Agenda 02/02/2022 Item # 2B (Minutes from January 25, 2022 BCC Meeting)02/22/2022
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Item Number: 2.B
Item Summary: January 25, 2022 - BCC Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date: 02/22/2022
Prepared by:
Title: Sr. Operations Analyst – County Manager's Office
Name: Geoffrey Willig
02/10/2022 11:30 AM
Submitted by:
Title: County Manager – County Manager's Office
Name: Mark Isackson
02/10/2022 11:30 AM
Approved By:
Review:
County Manager's Office Geoffrey Willig County Manager Review Completed 02/10/2022 11:30 AM
Board of County Commissioners Geoffrey Willig Meeting Pending 02/22/2022 9:00 AM
2.B
Packet Pg. 11
January 25, 2022
Page 1
TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, January 25, 2022
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.
Rick LoCastro
Burt L. Saunders
Andy Solis
Penny Taylor
ALSO PRESENT:
Mark Isackson, County Manager
Amy Patterson, Deputy County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Crystal K. Kinzel, Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller
Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations
January 25, 2022
Page 2
MR. ISACKSON: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, you have a
live mic.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, good morning, everybody.
Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning.
First off, we're going to start out with our invocation, and Pledge
of Allegiance is going to be led by -- let's do -- Commissioner Taylor,
will you lead us in the Pledge after the prayer?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you very much. I'd love
to.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: If you'd rise, please. I'm going to
introduce Pastor Beverly Duncan. She is retired now, as she shared
with me this morning. But previously with United Church of Christ.
If you would, please, ma'am.
Item #1
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
REVEREND DUNCAN: Thank you. Good morning.
Let us pray. Spirit of life, in the newness of this season and this
day, be present in this body as our commissioners lead Collier
County in a life-affirming direction always and in all ways.
Spirit of peace, be a calming, grounding presence today. May
you remind us that in unsettled times such as these, a sense of
common purpose, even if not 100 percent agreement, is a gift and a
blessing to all.
Spirit of love, in your inevitable mystery, you bend down to
know each and every heart. During these next hours, we ask that
you keep before this meeting your desire for our commissioners and,
indeed, all of us to be caring stewards of our community.
Mighty spirit, fill our leaders with strength, hope, and vision, as
January 25, 2022
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only you can. When there is troubling doubt, remind us that we can
lean on you, and then together we can make our way toward those
things that heal broken places and bring justice.
And when this meeting has ended, carry each commissioner to
their destination safely so that they might rest and refresh toward
service on another day. I asked a blessing on them and their work
this morning. Amen.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Very nice. Thank you.
Commissioner Taylor.
(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I apologize for being a minute
late this morning. I had Pastor Beverly's name here but not her
church and affiliation and wanted to dutifully announce that. Thank
you very much. I appreciate you coming in today.
REVEREND DUNCAN: Absolutely.
Item #2A
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
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right. Item No. 2 is our
agenda and minutes. Are there any additions, deletions, or anything?
Let's go individually. Commissioner --
MR. ISACKSON: If I can, sir, why don't you allow me to go
over the proposed agenda changes, and then we can launch into -- if
you don't mind.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. That will be fine. What if
January 25, 2022
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somebody else has a change that you want to -- that you have to edit
in? Go ahead.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you. Thank you, sir.
These are the proposed agenda changes for the Board of County
Commissioners' meeting of January 25th, 2022.
The first item is to continue Item 8A to the February 8th, 2022,
meeting. That's at the petitioner's request. This is an item -- it's to
approve a rezone by the Board of Zoning Appeals providing for the
establishment of a conditional use to allow a communications tower
on lands zoned rural agricultural within the Mobile Home Overlay
(MHO) and designated Rural Fringe Mixed-Use Sending Lands
within the Natural Resources Protection Area Overlay and North
Belle Meade Overlay in the Collier County Growth Management
Plan pursuant to Sections 2.01.03.G.4 and 2.03.08.A.4.a(3)(a) of the
Collier County Land Development Code on .95 plus-or-minus acres
of a 5 plus-or-minus-acre tract located on the east side of the north
section -- north/south section, excuse me, of Benton Road in Section
25, Township 49 south, Range 27 east, Collier County, Florida.
Commissioners, the next item is to move 17B to Item 9B. This
is the first of two hearings. It's at Commissioner McDaniel's request.
It's a recommendation to approve an ordinance amending No. 04-41
as amended, the Collier County Land Development Code, to change
the name of the Bayshore Mixed-Use District Overlay District to the
Bayshore Zoning Overlay District and name the Gateway Triangle
Mixed-Use District to the Gateway Triangle Zoning Overlay District,
to rename the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Redevelopment Area to
the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Community Redevelopment Area, to
add prohibited uses, to add appearance standards for outdoor display
and storage, add a boundary map for the Bayshore Zoning Overlay
District and for the Gateway Triangle Overlay District, add
architectural standards for single-family homes and change other
January 25, 2022
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development standards. This is a companion to 11E and 9C,
previously 16A1 and 17C.
Commissioners, the next item is to move Item 17C to 9C. It's a
recommendation to adopt ordinance, as amended, the Collier County
Growth Management Plan for the unincorporated area of Collier
County relating to the density bonus pool within the
Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Redevelopment Overlay and specifically
amending the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Redevelopment Overlay of
the Future Land Use Element to change the requirements for the use
of the density bonus pool; directing transmittal of the adopted
amendment to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity;
providing for severability; and providing for an effective date.
This is a companion 11A and 9B. It's at Commissioner
McDaniel's request.
Commissioners, the next item at Commissioner McDaniel's
request is to move 16A1 to 11E. It's a recommendation to direct
staff and bring back for a public hearing at the February 8th, 2022,
meeting an ordinance of Collier County, Florida, amending
Ordinance No. 2003-37, as amended, including Ordinance
No. 2003-58 by amending Section 110-30 of the Collier County Code
of Laws and Ordinances to exclude the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle
Community Redevelopment Area from the prohibition of enclosing
swales in public rights-of-way, providing for inclusion into the Code
of Laws and Ordinances; providing for conflict and severability;
providing for an effective date. This is a companion item to 9B and
9C, previously 17B and 17C.
Commissioners, there's a note that I'd like to read. It's the
Bayshore Limited Density Bonus Pool Allocation Land Development
Code amendment will be heard at the February 8th BCC in the form
of a public hearing.
Time-certain items, 10B to be heard at 1:00 p.m. It's the
January 25, 2022
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adoption of a resolution to name the baseball field at Immokalee
Community Park the Steven J. Dodson Memorial Baseball Field.
That's sponsored by Commissioner McDaniel.
That's all I have at this point, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. Now we'll go to
Commissioner Solis. Any ex parte or adjustments?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No changes to the agenda, and on
the consent agenda and the summary agenda, no disclosures.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding.
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Same for me, no changes and
no disclosures on the consent or summary.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And, Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes. I have some changes I'd
like to suggest to our agenda. I'd like to see if we can continue 17B
and 17C that you requested be heard today. That is not -- that is
complicated stuff, and there are pages of it, and I think it would
behoove us in terms of facilitating a meeting that we all get the
important backup material on this that I received last night.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. And I'm okay with that
continuance as long as staff is okay. Where's Mr. Bosi? He was
floating around here. As long as -- Jamie? And/or -- as long as
staff's okay with the continuance, I'm okay. And the reason I pulled
it was because --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yep.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- of the plethora of the
information that was in there --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yep.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- that I wasn't as well informed on
necessarily as I could have been.
Mr. Bosi? And I -- we're discussing continuing -- I think it's --
January 25, 2022
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: 17A and 17 -- 17B and 17C.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And there's a companion item
which was, I think, 9 -- forgive me.
MR. ISACKSON: 11E, sir.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: 16A1 --
MR. ISACKSON: Which we moved to 11E.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right. Okay. And we probably
should continue that item as well, all three of those items. There was
one on the consent and two on the summary. And as long as we're
not turning the world upside down, I'm okay with that continuance.
MR. BOSI: Mike Bosi, Planning and Zoning director.
The advertising with the specific continuance to the next
meeting will be valid, so there will be no issue with it, and staff will
be able to prepare and make a full presentation to the Board of
County Commissioners.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Great.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm very comfortable. Thank
you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Good.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And if we could, County
Manager, get the -- what I received yesterday from Ms. Forester, and
then encourage all of you to read it early so you can ask questions,
because it's not an easy read.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No. I'm okay with that.
Any there any other ex partes?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: One thing I'd like to ask, that
17A be separated from the vote, and I'd like to vote on that
separately, or I will register right now that I am voting against this,
not to approve it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: What --
January 25, 2022
Page 8
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: 17A.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I think rather than pulling it
and having a separate hearing, if we --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, not a separate hearing, just
a separate vote.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just acknowledge that you're a
negative vote on that summary item would be okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes, okay. Thank you.
There is -- the only ex parte I have is -- has to do with the St.
Matthew's House CPUD.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's only on -- that's on the
agenda for later on. All we're doing's consent --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, I'm sorry, that is correct.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- and summary.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I don't have any other
disclosures.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I have no changes and
no disclosures.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I as well have no further
changes or disclosures.
I do have a quick question of the County Attorney/Manager, and
this is more procedural than anything, and I've thought about this for
a while. Is it requisite -- because this is all a matter of public record.
It's all published. Is it requisite that the County Manager read the
entire paragraph when we're making adjustments, especially today,
because those three items were, ugh, long. And then we -- and we
spend an enormous amount of time. I know it's a matter of public
record, and the court reporter gets to write it down, but is it a legal
requisite? Could we just not announce that we're going to change
January 25, 2022
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the agenda and announce those items and go forward?
MR. KLATZKOW: Well, I think Mark likes the camera time,
but it's not -- it's not necessary, no.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: If it -- maybe we'll have a
discussion about that later on today, because we've got other people
that want to speak, but I think maybe under commissioner comments
we'll bring it up, and if we get the -- if we get an appropriate head
nod -- and I know Mark does like the camera time.
MR. ISACKSON: With my looks, I try to avoid the camera
time if at all possible, trust me.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So we'll have that discussion at the
end of our meeting today, so maybe we'll all be able to move on.
And, again, I had no adjustments or ex parte.
So with that, I'll call for a motion for the acceptance of the
agenda as amended, and --
MR. ISACKSON: Troy, just to confirm, we have no speakers
on the consent?
MR. MILLER: We had one registered for 9B that was pulled,
but now that's been continued.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. I'll take a motion.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Somebody has to make the motion.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Oh, I thought he said --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I didn't hear anybody.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Make a motion that we
accept.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'll second it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You folks have to cooperate a little
bit.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I thought I heard somebody
whisper down there.
January 25, 2022
Page 10
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we move forward with the agenda as amended. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 3,
awards and recognitions. We have two individuals in the audience.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Before you go there, I'm getting
a -- I'm getting a --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I want to take a page out of
Commissioner Saunders' book where sometimes he says, within a
very respectful way, hey, I want to excuse protocol for a second,
because I have something important that I want to say.
We have a full house here today, and we're going to vote on
some -- a lot of very important things that you-all care about, but the
most meaningful thing that we're going to do today is at 1:00 o'clock,
and it's led by Commissioner McDaniel, and everybody knows how
shy and humble he is, so he's not going to say this, and I say that in
jest. But in all seriousness, before you leave today, after you make
your statements and vote on the things that you're passionate about,
walk by this easel over here. We have a police officer who was
killed in the -- you know, while on duty. And at Commissioner
McDaniel's request, we're going to name a ball field in Immokalee
after him at 1:00, and his family and a lot of police officers and I
encourage any of our security staff and our police in the room here to,
you know, bring in as many people here as you can, because a lot of
January 25, 2022
Page 11
times these type of meaningful things get overlooked in the middle of
voting on water and sewer and dogs and cats and things like that,
which are also important.
But I just want to publicly thank Commissioner McDaniel for
what's going to happen here at 1:00. It's really meaningful, and
especially during this time, when it -- you know, arguably our police
are under a lot of stress and scrutiny and getting some backlash even,
but not here in Collier County.
So I just want to say, on behalf of all of us here -- I know I speak
for all the commissioners and all the county staff, you know, thank
you, sir, for bringing this at 1:00. And I know it's going to be a very
meaningful and emotional time. His family will be here. And so,
you know, just pay your respects as you head out the door for the
parking lots for, you know, one of our uniformed police officers who
served our county well, and his name will forever live in one of our
ballparks out in Immokalee where he served. So thank you very
much, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Appreciate that. Thank you.
Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: All right. County Manager, we'll go to
No. 3.
Proposed Agenda Changes
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
January 25, 2022
Continue Item 8A to the February 8, 2022 BCC Meeting: *** This item has been continued from the April
27, 2021 BCC Meeting. *** 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 a Resolution of the Board of Zoning Appeals of Collier County, Florida providing for the
establishment of a conditional use to allow a communications tower on lands zoned Rural Agricultural (A)
within the Mobile Home Overlay (MHO) and designated Rural Fringe Mixed Use-Sending Lands within the
Natural Resource Protection Area Overlay and North Belle Meade Overlay in the Collier County Growth
Management Plan pursuant to Sections 2.01.03.G.4.a and 2.03.08.A.4.a(3)(a) of the Collier County Land
Development Code on .95± acres of a 5.0+/- acre tract located on the east side of the north-south extension of
Benton Road, in Section 25, Township 49 South, Range 27 East, Collier County, Florida. [PL20180002327]
(District 5) (Petitioner’s Request)
Move Item 17B to Item 9B: *** This item is the first of two hearings. *** Recommendation to approve an
Ordinance amending Ordinance number 04-41, as amended, the Collier County Land Development Code, to
change the name of the Bayshore Mixed Use Overlay District to the Bayshore Zoning Overlay District and the
name of the Gateway Triangle Mixed Use District to the Gateway Triangle Zoning Overlay District, to
rename the Bayshore Gateway Triangle Redevelopment Area to the Bayshore Gateway Triangle Community
Redevelopment Area; to add prohibited uses, add appearance standards for outdoor display and storage, add
a boundary map for the Bayshore Zoning Overlay District and for the Gateway Triangle Zoning Overlay
District, add architectural standards for single family homes, and change other development standards.
[PL20210001222] (This Item is a companion item to Items 11E and 9C (Previously 16A1 and 17C)) (District 4)
(Commissioner McDaniel Request)
Move Item 17C to Item 9C: Recommendation to adopt Ordinance, as amended, the Collier County Growth
Management Plan for the unincorporated area of Collier County, Florida, relating to the density bonus pool
within the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Redevelopment Overlay and specifically amending the
Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Redevelopment Overlay of the Future Land Use Element, to change
requirements for the use of the density bonus pool; directing transmittal of the adopted amendment to the
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity; providing for severability; and providing for an effective date.
(This Item is a companion item to Items 11E and 9B (Previously 16A1 and 17B)) (Adoption Hearing).
(District 4) (Commissioner McDaniel Request)
Move Item 16A1 to Item 11E: Recommendation to direct staff to advertise and bring back for a public
hearing at the February 8, 2022 Board Meeting, an ordinance of Collier County, Florida, amending
Ordinance No. 2003-37, as amended, including Ordinance No. 2003-58, by amending Section 110-30 of the
Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances to exclude the Bayshore Gateway Triangle Community
Redevelopment Area from the prohibition of enclosing swales in public rights-of-way; providing for inclusion
into the Code of Laws and Ordinances; providing for conflict and severability; providing an effective date.
[PL20210001222] (This Item is a companion item to Items 9B and 9C (Previously 17B and 17C)) (District 4)
(Commissioner McDaniel Request)
Note:
The Bayshore Limited Density Pool Allocation Land Development Code amendments (PL#20210001033) will be
heard at the February 8th BCC Public Hearing.
Time Certain Items:
Item 10B to be heard at 1:00 pm – Adoption of resolution to name the baseball field at Immokalee
Community Park the “Steven J. Dodson Memorial Baseball Field.” (Sponsored by Commissioner McDaniel)
Item 11E to be heard immediately following items 9B and 9C
2/10/2022 7:59 AM
January 25, 2022
Page 12
Item #3A2
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS – EMPLOYEES – 25 YEAR
ATTENDEES
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: This is my favorite part of these
meetings, by the way, are these presentations and acknowledgment
for our staff and folks that have been with us.
MR. ISACKSON: Well, it's certainly a pleasure that we're
doing this in person.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Amen.
MR. ISACKSON: And we have two employees, one who's
serves 25 years, one who's served 30 years, and it's my pleasure to
recognize these individuals for their dedication to Collier County
service.
The first 25-year attendee is Patricia Rosen from our Parks and
Recreation Department. Patricia, please.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Twenty years would have felt
a lot longer, right?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you want us to squeeze in?
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Patricia, you know, 25 years, if
you'd like to say a few words, you're more than welcome.
MS. ROSEN: I'm good.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Or remain silent. That's okay,
too.
MS. HILLER: That's why she lasted 25 years.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, my goodness. I'd like to
note -- I'd like to acknowledge a former commissioner's in our
January 25, 2022
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audience. Georgia Hiller. Welcome. Welcome.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, yes.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And forgive me. A good chair
would have done that, so forgive me.
MS. HILLER: You're still in training, Bill. It's okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am.
Item #3A3
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS – EMPLOYEES – 30 YEAR
ATTENDEES
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, the next recognition is
Mr. Michael Sullivan, a 30-year employee of the county with our
Emergency Medical Services Division.
(Applause.)
MR. SULLIVAN: All right. Everybody get in tight. Pretty
picture. I deserve this picture.
(Applause.)
MR. SULLIVAN: All righty. Thank you.
Item #4A
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING JANUARY 23 - 29, 2022, AS
NATIONAL CERTIFIED REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETISTS
WEEK IN COLLIER COUNTY. ACCEPTED BY GREGORY
BUCK, CRNA - READ INTO THE RECORD
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, moving to Item 4 on your
agenda, proclamations. Item 4A is a proclamation designating
January 25, 2022
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January 23 to 29, 2022, as National Certified Registered Nurse
Anesthetist Week in Collier County, to be accepted by Gregory Buck,
CRNA.
(Applause.)
