates in the
Sunshine. The board members do not talk to each other about
business outside of this board room. You know, they can ask about
family members, how they're doing, what their health is, but they don't
talk about business.
So it's very important for us to get some things laid out here, and
it has everything to do with press conferences, when we get closer to
the storm and after the storm. And I need to have the board help me in
this particular one, because we need to talk about who the spokesman
for the county is going to be from this board through -- and how you
want to try to work that through Mr. John Torre, who is our customer
and basically runs our interaction communication with the community.
And I need to make sure that we've got that particular item down pat.
So I need to know how the board wants to work in that particular
environment.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Commissioner Henning?
COMMISSIONER HENNING: It's my understanding that the
Chair is the spokesperson of the Board of Commissioners, and when
not available the vice chair and so on, so forth. And I hope that we
can carry that out.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, I'll just second that.
Absolutely.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Okay, it's -- can we do this just with a
nod?
MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. So far I haven't seen anybody tell me no
to any of the things that I've talked about today, so that's the last item I
have as far as the administrative side is concerned.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Well, just as guidance, I would like to
make sure that John Torre does coordinate this, that we try to schedule
Page 3 1
October 22, 2005
these things at appropriate times so the media knows when we have
some new information and we have something important to say to the
public. And so we need to have a schedule set up with respect to __
COMMISSIONER HALAS: Briefing.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: -- briefings for the news media.
Commissioner Henning again?
COMMISSIONER HENNING: The -- one thing on this storm
that is not normal of other events that we have seen, this storm has not
been predictable. And I think it's important, if we can, with the
assistance of the county attorney, to give some latitude for our staff to
make real-time decisions, in the event that he has to, with the help
again of the Chair. And if that chair's not available, the vice chair.
And I think that if we can, David, we need to do that -- this formally.
MR. WEIGEL: Well, in regard to latitude of staff, the
emergency services county manager and all the other department's
divisions of the county manager, they have a lot of latitude right now,
of course under the directive of the county manager who's responsible
to you.
And to the extent that you give further endorsement right now, I
don't believe that it's necessary for you to have a formal motion in that
regard.
To the extent that they may take an action that is necessary or
appropriate, let's say, to bring back to the board for ratification, where
they have had to exercise judgment in the field, our emergency
ordinance provides for just that kind of capability and the ratification
or subsequent endorsement by the manager. And obviously he reports
back to you, as he's doing with these special meetings, every element
of importance, he gives both the manager and you the opportunity to
come on to the record post-decision or post-event.
If you wish to either by consensus or make a motion indicating
that you authorize the County Manager and his staff, which includes
Dan Summers and his staff, to take all actions that are necessary and
Page 32
October 22, 2005
appropriate in their judgment and that are lawful, that's fine. It's really
a reaffirmation of the authority he already has.
COMMISSIONER HENNING: Okay. Just a clarification.
Yesterday -- or I'm sorry, when we convened under this emergency
prior, we authorized up to $50,000. But in the Proclamation and
Resolution, appropriation in expenditures of public funds for this
event. So we're really not limiting it, we just open up a PO to start
with?
MR. WEIGEL: Well, there are two parts of that proclamation
resolution. One is there was the estimation of $50,000, as necessary.
But it also provides kind of a blanket ability for purchasing and other
departments under the county manager to just open various accounts
and go beyond limits, pre-set limits, on certain charge cards and things
of that nature, based upon the needs that they have.
The $50,000, though, is still the fiscal element that was brought
to the board as appropriate at that point in time. Of course it can be
modified at any point in time as well.
MR. MUDD: Mr. DeLony, for instance, is going to -- if we get
hit real hard and he has to do debris removal, I mean, his bills are
going to be well over a million dollars. It could be well over ten,
depending on the magnitude.
I would not wait to tell Mr. DeLony to make sure that those folks
are clearing and moving that debris and getting that stuff out of the
county. And we'd start doing that. And that's part of having our
meeting on Tuesday at 8:00, so you have an idea of the breadth and
depth of exactly what the situation is in Collier County as far as
recovery is concerned.
COMMISSIONER HENNING: Mr. Chairman, can we just
affinn, the board affinn, that we are authorizing County Manager and
his staff to take care of this county in health, safety and welfare and
what's the best interest of the county under this event?
CHAIRMAN COYLE: I think you've got three nods here, right?
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~,.._.-.
October 22, 2005
Okay. Okay.
MR. MUDD: Yes, sir. And the last piece that I -- now, we
talked about county government being closed on Monday. Schools
being closed on Monday. No garbage on Monday. The BCC meeting
moved till Wednesday, the 26th of October. We even talked about
Item 9(A), the list of the top 10. We talked about the county
spokesman from the Board of County Commissioners and got that
resolved. We got the curfew issue also done.
