BCC Minutes 05/14/2019 RMay 14, 2019
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TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, May 14, 2019
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
REGULAR SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex,
East Naples, Florida, with the following members present:
CHAIRMAN: William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Burt L. Saunders
Donna Fiala
Andy Solis
Penny Taylor
ALSO PRESENT:
Leo Ochs, County Manager
Nick Casalanguida, Deputy County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Crystal K. Kinzel, Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller
Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations
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May 14, 2019
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Community Redevelopment Agency Board (CRAB)
Airport Authority
AGENDA
Board of County Commission Chambers
Collier County Government Center
3299 Tamiami Trail East, 3rd Floor
Naples, FL 34112
May 14, 2019
9:00 AM
Commissioner William L. McDaniel, Jr., District 5 - Chair; CRAB Co-Chair
Commissioner Burt Saunders, District 3 – Vice-Chair
Commissioner Donna Fiala, District 1; CRAB Co-Chair
Commissioner Andy Solis, District 2
Commissioner Penny Taylor, District 4
NOTICE: ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON AGENDA ITEMS MUST
REGISTER PRIOR TO PRESENTATION OF THE AGENDA ITEM TO BE
ADDRESSED. ALL REGISTERED SPEAKERS WILL RECEIVE UP TO THREE
(3) MINUTES UNLESS THE TIME IS ADJUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN.
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.”
PUBLIC PETITIONS ARE LIMITED TO THE PRESENTER, WITH A
MAXIMUM TIME OF TEN MINUTES.
ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD
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May 14, 2019
WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDING 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.
COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 2003-53 AS AMENDED BY
ORDINANCE 2004-05 AND 2007-24, 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.
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, THE PROVISION OF CERTAIN
ASSISTANCE. PLEASE CONTACT THE COLLIER COUNTY FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT DIVISION LOCATED AT 3335 EAST TAMIAMI TRAIL,
SUITE 1, NAPLES, FLORIDA, 34112-5356, (239) 252-8380; ASSISTED
LISTENING DEVICES FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED ARE AVAILABLE IN
THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIVISION.
LUNCH RECESS SCHEDULED FOR 12:00 NOON TO 1:00 P.M.
1. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
A. Pastor Eric R. Hausler of Christ the King Presbyterian Church and Chaplain,
Naples Jail.
Invocation given
2. AGENDA AND MINUTES
A. Approval of today's regular, consent and summary agenda as amended (ex
parte disclosure provided by commission members for consent agenda.)
Approved and/or Adopted w/changes – 5/0; (Commissioner Solis
abstained from voting on Item #16A13 and Commissioner Taylor
requested to continue Item #10B to the second BCC Meeting in June)
B. April 9, 2019 – BCC Meeting Minutes
Approved as presented
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May 14, 2019
Continued to the May 28, 2019 BCC Meeting (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
C. April 23, 2019 – BCC Meeting Minutes
Added
D. Recognizing Madeline Sugarbaker as Artist of the Month
3. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
A. EMPLOYEE
B. ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
C. RETIREES
D. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
1) Presentation of the April 2019 Employee of the Month, David Streit,
Senior Instrumentation/Electrical Technician, Public Utilities
Department.
Presented
4. PROCLAMATIONS (One Motion Taken to Adopt All Proclamations)
A. Proclamation designating May 2019 as National Bike Month in Collier
County. To be accepted by Michelle Avola, Executive Director, Naples
Pathways Coalition and Eileen Connolly-Keesler, President/CEO,
Community Foundation of Collier County.
Adopted – 5/0
B. Proclamation designating May 2019 as National Drug Court Month in
Collier County. To be accepted by The Honorable Janeice Martin, Presiding
Judge of the Collier County Drug Court, and participants of the Drug Court
team.
Adopted – 5/0
C. Proclamation designating May 19 - May 25, 2019 as Emergency Medical
Services Week in Collier County. To be accepted by Tabatha Butcher,
Chief, Collier County Emergency Medical Services and members of the
EMS team.
Adopted – 5/0
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D. Proclamation designating May 2019 as Internal Audit Awareness Month in
Collier County. To be accepted by representatives of the Office of the Clerk
of the Circuit Court & Comptroller of Collier County - Robin Sheley and
Gabriela Molina.
Adopted – 5/0
E. Proclamation designating May 2019 as Foster Care Month in Collier
County. To be accepted by Nadereh Salim, representing the Children's
Network of Southwest Florida; Katie Vella, representing Camelot
Community Care; Ann Hughes and Vanessa Estrada representing Friends of
Foster Children Forever; and Laura Lafakis, Kim Weisberg and Lillian
Mendez representing Youth Haven.
Adopted – 5/0
5. PRESENTATIONS
A. Presentation of the Collier County Business of the Month for May 2019 to
Naples Transportation & Tours. To be accepted by Randy Smith, CEO and
Tamir Rankow, COO. Also present is Bethany Sawyer representing the
Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce.
Presented
B. Presentation on water quality issues facing Southwest Florida from the
perspectives of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and the Seminole Tribe of
Florida. To be presented by Truman (Gene) Duncan, Jr. representing the
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and Amos Tiger representing the Seminole
Tribe of Florida. (Commissioner Taylor’s request)
Presented
C. Presentation by Dr. Lisa Krimsky - UF/IFAS Regional Specialized Agent -
Water Resources, on current research into Blue Green Algae and Red Tide.
Joining Dr. Krimsky is Dr. Kelly Morgan, Director, UF/IFAS - Southwest
Florida Research & Education Center. (Commissioner McDaniel’s request)
Presented
6. PUBLIC PETITIONS
7. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE CURRENT
OR FUTURE AGENDA
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A. Garrett Beyrent – 2nd Annual Pickle Ball Awards
8. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
9. ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARINGS
A. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance amending Ordinance Number
04-41, as amended, the Collier County Land Development Code, which
includes the comprehensive land regulations for the unincorporated area of
Collier County, Florida, to allow communications towers as a conditional
use in the Rural Fringe Mixed Use Sending Lands and Conservation District;
by providing for: Section One, Recitals; Section Two, Findings of Fact;
Section Three, Adoption of Amendments to the Land Development Code,
more specifically amending the following: Chapter Two - Zoning Districts
and Uses, including Section 2.01.03 Essential Services and Section 2.03.08
Rural Fringe Zoning Districts, and Section 2.03.09 Open Space District;
Section Four, Conflict and Severability; Section Five, inclusion in the
Collier County Land Development Code; and Section Six, Effective Date.
Approved – 5/0 (1st Reading)
B. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance amending Ordinance Number
04-41, as amended, the Collier County Land Development Code, which
includes the comprehensive land regulations for the unincorporated area of
Collier County, Florida, to create the Plantation Island Overlay which will
allow single-family detached dwelling units as permitted uses in addition to
the uses permitted by the underlying zoning district; by providing for:
Section One, Recitals; Section two, Findings of Fact; Section Three,
Adoption of Amendments to the Land Development Code, more specifically
amending the following: Chapter Two - Zoning Districts and Uses, including
Section 2.03.07 Overlay Zoning Districts; Section Four Conflict and
Severability; Section Five, inclusion in the Collier County Land
Development Code; and Section Six, Effective Date.
Approved – 5/0 (1st Reading)
C. This item to be heard at 10:00 a.m. Recommendation to approve proposed
amendments to the Immokalee Area Master Plan (IAMP) for transmittal to
the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) and other agencies
for review and objections, recommendations and comments (ORC) response.
[Transmittal Hearing]
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Resolution 2019-87 Adopted – 5/0
10. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A. Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners review and
approve the proposed two-year extension to the Employment Agreement for
Mark Strain, Hearing Examiner.
Motion to approve contract extension – Approved 4/1 (Commissioner
Solis opposed); Hearing Examiner Strain to submit a report in
September
Continued to the second BCC Meeting in June per Commissioner Taylor (During
Agenda Changes)
B. Recommendation to approve a Resolution of the City of Everglades City,
Florida, declaring support for the renaming of the Chokoloskee Bridge to the
"John Joseph Brown Memorial Bridge"; and providing for an effective date.
(Commissioner McDaniel)
11. COUNTY MANAGER'S REPORT
A. Recommendation to authorize budget amendments in the amount of
$9,003,200 to fund the I-75/Collier Boulevard Utility Relocation Project,
Project Number 70229. (Tom Chmelik, Engineering and Project
Management Division Director, Public Utilities Department)
Approved – 5/0
B. This item has been continued from the April 23, 2019 BCC Meeting.
Recommendation to advertise a public hearing to consider the adoption of a
new ordinance to be called the Pollution Control and Prevention Ordinance,
repealing and replacing Ordinance No. 87-79, regarding the Transportation
and Disposal of Sludge and repealing Resolution No. 88-311 regarding fees
for sludge transportation and disposal permits. (Danette Kinaszczuk,
Pollution Control Manager, Capital Project Planning, Impact Fees, and
Program Management Division)
Approved – 5/0
C. Recommendation to accept the Randall Boulevard and Oil Well Road
Corridor Study and direct staff to pursue the Alternative 2 (Project No.
60065). (Lorraine Lantz, Project Manager, Capital Project Planning, Impact
Fees and Program Management Division)
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Motion to accept report and Alternative 2+ - Approved 5/0
D. Recommendation to direct staff to advertise, and bring back for a public
hearing, an Ordinance amending the Land Development Code relating to
commercial landscaping standards, at the June 25, 2019, Board meeting.
(Jeremy Frantz, AICP, LDC Manager, Zoning Division)
Motion to reject staff’s recommendation – Approved 3/2 (Commissioner
Fiala and Commissioner Taylor opposed)
E. This item to be heard no sooner than 1:00 PM. Recommendation to direct
the County Attorney to advertise and bring back for a public hearing an
ordinance to be known as “The Collier County Property Assessed Clean
Energy (PACE) Consumer Protection Ordinance.” (James French, Deputy
Department Head, GMD)
Motion to continue to the second meeting in June – Approved 4/1
(Commissioner Taylor opposed); Motion to reconsider vote – Approved
5/0; Motion to continue to the first meeting in June – Approved 4/1
(Commissioner Taylor opposed); Motion to bring back an agenda item
at next meeting (May 28th) to discuss the continuation of the residential
portion of the PACE Program – Approved 4/1 (Commissioner
McDaniel opposed)
F. This item to be heard at 10:45 A.M. Recommendation to accept the after-
action report for the 2019 Florida legislative session and provide guidance as
preliminary planning begins for the next legislative session. (John Mullins,
Government Affairs Manager)
Motion to accept the after action report – Approved 5/0
12. COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
13. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
14. AIRPORT AUTHORITY AND/OR COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AGENCY
A. AIRPORT
1) Recommendation to approve an agreement pertaining to the award of
Invitation to Bid No. 18-7366 – Marco Airport Apron & Associated
Safety Improvements to Quality Enterprises USA, Inc., in the amount
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of $3,689,425 and authorize the Chairman to execute the attached
construction agreement.
Approved - 4/0 (Commissioner Saunders absent)
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
15. STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
A. Proposed Future Workshop Schedule
B. Mr. Ochs - Facilities Workshop on June 4, 2019
C. Commissioner Solis – Productivity Committee to review the duties of
the Hearing Examiner and Contract – Consensus
D. Commissioner Taylor – Redesign of the website for Economic
Development
E. Commissioner Taylor – Dr. Peterson will give an update on Sea Level
Rise at the May 28th meeting
F. Commissioner McDaniel – District 5 Town hall had 119 constituents
G. Commissioner McDaniel – Adjourned - Consensus
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16. CONSENT AGENDA - All matters listed under this item are considered to be
routine and action will be taken by one motion without separate discussion of
each item. If discussion is desired by a member of the Board, that item(s) will
be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered separately.
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Approved and/or Adopted w/changes – (Commissioner Solis abstained from voting
on Item #16A13)
A. GROWTH MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to award a Work Order to Bonness, Inc., for
construction of the “Airport Road and Davis Boulevard (Phase1) -
Southbound Right Turn Lane” project in the amount of $749,821.61
(Project #60148).
2) Recommendation to provide after-the-fact approval for the submittal
of a RESTORE Spill Impact Component (Pot 3) grant application to
the Gulf Consortium for hydrologic, vegetative and water quality
monitoring as part of the Collier County Comprehensive Watershed
Improvement Plan in the amount of $725,760.
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There is no match required
3) Recommendation to (1) adopt a Resolution of the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, establishing a voluntary
program encouraging the periodic inspection and maintenance of
privately-owned bridges, and to allow owners of privately-owned
bridges which connect two public roadways to convey ownership and
ongoing structural maintenance of such bridges to the County, and (2)
direct County staff to develop standards for the bridge inspection
report, to be approved by the Board, as well as develop an
administrative procedure to govern the Program.
Resolution 2019-76
4) Recommendation to recognize and appropriate revenue to
Transportation Capital Fund (310), Hurricane Irma Project (No.
50154), in the amount of $530,000 for Fiscal Year 2019 and authorize
all necessary Budget Amendments.
Recovery efforts are ongoing, and recognition of insurance
revenue is required to continue to fund the project
5) Recommendation to approve an agreement awarding Invitation to Bid
No. 19-7514 “Golden Gate Sidewalks at Various Locations,” to
Coastal Concrete Products, LLC d/b/a Coastal Site Development in
the amount of $211,210.90; acknowledge a time extension to a Local
Agency Program Agreement with the Florida Department of
Transportation for construction of Golden Gate Sidewalks at Various
Locations (FPN #434990-58-01, Project No. 33491); and to authorize
the Chairman to execute the attached Agreement.
For sidewalk improvements in Golden Gate on 51st Street SW
from 20th Place SW to 20th Court SW, 20th Court SW from
Hunter Boulevard to 50th Terrace SW and 51st Terrace SW from
20th Court SW to 22nd Avenue SW
6) Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a
Performance Bond in the amount of $25,000 which was posted as a
guaranty for Excavation Permit Number 60.152, PL20170000507 for
work associated with Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church.
7) Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a
Performance Bond in the amount of $18,231.58 which was posted as a
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guaranty for Excavation Permit Number 60.119, PL20140001253 and
PL20150000921 for work associated with Parklands Plat One.
8) Recommendation to approve final acceptance and the conveyance of
the potable water and sewer utility facilities for Audubon Country
Club Unit 3, PL20170002481 and to authorize the County Manager,
or his designee, to release the Final Obligation Bond in the total
amount of $4,000 to the Project Engineer or the Developer’s
designated agent.
A final inspection to discover defects was conducted by the
Development Review staff March 25, 2019, in coordination with
Public Utilities, and the facilities were found to be acceptable
9) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the sewer utility
facilities for Premier Classic Cars, PL20190000544.
A final inspection to discover defects was conducted by the
Development Review staff March 25, 2019, in coordination with
Public Utilities, and the facilities were found to be acceptable
10) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the sewer utility
facilities for 2669 Davis, PL20190000607.
A final inspection to discover defects was conducted by the
Development Review staff April 1, 2019, in coordination with
Public Utilities, and the facilities were found to be acceptable
11) Recommendation to approve final acceptance and the conveyance of
the potable water and sewer utility facilities for Chatham Woods,
PL20170003738 and to authorize the County Manager, or his
designee, to release the Final Obligation Bond in the amount of
$4,000 to the Project Engineer or the Developer’s designated agent.
A final inspection to discover defects was conducted by the
Development Review staff April 4, 2019, in coordination with
Public Utilities, and the facilities were found to be acceptable
12) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water and
sewer facilities for Pine Ridge (Angileri) Self Storage,
PL20180000157, accept the conveyance of a portion of the potable
water and sewer facilities, and to authorize the County Manager, or
his designee, to release the Utilities Performance Security (UPS) and
Final Obligation Bond in the total amount of $10,478.55 to the Project
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Engineer or the Developer’s designated agent.
A final inspection to discover defects was conducted by the
Development Review staff on April 4, 2019, in coordination with
Public Utilities, and the facilities were found to be acceptable
Commissioner Solis abstained from voting (During Agenda Changes)
13) Recommendation to approve a Resolution for final acceptance of the
private roadway and drainage improvements for the final plat of
Raffia Preserve Phase 2, Application Number PL20130002569, and
authorize the release of the maintenance security.
Resolution 2019-77
14) This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the minor final plat of Esplanade at Hacienda
Lakes Phase 4, Lots 343-347, Application Number PL20190000182.
15) Recommendation to approve and execute a Local Agency Program
Agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation in which
Collier County would be reimbursed up to $63,740 for the design of
bike lane improvements along 111th Avenue North from the Bluebill
Avenue to 7th Street North and to authorize the necessary budget
amendment (Project #33620), FPN 441846-1-38-01.
Resolution 2019-78
16) Recommendation to approve and execute a State Funded Grant
Agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation in which
Collier County would be reimbursed up to $175,000 for the design of
the bike and sidewalk improvements on Lake Trafford Road from
Little League Road to Laurel Street, and to authorize the necessary
budget amendment (Project #33621), FPN 443375-1-34-01 and FPN
443375-2-34- 01.
Resolution 2019-79
17) Recommendation to approve and execute a Local Agency Program
Agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation in which
Collier County would be reimbursed up to $54,738 for the design of
the sidewalk improvements along Carson Road from Westclox Drive
to Carson Lakes Circle and to authorize the necessary budget
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amendment (Project #33622), FPN 441480-138-01.
Resolution 2019-80
18) Recommendation to award an Agreement for Invitation to Bid
#19- 7519 the “Vanderbilt Beach Road (CR 862) Bike Lanes” project
to Quality Enterprises USA, Inc., in the amount of $410,337.30; and
acknowledge a time extension to a Local Agency Program Agr eement
with the Florida Department of Transportation for construction of
Vanderbilt Beach Road (CR 862) Bike Lanes (FPN #435118-58-01,
Project No. 33503).
19) Recommendation to direct the County Attorney to advertise and bring
back an Ordinance amending the Function, Powers and Duties of the
Coastal Advisory Committee to provide Coastal Water Quality
coordination, education, oversight and outreach for all of Collier
County including the City of Naples, the City of Marco Island and
Everglades City and make a finding that this item promotes tourism.
20) Recommendation to approve Change Order Number Two (2) to
Agreement No. 18-7276 “Immokalee Road (Collier Boulevard to
Wilson Boulevard) Landscape and Irrigation Installation” (Project No.
60208.1) adding 120 days, and approving a $1,643.70 project
increase.
21) Recommendation to approve an agreement pertaining to the award of
Invitation to Bid #19-7501 “49th Terrace SW Sidewalk Improvement
Project,” to Coastal Concrete Products, LLC d/b/a Coastal Site
Development in the amount of $159,988; and to acknowledge a time
extension to a Local Agency Program Agreement with the Florida
Department of Transportation for construction of 49th Terrace SW
Sidewalk Improvement Project (FPN #435119-58-01, Project No.
33507); approve the expenditure and the attached budget amendment;
and authorize the Chairman to execute the attached construction
agreement.
As detailed in the Executive Summary
22) Recommendation to award Request for Quotes RFQ No. 14-6213-129
to Douglas N. Higgins, Inc. for maintenance work on the Gordon
River water control structure in the amount of $415,000, authorize the
issuance of a numbered work order/purchase order and approve all
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required budget amendments.
Located on the south side of Golden Gate Parkway approximately
one-half mile east of the intersection of Golden Gate Parkway and
Goodlette Road, just west of the Bears Paw development
23) Recommendation to award an Agreement for Invitation to Bid
#19-7541 “Installation & Maintenance of Traffic Signals and
Roadway Lighting,” to Southern Signal & Lighting, Inc.
To obtain routine and emergency traffic signal installation,
maintenance, repair work and roadway lighting installation and
maintenance to use on an as needed basis
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
1) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners, acting as
the Community Redevelopment Agency Board, approve an Access
Easement over property owned by the Community Redevelopment
Agency in the Gateway Triangle Mixed Use District Overlay.
To grant access over a CRA owned parcel to a privately owned
parcel so both parcels have shared access to the north side of
Tamiami Trail East (US 41)
2) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners, acting as
the Community Redevelopment Agency Board, approve a Second
Lease Modification for the Bayshore Gateway Triangle CRA office
with 3750 Bayshore Drive, LLC and authorize the Chairman to sign .
To secure an extension of short-term office space for the Bayshore
Gateway Triangle CRA (BGTCRA) until the CRA can be moved
onto Government Center campus
3) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners acting as
the Community Redevelopment Agency Board (CRAB) approve a
one-year extension of the project completion date set forth in the
Commercial Building Improvement Grant Agreement between the
CRA and Davis Community Dental Health, LLC due to certain
permitting delays.
Extending the agreement from June 12, 2019 to June 12, 2020
C. PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to authorize budget amendments in the Solid Waste
Capital Fund (474), Water Capital Fund (412), Sewer Capital Fund
(414) and General Fund (001) to recognize revenue received related to
Hurricane Irma and to use those revenues to repay loans and fund
deferred capital projects. (Joseph Bellone, Financial Operations
Support Director, Public Utilities Department)
To utilize revenue received by Solid Waste Capital Fund to pay
back loans to the General Fund and Collier County Water-Sewer
District (CCWSD) and enable CCWSD to re-appropriate
deferred capital projects
2) Recommendation to advertise a Resolution amending Appendix A
Schedule 1 to eliminate Fire Assembly Base Charges effective March
12, 2019, and to increase potable water base charges across the user
base pursuant to the Board's direction to staff to implement Option 2
as discussed at the March 12, 2019 Meeting, Agenda Item #11C.
Resolution 2019-81 — Issued but not used
3) Recommendation to approve Cityworks® License and Maintenance
Agreement, Amended and Restated Agreement No. 13-6064
(#C156213), with Azteca Systems, LLC for an additional $19,500 per
year to enable new software capabilities and remove the existing
software escrow agreement in place.
As detailed in the Executive Summary
4) Recommendation to approve an Agreement for Invitation to Bid No.
19-7545, Orange Tree Wastewater Plant Miscellaneous Metals
Improvements, with contractor Atlantic Concrete & Mechanical, Inc.,
in the amount of$284,201.50, for Project 70239, and authorize the
necessary budget amendments.
To install necessary handrails, platform metals, and access point
improvements at the Orange Tree Wastewater Treatment Plant in
order to remain in safety compliance
5) Recommendation to approve a Right-of-Way Consent Agreement and
associated Memorandum with Florida Power & Light Company,
providing for construction of a transmission water main on property
located east of Collier Boulevard within Florida Power & Light
Company's power-line right-of-way.
As detailed in the Executive Summary
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D. PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to approve one (1) satisfaction of mortgage for the
State Housing Initiatives Partnership Loan Program in the amount of
$2,500.
For property at 5242 Texas Avenue, Naples, FL 34113
2) Recommendation to authorize a Budget Amendment recognizing
$66,016.65 of State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program Income
for Program Year 2018/2019.
Earned from January 1 through March 31, 2019 and comprised
of program income received from interest and loan repayments
3) Recommendation to approve “after-the-fact” amendments and
associated attestation statements between the Area Agency on Aging
for Southwest Florida, Inc. and Collier County Services for Seniors
for the Community Care for the Elderly and Alzheimer’s Disease
Initiative grant programs and authorize the Budget Amendments to
increase funding and the co-payment goal for the Alzheimer Disease
Initiative Grant Program. (Net Fiscal Impact: $68,932.35)
Required to recognize grant revenue in the amount of $3,133
(CCE), $63,970.02 (ADI), and $1,481.22 (ADI Co-pays)
4) Recommendation to increase the annual amount of Agreement No.
18-7380, Golden Gate Beautification Municipal Service Taxing Unit
Grounds Maintenance, to Green Effex LLC. to $250,000.
To annually provide the required level of service, refurbishment,
and maintenance to the Golden Gate Beautification MSTU
5) Recommendation to award an Agreement for Request for Proposal
#18-7266, Collier Area Transit Mobile Ticketing, Trip Planning, and
On-Board Wi-Fi, to Masabi, LLC in the amount of $614,312.71.
To enhance technology to attract ridership for the Transit System
6) Recommendation to award an agreement to G.A. Food Service of
Pinellas County, Inc. d/b/a G.A. Food Service, Inc., for Invitation to
Bid #19-7500 for the Senior Food Program.
An initial three (3) year contract, with the option of two (2)
additional one (1) year renewals
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E. ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Withdrawn (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
1) Recommendation to authorize expenditures in excess of $50,000
annually to Dan Callaghan Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Callaghan Tire as
the single source for tire services, replacements, and related parts.
2) Recommendation to award ITB No. 19-7564 Data and
Telecommunications Wiring Services to Aztek Communications of
South Florida, Inc.
For three (3) years and two (2) one (1) year renewal options with
prices for the initial term of the agreement in an amount not-to-
exceed $250,000 each fiscal year
3) Recommendation to approve Amendment No. 14 to the Agreement
with Collier County District School Board for the Driver Education
Program.
To supplement driver education for public and private high
school students
4) Recommendation to approve the administrative report prepared by the
Procurement Services Division for disposal of property and
notification of revenue disbursement.
For on-line sales in the amount of $439.50 for surplus equipment
5) Recommendation to approve the Administrative Reports prepared by
the Procurement Services Division for change orders and other
contractual modifications requiring Board approval.
F. COUNTY MANAGER OPERATIONS
1) Recommendation to award RFP No. 19-7509 “Collier County Arts &
Culture Strategic Plan” and approve the Professional Services
Agreement with The Cultural Planning Group, LLC and make a
finding that this item promotes tourism.
As detailed in the Executive Summary
2) Recommendation to approve the Sponsorship Agreement between
Collier County and UWP, LLC d/b/a Pro Watercross Championship
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May 14, 2019
for the 2019 and 2020 Pro Watercross Championships and make a
finding that the sponsorship expenditures promote tourism.
With a total fiscal impact of $246,050
3) Recommendation to adopt a resolution approving amendments
(appropriating grants, donations, contributions or insurance proceeds)
to the Fiscal Year 2018-19 Adopted Budget.
Resolution 2019-82
G. AIRPORT AUTHORITY
1) Recommendation to authorize budget amendments to recognize
revenue for fund center 192350, Everglades Airpark and fund center
192370, Marco Island Executive Airport, within Collier County
Airport Fund 495 in the amount of $49,000 and $350,000 respectively
and appropriate the funding to accommodate increased fuel purchases
and associated operating expenses over budgeted levels.
2) Recommendation to approve Amendment 2 to Contract #16-6561
“Design Services for Marco Executive Terminal” with Atkins North
America, Inc., in the amount of $318,814 for engineering services
during construction and authorize the Chairman to execute the
Amendment.
H. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
1) Proclamation designating May 2019 as Trauma Awareness Month in
Collier County. The proclamation will be mailed to the Regional
Advisory Committee on Trauma Services.
Adopted
2) Proclamation designating May 20 - 24, 2019 as Girl Scout Leadership
Week in Collier County. The proclamation will be mailed to the
offices of Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida, Inc.
Adopted
I. MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
J. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
Page 18
May 14, 2019
1) Recommendation to appoint Commissioner Solis and Commissioner
Taylor to the Collier County Canvassing Board for the 2020 Election
Cycle.
2) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners authorize
the County Attorney’s Office to participate and represent the Collier
County Canvassing Board during the 2020 Election Cycle .
3) Report to the Board regarding the investment of County funds as of
the quarter ended March 31, 2019.
4) Request that the Board approve and determine valid public purpose
for invoices payable and purchasing card transactions as of May 8,
2019.
5) To record in the minutes of the Board of County Commissioners, the
check number (or other payment method), amount, payee, and
purpose for which the referenced disbursements were drawn for the
periods between April 11, 2019 and May 1, 2019 pursuant to Florida
Statute 136.06.
K. COUNTY ATTORNEY
1) Recommendation to reappoint two members to the Water and
Wastewater Authority.
Resolution 2019-83: Re-appointing Patricia Sherry and Eloy
Ricardo to four-year terms expiring May 21, 2023
2) Recommendation to reappoint two members to the Animal Services
Advisory Board.
Resolution 2019-84: Re-appointing James Rich and James A.
Spartz to four-year terms expiring April 13, 2023
3) Recommendation to reappoint a member to the Educational Facilities
Authority.
Resolution 2019-85: Re-appointing Clay W. Cone to a five-year
term expiring March 23, 2024
4) Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment to settle
final compensation for the taking of Parcel 332RDUE, in the amount
Page 19
May 14, 2019
of $39,412, including statutory attorney fees and costs, and expert fees
and costs, in the lawsuit styled Collier County v. Priscilla Dias, et al,
Case No. 16-CA-1393, required for the Golden Gate Boulevard
Expansion Project No. 60145. (Fiscal Impact: $39,412)
5) Recommendation to authorize application for tax deeds for twenty-
eight (28) County-held tax certificates and the forwarding of a written
notice to proceed with tax deed applications to the Tax Collector.
As detailed in the Executive Summary
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17. SUMMARY AGENDA - This section is for advertised public hearings and
must meet the following criteria: 1) A recommendation for approval from
staff; 2) Unanimous recommendation for approval by the Collier County
Planning Commission or other authorizing agencies of all members present
and voting; 3) No written or oral objections to the item received by staff, the
Collier County Planning Commission, other authorizing agencies or the
Board, prior to the commencement of the BCC meeting on which the items
are scheduled to be heard; and 4) No individuals are registered to speak in
opposition to the item. For those items which are quasi-judicial in nature, all
participants must be sworn in.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adopted – 5/0
A. Recommendation to approve an Ordinance proposing amendment to the
Collier County Growth Management Plan, Ordinance 89-05, as amended,
specifically amending the Potable Water Sub element of the Public Facilities
Element to amend Policy 1.7 to reference the updated Ten-Year Water
Supply Facilities Work Plan, and furthermore directing transmittal of the
adoption amendment to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
(Adoption Hearing) (PL20180002552/CPSP- 2018-6)
Ordinance 2019-06
B. This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve Petition VAC-
PL20180003348, to disclaim, renounce and vacate the County and the public
interest in a portion of the 25-foot Drainage and Lake Maintenance
Easement located in the rear of Lot 15 of the Quarry Phase 1A, as recorded
in Plat Book 42, page 31 of the Public Records of Collier County, Florida,
May 14, 2019
Page 2
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, good morning. Sir, good
morning. Good morning, everybody.
I'm trying to get to my agenda here. There's an extra thing up
on -- I know what we're going to do first. We're going to have the
invocation and the pledge. I don't even have to read that.
If you would, please, sir.
Item #1A
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
PASTOR HAUSLER: I'm Pastor Hausler. I'm also the
Chaplain at the Collier County Jail.
Remind you what the Old Testament scriptures say about those
who rule in government. Open your mouth -- this is in the Book of
Proverbs. Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are
destitute. Open your mouth and judge righteously and defend the
rights of the poor and the needy.
Let's pray and ask God's blessing on this meeting.
Oh Lord, our God, we bow before you, the king of the heavens
and the Earth, and we pray with Thanksgiving for Collier County.
Thank you for this wonderful place of peace and prosperity. Thank
you for all who are public servants here, for the commissioners and
staff that are here today. Thank you for the judges in this county and
all who are in places of authority.
Thank you for the first responders and law enforcement officers
who place their lives in danger for us morning and noon and night;
that we might live in security and safety.
We pray for all of them. We pray you'd watch over them and
protect them and keep them safe, give them wisdom, Lord, and
May 14, 2019
Page 3
particularly today, for those who are in positions of authority, may
they rule without partiality. We pray that you would keep them away
from evil counsel and from bribery that they might judge justly and
make wise decisions for the people of this county.
We pray your blessing on this meeting and all who speak and
govern; that everything may be done honorably and peaceably and
justly.
We thank you that we live in this free land. You are so good to
us. We ask for your blessing, and we pray in your holy name.
Amen.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders, will you
lead us this morning.
(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And now that I can read my
agenda, Pastor, that was a very nice prayer. That was Pastor Hauler,
forgive me, from King Presbyterian Church. Thank you, sir.
I couldn't get to that earlier on to do the proper introduction, so
forgive me for that.
Item #2A
TODAY'S REGULAR, CONSENT AND SUMMARY AGENDA
AS AMENDED (EX PARTE DISCLOSURE PROVIDED BY
COMMISSION MEMBERS FOR CONSENT AGENDA.) -
APPROVED AND/OR ADOPTED W/CHANGES;
(COMMISSIONER SOLIS ABSTAINED FROM VOTING ON
ITEM #16A13 AND COMMISSIONER TAYLOR REQUESTED
TO CONTINUE ITEM #10B TO THE SECOND BCC MEETING
IN JUNE)
MR. OCHS: Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners.
May 14, 2019
Page 4
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good morning, County Manager.
How are you?
MR. OCHS: I'm well, sir. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good, good.
MR. OCHS: We have just a couple of proposed changes for the
Board of County Commissioners' meeting of May 14th, 2019.
The first proposed change is to continue Item 2C to your next
meeting of May 28th. That's the approval of your BCC meeting
minutes from your April 23rd meeting. They are complete, but they
were incorrectly posted to the agenda, so we've got to clean that up
for the next meeting.
The other change is to withdraw Item 16E1 from your consent
agenda. This is a procurement of some tires for our Fleet
Management Division. That withdrawal is at staff's request. That
will come back at a future date.
Mr. Chairman, a reminder we have three time-certain items
posted for today's agenda. First is at 10 a.m., and that is Item 9C.
That's a public hearing regarding the Immokalee Area Master Plan.
The next time-certain hearing is at 10:45 a.m., that is Item 11F.
That's a report-out on the 2019 Florida legislative session. And then,
finally, Item 11E is scheduled to be heard no sooner than 1 p.m., and
that is a proposed ordinance amendment regarding your PACE
ordinance.
And those are all the changes that I have this morning,
Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Well, let's move through our
approval of today's agenda and ex parte. Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No disclosures on the --
MR. OCHS: Commissioner, excuse me. Could you get a little
closer to that microphone.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm sorry. Yes, no disclosures on
May 14, 2019
Page 5
the consent or summary agenda. I would abstain from voting on
16A13, and I would like to ask the Board's indulgence here on 11E.
And I know it's a time-certain, but I've received some -- and I think
everybody's received some proposed changes or some feedback from
the providers. I really haven't had a chance to review those in depth.
And I'd like to see if the Board would be willing to just continue this
to the next meeting just to have the ability and the time to look at
what's been proposed by staff in relation to what, you know, the
providers have sent back to us in terms of comments.
I don't feel that I've had enough time to really look at that, and
I'd like to be able to ask the right questions.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders, you have
a comment with regard to that?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner Solis, I don't disagree with the fact that we've got a lot
of information that we've not had a chance to really digest. We do
have some folks I know came in from out of town.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And perhaps we could, as an
alternative, hear what they have to say, because we have the draft that
the county has prepared. I believe that the finance companies have
prepared another draft, and perhaps we can at least have some
discussion and then continue this.
I don't disagree about continuing it, but we do have some people
that came in from out of town. It may be helpful to our evaluation to
hear from them.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I would concur with that. I
have zero intention of doing anything other than continuing that item
until I've had an opportunity to review it as well, so...
But I concur with Commissioner Saunders that there are people
who have come from a long way to be able to speak, and we
May 14, 2019
Page 6
should probably hear it, so...
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, then maybe what I'll do is I'll
make a motion at the appropriate time after we've heard from
everybody.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Other than that, I have no other
changes to the agenda.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Commissioner Fiala, good
morning.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, good morning. I have no
corrections, additions, or any ex parte on the agenda. So I'm good
with it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okie-doke. How about
Commissioner Taylor?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Good morning. I have no ex
parte. Just one -- no corrections. One request of my colleagues.
10B, which is the Chokoloskee Bridge, memorial bridge naming.
Commissioner Solis's contacted our office regarding this issue.
And I did have an opportunity to speak with Miccosukee leadership
this morning, as well as Mayor Grimm. He has no problems with
this.
It turns out that Mr. John Joseph Brown was an Indian Agent,
and being an Indian Agent has raised some questions. So this is not
to table it or to put a -- to go away, but this is to promote dialogue
between the Miccosukee and the Seminole. This was their homeland,
and to bring it back upon resolution.
So I guess my request is to continue this to another meeting.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I'll just add that I was really
just seeking information because, unfortunately, I didn't know the
history and, you know, was trying to figure out what the relationship
was. I wasn't really sure what an Indian agent was, and so I asked
May 14, 2019
Page 7
Angela to, actually, contact, you know, the tribe and see what the
history is.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. And I got the call this
morning, so...
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Just to be clear, she didn't call you.
She --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right. She called the tribe.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes, that's correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And then the tribe -- the tribe
called me this morning to weigh in and said, yeah, if we could just
have an opportunity to talk about this. And I talked to Mayor
Grimm, and he said that's fine with him. It's Chokoloskee, but that's
fine with him, but I think we're -- it's okay to do this. It all happened
at 8:30 this morning.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Imagine that. There seems to be a
lot of last-minute maneuvers going on these days. And I don't have
an issue with it. I'm the one that brought the agenda item forward. I
probably incorrectly let staff know what my intentions were.
The typical process for naming any public facility is a thousand
signatures and an enormously arduous task, and there probably isn't a
thousand people in that particular area, which was why -- we have
close to 300. And then a resolution from the City of Everglades with
regard to it. I don't have any issue with continuing the item. My
intent was to, at the request, to rename the bridge. And if the tribe
has asked for additional dialogue, I'm fine with that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay, great. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So we'll make that adjustment,
County Manager. We'll continue that to our June meeting, the
second meeting in June. That will give 30 days. Is the okay?
May 14, 2019
Page 8
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, I think that's fine.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You're the one asking for the
extension.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. No, I think that would -- I
think that's more than gracious.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And that's it. Thank you very
much.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And, Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I have no changes and
no ex parte.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And nor do I.
Proposed Agenda Changes
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
May 14, 2019
Continue Item 2C to the May 28, 2019 BCC Meeting: April 23, 2019 BCC Meeting Minutes.
(Staff’s request)
Withdraw Item 16E1: Recommendation to authorize expenditures in excess of $50,000 annually
to Dan Callaghan Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Callaghan Tire as the single source for tire services,
replacements, and related parts. (Staff’s request)
Time Certain Items:
Item 9C to be heard at 10:00 a.m.
Item 11F to be heard at 10:45 a.m.
Item 11E to be heard no sooner than 1:00 p.m.
5/31/2019 11:27 AM
May 14, 2019
Page 9
Item #2B
APRIL 9, 2019 – BCC MEETING MINUTES – APPROVED AS
PRESENTED
Item #2C
APRIL 23, 2019 – BCC MEETING MINUTES – CONTINUED TO
THE MAY 28, 2019 BCC MEETING – APPROVED
COMMISSIONER FIALA: So I'd like to make a motion to
approve the April 9th BCC meeting minutes and also to continue
Item 2C to the May 28th BCC meeting.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we -- did you --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, I didn't get to, yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: The agenda as well?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I'll get it in a second. I'll finish that
one.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. We'll do the minutes first.
It's been moved and seconded that we accept the minutes and the
continuance of 2C. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
May 14, 2019
Page 10
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And I'd also like to make a motion
to approve today's regular and consent and summary agendas.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: As adjusted.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Without any changes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, it was adjusted. There was
one adjustment with regard to the renaming of the Chokoloskee
bridge; 10B, I believe, it is.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, 10B.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: 10B. So with that adjustment, it's
been moved and seconded that today's agenda be accepted. Any
other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved. Did we have a second
on that? I think we did.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Commissioner Saunders, I think,
did.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good. I thought I heard it, but I
sometimes hear things that --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I thought it. I didn't say it.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Oh, no? I heard one.
May 14, 2019
Page 11
Item #2D
RECOGNIZING MADELINE SUGARMAN AS ARTIST OF THE
MONTH
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Before we go on too awfully much
and while the room is full and everybody's attentive, I would like
to -- I'm oftentimes remiss in announcing the Artist of the Month. It's
Ms. Madeline Sugerman. In her paintings, Madeline endeavors to
bridge the gap between fantasy and reality to connect mankind to the
environment.
Madeline is delighted to have on display this month her
Everglades series. In this vibrant and thought-provoking series,
Madeline shows the -- what's that word?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Fragility.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- fragility of the Everglades in a
group of oil, cold wax, and mixed media paintings.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Wow. Cold wax.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes. Cold wax and mixed media
painting. I'm reading this.
The rich appearance of blues and greens synthesize land, sea,
and sky as one glorious medium. Madeline's art has been featured in
several galleries and publications. And before you leave today,
please take a moment and enjoy, in the back of our room.
So with that, County Manager.
MR. OCHS: Thank you, sir.