Item #4B
PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZING THE QUARRY AS
RECIPIENT OF THE WASTE REDUCTION AWARDS
PROGRAM (WRAP) AWARD, FOR CONTRIBUTING TO THE
GREATER GOOD OF COLLIER COUNTY BY ADVOCATING
THE "REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE" MESSAGE, THEREBY
HELPING TO PROLONG THE USABLE LIFE OF THE COLLIER
COUNTY LANDFILL. ACCEPTED BY DOREEN KOSTECKI,
ARDETH GRIGGS, KATHLEEN ANTHONY, AND
JONATHAN BARTOS - READ INTO THE RECORD
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, the next proclamation is
recognizing The Quarry as recipient of the Waste Reduction Awards
Program, WRAP, award for contributing to the greater good of
Collier County by advocating their reduce -- for advocating the
"Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" message, thereby helping to prolong the
useful life of the Collier County Landfill. This will be accepted by
Doreen Kostecki, Ardeth Griggs, Kathleen Anthony, and Jonathan
Bartos, which I believe Kathleen and Jonathan aren't here, and they're
not feeling very well. But anyway, please come forward.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just a little editorial. These folks'
efforts have -- I don't even actually have data. But the efforts of our
recycling program in Collier County -- and I remember it was back
when Commissioner Hiller was up here -- there was -- elongated the
January 25, 2022
Page 15
life of our landfill by close to 30 years, if I'm not mistaken. That
sticks in my mind. So thank you all, and our Solid Waste
Department, for all that you do do.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Can I -- I just want to ad lib
something very quickly.
Kari, I want you to stand up real quick.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, she should step up.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So this Kari Hodgson, who is
the director of our Solid Waste Division, and I just want to tell a
good-news story here. You know, a lot of times our county staff get
beat up a lot for not doing this and, you know, the county's crazy and
we're all lazy and all that, which isn't true. This young lady this past
weekend at midnight moved mountains to help one citizen get their
water turned off, and there's a whole long story behind it. But I can
tell you, the minute this issue came to -- came to my attention, I sent
out a couple of notes thinking in the morning somebody would
finally contact me because I really couldn't get ahold of the right
people. Kari calls my phone, must have been 11:59 -- we both sort
of work late at night -- and in record time turned lemons into
lemonade for somebody that not only then personally called me but
then put something on social media saying what a superstar she was.
And I just happened to see her in the audience here. This is the kind
of folks that we're proud of on our county staff every day, and she's a
young lady that has an amazing future regardless of what she does,
and I hope she continues to do it in the county.
But, Kari, thank you so much for your tenacity, your initiative,
your attention to detail and, most of all, your customer service to one
of our citizens who really needed it at a time in the middle of the
night when they couldn't get any help. So thank you very much.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Don't go away. Don't go away.
January 25, 2022
Page 16
We're not done -- we're not done embarrassing you.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I was just going to add that I
actually went out to the landfill a week or so ago, and if you haven't
taken a tour -- and it's hard to -- that I'm really saying this, but you
should take a tour of the Collier County Landfill. It is really clean,
number one, and so incredibly organized.
And one of the things that just amazed me was the innovative
things that Kari's doing to prolong the life of the landfill which, when
I moved here in the early '90s, was a serious concern that there was
not that much life. I mean, the end of it was on the horizon, and
there hasn't -- there hasn't been a new landfill permitted in the state of
Florida in 40 years, I don't think. So take a tour. The way it's being
run is really amazing. Kari's a rock star.
And I have to say something about the hawks. Because one of
the ways that she controls the birds and the vultures and things is not
with pyrotechnics or with, you know, chemicals or anything. We
have how many -- we have four hawks?
MS. HODGSON: Two.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Two? Two hawks that fly around
and keep all the birds off of not only the landfill now but also over at
the sports park.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Are they pets?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And it's fascinating.
MS. HODGSON: They are someone's pets.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: If you take the tour with her,
though, it's a little weird. You will go up to the top of the mountain
overlooking clean, beautiful garbage, and her exact quote to me when
I took a tour, she looked over and she says, isn't that an amazing,
beautiful site? This is the best view in all of Collier County. And
that's a little weird, but that's the person you want in charge of the
landfill, trust me.
January 25, 2022
Page 17
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Please take a tour. It's worth -- it's
worth seeing how well run it is and all of the things that the staff is
doing to prolong the life of that, which is really essential to Collier
County. Thank you for what you do.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's absolutely amazing. The -- as
I mentioned earlier, there was times in the late '90s and early 2000s
when that landfill was foreseeably coming to its end. And the efforts
of our Solid Waste -- and one of the difficulties we have -- and I
know we drug you up here for all of the acknowledgment that you
really want, but there's an entire fleet of people -- Dr. George is in the
back, and I'm going to miss -- and he's the leader of the band over in
Solid Waste and pushing the buttons.
So from all of us -- all of the residents of Collier County to you,
to you, and to your staff, thank you. If you would, please, Collier
County residents, join with us, because these efforts will do nothing
but prolong the inevitable end of the use of our landfill. So thank
you all. Thank you very much, Ms. Kari.
MS. HODGSON: Thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You folks can tell how happy she
was about that, so...
Item #7
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 7 on
your agenda. It's public comments on general topics not on the
current or future agenda. Troy?
MR. MILLER: Yes. We have 11 registered speakers here in
January 25, 2022
Page 18
the room, three additional speakers online. First up will be Jayne
Kim. Now, Ms. Kim's been ceded additional time from -- and you're
going to need to raise your hands here to indicate you're
present -- Patty Temelt -- Temlet, excuse me.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Janet Dunkel.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Audrey Dilella.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Sherry Tatum.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: And Lynn Morgan.
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: She will have a total of 18 minutes, and she
will be followed by Steph Henderson.
MS. KIM: Thank you.
Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you for this time. My
name is Jayne Kim. I'm here with other volunteers from Collier
County Domestic Animal Services to thank you and the county for all
your good work, dedication to, and support of our county shelter.
We hope you are as proud of Collier County Domestic Animal
Services as we are. You can ask any DAS volunteer why we
volunteer, and the answer is always the same; because of the animals
and because of the people.
There is a reason why people in neighboring counties, other
jurisdictions, and other states share our animal stories with other
people and show Collier County shelter as the shelter that does more
than most for its animals.
If you follow the DAS or volunteer-run social media pages, you
can see how often people are sharing our animal stories to tell other
people and to show other people what Collier County is doing. You
January 25, 2022
Page 19
can read all the comments by people who ask the question, why can't
other shelters be like this.
Every week we hear from applicants and adopters who come in
to Collier County Domestic Animal Services, and they tell us how
refreshing it is to meet with us, to talk with staff, to meet with the
volunteers, how much the volunteers know about the animals, how
happy the animals are, and how clearly loved they are.
Many of these adopters keep in touch with the volunteer who
helped them with the adoption, and that volunteer shares the happy
tale with the rest of the group. So we, as a group, are constantly
reminded of all the good work that the county does and how
appreciative people have been.
And just like Commissioner LoCastro said, it's true, as a county
shelter, county employees, sometimes we get beat up, and you don't
get to hear all the good, and you need to hear the good, because
Collier County serves its community well, the shelter serves its
community well. We are proud of Collier County and the animal
services it provides to the community. We really hope you are, too.
I am not only a proud volunteer and foster with Domestic
Animal Services, I am also a proud fosterer for the Humane Society
of Naples. I have been involved with the Humane Society for as
long as I have been involved with Domestic Animal Services, and
that's since 2018. But I am here today representing the many
passionate and compassionate people at DAS.
I have also been given the authority to speak on behalf of many
charitable and non-profit animal organizations in this county. Many
people involved with DAS and these organizations could not be here
today in person because of work or other personal commitments, but
they wanted me to assure you that we are united in our opposition to
a takeover of DAS functions, any functions, by the Humane Society
of Naples.
January 25, 2022
Page 20
These local animal organizations include SNIP Collier, For the
Love of Cats, Camp Many Paws, Volunteer Services for Animals,
QT Kittens, Naples Cat Alliance, Animal Compassion Project,
Hopeful Hearts Rescue Incorporated, and Animal Task Force of
Southwest Florida.
While many could not be here this morning, I would like to take
a moment to recognize those who are and who took time out of their
day to be here and to show support for the county and its shelters.
So DAS volunteers, supporters, friends, please stand; members of our
local rescue partners, please stand.
(Applause.)
MS. KIM: And you can remain standing for just a moment.
These are the people with the boots on the ground. These are
the people who devote their time, and they devote their hearts to the
betterment of our community. We are united in a common purpose.
We welcome collaboration, assistance, and synergy with each other.
Working together in our respective roles, we are helping our county
move forward. And, in short, we believe that privatizing the
county's operation of animal care services and/or enforcement would
be an injustice to the animals and to the citizens of this county.
Thank you. You may sit down, if you wish.
Now, I will not reiterate the details of the Humane Society's
proposal in which the Humane Society wants the new $6 million
shelter facility for its own use and the county to pay the Humane
Society for services now performed by the county at Domestic
Animal Services. That takeover proposal is already a matter of
public record by memo to this board dated November 29th, 2021, and
we are well aware that this board did not approve a takeover but,
instead, directed that the two organizations explore areas for
collaboration and synergy.
I don't think there's any animal advocate out there who opposes
January 25, 2022
Page 21
collaboration, assistance, and synergy with others. We are, or
should be, all working towards the same goal. So we thank you.
We thank this board for that good direction. And it was you,
Commissioner Taylor, who made that motion, so thank you.
I'm here to report to you, however, that despite this board's
direction, the message on the ground has been something quite
different. The Humane Society has not redirected its efforts away
from a takeover and instead towards assistance and collaboration, as
this board wanted. To the contrary, Humane Society representatives
have continued to expressly and directly advocate a takeover, the
takeover proposal, even after this board gave direction otherwise, and
that is why we are all here today.
We were hoping to see and hear a redirection by the Humane
Society at last week's DAS advisory board meeting where each
agency was supposed to present on areas for and ways to collaborate.
The executive director of the Humane Society wasn't able to attend,
and even though the Humane Society had two high-level employees
in attendance throughout the whole meeting, the Humane Society
said it could not present. The Humane Society further asked the
county staff not present. So no presentation was made to the board
last week; therefore, no presentation to the public.
The Humane Society further asked that the advisory board
members not even discuss the matter at the public forum last week.
That's despite the public being there in attendance asking for and
demanding answers. This scenario highlights one of the many
troubling concerns about a private organization taking over essential
government-run operations.
Collier County proudly serves its citizens. You know that
because you serve 24/7. The county doesn't get to take sick days. If
a county executive is unable, she hands the baton off to her assistant
or her next in line to run with it. County operations do not halt.
January 25, 2022
Page 22
The public is not denied information or delayed in receiving
information just because one person isn't feeling well.
The buck also doesn't stop with one county executive. At
Domestic Animal Services, for example, if a member from the public
comes in and wishes to speak to the executive director about an issue
or concern and that executive director is unavailable, the shelter
manager, supervisors, employees are all there to step up and respond.
That public member can also go over the county executive and
contact directly the department head, the DA [sic] advisory board,
this board, county counsel, or make a request for public records under
the Sunshine Law.
One of the many benefits of a government-run and county-run
shelter is that there are checks and balances in place, and those
checks and balances are there to ensure transparency, consistency,
and accountability.
Now, people have asked representatives from the Humane
Society for basic information, posed very simple questions. For
example, would the Humane Society operate as an open admissions
shelter? Would the Humane Society open its records to the public to
the same degree that the county does now?
Simple requests for the Humane Society's euthanasia numbers
and data related to its behavior and rehabilitation program at the Oaks
facility have gone unanswered to date.
If anyone wants to know how the Humane Society would
operate under contract with the county, take a look at how it operates
now and, in contrast, think about what this county does and
accomplishes every day. Our county shelter is operating at a
97 percent live release rate. That is amazing considering that our
county takes in more than 5,000 animals annually. As a county-run
organization, Domestic Animal Services follows county COVID
guidelines and has safely operated through the pandemic. DAS did
January 25, 2022
Page 23
not close its doors.
As a county-run organization, DAS provides affordable adoption
fees, unlike the private non-profit which charges, for example, $475
to adopt a puppy. As a county-run organization, DAS and its
records are subject to the Sunshine Law and, therefore, the public is
entitled to and assured a level of transparency and accountability.
Moreover, as a county-run organization, DAS is committed to
Collier County and puts Collier County and Collier County animals
first. That means DAS does not import from other states, from
Puerto Rico, or otherwise bring in animals for the sake of donation or
media attention. And if anybody says that there are not enough
adoptable animals here in Collier County, that we need to bring them
in, some under-socialized who run away from home and add to our
homeless population, if anyone says that to you, we submit to you
you need to seriously question their motives, and you need to come
down to the shelter, take a ride along with SNIP Collier, take a ride
along with an animal control officer, or go and visit one of the many
local animal rescues who will tell you we have too many animals
adoptable in need of homes.
In sum, the Humane Society operates very differently from the
county, and different isn't bad. The Humane Society does good
work. There are good people there. I include myself in that.
We're there fighting the good fight every day. Different is not bad.
Doing things differently may work very well for the Humane Society,
and kudos to them for doing what they do, because different
organizations working towards a common goal is always good for the
community. That kind of collaborative diversity is helpful. It's
productive.
But when we are talking about ceding county operations to a
private non-profit, the very survival of which depends on large
money donors and special interests, we are saying proceed with
January 25, 2022
Page 24
caution. Take a look at the jurisdictions that have tried a
public-private contract with their local Humane Society. Look at
how those jurisdictions experienced higher costs involved in that kind
of contract relationship.
With your permission, I have not only prepared my statements
here in writing, but I have also attached a very clear and simple
request for information that was sent to the Humane Society on
January 9th, unanswered to date, and articles reporting on the failure
of county Humane Society contracts in other jurisdictions.
And I just want to read a very short quote from an article that
was published in November of last year, the same time that Humane
Society of Naples here proposed its takeover to the county.
This was in St. Lucie County, and St. Lucie decided to end their
relationship with their local Humane Society because they realized
that it was not sustainable, the plan. And this is a quote from the
county spokesperson. Quote, we just realized, I think, it's time for
St. Lucie County to manage its own shelter. We control it. We
don't rely on a third-party vendor to come in and say we can do it for
this price, and they realize -- six months, a year down the road they
realize it's going to cost more.
We submit to you that our county is also better off continuing to
run its own shop. The county has put in place a new management
team at the shelter, been making improvements to the existing shelter
while moving forward to build a new shelter facility. It's a really
exciting time for Collier County. We're excited. The volunteers,
your constituents, we're excited to see what more Collier County's
going to do and can accomplish with these new resources. You put
this team in place. Let them shine.
We sincerely hope that you do that. We sincerely hope you're
proud, because the bottom line is, we can never have enough people
and organizations working together to tackle the very real community
January 25, 2022
Page 25
problem of pet overpopulation. And it will be the county citizens
and the animals who lose out if either the Humane Society or
Domestic Animal Services takes over functions of the other. There
is enough need. There is enough work to keep both organizations
very busy and working well.
Collier County is better served with both of them working
together, not one assuming the other. We heard this board say
something similar, that the two agencies should explore areas for
collaboration and synergy, not a takeover. We heard that, but it
appears that some have not, and that's why we are here today taking
up your time.
So I do thank you very much for your time and consideration.
You should be proud of the county shelter. We are. It's an amazing
shelter, and the people there do an amazing job, and we just want you
to know about it.
And I'm going to apologize ahead of time because there will be
a mass exodus because, as you know, we have a bunch of renovations
happening at the shelter, and last night we received an email from
staff saying any available volunteer who can come down today to
help move these animals, come down. So many of us are heading
there right now. But thank you for your time, and we hope to make
you proud and continue to make you proud. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Jayne, before you leave, make
sure -- this is picking me up.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Would you give a copy to our
court reporter, please.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders -- Jayne?
Step up, please, then you can pass it on when you guys mass exodus.
MS. KIM: Yes.
January 25, 2022
Page 26
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders would
like to speak.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah, and I know you're
going to be leaving real quickly, but I think all of us are going to have
something to say before you leave that I think will be important.
That was an excellent presentation.
MS. KIM: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I think it was
Commissioner LoCastro that pointed out when this first came out that
their proposal had takeover language in it, and that was
something -- I, quite frankly, had gone through the proposal, but I
didn't pick up on it, and so I want to thank Commissioner LoCastro --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Right.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- for picking up that
particular issue. I think it's important for the Board -- I know we
don't usually take votes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We can't.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, we can.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Not right now.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But -- okay. I don't think
it's often that we take votes at times like this, but I think we can
certainly make statements, and I think it's --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Of course.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- important for us to
reiterate that there's no way in the world any of us support any kind
of a takeover of Animal Services. You guys do a great job. We
recognize that when we appropriated money for new air conditioning.
We recognize that when we're appropriating money for the new
building. All of those things we're doing because we recognize how
wonderful a job Domestic Animal Services does for the county.
So I think it's important for all of us to at least make a statement
January 25, 2022
Page 27
that we're not interested in any kind of a takeover. I think it's
important to continue some discussions concerning collaboration,
because there may be something that we can collaborate with. But
we're going to continue to support Domestic Animal Services. No
takeover is on the horizon. So I think it's important that you
understand that.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you for saying that.
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: A lot of times different
groups prepare for presentations in here, and they meet with us
separately. And one of the things that I always suggest is sometimes
it's more powerful to pick an eloquent speaker and have them speak
on everyone's behalf than have 20 people come to the podium and
ramble. This is how you do it, okay. That was --
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- so well representative of
your position, whether people agree or disagree with it -- and I think
you can see those of us up here support what you had to say. But it
was so well put together and just so eloquent.
And sometimes groups that really have a passion for something
come here and sort of miss the boat a little bit because they come up
here and scream and yell and ramble and don't hit sort of the main
points. And I always say, pick your most eloquent speaker, and
you-all that are wearing yellow T-shirts, you did.
I also want to recognize two people that were sort of buried in
your comments a little bit, not by name. But Dan Rodriguez in the
back is our county leader who has spent so much time. He's in
charge of so many different things, not just DAS, but I've got to say,
I'm so proud of him and his team who have gone down there and
even caught a few spears and a few rocks here and there. But
January 25, 2022
Page 28
sometimes, you know, you take one step back to take 10 steps
forward.