We also want to make sure that we talk to the folks out there.
And Sheriff Hunter talked about if you have a traffic signal that's out,
you don't -- and you have signs that are posted, if they're not there and
you get to an intersection, you have to treat it like a four-way stop.
Just because you don't have a light there doesn't mean you go through
it. You stop, okay? And the Sheriff is going to be busy trying to make
sure that we recover from the storm and during the storm. It isn't time
to be going out there and taking a traffic ticket and doing the results of
an accident, okay? That's just a diversion. Be patient. Treat them all
like four-way stops.
The other issue that I think Mr. Summers is going to discuss is
reentry. Okay, we're all going to try to figure out what the damage is,
what roads are open, which ones we got open. We plan to give you
that presentation, and so I don't believe that there should be a mass __
if it misses us and everything's back to -- it's wonderful. People out
there need to pay attention to the national news and the national news
media, okay? The worst thing that could happy to Collier County is
you can't get in, but the roads are just as congested trying to get back
here as it was trying to get back out again, and then you get yourself
into another element of issues.
And so Dan, you want to talk about that a little bit, please?
MR. SUMMERS: Yes, sir, I do, I'd like to talk about that. And I
need a placeholder here also for Dr. Lee from the City of Naples to
make a brief comment afterwards.
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",~--_.,.
October 22, 2005
The reentry process, again, it will be arm-in-arm with the law
enforcement. First of all, there will be a preliminary damage
assessment. That may be done by aircraft, if necessary. The second
will be on-the-ground assessment. There will be a parallel effort there
with assessing roadways and access. And of course utility restoration.
At that point we could actually do a couple of things as we
review that situation with law enforcement and our municipal partners.
And we'll make some recommendation on the national news.
We may even stagger the reentry, again, depending on the impact
of that. And we'll make some general recommendations for people to
come. Then we will address the traffic issues, the -- and any particular
areas that need tighter perimeter security, the law enforcement will
deal with that.
Most importantly is, to restate your concern there, is that remind
folks, don't be in too big a haste. I know the three-day evacuation has
now become a five-day evacuation, so you're going to have to be real
nice to those relatives you're staying with for a few days and stay a
few days longer. But we will get that information out to you, and be
ready to gradually open situations back up for everybody, reentry and
restore. We'll monitor that very carefully.
We'll have one very distinct advantage after Wilma passes is
much cooler temperatures. So our reentry process will not be quite as
fatiguing, because we won't be in a high heat, high humidity situation.
So I think we're in -- we will monitor -- the EOC will carry you all the
way through preparedness, response, and in some fashion we'll
continue to remain -- well, obviously all the way through reentry,
cleanup. And even as we look at mitigation factors, this EOC's team
will not stop until-- and probably the effort won't stop. It will stop
around the clock at some point. But that effort will not stop. So we're
your full service shop for coordinating that from beginning to end.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: It's hardly stopped all summer.
MR. SUMMERS: Thank you for noticing that, sir. I'm getting a
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October 22, 2005
little greyer faster than intended.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: That explains. I was 29 years old when I
took office four years ago.
MR. SUMMERS: And I was 18 when I started.
DR. LEE: I'm still 18.
Chairman Coyle and other esteemed members of the County
Commission, I just wanted to take a moment and take advantage of the
press as a result of the County Manager's decision and request to you
to close County offices, that the City of Naples offices will also be
closed on Monday.
Also, I'd like to make a quick point to acknowledge the
relationship that we've had with Collier County and the outstanding
job that we've seen in terms of coordinating this pre-storm effort.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Thank you, Dr. Lee.
MR. MUDD: For the record, that was Dr. Robert Lee. He's the
City Manager for the City of Naples.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: And have we wrapped up the staffs
presentation?
Congressman Mack, did you have anything that you wanted to
say? Again, we'd like to thank you for your presence and your interest
and your willingness to help us, and make sure we get all the federal
assets we can get.
CONGRESSMAN MACK: I'd like to, for the record, say I'm
very impressed with how the EOC has been working and how you all
have been working to make sure that our community is safe, before
and after the hurricane. So thank you.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: Thank you very much, sir.
Okay, are we finished here?
MR. MUDD: Yes, sir, that completes it.
CHAIRMAN COYLE: We're going to recess until 8:00 a.m.
Tuesday morning. Right?
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October 22, 2005
*****
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 10:08 a.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL
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FRED COYLE, Chairman
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These minute~pproved by the Board on NDV lm ~r d4, ¿[)r£) , as
presented ~ or as corrected .
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT
REPORTING SERVICE, INC. BY CHERIE' NOTTINGHAM.
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