Item #3D
PRESENTATION OF THE APRIL 2019 EMPLOYEE OF THE
MONTH, DAVID STREIT, SENIOR
May 14, 2019
Page 12
INSTRUMENTATION/ELECTRICAL TECHNICIAN, PUBLIC
UTILITIES DEPARTMENT – PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, we move to Item 3D; this is our
Employee of the Month award. We're pleased this morning to
recognize David Streit, our Senior Instrumentation and Electrical
Technician with our Public Utilities Department, as the April 2019
Employee of the Month.
David, if you'd please step forward and be recognized.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: David, hold on. You have an
award. More importantly, that check.
MR. OCHS: David, stand right there for a minute. I want to tell
the world a little bit about you.
Commissioners, David's been with our county for 31 years in
working in our Public Utilities division. Since the inception of our
Public Utilities Department, water power systems section, David has
been a valued member of the team.
His desire to learn and his dedication to our trade have set him
apart as a key member of the organization. There have been many
occasions when David has been called in to help in critical situations.
On every occasion, he has stepped up to meet every challenge and
see it through to completion.
Recently, he was off work, and one of his team members
required help after hours at a Goodland location. David responded
immediately and worked with his fellow team member late into the
evening until the issue was resolved.
Dave's lengthy county career, support to his team members,
excellent technical abilities and customer service make him a true
standout and very deserving of this award.
Commissioners, it's my honor to present David Streit, your 2019
May 14, 2019
Page 13
Employee of the Month for the month of April.
David, congratulations.
(Applause.)
Item #4
PROCLAMATIONS – ONE MOTION TAKEN TO ADOPT ALL
PROCLAMATIONS
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chair, that moves us to our proclamations this
morning. We have several.
Item #4A
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 2019 AS NATIONAL
BIKE MONTH IN COLLIER COUNTY. ACCEPTED BY
MICHELLE AVOLA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NAPLES
PATHWAYS COALITION AND EILEEN CONNOLLY-
KEESLER, PRESIDENT/CEO, COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF
COLLIER COUNTY – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: The first is Item 4A. It's a proclamation
designating May 2019 as National Bike Month in Collier County. To
be accepted by Michelle Avola, Executive Director with Naples
Pathways Coalition; and Eileen Connolly-Keesler, President and
CEO of the Community Foundation of Collier County.
Ladies, if you'd please step forward.
(Applause.)
MS. AVOLA: Michelle Avola, Naples Pathways Coalition.
Thank you very much, Commissioners, for this proclamation of
National Bike Month.
May 14, 2019
Page 14
And would it be okay if I read what it said in here so everyone --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Please do.
MS. AVOLA: So, whereas, the month of May is National
Bicycle Month; and,
Whereas, bicycling plays an important role in the lives of
millions of Floridians; and,
Whereas, bicycling usage promotes health and wellness and
helps to encourage citizens to develop habits of physical activity to
become or stay fit; and,
Whereas, riding bicycles increases roadway and parking
capacities by reducing the number of cars on the road; and,
Whereas, Naples Pathways Coalition conducts the Lights for
Bikes Program funded by the Community Foundation of Collier
County to provide bike lights, safety gear, and language-appropriate
safety information to low-income commuter cyclists who bike to
work between dusk and dawn; and,
Whereas, Naples Pathways Coalition and supporters participate
in the Annual Ride of Silence the third Wednesday each May to
honor and remember the many cyclists who have been killed while
biking; and,
Whereas, Naples Pathways Coalition partners with the Collier
Metropolitan Planning Organization to publish a countywide bicycle
and tourism map to better equip residents and tourists to choose
active transportation; and,
Whereas, Naples Pathways Coalition has received the Special
Recognition of the Year award from the Florida Bicycle Association.
We will continue our work for the community to make it safer to
bike and walk, and we are very grateful to the Community
Foundation for funding the program that helps save the lives of
commuter cyclists by providing the lights for this coming year.
Thank you.
May 14, 2019
Page 15
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
(Applause.)
Item #4B
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 2019 AS NATIONAL
DRUG COURT MONTH IN COLLIER COUNTY. ACCEPTED BY
THE HONORABLE JANEICE MARTIN, PRESIDING JUDGE OF
THE COLLIER COUNTY DRUG COURT, AND PARTICIPANTS
OF THE DRUG COURT TEAM – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: Item 4B is a proclamation designating May 2019
as National Drug Court Month in Collier County. To be accepted by
the Honorable Janeice Martin, presiding Judge of the Collier County
Drug Court, and participants of the drug court team.
Judge?
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: You're doing a great job, Janeice.
Good morning. Congratulations to all of you.
(Applause.)
JUDGE MARTIN: Mr. Chair, may I?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Please, Your Honor. We would be
pleased to hear from you this morning.
JUDGE MARTIN: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, Madam
Clerk, Mr. County Manager, dedicated staff and fellow members of
our great community, it is my honor and privilege to visit with you
each year with a new group of participants in our drug court. These
men and women are your sons, daughters, neighbors, employees, and
even employers. They are fighting for their kids, their families, and
for their own lives.
I am blown away daily by the courage that these men and
May 14, 2019
Page 16
women show us getting clean, seeking treatment, working an honest
program of accountability and responsibility. All of that is far harder
than just doing time. And they'll confirm that for you readily.
Critical to their recovery is return to community, a genuine
connection with others who support them and help them feel a part of
something worth pursuing.
Today you all do that with your support and with your
statement. You welcome them back into our community of light
away from the darkness and shame that defines many of their pasts.
I am so proud to bear witness daily to the miraculous
transformations aided by our dedicated team, the state attorney, the
public defender, the Sheriff's Office, the Department of Corrections,
and most especially the David Lawrence Center.
On behalf of all of us, we thank you for your support of drug courts
because drug courts save families, they keep us all safe, they save tax
dollars and, most importantly, they save lives.
Thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
Item #4C
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 19 - MAY 25, 2019 AS
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WEEK IN COLLIER
COUNTY. ACCEPTED BY TABATHA BUTCHER, CHIEF,
COLLIER COUNTY EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES AND
MEMBERS OF THE EMS TEAM – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: Item 4C is a proclamation designating May 19
through May 25th, 2019, as Emergency Medical Service Week in
Collier County. To be accepted this morning by Tabatha Butcher,
May 14, 2019
Page 17
Chief of the Collier County Emergency Medical Services Division,
and members of our EMS team. Chief?
(Applause.)
CHIEF BUTCHER: Tabatha Butcher, Chief of Collier County
EMS.
Commissioners and County Manager, I just want to take a
moment and thank you for your continued support of your EMS
system.
Last year your EMS system ran over 39,000 calls and
transported 29,000 patients to the hospital. It's the boots on the
ground that sacrifice their time away from their families, seeing
things that aren't very easy to see, and we appreciate all that they do,
and we appreciate your continued support. So thank you.
(Applause.)
Item #4D
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 2019 AS INTERNAL
AUDIT AWARENESS MONTH IN COLLIER COUNTY.
ACCEPTED BY REPRESENTATIVES OF THE OFFICE OF THE
CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT & COMPTROLLER OF
COLLIER COUNTY - ROBIN SHELEY AND GABRIELA
MOLINA – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: Item 4D is a proclamation designating May 2019
as Internal Audit Awareness Month in Collier County. To be
accepted by Robin Sheley and Gabriela Molina and other
representatives of the Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller of
Collier County.
Ladies, if you'd please step forward.
(Applause.)
May 14, 2019
Page 18
THE CLERK: Thank you, Commissioner. But the staff does all
the work, so they deserve the glory.
Item #4E
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 2019 AS FOSTER
CARE MONTH IN COLLIER COUNTY. ACCEPTED BY
NADEREH SALIM, REPRESENTING THE CHILDREN'S
NETWORK OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA; KATIE VELLA,
REPRESENTING CAMELOT COMMUNITY CARE; ANN
HUGHES AND VANESSA ESTRADA REPRESENTING
FRIENDS OF FOSTER CHILDREN FOREVER; AND KIM
WEISBERG AND OLIVIA MANCINO REPRESENTING YOUTH
HAVEN – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: Item 4E is a proclamation designating May 2019
as Foster Care Month in Collier County. To be accepted by Nadereh
Salim representing the Children's Network of South Florida; Katie
Vella representing Camelot Community Care; Ann Hughes and
Vanessa Estrada representing Friends of Foster Children Forever; and
Kim Weisberg and Olivia Mancino representing Youth Haven.
MS. SALIM: Good morning, Honorable Commissioners. My
name is Nadereh Salim, Chief Executive Officer of Children's
Network of Southwest Florida.
We're really honored to be here to recognize our foster parents.
You know, it takes a huge team to take care of children who come to
us abused, neglected, and battered. That team consists of many
professionals, but I would say the MVP are the lay people, the foster
parents that open their home, their family, their hearts to take care of
these children in the absence of their biological parents.
May 14, 2019
Page 19
Obviously, our foster parents are not thanked every day for what
they do, they're not paid every day for what they do, they're not
recognized, but they do the most important job which is love and
nurture these children until we can return them safely to their
families.
There's no secret that there's a shortage of foster parents
everywhere, in Collier County, in Southwest Florida, in Florida, in
the nation. So I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for
bringing recognition to what they do.
And I want to also recruit. There's no opportunity like now to
say to everyone, you can play a role. Everyone can take a child, and
it just takes one person to change a life forever. So if you ever
thought you could do more, you can. I invite you to please consider
fostering a child. They really need us and, again, thank you so much.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, if I could get a motion to approve
today's proclamations, please.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Motion to approve today's
proclamations.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we approve today's proclamations. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
May 14, 2019
Page 20
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
MR. OCHS: Thank you, sir.
Item #5A
PRESENTATION OF THE COLLIER COUNTY BUSINESS OF
THE MONTH FOR MAY 2019 TO NAPLES TRANSPORTATION
& TOURS. ACCEPTED BY RANDY SMITH, CEO AND MEGAN
WISELY, SENIOR SALES MANAGER. ALSO PRESENT IS
BETHANY SAWYER REPRESENTING THE GREATER NAPLES
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE – PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: We move to Item 5 this morning. Item 5A is a
presentation of the Collier County Business of the Month for
May 2019 awarded to Naples Transportation and Tours. To be
accepted by Randy Smith, Chief Executive Office, and Megan
Wisely, the Senior Sales Manager. Also Bethany Sawyer
representing the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce.
(Applause.)
MR. SMITH: Good morning. Randy Smith with Naples
Transportation and Tours and also the Hoffman Family of
Companies.
Our company has been servicing Southwest Florida for 31 years,
and we have been a member of the Chamber since day one. In fact,
our first office was a tiny desk in the Chamber office buildings
back -- way back when, 1988. So we have valued our Chamber
affiliation greatly over all these years.
To be just considered for this award, we're very humbled.
There's so many fantastic businesses in the Chamber, and we thank
the Chamber very much for this recognition.
We also thank the commissioners for your recognition of the
May 14, 2019
Page 21
Chamber and its value in the community. And if you have any
questions, be happy to answer anything. All right. Thank you very
much.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, we move now to Item 5C. This is
a presentation by Dr. Lisa Krimsky, the University of Florida --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Why are we going out of order?
MR. OCHS: I didn't think that we had the other representatives
here, but if they are -- do you want to hear from Miccosukee?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah. They're here. Stay right on
line.
Item #5B
PRESENTATION ON WATER QUALITY ISSUES FACING
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF THE
MICCOSUKEE TRIBE OF INDIANS AND THE SEMINOLE
TRIBE OF FLORIDA. PRESENTED BY TRUMAN (GENE)
DUNCAN, JR. REPRESENTING THE MICCOSUKEE TRIBE OF
INDIANS AND AMOS TIGER REPRESENTING THE SEMINOLE
TRIBE OF FLORIDA – PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: I apologize. Let's move to 5B then. We have a
presentation on water-quality issues facing Southwest Florida from
the perspectives of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians and the Seminole
Tribe of Florida. To be presented this morning by Truman Duncan,
Jr., representing the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, and Amos Tiger
representing the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
This item was brought forward at Commissioner Taylor's
request, and good morning, gentlemen.
MR. DUNCAN: Good morning.
May 14, 2019
Page 22
MR. TIGER: Good morning.
MR. DUNCAN: Thank you for inviting us here to talk about
tribal concerns. My name is Gene Duncan. I've been the tribe's
Water Resource Director for 30 years, 31 years. Are we going in
order?
MR. TIGER: You're fine. Go right ahead.
MR. DUNCAN: I don't want to step on my friend.
MR. TIGER: I'll let you do all the talking, then I won't look so
bad.
MR. DUNCAN: Very good.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That way if he makes a mistake,
you won't have to own up to it.
MR. DUNCAN: The Miccosukee tribe was the first in the
nation to adopt a numeric criterion for phosphorus. That phosphorus
standard applies in the Everglades to protect the flora and fauna of
the Everglades.
The State of Florida, I think, adopted theirs in something like
2006, so we were ahead of anyone -- any other state or tribe.
Tribal lands, Miccosukee tribal lands are shown here. The graph
to the left is a blowup of the stuff you see in the pink. The brownish
color on the top left is the federal reservation, 75,000 acres. In the
light tan is the leased area, 189,000 acres in Conservation Area 3A.
That doesn't include a lot of other land holdings all totaling well over
300,000 acres, and that doesn't include Big Cypress Preserve or
Everglades National Park. A lot of land, a lot of areas to be
concerned about.
In the South Florida environmental report from the Water
Management District, there's a big red dot, and I've got it shown by
the arrow there. That is the interceptor canal. Water comes down the
north feeder canal and the west feeder canal, joins an interceptor
canal and empties into the heart of the Everglades.
May 14, 2019
Page 23
The numbers are quite staggering in the middle of the
conservation areas. We can achieve down as low as two parts per
billion phosphorus, and in some of the inflow points we're seeing 850
parts per billion. The tribe was involved in a federal Everglades
lawsuit in 1988, and as a result of that lawsuit, STAs were formed
that treated the water coming from the Everglades agricultural area,
the sugar farmers.
They treated only their lands, not the waters to the north in the
Kissimmee and not Lake Okeechobee, just the waters in the
Everglades agricultural area in the C-139 basin.
Consequently, the water that's coming in from the western side
down the interceptor canal is not treated in an STA.
On the right is what the Water Management Department reports
as their success in cleaning up the Everglades. And you'll note that
on their graph on the left shows higher concentrations than on the
graph on the right. But if you look closely, you'll also notice that
some of the points on the left are not even represented on the right.
That's because they dropped some of the higher stations from their
reporting.
So if you want really good numbers, one of the easiest ways to
do it is to drop out the really high numbers. And if you look at the
graph on the left, that's actually some of our water-quality data.
You'll see that where the interceptor canal dumps into the middle of
the Everglades right on tribal land we have a huge plume of cattails,
and that cattails is actually visible from outer space if you look at a
satellite photograph.
So the district stopped sampling at the tip of the triangle.
Those -- inside the star there there's some shaded gray areas. They're
not sampling there anymore. They do sample at the S140 and S190,
but they don't include that data in their compliance methodologies.
So the tribe, obviously, is very concerned about the water quality
May 14, 2019
Page 24
coming into the Everglades. We believe in protecting all of the
Everglades.
And there is the plume of cattails that you can see from outer
space. We're concerned about all of South Florida, though, not just
the tribal Everglades. This graphic's from the Water Management
District, and it talks about inflows into Lake Okeechobee. We've all
been concerned about the algal blooms, and so inflows to Lake
Okeechobee are quite -- from Lake Okeechobee are quite significant.
To read this, for example, the upper Kissimmee, you'll see that
about 32 percent of the water and 15 percent of the phosphorus
comes from the upper Kissimmee; whereas, in the lower Kissimmee,
18 percent of the water and 17 percent of the phosphorus. What's
significant here is that if you look where the sugar farmers are, down
in South Lake Okeechobee, the sugar farmers only contribute
2 percent of the water and 4 percent of the phosphorus.
Ninety-five percent of the water and 93 percent of the
phosphorus going into Lake Okeechobee is coming from the northern
basins. You hear the estuary guys crying about the discharges from
Lake Okeechobee. Rightfully so, but Lake Okeechobee is not
contributing. I mean, the upper Kissimmee Valley is contributing
most of the phosphorus.
Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Could I ask you just a quick
question. I'm looking at your chart here. And, obviously, we know
what the 95 parts per billion is, but just to the left of that, like, on the
first one in lake -- it's got TP load, 41MT.
MR. DUNCAN: Where you looking?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Upper left-hand corner.
MR. DUNCAN: Lake Istokpoga.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'm just wonder what --
MR. DUNCAN: That's metric tons. Forty-one metric tons, and
May 14, 2019
Page 25
the flow-weighted mean concentration is 95 parts per billion.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Forty-one metric tons.
MR. DUNCAN: Yes, sir. And we have a TMDL, total
maximum daily load, in Lake Okeechobee of 140 metric tons. So
that means that the Lake Istokpoga area is contributing 41 of the
metric tons to a maximum of 140 going into Lake Okeechobee.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Of what?
MR. DUNCAN: That's how you would read -- of phosphorus.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Phosphorus.
MR. DUNCAN: Yes, ma'am.
The takeaway is 93 percent of the phosphorous is coming in
from up north and only 4 percent is coming in from the sugar
farmers.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And this is South Florida Water
Management?
MR. DUNCAN: That's Water Management District data, yes,
ma'am.
Now, a lot of people are concerned about nitrogen as well, so it's
very similar; 95 percent of the flow going into Lake Okeechobee and
89 percent of the nitrogen going into Lake Okeechobee comes from
the northern estuaries.
So let's take a look at what's actually happening over on the east
coast in St. Lucie. These are all the St. Lucie basins. And if you look
at the lower left, you'll see Lake Okeechobee contributes 26 percent
of the water and 18 percent of the phosphorus going into the St. Lucie
estuary, which means 74 percent of the flow and 82 percent of the
phosphorus going into the St. Lucie Estuary is coming from their own
basin, right?
Same thing with nitrogen; 74 percent of the flow and 71 percent
of the nitrogen. So, essentially, it wouldn't be unreasonable to say
that three-quarters of the problem of the algal blooms are coming
May 14, 2019
Page 26
from their own estuaries, their own local basins, not necessarily Lake
Okeechobee.
Take a look over here in the Caloosahatchee, and you'll see that
65 percent of the flow and 72 percent of the phosphorus load going
into the Caloosahatchee estuary is from local basin runoff.
And as far as nitrogen, 65 percent of the flow and 61 percent of
the nitrogen going into the Caloosahatchee is from local basin runoff.
The point of saying all this is that septic tank discharges and lawn
fertilizers and all of those other things that local governments have an
ability to control really affect algal blooms that we're seeing.
I'm not going into what Collier County's doing, because I don't
even know what you're doing. But if you have septic discharges, I
would highly encourage you to go towards sewers. And they don't
come without problems either, because now you have to deal with the
residuals coming out of the sewers, but at least you can control that.
Florida passed Senate Bill 10, which is the EAA reservoir, and they
mandated that it be built in the Everglades agricultural area. It had
240,000 acre of feet of storage, which necessarily means it's got to be
23 feet high.
Now, that area, A2 compartment, used to be for water-quality
treatment and shallow storage. We were going to get water-quality
benefits out of it. No plants can reach their roots 23 feet down. So
you're not going to get any water-quality treatment out of the
reservoir in the EAA.
We just talked about the northern areas, and that's really where
your reservoir needs to be so we get shallow storage and treatment
before it goes into Lake Okeechobee. South of Lake Okeechobee just
means that we're losing water-quality treatment going into the
Everglades.
This is the planning documents. And analysis of that by the
Corps of Engineers has revealed that it's going to increase flows into
May 14, 2019
Page 27
the Everglades by 43 percent and 36 percent increase in phosphorus
loads going into the Everglades. Let me say that again. This
reservoir is going to increase phosphorous going into the Everglades
by 36 percent.
This is a problem for us on two levels: 43 percent more water.
We can't get rid of the water we've got. They closed the gates at
Tamiami Trail to save the Cape Sable sparrow, and water stacks up
over the tree islands, and we're killing the tree islands.
Forty-three percent more water will be death to the Everglades. And
36 percent increase of phosphorus is not going to help at all.
And that's my message. I pass the mic here.
MR. TIGER: All right. Good morning. My name's Amos
Tiger. I'm with the Seminole Water Commission, Seminole Tribe of
Florida.
Duncan did a good job of presentation, and we kind of go hand
in hand with what they do. And my department here is to talk about
the STAs, the benefits of the STAs and the non-benefits.
So Seminole Tribe is comprised of five reservations, and we
house -- we have approximately 3,600 tribal members, so -- and
they're throughout the -- from the center of the state, Tampa on down.
We have five reservations and three that are just kind of holdings,
trust properties that we do have.
STAs and reservoirs. Okay. They can reduce phosphorus, but
water quality is not just the phosphorus. And the background on the
STAs is -- I mean, the background is that the heavy rains form
Florida's natural environmental. Pollutants from lands impacted from
human activities enter ditches and canals. The ditches and canals in
Florida change how the natural water flows, move water away from
places where plants and animals need it, they carry polluted water
from places where plant -- oh, they carry polluted water far away
from where it came from and rapidly transport these polluted waters
May 14, 2019
Page 28
to the Everglades and our estuaries and near shore waters.
Okay. The success story that we have with the Everglades is
STAs are constructed wetlands to treat polluted water. Okay. They
hold water in shallow levels and use plants to absorb the phosphorus
and for the phosphorus to settle out of the water to the ground, which
would be the sediment.
Water is released from the treatment areas with lower levels of
phosphorus. According to South Florida Water Management,
57,000 acres of STAs have removed 2,329 metric tons of phosphorus.
That keeps that from entering into Everglades, but that's at a cost of
$1.8 billion according to South Florida Water Management.
Best management practices, on the other hand, removes 3,058
metric tons of phosphorus from entering into the Everglades.
So what else -- what else does the STA do? Okay. The picture
showed the wetland system at the physical and biological property
requirements. Marsh wetland system up there at the top versus the
forested wetland system, which is focused at habitat for restoration
on the tribal lands. You see a difference there.
Okay. The negative. The negative of the STAs, which is storm
treatment -- stormwater treatment area is that they mix the
agricultural and the human water runoff -- impacted runoff from
many different areas with water in the natural conditions. They don't
remove the pesticides, the metals, the viruses, the bacteria, the salts,
the sulfates, and other nutrients like nitrogen and potassium.
So when water leaves the STAs, the phosphorus levels are
lower, but the other pollutants aren't changed, or they might even
increase.
They don't have a variety or abundance of different plants living
in them. They can't support the aquatic flora or fauna species, which
are sensitive to the pollution. They hold the pollutants in their
sediments. Species which live in the sediments can consume the
May 14, 2019
Page 29
pollutants, and from the sediments they go up the food chain.
The tribe has completed three stages for their data collections.
One being aquatic biodiversity study. Okay. The aquatic
biodiversity study, they sample the aquatic diversity in the water
coming into the Big Cypress Reservations. They measure the health
and the balance of the flora and fauna living in the water.
So, for example, there are -- are there a lot of things -- different
things living in it or just a few? For the different types of things that
are living in it, are there a lot of individuals representing each type or
a few? Are the only things that are living in the water column native
or exotic? Are the things that are living in the water column tolerant
of pollutants or sensitive to pollution?
The Seminole Tribe of Florida -- well, that's a continuation of
the diversity study that resulted -- stormwater source found that it had
the most algae and algae types were the most nutrient tolerant. It was
the least similar to any water in Big Cypress. Had the most amount
of fish than any Big Cypress site but were the least balance of any
Big Cypress site and had the most amount of exotic fish species, and
they also had the least amount of macro invertebrates in the sediment.
The lowest diversity score, the least amount of different species,
and the dominant species were the exotic clams which displaced the
native freshwater mussel species. So overall, the diversity scores
rated the water as impaired.
Tissue study. Fish and other animal tissues from canals
traveling through the Seminole reservation north and south of Lake
Okeechobee include levels of pollutants such as flame retardants,
blood pressure medicine, DEET, chemicals from Teflon coatings,
PCBs, dioxans, mercury, atrazine, arsenic, DDT, hydrocarbons, and
that's quite a bit of stuff that's left out there in the water.
And watching TV and watching the news, there's a lot to be said
about plastic. I see over here on WINK News every day or every
May 14, 2019
Page 30
week, something about plastic in the water system. So that says
something for all the stuff that we're talking about here.
On the sediment, that followup study of canal sediments north
and south of Lake Okeechobee that showed the same compounds in
which the canal sediments were found in fish and other species.
Canal sediments are home to the beginning of the food chain and,
basically, most of what I mentioned just then are in the sediment that
they're in the...
All right. So, in conclusion, the water quality in Florida is not
limited to phosphorus levels. STAs are designed only for
phosphorus. They don't treat all forms of the quality concerns. STA
can't solve the whole phosphorus problem. Even if the State of
Florida implemented every currently outstanding water treatment
area in support of meeting the Lake Okeechobee maximum daily
phosphorus load, there would still be a deficiency in achieving this
goal.
For example, in 2014 the State of Florida released a draft action
plan to have Lake Okeechobee meet its phosphorus maximum daily
load. The maximum phosphorus load for Lake Okeechobee is at 105
metric tons per year, but the existing load is 448.3 metric tons per
year.
If the State of Florida implemented existing projects in the
Taylor Creek/Nubbins Slough, Lake Istokpoga, lower Kissimmee,
Indian Prairie, and Fisheating Creek watershed releasing water to
Lake Okeechobee, STA detention water forma (sic), et cetera, the
total estimated phosphorus removal combined of these projects is
only 152 metric tons. That leaves the State of Florida still needing to
remove at least 193 metric tons. That's to meet their goal.
So, in conclusion with that, reservoirs and STAs north of Lake
Okeechobee will provide very little benefit to clean up the polluted
waters going into Lake Okeechobee. The tribe emphasizes the need
May 14, 2019
Page 31
to utilize historical knowledge in planning for water management.
The tribe supports the creation of large reservoirs, which is the
best-management practices that -- whatever we were talking about,
and that would be south of Lake Okeechobee in conjunction with
natural polishing areas like the Everglades agricultural areas.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you very much. We have a
couple of comments. Don't go away.
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Could you just go back -- there was
a slide that you had that said that the amount of phosphorus that had
been taken out by the STAs was, I thought, around 2,400 metric tons
at a cost of --
MR. TIGER: 1.8 billion.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I was trying to do the math, and my
phone doesn't have enough zeros on it, on my calculator, but it's
about 750 million per metric ton. Am I doing the math right?
MR. TIGER: One twenty-three twenty-nine.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I mean --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We'll do the math for you just to
ensure.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's what my phone says.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm sure Sue's on the computer right
now.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: If she's not, she will be.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's staggering.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's an enormous expense.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's a staggering number that's been
spent, yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: An enormous expense.
May 14, 2019
Page 32
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I just wanted to point that out that
that's a staggering number that doesn't seem to be doing much.
MR. TIGER: Something to look at.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just a quick question. You
have stormwater treatment areas, and then you have reservoirs. I'm
not sure what the difference is.
MR. TIGER: Storm treatment areas, they only treat the
phosphorus level. The best management -- I mean, that's all -- and
that's what they -- when they release the water, all the other stuff is
still going out with it. But the best-management practice area was
implemented by the State of Florida, correct, for farmers and
anybody that wanted to create a reservoir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I understand that, and that
makes a lot of sense. And I would assume that best practices doesn't
cost anything --
MR. TIGER: No.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- compared to the STAs.
But I'm just trying to understand the difference between an STA and
a reservoir.
MR. TIGER: That's the point we were making was the cost
factor, and that ended up being the best-management practice overall.
You were getting more out of the best-management practices than
you would be the stormwater treatment areas which was costing that
much money.
So all in all it's an educating farmers, the public to start using the
best-management practices to try to treat the water that you've got
going off.
MR. DUNCAN: If I could add, the best-management practices
do cost money. They cost the farmers money to implement, and they
are helped in some of that from the state, but that does reduce levels
May 14, 2019
Page 33
down before the waters go into the STAs. The STAs are a managed
wetland, generally managed at 2, 3-foot in depth, and they use
macrophyte vegetation, emergent vegetation to extract the
phosphorus, and then it moves into another cell where they have
submerged aquatic vegetation, and that brings the phosphorus levels
down just even a little bit more.
Finally, they go into a polishing cell, it's in the PASTA,
paraphyte and assisted stormwater treatment area. So we step the
phosphorus levels down by taking them through a series of managed
wetlands.
In contrast to that, a reservoir is a deepwater storage area for
water, and the deeper it is, the less water-quality treatment you get.
So one of the things that happens with an STAs is if you don't have
enough water, say, in the dry season, and the STA goes dry, it
actually exports phosphorus, because soil compacts, oxidizes and
compacts, and then it releases phosphorus downstream. We don't
want that.
So by having a flow equalization basin or a deeper reservoir, we
could meter water in at different times of the year and keep the STA
hydrated so that they can continue to do their job.
Now, in the case of the EAA reservoirs, the 240,000-acre
reservoir, the senator from the East Coast, I won't name his name, but
he championed Senate Bill No. 10, got it passed in the Florida
Legislature, and it is to divert flows or to keep those flows from
coming out of the Lake Okeechobee and going into his neighborhood
into his estuary. So -- said send the water south. Well, that's just
sending the problem to someone else.
The storage actually needs to be and the treatment needs to be at
the source in the headwaters.
And so what we've done is we've eliminated a large area that
could be used for treatment so that someone else won't suffer the
May 14, 2019
Page 34
consequences of something that originated mostly in their own
backyard.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, I won't mention
Senator Negron's name.
I did -- when I was in the Senate, I did the legislation for the -- it
was the northern Everglades legislation dealing with the Kissimmee
River and trying to turn that back into a natural meandering river.
Has that had a -- I'm assuming that's had some positive impact. What
needs to be done north of the river -- I mean, north of the lake?
MR. DUNCAN: It has helped; it has helped. When the Corps
of Engineers channelized the Kissimmee River, of course, all of that
sediment mainlined itself into Lake Okeechobee. We now have three
foot of contaminated muck on the bottom of a 50-mile-wide lake.
And we have no answer on how to treat that. That we call legacy
phosphorus.
You could put distilled water in the north end of Lake
Okeechobee, and it would still come out contaminated on the south
end because we don't know what to do with all of that muck from
those years.
So putting the meanders back into the Lake Okeechobee -- and I
want to thank you for that -- is a big help, because all of that water
gets attenuated in the oxbows and the bends, and it helps to absorb
the nutrients out of the water before it goes into the lake.
We still have a huge nutrient problem north of the lake, you
know. Like, what'd I say, 97 percent north of the lake. So we need
more treatment north of the lake. That's the bottom line. We need
more water. And the district has what they call a BMAP program,
but it's really inadequate. There's very little supervision going on up
there, and we can do a lot better.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you.
MR. DUNCAN: Yes, sir.
May 14, 2019
Page 35
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, this --
MS. SAPIENZA: Good afternoon. I'm Whitney Sapienza. I'm
here in support of Amos Tiger. I also work for the Seminole Tribe of
Florida, and I'm the acting Assistant Director for the Environmental
Resource Management Department.
I actually just wanted to flip back to the last slide here because
we have a little bit of a difference of opinion to our friends over at
Miccosukee in regards to storage for what the storage requirements
are for the Everglades restoration.
We refer to the historical map that you see here, and what we
noted was with the potential for the development of the Everglades
agricultural area reservoir, it mimics the historical storage that has
been lost from the development of the Herbert Hoover Dike.
So if you look at the 1949 military map, you could see that the
lake extended much further south than the original -- or the existing
footprint right now.
So we do agree there needs to be a twofold approach, additional
storage in the development of the Everglades agricultural area
reservoir; however, that needs to be coupled with the treatment. As
Mr. Duncan had said, really lacking treatment potential in that
Everglades agricultural area does not support, you know, increased
phosphorus as well as other nutrients coming further down south and
affecting the tribes' reservations.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So I guess because this is, for
me, a very interesting but very new subject, could you sum up, each
of you, the Miccosukee Tribe and the Seminole Tribe, what your
solutions are so that we just put it in a package here.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I think they did.
May 14, 2019
Page 36
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, again for me.
MR. TIGER: I summed it up earlier talking to Whitney. I said,
the only way we're going to alleviate or get a little bit better control
of this problem, I'm like President Trump, let's build a wall on the
state line, shut off all the people coming in. But we are
overpopulated by contributed --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Sorry I asked.
MR. TIGER: -- all of this stuff going into the waters from the
population and the people, so we need to educate everybody about
the situation.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Go to the source, right?
MR. TIGER: Go to the source.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Gene?
MR. TIGER: That's my own personal opinion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We understand.
MR. DUNCAN: Well, I appreciate the Seminoles' perspective.
Unfortunately, we can't throw the sugar farmers out, and that map
doesn't show the amount of acreages that have already been carved
up and given away, and they're growing crops up there. And until
those guys are ready to move out, that's just not going to work, but I
appreciate it.
First of all, on the estuaries, all the local communities need to
adopt ordinances to put -- to get rid of their septic tanks. We need
sewers so we can treat this local basin runoff.
There are also the C43 and the C44 reservoirs that are being
planned on the west and the east coast. They need to be finished so
that we can store the waters rather than pulse discharge them.
We need more treatment in the north in the Kissimmee Valley
so that all of those individual basins can store their water; treat it
before it's discharged down south.
I don't have an answer for Lake Okeechobee. We do have a
May 14, 2019
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solution, though, for the western basins where we're talking about the
interceptor canal dumping that water in. The Corps of Engineers has
a plan called WERP, Western Everglades Restoration Plan. Two
STAs are planned, one in the north feeder canal and one to the west
in the Wingate Mill Canal. Those STAs are on the books. The Corps
will be adopting a tentatively selected plan here in the next couple of
months, at which time land values over there are going to go crazy.
So I've encouraged the Water Management District to buy that
land now, because once somebody draws a box on a map, you know
that everybody's going to say their land's worth more money. So buy
those lands now to treat the water in the north feeder in the Wingate
Mill area before it discharges down into the Everglades. That will
handle 10 percent of the problem going into the Everglades.
So we also need to open up the bottom of the system. Tamiami
Trail is blocked. It's a big constipation down there. The Cape Sable
sparrow has got the gates closed six months out of the year. That's
killing the conservation areas.
So we need to -- and we need to send more water south, not
from up north, but just so that we can get it across the Tamiami Trail.
So there's some solutions right there.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. DUNCAN: Yes, ma'am.
MS. SAPIENZA: And I just wanted to add we've been talking
in great detail about potential storage north of the lake, and the tribe
certainly has some real concerns pertaining to that.
There's a few projects that are planned in the region right now as
going on under the planning directive of the Army Corps, and one
that the tribe has officially formally objected to, which is the Lake
Okeechobee watershed restoration project. There's some real concern
about adding additional storage within the area as well as utilizing
those reservoirs at times when likely there's going to be inundation
May 14, 2019
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surrounding the reservation. There's potential for flooding of the
reservation as well as mismanagement of water, and the tribe does
have a water compact with the State of Florida and has been ratified
by Congress essentially identifying water entitlement for the Brighton
reservation, which is just northwest of Lake Okeechobee, as well as
the Big Cypress reservation.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you. Thank you very much,
all of you. Appreciate it.
Item #5C
PRESENTATION BY DR. LISA KRIMSKY - UF/IFAS
REGIONAL SPECIALIZED AGENT - WATER RESOURCES, ON
CURRENT RESEARCH INTO BLUE GREEN ALGAE AND RED
TIDE. JOINING DR. KRIMSKY IS DR. KELLY MORGAN,
DIRECTOR, UF/IFAS - SOUTHWEST FLORIDA RESEARCH &
EDUCATION CENTER – PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, that moves us to Item 5C, and this
is a presentation by Dr. Lisa Krimsky, University of Florida, IFAS
Regional Specialized Agent for Water Resources regarding the
current research into blue-green algae and red tide. Joining
Dr. Krimsky is Dr. Kelly Morgan, Director of the UF/IFAS South
Florida Research and Education Center.
This item was brought forward by Commissioner McDaniel.
Good morning.
DR. MORGAN: Good morning. I appreciate the honor of
being here this morning and making this presentation.
The South Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee
is devoted to improving the agricultural practices in Southwest
Florida and, in so doing, improving the environment and the water
May 14, 2019
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quality here in South Florida.
In February, we presented a public discussion of issues that
impact agriculture, and we plan to do that on an annual basis. The
presentations this morning are a summary of two presentations given
at that time. One by Dr. Dail Laughinghouse on blue-green algae.
Unfortunately, he can't be here today. He's out of the country at a
conference. And the second one was by Dr. Lisa Krimsky on red
tide. So she'll just summarize both of those presentations.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So you brought in a reigning expert
on both.
DR. MORGAN: That's right, absolutely.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good morning, Dr. Lisa.
DR. KRIMSKY: Good morning, Mr. Chairman,
Commissioners. Thank you for inviting me to give this presentation.
I apologize. The date and the location are incorrect. I gave this exact
same presentation last week. So consider that my trial run for you.
But as requested, I'm going to give an overview of the 2018
algal blooms, both red tide and the blue-green algae.
We're going to start with Florida red tide talking about 2018
algal blooms, but we do know that the red tide actually started in
2017 and carried over into 2019.
So to start with a little bit of an introduction: And I'm going to
present this information in terms of why and how we have these algal
blooms, hopefully to guide management decisions.
And so Karenia brevis is the species that's responsible for the
Florida red tide. And it's an algae called a dinoflagellate. It's a
marine organism meaning that it only occurs in saltwater.
It was first confirmed in Florida 1844, and it's generally found in
background concentrations all the time within the Gulf of Mexico, so
it's a regularly occurring species. It's one of six different species of
Karenia that reside within the Gulf of Mexico, and this is important
May 14, 2019
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for monitoring purposes. So when there's a bloom out there, we need
our scientists to confirm that it's actually the harmful toxic species of
Karenia brevis that's causing the bloom and not one of the other six
species that we have.
As I said, it is a harmful algal bloom, meaning that it does cause
a toxin. It produces a toxin, a brevotoxin, which is why we
oftentimes get that scratchy irritation. It causes the fish kills as a
result of this toxin.
Generally, they tend to form in the late summer to early fall, and
it's a slow-growing species. And this is important as we get to it a
little bit in the development as to when we see red tides and why we
see red tides.
So I'm going to start and walk you through kind of the
development of a bloom. So the red tide organism starts offshore,
and it resides kind of in the mid-shelf water. So not all the way at the
surface and not all the way at the bottom. It kind of resides in
mid-shelf offshore. And that's a very low nutrient area of the Gulf of
Mexico.
And algae need nutrients. They're plants. They need nutrients
to grow and to bloom. And so they need some influx of nutrients in
order to have a bloom occurring. Generally their blooms tend to
coincide with another algae bloom. It's of a species called
trichodesmium. That's not really important to us, because it's not
harmful. It doesn't really come into the nearshore environment and
doesn't impact us any.
What trichodesmium does is it provides a source of nitrogen that
otherwise wouldn't be available to the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis.
So what that species does is it actually takes nitrogen from the
atmosphere and it converts it to a usable form.
Trichodesmium blooms often occurs with Saharan dust. So if
you've seen this picture over here, 2018, we had a lot of Saharan dust.
May 14, 2019
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It brought with it iron. It's a micronutrient that triggers these
trichodesmium blooms which then provides nitrogen to trigger
Karenia brevis. So there's a lot of complexities going on as to what is
going to start a bloom.
So we have these nutrients. Karenia brevis starts to bloom in the
offshore environment. How does it actually get near shore? Well,
that's facilitated by wind. So if think about, if any of you are ever out
in the water and you have winds coming off the land across the
ocean, what that does is that physically moves water away from the
surface, and it provides an opportunity for that deeper water to come
up and replace it.
Well, what's in that deeper water, that's our red tide organism.
So it's moving from the offshore environment with winds, and it's
being replaced by waters that are full with these Karenia brevis
species.
Then to complicate matters even more, we have the Loop
Current, and that's kind of the water body in the Gulf of Mexico that's
responsible for transporting water into the nearshore environment and
around the Florida Keys, and it eventually kind of merges in with the
Gulf stream.
The intensity and strength of that Loop Current is going to
determine when we have a red tide bloom. So remember I said
Karenia brevis is slow growing; if the Loop Current is really strong
and brings lots and lots of nutrients, Karenia brevis is going to get
outcompeted.