And this man, in all hours of the night, has been working DAS
things, you know, aggressively and enthusiastically and is so proud of
the volunteers. The way that he speaks about DAS, that's the exact
person that we want, you know, leading the charge.
And I also want to point out Mr. Jim Rich. Jim, if you would
stand up. This is the director of the board, volunteer, and he and his
wife also have an organization, For the Love of Cats, on Marco
Island, and they do a lot on Marco. But he's also leading, and there
are several other board members in the audience. But thank you,
Jim, for being here, and, you know, I just wanted to echo what you
were saying, ma'am. Excellent comments.
MS. KIM: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding. Thank you.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You have made Collier County
proud today. You really have.
MS. KIM: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: If you were there alone, we're
proud. But to have all these folks here and to have a presentation
like you gave us, it's -- it's very uplifting, and it gives me a great deal
of confidence in the leadership, not only of Dan Rodriguez but of the
volunteers who have spent time and energy to come in here.
You are participating in your government, but you are also
participating in the lives of pets and people. And thank you very,
very much for your service.
MS. KIM: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I will concur. I was remiss
when I was reviewing the package. Commissioner LoCastro
brought it up. And I want to say out loud there was never an intent
January 25, 2022
Page 29
for a takeover of any sort whatsoever. All we want to do is make
what we have better along that way, collaborate.
And I also concur with Commissioner LoCastro in picking an
eloquent speaker and not Tom Kemp, because we would still be
listening to him. He would have went over his allotted 11 minutes
and so on and so forth. But I think you've heard a consensus up
here.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm just clearing my throat.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I think he concurs, Tom
Kemp. I agree. I second the motion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: To that end, to that end, thank you.
Thank you for coming, sharing with us your cares, concerns, and
thank you for what you do do for our community.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Let me just say one last
quick thing.
I hope the message has gotten to the general public that we're
not supporting a takeover. And I know we've all kind of danced
around that. I'm specifically saying --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- and I think all of us should
say so that the Humane Society has the clear message, we can
collaborate, but that's as far as we're going to go, and I think it's
important for us to say that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Is that a motion?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No, we're not going to take a
motion today, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We can add it to the agenda
if we wanted to, but --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We certainly can.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- I don't think it's necessary.
I think if we simply all say, we're not going to permit that type of a
January 25, 2022
Page 30
takeover. If the Humane Society wants to sit down and talk about
collaboration with DAS, then that's great, but beyond that --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I just want that message to
be out there.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I agree.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I concur with that. No
takeover.
MS. KIM: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You're getting a whole bunch of
positive head nods. Thank you very much.
Mr. Rodriguez, would you --
MS. KIM: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- like to say a word or two before
we let the yellow shirts go fix our building?
MR. RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Commissioners, and thank the
volunteers for all your support. But just real quick, I'd like to
recognize the director of Domestic Animal Services.
Marcy Perry, if you could stand up, please.
(Applause.)
MR. RODRIGUEZ: As Commissioner LoCastro stated, the
person that's actually working all night and weekends is Marcy Perry.
She's done a phenomenal job. She's a great leader. She's working
in every section within Domestic Animal Services as well as
worked -- experience at the Humane Society. She brings that
knowledge and that breadth of leadership to the organization. And
you can see by the collaboration of the volunteers as well as the DAS
committee and with Rich, Jim Rich, just a phenomenal job. And she
has made more decisions in the last four months to provide a
productive, effective environment for everyone.
The animals of Collier County will be taken care of thanks to
January 25, 2022
Page 31
her leadership and support from the team, so thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: All right. Commissioners, your next speaker
is Steph Henderson. She'll be followed by Daija Hinojosa.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: One second, Steph.
MS. HENDERSON: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: If you don't mind, Stephanie.
MS. HENDERSON: Stephanie.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're going to allow for this
exodus to transpire, and then we'll go on with you.
All right. Ms. Stephanie, I think they're -- and they're a rather
well-behaved bunch, so...
MS. HENDERSON: Yeah, in bright yellow.
I'm Stephanie Henderson, for the record. I'm not going to take
up a lot of your time because what was just said was -- you guys
repeated it. That was wonderful.
I represent QT Kittens, and we're a private cat adoption clinic.
I absolutely love what we do with the kittens, but we are busy. I
mean, without a shadow of a doubt, there are more that -- that is an
insane function of what you do to take care of these little kittens and
foster them and to get them to the families. It's a wonderful
organization, and DAS does that at a mass scale, and the Humane
Society does at a -- like she said, a different approach.
So I'm not going to reiterate everything. I'm glad to hear you
guys are in support of collaboration, and that's it. Thank you so
much.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Absolutely. Thank you, Steph.
Who's next?
MR. MILLER: Daija Hinojosa will be followed by Dan Cook.
MS. HINOJOSA: Good morning, Commissioners. Daija
January 25, 2022
Page 32
Hinojosa, for the record.
Today I'm not here to rattle any cages. I just want to start a
conversation. We have -- we have a grave concern happening in the
county with the rent increases happening right now with inflation.
And I know you guys are all aware that most of the apartment
complexes in Naples and Collier County, rent is going upwards of
50 percent. And even for someone like me -- you know, live in a
two-bedroom in a very nice community, and my rent's going to be
going up to $4,000 a month come August.
And I have been speaking to so many people in the community,
and we've even got people who live in affordable housing. Their
rent's been going up $75 a month for a year. There are people who
don't make that much money, and for them to be spending 1,850,
$2,000 on an apartment is almost criminal.
And, you know, I completely respect and support the free
market, but there's a difference between making a profit and price
gouging. And, you know, this -- something like this affects me. If I
don't have $4,000 a month, I can't continue to live in my
two-bedroom apartment.
And so I understand that as a board, you guys do have the
authority to impose a price control on rents for at least a year. It is in
the Florida Statutes. It's Section 125.0103(2)(b).
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Would you repeat that, please.
MS. HINOJOSA: Section 125.0103(2)(b).
Now, there are some other areas like California and other states
who have imposed price controls on rent, and it has caused a bit
of -- a bit of a concern in those areas, but I think that as a county we
can at least start a conversation about what we're going to do for our
workforce community, because the very backbone of our community
are people who are in the service industry, they're in hospitality.
They're not making $30 an hour. And so I just wanted to come up
January 25, 2022
Page 33
here today and just at least bring this to the awareness, to you guys,
and see if there's anything that we can do for our community, at least
to get them through to another year so that they can get on their feet
and figure out what they're going to do to support their families.
So that's all I wanted to say today. Thank you for hearing me
out, and have a great day.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Daija.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Dan Cook. He'll be
followed by Tim Carpenter.
MR. COOK: All right. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Good
morning, Board.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Are you going to rattle any cages
today?
MR. COOK: I am absolutely not rattling any cages. I'm --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Make sure.
MR. COOK: -- getting out of my comfort zone. I'd actually
just like to talk about traffic today. Real exciting topic, I know.
So I've been noticing when I'm driving around town, driving my
family around town -- my daughter's in school, so I'm up and down
Airport every single day. I'm up and down Immokalee quite a bit.
And I noticed a lot of people running red lights.
So we have a traffic congestion problem, right? It happens
every season. It's more than normal now because everybody's
coming here because we're the free state of Florida. So I guess I
want to talk about a solution to the traffic problem.
So when I see two, three, four, five, six cars running red lights, I
realize that traffic gets stalled out in the opposite direction. So, you
know, I guess the consequences of people running red lights are that I
believe it contributes to the traffic problem. When multiple cars are
running that red light, the traffic from the opposite direction, they
can't go. You know, how many times have you pulled up to a green
January 25, 2022
Page 34
light and you still have to look both ways, make sure nobody's
running a stoplight.
So -- but rather than coming up here asking the Board for a
solution, rather than coming up and asking the government to provide
a solution, I want to remind the citizens of Collier County that
America was founded on the principle of self-governance. So if we
don't want the heavy hand of government to come in and, you know,
having more police at the intersections or maybe red light
cameras -- I know that's not a popular subject -- then I think the
citizens of Collier County -- and citizens need to take the
responsibility of freedom and practice self-governance.
So my ask here is for the citizens watching at home to start
stopping at the red lights so that we can not only reduce the traffic
congestion, but also for the safety of citizens, the safety of
pedestrians, and then also just the practice of self-governance. So
that's all I'd like to say.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just be careful what you ask for,
because if they continue to do that and I'm late, he's going to be the
chair and run the meeting.
MR. COOK: Oh, no. Thank you, guys.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Tim Carpenter. He'll be
followed by Troy Komarowski. I hope I'm getting that close.
Having trouble with the handwriting.
MR. CARPENTER: Hi. I'm Tim Carpenter.
Last time I started to talk about homelessness, and Bill stopped
me right there. And so I had to follow up with it and some things
that are happening.
You know, something that Daija said, capitalism is very fragile.
And if government starts intervening in the capitalism of our county,
it will also be fragile to the housing.
So all I say is be careful with any subsidy. I think there are
January 25, 2022
Page 35
ways to do it. The problem with subsidies, all of us want to live in a
certain area. Everybody wants to live west of 75 and south of the
Lee County line, and I would like to live in, you know, Port Royal.
I would love to move down there, but I can't afford the housing there.
So all of us have to look at the area and decide where we can
live and what can go on, because I'm very concerned about the
homeless. I mean, it is increasing just like the rest of the population.
They are continuing to come in, and they're continuing to find places
to stay.
And the panhandlers really aren't the problem. Most of them
aren't the true homeless. The homeless are the ones that sleep in the
courtyard outside this building, the ones that sleep on East Trail along
the different -- the last few weeks I've been trying to figure out where
they are. Sunday night it was very cold, so I got a bunch of blankets
from Walmart. I went to -- down by the Tony's Barbecue place.
There were groups out in there. There were groups on down
by -- there's a furniture store on down the East Trail. There was
people in there, behind the Starbucks over here. And all of them, as
I talked to them -- I asked one guy, I said, look, if I gave you a free
ticket back to Michigan, would you go? And he said absolutely not.
He wants it down here. He said, I've been calling people on my
brand-new cell phone that he had in his hand and telling them that it
is a wonderful place to come to. So we're going to get more of that,
so we're going to have to have a program.
As I talked to them, 80 percent of them or more -- everyone I
talked to said everybody else here's an alcoholic except me. And I'm
sure that they were self-identifying by what they were saying. But
you're going to have to be prepared for that. You know, there are
ways to take care of them. And government always intervenes, but
it intervenes in the wrong way.
When I was out there on Sunday night, somebody, some caring
January 25, 2022
Page 36
citizen, had brought the people down by Tony's Barbecue a bunch of
electric heaters. Now, I don't think that's going to do them much
good out in the field that particular night. But we need to realize that
what we do as government in Collier County meets the needs of the
people we are and move them out, move them out of the county if
they're not going to comply with the ordinances.
It's pretty easy to arrest people when they have been given
chance after chance after chance and to make transitions for them so
that they're not continuing to build up and cause nuisances in the
area.
So that is pretty much what I wanted to say about the homeless
situation. The light's getting ready to turn red. But I would love to
see some changes made before it becomes a problem. The average
city spends between 300- and 500,000 on each homeless person, if
you look at the major cities in the United States, and that's not
affordable for Collier County.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Tim.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Troy --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Before you go there.
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Can I ask a question?
MR. MILLER: Excuse me, sir. Tim?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Come on back, Tim.
MR. CARPENTER: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm just -- I'm trying to understand
what you're suggesting we do.
MR. CARPENTER: Okay. Matthew House does a great job,
and I think you guys have something on the agenda a little later.
There needs to be a program where they go through and are given -- I
believe in grace. I believe grace should be given to them. When
they go through the county's procedure, whatever it is, and it will
January 25, 2022
Page 37
have to be worked with law enforcement, and they are given a chance
to make a difference, then they should be transported outside of
Collier County.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Where?
MR. CARPENTER: Where -- if refugees from Mexico, and we
have them --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: We send them back to Mexico.
MR. CARPENTER: -- we send them back to Mexico. If they
come from Michigan, we send them back to Michigan.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's -- thank you.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We'll have that discussion maybe
at another day.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I just wanted to make sure I
understood.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Troy. I'm going to have
you say your last name.
MR. KOMAROWSKI: Komarowski. You did a good job.
MR. MILLER: He will be followed by -- online by Elizabeth
Radi. Go ahead, sir.
MR. KOMAROWSKI: Okay. I live in Collier County at
Becca Avenue off of Bayshore Road. And why I'm here is just to
inform the Board, but I'm also curious about what you can do about
life-safety issues that are present at the food truck park, specifically
Celebration Park at this point.
Right now -- I have written an email to each one of you. That
was back on 10/12/21. You can go through your emails. Each one
of you got an email individually specifically stating the fire safety
Florida Fire Prevention Code number. And there is fire violations
present there right now.
There was a fire report drawn up on 5/6 of '21 that listed 19
January 25, 2022
Page 38
violations. Two of those are still present at this time and present as
of yesterday afternoon 6:00 when I walked down to the property,
because I am within a close proximity of that. So that's why I take
serious consideration in the life-safety codes, and that's what it is.
Florida Fire Prevention Code. Specifically, it's going to be
NFPA1. It's going to be 50.7.1.5, and that is separation, mobile or
temporary cooking operations should be 10 feet between trucks and
10 feet between structures. These codes, or the fire truck codes that
were adopted recently, were brought into effect because in 2016 there
was a fatal incident with a propane tank on a food truck. If you want
to search that up and look it up, it was documented on video. So that
is an interesting video to watch.
Remember, when you do watch that video, with the close
proximity and the quantity of trucks you have on that property. And
remember that property was approved not for food trucks on there but
the pads, the concrete pads that are there.
So I just -- like I say, you've got the email in your emails, if you
can go over it, and I was just curious of what we can do to address
that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: To that end, Troy, we don't
traditionally answer questions at this time.
MR. KOMAROWSKI: I gotcha.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You're bringing this item up. It
apparently hasn't been addressed by any of us, so we're --
MR. KOMAROWSKI: Right, just to bring it to your attention.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- the commissioner of the district
specifically, but Commissioner Saunders does have a question.
Just -- that's for your edification.
MR. KOMAROWSKI: Yeah, I gotcha. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: A couple of months ago we
heard some comments from the general public out there about noise,
January 25, 2022
Page 39
and we had asked staff to -- Code Enforcement to make sure that
there were no noise violations going on and to work with the owners
there because they were going to go from, I think, five days a week of
music to seven days a week of music, or six going to seven. So my
question is, you said you live in fairly close proximity. Is there still
a noise problem out there that you're aware of?
MR. KOMAROWSKI: Yeah, but I think it's being addressed at
this point.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It is, okay. I just wanted to
make sure of that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, sir.
MR. KOMAROWSKI: Okay. Thank you for letting me
speak.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, excuse me.
Commissioner LoCastro, do you have a question, or do you have
a comment?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, I was going to actually
ask Mr. French to come forward, because we had this conversation
just yesterday. Celebration Park just received another violation, so I
think he can get us all up to speed without it going into where it
shouldn't go. This is public comment. But I saw he was already
making his way the podium, and I appreciate it. If you can give us a
short version just so we're all on the same sheet of music.
MR. FRENCH: Thank you, Commissioner.
For the record, Jamie French, your deputy department head for
Growth Management on the Development Services side of the house.
Commissioner, we did have a noise complaint from the
community. Troy was in the meeting that we met with the
community, I believe it was last week, Wednesday, Thursday.
MR. KOMAROWSKI: Wednesday.
MR. FRENCH: Wednesday. And so we had partnered with
January 25, 2022
Page 40
the Sheriff's Office. We had gone out on -- I believe it was Saturday
night I was out there with Code Enforcement, and we did have a
violation. It's scheduled for a hearing; I believe it's February 4th.
It's their second violation.
And we're working currently with the management of the food
truck -- of Celebration food truck park to get them through that
hearing. Based on the finding, we'll take the appropriate action.
Just very briefly, with regards to what Troy's brought up, I
think -- and Troy is a licensed professional in this field. He works
for North Collier. So he may be right. He certainly does these type
of plan reviews, but the authority having jurisdiction here is Greater
Naples Fire, it's not you, and that's by statute.
So what I would suggest to the Board is that he may want to
address this with the fire chief for Greater Naples and allow it to go
that route or with Sal D'Angelo, his deputy chief, or Shawn Hanson,
the fire marshal for that area, because they are the ones that provide
the plan review, and they have been -- we do their plan review. If
you remember, we do it by contract. They're an interlocal, so we do
provide the plan review as well for building as well as site plans.
So Greater Naples is very well aware of this so -- and I'm happy
to make that call if that's -- if you'd like me to and inform Greater
Naples of it, of the public's perception and, you know, go from there.
But this is not within the Board's purview or certainly not within our
statutory purview as defined by the Florida Building Code.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I saw Commissioner Taylor
grabbing her microphone over there. She actually hit her button.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you. Yeah, as
commissioner of the district, I'm making that formal request, that we
bring this to the attention of Greater Naples and get a response one
way or the another.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Sure.
January 25, 2022
Page 41
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
MR. FRENCH: Yes, ma'am.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And keep us in the loop, Mr. Troy,
if you would, please.
MR. KOMAROWSKI: Thank you, Commissioner Taylor, and
all the Board.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, next up we go to our online speakers
for Item 7. First up is Elizabeth Radi, and she will be followed by
Jah-Naika Lopez. I hope I'm doing that justice.
Ms. Radi, I see you're there. You have three minutes.
MS. RADI: Good morning. My name is Elizabeth Radi, as
you know already. Can you guys hear me?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
MS. RADI: Okay. I am speaking about the housing crisis
again. It is still here and not getting any better. It's only getting
worse.
I went to the affordable housing meeting and learned a lot about,
you know, what they are doing. I was, you know, pleasantly
surprised about some of the things. I was also gravely concerned
about some other things that I just didn't know. And one thing was
the affordable housing unit availability; there was one in Collier
County. That's disheartening.
Also, one thing I do know is that the first -- the low-income
standards aren't even relevant to today's housing market. Whistler's
Cove, a family of four is $48,000, in Naples you can't even live on
that with a family of four.
With our online presence with the rising up against Collier
County housing crisis, stories of people are pouring in that are
homeless and desperate or about to be homeless.