So we have a number of different factors that determine when
and if a red tide bloom is going to occur. We have Saharan dust
coinciding with a trichodesmium bloom, we have winds that are
bringing the Karenia to nearshore, and then this Loop Current
circulation and the strength and intensity of that.
So all that's to say is that while Karenia brevis is common, it's
May 14, 2019
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occurring, it's natural in the Gulf of Mexico doesn't mean that we're
going to have a bloom every year. There are a lot of oceanographic
and physical circumstances that kind of have to come into play for us
to have a nearshore bloom that's of concern.
And then once it's nearshore, that's when it gets to feed on all the
various sources of nutrients, and it likes a lot of nutrients. It has the
ability to use a lot of different sources of nutrients. And,
unfortunately, at this point the scientific community does not know
what's responsible for ending a bloom. So we don't know what
terminates a bloom. We don't know if it sort of uses all the nutrients
available, if it's getting eaten, if there's possibly a virus. We simply
don't know. And that's going to hinder our moving forward in terms
of preventing or mitigating these red tides.
Okay. As I mentioned before, this is a species that's really
opportunistic. So while it is marine, it can only live in salt water. It
has a salinity tolerance of 24 parts per thousands which means that
for you it's not going to get too far up the estuary because it will die
of freshwater. It's really in that beachy coastal estuary area where it
can survive, but there it can use more than a dozen different types of
nutrients, including human land-made sources of nutrients.
This is an extraordinarily complex and confusing graph, and I
recognize that, but what I want you to see is basically the top of what
you're looking at is offshore, so that's where it starts, and then we're
moving forward, you know, we're moving closer to the shore, and
then we're nearshore, and then the three bars in sequence are the
intensity of the strength or size of that bloom.
And all I want you to note -- you don't even need to read them --
is that there are a variety of different naturally occurring nutrient
sources that Karenia brevis can use and feed off. So these are just
regenerative things that occur as part of the food web, as part of the
sediment water-column cycle of any marine environment that
May 14, 2019
Page 43
Karenia brevis can use.
Nutrient -- human land-based sources of nutrients really become
part of the story when we have large discharges out of the
Caloosahatchee as you can see here in 2005, which we also saw in
2018, yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I just have a quick question.
What good is it? What does the red tide do?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: What do you mean what good is it?
DR. KRIMSKY: Well --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: What does it provide? Because
it kills the fish in the water. We don't know, right?
DR. KRIMSKY: We don't know. We can argue, what good is
the mosquito, but we still have mosquitoes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, birds eat mosquitoes.
DR. KRIMSKY: Yeah. It's a food source in low
concentrations.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, it is.
DR. KRIMSKY: There is some -- in very low concentrations.
It's algae. It's a plant, so certain things can consume it in low
concentrations. That's what you'll see the grazing is. You'll actually
see feeding of it, but at low concentrations. At high concentrations
you can argue there is no use to it.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
DR. KRIMSKY: So all this is to say is that Karenia brevis, the
red tide, is able to use a large number and different types of nutrients.
And so we need to be, I guess, cautious when we're talking about
managing red tide and our human source of nutrients and that we will
hopefully, by managing our land-based source of nutrients, be able to
reduce the intensity or longevity, but we're never going to be able to
stop red tide.
And so just as a quick snapshot run-through -- I know you-all
May 14, 2019
Page 44
lived through it, so it's probably redundant, but of what the bloom
looked like. So it started in October of 2017, and at its peak one year
later it had reached all three coasts. And so what researchers now
know is that it's actually two different blooms. We had a twenty
seven eighteen (sic) bloom which was transported up to the
panhandle during a hurricane, and then we actually have a 2018
unique bloom initiate at the same time. So October 2018 we had two
different blooms going on, and it was just a mess. And then, finally,
on January 2019 is when it ended.
There's a lot of talk as to whether it was the worst red tide in
history. We have no way of saying that. There's no way to
characterize the intensity of red tides or how to compare them to past
red tides, because monitoring efforts are different. So we can't
compare monitoring effort today to what it was in the '90s, to what it
was in the mid 1900s. What we do know is that it was in the top five
longest-lasting red tide events since monitoring was started in the
1940s.
And now if I can just kind of help you flip gears, and we're
going to talk about the blue-green algae bloom. So this is an algae
bloom that occurred in Lake Okeechobee. It is a freshwater bloom,
meaning it will not survive in the marine environment. So this is the
opposite of red tide. It's a cyanobacteria.
Is there a -- do you have a question?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yes. Can you just repeat what you
said, that we can't stop red -- could you just say that again.
DR. KRIMSKY: We cannot stop red tide. We can only manage
the intensity or duration of it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And that's based upon the good
Lord's circumstances with winds and sea currents and so ons and so
forth with regard to the --
DR. KRIMSKY: And the multitude, diversity of nutrients that
May 14, 2019
Page 45
Karenia brevis is able to utilize.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's correct.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And what I wrote down is
manage our land-based nutrients.
DR. KRIMSKY: Correct.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I mean, we point here, but
there's three fingers pointing back at us always. It starts with us.
DR. KRIMSKY: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Back on the red tide as well.
You mentioned the nutrients that come down the Caloosahatchee
River.
DR. KRIMSKY: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I was under the impression
that a lot of the red tide nutrients, at least when the red tide is just
beginning out in -- further out in the gulf, that the nutrients from the
Mississippi River really are the cause of a lot of the red tide blooms.
DR. KRIMSKY: I can't confirm that. If you look back at this
graph though, apologies to go back, the Caloosahatchee, which is just
look at the red box. That only comes into play -- so these are our
major land-based sources of nutrients that are coming from not only
Lake Okeechobee but also the Caloosahatchee watershed, our local
watershed basin. That only comes into play once it's nearshore.
So that has nothing to do with the bloom once it's offshore or the
bloom when it's coming inshore. At that point it's already been
initiated, developed. It's already happening. All we're doing is
providing it yet another source of nutrients once it's come to
nearshore.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And the estimate of the age of that
organism?
DR. KRIMSKY: Oh, I have -- that's a good question, but I don't
May 14, 2019
Page 46
know. I can find out for you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah. I think I recall it was nion
(sic) a billion-plus-years-old organism.
DR. KRIMSKY: I'm thinking it's closer to a couple hundred
million. I know the cyanobacteria are a couple billion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't want to get in the way. I just
remember --
DR. KRIMSKY: Give or take a billion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Please proceed.
Commissioner Saunders, is that light from before?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
DR. KRIMSKY: Permission to move to blue-green?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, please.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Fast forward.
DR. KRIMSKY: Okay. So the blue-green algae that initiate in
Lake Okeechobee are a result of land-based sources of pollution.
Algae blooms are common in all water bodies in this state, but the
intense blue-green algae blooms in Lake Okeechobee are fueled by
land-based sources of nutrients.
They typically occur, again, in late spring and autumn, and
they're dominant in the western portions of the lake. If you can see
here in the top corner you have the western portion, in the bottom
corner you have the eastern corner, and what you can see is that the
western corner is marshier, so you're going to have clearer waters,
and it's going to provide a lot more light penetration to -- even though
cyanobacteria are bacteria, they're not actually a plant. They do
photosynthesize. That's why they get lumped into this algae bloom.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Gotcha.
May 14, 2019
Page 47
DR. KRIMSKY: It's confusing, but they need light in order to
grow. And so in that clearer area of the lake is where they tend to get
the light in order to grow.
And we used to say that in the center part of the lake where it's
deeper, there's a lot of turbidity, a lot of light penetration wouldn't get
through, we wouldn't see blooms because it was just too turbid, that's
no longer the case, as you'll see with 2018.
Okay. So sources of nutrients -- and I have to thank the
previous speakers, Mr. Duncan and Mr. Tiger, for giving a great
overview. Everything they said is true. All of these sources in
alphabetical order contribute to nutrients in the Lake Okeechobee
watershed.
So to go into a little bit of the species -- because algal blooms in
Lake Okeechobee didn't always use to be this species. We actually
have seen a shift. And what this species is -- and it's a toxic species,
microcystis aeruginosa. Essentially, even though it's a plant, it is able
to move up and down in the water column. And so plants, it needs
nutrients. In Lake Okeechobee most of the nutrients are in the
bottom. So it is able to go down to the bottom, get its nutrients, feed,
and then move up to the surface and get its light to photosynthesize.
It's pretty cool, right?
So that's why we've been seeing these microcystis blooms, and
that's why when you see all of the pictures of the algae bloom, sort of
that frothy scum, it's the gas vesicles on the algae that's actually
frothing. It's the air bubble that allows it to go up and down. So
that's why we're seeing this species of bloom now, whereas we were
never seeing it before. It's outcompeting other species.
It, too, is -- again, it's freshwater. It, too, is toxic, and we see it
in those hot, calm conditions when light is able to penetrate into the
water.
So, whereas red tide we saw it initiated due to oceanographic
May 14, 2019
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issues, blue-green algae initiates due to the weather. So this is, again,
another confusing graph, but what I want you to see, this is rainfall
over the entire water management -- South Florida Water
Management District region. Areas that are red, months that are red
are lower than average rainfall, and areas that are blue are higher than
average rainfall.
So what I want you to see is that we're starting off 2017 in a
period of drought. And as Mr. Duncan said, when you have low
rainfall, you're concentrating the nutrients in the soils, and it has
nowhere to go. It's just concentrating, concentrating.
Then we had a really heavy rain in June, which saturated all of
the soils. And when Hurricane Irma came, it essentially washed it all
away. So that's why we're seeing -- and then we kind of saw the
same pattern again where we had a period of drought, got to
concentrate again, and then another high rainfall. So that's why all of
those nutrients flew out of the northern basin into Lake Okeechobee.
This graph, I want you to focus on 2018, which is the red line.
So this is showing the amount of water that's flowing into Lake
Okeechobee. You could see No. 6 is June. That was that first pulse
of rain, and then 9 is Hurricane Irma. You can see how much rain
was flowing into Lake Okeechobee as a result.
And this is the phosphorus. So you can see in metric tons again,
so this should be familiar; whereas my -- the previous speakers said
that the guidelines that we want for Lake Okeechobee, the target is
just north of 100 metric tons, we saw over a thousand metric tons of
total phosphorus entering Lake Okeechobee in the weeks preceding
Hurricane Irma.
So that's a lot of nutrients, a lot -- to fuel the algal bloom, and
then we had the calm weather to kind of trigger that growth.
So it started in June 2018, and it progressed. And this is, like I
said, one of the first times where we saw it in that really turbid
May 14, 2019
Page 49
middle area, the pelagic zone of the lake, and at one point it covered
more than 90 percent of the lake.
So following up on what the previous speakers were saying is
it's not just the lake that are responsible for the nutrients that are
causing the algal blooms in the coastal estuaries. In this graph on the
right-hand side, the gray is the C43 basin of the Caloosahatchee, so
that's the local basin runoff. And you can see that for the first two to
three days of the heavy rain events, much of it was coming from the
Caloosahatchee.
And then we started to see the influence of Lake Okeechobee,
and that was responsible for -- and this is the salinity, the decline. So
you can see as soon as the water started running off of the
Caloosahatchee, the salinity declined. And, remember, the
microcystis, the cyanobacteria, is a freshwater species, so it was able
to survive in the estuary because of all this freshwater, so not because
of the nutrients necessarily, but because our estuaries were no longer
salty. So that's important.
So this is a summary of the release. This is just from 2018,
which is why it differs from the numbers that were shown in the
previous presentation. This was a high discharge year. So 71 percent
of the discharge going out of the St. Lucie was from the lake,
whereas 43 percent going out of the Caloosahatchee was the lake.
But, again, there's relatively high basin runoff to the coastal estuaries
bringing with it their nutrients. What Lake Okeechobee discharges
provides is the freshwater necessary to have blooms enter our
estuaries.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: What does the "KAF" stand
for?
DR. KRIMSKY: Oh, acre feet. Thousand acre feet. So if you
think of an acre of land filled a foot high, that's what an acre foot is.
So how did the University of Florida IFAS extension respond?
May 14, 2019
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Extension is in all 67 of Florida's counties, so we are the boots on the
ground to our local governments and our local residents.
Immediately in 2018 we did sort of informal media doing blogs,
print media, dozen of interviews and social media posts. Florida Sea
Grant program affiliated with the University of Florida IFAS created
an entire website designated solely to the blue-green and red tide
harmful algal blooms, and it was updated regularly.
We had more technical papers that went through peer review, so
while the blogs and social media posts were much more of that
informal communication, when we needed to have more concrete
science, we went through the electronic database information system,
which is the University of Florida's online library. And so these six
technical reports were produced in 2018 as a response.
And then we have the traditional and new extension programs of
which you may or may not be familiar, so we had stakeholder panels
that we hosted and also sat on. We gave local webinars and
presentations. We started algae and water monitoring and response.
Internally, our faculty created water-quality work action groups so we
can work across water basins and across program areas getting
agriculture, natural resources, and sea grants agents working together.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just to let us know that you're
actually on the ground, right?
DR. KRIMSKY: That's right.
And this University of Florida IFAS actually created a harmful algal
bloom task force to get all of our different departments and centers
working synergistically together.
We looked at the shellfish industry, the aqua culture industry, of
which you have some leases here in Collier County. During a red
tide, they're not able to be harvested. So we did an economic impact
analysis of the aqua culture shellfish industry for them, and in
August 2019 we're hosting a state of the science symposium for
May 14, 2019
Page 51
harmful algal bloom scientists. So I'll take any additional questions
you may have.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do we have any questions? I can't
thank you enough, Dr. Krimsky. I mean, I had an -- Commissioner
Taylor and I had an opportunity to see you speak in February --
DR. KRIMSKY: Yes, thank you for coming to that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- which was the precept of this
invite today, so I can't thank you enough for coming and sharing this
information.
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: The only question I had, and it was
a disturbing thing I read in the paper, was there was some reference --
and we haven't gotten into the effects of the toxins and things on us.
DR. KRIMSKY: Human health, yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: On human health, right. But -- and
I guess I'm asking the wrong person, I guess. That's not your area?
DR. KRIMSKY: You can shoot it at me. I'll see if I can answer
it. If not, I can try and find a response.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: There was some quote in the paper,
I think, from one of the experts that was here recently that there's
some correlation between the toxins and ALS.
DR. KRIMSKY: Yes. So -- well, it's presumed. And, again, it
depends on who you talk to. That's actually a rift in the scientific
community, but what we do know is microcystis, the genus of algae,
does have an amino acid or protein called BMAA, which is linked
with Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease.
And so we don't quite know yet whether or not there's a
correlation in humans and BMAA, but that's an active line of
research happening right now.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Thank you.
DR. KRIMSKY: Obviously, it's a concern for everyone.
May 14, 2019
Page 52
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Absolutely. Thank you very much.
DR. KRIMSKY: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I just want to say, I mean, this is
kind of a force feeding with a fire hose that happened today, but it's
important that we give consideration to all aspects of these
circumstances, because -- and I'm -- if I can have one takeaway that I
personally have, there's no one right answer. I mean, there's an
enormous amount of circumstances that are adding up to why these
algal blooms and red tide, in fact, are occurring and what feeds them
and their intensities.
And I think we need to explore all aspects of what we can do as
the human race in order to assist with the process.
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I was just going to thank
Commissioner Taylor and our chairman for bringing these two items
forward, because there was a lot of very useful information and a lot
of things that I didn't realize in terms of the efforts and the money
that's been spent and what the science is, so thanks. Thank you very
much.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Absolutely.
With that, I think we're going to take a 10-minute break, and
then we'll come back for our 10 o'clock time-certain. We're only --
and we'll be back at 10:44.
(A brief recess was had.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're a minute behind and actually
45 minutes behind. So we're going to go ahead and get started here.
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir.
Item #9C
May 14, 2019
Page 53
RESOLUTION 2019-87: AMENDMENTS TO THE IMMOKALEE
AREA MASTER PLAN (IAMP) FOR TRANSMITTAL TO THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
(DEO) AND OTHER AGENCIES FOR REVIEW AND
OBJECTIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND COMMENTS (ORC)
RESPONSE – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, this brings us to the first
time-certain item this morning. It's Item 9C. It's a recommendation
to approve proposed amendments to the Immokalee Area Master Plan
for transmittal to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity
and other agencies for review and objections, recommendations, and
comments. As a reminder, again, this is a transmittal hearing.
And we'll turn the presentation over to Anita Jenkins. Anita?
MS. JENKINS: Good morning, Commissioners. Anita Jenkins,
Principal Planner with Community Planning Section. And today
we're going to be talking about the restudy for the Immokalee Area
Master Plan. And in the presentation I'm going to hit the highlights
of the master plan and our proposed changes, and I'll be happy to
address any specific questions that you have during the presentation
or following.
And you do have some public speakers, Mr. Chair.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes. They're on my list. Thank
you for reminding me, though.
MS. JENKINS: So one of the significant parts of this restudy is
to recognize for the Board the process of the Immokalee Area Master
Plan. It was first adopted in 1991 with some revisions in 1997, and
then in 2003 through your Comprehensive Evaluation and Appraisal
Report, it was decided that you needed to do a fuller restudy of the
Immokalee Area Master Plan.
And the Board of County Commissioners at that time appointed
May 14, 2019
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a committee from Immokalee to head up the restudy of the
Immokalee Master Plan. So this committee worked for, you know,
almost five years in studying their master plan and figuring out
changes to the master plan that would benefit their community.
It then went through the hearing process, workshops with the
Planning Commission, and with the Board and the series of
transmittal and adoption hearings. At that time the Board of County
Commissioners also asked the community to do a referendum. The
referendum to support the plan was positive, but at the last adoption
hearing the amendment did not pass. There was one commissioner
that did not vote in favor of it, so it failed to be approved at that time.
So that brings us to our restudy process. And what we did as
staff was to go back and review the record of the citizen committee
that established the proposed amendments. We went back through all
the hearing records, listened to testimony on that plan, went through
all the data and analysis of that plan, and we started the process with
workshops again out in the Immokalee community.
So we held an additional four workshops in the community. We
attended the CRA meetings. That's where most of the community
shows up to hear what's going on in the community is at those CRA
meetings. We attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting. We met
with ministers of different churches out in the community, talked to
individual members. So there was a tremendous amount of outreach
and support for this plan, and that has been going on for a decade
now. So we're ready to help this community move this plan forward
today through transmittal.
So in our restudy, one of the things that we like to do is establish
with the community the vision so we can make sure that the policies
that we recommended are implementing their vision.
And like so many in this community, the vision is what we all
want: We want family-oriented neighborhoods that are safe, that we
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Page 55
can walk, and we can bicycle in, that provides us good jobs, and has a
well-defined economic purpose for us.
The adopted goals versus the proposed goals are very similar.
When the committees first started revising these goals, they were
basically simplified. The proposed plan does establish two new
goals, and one of those goals is for design standards, and that would
be through a Land Development Code amendment. We would write
a specific code that's suitable for Immokalee and development in
Immokalee. The other new goal is for intergovernmental
coordination.
So I'm going to hit the highlights in the specific areas that you've
asked us to address during all of our restudies, and that's land use,
economic vitality, housing affordability, transportation and mobility,
and environmental sustainability.
So what we've found in the latest Collier interactive growth
model, which is the model that we're using to predict what our
populations and what our growth needs are going to be out into the
future, what this latest update told us is that by 2040 Immokalee's
going to grow by another about, approximately, 9,000 people, and
that translates into the need for about 2,300 new units in Immokalee
by 2040.
So what this plan proposes and what I'll point out to you is to
accommodate that new population and that number of units, we need
to accommodate those close to town center. This is a walking and
biking community that needs to be close to goods and services. So
we've made some adjustments to accommodate that population in
close proximity to the town's center.
The plan also specifically identifies the economic drivers that
the community has defined, and those are in manufacturing and
distribution, agribusiness, and ecotourism.
One of the housing goals that was adopted in this restudy was
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broadened. So we're not just focused on safe and sanitary housing,
but we're looking at quality neighborhoods now, and that is to help
your departments coordinate their projects and their efforts by
neighborhoods. So when we're looking at stormwater management,
we're not only looking at the needs to address a stormwater
management project, but if there's a sidewalk need, and that can
accommodate that, or if there's recreation needs in that particular
neighborhood, we can accommodate that, as well as transit stops and
lighting.
So the idea is to look at the neighborhood by neighborhood,
identify what's needed, and then work towards that.
So I'm going to go through some of the changes of the Future
Land Use Map here. The table on the left shows you what's adopted,
and the table on the right shows you what's approved. And the map
on the top is the adopted map, and the map on the bottom is the
proposed map.
So let's start with a little bit of the residential. The residential
you can see that the low residential total acres decreases, and the
mixed or medium residential increases. And, again, that is to help
provide the types of housing that is needed in Immokalee in close
proximity to these centers.
So I'll point to a couple areas where you can see these changes
using the arrow. So you can see that area right there on the map was
low residential. That's right up against 29. We wouldn't expect to
see low residential in that area. We would expect to see commercial
uses, and then surrounding those commercial uses we would expect
to see higher densities.
So those are the areas, such as that, that change here to medium
residential. And, in fact, you have a zoning petition in growth
management right now that a developer is taking advantage of these
changes and proposing multifamily housing in these areas. So we're
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starting to see the market respond to these positive changes that we're
suggesting.
In the commercial land uses, you had three different commercial
land uses: Neighborhood commercial, commerce center, and others.
But what we have done, similar to what we did in Golden Gate City,
is we have simplified this into one commercial area, so that is the
pink areas that you can see on this map below. All these green and
red areas become the pink areas, and that would afford all of the
commercial properties the same land uses, the same development
standards, and would help with economic development to continue in
these areas.
The industrial land uses also changed slightly. We did add some
industrial area up just north of the airport. And back at the time of
the restudy, the data and analysis was showing us that Collier County
economic development projected about 3,200 acres of additional
industrial uses is needed throughout Collier County.
Well, the committee at that time said we will accept 10 percent
of that to help meet the need, and the best location for that is around
the airport. And, in fact, the airport also has industrial uses up at the
north area, so this would be right adjacent to that area as well.
So, in a high overview, those are the changes that have been
made to the Land Development Future Land Use Map. And I would
like to point out that in this restudy we made changes to policy to
make them more positive, so when investors are looking at investing
in Immokalee, they're seeing positive change.
We did not, through this restudy, change any of the land-use
designations that the committee and the community agreed to during
their process. We saw no need to change any of those. No positive
reasons to do that. So we wanted to honor the agreements that they
had at that time to go with their Future Land Use Map.
One of the proposed policies in the plan regarding economic
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development is to focus on a strategy, and a strategy that is going to
implement their targeted industries, and they're very specific to
agribusiness and ecotourism, and Lake Trafford being one of those.
So we'll show you a policy that addresses that in just a minute.
The other thing that we've added through this restudy is a new
policy that can only be implemented through a Land Development
Code change, but that new policy would be able to support
agribusiness in the agriculture areas. The map on the bottom is the
zoning map, and you can see all these green areas here. That's all
active agriculture surrounding the developed area of Immokalee.
That is also called low residential. That's what it's designated, but the
use right now is active agriculture.
So how can we help support active agriculture? We added the
ability to do ag research and development facilities, if you're zoned
ag, in these surrounding areas, also, agribusiness offices and
headquarters and also starting considerable renewable energy sources
such as solar power. We do not address that at all in our Land
Development Code right now.
But as we're moving into renewable energies and you start
thinking in that direction, we want to start addressing that. And,
again, these would not be available until the Land Development Code
was amended with specific standards to allow those uses.
Lastly, on this we are proposing new policy to write a Land
Development Code for Immokalee. This is, you know, stemming
from 10 years of study in this area that the Immokalee area Land
Development Code standards don't necessarily need to be the same as
they are in the coastal area. They're a little bit different in their
culture, in their heritage, and their purpose, so we want their Land
Development Code regulations to address those needs.
And transportation and mobility, we have a policy that
implements your recent complete streets resolution, and given the
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Page 59
significant amount of people walking and bicycling in this area, this
is a good place to start implementing that.
We do propose a future transportation study that would be done
for local and collector streets. We study our arterials a lot through
the MPO, but in Immokalee, in this area right up here, north of Lake
Trafford, the northeast portion of Immokalee, your grid system and
connectivity kind of breaks down, and this breaks down the use of
transit in this area. They can't get in and turn around and service the
community.
Bicycles and walkers are forced to go much further distances
because of the lack of connectivity in this area, and there has been
some concerns that I have heard through this restudy that, because of
the lack of connectivity, you have one way in and one way out on
Lake Trafford, and this gives rise to concern about any emergency
that happens: Is our, you know, transportation going to be limited to
that? Within about a three-year period we hope to study that and see
what kind of solutions we can come up with to improve that
connectivity.
We also propose developing incentives for private road
improvements. And I know, Commissioner, that's been something
that you've been looking at countywide, but we want to make sure
that it would apply in Immokalee as well. So that's a new proposed
amendment. And then, of course, ongoing coordination with FDOT
that is very active with many projects ongoing in the Immokalee area.
And environmental sustainability. The proposed plan updates
the Lake Trafford/Camp Keais system wetland boundary, and you
can see that here. The old boundary is in green, and the new
boundary is in red. And that was actually a staff recommendation
with the last restudy, that with better data that we have now, we can
better map that system. So that's a proposed change to the map itself.
And how that affects these amendments is that because -- the
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Lake Trafford issues that you just heard, we need to make sure that
we're looking at the water quality going into this slough and going
into Lake Trafford, and this map here is the entire watershed.
So how can we best manage the water that's flowing through this
area? And Collier County, through this policy, would be partnering
with DEP, the Water Management District, UF/IFAS and others to
come up with solutions of how we can treat our runoff before it gets
into Lake Trafford.
And then, finally, there's a proposed study to explore mitigation
banking if that would be of any benefit in any location in the
Immokalee area.
That hits the highlights of the proposed amendments. I wanted
to keep it brief for you. But I also want to let you know that the
Planning Commission voted in favor to transmit this 5-1. You did
have one commissioner that had some concerns. Those concerns
were addressed specifically in a memo that I wrote to Mike Bosi, and
that's in your packet. And I'll be happy to address any of those
questions as well.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I have one commissioner.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Me?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You're the only one, and then we'll
go to public speakers, unless somebody else has something to say.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No. I want to hear the public
speakers.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. A couple questions. I
know that I read this. What happened that this didn't go forward?
What exactly happened?
MS. JENKINS: At the last adoption hearing?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Way back when.
May 14, 2019
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MS. JENKINS: Way back when.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It wasn't enough votes?
MS. JENKINS: There wasn't. There was one commissioner
that abstained, and so you had three commissioners left to vote, I
think, on that day, maybe five, and then one voted in -- did not vote
for it. So it did not reach the four votes that were necessary.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I can give you a short answer. It
was politics. Pathetic politics. Just to say the least, I mean, we -- I
was here. I watched it. It was sad. There were -- there was
infighting. You were here, there was infighting. There was -- it was
sad just -- we don't need -- that horse is already laying down. Unless
you need to have that answer, I would just as soon -- let's go forward.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, it's a new day.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I just -- and to me this -- I
understand the frustration --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- of the community, but that
kind of moves into my concern about the timeline that is established
in Mr. Bosi's Immokalee Area Master Plan fiscal impacts. And it's --
you know, I don't -- I really understand; two years, three years, two
years, two years, two years. Well, the government needs to go up to
Immokalee, because that's a tremendous workload. Not a burden, a
workload to put on staff.
So I just would like to know -- I don't want to have expectations
that cannot be achieved, and that's my concern.
MS. JENKINS: So a couple of things to address that. When we
wrote the two years and three years, I met with each manager of the
departments to say, is this reasonable for you, and each one agreed,
yes, we can accomplish that.
But what I thought was important was to put the word "initiate."
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So within two years we're going to initiate a Land Development Code
amendment. So that through that initiation it would simply mean
we're going to maybe start the public workshops, we're going to start
gathering data and information, but it does not mean that we're going
to adopt it by that time or that you would even adopt it.
But the idea is to initiate it within two or three years, each one,
and, basically, it's Land Development Code amendments that we're
going to initiate and then the transportation study as well as the
water-quality amendments.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And I can respect -- they need a
framework here, and I can respect that.
Okay. So let's go to your economic incentive plan. It's
something that is close to my heart here, and we have an opportunity
to change this town for the better. We have land that manufacturing
could be developed in. We have agribusiness. But I'd like to see if
there's any support on the Commission, if we need it, I think we do,
to actually bring a consultant in, not only for Immokalee. I'm going
to go to Commissioner Saunders' Golden Gate, the innovation zone.
We're not moving as fast as I wish we could with economic
development.
It's frustrating to me. We have spits and starts. We don't know
what to incentivize. We don't know what we shouldn't incentivize.
Meanwhile, companies are moving to Lee County. We need to get
more competitive. Immokalee's a perfect background in which to
develop this, and I think Commissioner Saunders, with his innovation
zone, is also a wonderful area.
So if there's any support on this commission to explore, not
necessarily hire, bringing in a consultant -- economic consultant so
that we can see what exactly works, because we're doing things that
don't exactly work. We have committed people, but I understand,
from my understanding of a meeting that I had this week with the
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alliance, Enterprise Florida is not going to be as strong as it has been
in the past. That's been a great benefit to us as a community.
So I think we need to develop that but to keep Immokalee in the
forefront, because Immokalee is prime for this.
MS. JENKINS: I agree. And that's something that their
Community Redevelopment Agency has also been discussing for
Immokalee specifically, to do an economic development plan.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The consultant would be for --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: After the fact.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, not for this. No, no, no.
Nothing slowing this down. This is to -- okay, now let's look at
economics. Let's bring in some expertise and say --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Totally down with that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Twenty years it took Greenville
to get where it is today, and it's the lodestar for everything in terms of
how you change a community. There's a lot of lessons we can learn.
So, if you think, and if I've got a consensus up here to maybe
explore it and ask that the County Manager to make this another
topic, I would like to see if we could do that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm okay with that. I mean, at this
stage we need -- the plan needs to be transmitted, reviewed, and then
ultimately adopted. Then we start to talking about the land-use
adjustments that we can actually effectuate within the LDC which
then, in turn, does exactly what I think you want to do, which is get
government out of the way and will allow the private sector to
flourish and Immokalee to become the economic epicenter of Collier
County, which is what our end goal is.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yep. That's it. I mean, it's right
there. Oil Well Road is very close. It's just the opportunity is there.
So I just thing we need a little help in the economic development
area, so that's what I'm asking for. But let this go forward.
May 14, 2019
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Amen. Let's -- unless anybody
else -- let's have our public speakers. I have no questions at this
stage, so...
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, your first speaker is Pam Brown.
She'll be followed by Anne Goodnight.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Anne Goodnight. How do we
know her? She's over there.
MS. BROWN: Good morning, Commissioners. My name is
Pam Brown. I've lived in Immokalee most of my life except for five
years. And I'm going to probably have a little different perspective
this morning than the CRA, which I respect immensely, but there are
some issues that I saw and there's some questions that I have about
this.
One of my questions is: How are the changes in density
warranted? There's been no data provided justifying the changes of
increased densities in the plan. Immokalee is surrounded by large
landowners, so we're limited in the land that we have already that we
can develop. We need to take into consideration with this the RLSAs
that are being replanned around us and to see how we will be
compatible with them.
The new plan is downsizing areas and increasing densities
without due process to notify the adjacent landowners, not addressing
the funding of the secondary roads in the Immokalee area also.
It does not identify the source of downsizing of the population,
because there's not much of a population growth that's being
projected right now, so I don't understand that.
Again, no one seems to be identifying the property rights that
will be affected by the rezoning and the increased or decreased
density of the property adjacent, and this may fall under the Bert
Harris.
The new plan does not address the maintenance of secondary
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roads in Immokalee. It only addresses 29 and 82, but it doesn't
address any four-lane road coming into Immokalee on 29 to
Westclox.
I'm afraid increasing the density and encouraging non-profit
affordable housing will not help the economic health of Immokalee.
We need -- as you-all are talking about, we need houses for teachers,
firemen. Where are they going to live? Is it going to be compatible
for them to live near a high-density area with affordable non-profit
housing?
The comprehensive study that was done was in 2005, and that's
14 years old. I think that maybe that data needs to be revisited.
The plan was developed by the county staff and the approval of
the advisory committee. I had been to a couple of meetings. There
seems to be the same people that show up at the meetings all the
time, and I think that there needs to be more of an outreach to the
people that actually own land in Immokalee, and there's only 35 of
the property owners in Immokalee that are paying taxes.
May I go on?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Not past your three minutes.
MS. BROWN: Okay. And also I see that in the plan the
Immokalee -- that the CRA is going to be -- will support it. The
county will encourage the Immokalee CRA, but there's not any
funding except for grants and the TIF money that's coming into
Immokalee now.
And I think this is going to be difficult to make Immokalee grow
in the future with only 35 percent that are paying.
And also Freddie is not mentioned in the Immokalee Master
Plan, and Immokalee, as far as I think, we are part of it in the mission
of Freddie, which is five counties, is to market, facilitate, and
advocate for regional economic development.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Thank you.
May 14, 2019
Page 66
MS. BROWN: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Anne Goodnight. She'll be
followed by Christie Betancourt.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do we all need to rise for
Commissioner Goodnight?
MS. GOODNIGHT: Give me a break, okay?
Thank you for setting a time set so that I could be here. I appreciate
that.
I attended all of the public meetings that we held, the
workshops, except for one, and every -- most of the questions that
was asked were things, after they understood them, they really felt
like -- I understand what Pam's saying, but I think that this is an
overall view of what we can do, and we've broken it up to where that
when it comes to the land use, we're going to cross that bridge when
we get to it.
So I'm in full support of what we've done. It's been a long time
coming. I wasn't involved in the one that happened in '05, and since
then, I felt like that I needed to get involved because we haven't done
this since '91. And that was on my watch, so we need to move
forward or, otherwise, we're just going to continue to drag our feet
and have the problems that we've had in the past few years.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Christie Betancourt. She'll
be followed by Andrea Halman.
MS. BETANCOURT: Good morning, Commissioners. Christie
Bentancourt, Operations Manager for the Community
Redevelopment Agency in Collier County.
I am also a resident of Immokalee my whole life. I support this
plan not only because I work for the CRA, but because I'm part of the
community.
May 14, 2019
Page 67
Pam has been a part of this master plan since conception. She
was on the Visioning Committee, I think that's what it was called
before. So, Pam, I support -- I'm glad that you have been a part of
this committee and a part of the master plan. And a lot of community
members that couldn't be here today support this master plan.
I was a part of it since 2008 when I joined the CRA to improve
my community. So I support this plan, and I wish that it move
forward; representing not only the staff for the CRA but also the
community of the CRA -- of the community redevelopment area.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Christie.
MR. MILLER: Your final registered speaker is Andrea Halman.
MS. HALMAN: Good morning. My name's Andrea Halman.
I'm a resident of Immokalee, a member of the CRA, the MSTU,
and BPAC. I truly support this master plan, and I hope it's carried
through.
Immokalee, it's a community that needs to be able to have some
kind of plan that we can fulfill, so thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Andrea.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, you're telling me one more. I
don't have any other --
MS. JENKINS: I was standing -- I think you were talking to
someone when he slipped it to you. Mr. Frank Nappo.
MR. MILLER: Oh. He's registered for 9A. Should it be 9C?
Frank Nappo.
MR. NAPPO: Yes, thank you.
MR. MILLER: And I guess that is your final speaker.
MR. NAPPO: Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I saw him sitting back there, but I
was --
MR. MILLER: I didn't -- I'm sorry.
May 14, 2019
Page 68
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good morning, Frank.
MR. NAPPO: Good morning. I just wanted to thank all the
folks that have been involved in this plan. Anita has done a
wonderful job. Mr. County Manager, your staff has been wonderful
in this process; our commissioner I want to thank as well.
And this is very important for Immokalee to have a plan. It's
supported by all the folks that have participated in it.
As chair of the Immokalee CRA, I just want to echo everything
that's been said about the support for this project, and we're really
grateful for the opportunity to move forward with this. And for those
of you that have been to Immokalee and spent time out there with us,
you know that we're making progress.
And the people of Immokalee deserve this. They're wonderful
folks. And so it's just time for us to move on and get started with the
development of Immokalee.
So thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Frank.
Commissioner Taylor, you are first.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Just a point of clarification.
When you were talking about housing, it's my understanding your
housing that you're talking about is middle housing, middle strata --
MS. JENKINS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- income housing, is not low or
low, low housing; is that correct?
MS. JENKINS: Well, it would be what a developer can put
together and bring forward. So nowhere in the land-use plan do we
discourage any type of income levels or what that development
would be. But certainly there's opportunity to accommodate all of
that, and that's what this plan does. We want to accommodate the
low income and the median income, and there's plenty of low
residential to accommodate, you know, the managers of the world as
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Page 69
well.
So I think that this plan does a good job to accommodate all
those, but it doesn't discriminate against any different income level.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So have we got any kind of
census on Immokalee exactly? I mean, I heard a statistic. I think
Ms. Brown brought it forward: 35 percent of the people in
Immokalee, 100 percent of the taxes. Do we have any census on that
or any kind of data that supports that or refutes that?
MS. JENKINS: I don't have it right off the top of my head, but
I'm happy to provide that to you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think that's kind of critical as
we go forward, because if we have to broaden the tax base, then that
is -- you know, this doesn't preclude this master plan whatsoever.
But if we have to broaden the tax base in order to address this
inequity, we need to do it.
MS. JENKINS: Right. And I think that's where we're caught
right now is we need economic development to support those higher
paying jobs, to support, you know, the higher tax base. So all those
things are -- and land use and economic development are definitely
interrelated. So as we can help support the economy, then we'll see
the housing levels change and grow.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: All right. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And she's not far off. I recall back
when Commissioner Nance was our commissioner, we used the
60/40 rule; 40 percent of the folks in Immokalee paid ad valorem tax
and toted the wagon for 100 percent. So 35 percent, Ms. Brown's
statement's not that far off.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Let's get some current figures.
Let's really analyze what is going on there. It's the future we're
talking about.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Sure. And it's certainly -- due
May 14, 2019
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consideration needs to be given that as we're moving forward with
the Land Development Code adjustments and the zoning requests that
come forward, so...
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, thank you.
I think it's so important that we move forward with this. It was held
up years back, much to our unhappiness. There are a few of us that
were really counting on this thing moving forward, and it was full of
promise. And after that, the bottom dropped out of that whole thing,
and they had problems moving forward.
We don't want to see that happen again. I think along the way --
what's good is they try and involve all of the people in Immokalee.
The doors are always open. They want to hear everybody, and they
want to make a plan that would please all of the residents and yet at
the same time activate or entice new businesses to come to the area.
There's so much potential and so much promise. If anybody wants to
do studies or anything, do it anyway but not to the detriment of this.
Yes, there are things that can be tweaked, and I think that that
can be done along the way, but I think to get a plan in place is the
most important thing we can do. And you know what, I'd like to
make that -- no, it's your district.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I will.
Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just a quick comment and a
question.
I want to thank staff for a job well done on this. I know it's been
a long time coming, so I just want to thank you for your hard work.
And then a quick question for the County Attorney. There was
some indication that there may be some Bert Harris implications. If
you could just give us a little bit guidance on that particular question.
May 14, 2019
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MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. My intent was if this was approved
today, it's going to come back to you a second time. I'll include what
I'll call a savings clause at the end of this which will say that it's not
the intent of the Board to deprive anybody of any property rights.
We have a vested-rights determination process on the books already,
and if anybody believes their rights have been downgraded or
deprived, we'll have a process in place for them to be able to develop
as they can develop now.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay, that's what I was going
to ask, if the underlying zoning --
MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I've talked to
staff. It was not staff's intent to deprive anybody of any right
whatsoever, but when you have a document this comprehensive,
there may be unintended consequences. I'll put that savings clause in
when it comes back, and that will give assurances to the property
owners there that they're fine.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah. This will just go quickly.
Pam Brown has been before us before. Yes, they need housing, but
one thing she keeps stressing which seems not to have built, and that
is they need middle-income housing for teachers and nurses. There
are so many jobs that are -- that are out there that people hold, but
then they have to drive in because there is no housing right there, and
that would certainly elevate the tax income as well.
So we should make sure we focus on that. But as I said, the plan
can be adjusted as the people come in and attend these meetings, and
I think that they will.
MS. JENKINS: And we've certainly provided for that type of
housing to occur in Immokalee. So in Comprehensive Planning, we
can provide the opportunity, but then the developers and the investors
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need to really do the implementation portion of that vision.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding. And I think we're --
necessarily, we're all saying the same thing. Commissioner Taylor,
your suggestion with regard to the consultant and potential uses that
can come, the disparity and those who, in fact, pay ad valorem and
those who don't, those all need to be given due consideration as we're
allowing for the land-use changes. It's one of the reasons why I've
advocated since I became commissioner for a Land Development
Code for Immokalee proper, because we're so unique in our
community. I think Leo and I, we have that conversation almost
every two weeks with regard to that. So I think we're all saying the
same thing. I would like to see this plan go forward, have it
transmitted.
I want to thank, Anita, our staff, our community, the folks who
have participated since -- this has been an unbelievable open public
process with -- I remember Christie coming to our CRA meetings,
and she broke out the entire -- I mean, you know, that land
development -- that GMP stuff will bore the fuzz off of a peach, and
she would bring paragraph by paragraph in with suggested language
changes and involve the community as we were going through the
process. So thank you, Christie; thank you, Anita; thank you, Chris,
all the way across the board. I can't -- I just want to say thank you to
the entire community.
And with that, I'm going to make a motion for transmittal.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I don't have any other lights.
Is there any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
May 14, 2019
Page 73
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved. Thank you.
MS. JENKINS: Thank you.
MR. OCHS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, thank you.
With that, we're going to go to our next time certain.
Item #11F
THE AFTER- ACTION REPORT FOR THE 2019 FLORIDA
LEGISLATIVE SESSION AND PROVIDE GUIDANCE AS
PRELIMINARY PLANNING BEGINS FOR THE NEXT
LEGISLATIVE SESSION – MOTION TO ACCEPT THE AFTER
ACTION REPORT – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir. It's Item 11F, and this is a
recommendation to accept the after-action report for the 2019 Florida
legislative session.
Mr. John Mullins, your Government Affairs Manager, will kick
off the presentation.
MR. MULLINS: After a quick transition.
For the record, John Mullins, Government Affairs Manager
joined today by your very talented and capable Tallahassee lobbyist,
Lisa Hurley from Smith, Bryan, and Myers.
And we're here today to give you a flavor of the recent session
in Tallahassee just concluded a little more than a week ago, and give
you the after-action report and seek your input for 2020, which will
May 14, 2019
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have to begin immediately.
But first let's give you a little taste of the session itself. Like
most things that come out of my office, they come with a disclaimer,
and this is no exception. This one is the governor still has a lot of
time left on the veto clock. Most of the bills, almost 75 percent of the
bills that passed the legislature still have not been presented to the
governor. Once he has them now that they are out of session, he has
15 consecutive days in order to act. He can sign, veto, allow it to
become law after that 15 days without his signature.
But with all that time remaining, it could be early June at this
point. We don't know. He also has a trip coming up, I think, in Israel
that starts the 25th. So we'll probably see a slough of signings before
that trip, maybe a few after he returns.
Some quick statistics to give you an overall feel for how things
went: Nearly 3,500 bills were filed this session, which is about a
10 percent uptick from last year; 395 of those passed their first
chamber, and 197 are being sent to the governor. Now, even I can do
this math: 50 percent of the bills that passed only made it out of one
house and failed to get out of the other one. That's what that statistic
leads to.
There were 639 bills on the county tracking list, things that we
identified that could potentially impact county operations; 83 bills
that passed impact or are of interest to Collier County, so that's what
we're looking at on the back end.
Now we're going to look at this based on the legislative and
administrative priorities that you adopted in the fall by section, but
we'll try to do it as quickly as possible. Starting with the statutory
changes, we did save from expiration the toll revenue reimbursement
for the operational expenses of Mile Marker 63's public safety center.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Congratulations.
May 14, 2019
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MR. MULLINS: And that deal is eight years capped at
$1.4 million per year with a 10 percent local match, and this was a
big lift. It was actually the first thing that was ever handed to me
when I took this job in 2017, and this year we managed to get it
through, and that was, believe me, a huge team effort, an all-star cast,
and we do want to thank Majority Leader Passidomo; Rep Rommel,
who led it through their chambers; Chief Schuldt, who accompanied
Lisa at every committee stop to handle technical questions; Chief
Butcher; Len Price; Dan Summers; and this year we actually have to
thank FDOT and the Governor's Office because they negotiated in
good faith, and at the end of the day I think we arrived at something
that is fair and equitable to both sides, and I know Lisa probably has
some more comments on this.
MS. HURLEY: Thank you. Lisa Hurley. Thanks for having
me down.
Yeah, I just want to echo what John said was, you know, that
was -- you know, how we ended up was not how the bill started, but
that's not unusual in Tallahassee. But at the end of the day, I think
we got a good deal, a reasonable deal, but the difference really this
session was the change in leadership. We have a new secretary at
DOT. And unlike the previous session when Chair McDaniel were
up and Commissioner Solis, there was not a two-way conversation
that was happening with DOT.
We knew going in, in trying to get this extension for the toll
funding, that the department was just not a fan of funding this, so we
knew that that was a challenge going in. But I'm just -- it's so nice to
have new representation and leadership in Tallahassee. So it was a
great job by everyone.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It was great job. I would have
described it more as a stiff arm.
MS. HURLEY: Yeah.
May 14, 2019
Page 76
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's just me. Sorry.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That was last year. This year,
actually, the secretary actually even noted that, you know, that they
were silent during the committee -- they were there, but they didn't
say anything during the committees, so...
MR. MULLINS: Next up in statutory changes: Making texting
while driving a primary offense did pass. Starting July 1l, it be a
primary offense, and starting October 1, you must be hands free in
school and work zones with your digital devices.
Not everything went the way we had hoped. Emergency shelter
registration lists and the public records exemption did not make it;
however, when Governor DeSantis was here delivering the FEMA
check for the debris mission, Jared Moskowitz from FDEM and some
of his senior staff were here as well. They talked to us about this
particular issue and said they were going to start working on their
agency package in June, and we are invited to come to the table to
talk about things such as the protection of personal information.
So I don't like to end things on a down note if I can help it. So
that is your positive light at the end of the tunnel on this particular
issue.
Lisa?
MS. HURLEY: Well, I just feel like I probably owe you a little
bit more information on this. This is one of these issues that last
session, this issue flew through the House. It passed without a single
no vote. And what we weren't anticipating this year was resistance in
the House in light of what happened last year. And so, you know, it
was an issue that never got a lot of momentum. When we secured
sponsor for this, then we kind of ran into trouble trying to collect
enough information to prove that these public records requests rose to
the level of a statewide significance.
And even though this came off of Hurricane Irma, when it was
May 14, 2019
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passed in the House last year and we had Hurricane Michael, that
delegation in the panhandle this year, instead of policy changes and
how we respond to hurricanes, their focus this year was all about
funding. And I don't know if any one of you has had the opportunity
to be in the panhandle, but it is -- they were just devastated and --
unless you've been there in person and on the ground level. So their
focus was just how do we get people into homes and how do we get
supplies in and funding.
And so -- but to John's point, building on our meeting, Chair
McDaniel with Jared Moskowitz in Tallahassee, we've got a great
relationship there. And so we'll engage a lot earlier. And the hope
would be, he's going to come forward with a package this next
session, and that this issue will be a part of his package.
MR. MULLINS: Okay. Moving on. Funding streams. Things
that we try to look out for and protect. Well, this year there were
quite a few.
The Housing Trust Fund, your Sadowski Funds were funded at
$200 million, but 115 million of that was basically earmarked for
Hurricane Michael recovery. Governor DeSantis had recommended
about $338 million be appropriated for that.
Thirty-three million was provided for Florida Forever Land
Conservation, which is a significant drop from the record funding
they received last year of $101 million, but that's because they
haven't spent all that money yet. So they decided, the budget chairs,
to hold back a little bit more this year until those land purchases are
caught up.
Fifty million for beach restoration, which is kind of becoming
the norm; 25 million for septic to sewer wastewater treatment, and
we're going to talk about that more in a few minutes in regards to one
of our projects; 49 million for water projects, and we're going to talk
about one of those on the very next slide.
May 14, 2019
Page 78
Twenty million to combat harmful algal blooms, and that's in the
form of technology grants and the red tide mitigation task force; and
50 million for Visit Florida, which is about two-thirds of what they
received last year, but it's still a godsend for them, because they were
targeted for extinction by the House, and the House only backed off
that position in the final days of the legislative session.
Lisa, anything on this one?
MS. HURLEY: (Shakes head.)
MR. MULLINS: Your appropriations projects that we
submitted from the county: Plantation Island Hurricane Irma
waterway recovery, we did receive 312,500 appropriated in the
budget bill, final budget. The others weren't as lucky but, once again,
I don't like to end on a down note if we don't have to. Spay Collier, a
rural mobile veterinary clinic, has been funded by contributions from
the Humane Society from their Pet Lover Gala, so that one will move
forward.
Golden Gate City Outfall System may potentially be part of a
WIFIA application with the EPA as part of a larger project, and those
discussions are ongoing, and started with your trip to D.C. last year
when we met with the EPA to discuss this, and they were very keen
on the project.
Gordon River control structure replacement, there's an
application pending for $2.25 million in FEMA hazard mitigation
funds, and design work will begin in 2020.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Before you go on.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So what I'm understanding is
these still have to be signed. This is not --
MR. MULLINS: They are subject to line-item veto, yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay, good.
And so I was curious about the Plantation Island Hurricane Irma
May 14, 2019
Page 79
Waterway Recovery. I was surprised to see it that it even rose to a
level. Where did it come from and why?
MR. MULLINS: Well, it came from -- what we did when we
came to you before, you told us to add some more water projects and
such to our package. I think that was Commissioner Saunders'
request. We did so by asking Growth Management, you know, and
other departments, what was ripe. What can we move forward with
now that we have the local match and other things necessary to bring
to bear? And Plantation Island was one of those that was, number
one, outstanding from -- it was not qualifying for FEMA
reimbursement, so they hadn't received any help, so this was a way to
try to get them some help. So that was one of the reasons why that
one was recommended, specifically.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman, and I had
asked that there be some additional projects added, because I didn't
feel that the projects that we had listed were ones that would get
funded, and I thought that if we added something, that we'd have a
better shot at it.
MR. MULLINS: Right.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think the lesson is that we
need to focus a little bit more this coming session on projects that are
fundable. I mean, congratulations on getting this one. And we'll just
work on a list that is more likely to get funded.
MR. MULLINS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And then your septic to sewer,
20 million. What are we doing -- I mean, they can't even agree to
inspect septic tanks every five years for gosh sakes.
MR. MULLINS: Yeah, that regulation did fail. Most of the
water policy bills failed this session. So, yeah, mostly it was money
in the budget.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just one question on the
May 14, 2019
Page 80
septic to sewer. In past years, the septic to sewer was sort of
designated for communities that bordered on water areas like St.
Lucie County. And is that the same with this? I'm not sure if -- was
it a 25 million per septic?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Twenty.
MR. MULLINS: It's 25 million, and actually we're getting
ready to talk about it more on the next slide.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, okay.
MR. MULLINS: And moving on, the resolutions of support,
Naples Bay red tide septic tank mitigation project received
$1.2 million appropriated in the budget bill, and that allows them to
do some more septic-to-sewer conversion and allows Collier County
to make simultaneous stormwater improvements during that.
Unfortunately, we were not able to get Everglade City's wastewater
plant --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's the most incredible thing
that I've ever -- I mean, when you see the -- what happened?
MR. MULLINS: Well, there are several things that happened.
Number one, a $5 million request is an extraordinary request on a
project appropriations. Most of the requests that were funded had a
sweet spot between zero dollars and about 1.5 million. So we were
well outside the norm.
Now, Everglades City is well outside the norm, too, in their
circumstances. And we tried all we could when we visited
Tallahassee to make that point. But the bright side is, there are still
federal grants being pursued through CDBGDR and, to
Commissioner Saunders' point, the DEP grant program that received
the $25 million, we should have those program parameters coming
soon from DEP, and that will be applied to as well by Everglades
City to try to get the $5 million from that $25 million pot, but we still
don't have the specifics of that grant program. It was just a direct
May 14, 2019
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appropriation. Lisa may have some more information on that, too.
MS. HURLEY: Yeah. Well -- and I think, Commissioner
Saunders, you raised a very good point on the appropriations projects
that we present to the legislature for funding.
You know, in my eyes and how I look at it, I viewed the
Alligator Alley, the toll funding, as an appropriations project. So we
had six projects, and we accomplished three of them, all three fully
funded, so -- because the Spay Clinic, that was funded because we
even obtained a sponsor in Tallahassee so -- with the benevolence of
your citizens here, which was outstanding.
But, you know, the one project -- I think, the Gordon River
project, part of that project that we sent to Tallahassee relied in part
on a significant amount of funding from the federal government.
That we haven't received yet, and so when, you know, the
legislature's analyzing what projects to fund and they're looking at
our requests for half a million dollars, well, they're -- you know, it's
contingent on us being able to use that money by us getting the
federal funds that we don't have yet.
Now, can we go back when we get the federal funds, would that
be a project that I think that they would view differently? Because
we can say, hey, this is shovel ready.
So projects that are not contingent on other fundings sources,
money you already have that you can use and that are shovel ready,
for lack of a better term, are the projects, I think, that we should be
looking at in looking to the state for support.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thus the challenge with the
Everglades City wastewater, because we don't have -- we didn't have
the grants. We weren't pursuing that.
MS. HURLEY: That was part of it. And I will tell you there
were -- in the list of water projects where this would have been
funded, there were some wastewater treatment plants and some
May 14, 2019
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septic-to-sewer projects that were funded, not a lot of them, but the
legislature was looking at this newly funded wastewater treatment
plant grant program, $25 million. And so we have communicated to
Everglades City and Mayor Grimm who -- by the way, you know,
Mayor Grimm came up. He worked with Chair McDaniel and
Commissioner Solis in our meetings, and we finally got to the
place -- and I think it was just a little late in session -- where we even
got the department to sign off on the plan. That wasn't the case when
the project was first submitted as an appropriations request.
So that one was just a little late. But we're good now, and we
actually have DEP's approval on the plan as we know it now. So our
job is to work really closely with DEP over the next couple months as
they stand up this grant program, and I think what's most important to
Everglades City is that that DEP be willing to waive any local match
requirement for municipalities like them that can't afford it.
So they certainly have the direction to do it, because no
language was attached to that bucket of money. There were some
proviso that made it in the budget conference but never made it into
the budget itself. So DEP's got just an open book to write this
program.
So that's where I think we could be most effective as it relates to
Everglades City in this is that don't require a local match for cities
like Everglades City.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And, please, when I was
exclaiming about Everglades City not being funded, it was never a
criticism to you --
MS. HURLEY: Oh, no.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- or my colleagues who went up
there. It was more astonishment. Here's this Everglades City right in
the Everglades --
MS. HURLEY: Right.
May 14, 2019
Page 83
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- and we're trying to clean up
the Everglades, et cetera, et cetera. So thank you very much for your
explanation.
MS. HURLEY: I get it. And I've seen the -- and I've not been
out there to visit the site, but I've certainly seen the pictures and
talked at length with Mayor Grimm and, of course, Chair McDaniel
and -- you know, and Senator Passidomo. And they know --
everyone knows how dire this is. I mean, DEP, right? They know
better than anyone.
And so it would be the expectation that we've got a good partner
in DEP now and that they'll put us at the top of the list for this grant
program.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. MULLINS: All right. Continuing on. And I know Dr.
Morgan was here earlier.
The IFAS irrigation and drainage system improvements project
was not awarded in either the House or Senate budget documents.
Administrative actions. Robert's Ranch should be reached on their
historic commission ranked funding list to receive $455,000 for their
application to do the stabilization and rehabilitation of the home.
And Margood Cottages should be reached on their ranking list for
their $50,000 small matching grant application. So that's another
couple of good-news items in funding.
Issues to monitor from your priorities list, and there are quite a
few here. I will point out just a few: Mental-health and substance
abuse. Some of the highlights there, specifically, 83 million to
combat opioids; 75 million for school mental-health services. But
there are also, too -- Lisa brought some new figures compiled from
the budget. There is community mental-health services through
AHCA, $500 million, which is a $200 million increase; DCF's
community health services, $300 million, which is a $20 million
May 14, 2019
Page 84
increase; substance abuse, $300 million, which is about an
$80 million increase, for a total of about $300 million improvements
in mental-health funding. So it was a good session, I think, for
mental-health financing and substance abuse.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You got the mental-health thing
done yet?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm working on it.
MR. MULLINS: Also I would point out, offshore drilling, the
House and Senate passed resolutions supporting an indefinite
extension on the moratorium for drilling in the eastern gulf and, as an
aside, the Department of the Interior on the federal level has basically
shelved its plans to release any plans for the future of drilling until
after the 2020 election.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Imagine that.
MR. MULLINS: That one's going to be a little while.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you, Congressman
Rooney.
MR. MULLINS: Of course, you already know the CRA bill
passed, but it's only limited reforms dealing with ethics and
accountability. No more countywide referendum or supermajority to
create or extend the CRA, which is good news.
And then, of course, down at the bottom, you have home rule,
and we always have a few of these bills, and actually this
presentation was filed before the very last one there, the five-year
moratorium and study on plastic straw bans. That was vetoed on
Friday by the governor, but the tree trimming and front yard
vegetable garden preemptions, they're still there.
Any questions on any of these items or any observations?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. Could you tell me -- you had
just talked about the CRA, and would you say your sentence again
after that.
May 14, 2019
Page 85
MR. MULLINS: After the CRAs in lieu -- or in regards to
them?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah.
MR. MULLINS: Basically, what they did is they passed ethics
and accountability; posting of budgets on your website, different
timelines for those submittals, and they also went in and took out
some onerous language that was in the first bill on the House side
that dealt with doing a countywide referendum if you wanted to
create a CRA.
And one of the examples that was given, which was very
interesting was Broward County. If you had one city that wanted to
create a CRA in Broward County, you'd have 19 to 20 other cities
voting on that with the countywide referendum, and that just didn't
really seem that fair.
And there was also a supermajority too; two-thirds vote to create
or extend them. Now it's just a simple majority to do so in the final
bill. So those were the changes.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: You also said something about the
extension of them.
MR. OCHS: No, they didn't deal with that.
MR. MULLINS: Yeah. No, they didn't deal with the extension.
I didn't mention that.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay.
MR. MULLINS: Lastly, some notables; some things that
weren't on the tracking list but did make it through. Of course, you
know about the impact fee bill that we discussed at a previous BCC
meeting, and there was some affordable housing language
encompassed in a comprehensive community development bill that
we are going through that deals with that inclusionary zoning
ordinances, and we can talk as much or as little about that as you
would like.
May 14, 2019
Page 86
The coastal management bill, we finally have the four-tiered
DEP scoring system that we've been trying to get for the last several
years to deal with ranking beach management and erosion control
projects.
Transportation, President Galvano's turnpike package includes a
road from Polk County to Collier County. That's pending the
governor. Actually, it was presented to him, I believe, yesterday.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, okay.
MR. MULHERE: So he has 15 days to make a decision on that
one.
And then also bills dealing with 5G rollout and local tax
referenda. As you recall, we had the one-cent sales tax. Now it can
only be held during a general election, and the audit process that we
went through the last time has now been formalized in code.
And with that, we are open to any other questions, comments,
recommendations for 2020. We have an earlier start to committee
weeks this year and probably a delegation meeting that may start as
early as late October. So I know you have a break in the middle of
summer. If you have some ideas for policies that need changed,
things that you would like to see accomplished in the next year, if
you have them before the summer break, that gives a head start. If
you don't, we'll take them in September when you come back, and
we'll try to get them through.
Also, everything that passed that we deemed could have an
impact to Collier County operations are contained in this potential
impact report that I emailed out to your staff, the County Attorney,
the department heads, I believe just about everyone, the Clerk. So
this has been provided to you. It has links to the enrolled bills, a
summary of each bill, the vote on each bill. So you have that as a
reference.
And if you have any questions about it, please let me know;
May 14, 2019
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otherwise, once again, questions.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Would you put up that last list that
you just had up there, the very last one.
MR. MULLINS: Notables?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes, and the transportation. I don't
know -- I've read about this a couple times about somebody wanting
the transportation between Polk County and Collier County, but I
don't understand. What kind of transportation are they -- it says
turnpike package. What --
MR. MULLINS: It's a toll road proposal. Initially during
session it was presented as a study to create these toll roads. By the
end of session, it was toll roads, not a study.
And this is something that is drawing some fire from some
environmental groups and others that aren't too happy with the
proposals, and it will be a very interesting test of Governor DeSantis
in his relations as he would like to see them for the future with the
Senate, since this was the Senate president's big package; this was his
product.
And Lisa may have some other ideas on this as well.
MS. HURLEY: The only thing that I would add is before, you
know, anyone's throwing down any new pavement, there's task force
that will be set up through the bill to study the issues of where the
road should actually go and the environmental concerns and all of
those things, and there are to be representatives from every agency
under the sun, and including local government representations for --
in the areas where the roads will, in theory, go.
So we're a while off and away from it, and there's going to be a
lot of opportunities for your input along the way, but I think it's
coming.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: It was so funny, because Polk
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County never seemed to want to come to Collier County. Why did
they choose those two cities? I have no conclusion for that.
MR. MULLINS: Great tourism advertising on your part.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: John, I want to tell you what a --
MR. MULLINS: Pickleball.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- great job you've done and what
fun it is listening to your presentation.
And, Lisa, I'm so glad you're on board. Thank you very much.
MR. MULLINS: I am a glorified tour guide. This is the brains
of the operation right here. And I will give her the greatest
compliment a lobbyist can give another lobbyist, which is, I am glad
she is on our side.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I, too, want to thank Lisa and
her firm and our staff for a job well done; a great report from both of
you.
And it's not too early to start, as you've said, looking at 2020.
The session's going to start early. I guess it starts the first week of
February is that --
MR. MULLINS: January 14th.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Oh, I'm sorry, the second
week of January.
And one of the issues that we've talked about, and you set up a
meeting with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and there's a little
bit of an update. At that time we were definitive in terms of having
the $30 million available through the sales tax. In terms of the land,
we were a little bit questionable as to whether or not -- where this
could potentially go. But we're moving forward on the acquisition of
the Golden Gate Golf Course, which is only a few miles from a
hospital and close to a clinic that's being built in that area.
So I think we have both the land and the local match, and I'd like
May 14, 2019
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to accelerate or conversations our continue our conversations with the
Department of Veterans Affairs on how we can move forward with
this. I know there's going to be a lot of competition for any funding
that's available, and I'd like to be at the top of that list with this. So if
we could move that along.
MS. HURLEY: Absolutely, and that's great news. And what I
would suggest, and I think the department would definitely be open
to it, let's bring them down for a site visit, you know, as soon as you
think you're ready. I don't know if all the due diligence has been
done on the property, but...
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It looks like we may close on
that property in June, I believe, is the --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: It will be in front of you in June, sir.
Probably a month or 60 days after that.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. So this summer we'll
likely close on that, and then -- so meeting anytime after that would
be good.
MS. HURLEY: I think that's a great idea, yes. Let's bring them
down.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: On that note there was another
county that was applying for funding for a study. Did that funding
get put through?
MS. HURLEY: Nor, it did not.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Imagine that. Outstanding. Thank
you. That was -- that was critical.
MS. HURLEY: Yes, it was.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Look at the smiles.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
MS. HURLEY: If I may, I just want to thank all of you, thank
you very much for of the opportunity to represent this great county in
Tallahassee, and I actually got to venture out to your other cities, too.
May 14, 2019
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It was a great collaborative effort this year. In addition to Chair
McDaniel and Commissioner Solis, and we had Commissioner
Taylor up for a day, but we also had -- from the City of Naples, we
had Vice Mayor Gary Price, and we had Councilperson Terry
Hutchison coming up to help support the $1.2 million fundings for
their -- the combined project, and then, of course, Mayor Grimm.
So I got to see all kinds of new elected officials in Tallahassee
just helping to support your whole program, and it was an impressive
effort. And your delegation is very strong in Tallahassee.
You know, Senator Passidomo, she works tirelessly for the
county, and Representative Rommel and Donalds, they have risen
into the ranks of leadership in the House. So every year their voices
get stronger. And I just have to say that our new addition
representative, Anna Maria Rodriguez, she's just delightful. She's so
eager to help, and she was very helpful this year to us, and I think
she's a rising star, too.
So, I think the future is bright for Collier County. So thank you
very much.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, if I could get a motion to accept the
after-action report, please.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So move.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we accept the after-action report. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
May 14, 2019
Page 91
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
Item #9A
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NUMBER 04-41,
AS AMENDED, THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND
DEVELOPMENT CODE, WHICH INCLUDES THE
COMPREHENSIVE LAND REGULATIONS FOR THE
UNINCORPORATED AREA OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA,
TO ALLOW COMMUNICATIONS TOWERS AS A
CONDITIONAL USE IN THE RURAL FRINGE MIXED USE
SENDING LANDS AND CONSERVATION DISTRICT; BY
PROVIDING FOR: SECTION ONE, RECITALS; SECTION TWO,
FINDINGS OF FACT; SECTION THREE, ADOPTION OF
AMENDMENTS TO THE LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, MORE
SPECIFICALLY AMENDING THE FOLLOWING: CHAPTER
TWO - ZONING DISTRICTS AND USES, INCLUDING SECTION
2.01.03 ESSENTIAL SERVICES AND SECTION 2.03.08 RURAL
FRINGE ZONING DISTRICTS, AND SECTION 2.03.09 OPEN
SPACE DISTRICT; SECTION FOUR, CONFLICT AND
SEVERABILITY; SECTION FIVE, INCLUSION IN THE
COLLIER COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE; AND
SECTION SIX, EFFECTIVE DATE – APPROVED (1ST
READING)
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, I think we can dispose of Item 9A
here rather quickly, if you don't mind taking that item at this time.
It's a recommendation to amend the Collier County Land
May 14, 2019
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Development Code to allow communications towers as a conditional
use in the rural fringe mixed-use sending lands and conservation
district.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'd like to make a motion to
accept this amendment because we don't really have a choice.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I'll second it. We always have
choices, but I like the idea.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, not on this one.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: This flies right in line with what
I've been talking about with cell service being an essential service
and everything that we can possibly do.
MR. OCHS: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Any other discussion? Do you
want to have Mr. Bosi give us a presentation?
MR. OCHS: No, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
So moved.
MR. OCHS: Mike, are you taking 9B as well?
MR. BOSI: Yes
Item #9B
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NUMBER 04-41,
May 14, 2019
Page 93
AS AMENDED, THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND
DEVELOPMENT CODE, WHICH INCLUDES THE
COMPREHENSIVE LAND REGULATIONS FOR THE
UNINCORPORATED AREA OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA,
TO CREATE THE PLANTATION ISLAND OVERLAY WHICH
WILL ALLOW SINGLE-FAMILY DETACHED DWELLING
UNITS AS PERMITTED USES IN ADDITION TO THE USES
PERMITTED BY THE UNDERLYING ZONING DISTRICT; BY
PROVIDING FOR: SECTION ONE, RECITALS; SECTION TWO,
FINDINGS OF FACT; SECTION THREE, ADOPTION OF
AMENDMENTS TO THE LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, MORE
SPECIFICALLY AMENDING THE FOLLOWING: CHAPTER
TWO - ZONING DISTRICTS AND USES, INCLUDING SECTION
2.03.07 OVERLAY ZONING DISTRICTS; SECTION FOUR
CONFLICT AND SEVERABILITY; SECTION FIVE, INCLUSION
IN THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE;
AND SECTION SIX, EFFECTIVE DATE – APPROVED (1ST
READING)
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chair and Commissioners, this is -- Item 9B is
an amendment proposed for your Collier County Land Development
Code to create the Plantation Island overlay which will allow
single-family detached dwelling units as permitted uses in addition to
the uses permitted by the underlying zoning district. This was an
item that the Board had directed based on a public petition several
months ago. We can make a presentation or answer questions at this
time.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We have public speakers.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Oh, we do.
MR. OCHS: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: How many --
May 14, 2019
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MR. MILLER: Two.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We have two public speakers.
MR. MILLER: Grady Johnson, Jr., and Grady Johnson, Sr.
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: Good afternoon, Commissioners. I
wanted to come up and just thank you guys for addressing this issue
and Mr. Bosi for all his hard work and everything. The last meeting
we were at was with the zoning board, and they passed it 5-0, and I
just wanted to thank you guys for your attention on this matter.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Absolutely.
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: And I appreciate everything you all are
doing.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, sir.
MR. MILLER: And Grady Johnson, Sr.
MR. JOHNSON, SR.: Same for me. It's been quite a little run
in the wake up call on it, but I appreciate everybody stepping to the
plate, and hoping you'll pass this thing so it will correct the issue
down there and give the same people down there the same
opportunity as everybody else here in Collier County.
And, like I say, for me, the big thing, this is my grandbabies.
He's fixing to build a house for my grandbabies, a good one.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: There you go.
MR. JOHNSON, SR.: And that's the biggest and most
important thing to me right at this point.
But, no, again, I want to thank staff and thank everybody. Like I
say, it opened up a little unique situation and -- but, anyhow, it's
come through. So again, thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Grady.
Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: With that, I'll make a motion that
we accept staff's recommendation and make the necessary
May 14, 2019
Page 95
amendments to the LDC as proposed.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So move.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, he seconded.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm sorry. I'm asleep here.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, you haven't.
It's moved and seconded we approve staff's recommendation and
make the necessary adjustments. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
You want to go to lunch?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: We've still got three minutes. I bet
we could get two more subjects done.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We will be back at 1 o'clock.
(A luncheon recess was had.)
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good afternoon, everyone. I hope
you had a nice lunch.
County Manager, where do you want to go first?
Item #7
May 14, 2019
Page 96
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA
MR. OCHS: I'd like to go to No. 7, please, public comments on
general topics not on the current or future agenda. I believe we
have one speaker registered.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, we have one registered speaker,
Garrett Beyrent.
MR. BEYRENT: Good afternoon, Commissioners.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good afternoon, Garrett. How are
you?
MR. BEYRENT: This is the second annual pickleball award
ceremony. If you remember last year I was at the -- I was cleaning
up, because that's all they let me do anyway. But I was cleaning up
the pickleball stuff after the extravaganza, and I got a few old
pickleballs, and I made one of them into a nightlight -- actually a
nightlight, and I gave it to Commissioner Taylor --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
MR. BEYRENT: -- because -- I only spent about a dollar
putting it together. And long story short, I noticed there was
thousands of these used pickleballs. I didn't know you wore them out
in one game. But I thought, if we could keep these pickles here and
make little nightlights out of them and give them to kids in
Immokalee, and they could make them with a dollar -- I'll donate the
lights. I get them at Walmart for a dollar. And put the kids to work.
And I missed the boat last year because I didn't get with parks
and rec. It would have been a great project for little kids out in
Immokalee to learn how to put them together. It's not that hard. It's
like one screw, the pickleball, and the little light. It's a no-brainer. I
could even do it. I did, like, five of them.
So long and short is you're being awarded, once again. A gave
May 14, 2019
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you paddles the first time around, but it was illegal for you to get
expensive paddles even though I bought cheap ones.
Anyhow, we'll get on with the ceremony, okay. The first
award's going to Burt Saunders.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Mark, have you checked his bag?
Is it okay?
MR. BEYRENT: They check it downstairs. Mary checks it
personally. Are you kidding?
So, anyhow, the first award -- as you remember, last time I was
here Burt got that Sicilian award. It's actually from the runner; the
guy that passed on. But John. I bought that lamp -- that trophy, it's
solid brass, from John who's the only Sicilian that's at the farmers
market, and Burt's come to the farmers market with his son several
times. And we had a few ideas came out of that.
So the first thing I'm going to give you is -- can you catch that
far away? Maybe we could pass it. Nick could take it. This is --
okay.
I changed them a little bit on the front. Instead of saying the
U.S. championships, we want to keep pickleball here, right? We
don't want Jimmy Buffett and those guys, the big companies taking
them away because, unfortunately, they tend to, like, want to sit on
front porches and smoke marijuana and drink beer and stuff, and we
don't want little kids doing that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You've got 30 seconds.
MR. BEYRENT: Oh, God. Thanks. Thirty seconds? You just
delayed me by two seconds.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Your little yellow light just came
on.
MR. BEYRENT: Anyhow, I will give out the awards and
explain them as I give them out in my two seconds, okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I figured out how to turn it on.
May 14, 2019
Page 98
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Oh, yeah.
MR. BEYRENT: You've got to do it in the dark, though. This
is No. 2. You watched No. 1.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You have to be quick.
MR. BEYRENT: This is yours. Jennifer Edwards gave this to
me. This is a very cool one. This is the new one, the replacement.
And now that's just not a nightlight. That also is a gel dispenser.
You keep it by your bed, and if somebody attacks you at night, you
push and squirt them. This really works. That way it's a defense
mechanism, too. It lights up. And when somebody attacks you in
your room, okay.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I want to know, is it pepper spray?
MR. BEYRENT: It's pepper gel. The spray will make
everybody sick.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're within realm.
MR. BEYRENT: I had a meeting this morning with --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Quickly, sir. Quickly, sir. There's
a lot of people waiting on this.
MR. BEYRENT: And I'm not going to talk to you because you
spend too much money.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Andy, you don't get a prize?
Apparently not.
MR. BEYRENT: That's for you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm not -- it's just --
MR. KLATZKOW: I'll use it in my eight-track device.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You've fallen out of favor.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I guess.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis is a little bit
hurt. Just --
MR. BEYRENT: I've got to deal with him.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Commissioner Solis did not
May 14, 2019
Page 99
get anything?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Then, I'll tell you what. I'll
loan you this.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's okay. I wouldn't want to --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Let's move on.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'll do rock, paper, scissors
with you.
Item #11E
THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO ADVERTISE AND BRING
BACK FOR A PUBLIC HEARING AN ORDINANCE TO BE
KNOWN AS “THE COLLIER COUNTY PROPERTY ASSESSED
CLEAN ENERGY (PACE) CONSUMER PROTECTION
ORDINANCE.” - MOTION TO CONTINUE TO THE SECOND
MEETING IN JUNE – APPROVED; MOTION TO RECONSIDER
VOTE – APPROVED; MOTION TO CONTINUE TO THE FIRST
MEETING IN JUNE – APPROVED; MOTION TO BRING BACK
AN AGENDA ITEM AT NEXT MEETING (MAY 28TH) TO
DISCUSS THE CONTINUATION OF THE RESIDENTIAL
PORTION OF THE PACE PROGRAM – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, we move on to Item 11E. This
was an item that was marked to be heard no sooner than 1 p.m. It's a
recommendation to direct the County Attorney to advertise and bring
back for a public hearing an ordinance to be known as the Collier
County Property Assessed Clean Energy Consumer Protection
Ordinance.
Mr. French, your Deputy Department Head with Growth
Management Department, will present.
May 14, 2019
Page 100
MR. MILLER: And, Mr. Chairman, we have 14 registered
speakers for this item.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Where are they?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, let's -- I don't know. Do we
want to hear the presentation from staff, or do you want to go straight
to the public speakers?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'd like to hear the ordinance and
how you've changed it. I think that's important. If I've got agreement
here.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Fine by me.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I mean, it was my intent that we not
go through this with specifics today, hear from the public, and then
continue the item per what Commissioner Solis had suggested early
on so that we all had an opportunity to weigh in and make discussion.
I mean, I personally don't really -- until this rendition of this
ordinance came before us in this agenda, I wasn't talked to about it at
all. So I want an opportunity to give my comments independent and
not sitting here right now.
So I'm -- I mean, if you want to hear the presentation from staff,
we can hear the presentation from staff. It's just -- it's not something
that -- I'm personally not interested in hearing from staff right now.
I'd rather us go through the ordinance once we actually have had an
opportunity to make comment and vote on something.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But there was three weeks
between this last meeting and this meeting.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm not disputing the fact of the
timeline that transpired between the last time we had this discussion
and what we're talking about today, Commissioner. What I'm talking
about today is I did not know that Mr. French was working on this
until I had another meeting with him on a separate item that this was
being done. I did not see this rendition of this ordinance until it came
May 14, 2019
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out in the public venue as of midnight last week.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Then we would need to see it
because --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- it hasn't been seen before. And
you haven't even seen this one, then that means it's changed, so...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It has changed significantly.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Then we should hear it.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I agree. I think this is a public
hearing, and that's what we need, to follow the process. I would like
to hear it. I'd like this discuss -- I think the people that are in our
community would like to hear what changes are being proposed.
That's all.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Then proceed, Mr. French.
MR. FRENCH: Good afternoon, Commissioners. For the
record, my name's Jamie French. I'm your Deputy Department Head
for the Growth Management Department.
Commissioners, perhaps as we go through the presentation, if
there's something that you don't care for and you'd like to give some
guidance where -- certainly, Claudine Auclair, our business center
manager from Growth Management, is here as well. She's helped me
do a great deal of research outside of Collier County and the state of
Florida to come up with these consumer protections that staff
believes is what we heard from the Board, the direction from the
Board. So we apologize if not, but we'll go through this presentation
as it's written.
So the direction of the Board, we held a stakeholder meeting,
and we requested feedback from the PACE industry, the public, the
City of Naples, Habitat for Humanity, and the Collier Building
Industry Association. That meeting was held on April 2nd, 2019.
There was roughly about 40 participants that were invited, and we
May 14, 2019
Page 102
believe there may have been in person and on phone somewhere
around 28.
We provided a 10-day comment period seeking enhanced
consumer protections and best practices that any of the participants
had identified throughout the state of Florida or in the country.
Reporting information was requested and provided by each PACE
provider so that we better understand the program that they're
currently operating under.
Additional research was performed to determine the current
program as it's written, as it's practiced, and the current activity.
So here's some recommended consumer protections and
enhancements. And feel free to stop me along the way if you have
any questions.
A qualifying improvement. The state defines a qualifying
improvement, but it must be permitted under this ordinance and
comply with all applicable Florida laws and county codes, to include
your Land Development Code as well as the Florida Building Code.
Contractors must be licensed. They must qualify for the
improvements that they would be performing and they must be
properly insured.
Contract pricing. We ask that the PACE providers provide
pricing rules and enforcement mechanisms on their behalf, not on the
county's behalf, to avoid excessive and unjustified pricing and
charges.
We asked for almost a contractor's management, kind of a bill of
rights, so to speak, as far as what consumer protections were
established and what the consumer could expect. We asked that only
locally licensed contractors be recruited, if available, establish that
code of contact, train all PACE program contractors so that they're all
saying the same things and speaking what the company is instituted
and what they're selling.
May 14, 2019
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Contractors must be properly licensed. It's reiterated several
times throughout ordinance. The PACE provider would provide an
annual contractor compliance check to make sure that they are
following the rules. The PACE provider will provide a list of all of
approved licensed contractors to the client to ensure that the most
competitive price is available.
The contractor would also provide the homeowner with full
warranty disclosures so that in the event that they were to sell their
home and someone else were to come along, and let's say they had a
problem, whether it was a roof or an air-conditioner, the PACE
provider would keep that on file, and then that way that customer
would know even though -- would know, even though it was a
change of ownership, the warranty would still apply.
Also, the PACE provider would provide an estimate savings --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Hang on a second, Jamie.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Wait, wait. Who's going to keep
the warranty information?
MR. FRENCH: The warranty information would be provided to
the homeowner, but the PACE provider would have that on file.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And the requisite that -- I'm sorry.
Continue on.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. FRENCH: There would be an estimate savings provided to
the property owner within -- on the qualified improvements, such as,
if you were to replace ductwork or other mechanical work in the
event that you were really trying to -- beyond hardening the home,
but to save energy, if it was available, they would show you through
those calculations, load calculations, how you would be able to save
money.
There would be coordination between electric service providers
and the contractor for the installation of solar panels. And the reason
May 14, 2019
Page 104
why we put that is that we did hear a story of solar panels being
installed but never hooked up, and so the consumer never received
the benefit of getting the payback off the solar panels.
The PACE assessment against the property owner would not be
processed until the qualifying repair was done, completed, and a
certificate of completion was issued by the county.
There's a five-day disclosure notice of the following: The total
debt and interest rate; the PACE assessment will appear on your
annual tax bill; the qualified improvement may or may not affect the
property value; a failure-to-pay disclosure, what that process would
look like; risk of future sale or refinancing the property and how that
might impact the homeowner; the right to cancel within three days,
which is standard throughout the state of Florida; required
acknowledgments and signature sections; and all documents to be
signed and provided to the owner.