The lady I spoke with you about at the last meeting who lives in
January 25, 2022
Page 42
her car with her children, she was given three days in a hotel because
she had the flu. But after that she was put back out on the street,
because there's no funding available for anybody.
Our organizations are stretched thin. The woman who has the
autistic son that lives in a tent at the end of a street that I'm not going
to name can't get any help whatsoever. Our organizations don't have
the funds to help the massive influx of need and homelessness that is
about to happen.
We have been writing and emailing our congressmen, calling
our state representatives. I've even called the office of our
state -- head state Senator Wilton Simpson. And if you don't know,
he's the head of the Senate for the State of Florida. He's also -- he's
also the ex-husband who's married to -- or let me say this: He
is -- his ex-wife is married to my brother.
So I have been able to speak with him directly, and they're doing
what they can. But one question that was asked to me was, what are
your local officials doing to help? And I actually had to tell him I
don't know if they're doing anything.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Elizabeth, your three minutes are
up. I thank you very much. And I want you just to know, as an
editorial, we're not -- this is not going unnoticed. I appreciate your
comments, though. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, next on my list was Jah-Naika
Lopez. I'm not sure if they're still there, so let me move on to Janet
Gavin.
Janet Gavin, you should be getting a prompt here, Janet, to
unmute yourself. If you will do so at this time. Janet?
We'll try Jah-Naika Lopez again. Yeah, Jah-Naika Lopez. I
see you're there. You have three minutes, please. Go ahead.
Ms. Lopez? Jah-Naika Lopez, are you there?
(No response.)
January 25, 2022
Page 43
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Going once...
MR. MILLER: Okay. Janet Gavin. I see Janet is with us.
Janet, are you with us? Are you ready to speak?
MS. GAVIN: Yes, I am. Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: Please go ahead, Janet. You have three
minutes.
MS. GAVIN: For the record, my name is Janet Gavin, and we
reside on Weeks Avenue in the Bayshore area.
Mr. Chairman and fellow commissioners, after a meeting on
January 19th, 2022, with Penny Taylor, District 4 Commissioner and
the county staff, I am pleased to report on Saturday, January 22nd,
2022, a cold and rainy night, Code Enforcement Director Mike
Ossorio, Inspector Eric Short, Investigator Athey, and Sergeant Allen
Tuff of the Collier County Sheriff's Office came to do sound readings
because of multiple noise complaints over the past three years
concerning Celebration Park's amplified music disturbing the peace
in the Bayshore community.
Several readings were taken from various locations in the
neighborhood. According to the code case report for Case
CEN20220000628, which I highly suggest that you look up, a noise
citation was issued to Celebration Park.
I am pleased the community's complaints have finally been
substantiated by two violations that code requires. A Code
Enforcement Board hearing is planned for February 4th, 2022, at
which time the magistrate will make the decision if Celebration Park
will have their amplified music permit revoked.
I wish Celebration Park continued success but also demand that
the residents' God-given rights for peace and safety in our homes be
protected. I believe a business can coexist in a near -- in or near a
residential area when the business respects the rights of the residents
and abides by the ordinances created by this esteemed governing
January 25, 2022
Page 44
body. No one, not even a business, is above the law created to
protect the community and its citizens.
I thank you for your time.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: And, Mr. Chair, that is going to be our final
registered speaker.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding.
Okay. County Manager, that takes us through Item No. 7.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
I think we're going to move to Item 10, which is the Board of
County Commissioners communications.
Item #10A
BOARD SUPPORT OF HOUSE BILL 579, FILED BY
REPRESENTATIVE MELO, ON THE USE OF NUTRIENT
REMOVAL TECHNOLOGY AND MECHANICAL AQUATIC
PLANT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES IN THE LAKE
OKEECHOBEE WATERSHED - APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: The first is 10A. It's a recommendation to
consider Board support of House Bill 579 filed by Representative
Melo on the use of nutrient removal technology and mechanical
aquatic plant management techniques in the Lake Okeechobee
watershed. This was supported by Commissioner Taylor.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you want to make a motion
or --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. I was going to say,
we've all seen it. Are you comfortable?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, absolutely.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. So I'd like to make a
January 25, 2022
Page 45
motion to support this bill in Tallahassee in written form and also,
when our representatives from this board go up, to perhaps even
make this appointment with Representative Melo to tell her that we
are 100 percent, hopefully, behind.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I already called her on it, but
you're good. Second?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Any other discussion? I thank
you for bringing this forward. Again, you and I spoke the last time
when this bill actually started moving through, that this board already
adopted a resolution in support of moving away from the traditional
methodologies for vegetation removal and such. So this is just
to -- again, a furtherance of our thought processes, so thank you.
It's been moved and seconded. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
MR. MILLER: Excuse me, sir. I am sorry. I got a little bit
behind there. We have a registered speaker on this item, 10A.
Nancy Lewis.
MS. LEWIS: Actually, I really don't need to speak now. I just
wanted to actually ask you to unanimously support this bill. Kudos
to our own Lauren Melo. It's for our ecosystem, our economy, and
our water, so I'm definitely in support of it. And I want to thank all
of you in advance for also supporting it. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Sorry about that.
MS. LEWIS: That's all right.
January 25, 2022
Page 46
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're going to dock Troy's pay if
he keeps that up, so...
So it's been moved and seconded that we -- that we accept the
motion as brought forward. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
Item #11A
THE TENTH CONSERVATION COLLIER ACTIVE
ACQUISITION LIST (AAL) AND DIRECT STAFF TO PURSUE
PROJECTS RECOMMENDED WITHIN THE A-CATEGORY IN
SEQUENTIAL ORDER SPENDING NO MORE THAN
$14,065,100 WITHIN CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND
ACQUISITION FUND (172), AND DIRECT STAFF TO START
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR ACQUISITION CYCLE 11
FOLLOWING A SIMILAR TIMELINE TO CYCLE 10 - MOTION
TO APPROVE ACQUISITION FUNDING – MOTION TO
APPROVE W/STIPULATIONS – APPROVED; MOTION TO
MOVE FORWARD WITH BOTH CATEGORY A & B –
APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, that moves us to Item 11,
January 25, 2022
Page 47
County Manager communications. The first item is 11A. It's a
recommendation to approve the tenth Conservation Collier active
acquisition list and direct staff to pursue projects recommended
within the Category A in sequential order spending no more than
$14,065,100 within Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Fund 172,
and direct staff to start accepting applications for Acquisition Cycle
11 following a similar timeline to Cycle 10.
Summer Araque, your principal environmental specialist in your
Parks and Recreation Division, will present.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Before we go, I apologize. I
forget that the TV's on and everybody's writing down everything that
I say. It's a standard joke of mine when someone makes a -- when
someone makes an error, I suggested about docking your pay, and
that is just a joke. I don't want you to flinch.
MR. MILLER: I didn't even hear you, sir. Sorry.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: The Naples Daily News is back
there, and it will be on the front page.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I heard him. I second the
motion to dock the pay.
MR. MILLER: All right. That I heard.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: To that end, if you -- you do an
amazing job, Troy --
MR. MILLER: Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- and so seldom make a mistake,
and so I gave you a little shot. So please continue.
MS. ARAQUE: Thank you. Good morning. Summer
Araque, Conservation Collier program coordinator, for the record.
Today I'm here to present to you the Conservation Collier
Acquisition Cycle 10. I'm going to provide you an overview of the
acquisition cycle, and then I will review the acquisition list with you
and, if you choose, I can go over all of the 10 project areas. And
January 25, 2022
Page 48
then, of course, we'll look at the recommendation together.
This is a summary of Acquisition Cycle 10. What you see here
on the right is a summary of the active acquisition list. The program
started accepting applications on February 1st, 2021, with a deadline
of July 31st, 2021.
You may recall that last May I presented to you the target
mailing areas, after which we mailed 600 letters to target properties,
and of those we received 38 applications. In total we received 47
applications.
All properties were reviewed for the initial screening criteria
which is a desktop review that staff does in accordance with the
ordinance and presented to the advisory committee. Of those 47
properties, the advisory committee selected 42 to move forward to a
full report of which is called the Initial Criteria Screening Report,
also in accordance with our ordinance.
So, again, this is a summary. These properties were grouped
into project areas where applicable. Each individual property was
ranked by the advisory committee on December 9th at 5:00 p.m., and
this resulted -- again, in accordance with the ordinance, the properties
grouped into A, B, and C on the active acquisition list.
The A list resulted in nine project areas for a total of 39
properties, excluding the multi-parcel project areas. I do need to
make a correction. There was an error in the spreadsheet. The total
A-List properties are 774 acres, not 1,144.
And then on your B list there are three properties recommended
by the advisory committee, and the C list there are two properties.
This is the full list, which is two pages long, and that shows you all of
the project areas with all of the parcels on them.
The project areas range from two to 20 parcels. The project
with the most parcels is the Panther Walk Preserve area project, and
that is also known as Horse Pen Strand.
January 25, 2022
Page 49
So just to speak a little bit about these project areas, some of
these were formed based on -- based on an application such as the
Big Hammock, that was an application by Barron Collier, and some
were because they're next to an adjacent preserve. So many of these
project areas that you see are adjacent to an exiting preserve, and we
named that project area based off of the existing preserve name, and
you will see the preserve in the project area name.
This was the full list that was provided in your packet. Here's a
map of all of the project areas. This is an overview of the project
areas throughout the county, which include the A list, the
multi-parcel project, the B and C list projects.
There are -- so at this point what I would like to ask you is do
you want me to go over -- it seems like we do have time. And if you
would like me to take five minutes, I can go over all of the 10 project
areas. If not, I do have two properties that I do need to discuss with
you. What is your pleasure?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Start the clock. Five minutes,
Troy, she said.
MS. ARAQUE: Okay. As long as you don't have any
questions.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And, Summer, I'm joking.
Please -- if you would please do that.
MS. ARAQUE: Yes. I think we do have time, so I would go
over the 10 project areas. And if you would like, if you have
questions as I go through each one, please let me know.
Okay. So the first project area is located immediately south of
the Pepper Ranch Preserve. This is referred to as the Big Hammock
area, and there's Areas 1 and 2. These are actually two separate
applications. As Area 1 -- actually Area 2 is within an SSA, and
Area 1 is not. So that means that they had to have two separate
applications because they need to be considered -- they are
January 25, 2022
Page 50
considered differently.
As indicated in the executive summary, Barron Collier
partnership has advised that they will seek to obtain the R2
restoration credits under their SSA agreement after the potential sale
to the county; therefore, Area 2 is not recommended for acquisition
by staff until such time that the SSA agreement is withdrawn by
Barron Collier for Area 2; however, staff is in support of acquisition
of Area 1.
This map shows you Area 1 and 2 in relation to the Habitat
Stewardship Area and Flowway Stewardship Areas within the Rural
Lands Stewardship Area, also known as the RLSA.
The next property is the Sanitation and Bethune Road parcels. I
do need to make you aware that we just received information on
Friday regarding this property that DEP has been testing for a
chemical series known as PFAS, and this has been detected on the
subject property; therefore, staff recommends keeping this property
on the B list as recommended by your advisory committee.
And also to note, as indicated in your executive summary, the
landfill has been excluded from the sale, and that's shown on this
slide as well.
Okay. Moving on to a parcel that we have in the urban area just
down the road. These are referred to as the Bayshore parcels. This
is on the A list, and this is at the southern terminus of Bayshore
Drive, 71.16 acres, and that is surrounded by the Isles of Collier
Preserve.
Next are five parcels that would be in addition to the existing
Conservation Collier Dr. Robert H. Gore, III, Preserve project, and
those are five separate owners, for a total of 17.59 acres. One of
those properties is a donation, and our advisory committee asked us
to go ahead and move forward with that donation, and you guys are
going to review that contract.
January 25, 2022
Page 51
Next we have the HHH Ranch, 252 acres. This is immediately
east of the 960 acres owned by Collier County.
And then moving to Marco Island, there were four applications
on Marco Island, and the two properties are on the A list. These
properties have gopher tortoise on them, and the one property on
Watson Road has a burrowing owl. The other two properties are
the -- we have one on the B list and one on the C list.
We have parcels near the Panther Walk Preserve. This is
within the Horse Pen Strand, and there are 20 parcels which are near
by the existing Panther Walk Preserve.
This is known as the Pepper Ranch Preserve project expansion
of the existing preserve, we have three owners, and this is south and
east of the preserve off of Trafford Oaks Road.
Next we have the parcels near the Shell Island Preserve, and
these parcels are next to Rookery Bay as well. And the Magdalener
parcel is on the A list, and the Rookery Bay Business Park, which is a
PUD, which was classified on the C list by the advisory committee.
And then, finally, we have what you will see on the active
acquisition list as a line -- two line items for preserve expansion
parcels. This was a concept that was brought forward and discussed
with their advisory committee that if any of these parcels that you see
on here that are adjacent to an existing preserve only at Panther Walk
and Gore, if they come for sale and we've acquired all other
properties within the cycle, we would be able to make them an offer.
And this was based off of something that happened next to the Gore
preserve where a property came up for sale. We weren't in a cycle
yet, and there was concern that that property was going to be -- was
going to be developed. So that would give us the ability to make an
offer, and it would be based off of the appraisals that we obtain in
this cycle.
And now we are to Board recommendation. Do you have any
January 25, 2022
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questions on any of the properties or the cycle list?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes. I'm curious about the
Bethune property.
MS. ARAQUE: Okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That -- so we're just going
to -- we've moved it, or we're just not going to go forward? I mean
when you start finding stuff in the ground, it gets kind of risky
business here.
MS. ARAQUE: So the advisory committee, in December there
were comments that were made that there would be concerns of
contamination, and we have since been -- received information on
Friday that there are some known chemicals. Of course, further -- I
think further testing needs to be done in that area, but I think that for
now -- so staff was recommending that it actually go to the A list --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
MS. ARAQUE: -- because it's an urban -- in the urban area --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
MS. ARAQUE: -- but we would now agree with the advisory
committee and say to keep it on -- at least keep it on the B list, not
have it on the A list.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So as staff knew -- this was
before they knew about the findings in the ground, correct, that
staff --
MS. ARAQUE: Right. We just found -- like, we found it out
just this past Friday. We couldn't even -- we didn't even have time
to put it in your executive summary.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, this is -- this would be a
wonderful property for stormwater issues but not if it flows -- not if
it's underneath the ground.
So when are we going to know what's in the ground and where
January 25, 2022
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is it coming from?
MS. ARAQUE: We would have to have more discussions with
Pollution Control.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I can talk with them.
MS. ARAQUE: And PFAS is not quite yet regulated. It's a
chemical of emergent concern, so there's more information, and we
would need to discuss that with Pollution Control.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Is this privately held or by a
corporation?
MS. ARAQUE: Barron Collier.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you.
A couple of questions and maybe some clarification. So as I
understand it, what we're going to be asked to do today is vote on the
A list, and the A list doesn't mean -- and maybe the question's for you
or even our County Manager. The A list doesn't mean we
automatically buy this property. It just means, as I see it worded
here, is that we are basically agreeing to actively pursue the A list and
then go down, and then this will come back to commissioners with
recommendations saying possibly. Two of the properties on the A
list didn't meet the cut or there's concerns -- or I know I'm probably
oversimplifying, but is that the correct assumption? And it's not just
for our own edification, but for everybody in the audience so they
know what we're about to vote on.
MR. ISACKSON: Summer, why don't you talk about the word
"pursue" and the appraisal process to give the Board some -- give the
Board a flavor of what -- where we go. What's the next step.
MS. ARAQUE: Yes. Okay. So pursue is the next step would
be every -- all the properties within the A1 would be the first
properties that we would get appraisals for. The intent, and by what
January 25, 2022
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the ordinance says, is A is -- the intent is that we would acquire those
properties. They're grouped into the 1, 2, and 3 because then that
gives staff a way to -- well, an easier way to kind of -- you know, it's
hard to get, I think, appraisals for 40 properties all at once.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Right.
MS. ARAQUE: Granted, there are a lot here that we still need
to get appraisals for. So we get the appraisals, and then we would
make the offer based off the appraised value, and then we would
bring -- Real Estate would do everything that they need to do. They
would get the contract, the sales agreement together, and then that
would come to the Board of County Commissioners. So you would
have a second look at the property when the sales agreement comes
before you.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And some might fall out
because the owner might not agree with the appraisal and say, you
know, I'll keep the property.
Okay. So I say this to set up, really, my second question. And
help me with the protocol here. But some constituents in my district
who are very environmentally conscious -- and I will say it was -- I
got a lot of great information from someone that's in the audience
here who's a Marco City Council member, Dr. Rich Blonna, who has
a lot of expertise in this area. There's a parcel on List B that didn't
make the List A cut, but I spent a lot of time talking to people that
have expertise about this one particular parcel. I visited it yesterday.
I spoke to Dr. Blonna quite a bit, and Meredith Budd was in my
office yesterday.
So help with the protocol here. Maybe it's a motion later down
the road. But I feel very passionate about having that parcel
considered in List A. It doesn't mean we're buying it or anything,
but it means that it will get another look and it will get appraised and
whatnot.
January 25, 2022
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And so I don't know, you know, maybe it's after we vote on A
and it's a second, but that's what -- what we would also be doing.
Let's just say that that was approved. It doesn't mean we
automatically buy it, but it means that I'm making the motion because
I've gotten a lot of information that is sort of in between maybe A and
B, and I would really like it to get a strong look.
So is that something that's after the initial, okay? Okay. Got
it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders has a
quick question, and then we're going to take a court reporter break for
10 minutes or 15?
THE COURT REPORTER: Ten.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ten.
Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I want to kind of make a
comment for staff to think about this during the break, and then I
have a series of questions.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, sure, we all do.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It's really not just a quick
question. But my understanding is that the list, the A list is fairly
small. That's not a criticism. It's just that it's limited by the amount
of money that's available. And we have $12 million that we spent
out of the Mitigation Fund. That -- those funds have to go back into
the program, into the Mitigation Fund.
My comment is, we know we have to pay that money back, and
we're going to do that, but we don't have to do it immediately. We
can spread that out or we can do it in future years, because there's
plenty of money in the Mitigation Fund right now.
MS. ARAQUE: So are you talking about the properties that we
bought in Cycle 9?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yes.