Customer service. We've identified that we'd like to see a
transparent customer feedback and complaint process, defined
dispute resolution process, reporting and record requirements, so that
if an audit was requested by the county, they would be subject to
Chapter 119 of Florida public records laws. And then also a full
accounting of PACE assessment made available to the property
owner upon request.
Now, with some residential property requirements beyond
commercial, what we identified is that the PACE provider and the
owner would have to seek a mortgage holder consent to the PACE
financing agreement. The total amount of any property tax and
assessments do not exceed 5 percent of the fair market value. And
we saw that in Pasco County.
Property owners attest that the total amount of annual PACE
assessment does not exceed 5 percent of their annual gross income.
And if you remember, Mr. Chairman, you spoke about you wanted
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more emphasis put on the ability for the property owner to repay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's correct.
MR. FRENCH: We think this captures that. The PACE
provider is responsible for all matters associated with the origination,
funding, financing, collection, and administration of each special
assessment.
Reporting documents, as I said before, we're asking that all of
their records be deemed as public record in accordance with the
Florida Statute.
And a 10-day written request from the county or the PACE
provider should supply the county any and all records produced,
maintained by the PACE provider, its employees, contractors, or
consultants.
The penalty section is the same as it was presented to you
earlier. There's -- a violation of any provision of this ordinance shall
be punishable of a fine not to exceed $500. It would follow the
county's consolidated code enforcement ordinance, so it would go
through a public meeting. And violations shall be considered a
substantial breach of a standard membership agreement and grounds
for termination by the Board. It would be the decision of the Board.
So as I said earlier, we went back and we just looked at the
activity. And if you notice, you see the different names of the
organizations. There's four PACE providers in Collier County. And
underneath their name in parentheses you'll see a number of 2019.
The 2019 represents the business that they did this year. It's not yet
been filed with the Tax Collector or the Property Appraiser.
So this is what they've reported to us; whereas, with Ygrene, we
know this is information we gathered from the tax collector and from
Ygrene so that we could go back and do a comparative analysis on
was a permit pulled, what was the value of the job, what was the job,
what's the status of the permit.
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And, of course, with the 2019 numbers, what you see is these
have not been filed yet, so no payment has been made by the property
owner; whereas, the Ygrene we did go back to look just to determine
who's made payment who has defaulted. I believe there was only one
that had not made payment.
So under this consideration, we believe that the ordinance
assures additional customer protections that provide information and
options to the participating property owners, it supports a competitive
pricing practice, and it protects against unlicensed and unpermitted
activities.
Violations, of course, would be punishable through the Collier
County Code Enforcement ordinance, and our recommendation is
that you adopt this ordinance.
I'm happy to answer any questions, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Can you go back to the slides of
the -- and one of the things that I'd like to understand -- and I don't
know that we can do this today, because I'd like to have it in a
comparable form is -- no, no. Farther back. Keep going. Keep
going.
All of these consumer protections that have been added to the
ordinance, I'd like to have a comparison of the PACE consumer
protection items that we're adding to the ordinance compared to the
consumer protection avenues or requirements in conventional
financing because, again, I'm looking at this as this is an alternative
that for some people may be of benefit, and I want to understand, are
we making requirements to the use of this that doesn't exist anywhere
else? And if we are, why are we doing that?
I mean, I'm pretty certain that a bank that gives a construction
loan to someone or an equity line for someone to fix their
air-conditioning or their roof, say, isn't saddled with having to keep
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the warranty information for future owners of the property. I mean, I
think -- I've never heard of that, and I don't think that requirement
exists.
So I would really like to know, compared to conventional
financing where, if anywhere, do some of these consumer protection
items exist or are they required in a -- put it this way: Are they
required in a conventional financing scenario with a commercial
lender or are they not?
I think -- and it just -- you know, yes, no, yes, no on the list, that
would help me make an informed decision as to whether or not we're,
essentially, throwing the baby out with the bathwater by making this
a program that nobody's going to want to be involved in.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Or can be.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Or can be, right.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Are you done?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Mr. French, if you'd go back to
the slide that talked about the income, the improvements can't be any
greater than 5 percent of the income. Is that it? Okay. Yeah, there
we are.
Okay. So a homeowner is sold a $80,000 roof. It's more than
5 percent of their income.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The roof has been installed. The
papers, everything's been signed. How do we go and address this for
the homeowner? How do we help the homeowner in this case?
MR. FRENCH: Thank you. So, ma'am, the $80,000 number
would be a big roof, but that $80,000 number would be spread out
over a 20-year period. There would be origination fees, of course
there would be interest, and then whatever the filing fees would be.
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So this is simply an attestation that basically backs that annual
payment into what their attested income would be. So we're asking
them to limit that to a 5 percent.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But if they don't. If they don't.
MR. FRENCH: Under this ordinance they'd be in violation.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And then what do we do?
MR. FRENCH: It would go in front of the Collier County Code
Enforcement Board if there was a fine.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Fined $500. I mean, I want to
be one of those contractors. I would make so much money if you're
only going to fine me $500.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: But can I ask you a question. The
attestation isn't from the contractor; it's from the owner.
MR. FRENCH: That's right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: If the owner lies about it, you're
going to hold the contractor or a PACE provider responsible for the
owner misstating their income?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Absolutely not, but I can hold a
PACE provider or contractor responsible for ignoring our ordinance,
and that's where I'm going. Because I think it plays both ways. And
I think there will be some testimony today that shows that very
clearly that there have been people taken advantage of.
So what I'm saying is if we have a situation where the contract --
the ordinance passed and -- how do we -- how do we rectify the
unfair practice against a homeowner in the case of an $80,000
house -- a roof on a house that's 200 -- what is it -- 2,000 square feet?
MR. FRENCH: So, Commissioner --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Shingle.
MR. FRENCH: So to Commissioner Solis' point, he's
absolutely right, we would not go against the contractor or the PACE
provider in the event that the property owner, for lack of a better
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term, didn't tell the truth.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But if they told the truth.
MR. FRENCH: If they told the truth and then it was shown and
they were challenged, again, we would follow the ordinance;
however --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But what do we do for the
homeowner who's got this roof installed? What do we do -- how
heavy a hammer is this? I think where I'm going with this is I don't
think we can protect the people in Collier County.
MR. FRENCH: Ma'am, I would only say is that it would be
considered a violation, and the Board could consider --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Five-hundred dollar fine.
MR. FRENCH: Or removing that PACE provider from the
program.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah, I don't have any
problem -- and I'm looking forward to hearing the comments from the
public. I don't have any problem with an ordinance, a
consumer-protection ordinance. I think those are fairly common.
This one, though, seems to be designed to eliminate the
program, and let me just give you one example. If you'll go back to
the residential property requirement slide, the one that Commissioner
Taylor was referring to. The first one there, mortgage holder consent
to PACE financing agreement and PACE assessment. Pursuant to
Florida Statutes, the PACE assessment is superior to the mortgage.
No mortgage company's going to consent, so that kills the residential
program, and that's just one item in there.
So I know we're going to be continuing this to talk about it some
more, and I want to hear from the public, but this type of condition
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basically kills the program, and if that's the goal of staff, then that's
fine.
MR. FRENCH: It's not our goal. I'm sorry. It's not our goal,
sir, but would -- rather than "consent," "acknowledge"? Would that
be a better word for you? I'm just asking while we're here.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, certainly
"acknowledge" doesn't do anything other than, you know, they know
it's there. But, anyway, we're going to be redoing this to some extent
over the next several weeks and, again, I'm just pointing out one --
what I consider to be a fatal flaw in this proposal.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Let's go to the public comment.
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir. I'm getting more speaker slips all the
time. I think we're at 16. Your first speaker is Mike Schumann.
He'll be followed by Ben Taube. I will ask the speakers to use both
podiums.
MR. SCHUMANN: Could I defer comments until after Lisa
and Elena?
MR. MILLER: And you are?
MR. SCHUMANN: Mike Schumann.
MR. MILLER: Okay. Ben Taube. He will be followed by Kate
Wesner.
MR. TAUBE: Hello, Commissioners. Thanks for the
opportunity to speak to you today. I am Ben Taube. I'm the
Managing Director of National Policy for Ygrene Energy Fund.
We've been operating in the county for a couple of years, and we
look forward to continue to operate.
I'll make my comments relatively brief. I wanted to say that,
one, we're very open to working with each of you on a consumer
protection policy and program for the county. There's a variety of
things that we're currently doing as it relates to disclosures to
homeowners, confirm term calls, right to cancel, contractor
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management, contractor training, contractor oversight, signatures
required prior to payment to the contractor. And there's much more
to it than that.
But we are very willing to sit down and work through an
ordinance that can work for the industry and keep the program alive
in the county. There's too many benefits being offered not only in
Collier County but to the state, and we want to continue to be a
partner. I'm happy at some point, if necessary, to come back up and
talk about any of the issues we might see and what's been presented.
We would like to have more of an opportunity to work with staff and
each of you on creating something that we can continue to operate
under. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, sir.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Kate Wesner. She'll be
followed by Elena Mola.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And we can use both podiums.
MR. WILLIAMS: Ms. Mola, if you could wait at the other
podium, please.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ms. Mola, go ahead and come over
here; that would be great.
MS. WESNER: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Kate
Wesner, Ygrene Energy Fund. I wanted to provide you some updates
that you-all asked.
Ygrene has done 405 projects in Collier County to date; 403 of
them were residential. Of those 403, 370 -- 307 were energy
inefficiency, 97 were wind mitigation, and 12 were renewable energy
projects. So I just wanted to make sure you had the most recent
numbers on that.
I wanted to remind you that there is no prepayment penalty for
residential property owners that choose to pay off their PACE
assessment. So if somebody wins the lottery or comes into a large
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amount of money, they could pay it off, and there's no prepayment
penalty.
Additionally, your terms for financing your improvement cannot
extend beyond their useful life. I know there was some questions
about how long you could finance an A/C. You cannot finance it for
30 years. So A/Cs, I believe, would be 10 years or below depending
on how long the property owner chooses. That is up to the property
owner. That is their choice.
Additionally, there were some questions about notice to
lienholders provided to Collier County's Habitat for Humanity
program, and we have confirmed that we did, in fact, send notice to
lienholders for all the properties within the Ygrene program that have
a lien with Habitat for Humanity. We provided that information to
Ms. Lisa Lefkow, and we did not get a response from her.
There were some other questions about how many complaints
we've received in this program. Of those 405, we have four
complaints. There may be other individuals who have some
questions regarding their PACE assessment, but they did not report
those to Ygrene.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Could you elaborate on what
those complaints were.
MS. WESNER: Sure. Of those four --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: If we could give her just a
little bit extra time because --
MS. WESNER: Sure, sure, sure.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I have a question for her as
well, so...
MS. WESNER: Thank you, Commissioner.
Of those four complaints, three of them were contractor related.
The contractor was not communicating appropriately or responsive to
that homeowner, the quality of workmanship, and the third one was
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they did not pay their subcontractor. So those are all things to do
with a contractor.
The only other PACE one -- complaint that we have on file was
they requested a payoff, and they -- it was an escalation. So they
were probably unhappy about having to pay for financing is what I
can deduce from that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: What do you mean when you --
there was an escalation on a payoff?
MS. WESNER: So they probably got their contract and said,
oh, I'm paying interest on this.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
MS. WESNER: I don't want to pay interest.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Now, the question I had for you
was subordination.
MS. WESNER: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: If someone were to sell their home,
is the PACE loan transferable to the new buyer?
MS. WESNER: Potentially. That will depend upon the new
buyer's lender.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Correct.
MS. WESNER: If your buyer is a cash buyer, that is negotiable
between buyer and seller. If the buyer's getting a mortgage, that will
be up to their mortgage lender.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: She's outside her three minutes,
Troy.
MS. WESNER: Sorry, sorry, sorry.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, no, no. I have another question
for you, if you don't mind, please, and that is in the event that some --
he's hitting buttons while I was asking. So repeat your answer for
me, please.
MS. WESNER: Sure. In the event a property owner would like
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to sell their home and let the PACE assessment continue, it is
possible. It doesn't happen in all cases. I would say that that is
something that's negotiable. But if you've got a buyer that has a
mortgage, it will be up to their lender if they'll allow that PACE
assessment to continue.
In the event that the buyer's lender says, no, we want that paid
off, the seller can pay off that PACE assessment, no prepayment
penalty. It is not an issue for the future buyer.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: In the event that a person wishes to
refinance their home, is it, again, at the discretion of that lender for
the refinance and a similar circumstance?
MS. WESNER: Correct. Yes, sir, correct. Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman, just one other
question. You said that there were three complaints. The fourth
complaint, apparently, involved --
MS. WESNER: We count it as a complaint.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- whatever that was. But the
other three involved contractor problems.
MS. WESNER: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Can you explain what
happens in terms of the payment to the contractors when there's a
problem.
MS. WESNER: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And what happened in those
three cases.
MS. WESNER: Sure. So typically a property owner will have
the contractor perform the work on their home or business. When the
contractor's completed that construction, they will present the
homeowner with a certificate of completion. The homeowner has the
responsibility to sign that when the work is complete. If they're not
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satisfied with the work or it's not complete or there's outstanding
issues with the work, the homeowner can hold off on signing that
until that's complete. And until that is signed, until that certificate of
completion is signed, we issue an estimated settlement statement, and
then the contractor is issued payment from us or the other PACE
programs.
So the contractor's not paid until that homeowner signs off on
the complete project. So they don't get paid in installment payments
or anything up front.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Is that the full -- the contract
price is not paid until that --
MS. WESNER: Correct. Yes, sir.
And I'd just like to add one other comment. I know there was a
reference to solar panels and working with electric companies. And I
think it's important to note that homeowners have the responsibility
to contact their service provider to apply for a net metering. Ygrene
or the contractor cannot do that for them. In a lot of cases the
homeowners don't understand how to apply. The contractor tries to
walk them through that but, ultimately, the homeowner has to do that.
We had a case, I think was a week ago. The homeowner tried
eight different times. The contractor went back to their home, sat
down with them after they got paid and showed them how to apply.
And in another situation a homeowner would need to convert
from their budget billing. I don't know if you-all are familiar with
that. But you pay the same amount every month, right. So if you
switch to net metering, it's going -- you're going to get off the budget
billing program. So in a case where a homeowner's not seeing their
expected savings on their solar system that they've recently installed,
it would be because they didn't switch to net metering from budget
billing.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And, Commissioner Solis, did you
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have a --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, it was just a followup to the
question that Commissioner Saunders had asked.
So there's no payments made to -- the contractor fronts the costs
until the owner --
MS. WESNER: Correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- signs the certificate of
completion?
MS. WESNER: Yes, Commissioner.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And in order for the certificate of
completion to be presented, do they have to have received a final
inspection from the county?
MS. WESNER: The county or the city that they're getting their
permit from does -- gives them the initial permit and it issues it
originally. The permit closeout is between the homeowner and the
contractor to schedule that.
I think most of the time there is a final inspection that occurs if
there's a permit required, right. So there's always a final required.
In terms of the order of when that payment would be issued, I
would have to find out for you on that specifically. But I think with
A/Cs -- and this is where I want to kind of make that distinction is
that sometimes those A/Cs get installed very quickly and that it takes
a little bit of time for the city or county to come back out and do their
inspection.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: One of the concerns -- because
I've -- I mean, most of my career as an attorney was in construction
litigation.
The issue that should be of concern to homeowners is the
contractor essentially getting ahead of them on draws, meaning
receiving more money than the work is worth that they've performed.
So the contractor gets ahead of them on the payment and hasn't
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actually done the work that they've been paid for.
MS. WESNER: Correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And in this situation that can't
happen because you're saying the contractor doesn't receive any funds
until the owner signs the certificate of completion.
MS. WESNER: Yes, Commissioner, that is correct. That is an
additional consumer protection provided in the PACE program that's
not offered in traditional financing construction.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And is that by statute?
MS. WESNER: That is something that we provided in our draft
ordinance to county staff.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's not what I asked you.
MS. WESNER: No, sir, it's not in state statute.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Is it prevalent with all PACE
providers?
MS. WESNER: Yes, we all do it as a best practice.
(Simultaneous speakers speaking.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- all PACE providers do, in fact,
do that. Thank you.
I just wanted to make sure. Commissioner Solis asked a valid
question, and it might be the way Ygrene conducts business, but it
might not be the way that someone else does. And I just wanted to
make sure that -- where the playing field was, so that's all the -- do
you have a question of her?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, just a quick question.
Point of clarification. So when somebody -- you do not call --
something's installed, and you do not call the county and make sure
that the permit is -- has been issued?
MS. WESNER: No. I apologize if I misrepresented that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I may have heard it incorrectly.
MS. WESNER: Sure, sure. We do verify that permits were
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pulled for the work. So if you're a roofer or a window replacement
project is in our system, we confirm that that permit matches what is
in the finance agreement so that it's the same type of improvement,
same property address, if there's other permits pulled. It's a very
thorough process we do to verify that that permit was pulled for the
same type of improvement.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And who pulls the permit?
MS. WESNER: The contractor or the homeowner.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Either/or?
MS. WESNER: Technically, the homeowner can do that, but
the contractors do it on behalf of the homeowners, yes, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Ms. Kate.
MS. WESNER: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, your next speaker is Elena Mola.
She has been ceded additional time from John Harney.
Could you raise your hand to indicate you're here.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Thank you.
Stan Swihart.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Beth Osceola.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Pam Brown?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Pam Brown had to leave.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Pam Brown's not here.
MR. MILLER: And Consuelo Greenberg.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Okay. That is four additional speakers for a
total of 15 minutes. She'll be followed by John Cagle.
MS. LEFKOW: Mr. Klatzkow (sic), there's an additional
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speaker that would cede time.
MR. MILLER: And that name would be?
MR. SHADE: Bill Shade.
MR. MILLER: That would be a total of 18 minutes. She'll be
followed by Mr. Cagle.
Ms. Mola.
MS. MOLA: Thank you very much. And, again, thank you for
all the wonderful work you do on behalf of the citizens of Collier
County. I hope that 18 minutes will be enough, because I have been
researching every single PACE loan and every single PACE contract
in Collier County, and I have thus far spoken with at least 80
homeowners personally. Thank you.
In Collier County, unlike in other jurisdictions which have
implemented certain financial consumer protections, a PACE
administrator is not required to undertake an evaluation of the
property owner's credit, income, or, worst, ability to pay their PACE
obligation in addition to their current debt obligations and household
expenses.
As of May 10th, 2019, based on my research, 946 PACE liens
had been recorded on Collier County properties, over 90 percent of
which were residential properties. Of those, 879 were Ygrene/Green
Corridor, 39 Renew Financial/Florida Green Finance Authority, and
28 by Counterpoint Energy Solutions/Florida State Funding Agency.
The overwhelming majority of those liens were placed on homes
located in Golden Gate City, Commissioner Saunders, District 3;
Golden Gate Estates and Immokalee, Commissioner McDaniel,
District 5; a dozen or so concentrated in the Naples Manor section of
East Naples, Commissioner Fiala, District 1; with no more than a
handful dispersed throughout each of Commissioner Solis' and
Taylor's Districts 2 and 4.
Of the aforementioned 946 PACE financing agreements or liens
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recorded in Collier County, 828, i.e., almost 88 percent, were
procured in connection with home improvement projects undertaken
or to be taken by non-Collier County companies who are or were
authorized and certified by PACE administrators as PACE
contractors. These PACE contractors, some more notorious than
others, traveled from as far as Tampa, Brandon, and Fort Lauderdale
in some cases allegedly bringing crews from as far away as
Tennessee to undertake PACE home improvement projects in Collier
County.
Specifically, the following number of home improvement
projects evidenced by notice of commencements were filed: 399 by
Bruno Air-Conditioning or Bruno Total Home, Luis Bruno out of
Bonita Springs; 239 by Florida Home Improvement Associates,
Wayne Burnett, Fort Lauderdale; 190, Summit Woodworks and
Energy Renovations, Neil Scoppettuolo, from Tampa, Florida; 120,
U.S. Solar from Brandon. Two of the men aforementioned for
approved PACE contractors and/or their owners are or have been the
subject of investigations by law enforcement, have been forced to
cease all PACE-related operations, have been dissolved, and/or
currently have or will soon be the subject of a significant number of
consumer complaints.
An analysis of over 124 homes by Ygrene/Green Corridor, 218
PACE assessments and liens shows the following:
Number one, an average fair-market value of $213,331 for homes.
Two, an average annual PACE assessment of $2,563.20, a little under
your 2,600. But I'm not a mathematician; I'm only a lawyer.
Three, an average increase in the property taxes due to the
PACE assessment of over 106 percent which ranged from as low as
37 percent to as high as 2,327 percent increase.
Four, an average loan to fair-market value of approximately
16 percent but with some against state law of over 26 percent,
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29 percent, 37 percent, and 39 percent.
Five, additionally, I found homes where IRS and state and other
involuntary liens were in place prior to the tax assessment.
Six, of these, approximately 11 homes are or have been the
subject of lien claims and one a lis pendens foreclosure.
The aforementioned analysis also revealed that the most
significant and egregious impact from PACE assessments appears to
have fallen on the elderly and the disabled, also military service
disabled who are living on pensions, on fixed incomes. For example,
the property taxes of a senior veteran with a service-related disability
increased by over $3,960 per year, rising from as little over -- a little
over $210 to $4,177 per year.
Another disabled veteran was impacted by PACE assessments
that resulted in an over 2,300 percent increase in his property taxes,
rising from a little over 210 to over $5,175 per year.
Then there is an example of a Habitat for Humanity homeowner
who could not be here because for him to be here today would result
in him not being able to make $120, and he can't afford that. But I
will provide you with his information if you would like.
Taxes increase in this case from a little over $720 per year to
over $6,135 per year, and this is on a home that's worth less than
$225,000.
Many less extreme but no less egregious examples of PACE tax
increases can be found throughout Collier County; however, what is
particularly troubling in the aforementioned cases and in many other
cases in Collier County is that PACE contractors, certified and
approved PACE administrator -- PACE contractor -- is that PACE
contractors certified and approved by PACE administrator Ygrene
were the common denominators.
They are alleged by homeowners to have engaged in practices
which they believe to have been deceptive and/or fraudulent with
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respect to, for example, their role as authorized representative and
coordinators of Collier County government program.
The need for the improvement, the work or services required,
pricing terms, failure to disclose, inability to communicate in the
homeowners' language, creating a computer-generated digital
signature for a homeowner who could not write in any language who
made a mark.
Misrepresenting the terms and conditions of PACE assessments
and liens; commencing the work before a permit had been issued;
commencing and finishing the work prior to the homeowner
receiving an email confirmation with a copy of the Ygrene financing
agreement which contained pricing terms and conditions different
from those to which the parties had agreed and the manner pursuant
to which a homeowner's presumed consent was obtained; and the
threat of legal action if the homeowner refused to sign a certificate of
completion if the certificate of completion did not already, in some
cases, contain forged signatures.
When the majority of Collier County Commissioners approved
Ygrene to operate as the administrator of the Ygrene/Corridor PACE
program in Collier County, they were or should have been aware that
in March of 2017 a federal lawsuit had been filed against Ygrene.
In fact, Commissioner Burt Saunders, whose district has been
particularly targeted by unscrupulous certified PACE contractors and
whose residents bear a significant portion of the PACE liens recorded
in Collier County, represented Ygrene in his capacity as a private
attorney and should certainly have been aware of the lawsuit brought
by homeowners in Florida and California and on behalf of tens of
thousands of other similarly affected homeowners.
Among other things -- excuse me. Among other things, the
plaintiffs in that lawsuit accuse Ygrene of fraudulent inducement,
negligence, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, and
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violation of consumer protection laws in both Florida and California.
In the past couple of years dozens of PACE-related lawsuits
have now been filed in California, including class actions filed
against Ygrene, Renew Financial, Renovate America, and the
counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Kern, and San
Bernardino or whichever local government agency authorized PACE
administrators to operate. Renovate America has been sued
approximately 30 times in connection with alleged PACE-related
abuses.
The complaints assert claims including misrepresentation,
negligence, fraud, forgery, elder financial abuse, breach of contract,
and violations of a myriad of state laws.
One of the complaints alleges, among other things, that the
PACE administrators, Renew, Renovate in Los Angeles County have
spread a plague on thousands of low-income, elderly, and
nonnative-speaking homeowners; that the Renew Financial and
Renovate America failed to screen and monitor their network of
contractors, encouraged predatory lending and aggressive marketing,
committed financial elder abuse, charged inflated interest rates and
breach -- and obligations to provide protections against predatory
lending and safeguards for seniors.
The suit continues to state that contractors served as
homeowners' only and primary source of information for the PACE
loans and, among other things, simply rubber stamped payment to
contractors without regard to whether they followed program
guidelines.
Similarly, a number of consumer advocacy organizations allege
that Ygrene and PACE loans in general target low-income, the
elderly, and non-English speakers with predatory loans arranged and
marketed primarily to predatory and/or unscrupulous home
improvement contractors who act as de facto loan agents for Ygrene.
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The lawsuit against Los Angeles County further alleges that the
county knew or should have known that its PACE program would
harm vulnerable homeowners. Los Angeles County has now set up a
reserve fund to cover missed PACE borrower assessments for a time
in an effort to prevent sudden foreclosure.
One particular example in Florida involved a Ygrene PACE
contractor alleged to have deceived consumers about defective roofs
and air-conditioning units, supposedly falsely informing homeowners
that their roofs were damaged and defective when they were not --
when they were not, misrepresenting themselves to be a government
entity, and misrepresenting the terms and conditions of the Ygrene
loans and PACE program.
Of the approximate 331 Ygrene PACE tax assessments and tax
liens recorded in Collier County during the 10-month period between
October 2017 and August 2018, 190 were home improvement
projects and Ygrene loans marketed by this particular company.
Of those 190 notice of commencements, the great majority were
completed by the owner of the company himself in a dual role of
owner/contractor with a financial interest in the home improvement
project subject of the notice of commencement and also as notary
public.
Upon a cursory examination of the notice of commencements, it
appears that a number of the notice of commencements contained
forged signatures, may have been prepared or procured through
misrepresentation or fraud and in violation of applicable Florida law
and Collier County rules of regulations.
The aforementioned concerns are further bolstered by the
assertions of numerous homeowners that, for example, one, they
never signed a notice of commencement even though their purported
signatures now appear on notices of commencements filed with the
county clerk; two, they were misinformed and deceived by the
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contractor also acting as notary public as to the nature and purpose of
the notice of commencement; and/or three, no notary public
personally acknowledged their signature on the notice of
commencement and, therefore, their signatures were notarized in
their absence.
In a number of cases, it appears that the notice of
commencements were filed with the Clerk without the contractor
having obtained the permit for the work or before the work was
begun and/or completed.
Similarly, it has been alleged that in a number of cases the
improvement work was undertaken immediately after the execution
of the notice of commencement and prior to the Ygrene financing
agreement even provided.
Unless the commissioners speak to affected homeowners and
understand the nature of the inherent problems with the structure of
the PACE program and how it is administered, they will not be able
to formulate an effective PACE consumer protection ordinance.
For example, the PACE administrator is required to clearly, in
plain language, disclose the fixed interest rate to be charged,
including points and any and all fees and potential late fees. How is
such to be accomplished by self-interested home improvement
contractors whose sole interest is to sell a home improvement
project? Moreover, how is a senior citizen or a non-English speaker
supposed to see, read, and understand and agree to plain language of
the PACE financing, which is in English, on a mobile or tablet device
which they cannot see or read?
The PACE provider is required to provide optional one-on-one
assistance regarding the PACE program in terms of processed
documents and all other pertinent information and the information
regarding this option.
Based upon conversations with numerous homeowners who did
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not speak English, read or write English, such an option was never
presented to them, and at no time did they ever receive
documentation in Spanish or Creole. Consequently, they did not
understand what the PACE contractor asked them to digitally sign
nor did they ever agree truly to an imposition of a volunteer lien on
their homes.
Collier County also obligates the PACE authority to be solely
responsible for all the manners associated with origination, funding,
financing, and administration of each place -- of each PACE
assessment, including responsible for any complaints or inquiries --
I'm sorry. I'm rushing because I only have 39 seconds. Maybe I'll
get more time like you did -- to any complaints or inquiries by
participants, tax certificate holders, lender, yet PACE financing
agreements require the homeowner to indemnify them, defend,
protect, and hold them harmless, hold the PACE district harmless,
hold the PACE administrator harmless, and any -- all of its -- and any
and all of its agents presumed to include those certified PACE
contractors from and against all losses, liabilities, claims, damage
arising out of or in connection with the PACE assessments, the
financing, the home improvements, or anything else.
Who, then, is to be held responsible for such things as, number
one, the charging of excessive prices or prices higher than those
agreed; two, seniors or non-English speakers made to sign contracts
or mobile phones -- on mobile phones or tablets when they could not
read or understand; three, homeowners' names and/or those of
notaries forged on notice of commencements; four, homeowners
being misinformed that PACE financing would be interest free and
with no prepayment penalties; five, homeowners not informed and/or
understanding that senior first priority tax liens were placed on their
homes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Elena?
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MS. MOLA: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Your time has expired.
MS. MOLA: Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And Kate was given extra time
because we were asking questions of her --
MS. MOLA: That's okay. I don't need more time. I think you
get the gist.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- and we didn't bequeath her. She
did grab an extra 30 seconds there to go on about something.
MS. MOLA: No problem. Thank you very much. I appreciate
it, Commissioner McDaniel.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is John Cagle or Cagle.
MR. CAGLE: Cagle.
MR. MILLER: He will be followed by Peter Greenberg.
MR. CAGLE: Hello. I live in a Habitat home, and after the
hurricane, we had some major damage. It needed a roof. And then
we had a contractor from Tampa come out, Summit Wood, and they,
you know, offered us a roof. You know, they repaired the house and
they told us, one price with no interest in one thing, and then it come
out to, like, triple. But they said with no interest.
So where that puts me as a homeowner, you know, I was paying,
you know, a certain price. Now that, you know, they put interest and
everything on top with the taxes, my mortgage is double, you know.
And it's kind of hard to make the ends meet when, you know, you
don't have that.
But, you know, they started the construction without a permit,
and when they finished it, as right now, too, but there's still some
damage they didn't fix because they said that they couldn't do it. But
they made me sign the paper. If I didn't sign -- release it, that they
was going to have me put in jail.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: My goodness.
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MR. CAGLE: And there's other neighbors they tried to get into
the program but, you know, they just felt it wasn't right. And we
never signed the piece of paper. They come around with these, like,
little tablets.
And then I called Ygrene and told them I had a problem. They
said they'd come out to check it out, but as of today, they never have.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, sir.
Do you have a question of him specifically?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I do. Mr. Cagle, did they
represent themselves as a government program?
MR. CAGLE: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: They said --
MR. CAGLE: They would never come and see you at your
house. They always want to talk to you on the phone or send you an
email. And then when it come down to the finals, they want you to
initial stuff on a -- you know, on, like, your email back and forth.
And I'm divorced, and my ex-wife's name was on the house, and
they wanted me to forge her name, and I told her I wasn't doing that.
So I come over here to the Court and did a quit deed on -- you know,
got her name away from it. I wasn't going to forge her name.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You can't do that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But they represented that this
was a government program?
MR. CAGLE: Yes. That most likely you wouldn't have to pay
it back because there's grants but we -- you need to sign this, you
know, to get the --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Save money.
MR. CAGLE: Get the ball rolling, you know. But -- you know,
and then the contractors come and they want to do it in a hurry. They
stripped the roof off, they left, it rained, and then come back and put
the roof on, and I still have, you know, a wood roof that has damage.
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But they said that I didn't have enough money under that fund, so
they just put the new shingles on the, you know, old roof.
But I didn't know what to do, so I just -- at that time we had a
hole in the kitchen so, you know, I just went with -- you know, went
with it.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you for coming in today,
sir.
MR. CAGLE: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Peter Greenberg. He'll be
followed by Jury Paulson.
MR. GREENBERG: Good afternoon, Commissioners. There
but for the grace of God go I in terms of what we just heard.
I'm not an attorney. I'm a retired banker. I spent my entire
career banking in South America, Asia, Europe, Canada, and United
States. That doesn't make me God's gift to banking, but I've seen a
lot.
What we've heard here is nothing less than a summary, a recap,
reinvention of what came to be known as liar loans back in the mid
2000s that precipitated the financial crisis of 2008. Nothing less than
liar loans. I mean, shame on us if this is not corrected.
No verification of income, evaluation of capacity for additional
debt, credit history, or ability to pay on the part of the administrator
or its agent, the contractor, who is conflicted and certainly not above
reproach in this entire architecture of deception.
The remedies that were put up by staff are an excellent good
step forward. To your question, sir, with regard to residential
property requirements, are they more onerous than what's required
out there of the financial system? The answer is no. Post 2008, all
sorts of compliance requirements were put into the bedrock of the
U.S. financial system, and it is incumbent upon lenders to verify all
sorts of representations and warranties made by potential lenders.
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To your question with regard to what happens if a roof repair is
defective, what recourse does the homeowner have, all I can tell you
is that a $500 fine for a violation is laughable.
Good luck with this. It requires a lot of work. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jury Paulson. He'll be
followed by Jeremy Hutman.
MR. PAULSON: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is
Jury Paulson, and I will be speaking as a representative of Habitat for
Humanity today.
While nearly 30 beneficiaries of our organization have
exorbitant tax bills to pay as a result of PACE, it's clear that they're
not the only ones being adversely affected.
The free market can be a beautiful thing, but when evident
predation exists between supplier and consumer, we look to our
elected leaders to act as arbitrators of justice.
It is my belief that this whole matter boils down to integrity.
Are the third-party contractors who are carrying out PACE program
repairs representing themselves and their services in a transparent
way, or is there clear shadiness and distortion going on here?
I am told that certain PACE providers represent themselves as
authorized representatives of the Collier County PACE program and
indicate that this is a government program to assist with low-cost
repairs and renovations. To me, this sounds like every action
undertaken by those making this indication is condoned by Collier
County.
I trust our commissioners that have supported the initiative had
something else in mind when this program was initially implemented.
The original concept of the program has its merits, but the execution
that we have seen clearly does not, and this seems to be occurring in
various other counties as well.
Many people living in our county speak English as a second
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language. Do we expect them to comprehend the complexities
written into these contracts with out supplementary translations? I
speak German, but if you present me with a PACE contract in
German with no translation to my native language for comparison,
I'm going to look at you like you're crazy.
Oh, and please be sure to present it to me on a smart phone or
tablet to make things even more complicated. Intricate contracts
should be signed on paper and, yes, this is coming from a millennial,
so...
Of 140 PACE loans that we have analyzed over at Habitat, 106
originated in Commissioner Saunders' and Commissioner McDaniel's
districts, representing a large contingent of elderly and low-income
populations. We know many of these homeowners. They have lived
in their homes for decades. Perhaps they don't have an escrow agent.
Perhaps they have already paid off their mortgage, own their home
outright, and then get strapped with a tax bill that exceeds
100 percent of their original payment. It just sounds wrong.
So in closing, please ensure that the recommended safeguards have
teeth, or shut down the residential portion of PACE in Collier
County.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Jeremy Hutman. He'll be
followed by Lisa Lefkow.
MR. HUTMAN: Good afternoon, Honorable Commissioners.
My name is Jeremy Hutman. I'm with Renew Financial.
We definitely support the -- an ordinance being created in the
county. We hope that you will reject the current form of the
ordinance and ask staff to come back with a more inclusive process
and an ordinance that reflects an engagement with the entire
community.
The best solution here is an effective ordinance that adequately
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protects homeowners. We definitely agree every property owner
should be protected under this PACE ordinance, but at the same time
it should allow PACE to still operate in the county and help
homeowners that do need that help with their property improvements.
So what we ask today is just that you direct staff to come back
with a new ordinance that's the result of a more inclusive process.
We'd like to be able to comment on the ordinance. We'd like the rest
of the community to be able to comment on the ordinance and to
have a more transparent and open process, so thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Don't go away.
MR. HUTMAN: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm sorry. You are the --
MR. HUTMAN: Sorry. I'm Jeremy Hutman. I'm with Renew
Financial. We're the Administrator of the Renew PACE program.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Of the Renew. Okay. So
would the Renew PACE program, if we could get Ygrene's consent,
also agree to temporarily sustain (sic) all activity within Collier
County until this ordinance is brought before us?
MR. HUTMAN: Not sustain?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Suspend it.
MR. HUTMAN: Oh. We're still in process in the county.
We're open to any discussion with the county, though, around the
details of the ordinance. But in the process, there are homeowners
that are using the program right now. We wouldn't want to hold
anything up for them.
But we hope this will be a speedy process with the ordinance.
We're completely engaged with it, and we're happy to provide any
feedback to it to move the process along as fast as possible.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Keep making money. Thank
you.
MR. HUTMAN: All right.
May 14, 2019
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MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Lisa Lefkow. She'll be
followed by Mike Schumann.
MS. LEFKOW: Good afternoon, Commissioners. For the
record, Lisa Lefkow, CEO, Habitat for Humanity.
Just to respond to a couple of things that Kate said. We do have
a number of homeowners that have purchased HVAC systems with
liens that are 20 years in length, which I believe exceeds the life of
any A/C unit that I've been aware of.
While Habitat for Humanity homeowners are certainly a small
percentage of the more than 800 local homeowners who've entered
into PACE financing agreements, they do represent some of the most
egregious violations of ethical behavior which has been reported.
Although notification of the primary holder is part of the
agreement between PACE financing providers in Collier County,
until after the Naples Daily News article following the March BCC
meeting, Habitat did not receive any notification of contracts signed
by mortgage -- Habitat mortgagors. It was only after a conversation
with Ygrene senior VP of government affairs and public relations,
Mike Lemyre, that we recognized that Habitat for Humanity was not
on Ygrene's list of national lenders. Since that time, we have been
receiving notifications, but in most cases this comes up to 45 days
following signing of the contract.
As Ms. Mola indicated, we've learned from homeowners that in
some cases a contract is signed and work begun the following day. In
several cases, homeowners have reported that they never signed
documents in front of a notary, and although the NOCs have notary
signatures, the vast majority of these actually being signed and
notarized by two individuals, both of them presumably male, names
Michael Sullivan and Neil Scoppettuolo, the owner of Summit
Woodworks, while our homeowners report that they've only ever
spoken to a female. One gives pause.
May 14, 2019
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The ordinance provides protection that I am hopeful will keep
Habitat homeowners from continuing to fall victim to PACE
providers, and that is the consent required by the lender. But I
understand now that we've backed off from "consent" to only
"acknowledge" the willingness to escrow for those liens. If we are
asked to consent, that would obviously give us the opportunity to
counsel homeowners out of the program by fully explaining its
impact.
Yet to be seen is whether it might protect those whose
mortgages are held by large lenders who might not prioritize this
protection. Homeowners are now strapped with tax bill increases of
an average of 100 percent and at risk of losing homes to Collier
County Tax Collector.
The list of bad practices is long. Misrepresentation -- but I don't
need to go through it. You've heard it.
Commissioners, the fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will
not underwrite loans, to your question, Commissioner McDaniel, on
properties that bear PACE liens, that the CFPB is in the midst of
investigation into the PACE program, that other states and
municipalities are distancing themselves from this program should
cause us alarm.
Please lead this country -- this county in protecting our most
vulnerable homeowners and increase protections or, better yet,
terminate the residential portion of the agreement between Collier
County and PACE.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Mike Schumann. He'll be
followed by Wilna -- I'm having trouble reading this -- Cariany.
Thank you.
MR. SCHUMANN: Good day, Commissioners. My name's
Mike Schumann.
May 14, 2019
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I just -- I'm not going to reiterate all the abuses that we've just
heard about, but it's obvious that the PACE program has been a
honey pot for very unscrupulous operators. What I want to focus on
is the proposed changes to the ordinance and whether or not that's
going to really address the issue.
The bottom line is these proposed changes are window dressing
to make it look like you're putting in consumer protections, but they
actually are doing nothing, okay? An example, the 5 percent limit on
the property tax for a typical $100,000 house works out to $5,000 a
year, all right. We're talking about a typical property owner in
$100,000 house is making currently a $300 property tax payment per
year. So you're going to see a 15 times increase under this. This
limit is completely meaningless. It doesn't even constrain anything
that isn't already constrained under the state statute.
So that particular limit -- you know, if the limit was redone in a
much more reasonable fashion, it might make some sense, but this
limit is completely meaningless.
The same thing on gross income. Having the homeowner certify
that their PACE assessment won't exceed 5 percent of their gross
income is ludicrous. You know, the problem that we've already
heard about is people signing stuff that they can't read. You know,
just another attestation is just another piece of paper that they're
signing.
And this goes right back to the whole liar loan issue. What
commercial bank is going to let the decision made on whether that
loan is affordable and take the homeowner's word for it? You know,
every bank that makes a reasonable loan is going to get their own
income data and look at their own affordability and make their own
decision on whether or not the homeowner has the ability to repay
that loan.
So if you're going to put a limit on the size of the PACE
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assessment and put in an affordability issue, that needs to be
determined by the lender, by the PACE lender. They need to make
that determination. They need to get the income and verify the
income and not just have some homeowner sign another piece of
paper and then wash their hands of it.
There's no limit here on interest rates. The interest rates that are
being charged on these PACE loans is outrageous. All right. The
interest rate on these loans is currently about 7 to 8 percent. It should
be 4 percent, just like a first mortgage.
There's no limit on amortization, all right. We've seen cases
where PACE loans are being amortized over 20 years on an
air-conditioner that has a useful life of 10 years. This needs to be
stopped.
So I could go on and on, but my time's expired. Thank you very
much.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Wilna Cariany followed by
Marceau Berteau. You'll be next.
MS. CARIANY: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you,
Commissioners. Thank you for the invitation. Thank you for
representing us.
And I can repeat everything that was said here, because I live it,
I wrote it down, but then when it comes to deliver the message,
nothing is being done better than being part of the action.
Since this program started, I had to be on the phone. I drove to
families' homes, once they were able to meet with me, to sit down to
hold their hands to go word by word what they are getting themselves
into, because they didn't have any clue. All they knew, someone
came, had them sign a piece of paper. They were desperate. They
needed help, but help to the point that they were taken advantage of.
I sat down with an 80-year-old that owns a home, raised her
three sons (sic) because her daughter passed away, to explain to her
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out of fixed income, another extra was going to be added to her
property taxes, because she had to make the payment. She was not
aware of that.
So, I was the one that was ready to go back and find the children
that spoke English who was able to read -- to find the right
information to get the parents (sic) away from that poor grand --
because it was not going to help them at the end.
So please, on behalf of all the families, homeowners, and
residents of Collier County, please stop this program. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your final speaker is Marceau Berteau.
MR. BERTEAU: Yes. Good afternoon, Commissioners. My
name is Marceau Berteau. I'm coming be Habitat for Humanity since
2012, and I was very happy person when I was coming -- finally
qualify for a house, and I thank God for Habitat for Humanities.
But I started to get very upside-down. My family started to get
very stressed out since after I started -- receive a call from Sun Tech
Company. Sun Tech Company is the one who -- they call me. They
keep calling me, calling me. I never answer the phone because I
think maybe that was a hacker, people who tried to take advantage of
you, but that was it.
Well, they keep calling me, and one day my wife tell me, why
don't you answer the phone to see what they want to tell you? And
when I answer the phone, they tell me that I'm a Sun Tech Company,
so if you accept us to come put solar panel on your roof, so your
liability's going to be zero. Almost zero.
And I say, when you say almost zero, how much maybe you
think this might be? They say $25 (sic) you going to pay for your
light bills, and I was so very happy when I hear that, and I accept
them come to my house. And when they came to my house, they say
that, now it's a government program. If you accept them, you know,
if you qualify for the program, and you're not going to pay nothing,
May 14, 2019
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no -- nothing from your pocket. The government is going to pay for
you.
And I ask him, how much maybe you think it might be? They
say, maybe $19,000, and you don't have to be worried, because the
government is going to pay for you. And I was very happy. And I'm
a low-income person, and I accept them to come to my house. And
now, after they do everything, and they set up everything on my roof.
And now they say that you have to go to your mortgage company to
bring the paper and tell them that you have a solar panel on your roof.
And now, when I went to Habitat for Humanity and to tell them
that I have a solar panel on my roof -- and at the time that I found out
that the bills is going to be, like, about $45,000. That means there's a
second mortgage. And I'm not working. I've been involved in a big
accident since 2017. I cannot work. It's only my wife working -- and
make me life miserable.
And I'm asking you, please, if you love this country or if you
love this county, this beautiful Collier County, please remove those
people in this county, because they are killer.
Thank you very much, and may God bless you.
MR. MILLER: That was our final speaker on this item,
Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, okay. I was going to have to
go first, but Commissioner Saunders is going to go first.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: This is directed to Kate
Wesner, if you'd come up to the podium for just a second.
I listened to the comments from Elena Mola and, quite frankly,
the statements were very troubling. Just so Elena knows and the
public knows, I ceased doing any work for Ygrene before Collier
County joined the program and got clearance from the Ethics
Commission to make sure that I could do that. So I have -- do not
have and have not had any financial interest in any of this.
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My familiarity with the program was that it seemed to be a very
available and appropriate type of financing that was sanctioned by the
State of Florida and pretty much a national program.
I'm not familiar with the California lawsuit or the Florida
lawsuit. I don't know what those cases were about. I don't know who
the plaintiffs and defendants were, and I don't know the outcome of
those. But my assumption is that the comments that were made are
accurate. I have no other -- no reason to dispute what Ms. Mola has
said.
What I'd like you to do is to get a transcript of those comments
and be prepared to address each and every one of them when this
comes back, because I will vote to terminate the program if I don't
get a satisfactory answer to those. You know, I know that there are
bad actors in terms of contractors, I know -- I think Bruno has been in
the paper recently for some of the things that they have done, and I
suspect that a lot of these issues involve those types of contractors.
But we have created a program that permits those bad actors to
prey upon people that don't have the financial capacity or the
experience to deal with it in an appropriate way. And so unless I got
some satisfactory answers to that, to the allegations from Ms. Mola,
then I'm going to vote to terminate the program. I think we have a
90-day termination notice in there.
Now, to be perfectly candid with you, when I came here today, I
didn't realize that we had this level of problems, so it's really going to
be on the providers to establish that those comments are -- you know,
there's some explanation, because right now all I know is that we've
got a plethora of people that are indicating some very troubling
predatory practices.
I'm not saying Ygrene has done any of that, but I know you
folks, and I know you have the capacity to take a look at those
allegations and report back.
May 14, 2019
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MS. WESNER: Yes, Commissioner, I will.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. And I agree with what
Commissioner Saunders has just said. And I'd like to see whatever
the, you know, responses are to the allegations made by Ms. Mola.
I didn't hear, though, any class actions in Florida, or is there one?
MS. MOLA: Yes, yes.
MS. WESNER: Yes, Commissioner. I believe there is one
that's ongoing. I don't believe it's been closed out, but there has been
some back and forth on that. I don't believe I can comment on it
while it's still ongoing --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I understand.
MS. WESNER: -- but I'd be happy to provide you an update.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Can you tell me where it is
pending?
MS. WESNER: I believe it is in South Florida, and I want to
say it was a trial attorney calling property owners trying to get them
to join the claim.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. If you could provide me just
with a docket number, I mean, I'd like to understand what the issue is
in that case.
MS. WESNER: Sure, I can provide that information to you.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And, again, there's been a lot of
comments about -- that PACE -- the PACE administrators don't do
any kind of financial credit checks or income verifications or
anything. I mean, explain to me again what does one have to do to
qualify, if that's the phrase, for a PACE loan.
MS. WESNER: There's minimum requirements set by state
statute, so those would say that you cannot borrow more than
20 percent of your property's assessed value. That is the maximum
amount you can use under the PACE program according to state
May 14, 2019
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statute.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MS. WESNER: Then there's additional -- and the state statute
will say that, you know, you must be current on your property taxes
for three years, no --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Whatever's in the statute.
MS. WESNER: Yeah, exactly. And then we, as the PACE
industry, have additional underwriting guidelines that we put forth.
And they may vary slightly from provider to provider. We'd be
happy to provide you a copy of those. I know we've given them to
your staff. I don't know that they've reviewed those, but I know we
have supplied them.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'd like to see those again.
MS. WESNER: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And so those are in addition to
whatever it is that the legislature has imposed for the program?
MS. WESNER: Yes. They're called program guidelines that go
through all the different eligibility requirements, program
requirements. It's a very lengthy eligibility criteria.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. That's all I have.
And, again, I'll just reiterate my desire to have some more time to
verify some of the things that we've heard today and look at some of
the revisions that have been proposed to the ordinance.
As I recall, when we talked about this last time and we directed
staff to go look at this, I was under the impression that we only
wanted revisions to residential properties, not -- I thought we were
okay with commercial because commercial properties, you know,
those were business decisions.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. That was my --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, it's -- I mean, I think the
ordinance that we have before us doesn't make that distinction as it's
May 14, 2019
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written now. So I'm a little -- I mean, I think there's -- we obviously
need to do what we can do to prevent the bad actors -- and we've had
obviously a few -- from taking advantage of people.
So I would like some more time to go over this and do a little
more research myself before we vote on this. And I'd make a motion
that we continue this to, if not the next meeting, the following
meeting.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's fine by me, if that's
what --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You want to second that?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Sure. I'll second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved -- we have two
other commissioners, and then I have some comments, so -- but it's
been moved and seconded we continue this until our second meeting
in June. That gives sufficient time.
Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Mine is so simple. My position
remains unchanged and probably strengthened as it is with all of the
comments that we heard today. I give people a lot of credit who
came and who actually were victims of this program and yet they
came, took the time out -- and it's kind of scary to come to a
government complex never having been here before, and they came
anyway, and I appreciate that.
And, Elena, you are a marvelous person. I don't know all the
time it took for you to research all that stuff, but that was an
important thing to me, and, I have a funny feeling, to others as well to
find out all the things that are going on that we weren't aware of. So
thank you for being here, and we'll see you at the next meeting.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: A couple of questions. I'd like
to see -- I know we had Growth Management that did some analysis
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of these loans and what you found. I wonder if we could hear those
statistics.
MR. FRENCH: I'm sorry, ma'am. I did not hear the question.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm sorry. I know you did some
research on these loans and what you found; could we get some
statistics before us?
MR. FRENCH: Would you like us to provide you what we
found versus addressing them here? Would that be easier, or do you
actually --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No. I'd like them on the public
record, for those who are watching television.
MR. FRENCH: And just for clarification, Commissioners,
we've -- we did this research very independent. And we appreciate
the relationships and -- the working relationships that we've gained
with the providers.
The program in and of itself -- and I know that I've had some
good discussion with some of the speakers -- that we believe that the
program -- it's a good alternative; we really do. We think that there's
some really good interest rates that we found, and most of the -- most
of the documents that we read from the early -- from the early
entrance versus what's in now we found some disparity.
So what we looked at was we looked at the length of loan, we
looked at the declared value of the structure, we looked at what the
loan value was. And, unfortunately, this will lead into a contractor's
license or code enforcement action, perhaps, against the property
owner because if there was work done without permits and it's
recorded with the Clerk, we now know it.
And there was -- on some occasions there was some work that
was done that should have had a licensed contractor or the contractor
allowed the permit to void or they canceled it, and that could lead to a
code enforcement action against the homeowner.
May 14, 2019
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So we are working with the PACE provider on that now to give
them the opportunity to get their contractor to get that straightened
out. But we looked at all of those things.
And then, to Commissioner Solis' point, we also asked -- there's
two different types of -- and Kate spoke about it -- certificates of
completion. One that's issued by the provider where the homeowner
and the contractors say, we're good, but it doesn't follow suit to state
statute. Permit was issued. We never CO'ed it. So now we have,
perhaps, an issue with the contractor that was qualified that can't --
any contractor can work underneath of a conventional loan, but only
a PACE contractor qualified by the PACE lender can work under
PACE.
So many of them being out of town, it doesn't matter, they're
licensed contractors, permit was issued, but we did not issue a
certificate of completion. And this goes as far as A/Cs, windows,
openings, doors.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So, I mean, that seems to me to
be --
MR. FRENCH: It's a contractor issue. I don't mean to interrupt
you.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's a contractor issue. And
maybe -- I mean, that seems to me to be an issue that's easily
solvable --
MR. FRENCH: But --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- that ties up a lot of different
issues. If the certificate of -- if what the requirement was would be
that the PACE provider has to have both the certificate of completion
from the county or the municipality and the signed certificate of
completion from the owner, that will match up both the permit and
the completion of the construction and the inspections with the
payment to the contractor.
May 14, 2019
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MR. FRENCH: That's the reason why we added that language
in this provision --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Correct.
MR. FRENCH: -- so that we just ensured that the contractor,
PACE, and the homeowner walked away --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And it's done.
MR. FRENCH: And it's done. But your question was -- that
was pretty much it: Term of loan? What was done? How much?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: What numbers are we looking
at?
MR. FRENCH: For the total number of projects?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Of every -- yes, that you've
reviewed, what numbers are we looking at?
MR. FRENCH: So the total number of projects were identified
within the research. Just in 2019 there were only four Counterpoint.
Renew only had eight clients.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no. Of the -- those that you
cannot issue a -- that you're bringing the homeowner in because of
the way this is done, how many people that have been serviced by
these PACE contractors are you going to be bringing in to face code
enforcement problems?
MR. FRENCH: It may be a licensing issue, ma'am, with the
contractor. As I said, we want to work with PACE and the contractor
first.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We don't have those --
MR. FRENCH: I don't have the exact number, but it's maybe
two dozen of the 116, and it's all -- Ygrene was the only participant in
the market, and it was very new last year, so...
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So you're excusing Ygrene for
this?
MR. FRENCH: We're not excusing them. What we're saying is
May 14, 2019
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that --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Just checking.
MR. FRENCH: -- we want to make sure that they have the
ability to work with our contractor and their property owner to make
sure that they did get the proper permits and they were properly
closed out.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And you understand he only has
access to information that's a matter of record. There are a lot more
than what Jamie currently has access to per the public record.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh. And that's why -- a perfect
segue into my other request of my colleagues. I'd like to see if there's
any support among my colleagues to suspend this program, now that
we've moved it another four weeks ahead, until we get these very,
very serious issues resolved or at least it comes back to public record.
I don't think these folks -- PACE should be operating in Collier
County until we meet again, and then if they get a clean bill of health,
then great. But if they don't, I think we put our public at great risk
here.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, there's already a motion and a
second on the floor right now. We're going to tend it first, and then
when we get through that and the balance of the comment, then if you
care to make that as a motion, we'll go there. How about that? Just
as a point of order.
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I was just going to ask the County
Attorney, as I understand it, in order to terminate the program, there's
a 90-day notice provision?
MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. There's a 90-day convenience
clause. Either side can terminate for convenience on 90 days.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Is there anything about a suspension
May 14, 2019
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pending a review or something in the contract that we know of?
MR. KLATZKOW: No.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. That's all I had.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Mr. Klatzkow, I thought that's
what we did before, and then the Commission changed its mind.
MR. KLATZKOW: If the Commission wants to vote to direct
the PACE providers not to issue any more loans pending the Board
review, I think the PACE providers would take that well under
advisement to not do anything.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: They don't have to.
Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. I just wanted to add that it
seems that this PACE program is also happening in California. I
don't know about any other states. We've only heard about Florida
and California. But it seems like they're doing the same type of job
in California as they do here, which makes me think that that is a
practice of the company, and I hope we can find a way to suspend it
so nobody else gets hurt until we meet again.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: My question with -- and we're
going to tend the motion. I have a comment on the motion, and that's
with regard to the existing ordinance in front of us, County Attorney.
May we -- how would -- my suggestion is is that we go through this
ordinance individually and make our adjustments to the ordinance
with regard to circumstances, things that we -- you know,
Commissioner Saunders has talked about some of the issues within --
specifically within the ordinance.
If we were all to make our comments regarding the ordinance
and send them independent to Jamie, he could then go through,
develop where we have consensus and not, and then we come back --
when we come back in our second meeting in June, we're just dealing
May 14, 2019
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with those two or three or five or whatever it ends up being where we
don't have consensus items, and here's where we do agree.
Because I don't disagree with some of the things that staff's
brought forward, but some of the things that have been put in this
ordinance are prohibitive for the program to even continue.
MR. KLATZKOW: So you're asking can you separately send
Jamie emails without copying each other --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's correct.
MR. KLATZKOW: -- saying, you know, this is what I like, this
is what I don't like?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I actually -- you know, I had
made some comment to one of the PACE providers with regard to the
allowance of the escrow provisions. It's not that complex, but it's
just -- it's a provision that I think would greatly enhance the lack -- or
reduce the opportunity for someone to be detrimentally damaged
during that escrow adjustment period within a conventional
mortgage.
And it's not part of this ordinance nor was I -- nor was I
consulted with to be able to add it in except for today. So that's the
question is, can we correspond with Jamie individually and certainly
not copy one another in order to allow him to gather the consensus
and then come back to us with where the disparities are?
MR. KLATZKOW: I think you can do that, but I think you're
going to -- it's just like when Jamie's trying to meet with the industry.
I think you're going to get quite the mess. I don't think you're going
to get a consensus that way. The only way to build a consensus is to
do it in this dialogue; open commission. But you're welcome to do
that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, okay. I mean, that's --
MR. KLATZKOW: Commissioner --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It would be my suggestion --
May 14, 2019
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MR. KLATZKOW: What I heard is that people want to kill this
program, all right, and that people want this program.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
MR. KLATZKOW: And I have yet to hear any middle ground
from any public speaker or anybody on this. So I think those are --
those are the comments that you've been getting on this.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
MR. KLATZKOW: The only way to get middle ground, I think,
is to have the public discussion.
As far as your earlier question, it's 90 days to terminate. If you
gave the time, the termination notice, they could no longer serve any
applications, all right, so...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. And it's been moved and
seconded we continue this resolution discussion till our second
meeting in June.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's the motion?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. I just needed to have the
motion exactly as it was made.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That was the motion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That is the motion.
All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye. And the reasons being --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You don't have to express your
reasons why.
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Are you muting me?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I would prefer just to express -- we
already know why.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Maybe you don't.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I didn't know I didn't say -- I'm not
real happy with it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You haven't voted.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, I did. I voted for it, but that's a
month and a half away, and I would like to tackle it right now. Give
it a couple weeks and get back to it and finish this thing.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So did you vote to continue it to the
second meeting in June or no?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, I did, because that's -- I
wanted to say that that's too far away.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ah, I see.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And I voted no because it is too
far away. That's six more weeks. That's too long given the
seriousness of this problem.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, especially -- why would you
delay it, you know?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: You know, we can kind of
re-think that. Just for purposes of continuing a discussion, I'll make a
motion to reconsider the vote by which we just continued this.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'll second that. Oh, can I?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You have to hear what his
reconsideration is.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. I want to reconsider
that. Perhaps move it up a little bit, that's all.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It won't take me to -- it won't take
me that long. I just was trying to afford sufficient amount of time.
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think the first meeting in
June, not the second one, when we were talking about continuing it,
and I think that's probably more than enough time.
So, I'll make the motion to reconsider the vote that we just took
for the purpose of shortening the time period for the continuance.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: To the first meeting in June?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, that will be my next
motion.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'll make -- I have no problem with
that, so I'll make the motion to hear it at the first meeting in June.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We have a motion to reconsider and
a second. All in favor of the reconsideration?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Now you can make that other
motion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Motion to --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I will move that we continue this
item to the first meeting in June.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Second.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: County Manager?
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, just for clarification, what's the --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We were going along real well until
you started.
May 14, 2019
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MR. OCHS: I mean, what's the expectation of staff between
now and then?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: For you to resolve all the
problems.
MR. OCHS: Very good.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Come up with something
everybody agrees on.
MR. OCHS: We have no guidance.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're going to give you a little bit
here in a second.
It's been moved and seconded that we reconsider -- or we give
this -- continue this until our first meeting in June. Any other
discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Opposed.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: 4-1.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And so I'd like to make a
motion -- now, before I do this, County Attorney, if we have a notice
to terminate, can we rescind that notice to terminate? Can we have a
notice to terminate upon review, pursuant to the review?
MR. KLATZKOW: So what you're saying is, can you give the
PACE providers notice that you want to terminate for convenience
upon 90 days' notice; that would automatically stop them from any
further new applications, and then at your next meeting reconsider
that, and at that point in time either continue the termination or not.
May 14, 2019
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Is that what you're getting at?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes, that's exactly what I'm
getting at.
MR. KLATZKOW: You could do that if you want.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: We can do anything if we want.
MR. KLATZKOW: Three votes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Let me throw out just another
alternative, because I don't necessarily disagree with what you're
saying, but I think that there has to be a little bit of consideration of
the providers as well in terms of there's a lot of stuff that's been stated
on the record. We're going to get an analysis on the accuracy of that.
And my assumption is that it's all accurate, but I think that what I
would suggest is at our next meeting, as an agenda item along with
this, is a motion to rescind that and give them an opportunity to get
back to us over the next two weeks, and if they don't give us
satisfactory information, that item won't be on the agenda.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm sorry. What is your --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'm just suggesting, as a
middle ground, we place that -- we vote now to place on the agenda
for our next meeting a motion to rescind or suspend --
MR. KLATZKOW: Or terminate.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- or terminate, rather, the
residential program. At least everybody will be on record, and then
the providers can respond to the allegations that have been made.
That gives them a couple weeks to get back to us.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And everything stops, their door
to door, knocking on the door and calling people at night stops.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, that would not stop if
we put that on as an agenda item.
MR. KLATZKOW: It would stop two weeks from now if that's
what you wanted to do.
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It would stop two weeks from
now. But I'm just throwing this out as something that would be kind
of a middle ground to closing the door today.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So if I -- if you would -- you
would vote for in two weeks it stops.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: If I don't get a satisfactory
response to the comments that have been made, I'm going to vote to
suspend -- or terminate the program. I've already said that. So, yes.
I mean, if I don't get a satisfactory response, I'll support you on that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And so right today, you wouldn't
be willing to vote for a notice to terminate?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No, I think it should be an
agenda item.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You're a hard bargainer, sir.
You're tough.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I learned from Donald
Trump.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You didn't serve with Donald
Trump.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's true, but just listening
to him on the TV all the time.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: You know, I'm just looking in
terms of --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So we'd make a motion right
now that in two weeks we put this issue on the agenda?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah, just -- I think just
suggest that it be an agenda item. We'll see if there's a consensus.
MR. KLATZKOW: You can simply direct the County
Attorney -- not County Attorney -- the County Manager bring this
back at your next meeting.
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
MR. KLATZKOW: And it will be on the agenda.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'd like to make a motion to that
effect.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I'll second that.
MR. OCHS: Bring back a recommendation to --
MR. KLATZKOW: Terminate --
MR. OCHS: Terminate.
MR. KLATZKOW: -- the residential, not the commercial,
correct?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: A motion to terminate.
MR. KLATZKOW: The residential, not commercial, correct?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's correct, for residential.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So that the providers are on
notice that if they don't adequately respond to the allegations that
have been made that we're prepared to move forward to terminate the
program.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I just -- not to be Captain
Obvious, but I think that message is pretty clear, right, from what --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: At least this way it's an
agenda item. That's all.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's an agenda item, okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And we don't have to vote to deny
the request today. We're actually hearing it in advance.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Or noticing that we're going to give
it consideration on our first meeting in --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'll support that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- in June, right? Or is that our
second meeting in May?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, two meetings.
May 14, 2019
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MR. OCHS: My understanding of the motion is that at your
next meeting, May 25th --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Twenty-eighth.
MR. OCHS: -- 28th staff will have an item on there to ask the
Board to consider --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're going to hear this again on
the 28th?
MR. OCHS: -- terminating the program.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: They have to answer.
MR. OCHS: The residential program.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No, no. We were going to -- we
redid the motion to continue to continue it to the first meeting in
June.
MR. KLATZKOW: That's a different one.
MR. OCHS: That's a different motion.
MR. KLATZKOW: That's the ordinance.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's for the ordinance. This is -- I
think the two should be at the same time --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- when we redo the ordinance
because, I mean --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Move it ahead to the 25th. I'm
fine with the 25th.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Twenty-eighth.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The 28th.
MR. OCHS: Twenty-eighth.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders, you're the
compromiser down there with regard to this with this notice of
suspension; is that what this is called?
MR. KLATZKOW: No. It would be -- you're putting the
industry on notice that you're going to consider terminating the
May 14, 2019
Page 157
residential program.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And we're going to do that on the
28th and then give consideration to the adjustments and ordinance at
all --
MR. KLATZKOW: Which may be moot.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- with regard to -- in our first
meeting in June. That doesn't seem intuitive.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So what is it that we're going to
consider in terms of deciding whether to terminate it on the 28th?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: My concern is that if the
allegations that have been stated today are accurate, then I'm
willing -- more than willing to terminate the program, because we
cannot -- if those allegations are true -- and I have no reason to doubt
them, but I'm just saying if they are true, we have no way to craft an
ordinance to stop that. We can't stop a bad-acting contractor from
saying it's a government program to an individual who doesn't speak
English or doesn't understand. We just can't. I mean, we can put
anything we want on paper, but it's not going to be effective. That's
all.
And so if we have a program that is -- that really is creating this
much problem, then I don't think we should continue it.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. So what we've just said now
is let's put the horse before the cart. As long as we're talking about
terminating anyway, there is no reason to meet in the first meeting in
June if we're going to end it on the 28th, eh?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No. I wanted to give them an
opportunity to respond to the allegations.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I think, Commissioner
Taylor, I think if we do both of those in the first meeting in June, that
gives them time to respond to those allegations, so...
May 14, 2019
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do it all on the first meeting in
June.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, you moved. You moved
from the 28th to the 14th or whenever.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It doesn't really make sense to do
the 28th.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's my problem. I can't figure
out what we're doing anymore.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think these allegations are
serious enough that if they can't come before us in two weeks and
refute them, then they're not going to do it. These are companies that
have been alleged right now, or not alleged, but have been testifying
that they know that they do their background checks, that it's easy to
access what they have, they keep great records. Then come before us
and tell us why this isn't true.
And so I would like to see, sir -- I would like to see the 28th of
May.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. That's fine with
me. And we'll still -- we'll have the second agenda. If we decide not
to terminate, we'll have a couple more weeks to put the ordinance
together.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm going to put my lawyer hat on.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I seconded that motion.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I didn't make the motion.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh. I make that motion, then,
that we are directing the County Manager to bring back an item
where we call for the termination of the residential PACE program in
Collier County --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Let's -- if you don't mind, let's
phrase it that there will an agenda item to discuss the continuation of
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the PACE program, and that will be our opportunity to determine
whether or not to terminate. But if we phrase it as a consideration of
an item to terminate the program, that sends a slightly different
message.
So I would support the motion to place on the agenda discussion
concerning the continuation of the PACE residential program. If
that's your motion, I'll second it, and we'll have it on that agenda.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And if it's not my motion, you
won't, so I'll make my motion to that. Let it be reflected that
Commissioner Saunders stated my motion, and you seconded it,
right?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And we're talking about
May 28th, Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Question. So the motion is to --
just to consider the entire program residential and commercial?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just the residential.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just a discussion of the
residential program.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: My question is -- my question is,
what we're really talking about is potentially amending the
agreement? Because the agreement doesn't make any distinction
between residential and commercial, does it?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Does not.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. KLATZKOW: You will be terminating the residential
portion of it and continuing the commercial which, apparently, is a
very small piece of it. What they provide is going to continue based
on --
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right. We can't just unilaterally
amend the contract. They're going to have to redo it.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. I support the motion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well -- and I don't support the
motion because, I mean, what we're doing, again, is putting the cart
in front of the horse.
I have said on a regular basis that if there are people being taken
advantage of and there are things that we can do to enhance consumer
protections by a local ordinance, then we should, in fact, do that and
to give consideration to termination of a program that is -- we haven't
reviewed the ordinance to enhance the consumer protections and give
consideration to termination in advance of the ordinance to afford the
consumer protections. It's counterintuitive to me.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: This puts a lot of pressure on
a lot of people to come up with an ordinance that makes some sense.
If we voted on May 28th to terminate, that's a 90-day notice, we can
still rescind that termination, but this just keeps a little pressure on
everybody to be more timely.
I don't want to see any more people -- again, if the allegations
are accurate, and we'll find out in the next couple of weeks. If they
are, then we've got a program that's got problems that we can't fix.
That's all.
If Ygrene comes back and the providers come back with some
analysis of these allegations and there's some explanation, then we
keep the program in place. But I'm really troubled by --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I am troubled as well. And you
can't misconstrue the troubling aspect of having people come in front
of us and talk to us the way that they have today.
I have the utmost respect for Ms. Elena. But I am not the lawyer
of this bunch, but I listened to her cite case after case after case
May 14, 2019
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lawsuits with allegations represented in a lawsuit by one party who's
filed a suit, not the responses or any decision from any court. So
the -- and those are very valid representations. It's only half of the
story.
And with every litigation, with every lawsuit, one side has their
opinion which instigates the litigation, and another has the response,
and then the judge gets to argue about who was right or wrong. And
so with all due respect, her comments were fraught with --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Hearsay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- exactly -- representations of a
lawsuit and allegations of improprieties performed by people who are
doing these PACE loans even in an entirely separate state.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I agree. And in two weeks
we can get some clarification. If we don't, then there's a problem.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, let me just say this -- and I
think it would -- and I'm glad that Commissioner McDaniel brought
this up, because it does present a problem to the participants in the
program. I mean, what kind of evidence -- if we're asking them to
prove something, what kind of evidence -- because we haven't
received any documents today from anybody. What are we going to
expect in terms of documentation? I think it's only fair to try to
clarify that for them because, otherwise, is just a reading of a
statement going to be enough, or what are we expecting in terms of
evidence?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Number one. Number two it's, I
think, a local ordinance that provides for enhanced consumer
protections, as I've said on a regular basis, will get us to where we
need to go and, if not, we'll terminate the program from a residential
perspective.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, I think one thing that
would be very fascinating to see is a list of their contractors and if
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they are out of Collier County and then also a background with
affidavits and court cases that show that maybe they have done
something wrong in another county. I should think that would be
very easy to find. I would love to see the signature of the person who
could not speak English nor could read nor write and signed in an X.
I would love to see that signature. I'd like to see that.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
MS. MOLA: I have copies.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I can't imagine that it's not going
to happen. I have a feeling that it's there. So at some point I'll sort of
take Robert's Rules of Order and say there's a motion on the floor,
and let's call the question, please.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So if I can recall the motion, the
motion is to put an agenda item in our next meeting, the 28th of May,
to give consideration to the residential PACE program, or do you
want it to specify termination of?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just consideration of.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm going to quit while I'm
ahead.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Are you satisfied with that motion?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. It's been moved and
seconded that that's what we do.
All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed?
Aye.
May 14, 2019
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MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, point of clarification for that item.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No. I'm not giving you any more
direction.
MR. OCHS: This is the question, yeah. For that item, it's my
understanding staff will just put that item on the agenda as a title and
just recount what happened here, but we're not gathering any of this
evidence, correct?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And we don't need to have all
the speakers come and discuss what they've already discussed. This
really, I think, is an opportunity for the providers to review what has
been stated, provide us some information as to why we should
continue on with this program.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And then we'll have two weeks
from that date in order to make the adjustments to the ordinance or
not, at which point we'll give you very specific direction as to what
staff's requisites will be.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Now I have another request. It
does appear that targeting of residents in Collier County are in your
district, sir, and in your district, sir. And given the fact that a lot of
folks in that district probably are -- if they do anything once a week,
it's through the churches. I think it would be very helpful to
disseminate some information to the leadership of the churches,
which, of course you know, to say that we are considering this issue
because there are some serious questions so that we put the public on
notice that when you get that call at 9 o'clock at night, you really
don't have to answer the phone, but if you do, just hang up. I think
it's critical, especially with those who have English as a second
language.
So I'd like to see if there's any kind of agreement. I'd like to --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: How would we do that?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, very easy. The conduits.
May 14, 2019
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We set it up under -- with the fires in the east. There's a group
of -- you know, we would probably go to a couple of the major
churches. St. Matthew's House knows all the leadership of all the
churches. It would be a simple thing to go to them and say, could
you please disseminate this information and have it not -- not too
weighted one way or another, but this program is under question. We
are discussing it. We would love you to come in, but please note that
this program is not a government program.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think having this on the
agenda in two weeks is far enough. I don't think we need to start
sending out notices to churches and that sort of thing. I mean, you're
free to do that as an individual.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I was just going to say, I
mean, I think that's something that the opponents of the program
would probably want to do themselves. I mean, I think Habitat has
the same contacts for the churches.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: They've got a list of all of their
borrowers --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I wouldn't want to saddle staff
figuring all that --
(Simultaneous speakers speaking.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- certainly against all of the
borrowers would put those folks -- minimally, and put those folks on
notice that there's something to be weary of in looking at.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And then the final question I
have about what staff has done with the ordinance -- and this is a
question that's troubling me. When you appraise a value of the
property, it's common in what we do in Collier County is we look at
the whole properties. Ah, the house, forgot about the house. It's the
May 14, 2019
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land that's worth something. So my question is, when you evaluate
the property and figure that it's a certain percentage, whatever the
improvements can't be a certain percentage over the value of the
property, do we take the land as well as the house? I think that needs
to change. But that's a discussion for a month from now; maybe not.
MR. FRENCH: That's right out of the state statute, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So we have to look at it that
way?
MR. FRENCH: Yes, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: The aggregate value, including the
land.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Including the land.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That would certainly reduce the
amount of borrowing capacity if it only had to do with the surficial
improvements.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
MR. FRENCH: And that improved value, by the way, sir, is
determined by your Property Appraiser.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Right.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That was specified in the statute.
That gave a common denominator or location if you could get people
to go and actually see.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: We have to let our stenographer go
to --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: How's your fingers? 3:15; we'll be
back at 3:15.
(A brief recess was had.)
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, you have a live mic.
May 14, 2019
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Item #10A
REVIEW THE PROPOSED TWO-YEAR EXTENSION TO THE
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT FOR MARK STRAIN, HEARING
EXAMINER - MOTION TO APPROVE CONTRACT EXTENSION
– APPROVED; HEARING EXAMINER STRAIN TO SUBMIT A
REPORT IN SEPTEMBER
MR. OCHS: We move to Item 10A under Board of County
Commissioners. It's a recommendation that the Board review and
approve the proposed two-year extension to the employment
agreement for Mark Strain, your Hearing Examiner.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And there he is. How do you do,
Mr. Strain?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'll move to approve.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we approve the extension of the Hearing Examiner's agreement. Is
there any discussion?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yes. You know, not having been
here when the hearing officer position was created, I've been trying to
understand what can we do, number one, to make it better. I think no
one knows the Land Development Code better than our Hearing
Examiner.
And so I'd -- one of the things that I find curious to me -- and
I'm just -- there's nothing in the agreement now like there are in the
County Attorney's contract and the County Manager's contract in
terms of having kind of a process for review, and I haven't been able
to understand why that is because I think that's a healthy process.
And it's a process that our other two contract employees have.
And I would like to discuss having, essentially, the same terms.
May 14, 2019
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And whatever that process is, the goals and things can be, you know,
developed by Mr. Strain as the goals and objectives are created by the
County Manager and the County Attorney so that there's a process by
which we, you know, at the end of every year, have the ability to
discuss the hearing officer's role.
I mean, I would hope that we could make the hearing officer's
role better and more efficient and more productive, and that's really
what I wanted to say. I don't understand why we don't have
essentially the same contract, and I wanted to suggest that we should
have the same kind of a contract.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's a good point.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Very good point.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I was just going to ask a
question. So what would you suggest we include, or what are the
goals? I mean, the Hearing Examiner basically interfaces with the
public and hears issues. And how would you grade him? By how
many people he turned away or how many people he approved or --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No, I think --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- you know, if they're hitting on
our doors screaming and hollering because of his decisions? How
would you --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I mean, I think that's the discussion
and the recommendations that could come from Mr. Strain. I mean,
that's -- you know, how do we -- what does the hearing officer do?
The scope of the hearing officer's role, I think, could be better
delineated. We've discussed, essentially, a change in how he wants
to work in terms of what he does for the county.
And so I'm just -- I'd like to see that -- if we can come up with a
better scope of work that's a little more clear and, you know, an
evaluation process that everybody else has in terms of, you know,
May 14, 2019
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efficiencies. I mean, that's something that could be developed. I
think it would be for him to develop it because it's -- you know, he
understands what's required more than anyone else.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And you're suggesting that this
review process be done on an annual basis as opposed to a two-year
renewal that we're currently on? Because, I mean, right now we're
kind of -- I would foresee what we're doing right now as his review.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Except there isn't -- there isn't a
process, right. I mean, I think everybody's -- the County Attorney's
Office and the County Manager -- thank you -- they both -- I think we
review them annually, and -- yeah. I mean, I think that's only -- that's
my only suggestion, and a better description of the scope of what the
hearing officer does, if there's a way to expand that, you know, we
could do that.
I have expressed my concerns on occasion in terms of the role of
a hearing officer and the chairman of the Planning Commission also
kind of being an information officer for the county, which concerns
me just because it impacts, I think -- it could impact the perception of
the process. Hearing officers are mainly sitting as judges.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: When does the existing
two-year period end?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: September.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So we would have a little bit
of time, if we wanted to, to add that type of language.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Sure. Yeah.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But are we asking Mr. Strain to
create that?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I would hope that he would have
some input into what it would be and how it would be structured.
MR. STRAIN: Mark Strain, for the record.
And, Commissioner, when you and I talked about it, it was
May 14, 2019
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something I didn't feel would be attributed well with my office. A
couple reasons: I believe the program that you have with the County
Manager and the County Attorney was instituted to provide them
with the possibility of bonuses based on ranking each year. I can
assure you I want no more money. I'm not doing the job and the
hours I'm putting in for any more money. I want to keep doing the
job I'm doing; I'd like to. I think it does a service for the public.
So I'm happy leaving my contract the way it is. I know you at
one point expressed to me the possibility of putting some more detail
in the contract even to protect myself. I'm very happy with the five
of you. I'm equally happy if someone doesn't agree. You have the
opportunities under your commissioner discussions to bring it up at
any time.
I certainly will follow the direction of the Board, and I have no
qualms about going forward with like it is. It's been working
successfully for six years. My hours during the week are -- I come in
10 hours a day, and I'm working 50 to 60 hours after you take what's
happening on evenings and weekends that I read at home. I simply
want to change and reduce the hours a little bit. It's a little too much
at my -- I'm getting to a point where I get tired more easily, and I'd
just as soon not put in the kind of hours I'm doing now, but I still
want to put enough hours to make sure the office works and functions
properly. That's what started my discussion with you-all.
And I would like nothing to change in regards to the contract
and move forward like it is. That's what I would hope would happen.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I guess this is the part I don't
understand is you do want to change the hours and how you're
working those hours and from where you're working those hours.
MR. STRAIN: No, sir. The contract doesn't require any hours.
It doesn't require where I'm working from.
When I got signed up, I've have always worked long hours. And
May 14, 2019
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the job here, for being in the office, it attracts long hours. I read on
the weekends because it's quieter at home than it is in my office.
There's a lot of things that happen each day.
My preference would be, I'll do my reading at home. I'll come
into the office when necessary, but I'll do most of my intense reading
and studying at home.
It's just my wife and I. My son -- we're what they call empty
nesters. Unfortunately, my son moved to a place. I wish he'd be
home. He moved to Colorado, but we miss him dearly. So I don't
get to see him very much. So, you know, it's -- and my wife quilts.
So she does her thing and I do my studies. I do my reading.
And I would just prefer being able to do it in a quieter
atmosphere. I have a lot of interruptions each day that I'm in the
office, and it does not give me a focus if I do all my reading there.
So that's what I'd asked you all about on a one-to-one, and that's what
I'd like to continue with.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And, I guess, I mean, we're -- I
think it would be healthy for everyone and for, you know, a future
hearing office if we have one. I mean, you know, if you're going to
change the way the hours and the way you're working, where you're
working from, I mean, I don't understand why your agreement
wouldn't need to reflect that, because it doesn't reflect that now.
MR. STRAIN: It doesn't -- you're right. I was doing it as a
courtesy to you-all. I thought it would -- I don't answer to anybody.
I very rarely answer to you as a group. So I thought, okay, I'll come
and talk to you-all and tell you what I'd like to do and make sure you
didn't say, well, Mark Strain's never in his office.
I was telling you ahead of time what I'd prefer to do to stay on
with the county and continue my work. I thought that was the
honorable thing to do is approach you on a one-to-one and explain
that to you, and that's what I was trying to do. I didn't mean to open a
May 14, 2019
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Pandora's box of issues.