January 25, 2022
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MS. ARAQUE: Those were actually 3.5 million and, yes, we
did take that off the top for this budget here.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. So -- but I
understood that there was about $12 million that had to go back to the
Mitigation Fund. I may be wrong on the numbers.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Plus minus, you're correct.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: The Maintenance Fund.
MS. ARAQUE: Yeah. We're -- understanding was 3.5
million.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You referred to it as a mitigation.
It's a maintenance fund.
(Simultaneous crosstalk.)
MS. ARAQUE: It's a management fund.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. Okay. So how
much did we spend out of --
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioner?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- the Management Fund
before the new program was approved by the voters? We
authorized, I think, 17 million, and I thought 12 million had been
spent.
MS. ARAQUE: 3.5 million.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So the 3.5 million is going
back into the Management Fund, and all I'm saying is, we don't need
to put 3.5 million back into the Management Fund. We could put
that into acquisition in this -- in this current cycle.
So I want staff to kind of think about enlarging this. I think
there was some discussion about Marco Island. There are a couple
parcels there that, from what I understand, are very significant. So I
just want staff to kind of think about whether we can expand this
going forward today, and I'll ask questions when we get back.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right. You're going
January 25, 2022
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to -- consider those recommendations or suggestions, and we're going
to come back at 10:42.
(A brief recess was had from 10:32 a.m. to 10:42 a.m.)
MR. ISACKSON: Mr. Chair, Commissioners, you have a live
mic.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: If everybody would please kindly
orient back to your seats. There's only three of us here, so we could
get some things done real quick if you want to make a motion.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. Do you want me
to go ahead and start?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Please proceed.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. I was getting my
numbers confused, but here's what the concept is that I'd like for the
Board to consider, and it's a question for our staff. In the older
program we spent about $3 million out of the Management Fund. I
thought it was the 12 million, but it was three million. And the other
nine million to bring this total Management Fund up to 12 million is
the 25 percent from the current collection. So that gives us an
additional $12 million that's going straight into a Management Fund.
The Management Fund has a lot of money in it already. I think
we determined that even taking money out of it, there was still
enough money in the Management Fund for 15, 20 years. So it's
critically important. We have to put that money into management;
there's no question about that. But we don't have to do it all in -- we
don't have to put that 12 million in in year one.
I think it's more important to acquire properties, because of the
hot real estate market we have, especially when you look at some
properties on Marco Island that are -- that are prime for development,
and some of the other parcels.
So what I'd like -- what I was trying to get at is, not -- this is not
an effort to avoid putting that 25 percent into the Management Fund.
January 25, 2022
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It's not an effort to avoid putting that three-plus million back into the
Management Fund. It's an effort to focus on acquisition in these
early years and then make sure that we put those funds into
management, but we don't have to do it right now.
And that's kind of the policy issue I would like to throw out.
And if that's acceptable, then let's expand this list and acquire more
properties, especially I think there were a couple that are just really
important, you know, the Aqua Colina I think was very important, the
Rookery Bay Business Park, those types of parcels will not be
available if we don't act on them.
So that's the question I have for staff and for the Commission.
Can we make that policy decision and move forward more quickly
with acquisitions and fund the Management Fund, perhaps, a few
years down the road recognizing there's plenty of money in
management right now?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Can I just -- and I know I'm No. 3
on the list, but just something in relation to what Commissioner
Saunders has said so I can understand the issue.
I just want to make sure, the funds that we have available for the
purchase I understood was about 14 million.
MR. ISACKSON: Let me -- maybe I --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Is that net of the three million, or is
that -- I just want to make sure I understand.
MR. ISACKSON: Let me give everybody a little tutorial on
what's sitting in the Management Fund, what's sitting in the
Acquisition Fund.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
MR. ISACKSON: There's a 14 -- a little over $14 million
sitting in capital outlay in your Acquisition Fund right now, separate
and distinct from the repayment to monies that will go to the
Maintenance Fund, sir. There's 35-plus million dollars sitting in the
January 25, 2022
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Maintenance Fund in reserves right now.
As Commissioner Saunders says, you're deferring 25 percent of
the $26 million levy each year toward perpetual maintenance of the
properties that we have acquired and will acquire.
The levies -- the levy is for 10 years. Roughly -- if you didn't
factor in taxable value increases, that's roughly $270 million;
25 percent of that, 65'ish and change, 65 million in change back to
the --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's over a 10-year period.
MR. ISACKSON: Yeah, over a 10-year period.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Sixty-five --
MR. ISACKSON: Roughly 65 million -- remember, 25 percent
of the levy that you collect goes to the maintenance of the lands you
acquire and have acquired.
So I guess the point is, you have flexibility, if the Board desires,
to essentially accomplish -- if the goal is to accomplish immediate
acquisition of parcels, whether on the A or B list, that would be a
Board policy decision in terms of where that goes. But you have the
flexibility to accomplish that, I think, knowing that you have a
10-year horizon that you're dealing with in terms of the program right
now.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And Mr. Chairman --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- and Commissioner Solis,
that's what I was trying to get at. I just had incorrect numbers. But
not an effort -- again, not an effort to avoid that 65 million going into
management funds but focusing more right now on acquisition,
especially some of these parcels that are listed here that may
disappear if we wait until next cycle.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And we'll hold -- I like that
thought. We'll hold that thought to the end, and we'll have some
January 25, 2022
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discussion with regard to that.
Commissioner Solis, you were lit up. Was that in that regard or
something else?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yes, it is.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You okay for now?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I can say it now, yeah. I mean,
in -- I understand Commissioner Saunders' concept. I mean, you
know, I've been the stick in the mud, I think, on the use of the
maintenance funds for acquisitions, and I think I just -- I feel it's
important that we do pay that back because we can always make that
argument moving forward that there's money in there now. And,
you know, the -- we -- I voted to move ahead and use -- I think there
was one purchase that we used that I think -- I think I voted for it.
Maybe I didn't. But, you know, this is the way we end up not having
the money we want in there, because next year we'll have the same
kind of situation.
So, I mean, I respect the idea, and I'm in favor of purchasing as
much as we can, but long term I think we need to do the
fiscally -- most fiscally responsible thing, and that is pay it back first.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I concur. Commissioner Taylor?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. This is very difficult
because I can appreciate both positions on this; however, I am
leaning more to the conservative that we put money aside on an
annual basis for the maintenance. Having sat here with your
predecessor, sir, Tim Nance, who argued very effectively, are you
kidding? We can't keep buying properties and not having enough.
Do you know how expensive it is to maintain these properties? That
argument stays with me. And I know it's expensive, and it's -- it will
continue to be such.
And I'm -- I'm leaning more to every year we put some money
aside. Now, maybe we can make an exception. If we make an
January 25, 2022
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exception, then the next year it's double.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Sure.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It's 50 percent.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And a quick solution, and with no
definitive parameters, is maybe amortizing it so we have a fixed
amount or we have an allotted amount going forward for the
amortization of those monies that were borrowed from the
maintenance and not all in one lump, which would appropriate more
for acquisitions immediately but still fortifying going forward.
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, there is a thought
that -- remember, this is coming back to you once we know what, in
fact, we're dealing with in terms of dollars and cents. Maybe we
reserve the further discussion once we have the appraisal numbers
and we know what we're dealing with. That way you can begin to
decipher further your A and B list. That might be an option for you
guys to look at.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And a little -- one of my notes here
is a little closer approximation on these acquisitions about the
ongoing maintenance that we have. So I -- so, Commissioner
Saunders and then Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, I was going to talk to
the stick in the mud over there, but now I have two sticks in the mud.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Two stick in the muds.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And maybe another half a
stick in the mud.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm not sticking. I'm kind of
thinking that we could do it a little differently.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Again, this is not an effort to
avoid fully funding the Management Fund. We have to do that.
That's part -- that was part of the referendum. There's no question
about that.
January 25, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Correct.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It's a question of when and
how we do that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I understand, the math
pretty easy. If we don't fund it fully this year, then we have to fund
it -- it's more of a percentage next year. That's -- you know, that's
pretty easy math.
The other easy math is, property values are going up.
Sale -- it's going to be more expensive to buy some of these parcels
next year than it is this year, and some of these parcels,
especially -- and I'll, again, point to Marco Island -- and this is
Commissioner -- the commissioner from that area --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- Commissioner LoCastro's
issue, but it's also a countywide issue. And so I want to see us do
that, but if we can't get three votes to do it, I understand. But you
guys are sticks in the mud if you don't -- self-proclaimed sticks in the
mud.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'll go to the second stick in the
mud. Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm going to turn to our County
Manager who's brilliant in these kind of things. How can we make
more money in the fund that keeps the maintenance? I mean, we're
not -- I know we're not just letting it sit there, but there's got to be a
way to manage that fund so it becomes income-producing also.
MR. ISACKSON: Well, remember that your investments are
handled by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, and they have a free -- I
mean, you have a very specific investment policy, which is very
conservative. And while we've had these discussions about isolating
the fund and possibly getting some additional return, we can still
January 25, 2022
Page 63
have those discussions. But, remember, you have a pooled concept
of investments in this organization. So it's -- and I'm probably out of
my league a little bit when you start talking about how we handle our
investments and things of that nature.
But I will tell you that I've had conversations with Derek
Johnssen, who's the financial director for Ms. Kinzel, the Clerk of the
Circuit Court. And there may be a way to do it. I don't want to
commit to it. But knowing that I have 35-plus million dollars just
sitting in a pot right now and it's not going to get touched to the -- to
a great degree unless the Board decides that they're going to take $10
million out of it here and there. But you could always reserve
portions of it, I think. And that's a conversation that I think
continues -- we have to continue to have with the Clerk of the Circuit
Court in terms of investments. And it might require a change in
your investment policy.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But can we change -- and this is
a legal question, perhaps. But can we change our investment policy
for one pot? And under -- with the -- with the justification that this
is long term, we know what it's heading for, et cetera, et cetera?
MR. ISACKSON: I'm not so sure that -- I said it may require a
change in your investment policy. I'm not so sure that it actually
will require it. There may be enough flexibility in it for
Mr. Johnssen and the Clerk to think outside the box a little bit. So
let's -- I don't want to propose to speak for them, but I think that
conversation can happen.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well -- and I don't know if I
have support of the Commission, but I think that's a very important
conversation to have.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Certainly -- certainly we
don't -- we don't want to make any rash decisions today necessarily.
I think more -- maybe we have another agenda item come back to us,
January 25, 2022
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because one of my questions is, before we can make that rational
decision on what we do with those funds that are dedicated to the
maintenance is actually having it -- one of my questions is, the
ongoing maintenance of these newly-acquired properties, what's that
going -- because that's going to -- this fund has been designated as a
perpetual maintenance fund. It is not. We learned that several
years ago.
So I think that conversation, Commissioner Taylor, with regard
to how we can utilize these funds and what we can and can't do can
maybe come at a later date when we actually get a little tighter on
what our ongoing maintenance has been, what the estimate of those
costs going forward, in fact, are with the new decisions as we go, and
maybe even have that brought into the criterium for the decision
making on the acquisitions as we go.
So I think for now we've moved through -- you've got a general
idea, Ms. Summer, that we're looking for more information in that
regard, so...
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I just wanted to clarify a
couple things. You know, we've got a lot of citizens in the audience
here and people who watch and, you know, we've had some citizens
eloquently speak at the podium about affordable housing needs and,
you know, where to spend our county money but, you know, to
understand this process, make no mistake, this isn't money we can
just move around. So I can tell you, we're going to get 100 emails
from citizens today if we don't clarify this saying, I can't believe
you're spending $12 million to save tortoises, yet people are sleeping
in their cars.
And the reality is, this is what voters voted for at the last
election. This is the Conservation Collier environmental protection
land acquisition program. Our job is to take the money that has been
January 25, 2022
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allotted for that and find the best way to spend it, and then as we're
all saying here, it's not just acquiring the property, but once we
acquire it, then there's a big, you know, maintenance cost. So we
don't want to pat ourselves on the back grabbing all this acreage and
paying fair market value for it and then, you know, we're stuck with
it, and we don't have the funds to maintain it.
But make no mistake, you know, the other issues that are in the
county, this isn't money that can be moved around. Voters voted for
this. It was a close vote, correct? But it passed.
MS. ARAQUE: Seventy-seven percent.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It wasn't a close vote.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. All right. Well, it
was close in my district, because I got a lot of people that weren't for
it. But, regardless, it passed, and now our job is to execute it. So,
you know -- so I just wanted to make that clarification.
But also to the points that were made up here, to stress, again,
we're not voting on buying anything today, so I don't think we need
to drag this meeting out too long. What we're voting on here is
taking a list that we think is a priority and should get a look, and
you've got the perfect slide up here right now. And if we think
there's stuff in the B list and the C list that warrants a tighter look, we
can make a motion to put it in the A list.
You know, I've done a deep dive just on one piece of property
on the B list, so I don't want to speak with eloquence on pieces of
property that I don't have as much knowledge on but other people
here might. But I just wanted to clarify that. That's all we're voting
on here. And it's also to spend money that -- you know, the term we
used to use in the military is this is fenced money, so we can't just,
you know, wipe this clean and then move 25 million or 12 million
over to the Affordable Housing Fund. That's not the way it works.
January 25, 2022
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So 77 percent of our population wants to see this happen, and
that's what we're doing right now. And we're not voting to buy
anything today. So I concur with my colleagues here who have said,
you know, I don't think it costs us anything to consider expanding
this list so that when it comes back to us we have a wider aperture of
things to consider, because some of the things that we might add to
the A list today might not come back to us. That might come up
with an appraisal, and the owner says, no, not enough, not interested.
So, you know, let's not, you know, cut off our nose to spite our
face by minimizing the opportunity to look at the largest inventory of
properties to consider, is what I would say.
MS. ARAQUE: So I want to clarify just to make sure, because
Cycle 9 was a quite different cycle. We're going back to a regular
cycle. So the properties that are on the A list are properties that you
want staff to pursue.
So we would go, and Collier County would spend the money on
the appraisals, and by our purchasing policy, if it's over $500,000
estimated value, we would get two appraisals. So those are some
costs that we do want to think about, and any other type of due
diligence reports, Phase 1, Phase 2 testing that we think needs to be
done on any site.
So -- but the process has been, prior to Cycle 9, and because
now we are funded, we are going back to this as a regular cycle.
When we say "pursue that property," we get the appraisals, we make
the offer, and then we bring the contract to the Board. So by --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But we're the final decision
process.
MS. ARAQUE: You are the final decision; however, I think
that the A list, by what the property owners are seeing, is that you-all
want to buy the property.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yep, that we agree with you.
January 25, 2022
Page 67
MS. ARAQUE: Yes. So I would -- I just want to make sure
that -- to clarify that. If it's on the A list, that the Board of County
Commissioners is saying we do want to buy the property.
Now, of course, if the property comes back and it's not within
10 percent of the estimated value here, I would definitely understand
where, when we bring it back to you, there might be some hesitation,
especially if it's not 10 percent and under.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But here's what could
change. If we expanded the list and added more to the A list and
then all the property owners agreed and you brought us a big list of
all property owners that want us to buy it, we could sit up here and
say, wow, that list is a lot more expensive than we thought, and we
would look at maintenance costs and whatnot. So I'm not here to
rubber stamp anything. I don't care if this goes through the whole
process and you come back here and it's like, okay, final thing. You
know, we've appraised. All the property owners have agreed. We
still have the opportunity here to say, wow, that's a big number, you
know, more people agreed than we thought, or now that we look at
the appraisals, they're more than what we expected, right?
So, I mean, the final step here isn't just a rubber stamp when you
come back. And I'd like the opportunity to be able to consider a
larger inventory of properties, especially ones that I think are in
between A and B. I think it's worth the investment for the county to
do an investigation to bring us back the best information possible
before we spend taxpayer dollars on property.
MS. ARAQUE: Okay. So if you're -- I'll let you guys
continue with your conversation. I know you have public speakers,
but at the end I may need some clarification depending on what you
decide, because --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You have to make the offers --
MS. ARAQUE: Right, because we do --
January 25, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, let us continue with --
MS. ARAQUE: So we'll let you talk, but I would like some
clarification at the end onto how you want me to proceed, if it's
differently from how we have in the past with appraisal, make offer,
bring you the contract.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We'll get there.
Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. Just -- and I may
need you to stay at the microphone there for just another minute.
But, Commissioner LoCastro, the reason -- and this may -- I
want to make sure this is a correct statement. So I need staff to -- I
need you to hang on for -- to listen and make sure I'm making an
accurate statement.
The A list is going to be driven by the properties that are the
most valuable according to the committee, but it's also going to be a
list that meets the budget. So, for example, you have $12 million to
spend this year on properties because you've got $12 million going
into the Management Fund. So if you had more money for
acquisition, that A list may have been expanded.
So, for example, if you had $20 million instead of 12, you
probably would have had more properties on the A list. I see that
that may not be an accurate statement, and I'll need an explanation as
to why that's not accurate.
But, Commissioner LoCastro, to get to your point, to get more
properties on that A list in this cycle or for immediate consideration,
there has to be some policy decision made on how much money's
going to go into that Management Fund.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So that's the reason that --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But it's possible if we
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decided to make the A list bigger, some of the properties that are
currently on B that were possibly moved to A, may -- when you come
back here, after you've done your due diligence and you've done
appraisals and whatnot, we might find that some of those B properties
actually are a higher priority than some of the ones that are sitting on
A, right, possibly, so that we do ensure that we don't overspend the
account, you know, the budget.
And so that was just my point is that in the end, obviously, we
don't just buy everything on the list. And if we -- if we expand the
list today and it comes back to us and it's larger than what we can
afford, then we have to make some decisions. But it's possible that
you might have some further information or we might have further
information on a few of those parcels that we feel passionate about
aggressively defending, that they stay on the A list. That was my
point. But, absolutely, I understand what you're saying. We can't
spend more money than we have.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Actually, in regards to the list, I
mean, I am interested in hearing more about the Aqua Colina
property. And I see the chair -- I think Mr. Poteet is still the chair of
the CCLAC?
MR. POTEET: (Nods head.)
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: You know, I'd like to hear a little
bit from him, if he's willing, as to why that was a B property, because
I think it might go to the issue that -- part of the issue that
Commissioner Saunders just framed. I mean, what -- why wasn't
that part of the A list?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: If I might -- if I might add -- and I
don't want to take away from William's comments. But maybe,
again, one of the discussions we as a board setting policy, we may
want to have a discussion about the ranking process at large.