And I do agree with you. If you get a different Hearing
Examiner, you may want to change the rules, but I've known all of
you for a very long time. Commissioner, you and I worked together,
what, 20, 30 years ago.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Twenty years.
MR. STRAIN: Commissioner Fiala and I have worked together
for decades; Commissioner McDaniels, I think it started in the early
2000s; Commissioner Taylor, I don't if it's been -- since she was with
the city; and Commissioner Saunders when he was a county attorney.
So I'm going to -- I have never let anybody down. I don't intend
to now. I would just like to continue peacefully along the way and
get my work done, and that's all I wanted to do. I wasn't looking for
an overall change to the program.
I hadn't -- we've had six years with a couple hundred more or
cases. Not one appeal. And they've all flowed through and saved
time that you guys don't have to spend in these chambers. You've got
more important things to do. I was the last one. You don't need a
bunch of those, so...
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I mean, are you willing at
least to discuss what I'm proposing so that we have a way to discuss,
you know, the hearing officer, what the hearing officer has done, how
it does it, and to make it better?
MR. STRAIN: I'm not opposed to making it better. I don't
know if the way to get there is a self-evaluation of any type, and I
don't know if the one needs to mirror the other two contracts that
don't have -- aren't quasi-judicial in nature.
I don't want to have to sit there thinking, well, I've got a client
here or a customer or an applicant, and I wonder how the
commissioner from the district's going to feel about it, and then that
might affect my rating. I don't want to get into the politics of any of
May 14, 2019
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this. I would simply just like to do the job I was hired to do.
You guys are catching on spilling water.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: You're making everybody up
here nervous.
MR. STRAIN: I know. I don't mean to. I'm watching two
glasses go over so far.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Andy spilled coffee. I just
dumped my water all over the place.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Commissioner Fiala, would
you hand me a glass of water so I can spill something.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I want you to know that
Commissioner Solis continued on with his speech while he was doing
that.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Again --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It's too much fun.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- the only thing that I see is that
other than when this item comes up every two years -- well, as you
just said, we have no -- there's no ability for us to ever have a
discussion about the hearing officer's position and how to make it
better, what's working, what's not working. I mean, I'm always
looking at how do we make our processes in the county better.
MR. STRAIN: Well, you're the commissioner of
communications. If you guys talked about an idea of how can we
expand the office -- and as you've told the County Manager to pass
onto staff, come back with some kind of answer as to how we could
improve that office, I would get that message. I'm sure, between
Nick and Leo, I'd get that, and I would respond. And I thought that
was the simplest and less time consuming.
I mean, I've actually been here all day. I know you guys have
been busy, but I could have -- there's a whole bunch of stuff I could
have done today. I would have -- I could have kept busy.
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm sorry.
MR. STRAIN: No. But I'm just saying, it makes it hard if I've
got to be here for the whole day to wait for that when I think it could
be just done through commissioner communications and passed on to
me, and I'll get it to you immediately. I've never not responded to
you, Commissioner.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Mark -- and, again, I'm -- I'm
asking for you to help come up with the same sort of process that our
other employees have and if -- I mean, if you're not willing to do that,
just tell me, and --
MR. STRAIN: I'm just trying to understand how it equates to
the fact that they're not quasi-judicial in nature.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's all the more reason, I think. If
it's a quasi-judicial position, we need to make sure, even more so,
maybe, than non-quasi-judicial positions, that it's working as well as
it can work.
MR. STRAIN: Commissioner, I had asked to renew my
contract as we have the last two times. I would like -- I would --
please, I'm asking the Board to please renew it. I don't know what
else to say at this point.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So, I mean, you're not willing to
consider a review process of any kind?
MR. STRAIN: I think you guys can have the review process,
and then the results of that, just let me know, and I'll move forward
with your review. What do I need to be --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: We're going around and around
about this. How do we do that other than throwing something on a
commissioner communications which nobody else is going to have
the benefit of looking at prior to a meeting to have a meaningful
discussion? I personally don't think that's fair to you, because it will
catch you by surprise.
May 14, 2019
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MR. STRAIN: You know, I'm willing to take my chances with
the five of you. I have for all these years and the Board before you,
and I'll continue doing that. I have no problem with that at all.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Would it work to -- and I
understand what Mr. Strain is saying. I understand what you're
saying. How about if we, on an annual basis, have Mr. Strain come
to our commission meeting at a set time with just kind of an analysis
of what the prior year has been in terms of workload and that sort of
thing just so we know what the activities are, and if he's got some
suggestions on how to streamline the process, at least we'd have a
formal process to do that. Would that work?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And why wouldn't we want that in
the agreement that we're going to renew?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Because we never had to -- need
it. I mean, we're talking to Mark Strain. Now, if it was somebody
else, maybe. But I don't see that. I don't see a formalization of this --
of this position to that point.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Can I --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: The only thing I can think of
to your question of why is just simply because. I can't think of any
other reason.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You jumped ahead of
Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'm sorry.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's all right. What I was going
to say, maybe, I think, what you're talking about is a job description
so you get a general overview of what the job would entail.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Whether he does this, this, and this
May 14, 2019
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that day and something else the next day, you know, that leads --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. How many --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- to whatever he is asked to do.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- petitions were reviewed this
year? What were they? What was the makeup?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And what we don't see in a job
description is the developers who say, well, I really want just a
hearing examiner. Of course it's going to save them a lot of money,
and it's a quicker process rather than going through the Planning
Commission and so forth.
But I think that they've been very, very happy with the
performance which has been good for us, too, and good for them.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: So I think what we're hearing now
is what you're asking is to give an overall job description, not piece
by piece by piece, because his day, I'm sure, changes just as much as
yours and mine does every day.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Sure, sure.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: You can never go by that. But
would you be able to write out a job description, Mark, so this
would --
MR. STRAIN: If you're suggesting that once a year I report
basically what the job -- what has occurred over the job the past year,
I don't have a problem doing that, but to modify my contract to do
that, I don't see that being necessary.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, I don't think he was -- I think
what he really meant was job description.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, both. I mean, think that's one
of the questions is what is the job description. And, I mean, I'd like
to see that clarified. I think it would be good for Mark. It would be
good for us to understand exactly what the hearing officer's going to
May 14, 2019
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do, and then have some formalized process for evaluating whether we
need to make changes to the kinds of matters that are being heard,
you know, a better process, a better time frame.
You know, without some way of evaluating what we're doing, I
just don't know how we can -- I mean, there's no evaluation process
to make anything better.
MR. STRAIN: The record that I've created speaks for itself.
We haven't had any issues, and the office has run smoothly and
handled everything that -- in fact, yesterday I had a three- or
four-hour meeting on one of the projects you remanded back. We did
Racetrac. We did Haldeman Creek. We've done big projects. We've
done small ones. They've all landed on your desks with as thorough
of a process as I could possibly come up with, as have all the other
small things that are kept off your agenda.
I mean, the record itself speaks for the operations of the office in
the success we've had. I think it's been to the benefit of the public, to
everybody, whether it's homeowners putting a boat dock extension in
or developers putting in sign variances and things like that. All that
clutter is handled, and I don't think you've heard any negative. I have
not.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, the best part is, we haven't
heard anything about it, which means you must be doing your job
very, very well.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Let's --
MR. STRAIN: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders, do you
have anything else to say, or are you just looking to comment on
what Commissioner Solis was saying?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No, I was just commenting
on it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And then, Commissioner Taylor,
May 14, 2019
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your light was up.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, it's fine.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right. If I may --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you for the cleanup.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am.
There's been a motion and a second to -- are you relighting up?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, I'm relighting up.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Dang it.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You seem to be very attached to
something here.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I'm attached to wanting to
make sure -- or have an avenue for discussing the hearing officer's
role and what it does.
And I agree with Commissioner Saunders. And the only reason
I lit up again was if the will of the Board is not to put in the contract
that there's any kind of formal review process or self-evaluation
process, which we have in all the other contracts, then I would like
for the informal one to happen this year, you know, in the next month
or two.
MR. STRAIN: Whoa, wait a minute. What's this we're doing
today? I mean, I don't want to renew my contract if another day has
to be -- where we discuss my performance, which is basically what
we're doing today. If there's issues, tell me what they are. Let's get it
on the table. I want to get past this so I can focus on what you hired
me to do.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I mean, there's nothing to evaluate.
This is the whole point.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think what we're -- I think
what Commissioner Solis has suggested and what I have suggested is
that on a regular basis, whether it be every six months or annually,
just have you come at a time-certain to give us some information
May 14, 2019
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about your workload and what's going on in your office. I know you
don't have an issue with doing that.
I would have an issue with having it come up in June. I think,
you know, in the late fall or first of the year, just -- and then start it
on an annual basis, just let us know what's going on. And if we have
some ideas on how to improve operations, we can discuss it with you.
So it would be a fairly quick agenda item. I think that's what we're
suggesting, and I think you've already said you don't have a problem
with that.
MR. STRAIN: I don't. I just would like to streamline it. I
mean, I don't have -- I would rather be doing those productive things
and giving you guys what information you want. There's nothing this
board, the five of you either individually or -- jointly you've never
asked me, but I've never not responded to you. So, certainly, I would
respond. I'd give you the information you want.
If it works and you can just have a tabulation of it all, that would
be fine. If I have to come and spend time here because there's
questions about it, that means I didn't give you a good enough
explanation, so that will so be it.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Good. All right. Let's call the
question.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we extend the Hearing Examiner's contract per the recommendations.
Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed --
May 14, 2019
Page 179
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- same sign, same sound; 4-1.
MR. STRAIN: Thank you, Commissioners.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And then can we just ask the
Manager to put, you know, a calendar reminder that in six months
we'll ask Mr. Strain to give us a little bit of analysis of the workload
and any suggestions he has for improving the operations or
expanding the jurisdiction of the Hearing Examiner, and then we can
discuss whether we want to make those changes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Especially the type. And I know
that in some cases you actually save the county money because of the
cost of what you do versus going through a process, and I think that
would be very interesting information to have.
MR. STRAIN: I can put that together.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. STRAIN: Thank you-all.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Can we set that for a time-certain?
I mean, I'd like to have that discussion this year. I'd like --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: At the same time the County
Manager and the County Attorney come in.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, this is all I'm asking.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's in a couple --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's in September or October?
MR. OCHS: That's in late September.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: My whole idea was to have the
same review at the same time as we review the contract that the
County Attorney and our County Manager has, and why that's any
different, I don't understand.
MR. STRAIN: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And so --
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, that takes us to item --
May 14, 2019
Page 180
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just as a point of clarification, are
we okay with doing the -- having the report from Mark in September?
Is that okay with you?
MR. OCHS: It's up to the Board.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm getting a head nod from
Mr. Strain. That brings clarity to that. And that's all I've got to say
about that. Okay.
Item #11A
BUDGET AMENDMENTS IN THE AMOUNT OF $9,003,200 TO
FUND THE I-75/COLLIER BOULEVARD UTILITY
RELOCATION PROJECT, PROJECT NUMBER 70229 –
APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, we move to 11A under County
Manager's report. This is a recommendation to authorize budget
amendments in the amount of $9,003,200 to fund the I-75/Collier
Boulevard Utility Relocation Project.
Mr. Chmelik, your Engineering and Project Management
Division Director with Public Utilities, is available to make a
presentation or respond to questions from the Board.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Move approval.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We don't have much choice. We
need to do this.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I was going to say, it's been moved
and seconded that we approve staff's recommendation and, basically,
for what I've been able to ascertain, this has to be done.
MR. OCHS: Yes, sir.
MR. CHMELIK: That is correct.
May 14, 2019
Page 181
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Good presentation, though, Tom.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, again. It's been moved and --
any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
Item #11B
ADVERTISING A PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER THE
ADOPTION OF A NEW ORDINANCE TO BE CALLED THE
POLLUTION CONTROL AND PREVENTION ORDINANCE,
REPEALING AND REPLACING ORDINANCE NO. 87-79,
REGARDING THE TRANSPORTATION AND DISPOSAL OF
SLUDGE AND REPEALING RESOLUTION NO. 88-311
REGARDING FEES FOR SLUDGE TRANSPORTATION AND
DISPOSAL PERMITS – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, we move to Item 11B. This item
was continued from your April 23rd, 2019, BCC meeting. It's a
recommendation to advertise for a future public hearing to consider
the adoption of a new ordinance referred to as the Pollution Control
and Prevention Ordinance.
Danette Kinaszczuk, close enough? I'm getting better.
May 14, 2019
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Kinaszczuk. You keep coming up here, I'll get this right eventually.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, you don't.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I can never say it either. Say it
slowly.
MS. KINASZCZUK: It's Kinaszczuk.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Kinaszczuk.
MS. KINASZCZUK: I guess, for the record.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Danette.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: How are you doing, Danette?
MS. KINASZCZUK: Good. I get a lot of Danette K, too, so
that will work.
MR. OCHS: Danette K.
MS. KINASZCZUK: Okay. So since we spoke last time, I did
the customer outreach that Commissioner McDaniel requested, and
you can see the changes in the ordinance in red. Both the changes
were made in the section that talks about sewage, septage, grease, and
bio-solids. And the first change was made due to the customer's
concern that the way that it read, it would relate to RVs, like
recreational vehicle camper-type things, so we were a little more
specific on that one, and the second one we added the word "exempt"
into in addition to the word "approved," and that's the kind of facility
that we're talking about.
This was done to address the concern by the customer that the
haulers wouldn't be able to take sludge to their facility. So I think as
far as I'm aware, that we left the customer very happy.
And I think that was the only outstanding item we had from the
last meeting.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Go ahead. You want to go first? I
usually wait till the end, I try to, in case somebody else has a --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, I just -- you know, after
we heard this morning about -- and I copied it down -- that University
May 14, 2019
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of Florida -- and I probably got it all soaking wet, but that, what was
it, they said that they had to know -- you know, we go right to the
source for -- you know, that's where we start controlling pollution, at
the source. This ordinance, that's what it deals with.
And I think it's so very, very important as we move forward,
because it starts on the local level, and I think -- I don't know if
you're happy with the way -- especially because of the rewriting of
the whole sludge aspect of the ordinance, if you're content with it, I'd
like to make a motion to approve as written.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded. Is
there any comment other than mine?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And that is, I thank you, by the
way, Danette, for reaching out as I asked you to.
I have concerns with regard to the stormwater management
systems. I expressed those the last time. And the unintended -- and I
understand -- again, I understand the process of what we're doing
here. This is a very old ordinance. It hasn't been touched for close to
20 years and -- I'm sorry?
MS. KINASZCZUK: Thirty.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah. That's --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Three decades.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Does your calculator have that
many zeros for me to do that? It's been a long time.
And I see -- the DEP already regulates these things. All of this
pollution control, all of this is already regulated by a state agency in
the first place, correct?
MS. KINASZCZUK: There is state statute that addresses some
of this.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay, okay. I'm going to pass this
May 14, 2019
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with the proviso that I have concerns with regard to the South Florida
Water Management process, and I don't really have a lot of concern
as long as you and yours are floating around.
It's just -- I see that this could become an enormous amount of
government overreach and duplicity with regard to regulation on a
theory.
I am concerned about the allowable load amounts that are
interchangeable that do, in fact, change if someone makes a decision
that a particular nutrient load amount is in excess of allowable
standards, it would allow for you or someone else to go upstream and
impose conditions on private property ownership that are -- that are
unreasonable. So I've said that. Why are you looking at me like
that?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We just heard testimony from
the University of Florida, the scientist who came here, that said we
must manage our land-based nutrients. That's what this is about.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I do not disagree with that, but I
don't believe that this is -- this is the -- this is the only path to that.
There's enormous amount of -- there are a lot of other ways to get
there than regulation, especially duplicity with regard to regulation.
With that, I'm done. I've said my piece. We all got the letter
from Tony Pires regarding the stormwater management systems and
the potential unintended consequences that could come from that.
So it's been moved -- I'm done. It's been moved and seconded
that we approve the ordinance as written. Is there any other
discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
May 14, 2019
Page 185
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
MS. KINASZCZUK: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
Item #11C
ACCEPTING THE RANDALL BOULEVARD AND OIL WELL
ROAD CORRIDOR STUDY AND DIRECT STAFF TO PURSUE
THE ALTERNATIVE 2 (PROJECT NO. 60065) - MOTION TO
ACCEPT REPORT AND ALTERNATIVE 2+ - APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, we to move Item 11C. This is a
recommendation to accept the Randall Boulevard and Oil Well Road
Corridor Study and direct your staff to pursue Alternative 2 Plus, and
Ms. Lorraine Lantz will take you through the presentation.
MR. MILLER: And, Mr. Chairman, I do have one speaker for
this item.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ms. Rae Ann.
MS. LANTZ: Good afternoon. Lorraine Lantz, for the record,
Transportation Planning.
I just wanted to give you a very brief overview of the project.
We started this in about late 2016. This project is in Commission
District 5, Eastern Collier County.
You can see by the study limits it's Randall Boulevard/Oil Well
Road, approximately 8th Street Northwest to up to, diagonally, from
Randall to Oil Well.
We were tasked with this project because it was originally a
May 14, 2019
Page 186
failing facility, Randall Boulevard from Everglades to Immokalee
Road. That facility moved to Level of Service E in the 2017 --
excuse me. It was failing in 2017 Annual Update and Inventory
Report. It then moved to a Level of Service E in the 2018 AUIR.
We believe that was because people started to find a different
area because of the congestion, and they were using Oil Well Road;
however, we do note that it will become -- we predict it will become
a deficient and failing facility in 2021.
If we actually did nothing, this would -- the no-build facility
would then cause the rest of your network to become failures. You
can see Oil Well, Randall, the Immokalee/Randall intersection as
well as other facilities off of Randall.
So there needs to be something done, which is why we started
out looking at four initial alternatives. These initial alternatives were
further evaluated, and we moved from the four to two alternatives.
The first alternative, Viable Alternative No. 1, was what was
considered the S connector. This would become a new facility, a new
four-laned facility off of the Golden Gate Canal. It would connect
Randall and Oil Well Road.
Our analysis showed that while this does help alleviate traffic
and it does create operational improvements on Oil Well, it just
pushes your problem downstream to the network at Wilson
Boulevard, Wilson and Immokalee.
And so looking at our corridor, we did what we were supposed
to do and made sure that the area in the corridor was working;
however, we were trying to look globally, and we did not want to just
look at what was happening in the corridor. We wanted to look at the
entire network, and because of that we did not choose this alternative.
We looked at Alternative No. -- Viable Alternative No. 2. This
was to four-lane Everglades Boulevard. This is an existing facility.
It is currently a two-lane facility. We would widen that. And, in
May 14, 2019
Page 187
addition, we would widen Randall Boulevard from Immokalee to
Everglades to a six-laned facility, and then from Everglades to
DeSoto and beyond to a four-laned facility when necessary.
Now, this solution had some problems as well. While this
actually kept Randall at a Level of Service C, it caused some
concerns to Oil Well Road, because that facility, people are not -- our
model predicted that people would not make the choice to move
down Everglades. They would continue on Oil Well. And because
that is constrained with the schools, that would become a four-laned
facility -- or as a four-laned facility, there would be some more traffic
that it could not handle.
So then we evaluated both of those existing alternatives. And
you'll note that there were some pluses and minuses to both.
Alternative 2, it costs substantially less. It's $80 million versus $98
million for Alternative 1.
There's less right-of-way impacts, but it doesn't really solve the
problem. So we kind of came up with a viable alternative, what we're
calling 2 Plus which takes advantage of all of your existing network
that is planned.
So it looks at Randall, as I stated in Version 2, but also looking
at Vanderbilt Beach Road extension, moving it all the way from
where it is to terminate now at 8th, taking it through to Big Cypress,
Everglades, connecting down, and Big Cypress moving up to -- as it
comes in, moving from Immokalee down to 75.
When we went out to public comment -- we had three public
meetings. And when we went and asked the constituents what they
wanted to see, they wanted to see -- overwhelmingly wanted to see an
urban type typical section. That means that they wanted to see
sidewalks, bike lanes, and streetlights. And so our recommendation
for the look of the road when it is designed -- we are not at design.
We're at corridor study. But when it is designed, would be to do an
May 14, 2019
Page 188
urban-type typical section.
And so staff's recommendation for you today is Randall
Boulevard as a four-laned facility to Everglades -- from Big Cypress
to Everglades, and then Everglades to Immokalee as a six-laned
facility, Everglades as a four-laned facility, Oil Well as the six-laned
facility, but then take into consideration all of the network as we've
shown here, and then allow staff to coordinate with the Metropolitan
Planning Organization, the Collier MPO, so that this has planning
consistency with their Long Range Transportation Plan update.
That's it. I went through it really quick, so...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You did really well. You did really
well.
MS. LANTZ: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Move approval for the staff
recommendation of 2 Plus.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Second.
MR. OCHS: I believe you have a speaker.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We have a public speaker. We're
going to go there before -- Rae Ann wants to talk us out of it.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I wonder who it is.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, your speaker is Rae Ann Burton.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: As she's coming up, the 2 Plus
alternative, does that sufficiently alleviate the pressure at Wilson and
Immokalee? That was the bottleneck with, basically, all of the other
alternatives.
MS. LANTZ: Yes. We feel that this takes advantage of all your
networks so that traffic is dispersed and distributed to all facilities
and infrastructure.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Please go ahead, Ms. Rae Ann.
MS. BURTON: My name is Rae Ann Burton, 2530 31st
Avenue Northeast, Golden Gate Estates.
May 14, 2019
Page 189
At the last public meeting it was announced the variable
Alternate 2 would be proposed, recommended built alternative to
Randall and Oil Well corridors. This is Item 11C on the agenda.
I wish to ask that the Board approve the recommended Viable
Alternate 2 proposed by staff. According to the agenda, the other
variables were eliminated either because of public comments, traffic
analysis, higher environment impact, and cost and would not benefit
long term.
I want to thank the study groups for recommending the Viable
Alternate 2 as the only reasonable solution to solve the traffic issue
and eliminating the S connection that would have destroyed the
environment of three quiet dead-end neighborhood streets, also for
providing meetings at a later time and road signage relaying the
information, and the Board for requesting more research.
Original Golden plan -- master plan was for one quarter to
two-and-a-half to five-acre parcels intended for single-family,
multiple family, commercial land use was rezoned -- 1974 for
developers and low-density single-family residence. These thus road
are required to accommodate the massive developments of these
gated communities.
The building of homes into dense communities is the reason
current roads are failing. If development is not regulated, more roads
will be built or widened, which will only add water pollution from
the roadways and the queue (sic) communities flowing into the
canals. Traffic flow was low because traffic lights have to be added
to permit cars to enter, an example.
To get here, 27 miles, 34 stoplights, and 50 minutes.
Connecting dead-end streets by bridges creating issues already.
Original reason, faster access for emergency vehicles in the Estates.
Some have become racetracks or cut-throughs for heavy construction,
already happening on 8th and 16th. No longer quiet or safe for
May 14, 2019
Page 190
children at bus stops due to these vehicles.
Now it seems 47th Avenue is also due for a connecting bridge.
The fear is that the road traffic will increase, cars speeding, and with
the development in the area, will be used for a cut-through for
construction vehicles which will damage roads.
Growth is great. Please don't destroy the quiet, safe
streets/environments we now have. Please answer all the factors
when connecting dead-end streets with the same research that was
done on the Randall/Oil Well corridor.
Thank you again for approving the Variable Alternate 2.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Plus.
MS. BURTON: And I have 22 seconds.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Say something about the panther.
MS. BURTON: Well, I almost had to leave and not be able to
say thanks.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just as one -- and one note,
Lorraine. You mentioned something about Big Cypress Parkway, it
is ultimately slated to go to I-75, but not right now. It's not part of
the --
MS. LANTZ: Right. That's privately owned right now.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
MS. LANTZ: As the developer comes in, there might be some
more agreement.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's the ultimate.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Good clarification, Commissioner,
because we are dealing with the developers now. So we want to pick
up Big Cypress Parkway as they come forward.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Correct. The key to this is the Big
Cypress Parkway coming in Oil Well down to Everglades -- or
Golden Gate Boulevard, which that takes care of our traffic and our
growth, estimated, a good 15, 20 years.
May 14, 2019
Page 191
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Or at least two years.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: At least two, depending on how
many --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Up to Immokalee Road, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Correct. Well, eventually all the
way up to Immokalee Road. But the swath between Oil Well and
Golden Gate Boulevard, it accommodates an enormous amount of
traffic issues that we have on Immokalee.
I mean, because we've all been reading about it and talking
about it, the eminent failure of Immokalee Road is being pushed upon
by the northeast traffic and its sole route as an access to get to town.
So it's been moved and seconded we approve Alternative 2 plus.
Any other discussion?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Just one fast question. You know
that arrow, the yellow arrow on top of the blue and red. What does
the yellow arrow mean? I'm sorry I missed that.
MS. LANTZ: So that would be how it would flow. That's
just --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay.
MS. LANTZ: -- an animation as to the new area.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
MR. OCHS: Thanks.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded. All
in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
May 14, 2019
Page 192
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
MS. LANTZ: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
Item #11D
DIRECTING STAFF TO ADVERTISE, AND BRING BACK FOR
A PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE
LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE RELATING TO COMMERCIAL
LANDSCAPING STANDARDS, AT THE JUNE 25, 2019, BOARD
MEETING - MOTION TO REJECT STAFF’S
RECOMMENDATION – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Item 11D is a recommendation to direct the staff to
advertise and bring back for a public hearing an ordinance amending
your Land Development Code relating to commercial landscaping
standards. That would be scheduled at your June 25th, 2019, board
meeting.
Mr. Bosi will present.
MR. BOSI: Good afternoon, Board. Mike Bosi, Planning and
Zoning Director.
Just to remind you of what we're doing. We're asking the
permission to advertise to bring a board-directed LDC amendment.
This started in -- the direction was provided in January of 2018, and
the direction was underneath a shingle that said to keep it simple; let's
keep the process simple.
We went and we spoke with the DSAC and the Planning
Commission about larger trees as replacements for commercial
landscape properties, and this was started by -- the Marketplace at
Pelican Bay was one of the impetuses to reanalyze what they're
allowed to do in terms of how they would do redevelopment of their
May 14, 2019
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existing landscape plans.
So we had the idea of just to have larger trees if you were going
to go through a redevelopment to lessen the effect of the removal of a
mature tree canopy and mature landscaping.
But when we spoke with the nurseries and the providers, we
found that there was just no availability that there was -- that there
would be a scarcity of those because of the hurricane, because of the
impacts and how long it takes to replace those inventories.
So we had to have a different approach. The Planning
Commission suggested an approach towards maybe we phase it. So
we took that concept, took it to DSAC. DSAC was not supportive of
it, and they did not recommend approval. They actually
recommended denial to the Board of County Commissioners.
The Board of County -- or the Planning Commission has
recommended approval with a 50 percent limit in terms of what you
can replace on a mature landscaping plan over a 10-year period, and a
couple other site modifications towards what you can do within terms
of the utilization of slash pines and bald cypress within your
vehicle-use areas and your Type D landscaping buffers -- your Type
D landscape buffers to allow for movement of the required trees to
certain groupings to provide better visibility for the -- for the
shopping centers, you know, from the traveling public.
So that's where the amendment stands, and we're asking for the
request to advertise. The uniqueness of this is, as some of the other
directed amendments, it was only a 3-2 vote to move forward with
that. As you know, it's going to be a 4-1 vote. And I'm not sure if
that was the impetus of why we're asking -- or pulled the item from
the consent agenda item to discuss it and if we were going to try to
evaluate whether we had four votes to spend the money, or if we
didn't have four votes, we could just pull it back. I'm not sure.
So whatever questions -- Jeremy Frantz, who shepherded the
May 14, 2019
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amendment through the process the last year and a half, is here to
answer any simple questions that I couldn't answer. But whatever
questions the Board may have we'd be willing to respond to.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Commissioner Fiala is first.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. I'm not in favor for removing
any trees. But if they have to be removed because they're old or
they're sickly or whatever, they need to be replaced. I don't think
anybody drives around the streets trying to figure out what shopping
center to go to. Most anybody who's lived there a week or two
already knows where they're going.
We saw the damage that it did over at Riverchase when they
hauled out all of those trees. It's called Riverchase, right, up there
across from -- yeah, and the outcry from that community, it was
amazing.
And I know -- now, just making this personal. At my shopping
center or any shopping center, I head for wherever there are trees
because I want to park underneath them. The cars get so hot.
And you just want to -- of course, there's only just so many
trees. And then when they pull them out and they put some skinny
thing in instead with no tree coverage, like we even had that in our
parking lot when they removed the trees that gave us the shade, and
then we -- and palm trees are nice and all, except you don't get any
shade from them. And I think everybody wants to go where their car
doesn't get overheated.
So I'm going to say that I think that if a shopping center wants to
remove their trees, they should replace them. And that just happened
with Kite Reality down here on Davis Boulevard in my shopping
center. But they called beforehand and they said, we're going to
remove the trees, but I want you to know we're going to replace all
the trees. And they said, we know how important that is to the
community.
May 14, 2019
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Now, I hope that they do that in any other shopping centers that
they do as well. I realize the trees they had there were rather diseased
and needed to be removed, and they needed to put in a big new sign
in a different location.
But I think that we, as commissioners, should, you know, ask
our public or whatever, but I think most everybody knows already
people like the trees.
And I know the store owners -- I mean, everybody knows where
their Publix is. They arrive in town. They have to go grocery
shopping. They find their Publix right away, and that's just fine.
And then after that, you know, new shops come in and go out,
but we always find them as we're driving around in the shopping
center.
Okay. So I've said enough.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes. Well, not necessarily -- I
wasn't agreeing that it was enough.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: He did. He agreed.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I did. I did. Forgive me. It wasn't
in consent to saying enough.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's all right.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You said your piece.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I figure you say enough, you talk --
if you say any more, you're going to talk yourself right out of it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: You know, I think to a certain
extent this is the classic we're trying to fix something that's not
broken. And I would point to the reason this whole thing came up,
the Marketplace. That's where I go shopping.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Where?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: The Marketplace.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Pelican Bay.
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: In Pelican Bay. And I would ask
you to go there and see what they've done in replacing the trees.
There's more trees than were there originally, and they're better trees,
and they're all shade trees. It's fantastic.
I'm going to agree with the DSAC committee because, one,
limiting the amount of -- if the landscaping has to be replaced, that's a
major investment for the landowner, and there's going to be
economies of scale of doing it all at once as opposed to piecemealing
it over 10 years. It affects the economics of a shopping center.
I think the Riverchase issue related to the type of trees that were
replaced. As you said, they were the slash pines. You know, I'm not
real partial to slash pines either. And if -- so it seems to me that it's
more a question of, okay, if there's certain kinds of trees that we don't
like because they don't provide shade, maybe we can cross those off
the list.
But I'm not in favor of adopting this because, you know, we
have -- we already have requirements that there be landscaping. The
PUDs all have landscaping in them.
You know, part of this ordinance that I find interesting is a
requirement that the shopping center be visible from the road. I
mean, I remember the day when nobody wanted the shopping center
to be visible from the road, and we had smaller signs and, you know,
hide the shopping centers.
So, I think -- you know, I understand -- I understood everyone's
concern about the re-landscaping of the Marketplace. The developer
there lived up to what they said they were going to do and more, and
I just don't know that this is enough of an issue to impose
requirements about how much landscaping can be removed,
visibility. I mean, those are market issues for landowners, and I think
it's just -- there's no reason to do it. So I'm not supportive. I'm with
the DSAC committee.
May 14, 2019
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: One of the things with the Blue
Zone effort and within the community, they've found that folks that
have tree-lined streets, the traffic drives slower. You don't need
speed humps or whatever they are. The traffic slows down with
trees, and again and again in their visual presentations you see the
value of trees.
Clearly, the way a shopping center is renovated is really up to
the owner of the shopping center, and they're not all equal, so I
support this ordinance. I think it's important. I'd like to have it go
out for review and hear from the public. I don't want to deny the
public. It's been, what, 15 months, you said? Fifteen months, it's a
long time. I think the public needs to weigh in on this. So I really
would like this to go forward to advertising.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, I have no other lights, so I'll
go.
I concur with Commissioner Solis. I don't think it's necessary. I
don't think it's -- I don't think what we have is broken. I believe these
are personal property rights. The developer of the shopping center
should have the right to do as they please. If you were to shop where
I shop at my Publix, it's new. My trees haven't grown up yet.
And we also have learned -- I spoke to Jamie French at one
stage. There was a mandate. We had to plant a certain kind of tree in
sidewalks and landscape buffers and the like, and then we've
subsequently learned that the root systems from those caused
detriment to the sidewalks, public right-of-way, private right-of-way,
and the like.
I'm not -- I'm not in favor of moving this issue forward.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Excuse me. Root system, is that
out of Pennsylvania?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah. Root.
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER FIALA: Just mentioning.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It might have been roots back in
those days. It's been 30-some-odd years since I was there. So roots.
So I'm going to make sure a -- well, we're -- I see there's one
down here on the end that hasn't spoke, but I'll make a motion to
reject staff's recommendation and not move this forward.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I'll second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Any discussion, other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye -- oh, I mean, I'm not in
favor of it.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign; 3-2.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Opposed.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Opposed.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, we had 3-2. It -- the motion
passed 3-2 to not go forward.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Now, what happens if the Publix --
if the public hears about this and they want to notify their
commissioners that they -- you know, they want to have trees in
shopping centers?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: They do have trees in shopping
centers.
MR. BOSI: Chair, they are always required. If they wanted to
do a full-scale replacement of their existing landscaping, they have
to -- they have to replant to code minimum. They have to replace the
trees that they removed. That's not the option.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: What size?
May 14, 2019
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MR. BOSI: Well --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And what kind of trees?
MR. BOSI: The code minimum requirement is what is
demanded.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And what kind of trees?
MR. BOSI: Well, there's a variety of trees that they get to
choose from. There's large stage trees. There's understory. There's
shrubs. It's whatever a new shopping center would be required. If
they wanted to do a redevelopment, that's what they would have to
plant to, to the same standard.
MR. OCHS: Not the same size, but the same standard.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Right. One of the other things we
found was the bald cypress, which doesn't give you any shade for
how many months of the year?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: At all, virtually.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: None, yeah. But that's on the list.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, sir.
Item #14A1
AN AGREEMENT PERTAINING TO THE AWARD OF
INVITATION TO BID NO. 18-7366 – MARCO AIRPORT APRON
& ASSOCIATED SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS TO QUALITY
ENTERPRISES USA, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $3,689,425
AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE
ATTACHED CONSTRUCTION AGREEMENT – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, that takes us to Item 14A1. This
is under your Airport Authority. It's a recommendation to approve an
agreement pertaining to the award of Bid #18-7366 for the Marco
Island Apron & Associated Safety Improvement project to Quality
May 14, 2019
Page 200
Enterprises USA in the amount of $3,689,425, and authorize the
Chairman to execute the construction agreement.
Mr. Lobb is here to respond to questions from the Board or
provide a presentation if required.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I just want to say, we'd be
done a little quicker if he read faster.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Move approval.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- and seconded that we approve.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's because of your outstanding
presentation, by the way.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's correct. It really, really was,
Justin.
It's been moved and seconded. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: (Absent.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
Item #15
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, that takes us to Item 15, staff and
commission general communications.
I have nothing except to remind the Board of your facilities
May 14, 2019
Page 201
master plan workshop on June 4th. That's on all of your calendars.
That's all I have, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: County Attorney?
MR. KLATZKOW: I have nothing, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Madam Clerk?
THE CLERK: No, thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, thank you.
So, Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yes. The only thing I'd like to
bring up is I -- in the discussion that we had previously about the role
of the hearing officer, I think that it would be a good project for the
Productivity Committee to look at the hearing officer's role and how
we could improve the efficiency of that. I think that's exactly why
we have a Productivity Committee. And I would like to direct the
committee to look at that and see if there are ways to make it better,
more efficient.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do we have the Productivity
Committee working on anything currently?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: My understanding --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: There was a discussion about --
they were on the stormwater utility, but that got continued for another
12 months.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: They're doing an analysis on
in-sourcing and outsourcing. We're starting to provide them data on
what we in-source and what we outsource.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, that's good. That's pretty
intense.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Totally.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Landscaping, facilities management.
We're trying to find that sweet spot with them.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And, Commissioner Solis, since
May 14, 2019
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you brought it up, I just -- you know, I don't have an issue. I mean,
you know, that's something that the Productivity Committee maybe
can necessarily -- can look at. It's just I'm wondering -- I'm
wondering if there isn't specific items that we should discuss with
regard to the Hearing Examiner and what he does and doesn't do
outside of that. And he's gone now, I mean, for what it's worth.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And we've approved his contract,
but maybe when we have the report in September as to his activities,
we could have a -- we could have a more specific discussion.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I think part of my thought process
was, you know, some feedback from the Productivity Committee as
to, you know, how to make it more efficient would be a good thing to
have when we're talking about it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you perceive in -- well,
obviously, you do. And I -- because I don't, and that's where I'm
asking. The inefficiencies that you're discussing, I don't --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I'm not saying inefficiencies.
I'm saying, what else can we -- what else can we do to optimize
everything that the Hearing Examiner does? I mean, last year, my
understanding is, he heard 27 petitions. And so, you know, I think
there's more that can be done to just make the whole process --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Now I understand where you're
going, and I think that's a great idea. We've actually had discussion --
the County Attorney and I have had discussions about items that we
shouldn't necessarily be hearing that could be delegated over to him.
And if that's the efficiencies you're talking about --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's what I'm talking about.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: But I think his efficiency in regard
to how he does his job, what he does all day every day is above
approach. It's how can we -- can we utilize his services more.
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Exactly.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Exactly. And I'm not sure -- you
know, he's kind of taken offense, I think, that I brought this up, but
it's really about making the position better, and there's nobody better,
I think, to do more than Mr. Strain. I mean, he knows the Land
Development Code better than anybody.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I would second that as a
motion if you want or give you a head nod in positive to staff to whip
up something for our Productivity Committee to review the duties of
the Hearing Examiner and maybe get advice from the County
Attorney on items and the Hearing Examiner himself as items he
could necessarily -- that he could do or -- because we would have to
make adjustments, I would believe, to some of our -- some of our
rules as far as what he can and can't hear.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Is that correct, County Attorney?
MR. OCHS: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: County Manager?
MR. KLATZKOW: We can look into it, understanding you are
constrained by your special -- your 1967 Special Act which requires
all changes to the zoning map be by four votes, so you couldn't
delegate him anything that had anything to do with a rezoning.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So that solves that right there.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, it takes a portion of those, but
there are others that -- I know of several that are -- that could have
been heard or should have been heard that weren't able to be heard
and cost an exorbitant amount of money just to go through the
system.
So -- sign ordinances and things. That's one that pops into my
May 14, 2019
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mind specifically.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: What's --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: A sign ordinance. We have a
delineation of a -- there was a project, I believe it was in your district.
It was a project where the sign had to be a certain distance away from
the right-of-way, and he wasn't allowed to hear it, and it had to come
through -- it had to come through the whole process. It ended up
being on the consent and costs the developer tens of thousands that
could have been --
MR. KLATZKOW: Right. But if it's a PUD amendment, even
something as simple as that, it has to come through you. You're
constrained by your special act in a number of ways: Four-vote
requirement being one of them.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Maybe we should have this
presentation to us so we understand exactly what can and can't be.
Maybe we're the ones who don't understand it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, and it bodes a who created
the special act?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The legislature.
MR. KLATZKOW: It goes back to 1967.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I gotcha. Okay.
MR. KLATZKOW: Before home rule. Before home rule you
had to be delegated power by the state, and so we were delegated a
number of powers. This statute has survived over time even
following home rule. So it's a relic of the past.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So I think we can have those
issues -- we can have those items reviewed by the Productivity
Committee.
MR. OCHS: Three head nods?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm saying yes.
MR. OCHS: Okay. Thank you.
May 14, 2019
Page 205
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor's giving us a
serious maybe.
MR. OCHS: I counted three. That's all I need.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's all I had.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders would
have said yes if he was here.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Because you talked to him just
now, right?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's that.
Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. I don't have any serious
things to talk to you about except Mrs. Duck up there who has her 10
eggs that she's taking care of. And the girls up in that office told me
that it takes 35 days for eggs to hatch. And she's going to be hatching
them up there. I don't know how those little babies are going to get
downstairs because they can't walk --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We're going to leave that to our
County Manager to handle because --
MR. OCHS: I ordered some new chairs for that. They should
be in momentarily.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: We need a duck bridge.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But, clearly, those ducklings are
going to fall, and it's quite worrisome, because then she has to leave
her nest. So we've got to figure something out, and I don't know
what it is.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Nobody's going to fall. You know
how ducks go -- ducks grow eggs in trees. They jump out, they go,
and then they waddle to the pond. It's a natural occurrence.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Boy, are you tough. Do you
know how many eggs she lost? She lost all these eggs.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, that's because the birds, the
May 14, 2019
Page 206
predatory birds come.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No. They rolled off the ledge,
and then we built this wonderful thing to keep the eggs --
(Simultaneous speakers speaking.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Anyway, our staff has been so
good. They've made sure that she has some straw, and they made
sure that she gets water every day. And it's so cute to see everybody
nurturing these eggs.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You know, this is about -- how long
have ducks been laying eggs?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, but they don't usually lay
them up in a gutter on the second floor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I know, and have lost so many.
And this is an opportunity.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And she was disappointed.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes, she was. She was
depressed. She went away, and then she came back. Now, this is
about the third time.
(Simultaneous speakers speaking.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I am tall enough to peek over that
ledge. I am tall enough to peek over that ledge. I am tall enough to
peek over that ledge. Make sure she's not in the nest when you peek
over that ledge, because she was mad when I poked my nose up over
there. I mean, she was right there in my face.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: It was so cute yesterday. She
was -- she was -- she had all these little eggs underneath her, and --
but she couldn't get -- she's got so many eggs, she can't get all of her
wings and everything around, and then she'd -- with her beak she'd
move the other eggs underneath her, but then other ones would shoot
out this side. It's so cute. She's thrilled because her other eggs just
fell off this ledge last time and broke every single one of them.
May 14, 2019
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Patrick, are you getting that for the
headlines tomorrow?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I knew everybody would be
interested in this.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We want to see that on the front
page.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: But that's enough for now.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: After that, I don't have
anything to add.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's good.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Sorry about that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'd just like to see a solution.
You know, I envision sort of a net or something, but then, you know,
the ducks will get caught. And so I'm going to leave it to our County
Manager to devise a solution so that we can somehow --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Leave it alone.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Leave it alone?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: A crow will fly in there and eat all
the eggs, and it will be done.
MR. OCHS: I have a DAS director.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Just a quick -- we are
redesigning our website for economic development, which is a very
exciting time, and you certainly are going to be part of it, because as
we do it you'll be brought forward.
But I think that the concepts brought forward are going to put
Collier County and what it's about on the front page of a website. So
I'm very, very excited about it.
And then also, I just would like to remind our County Manager
that I believe the sea level rise, Dr. Savarese and Dr. Peter Shang
May 14, 2019
Page 208
would like to present on May 28th, if it's agreeable to everyone, just
to bring everybody up to date with what they've discovered and what
they've learned and what the next step is, because now we're in year
two of a three-year contract with NOAA.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Should we give them a time limit
as to how much time they could have so that they know how to
organize their presentation?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. What do you think? I
mean, I don't know, and certainly a time-certain if we could get it.
MR. OCHS: If that's the will of the Board, we're certainly
happy to schedule that. We also received an email during the
meeting from Lisa Koehler on behalf of the Southwest Florida
Management District. They want to come and make a presentation. I
don't know if it's a rebuttal or what it is to what you were presented
today, but they also asked for time on the 28th, so...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's a busy day. I mean --
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, they're all busy between now and
your break, sir, plus your budget workshops are coming up.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. And then also the water
farming with you -- Dr. Shukla, who works at IFAS in Immokalee. It
would be very interesting to hear -- it won't be a long presentation.
We could do a 10-minute again -- but to talk about water farming and
the --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Not on the 28th. The 28th is
jam-up day. I'm actually even hesitant -- I mean, I'd love to hear
from Dr. Savarese, but I'm just concerned. I mean that -- that's the
advertised short-term rental discussion.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We know that -- but that's a
time-certain at a certain time, so...
MR. OCHS: Randall Curve item.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Randall Curve item's going to come
May 14, 2019
Page 209
up on that day.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Maybe we should, on
presentations, in advance, let the people know if we're considering or
approving it but give them a time limit so that --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We do. They're supposed to be
limited to 10 minutes. That works medium.
MR. OCHS: Not so well.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, it didn't work.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, there were a lot of
questions.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right. We had a lot of -- I mean,
there were some really interesting subject matters, and it's -- we do
limit or ask that they limit their presentation to 10 minutes, but we
have multiple speakers. We had one from both the Miccosukee and
the Seminole, and they both stayed -- they did pretty well at their 10,
and then Dr. Lisa, she took care of the other doctor's presentation, so
they ended up being -- that was 40 minutes this morning in
presentations.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: It was very interesting. You can't
deny that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: By no means.
MR. OCHS: Okay. What did you-all decide?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We haven't.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think Dr. Savarese in May. I
think it's important. Tell him it's 10 minutes, but I think it's very
important that he --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I don't think he can do it in 10
minutes. There's so much information, don't you think?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I don't know. Maybe we could
ask. Just say we're limited and maybe we could do that.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Fifteen or something.
May 14, 2019
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Fifteen minutes?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Savarese?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Check and see, and then we can
talk and decide whether or not -- I don't know what the -- I just know
we're up to here on the 28th right now, and you're looking to plug two
more presentations in there on the front end. It's certainly warranted.
I'm just concerned about an overload. I mean, why couldn't we hear
the sea level rise in the first meeting in June?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think they have some
limitations in June.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: They do, the doctors?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes, Dr. Savarese.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Heads we do; tails we don't.
MR. OCHS: I can't stop any commissioner from putting an item
on the agenda. That's why I force you into these uncomfortable
discussions.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, we're not uncomfortable.
We're just talking about something. I'm not uncomfortable. It's just I
know we're up to here, and it's -- sea level rise could raise it up.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: In the old days they used to have
two-day commission meetings. Isn't that right?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Or we would get out at 11 o'clock
at night.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We're not going back to the
old days.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: There were times when we didn't
get out of here till 11, although that wasn't very often, remember.
But we did. Remember that? We even had to stop and eat dinner in
order to continue on because a couple of them were diabetics.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So we'll try it on the 28th. If there
May 14, 2019
Page 211
is a time constraint, we'll try it on the 28th. We'll try to limit them to
10, 15 minutes a piece. And then if they don't have a time constraint
on the 28th for our first meeting in June, then set them up for June.
How's that?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Because you apparently know
information that I'm not aware of.
MR. OCHS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I just want to say,
Commissioner Saunders, you owe me a dollar, because I won; 119
signed in for my town hall.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Do you have any -- can you
certify that?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I can have it certified for you prior
to your payment, just so you know, signed and dated, signed and
dated. I won it. A hundred nineteen signed in. It was a very, very
good town hall. Had a -- and I want to thank staff. It was an
amazing support group that was there.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That was when it was raining, too,
wasn't it?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That was the second one on the
47 acres. We did the 47 acres.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: How many came there?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Sixty-six signed in on the 47 acres.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: A rainy night.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I have to say -- and we're
going to talk about it again on the 28th. I don't want to beat it up too
awful much. But my idea of the anonymous clickers voting was,
though, a good idea, it was slanted, because the folks at the Shy Wolf
packed the room. I mean, they were busing people in from Bonita to
talk about how important Shy Wolf is. And it is a very nice facility.
May 14, 2019
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I'm not saying anything disparagingly, but it --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just so you know, we were
talking about a number of people attending that were Collier County
residents. I think that you just defaulted yourself.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I know a good appellate attorney.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I had two public hearings -- well,
one was town hall. That was for -- that was the week before, and
then I had the 47 acres, and then tomorrow night we're doing the
Golden Gate Estates Civic Association at the firehouse on 13th, so
that will be the last public hearing for the 47 acres, so...
And that's all I have to say. With that, I'll see you in a couple of
weeks.
**** Commissioner Fiala moved, seconded by Commissioner
Saunders and carried that the following items under the Consent and
Summary Agendas be approved and/or adopted (Commissioner Solis
abstained from voting on Item #16A13) ****
Item #16A1
AWARD A WORK ORDER TO BONNESS, INC., FOR
CONSTRUCTION OF THE “AIRPORT ROAD AND DAVIS
BOULEVARD (PHASE1) - SOUTHBOUND RIGHT TURN
LANE” PROJECT IN THE AMOUNT OF $749,821.61 (PROJECT
#60148) – UNDER CONTRACT #16-6663 “ROADWAY
CONTRACTORS”
Item #16A2
AFTER-THE-FACT APPROVAL FOR THE SUBMITTAL OF A
RESTORE SPILL IMPACT COMPONENT (POT 3) GRANT
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APPLICATION TO THE GULF CONSORTIUM FOR
HYDROLOGIC, VEGETATIVE AND WATER QUALITY
MONITORING AS PART OF THE COLLIER COUNTY
COMPREHENSIVE WATERSHED IMPROVEMENT PLAN IN
THE AMOUNT OF $725,760
Item #16A3
RESOLUTION 2019-76: ESTABLISHING A VOLUNTARY
PROGRAM ENCOURAGING THE PERIODIC INSPECTION
AND MAINTENANCE OF PRIVATELY-OWNED BRIDGES,
AND TO ALLOW OWNERS OF PRIVATELY-OWNED BRIDGES
WHICH CONNECT TWO PUBLIC ROADWAYS TO CONVEY
OWNERSHIP AND ONGOING STRUCTURAL MAINTENANCE
OF SUCH BRIDGES TO THE COUNTY, AND (2) DIRECT
COUNTY STAFF TO DEVELOP STANDARDS FOR THE
BRIDGE INSPECTION REPORT, TO BE APPROVED BY THE
BOARD, AS WELL AS DEVELOP AN ADMINISTRATIVE
PROCEDURE TO GOVERN THE PROGRAM
Item #16A4
APPROPRIATING REVENUE TO TRANSPORTATION
CAPITAL FUND (310), HURRICANE IRMA PROJECT (#50154),
IN THE AMOUNT OF $530,000 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2019 AND
AUTHORIZE ALL NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS –
FUNDS FROM INSURANCE REVENUE
Item #16A5
AN AGREEMENT AWARDING INVITATION TO BID NO. 19-
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7514 “GOLDEN GATE SIDEWALKS AT VARIOUS
LOCATIONS,” TO COASTAL CONCRETE PRODUCTS, LLC
D/B/A COASTAL SITE DEVELOPMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$211,210.90; ACKNOWLEDGE A TIME EXTENSION TO A
LOCAL AGENCY PROGRAM AGREEMENT WITH THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FOR
CONSTRUCTION OF GOLDEN GATE SIDEWALKS AT
VARIOUS LOCATIONS (FPN #434990-58-01, PROJECT NO.
33491); AND AUTHORIZING THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE
THE AGREEMENT – SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENTS FOR 51ST
STREET SW FROM 20TH PLACE SW TO 20TH COURT SW, 20TH
COURT SW FROM HUNTER BLVD TO 50TH TERRACE SW, 51ST
TERRACE SW FROM 20TH COURT SW TO 22ND AVENUE SW
Item #16A6
CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND
IN THE AMOUNT OF $25,000 WHICH WAS POSTED AS A
GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER 60.152,
PL20170000507 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH EMMANUEL
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH – LOCATED OFF OF
OIL WELL ROAD NEAR EVERGLADES BLVD N.
Item #16A7
CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND
IN THE AMOUNT OF $18,231.58 WHICH WAS POSTED AS A
GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER 60.119,
PL20140001253 AND PL20150000921 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED
WITH PARKLANDS PLAT ONE – LOCATED ON LOGAN BLVD
N. AT THE LEE/COLLIER COUNTY LINE
May 14, 2019
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Item #16A8
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND THE CONVEYANCE OF THE
POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES FOR
AUDUBON COUNTRY CLUB UNIT 3, PL20170002481 AND TO
AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE,
TO RELEASE THE FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL
AMOUNT OF $4,000 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE
DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT – FINAL INSPECTION
WAS CONDUCTED ON MARCH 25, 2019 AND FOUND THE
FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY
Item #16A9
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR PREMIER CLASSIC CARS, PL20190000544 – LOCATED
ON JAEGER BLVD, OFF OF PINE RIDGE ROAD
Item #16A10
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR 2669 DAVIS, PL20190000607 – FINAL INSPECTION WAS
CONDUCTED ON APRIL 1, 2019 AND FOUND THE
FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY
Item #16A11
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND THE CONVEYANCE OF THE
POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES FOR
CHATHAM WOODS, PL20170003738 AND TO AUTHORIZE
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THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE
THE FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $4,000
TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S
DESIGNATED AGENT – FINAL INSPECTION WAS
CONDUCTED ON APRIL 4, 2019 AND FOUND THE
FACILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY
Item #16A12
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER FACILITIES FOR PINE RIDGE (ANGILERI) SELF
STORAGE, PL20180000157, ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A
PORTION OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER
FACILITIES, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER,
OR HIS DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE UTILITIES
PERFORMANCE SECURITY (UPS) AND FINAL OBLIGATION
BOND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $10,478.55 TO THE
PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED
AGENT – LOCATED ON LIVINGSTON WOODS LANE, JUST
NORTH OF PINE RIDGE ROAD
Item #16A13 - Commissioner Solis abstained from voting (During
Agenda Changes)
RESOLUTION 2019-77: FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE
PRIVATE ROADWAY AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS FOR
THE FINAL PLAT OF RAFFIA PRESERVE PHASE 2,
APPLICATION NUMBER PL20130002569, AND AUTHORIZE
THE RELEASE OF THE MAINTENANCE SECURITY
Item #16A14
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RECORDING THE MINOR FINAL PLAT OF ESPLANADE AT
HACIENDA LAKES PHASE 4, LOTS 343-347, APPLICATION
NUMBER PL20190000182
Item #16A15
RESOLUTION 2019-78: A LOCAL AGENCY PROGRAM
AGREEMENT WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION IN WHICH COLLIER COUNTY WOULD
BE REIMBURSED UP TO $63,740 FOR THE DESIGN OF BIKE
LANE IMPROVEMENTS ALONG 111TH AVENUE NORTH
FROM THE BLUEBILL AVENUE TO 7TH STREET NORTH
AND TO AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENT (PROJECT #33620), FPN 441846-1-38-01
Item #16A16
RESOLUTION 2019-79: A STATE FUNDED GRANT
AGREEMENT WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION IN WHICH COLLIER COUNTY WOULD
BE REIMBURSED UP TO $175,000 FOR THE DESIGN OF THE
BIKE AND SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENTS ON LAKE
TRAFFORD ROAD FROM LITTLE LEAGUE ROAD TO
LAUREL STREET, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY
BUDGET AMENDMENT (PROJECT #33621), FPN 443375-1-34-
01 AND FPN 443375-2-34-01
Item #16A17
RESOLUTION 2019-80: A LOCAL AGENCY PROGRAM
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AGREEMENT WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION IN WHICH COLLIER COUNTY WOULD
BE REIMBURSED UP TO $54,738 FOR THE DESIGN OF THE
SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENTS ALONG CARSON ROAD FROM
WESTCLOX DRIVE TO CARSON LAKES CIRCLE AND TO
AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENT
(PROJECT #33622), FPN 441480-138-01
Item #16A18
AGREEMENT FOR INVITATION TO BID NO. 19-7519 THE
“VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD (CR 862) BIKE LANES”
PROJECT TO QUALITY ENTERPRISES USA, INC., IN THE
AMOUNT OF $410,337.30; AND TO ACKNOWLEDGE A TIME
EXTENSION TO A LOCAL AGENCY PROGRAM AGREEMENT
WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
FOR CONSTRUCTION OF VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD (CR
862) BIKE LANES (FPN #435118-58-01, PROJECT NO. 33503) –
PROVIDING 5-FOOT WIDE BIKE LANES ON THE NORTH
AND SOUTH SIDES OF VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD FROM
GULF PAVILLION DRIVE TO VANDERBILT DRIVE
Item #16A19
THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO ADVERTISE AND BRING
BACK AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE FUNCTION,
POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COASTAL ADVISORY
COMMITTEE TO PROVIDE COASTAL WATER QUALITY
COORDINATION, EDUCATION, OVERSIGHT AND
OUTREACH FOR ALL OF COLLIER COUNTY INCLUDING
THE CITY OF NAPLES, THE CITY OF MARCO ISLAND AND
May 14, 2019
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EVERGLADES CITY AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS
ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM
Item #16A20
CHANGE ORDER NUMBER TWO (2) TO AGREEMENT NO. 18-
7276 “IMMOKALEE ROAD (COLLIER BOULEVARD TO
WILSON BOULEVARD) LANDSCAPE AND IRRIGATION
INSTALLATION” (PROJECT NO. 60208.1) ADDING 120 DAYS,
AND APPROVING A $1,643.70 PROJECT INCREASE – FOR
MULTIPLE ISSUES: FPL ADVISED STAFF THAT THE DESIGN
LOCATIONS FOR THE WELLS AND PUMPS MAY CAUSE
POTENTIAL ISSUES WITH OVERHEAD POWER LINES,
WHICH REQUIRES MORE TIME FOR THE DESIGN CHANGE.
OTHER ISSUES INCLUDE THE UNAVAILABILITY OF PLANT
MATERIAL AND TIME DELAYS
Item #16A21
AN AGREEMENT PERTAINING TO THE AWARD OF
INVITATION TO BID #19-7501 “49TH TERRACE SW
SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENT PROJECT,” TO COASTAL
CONCRETE PRODUCTS, LLC D/B/A COASTAL SITE
DEVELOPMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $159,988; AND TO
ACKNOWLEDGE A TIME EXTENSION TO A LOCAL AGENCY
PROGRAM AGREEMENT WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSPORTATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF 49TH
TERRACE SW SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (FPN
#435119-58-01, PROJECT NO. 33507); APPROVING THE
EXPENDITURE AND BUDGET AMENDMENT; AND
AUTHORIZING THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE
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CONSTRUCTION AGREEMENT
Item #16A22
AWARD REQUEST FOR QUOTES RFQ NO. 14-6213-129 TO
DOUGLAS N. HIGGINS, INC. FOR MAINTENANCE WORK ON
THE GORDON RIVER WATER CONTROL STRUCTURE IN
THE AMOUNT OF $415,000, AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE
OF A NUMBERED WORK ORDER/PURCHASE ORDER AND
APPROVING ALL REQUIRED BUDGET AMENDMENTS –
LOCATED ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF GOLDEN GATE
PARKWAY, EAST OF THE GOLDEN GATE PARKWAY AND
GOODLETTE ROAD INTERSECTION
Item #16A23
AN AGREEMENT FOR INVITATION TO BID NO. 19-7541
“INSTALLATION & MAINTENANCE OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS
AND ROADWAY LIGHTING,” TO SOUTHERN SIGNAL &
LIGHTING, INC.
Item #16B1
AN ACCESS EASEMENT OVER PROPERTY OWNED BY THE
COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY IN THE
GATEWAY TRIANGLE MIXED USE DISTRICT OVERLAY –
FOLIO #77510240008, LOCATED AT 1936 DAVIS BLVD
Item #16B2
A SECOND LEASE MODIFICATION FOR THE BAYSHORE
May 14, 2019
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GATEWAY TRIANGLE CRA OFFICE WITH 3750 BAYSHORE
DRIVE, LLC AND AUTHORIZING THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN -
MODIFICATION INCLUDES A THREE-MONTH TERM
BEGINNING JUNE 1, 2019 AND CONTINUES THROUGH JULY
31, 2019, SUBJECT TO AN OPTION TO EXTEND FOR AN
ADDITIONAL THREE MONTHS, IN INCREMENTS OF ONE
MONTH AT A TIME THROUGH OCTOBER 31, 2019
Item #16B3
A ONE-YEAR EXTENSION OF THE PROJECT COMPLETION
DATE SET FORTH IN THE COMMERCIAL BUILDING
IMPROVEMENT GRANT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CRA
AND DAVIS COMMUNITY DENTAL HEALTH, LLC DUE TO
CERTAIN PERMITTING DELAYS – EXTENDING THE
AGREEMENT TO JUNE 12, 2020
Item #16C1
AUTHORIZING BUDGET AMENDMENTS IN THE SOLID
WASTE CAPITAL FUND (474), WATER CAPITAL FUND (412),
SEWER CAPITAL FUND (414) AND GENERAL FUND (001) TO
RECOGNIZE REVENUE RECEIVED RELATED TO
HURRICANE IRMA AND TO USE THOSE REVENUES TO
REPAY LOANS AND FUND DEFERRED CAPITAL PROJECTS –
RECOGNIZING $41,509,772 IN STORM RELATED REVENUES
Item #16C2
ADVERTISING A RESOLUTION AMENDING APPENDIX A
SCHEDULE 1 TO ELIMINATE FIRE ASSEMBLY BASE
May 14, 2019
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CHARGES EFFECTIVE MARCH 12, 2019, AND TO INCREASE
POTABLE WATER BASE CHARGES ACROSS THE USER BASE
PURSUANT TO THE BOARD’S DIRECTION TO STAFF TO
IMPLEMENT OPTION 2 AS DISCUSSED AT THE MARCH 12,
2019 MEETING, AGENDA ITEM #11C – RESOLUTION 2019-81
ISSUED BUT NOT USED
Item #16C3
APPROVAL OF CITYWORKS® LICENSE AND
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT, AMENDED AND RESTATED
AGREEMENT NO. 13-6064 (#C156213), WITH AZTECA
SYSTEMS, LLC FOR AN ADDITIONAL $19,500 PER YEAR TO
ENABLE NEW SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES AND REMOVE
THE EXISTING SOFTWARE ESCROW AGREEMENT IN PLACE
– FOR THE PURCHASE OF TWO SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
KNOWN AS THE STOREROOM API AND THE ENTERPRISE
URL
Item #16C4
AN AGREEMENT FOR INVITATION TO BID NO. 19-7545,
ORANGE TREE WASTEWATER PLANT MISCELLANEOUS
METALS IMPROVEMENTS, WITH CONTRACTOR ATLANTIC
CONCRETE & MECHANICAL, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF
$284,201.50, FOR PROJECT #70239, AND AUTHORIZING THE
NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS – PROVIDING
NECESSARY HANDRAILS, PLATFORM METALS, AND
ACCESS POINT IMPROVEMENTS
Item #16C5
May 14, 2019
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A RIGHT-OF-WAY CONSENT AGREEMENT AND
ASSOCIATED MEMORANDUM WITH FLORIDA POWER &
LIGHT COMPANY, PROVIDING FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A
TRANSMISSION WATER MAIN ON PROPERTY LOCATED
EAST OF COLLIER BOULEVARD WITHIN FLORIDA POWER
& LIGHT COMPANY’S POWER-LINE RIGHT-OF-WAY –
UNDER PROJECT #70229 “I-75/CR 951 UTILITY
RELOCATION”
Item #16D1
ONE (1) SATISFACTION OF MORTGAGE FOR THE STATE
HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP LOAN PROGRAM IN
THE AMOUNT OF $2,500 – PROPERTY LOCATED ON 5242
TEXAS AVENUE
Item #16D2
A BUDGET AMENDMENT RECOGNIZING $66,016.65 OF
STATE HOUSING INITIATIVES PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
INCOME FOR PROGRAM YEAR 2018/2019 – REVENUE
EARNED FROM JANUARY 1, 2019 THROUGH MARCH 31,
2019, COMPRISED OF INTEREST AND LOAN REPAYMENTS
Item #16D3
APPROVAL OF AN “AFTER-THE-FACT” AMENDMENTS AND
ASSOCIATED ATTESTATION STATEMENTS BETWEEN THE
AREA AGENCY ON AGING FOR SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, INC.
AND COLLIER COUNTY SERVICES FOR SENIORS FOR THE
May 14, 2019
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COMMUNITY CARE FOR THE ELDERLY AND ALZHEIMER’S
DISEASE INITIATIVE GRANT PROGRAMS AND AUTHORIZE
THE BUDGET AMENDMENTS TO INCREASE FUNDING AND
THE CO-PAYMENT GOAL FOR THE ALZHEIMER DISEASE
INITIATIVE GRANT PROGRAM. (NET FISCAL IMPACT
$68,932.35)
Item #16D4
INCREASING THE ANNUAL AMOUNT OF AGREEMENT NO.
18-7380, GOLDEN GATE BEAUTIFICATION MUNICIPAL
SERVICE TAXING UNIT GROUNDS MAINTENANCE, TO
GREEN EFFEX LLC. TO $250,000 - SEVERAL ACTIVITIES
ASSOCIATED WITH REGULAR AND POSTHURRICANE
LANDSCAPE REFURBISHMENT IN EXISTING MSTU
SERVICE AREAS RESULTED IN AN INCREASE IN TOTAL
COST OF THE AGREEMENT
Item #16D5
AN AGREEMENT FOR REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL #18-7266,
COLLIER AREA TRANSIT MOBILE TICKETING, TRIP
PLANNING, AND ON-BOARD WI-FI, TO MASABI, LLC IN THE
AMOUNT OF $614,312.71 – AS DETAILED IN THE EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Item #16D6
AN AGREEMENT TO G.A. FOOD SERVICE OF PINELLAS
COUNTY, INC. D/B/A G.A. FOOD SERVICE, INC., FOR
INVITATION TO BID #19-7500 FOR THE SENIOR FOOD
May 14, 2019
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PROGRAM – PROVING NUTRITIOUS HOME DELIVERED
MEALS TO SENIORS IN ORDER TO HELP THEM TO REMAIN
INDEPENDENT IN THEIR OWN HOMES
Item #16E1 – Withdrawn (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
RECOMMENDATION TO AUTHORIZE EXPENDITURES IN
EXCESS OF $50,000 ANNUALLY TO DAN CALLAGHAN
ENTERPRISES, INC. D/B/A CALLAGHAN TIRE AS THE
SINGLE SOURCE FOR TIRE SERVICES, REPLACEMENTS,
AND RELATED PARTS
Item #16E2
AWARD ITB NO. 19-7564 DATA AND
TELECOMMUNICATIONS WIRING SERVICES TO AZTEK
COMMUNICATIONS OF SOUTH FLORIDA, INC. – AWARDED
FOR THREE (3) YEARS WITH TWO (2) ONE YEAR RENEWAL
OPTIONS
Item #16E3
AMENDMENT NO. 14 TO THE AGREEMENT WITH COLLIER
COUNTY DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD FOR THE DRIVER
EDUCATION PROGRAM – PROVIDING $120,500 TO THE
DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
Item #16E4
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR DISPOSAL OF
May 14, 2019
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PROPERTY AND NOTIFICATION OF REVENUE
DISBURSEMENT – FOR $439.50 FROM ON-LINE SURPLUS
EQUIPMENT SALES AND $3,746.91 NET BOOK VALUE FOR
DISPOSED ITEMS
Item #16E5
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR CHANGE ORDERS
AND OTHER CONTRACTUAL MODIFICATIONS REQUIRING
BOARD APPROVAL – FOR ONE CHANGE ORDER
MODIIIFYING CONTRACTS BY -$18,240.93, NO
AMENDMENTS AND FOUR AFTER-THE-FACT MEMOS WITH
A FISCAL IMPACT OF $8,453.95
Item #16F1
AWARD RFP NO. 19-7509 “COLLIER COUNTY ARTS &
CULTURE STRATEGIC PLAN” AND APPROVE THE
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH THE
CULTURAL PLANNING GROUP, LLC AND MAKE A FINDING
THAT THIS ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM - THERE WILL BE
FOUR PHASES OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN INCLUDING
PHASE 1: PROJECT INITIATION; PHASE 2 ASSESSING
EXISTING CONDITIONS AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES;
PHASE 3 DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRATEGIC
FRAMEWORK; AND PHASE 4 THE DELIVERY OF THE FINAL
PLAN
Item #16F2
May 14, 2019
Page 227
APPROVAL OF THE SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN
COLLIER COUNTY AND UWP, LLC DBA PRO WATERCROSS
CHAMPIONSHIP FOR THE 2019 AND 2020 PRO WATERCROSS
CHAMPIONSHIPS AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THE
SPONSORSHIP EXPENDITURES PROMOTE TOURISM - THE
EVENT IS PROJECTED TO ATTRACT OVER 1100
PARTICIPANTS, GENERATING 425 ROOM NIGHTS IN LATE
OCTOBER
Item #16F3
RESOLUTION 2019-82: AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING
GRANTS, DONATIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS OR INSURANCE
PROCEEDS) TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2018-19 ADOPTED
BUDGET
Item #16G1
AUTHORIZING BUDGET AMENDMENTS TO RECOGNIZE
REVENUE FOR FUND CENTER 192350, EVERGLADES
AIRPARK AND FUND CENTER 192370, MARCO ISLAND
EXECUTIVE AIRPORT, WITHIN COLLIER COUNTY AIRPORT
FUND 495 IN THE AMOUNT OF $49,000 AND $350,000
RESPECTIVELY AND APPROPRIATE THE FUNDING TO
ACCOMMODATE INCREASED FUEL PURCHASES AND
ASSOCIATED OPERATING EXPENSES OVER BUDGETED
LEVELS
Item #16G2
AMENDMENT #2 TO CONTRACT #16-6561 “DESIGN
May 14, 2019
Page 228
SERVICES FOR MARCO EXECUTIVE TERMINAL” WITH
ATKINS NORTH AMERICA, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF
$318,814 FOR ENGINEERING SERVICES DURING
CONSTRUCTION AND AUTHORIZING THE CHAIRMAN TO
EXECUTE THE AMENDMENT - PROVIDING FOR THE
PERFORMANCE OF CONSTRUCTION PHASE SERVICES
NECESSARY TO SUPPORT THE VARIOUS CONSTRUCTION
ELEMENTS OF THE PROJECT
Item #16H1
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 2019 AS TRAUMA
AWARENESS MONTH IN COLLIER COUNTY. THE
PROCLAMATION WILL BE MAILED TO THE REGIONAL
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TRAUMA SERVICES –
ADOPTED
Item #16H2
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY 20 - 24, 2019 AS GIRL
SCOUT LEADERSHIP WEEK IN COLLIER COUNTY. THE
PROCLAMATION WILL BE MAILED TO THE OFFICES OF
GIRL SCOUTS OF GULFCOAST FLORIDA, INC. – ADOPTED
Item #16J1
APPOINTING COMMISSIONER SOLIS AND COMMISSIONER
TAYLOR TO THE COLLIER COUNTY CANVASSING BOARD
FOR THE 2020 ELECTION CYCLE
Item #16J2
May 14, 2019
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AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE TO
PARTICIPATE AND REPRESENT THE COLLIER COUNTY
CANVASSING BOARD DURING THE 2020 ELECTION CYCLE
Item #16J3
REPORT TO THE BOARD REGARDING THE INVESTMENT OF
COUNTY FUNDS AS OF THE QUARTER ENDED MARCH 31,
2019
Item #16J4
BOARD APPROVED AND DETERMINED A VALID PUBLIC
PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND PURCHASING
CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF MAY 8, 2019
Item #16J5
RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER
PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR
WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS WERE DRAWN
FOR THE PERIODS BETWEEN APRIL 11, 2019 AND MAY 1,
2019 PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06
Item #16K1
RESOLUTION 2019-83: RE-APPOINTING PATRICIA SHERRY
AND ELOY RICARDO TO THE WATER AND WASTEWATER
AUTHORITY
May 14, 2019
Page 230
Item #16K2
RESOLUTION 2019-84: RE-APPOINTING JAMES RICH
(REPRESENTING AN ANIMAL ACTIVIST GROUP) AND
KAMES A. SPARTZ (REPRESENTING LAW ENFORCEMENT)
TO THE ANIMAL SERVICES ADVISORY BOARD
Item #16K3
RESOLUTION 2019-85: RE-APPOINTING CLAY W. CONE TO
THE EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES AUTHORITY WITH TERM
EXPIRING MARCH 23, 2024
Item #16K4
A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT TO SETTLE FINAL
COMPENSATION FOR THE TAKING OF PARCEL 332RDUE, IN
THE AMOUNT OF $39,412, INCLUDING STATUTORY
ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS, AND EXPERT FEES AND
COSTS, IN THE LAWSUIT STYLED COLLIER COUNTY V.
PRISCILLA DIAS, ET AL, CASE NO. 16-CA-1393, REQUIRED
FOR THE GOLDEN GATE BOULEVARD EXPANSION
PROJECT NO. 60145. (FISCAL IMPACT: $39,412)
Item #16K5
AUTHORIZING APPLICATION FOR TAX DEEDS FOR
TWENTY-EIGHT (28) COUNTY-HELD TAX CERTIFICATES
AND THE FORWARDING OF A WRITTEN NOTICE TO
PROCEED WITH TAX DEED APPLICATIONS TO THE TAX
May 14, 2019
Page 231
COLLECTOR
Item #17A
ORDINANCE 2019-06: AMENDMENT TO THE COLLIER
COUNTY GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN, ORDINANCE 89-
05, AS AMENDED, SPECIFICALLY AMENDING THE
POTABLE WATER SUB ELEMENT OF THE PUBLIC
FACILITIES ELEMENT TO AMEND POLICY 1.7 TO
REFERENCE THE UPDATED TEN-YEAR WATER SUPPLY
FACILITIES WORK PLAN, AND FURTHERMORE DIRECTING
TRANSMITTAL OF THE ADOPTION AMENDMENT TO THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY.
(ADOPTION HEARING) (PL20180002552/CPSP- 2018-6)
Item #17B
RESOLUTION 2019-86: PETITION VAC-PL20180003348, TO
DISCLAIM, RENOUNCE AND VACATE THE COUNTY AND
THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN A PORTION OF THE 25-FOOT
DRAINAGE AND LAKE MAINTENANCE EASEMENT
LOCATED IN THE REAR OF LOT 15 OF THE QUARRY PHASE
1A, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 42, PAGE 31 OF THE
PUBLIC RECORDS OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA,
LOCATED APPROXIMATELY ONE MILE EAST OF COLLIER
BOULEVARD IN SECTION 23, TOWNSHIP 48 SOUTH, RANGE
26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA
May 14, 2019
*****
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 4:23 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL
Ce-) 0,40
WILLI A M L. McDANI L, JR., CHAIRMAN
ATTEST:
(0 \11-AA-t4-
CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK
1 to Chairman's
'y or,iy..
These minutes approved by the Board on (O/ 1 l 1 as
presented �/s or as corrected
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF U.S. LEGAL
SUPPORT, INC., BY TERRI LEWIS, COURT REPORTER AND
NOTARY PUBLIC.
Page 232
FORM 8B MEMORANDUM OF VOTING CONFLICT FOR
COUNTY, MUNICIPAL, AND OTHER LOCAL PUBLIC OFFICERS
LAST NAME—FIRST NAME—MIDDLE NAME NAME OF BOARD,COUNCIL,COMMISSION,AUTHORITY,OR COMMITTEE
Andrew I. Solis Collier County Board of County Commissioners
MAILING ADDRESS THE BOARD,COUNCIL,COMMISSION,AUTHORITY OR COMMITTEE ON
3299 East Tamiami Trail, 3rd Floor WHICH I SERVE ISA UNIT OF:
CITY COUNTY ❑CITY Cif COUNTY ❑OTHER LOCAL AGENCY
Naples Collier NAME OF POLITICAL SUBDIVISION:
Collier County
DATE ON WHICH VOTE OCCURRED MY POSITION IS:
May 14, 2019 af ELECTIVE ❑ APPOINTIVE
WHO MUST FILE FORM 8B
This form is for use by any person serving at the county, city, or other local level of government on an appointed or elected board, council,
commission, authority, or committee. It applies to members of advisory and non-advisory bodies who are presented with a voting conflict of
interest under Section 112.3143, Florida Statutes.
Your responsibilities under the law when faced with voting on a measure in which you have a conflict of interest will vary greatly depending
on whether you hold an elective or appointive position. For this reason, please pay close attention to the instructions on this form before
completing and filing the form.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLIANCE WITH SECTION 112.3143, FLORIDA STATUTES
A person holding elective or appointive county, municipal, or other local public office MUST ABSTAIN from voting on a measure which
would inure to his or her special private gain or loss. Each elected or appointed local officer also MUST ABSTAIN from knowingly voting on
a measure which would inure to the special gain or loss of a principal (other than a government agency) by whom he or she is retained
(including the parent, subsidiary, or sibling organization of a principal by which he or she is retained); to the special private gain or loss of a
relative; or to the special private gain or loss of a business associate. Commissioners of community redevelopment agencies(CRAs) under
Sec. 163.356 or 163.357, F.S., and officers of independent special tax districts elected on a one-acre, one-vote basis are not prohibited
from voting in that capacity.
For purposes of this law, a "relative" includes only the officer's father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, father-in-law,
mother-in-law, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law. A"business associate" means any person or entity engaged in or carrying on a business
enterprise with the officer as a partner, joint venturer, coowner of property, or corporate shareholder(where the shares of the corporation
are not listed on any national or regional stock exchange).
ELECTED OFFICERS:
In addition to abstaining from voting in the situations described above,you must disclose the conflict:
PRIOR TO THE VOTE BEING TAKEN by publicly stating to the assembly the nature of your interest in the measure on which you are
abstaining from voting; and
WITHIN 15 DAYS AFTER THE VOTE OCCURS by completing and filing this form with the person responsible for recording the
minutes of the meeting,who should incorporate the form in the minutes.
APPOINTED OFFICERS:
Although you must abstain from voting in the situations described above, you are not prohibited by Section 112.3143 from otherwise
participating in these matters. However, you must disclose the nature of the conflict before making any attempt to influence the decision,
whether orally or in writing and whether made by you or at your direction.
IF YOU INTEND TO MAKE ANY ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE THE DECISION PRIOR TO THE MEETING AT WHICH THE VOTE WILL BE
TAKEN:
• You must complete and file this form (before making any attempt to influence the decision)with the person responsible for recording the
minutes of the meeting,who will incorporate the form in the minutes. (Continued on page 2)
CE FORM 8B-EFF. 11/2013 PAGE 1
Adopted by reference in Rule 34-7.010(1)(f),F.A.C.
APPOINTED OFFICERS (continued)
• A copy of the form must be provided immediately to the other members of the agency.
• The form must be read publicly at the next meeting after the form is filed.
IF YOU MAKE NO ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE THE DECISION EXCEPT BY DISCUSSION AT THE MEETING:
• You must disclose orally the nature of your conflict in the measure before participating.
• You must complete the form and file it within 15 days after the vote occurs with the person responsible for recording the minutes of the
meeting,who must incorporate the form in the minutes.A copy of the form must be provided immediately to the other members of the
agency, and the form must be read publicly at the next meeting after the form is filed.
DISCLOSURE OF LOCAL OFFICER'S INTEREST
Andrew I. Solis , hereby disclose that on May 14 20 19
(a)A measure came or will come before my agency which (check one or more)
inured to my special private gain or loss;
inured to the special gain or loss of my business associate,
inured to the special gain or loss of my relative,
inured to the special gain or loss of a client of my law firm by
whom I am retained; or
inured to the special gain or loss of , which
is the parent subsidiary, or sibling organization or subsidiary of a principal which has retained me.
(b)The measure before my agency and the nature of my conflicting interest in the measure is as follows:
On May 14, 2019, the Board of County Commissioners will consider Agenda Item 16-A-13, a recommendation to
approve a Resolution for final acceptance of the private roadway and drainage improvements for the final plat of
Raffia Preserve Phase 2, and authorize the release of the maintenance security.
The owner, WCI Communities, LLC, is a client of my law firm and in an abundance of caution, I will abstain from
voting pursuant to Section 286.012,Fla. Stat. to avoid any perceived prejudice or bias.
If disclosure of specific information would violate confidentiality or privilege pursuant to law or rules governing attorneys, a public officer,
who is also an attorney, may comply with the disclosure requirements of this section by disclosing the nature of the interest in such a way
as to provide the public with notice of the conflict.
//2
May 14, 2019
Date Filed Sign
NOTICE: UNDER PROVISIONS OF FLORIDA STATUTES §112.317, A FAILURE TO MAKE ANY REQUIRED DISCLOSURE
CONSTITUTES GROUNDS FOR AND MAY BE PUNISHED BY ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: IMPEACHMENT,
REMOVAL OR SUSPENSION FROM OFFICE OR EMPLOYMENT, DEMOTION, REDUCTION IN SALARY, REPRIMAND, OR A
CIVIL PENALTY NOT TO EXCEED$10,000.
CE FORM 8B-EFF. 11/2013 PAGE 2
Adopted by reference in Rule 34-7.010(1)(f),F.A.C.