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One of my suggestions is is that -- because these properties are
all ranked on a criterium that's already established, and Ms. Summer
is having a difficult time because of the old way we used to do things
and then the new way we went to go do things, and she's trying to -- I
think, trying to blend, appropriately.
One of my suggestions is is maybe we revisit the ranking
process at large and so that when properties are, in fact, ranked, the
criterium for that ranking isn't price based. The Board here has that
discretion to pick and choose amongst the properties that are ranked,
and maybe that price component necessarily come out at that level
from the ranking process --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: From the CCLAC.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- from the CCLAC and then
added back in. Because one of the -- one of the things that's come to
my attention is the folks that are physically doing the ranking are
actually making budgetary decisions with regard to the availability of
our monies, and that's not necessarily what this board would actually
want. So it was a thought that I wanted to have -- or discussion that
I wanted to have.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I think that would be for
Cycle 11. I mean, we have the list that we have, and it was -- I
mean, I think that's going to take a lot of discussion because, I mean,
the CCLAC makes the recommendations, ranks the properties based
upon the criteria that we've adopted. You know, I think the -- since
it's taxpayer money, I don't know how we take the cost of the
money -- of the land out of that analysis because if there's one thing
we're supposed to do, and that is we're supposed to make sure that
we're as careful with taxpayer money as we can be.
So -- but I'd like to hear just the thought process and what the
discussion was at the CCLAC in terms of the two properties that were
on the Cycle B. I mean, I'm not against, you know, expanding the
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list, but we have a recommendation from the CCLAC that we have
put a lot of faith in over the years, and I'd like to hear some of that.
MR. POTEET: For the record, my name is Bill Poteet, and I
am the chairman of the Conservation Collier Land Acquisition
Committee. And I thank the Commission for the opportunity to
serve.
To address Commissioner McDaniel's first comment, yes, we
look at fiscal policy when we're looking at the properties. We broke
it down, knew we had approximately $14 million available to spend
on this cycle after we'd taken the money out to pay for Cycle 9. And
so we looked at that, and we approved about $12 million worth of
properties, although during our discussion, we didn't discuss this is
10 million or this is two million or whatever. We just went through
and ranked the properties and then, ultimately, it ranked out about
12 million.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Can I just jump in?
Because I just heard what I -- and I'm sorry if I'm not following this.
It's 14 net of what we borrowed from the maintenance, or it's 14 --
MR. POTEET: No, no. Out of the $26 million, we took out
the management fee, the 25 percent.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
MR. POTEET: And then we took out the money that we
borrowed from the Management Fund --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. Because that's --
MR. POTEET: -- in Cycle 9, and left us around $14 million of
properties that were -- money that was available to purchase
properties this year. That was our mindset.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. So net of the loan from the
maintenance and what we had to take out of the collections this year
for maintenance, the 25 percent, there's 14 million.
MR. POTEET: That is what we -- approximately what we were
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told.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
MR. POTEET: And then we ranked the properties, and they
came out to be about 12 million. And -- you know, and we were
very happy with that. There were some people that came back at the
next CCLAC meeting in January and wanted to talk about the
additional -- adding the Marco Island property to the list, which we
decided as a committee not to do so because it would break
precedent. And we have a system that we've adhered to for 20 years
in 10 cycles, and we just wanted to keep with that, because the public
understands Conservation Collier. You know, when we tell them
we're going to do something this way, we do it this way, and we don't
break ground on it.
Now, the commissioners in the past have purchased properties
that are not recommended as an A property.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
MR. POTEET: It doesn't happen very often, but it has
happened in the past, so --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Sure. So my question is, so when
the group came back and said, why don't we add the B properties to
the list? Because there is -- if there's 14 million and the A list totals
12, then there's still a couple million dollars, theoretically, left.
What was the CCLAC -- I mean, what was the decision based upon
to not do that? I just want to understand that.
MR. POTEET: Well, we talked about it, and it's on film.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah, I haven't had a chance --
MR. POTEET: Basically, we just didn't want -- we made our
decision, and it's on the B list. We would consider it again next year
at this time if the property's still available. I mean, on the property
on Marco Island that most people have been discussing today, there
were several members on the committee, including myself, that had
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an issue spending over $2 million for a property that's just about a
half acre. It's just an extremely expensive property, and we could
take that $2 million and buy other environmentally sensitive lands in
Collier County and get much more acreage. And so -- and we
wanted to do that.
In our first three cycles -- I think it was first three
cycles -- because I'm the only person in this room that's been here for
20 years on the committee. We didn't spend all the money that year.
It wasn't until we hit Pepper Ranch and Railhead Scrub that we
actually went into, because those properties were about $32 million
each. And so we used that, and we went to bonding there. But up
till then, we worked within the available monies that had been
collected that year in the tax revenue.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You good?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. I'm good. Thank you very
much.
MR. POTEET: And it's just -- Aqua Colina just a comment on
that, it's a beautiful piece of property. There's no question about it.
Part of it was disturbed when they put the seawall. I had -- and I
wanted to bring that -- because typically we don't buy anything that's
been disturbed. We try to get as pristine properties as we can. But
there were many members on the committee that liked that particular
property. It just didn't get enough votes in order to get on the A list,
so...
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, sir.
MR. POTEET: You're welcome.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So, Bill, first I thank you for
your dedicated service. And you might want to stay at the podium;
you might not. I want to just make some statements.
January 25, 2022
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So I heard everything you said. And I don't want to take any of
your words out of context. But in my mind the overall priority isn't
to be real estate agents here and buy acreage. I'd rather buy a half an
acre that's $2 million that's loaded with tortoises then get a bigger
bang for our buck somewhere down the road and get 11 acres that
still is environmentally sensitive but, you know, like you said, it is a
better bargain.
I know from what I've learned, you know, on that piece on
Marco Island -- and I'm not here banging on the tables just talking
about that piece. I mean, there's a lot of parcels on here. But I think
it's more than just, wow, we were able to get 12 parcels of land. I
know they're all environmentally sensitive, but I'd like to hear a little
bit more about the scoring of which ones have -- are heavier when it
comes to, you know -- we're not just buying acreage that maybe
somebody saw a turtle on, but -- and I realize that property on Marco
is expensive. It's expensive for a lot of reasons. It's on Marco
Island and it's sitting right, basically, on the water, but it also has a
million signs around it saying there's gopher tortoises every three
feet.
Some of these other properties that may be cheaper, maybe
somebody saw a panther three years ago. And I'm not saying that to
be sarcastic, but my point is Conservation Collier's not just about
acquiring acreage, as you know. It's about getting the land that has
the most -- that is the most environmentally sensitive that we are
trying to preserve. And if that means it's more expensive but it has a
heavier weight on the environmental side, then I don't want to waste
money on 18 acres that maybe, you know, has some things on it, and
we get it at a bargain, but it's at the expense of maybe a piece of
property that really, environmentally, is a lot more important.
So what are your thoughts, you know, on that? I mean,
obviously, that's got to be part of scoring, correct? I mean, I
January 25, 2022
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hope -- please don't tell me the Marco property fell out because it's
$2 million for half an acre.
MR. POTEET: I won't say that was entirely the decision that
was made. Other people had, you know, thoughts on different
properties more that they wanted to spend the money.
And I can't really speak for every member of the CCLAC, but
there were members that voted to have it as an A property, there were
members that voted to have it as a B property, and the B properties
won. I mean, it's just -- it's just -- and, yes, I agree that the
environmental quality of the property is number-one priority that we
look at. We always have.
Railhead Scrub is a very good example where we paid
$32 million for a preserve up there that has a ton of gopher tortoises
on it. So, you know, we looked at the quality of that. And it's also
scrub jay habitat. I mean, there was a number of things that went
along with that.
But, you know, that's just how it worked. And if you folks
want to put it on the A list, that's fine. There's money available in
the cycle to do that. So, you know, we're not arguing that. We just
went through and did our process and presented you the result. And,
you know --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Putting it on the A list today
doesn't mean we buy. It just means that we're going to pursue and
invest a little bit of money to come back here and add it. But to your
point --
MR. POTEET: It is really more a commitment from this board
that you do want to acquire the properties, because this is what you're
telling the public. It's on the A list. We want to go after this. Yes,
you'll have an opportunity to review the contract at the end, but
it's -- I've never seen the Commission say, no, we don't want to
purchase this property when the contract has shown up on your desk.
January 25, 2022
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This is now when you really make the decisions which properties you
want to try to pursue.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Wanting to and meeting the
parameters -- wanting to and meeting the parameters are two different
things. As you said, we're only moving them forward for pursuit at
this particular stage.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes. Ms. Araque, I noticed in
your material that you submitted to us that you actually have ranked
the A list, and you have a wonderful chart that gives a bar graph on
the side. I think it's with all of them. I'm wondering, just so we
don't spend an hour discussing this at the next cycle, if you could do
that for the B properties, too, you know, especially something that's
controversial. If we could just keep a list of it; it's a very
informative part of your presentation.
MS. ARAQUE: Okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: There's no question that you
folks do a great job, and thank you very, very much for it. And I
think that when you -- if we -- whatever we approve, will be
assumed, as it has in the past, that the Commission agrees with your
recommendation. So I think that's -- that's the conundrum we face
right now.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And just to say it in my words,
because the Commission has approved the acquisition doesn't mean
that it's going to meet the parameters that are already established for
the -- for the acquisition to go forward. It still has to go through
the -- we have to expend some money to make the determination
whether or not the value is sufficient -- sufficiently there, so...
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's spoken like a realtor.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That I am, so that's --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But I think for me, who's not a
January 25, 2022
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realtor, if I say, yes, I agree with this listing, whether it's A and we
move the Marco Island to A, that's my commitment to the public that
I agree with the recommendations, and that empowers staff to go
forward and start negotiating.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I agree with what it is that
you're saying with the proviso that we still have to have the process
of going through the appraisals and meeting the parameters that are
already established in the acquisition. It's not an open checkbook to
just pay anything for anything, and that's the -- I think that's the point
that Commissioner -- I don't want to put words in his mouth, but
Commissioner LoCastro was discussing with regard to it.
So it's not an open checkbook. We do have a process. We're
not deviating from that process other than -- other than opening up
the discussion for these acquisitions, so...
At this point no one else is lit up. I did have a couple of
comments that I'd like to make as we're going forward. I'd like to
know what our current burn rate is on the Maintenance Fund, what
our current to-date accumulated expenses -- and when I say "burn
rate," it's been referred to regularly as a perpetual maintenance fund.
We determined several years when we decided to dip into it that it
wasn't perpetual; that there was a finite period of time when that
money would be expired if it wasn't replenished in some form or
format.
So I'd like to know some day, not necessarily today, maybe
when we have this discussion again, what our current consumption is
on that Maintenance Fund that's out there. And then, number
two -- and this has to do with my other discussion, and that is when
properties are brought to us, an estimate of the ongoing maintenance
for the new properties that are acquired and what impact that is going
to have on that burn rate, because as we add more -- so we'll then go
with the maintenance, and I'd like to see what the impacts from a
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timing standpoint are, and maybe, there again, we have to make some
adjustments as to what we're doing with the appropriation of the
26 million current amount that we have.
And as a final point, I -- in today's discussion someone has
made -- if you take 75 percent of that 26 million that is to be
collected, that's 19-and-a-half million dollars that could be
appropriated over into acquisitions.
And so today I'd like for us to come up with a discussion or have
a discussion with how we amortize the repayment back into
the -- into the Maintenance Fund and appropriate
into -- reappropriate, if you will, that replenishment. It's no
argument that it needs to be replenished. There's no argument
whatsoever. But how we get there from here with some consistency,
I think, will help our staff.
So those are -- those are my comments. And I think probably
appropriately we should go to public comment now.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, we have seven registered
speakers on this item, six here in the room and one online. Your
first speaker is Donna Fiala. She'll be followed by William Rollins.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: How did Commissioner Fiala get
to the top of the list, is what I want to know, because she was later
coming in.
MR. KLATZKOW: That's commissioner prerogative.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, oh, previous commissioner.
She's actually left the room.
MR. MILLER: Yeah. She indicated she was going to have to
leave at around 11:15. So we'll skip that go to William Rollins.
He'll be followed by William Poteet.
MR. POTEET: Oh.
MR. MILLER: You already done? Thank you, Bill.
Then Mr. Rollins will be followed by Richard Blonna.
January 25, 2022
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MR. ROLLINS: Good morning. My name's -- for the record,
my name is Richard Rollins, and I represent the landowner for the
Section 33. I basically filled out one of the slips in the event that
any of you had any questions regarding or pertaining to that piece of
property; I could answer those questions for you. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you. It's good seeing you,
Billy.
MR. ROLLINS: Yes, sir.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Richard Blonna. I hope
I'm saying that right. Followed by Meredith Budd.
MR. BLONNA: You said it right. Rich Blonna, Marco City
Council.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Excuse me a second, sir.
Meredith, if you would please come up now, and then we'll have you
there.
Go ahead, sir.
MR. BLONNA: Okay. First I wanted to thank you all for
your good work. I know we had a City Council meeting last night.
We had 16 items. It took me about 15 hours to prepare for it, so I
can't imagine how much time you put into preparing for your
meetings.
I also wanted to thank the folks at Conservation Collier. It's
been a year, and I've gone to all the CCLAC meetings, and it's just an
amazing learning experience. The people in that program are super
thorough, and the field workers are amazing in the analysis that they
do on these properties. So kudos to everyone involved, top to
bottom.
And I fully support the A list. And whether or not Aqua Colina
gets on there, it doesn't matter. I just wanted to let you folks know
that I really, really appreciate the work, and it's top-notch. So your
money's -- our money's in good hands.
January 25, 2022
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A couple of things that I've heard about the -- putting the Aqua
Colina lot on the A list, I would support that and, in general, one of
the reasons that I think it's a good idea is because, as Commissioner
Saunders says, the lots are just -- the value's increasing; they're being
bought left and right. I mean, the number of lots being built down
on Marco Island is astounding. We're going to have well over 120
building permits issued for new homes coming on three
consecutively years, so that land is going to disappear.
The other thing is, there's a concern -- I know, Commissioner
Solis, you mentioned about maintenance costs. Now, from what I've
learned going to the Conservation Collier meetings, there's a lot of
work that -- and money that often goes into bringing a lot up to speed
before it can even become a preserve. So there's removal of invasive
species. There's removal of structures. There's remediation of toxic
waste materials. There's construction of road access to get in. None
of that is going to apply to any of the Marco Island lots. As a matter
of fact, the two that are on the A list right now are on a new multiuse
path that the city is committed, and they're in the process of building
so, literally, citizens will be able to view these lots just by walking up
this multiuse path. And there may be removal of some invasive
species on Lots A and B. And I'm talking about Brazilian pepper
trees, things like that. So the cost for bringing the lands up to speed
will be minimal, and the cost to maintain them will be minimal.
The Aqua Colina lot might involve a little more remediation, but
nothing in terms of structures, toxic waste, whatever.
And just one more thing about the Aqua Colina, and then I'll
leave. That lot is going to be a multi-decade learning laboratory,
because not only is it prime habitat for gopher tortoises and other
species, it sits on 3,000 years of archaeological and historical ruins
that there's -- the first layer is the history of Marco Island since it's
been settled.
January 25, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Cut that off. Continue on, please.
MR. BLONNA: Thank you, sir.
The second layer beneath that is Calusa Indian history and
archeology, and the third layer beyond that it goes even deeper. So
it's -- it's rich for being a prime environmental and historical
archaeological site for decades.
It also is within viewing distance of Otter Mound, and it would
make a nice four-part parcel that anyone who's interested in ecology
and history and archeology could spend the day there. So I just ask
you to consider putting that on the A list, but if it doesn't get there, I
just wanted to thank the committee again for the great work they did
and for you folks. Appreciate it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, sir.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Meredith Budd, and she
will be followed by Brad Cornell.
MS. BUDD: Good morning, Commissioners. Meredith Budd
on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation.
I am very excited to be up here today to be talking about
Conservation Collier. I am grateful for the Commission's support of
this program over the years; the county, our residents' support of this
program over the years.
You have a really fantastic committee that works really hard,
and they took a lot of time to go over all of the properties. You have
a fantastic staff who really do a deep dive, and they are doing site
visits, they're doing their screening criteria for all the properties. It's
really in-depth. And so the list that you're getting today is from very
hard work.
And we, the Federation, are very supportive of the A-list
properties that are before you and look forward to you moving on to
that next step to pursue those properties.
I will also add that we do recommend moving the Aqua Colina
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parcel to the A list for all of those qualities that Councilman Blonna
just articulated to you-all. It's incredibly important. There is
enough money based on the estimated costs in this round to go ahead
and move that forward without having to worry about needing to use
money that would have potentially gone to pay back the Management
Fund. So we do recommend that you do move that to the A list.
Now, one thing I did want to just note is that during the
committee meeting, if you had watched the replay or were in
attendance, there were several committee members that voted the
Aqua Colina parcels to be an A list. It just did not get enough votes
to win the tally to be on the A list at the end of the day. Same thing
for the Big Hammock parcel that you'll see on the B list. That, too,
was voted B, but it also had votes for the A list as well.
I do want to note that that parcel, while it is a B list and it is an
SSA and the landowner was going -- was looking to keep their R2
credits, they're also going to pay to maintain that property in
perpetuity along with the purchase, and that was not noted. So I did
want to present that to you and let you know that. That's a very
different deal than what you had with Pepper Ranch, and I know that
that was an SSA. This is different. This is one that, while it would
retain its SSA, the value would be -- the appraised value would
reflect that, and the landowner would pay for the management. So
the FWF did recommend that be on the A list, but it did not make it,
but I just wanted to articulate that to you today.
The other thing I wanted to point out is the Cowan Trust
property. That is not on your cycle, but I did submit a letter to
Conservation Collier recently, FWF did, and you were all copied on
it as well. Nominating that to Conservation Collier. It's 96 acres.
It's in prime panther habitat. FP224 has denned on that property
twice in recent years, 2017, 2020. You-all have the letter.
Conservation Collier has the letter. I have notified the landowner,
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and I just recommend that you explore opportunities if you can for
Conservation Collier to engage with the landowner for acquisition in
advance of the next Conservation Collier cycle given the extreme
importance of that piece of property.
So thank you for the time. I look forward to seeing this A list
move forward, including Aqua Colina. So thank you so much.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Brad Cornell. He'll be
followed by Brittany Piersma.
MR. CORNELL: Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Brad
Cornell, and I'm here on behalf of Audubon Western Everglades and
Audubon Florida and its Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, so thanks for
the opportunity to address you.
I also want to thank you for your long-standing support for
Conservation Collier. You all have been engaged in the
conversation of how to make conservation a local issue and a priority
amongst citizens of Collier County. As we all know, the citizens
support it, but you have been the leaders in this implementation. So
thank you for that.
And also, I will echo the compliments to both your staff and to
the Land Acquisition Advisory Committee that have done
tremendous work in bringing you this Cycle 10 list. This is a -- this
is a great accomplishment, great opportunity for all of us for
conservation in Collier County.
We, Audubon Western Everglades and Audubon Florida, fully
support the ranked active acquisition list that's before you from the
committee that include some tremendous purchases, including Big
Hammock and the expansion of Panther Walk and Horse Pen Strand
and the Marco parcels, but we also agree with the addition of the
Aqua Colina parcels on Marco Island. That parcel is -- it's the
highest ranked ecological score on Marco Island. Even though it
was put on the B list, it's the highest scoring parcel on Marco Island.
January 25, 2022
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It also is $1.4 million in terms of estimated value, and it's .63 acres.
So it's not an insignificant parcel. As you've already heard, it's got
tremendous ecological and archaeological attributes.
And I also want to emphasize that the targeted protection areas
for this program included a lot of urban areas. And so if you're
going to target urban conservation lands in Collier County, those are
expensive, especially if you're talking about on Marco Island.
And speaking of Marco Island, I just want to make one other
point, and that is that in terms of Marco Island's contribution through
its taxes to Conservation Collier, based on the tax assessments for
Marco Island, that would be about $2.8 million per year annually for
the next 10 years, so that's a lot of money. So there is some equity
question about how we buy lots on Marco.
So, finally, I guess I would say, please move forward the active
acquisition list as its presented to you with the addition of the Aqua
Colina. I think that the Cowan parcel that Florida Wildlife
Federation, Meredith Budd, just brought up is a great additional
opportunity. So please consider that as well. And thank you again.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Brad.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Brittany Piersma. She'll
be followed online by Blanca Peña.
MS. PIERSMA: Hi. My name is Brittany Piersma. I'm a
field biologist for Audubon Western Everglades.
I very much appreciate all the conservation efforts being put
towards Marco Island. I do work in Naples as well, but I'd say
75 percent of my time is spent with conservation directly on Marco
Island.
With all the development going on, it's very much needed right
now. And a lot of citizens reach out to me all the time. They want
these efforts, and they want to be a part of these efforts. So I think
making this first, you know, introduction to having more areas of
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wildlife corridors throughout the island will only increase the ability
to get them involved and have more parcels that potentially people
own to add within.
I want to really reflect on the biological importance, especially
about Aqua Colina. I really promote putting that into the A list.
One reason would be that when we started this comprehensive land
study on the island, I'm serving all potential habitat for gopher
tortoises. We do also have a burrowing owl program. These are
both threatened species. They're massively declining on the island.
As much as -- we're doing starter burrows and trying to attract
areas within developed properties, these animals definitely do prefer
vacant lots away from any kind of human interaction.
So when we started this land study, I reached out to FWC, and I
asked how many tortoises have been removed since they started their
whole permitting process. So since I reached out to them on
February 15th, from the beginning of their permitting, which started
around 2009, they have removed 283 gopher tortoises from Marco
Island. So that's just during their permitting process. Obviously,
you know, a lot of things before then. Who knows what originally
was on the island?
With our current studies, we've done about 200 surveys, and
adding up all the potentially occupied and abandoned burrows, our
current estimate is 1,201 gopher tortoises. Although that may sound
like a pretty big number, which it is, we are massively losing all these
parcels over and over again that these tortoises are being removed.
And one of the main concerns that makes it even more
biologically important is that these gopher tortoises are keystone
species. So I'm happy that you're promoting these lots, as it's a great
place that we want to protect these dense populations of gopher
tortoises, but try to enforce the idea that keystone species, meaning
these gopher tortoises are providing habitat to over 360 other species
January 25, 2022
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within their burrows.
So we're not just saving this property just for the tortoises or just
for the owls; there's a variety of other species that are using this entire
habitat. And we see it all the time. We have a nature preserve on
Marco Island that I set up game cameras. We see a lot of different
animals moving within those areas.
So definitely recommend, along with the aspect of the
archaeological -- I'm not an expert in that, but I've been talking very
closely with Gene Urkovick, who I'm sure has wrote to you as well.
So that is extremely important. That historical value I think Marco
Island would appreciate as well. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your final registered speaker for this item is
online, Blanca Peña. And as I say that, I look up and she disappears
from my screen.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: How about that?
MR. MILLER: So I guess we're done.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And we'll close the public hearing
aspect of it, the public comment anyway, and I'll call upon
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And this is a question for staff.
And I don't know who would have to respond to this, but -- and I'm
assuming -- and I don't want to assume that this wasn't part of the
consideration at the CCLAC. But we've heard so much about the
archaeological value of this property. I mean, are there -- have
we -- are there other possibilities for, No. 1, acquiring this property
for those purposes as opposed to just environmental purposes? And,
2 -- and Mr. French was coming this way, and I probably would pose
this one to him -- it sounds to me that -- I mean, it's a waterfront
property, but there's, I understand, at least 20 gopher tortoises and
three layers of archaeological things on it. I mean, what are
the -- what's the -- what are the hurdles that somebody would have to
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go through to actually build a house on this? I'm just trying to
understand the situation that that property's in. Because it sounds
bizarrely expensive to remove everything to be able to use that
property. So I'm wondering if the $2 million is actually a good
number.
MR. FRENCH: Commissioner, thank you. I was actually just
going to speak with Jaime Cook about something.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: You stood up.
MR. FRENCH: Timing is everything. But to answer your
question -- for the record, Jamie French with Growth Management.
I'll give you an example. So the Board recently purchased a
property off Rattlesnake Hammock right near the airpark. We
were -- we were very well aware of the developer that was looking to
invest in this property prior to Conservation Collier acquiring it, and
there was archaeological findings on that property, and that was one
of the reasons why the developer shared with us they walked away
from it.
So we're currently working with your Conservation Collier staff
to develop some pathways, removing some exotics. And I'm not
quite certain -- but during that transaction we made them very well
aware of this, and we were able to help find this report. Typically,
when the developer comes through, it is exceptionally expensive to
have that type of survey done when there is some sort of findings.
And what we do -- there are wildlife counts as well as wetlands that
we take into consideration no matter what the developments, whether
it's single-family home or whether it's a structure.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
MR. FRENCH: So to give you a price, I think it's very
dependent --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, yeah. I'm not asking for
your price, but I'm -- so if there are archaeological things on there,
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they have to be --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Mitigated.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- removed very, very carefully.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You can't.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: You can't just disturb that.
MR. FRENCH: I think that -- the best way is avoid it.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Okay. So if somebody came in
for a permit, say -- I know it's the City of Marco Island, but if
somebody was trying to get a building permit, there are state statutes
that would say, you're not going to get a permit until this has all been
addressed.
MR. FRENCH: That's right, especially if there's a finding.
And also with the burrowing owls, the FWC sets criteria that you
have to stay within so many feet away, even if it's an inactive nest,
until the state deems it as far as -- to be abandoned.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And this would be a question
maybe for the Conservation Collier staff. In the estimate of the
value, were all of those issues considered in that estimate? Because,
man, we're talking about some very, very expensive or maybe just
prohibitive things that are on that property right now.
MS. ARAQUE: So we were provided with the archaeological
report.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: There's a report. There's a
finding.
MS. ARAQUE: Yes, uh-huh. And so -- and I don't know if
the councilman has any experience in this area, because they do have
this on Marco Island quite a bit, but from reading through the report,
it seemed to me, though, that you could build but you have to do it in
certain ways on the -- on the property. But we would probably need
to have, like, an expert to really, you know, say that conclusively, but
maybe he might have some more on that.
January 25, 2022
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: With the commissioners'
indulgence, I mean, this is really interesting to me, because this is --
MR. BLONNA: I'm far from being an expert in this area, but I
have talked to Gene Urkovick about it. And I know when Old
Marco went through the conversion process of going from septic to
sewer, there were some areas in there are archeological historical
sites that had to be removed, and what they actually did was they
removed some of the most significant materials, and they
repositioned them in a corner of the property and then allowed the lot
be to developed.
So I hear what you're saying, but it's amazing what will be done
in order to accommodate builders if they really want to build on a lot.
So I could see portions of whatever remains existed being moved
over to a far corner of the lot and the lot being developed.
So it isn't out of the question that even though there is -- of these
remains there, that that could happen. And, again, I'm not an expert.
I don't claim to be.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I've done it before. It's not an
absolute no, just so you know. It can be mitigated.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I'm just wondering
if -- where are you going to put it if there's 20 gopher tortoises and
burrowing owls on a half-acre lot?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You have to go build them a condo
first before you relocate them.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Let me add -- I've got my
light on here, but -- so I live on Marco Island, and nothing's
prohibitive. You know, money has no object on Marco Island, just
as you would say in some areas of Port Royal. I mean, there are
people that will spend $15 million to build a $3 million house. I've
seen it. We've seen it on Marco. We've seen it on Port Royal.
We've seen people tear down $40 million brand-new homes on Port
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Royal to build a new $40 million home because they didn't like the
kitchen and the bathrooms.
I think it would be really irresponsible to roll the dice here and
say, wow, this is a piece of property that would be really hard to build
on, so let's not waste $1.4 million and just hope that nobody ever
buys this property.
There are homes all over Marco Island, as Dr. Blonna said, that
sat on archaeological, you know, lots, that had tortoises, that, you
know, had all kinds of things, and there's always a way, as
Commissioner McDaniel said.
And knowing the dollar-for-dollar, pound-for-pound
environmental value of this small piece of land to Conservation
Collier, you know, I'm still really strong in my position that we at
least consider it because, trust me, it also sits on a very beautiful
piece of property that if somebody wanted it and money was no
object, you would see a giant, giant home there at the drop of a hat
just like we've seen all over Marco Island. There's always a way.
It's not prohibited in any way, shape, or form.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think we have -- we have two
decisions to make. First of all, I think Commissioner Saunders
suggested that we acquire what is before us now rather than
wait -- and rather than wait until the next cycle because of the hot real
estate market. I'm in concurrence with you in terms of the hot real
estate market and the concern that we might miss something.
I also like the Aqua Colina lot because it's within the urban area,
which is what we've always talked about, and maybe we'll have some
folks on Marco Island that actually support Conservation Collier if
we agree to buy it because they can access it. It also is of great value
to archaeological, and I'm very respectful of that.
But I think the bottom line is, what are we going to do about the
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maintenance and what is the temperature of the commission in terms
of somehow -- and I'm going to leave it to Commissioner Saunders to
describe how we could, for instance, purchase all the properties on
this -- on the list, A, B, and C, or maybe it's A and B, and yet still
have money next year for maintenance. So I'm going to -- if the
Chair indulges me, I'd like to hear from Commissioner Saunders on
that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, the Chair will jump in front
of both Commissioner Solis and Saunders, because I'm up here doing
the math. And we've got $26 million in the most recent referendum,
or the tax increase, and 75 percent of that's 19-and-a-half million, per
my calculator. And if you take all of the properties on A and B, that
comes to 18-and-a-half million that could be acquired and still leaves
us a million.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Don't forgot the three mill
that's from a prior --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm getting there.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Oh, okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And that still leaves us a million of
acquisition money that could be allocated back over into a portion for
the proration side of the repayment of the three million that's already
been expended out of maintenance as opposed to taking it all out this
year and reducing down the amount of available funds. That's my
math. And I don't know -- our County Manager has a better
calculator than I do. But that was a thought that I had, that we
prorate that repayment amount as opposed to having it all at once,
and we --
MR. ISACKSON: I'll put my budget hat on.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: There we go. And then at a future
date, soon --
MR. ISACKSON: I'm putting this 600-page document
January 25, 2022
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together. We might as well use it, huh?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: There you go.
MR. ISACKSON: So Commissioner Solis asked about capital
outlay. You see it laid out in the budget there, $14.065 million.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Would you just point to it
because it's -- thank you, sir.
MR. ISACKSON: Right here. And then you have your
transfer to the Maintenance Fund. Part of that's the 25 percent that
comes off the top of the levy. Part of it's $3.7 million that gets
transferred there from the advance that was made as part of the cycle,
okay.
So that gives you in a nutshell what you're dealing with. You
also have expenses in terms of transfer to the Property Appraiser,
transfer to the Tax Collector. You've got operating costs connected
with personal services and operating expenses.
But the bulk of your $26 million when you look at it, it gets
consumed in either your capital outlay, for the most part, which is
here, or your transfer to the Maintenance Fund, okay. It's simple in
and out. I mentioned to the Board earlier, you've got flexibility.
Now let me throw up another slide for you. This is the
Acquisition Fund. Now you have the Maintenance Fund. There's
almost $35 million sitting in reserve what we call for unfunded
requests. That's your perpetual maintenance going forward.
Now, Commissioner McDaniel asked, what's the burn rate? As
I recall, the last time we did this was probably a year and a half or so
ago, it was 25-ish-plus years before it evaporated.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Tapped out. That's correct.
MR. ISACKSON: Again, in my mind.
But there's the other key element of the Conservation Collier
Program in terms of the financial dynamics of it. So I thought it
might be helpful, prior to the Board making a decision, if I threw up a
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couple of budget slides to give you kind of a little tutorial.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Can I ask a question,
Commissioner Solis?
Before you go away, County Manager, in my backwards math at
the 75 percent requisite for the new 26 million that equates to the
19-and-a-half million that could be afforded in acquisitions right
now?
MR. ISACKSON: I see plus or minus.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Plus or minus. I mean, we're
talking generalities, because once -- we don't know the exact
numbers. But for today -- today's discussion, 26 million,
75 percent's 19-and-a-half million. And if we left -- if we -- if the
Board so chose, we could move forward on necessarily the A and B
lists, which also includes the property on Marco Island and -- if all of
those came through at those prices, we would have one million
dollars in the existing Acquisition Fund to begin the replenishment of
the borrowed-from maintenance funds that were previously utilized
for acquisitions.
MR. ISACKSON: Well, trust me, the staff in the Office of
Management and Budget, depending on what the Board does, for
example, Commissioner Saunders has suggested not making that full
transfer but only making $6 million of it and holding $3.7 million and
moving it up to the $14 million line. I think that's what the
Commissioner has suggested.
We will track that, trust me. And when you go forward over
the next 10 years, we'll make sure that those dollars that -- if, in fact,
there's support for deferral of that, those dollars will be brought
forward and included in subsequent levies, to be included back into
the Maintenance Fund; if there's support for that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And if the math is
correct -- Summer, if the math is correct, the total of the A and B list
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that are already vetted is about 18-and-a-half million, and that
includes the Marco piece and some of these other multi-parcel pieces.
Am I doing the math correctly?
MS. ARAQUE: Well, you've got the -- we've got 12 million.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Twelve point one in the A list.
MS. ARAQUE: On the A list, and --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And total 6.4 on the B list.
MS. ARAQUE: And then you've got -- I'm going to skip over
the preserve expansion parcels. And then on the B list you've got
six, and C you have 11.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah, I didn't say C.
MS. ARAQUE: Okay. So B. So if you added B, then that
would be 12 million plus six-and-a-half million.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Correct, 6.4, which, in my math,
adds up to --
MS. ARAQUE: -- 18.5.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- 18.5, which, in my math, a
million shy of the allotted 75 percent that was put on the referenda to
be utilized in acquisitions.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So I think --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis is ahead of
you, if you don't mind.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Oh, I'm sorry. You're
looking over here, so I thought that was --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Forgive me, Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, since Commissioner
LoCastro has decided that I'm being irresponsible, I feel like I -- no, I
don't think it's funny. I think it's -- I think you said what you said.
I think it's irresponsible for us not to consider the difficulties and
the impact on that -- of these archaeological issues on the property.
And if you'd listen to what I was actually saying, I was trying to
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figure out a way to acquire this property without even using maybe
Conservation Collier money, because at the beginning, if you had
listened to what I was saying, I had said that I would like to include
the Aqua Colina property in the A list, but clearly you weren't
listening. And so I think if there's something that's irresponsible, it's
not considering all of the issues on a piece of property that we're
trying to acquire that's $2 million.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: One point four.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, I'll say I was listening,
but I think everybody in this room, or at least most, if we took a vote,
was sensing that you were inferring that it would be so difficult to
build on this property that the inference -- and I apologize if that
was -- wait a minute.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Increased value, a little bit.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But your inference seemed to
be --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Your inference.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, and it might be. So I
apologize, but I think the average person hearing you try to connect
two dots and maybe that -- I'll say that maybe I was incorrectly
connecting them. But in my close listening of exactly what you
were saying -- and I take exception to that. But having said that, I
think what some of us were hearing that you were trying to possibly
go to -- and maybe it was hypothetically. But I wasn't saying you
were being irresponsible, but I think if the decision was, wow, that
would be an expensive piece of property to build on, nobody could
really build on it anyway -- and maybe that's not what you were
trying to conclude, but I think you were sort of leading most to think
that was your point -- is that Marco Island is filled with houses that
are built on historically, you know, sensitive properties that
somebody invested the money in to build.
January 25, 2022
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But I don't think we need to get into an -- I'm not getting into an
argument with you here. And if you are leading down the way of
including the property that I care about, I really care more about it
being on a list and preserving it than what we may or may [sic] be
misunderstanding from each other's point.
So if we're paddling in the same direction, great. And if you've
got a way to acquire it in a much better way, boom, have at it, speak
up, because I'd love to see it preserved.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Gotcha.
The County Attorney has something to weigh in here.
MR. KLATZKOW: Just for the Board's consideration, you
don't necessarily have to spend $2 million on the parcel. You could
offer the owner less.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Exactly.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, we haven't even -- we
haven't even got to that point yet, and that's the conversation that I
was going to have and that the semantics of these are the estimated
price is 1.4, and the cost is going to be whatever the appraisals come
back at, plus/minus the archaeological value, the relocation of the
gopher tortoises, the environmental sensitivity, so on and so forth,
and we will make those decisions, Commissioner Solis and
Commissioner LoCastro, at the next go-round when these -- when
these actual numbers come back to us.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I understand the process.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I know you do.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: We're voting to buy nothing
today.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. I'm going to try to
make this as simple as I can. We have total funds, $26 million.
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And, Mark, correct me if I'm wrong now. We have $26 million, and
12 million of that was going to go into the Management Fund leaving
$14 million for acquisition. All I'm trying to suggest is we don't
need to move $12 million into the Management Fund right now. We
can add a little bit to this list, the A list, the B list, whatever you want
to add to it. Staff will come back with what it's going to cost to
acquire those properties. We don't know what that number's going
to be. It may be less. It may be more. But if we don't move those
funds into the Management Fund right now, we have some flexibility.
So the suggestion is, don't move any money to the Management
Fund just yet, have staff go back, negotiate these acquisitions,
including the B list and other properties that may be on the C list if
we want to do that. Once the acquisitions are determined and the
prices are determined, including that lot on Marco that may
be -- maybe it's only worth half of what it is listed for because of the
cost to develop, have staff have those negotiations, come back with
the total number for acquisition, do the acquisition, and whatever's
left over move into the Management Fund. That may be 12 million.
It may be 10 million. And we can get caught up in a subsequent
year. But we've got some valuable pieces of property right now that
may not be available a year from now. That would -- and I'm going
to make that in the form of a motion.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'll second.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And if -- you know, if we get
three votes, we get three votes.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Can you summarize your
motion again, Commissioner.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. We have $26 million
total in the Conservation Collier Fund. We owe 12 million of that
into management. Hold off on putting those funds into management.
And then once we determine what lists we're going to acquire, we get
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all those prices, we do that acquisition, and then whatever is left over,
we move into the Management Fund. That could be the 12 million.
It may be only 10 million. But at least staff has flexibility to
negotiate these acquisitions knowing that there's money available.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So your motion has to do the
financial way that we'd be able to move and preserve the money, not
so much talking about A and B just yet. That comes next. I
understand.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just flexibility for staff to
work out some acquisitions --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Absolutely. I think it's --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- that may exceed
$14 million.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I think that's wise.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And that will give us discretion on
being able to move forward on some of these pieces of property --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Correct.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- that are environmentally -- more
environmentally sensitive and still be able to replenish the
maintenance fund at the same time.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So I'll make that in the form
of a motion. I think it was seconded.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I seconded.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you have a comment?
MS. ARAQUE: Yeah. So maybe I could make a suggestion
for your consideration. We have 39 property owners on the A list;
many of them have been waiting for over a year. So our -- my
question for you would be is, are there some properties that you know
you want to move forward with? Because maybe we go ahead and
we -- and we do that for some of these, and then the others we do that
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due diligence. Because I guess what I need to find out from you
is -- because our current process is we would get appraisals for all of
the A1, and then we would make an offer -- we have a purchasing
policy that we pay appraised value. So we don't necessarily
negotiate per se; it's just the appraised value.
MR. KLATZKOW: You can negotiate with the direction from
the Board.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Number one, the motion that I just
heard authorizes you to go forward on virtually all of these properties
that are on this list, both the A and B list and even the C list, if there
is -- and then those will all come back to us, and we'll make the
determination that those -- if I'm not --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. This first motion
only deals with financing. It doesn't deal with any particular parcels.
MS. ARAQUE: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Whether or not we're going
to give you additional funds.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're not going through and
picking and choosing which ones we like better or worse.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We do have to do that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Eventually.
MS. ARAQUE: I want to make sure you have the correct
numbers. I think maybe you were given an incorrect number of the
12 million at some point in regards to the maintenance. So can we
just clarify that real quickly?
MR. ISACKSON: You've got a $26.2 million levy. We're
right now suggesting that 14.1 of that is for acquisition. There's a
transfer to the Maintenance Fund of $9.7 million, of which six is
comprised of the normal 25 percent and 3.7 is to repay from the last
cycle before the referendum.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And 100 percent. That's all this
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year.
MR. ISACKSON: That's right. So I understand what
Commissioner Saunders is saying. I get the motion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
MS. ARAQUE: Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: The numbers are --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: The numbers are different, so...
MR. ISACKSON: -- move around. At this point just to make
sure that the flow is understood by the Board in terms of the dollars --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It's just an effort to give staff
some flexibility here and the committee some flexibility, and maybe
none of those properties get acquired and maybe $10 million goes
into the Management Fund this year.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm curious to see if Commissioner
Saunders would consider maybe a little change to the motion, and
that would be that there's 14 million in acquisitions in the budget.
The A list is 12 million. The Aqua Colina property is a little over
two million. That gets us a little over the 14 million that we have in
the budget.
Would you consider changing the motion to be that we repay the
management loan and the management reserve, but if it comes back
and we need a little more to round out the whole A list,
right -- because we need 14-and-a-half as opposed to 14 -- that staff
bring that back? Because it would accomplish what I think you're
trying to accomplish, but it also repays the fund and puts in the
reserves that this whole program was based on.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It gets to the exact same
point, but it adds a step. It gets exactly to where I've said --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- but it adds the step of
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putting it in the Management Fund then having us have to remove it
from the Management Fund. So it doesn't really accomplish
anything. I think that would be described as form over substance,
and so --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I disagree.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- I don't want to do that.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: All right.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But the other thing,
Commissioner, is that we don't know whether the A list is going to
turn out to be $12.147 million. It may turn out to be $15 million.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Correct.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Or it could be 10-.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It could be 10-. And all I'm
talking about is timing. It's not trying to keep money out of the
Management Fund. It's just timing. And that's what you're talking
about, so...
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, my whole point is that we
talked about a one-time loan from the Management Fund to buy a
particular piece of property that was really important, and we did
that.
And what I'm suggesting is we need a firm policy on this
because moving forward every year there's going to be this situation.
That's my concern.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right. We had properties that
were introduced to us today that were important to somebody else
that aren't on the list at all.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right. And every year we're
going to kick this can down the road, and we're going to borrow a
little more and a little more because we can always do this, and that's
my concern. It's been my concern from the beginning.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I would suggest that if you
January 25, 2022
Page 102
take all of the properties, as Commissioner Saunders' motion
goes -- has been made, that we would have sufficient -- this budget
that's in front of us was staff driven, and they took direction to
replenish 100 percent of those borrowed monies out of maintenance
this year. And that is something that we can -- we have decision
over as to how much and when that does. And I would suggest that
we -- as we go forward, from a policy standpoint, not ever exceed the
allowed 75 percent of the revenue generated from the increase in tax
for Conservation Collier. That's 19-and-a-half-million dollars a year
that is set aside for acquisitions. And then the excess amount, based
upon what the prices, in fact, come back for, we can make decisions
as to how much of that we either reappropriate back in for the loan
repayment -- or the maintenance reserve reduction going forward.
But your motion actually gets us to that point without that extra step.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But I don't think his motion
includes taking all the properties. He's really just talking about the
best way to manage the dollars, correct?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We haven't talked about
parcels.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. All right. So there's been
a motion and a second. And I'm going to -- you know, if you don't
mind just saying it one more time for all of us so that I don't
paraphrase it incorrectly.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. We're going to make
some decisions concerning A list, B list, and C list. We don't know
what that decision is. So before we move money to the Management
Fund, let's go through this acquisition cycle, and then whatever's left
over, we'll move into the Management Fund over and above that
$3 million that we're trying to hold back basically is what we're
talking about, because those parcels may cost more than what we
anticipate them to do. So that's the substance.
January 25, 2022
Page 103
We're not going to move money to the Management Fund until
after we determine what we're going to purchase here.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I think that gets us to where we
need to be for now. Are you still okay with the second?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, I think it makes great
good sense.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All right. It's been moved and
seconded that we go forward on Commissioner Saunders' motion.
I'm not going to try to paraphrase it, because I'll editorialize it. Is
there any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It passes 4-1.
Now, do we need to give a little further direction to staff on
prioritization of these acquisitions?
MR. ISACKSON: That probably would be nice.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think they've prioritized it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, we didn't discuss the list, per
se. This was just a policy decision.
MR. ISACKSON: I think the real question is how
much -- what properties come off the B list to the A list so that they
can -- so that the staff could pursue these appraisals, provide some
more concrete numbers.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, I'd make a motion that
January 25, 2022
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we would move forward with everything on A and all three on B.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Except for the last one,
Sanitation and Bethune Road. We don't want that.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Ah, yeah. Got it. I actually
crossed that one out. So the first two, Aqua Colina and Big
Hammock, correct?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, let me ask you a question
because -- and this has to do similarly with what Commissioner Solis
was alluding to earlier about the theoretical excess of cost of
development of a piece of property. There are -- there is theoretical
excess costs with the remediation that comes with the Bethune.
Why would we exclude that for today's discussion on the --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Because --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Let me finish -- on the premise that
we don't know what those expenses, in fact, are going to be, and
maybe the seller of that piece of property will include that in the
acquisition as we go forward? And that was -- as long as we don't
exceed the 75 percent of the 26 million, we're within the -- we're
within the bumpers that are on the alley.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'd agree with that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It's one thing to remove exotics.
It's another thing to remediate pollution that is from a landfill; that's
why.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't agree with that but -- and so
having -- if it is an environmentally sensitive piece of property, this is
one that has come before us in the past, and now we have new
evidence that just recently came up. And I think including it in total,
it is part of that 18.5 million. If all of these -- all of these properties
popped up and all of them came to us at the -- at the estimated value
that's been done by our staff, we're still a million shy of the
19-and-a-half million of the -- which is 75 percent of the 26, so...
January 25, 2022
Page 105
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I would adjust my motion to
say that we accept all of List A and, based on what you just said,
which I agree with, all of List B, and see what comes back to us. I
think we're still within the parameters of the budget, and we'll get
more information, and we'll vote accordingly the next time this
comes back to us.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'll second it, or you can.
Commissioner Saunders seconded it.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah, if you say so.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And it's been moved and seconded
that we move forward on all of the A and B list. Any other
discussion?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I'm just -- you know, I'm not going
to support the motion either because, I mean, our staff is telling us
there's -- now there's new environmental issues, and to do the math
the way you did it, I think, Commissioner McDaniel, we're starting
with the premise that it's okay to spend the 19-, and now we're
including a property that the CCLAC and our staff has said has new
issues that we just learned about, and I'm not comfortable doing that
either. That, I think, is irresponsibility.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, I'm sorry you think it's
irresponsible.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It's one of those days.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't agree with being
irresponsible. I already said why I think we should include it now.
Allow for that investigation to be determined, similar to your
discussion with regard to the archaeological expense on the Marco
Island piece.
It could be prohibitive for us to actually even acquire that piece
of property. We certainly wouldn't want to buy a piece of property
that has environmental concerns that cannot ever, for any expense, be
January 25, 2022
Page 106
remediated. So it's not irresponsible at all. It is on the list. And
we will ultimately make that determination when it comes back to us
with further information.
Commissioner Taylor, you have a -- you were lit up. There's
been a motion and a second.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, yeah. I can't support the
motion. The $3,900,000 for this parcel is $3 million that could go to
repay what we borrowed from the maintenance. So I just -- I just
can't do that. I -- I say this respectfully, but this is irresponsible.
We've already heard from staff that said there's pollution. We're
very concerned. There's pollution on the property. Conservation
Collier has no business being in the business of remediating pollution
from a landfill.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And you're incorrectly
editorializing something that isn't part of this discussion. We're not
suggesting that they become part of the remediation efforts. It is a
determination of the expenses associated with the acquisition, and
we, the Board, will make the determination whether or not that is an
effective expense of those funds.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The head of the camel is in the
tent.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, but we're not voting to
spend any money. We've voting to look at these properties. So I
don't disagree with what you've said.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders is lit up.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. I -- we're using the
term "irresponsible" quite a bit here. I don't think anybody's been
irresponsible. We're just expressing our views.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I would agree that if we
offered Barron Collier $3.9 million for that parcel today, that would
January 25, 2022
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truly be irresponsible --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Amen.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- but it's not irresponsible
and there's nothing wrong with going to Barron Collier and saying
this is an environmentally sensitive piece of property. It's in a great
location. We think it fits into our program. You've got an old
landfill on there. That has to be remediated. Barron Collier knows
they have to remediate that at some point in time. That will affect
the sales price, or perhaps they'll remediate it and then sell it to us.
So it's not irresponsible to just explore it. That's all we're doing.
And so I know there's a motion and a second and --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: There is a motion and a second to
move forward with all on A and B. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
Opposed?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Opposed.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It passed 3-2.
Okay. That takes us to lunch.
MR. ISACKSON: Lunch break.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And let's -- I know we have a
time-certain at 1:00, so let's come back at 1:15.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: What time?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: 1:15.
(A luncheon recess was had from 12:13 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.)
MR. ISACKSON: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, you have a
live mic.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, good afternoon, everyone. I
hope that the lunch hour found you getting something good to eat for
January 25, 2022
Page 108
your afternoon.
We have some -- some -- and I'm trying -- you have to forgive
me, because my computer's locked up here. We have a time-certain
agenda item. If you would read that long form, if you would, please.
MR. ISACKSON: That's correct, Mr. Chairman.
Item #10B
RESOLUTION 2022-22: A RESOLUTION NAMING THE
BASEBALL FIELD AT IMMOKALEE COMMUNITY PARK THE
"STEVEN J. DODSON MEMORIAL BASEBALL FIELD." -
ADOPTED
MR. ISACKSON: Time-certain at 1:00. It's a
recommendation to adopt a resolution naming the baseball field at
Immokalee Community Park the Steven J. Dodson Memorial
baseball field, and it's sponsored by Chair McDaniel.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well -- do we have any public
speakers registered for this item, Troy?
MR. MILLER: For -- I'm sorry, for 10B, for this item?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
MR. MILLER: No, I don't have registered speakers for it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, I know there are a couple of
people. Mr. Wilcoxson, would you like to lead us off? Please.
MR. WILCOXSON: Yes, sir. Good evening, everyone. I'm
Larry Wilcoxson.
I grew up in Immokalee, Florida. Steve -- I met Steve my
sophomore year at Florida State when I came home to visit. He was
more than a police officer. He was a man of just integrity. He was
a teacher. He was a preacher. He was a comedian. He was
everything, pretty much, more than a police officer is. And I really
January 25, 2022
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wish more law enforcement officers can be like Steven.
Steven became a real good friend of mine, and we all old
enough in here to remember the show Starsky and Hutch. Well, I
was his Huggy Bear. I really was. And things that he needed in the
community, the people that he wanted to know about, I gave him the
411. He did a great job.
It wasn't about just locking people up. It was about
understanding people, how to make people better, how to make their
lives better. You know, me and his mother was just talking about
how when he go on vacation, like, he would save all, like, the lotions
and shampoos and stuff, and he would put them in bags and give
them to the people over in Immokalee, which is a very impoverished
town. This is Steven.
And so when he passed, they called me immediately. I was
out -- I was out west. I was on an assignment. I just -- literally, I
just broke down crying, because he really -- we really was like
brothers. We talked all the time. We laughed all the time.
And so he loved baseball. And it was only the right thing to do
to have that field in Immokalee in the community that he served for
almost 20 years named after him, because he gave his life into
Immokalee. And I always begged him, please do not leave
Immokalee, Florida, and come over here to Naples and deal with the
bureaucracy. I said, man, they need you here in Immokalee.
And he was like, Larry, I try to stay here as long as I can. And
he really did until the day he left us. He just left us physically, but
he definitely have not left me spiritually. He's here. He live within
all of us.
And so when I reached out to my friend, Commissioner
McDaniel, he was like, Larry, we're going to get it done. We're
going to get it done. And I'm in DC. For those who don't know,
I'm Congressman Byron Donalds' senior advisor. And he was like,
January 25, 2022
Page 110
Larry, we're going to get it done. We're going table it. We're going
to gentle [sic] it. And I've just been pushing, pushing. And I thank
the rest of the County Commissioners for making this happen as well.
I mean, you all are doing a very good job for a very great man. And
this park will be around when we long and gone and people want to
know who is Sergeant Dodson.
Thank you, thank you, and thank you for having such a great
son. He meant the world to me.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Larry.
MR. WILCOXSON: Thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And if the Board will indulge, I'd
like to read the resolution that I'm to give to Steven's mother, if I
may. And, J.J., would you like -- are you a captain now or chief --
CAPTAIN CAROL: I am.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- or what are you; captain?
CAPTAIN CAROL: I am.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do you want to say a few words?
CAPTAIN CAROL: If you don't mind.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't mind at all. Why don't you
come on, and then I'll read -- and this is Captain Carol. It's hard for
me to refer to him in his official title, because he and I grew up
together way back in the day. Of course, he's older than I am, so...
CAPTAIN CAROL: I am better looking, though.
So my interaction with Steve was work and personal. And to
expound on Larry's take on Sergeant Dodson, he just didn't have a
love for baseball; he was baseball. He umpired at the minor league
level. He umpired within the community. He always had an open
heart to making things better, particularly in that community. He
was a very good friend of mine, a dear friend.
The night that he passed, complete shock, complete shock. And
January 25, 2022
Page 111
seeing his mom here today brings a little emotion to me. But Steve
was a great cop. He understood what it was to deal with the
community and how to make it better. And for that, I will be
grateful. I learned many things from him on, particularly, patience,
okay. And like Larry was saying, not everybody has to go to jail.
That's not what it's about. It's about making our communities better.
So, Ms. Dodson, thank you for raising a great son and a good
friend of mine.
MS. DODSON: Thank you for being with Steve.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you J.J.
CAPTAIN CAROL: Yes, sir.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I'm going to read the
resolution, and then, Ms. Dodson, if you'd like to say a few words, I
would be very, very grateful. Please.
MS. DODSON: I'd love to.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So, whereas, Steven J. Dodson's
love of baseball started with his T-ball team at the age of six,
advancing through the youth leagues through the age of 18; and,
Whereas, Steven's love of the game took him from player to
umpire, graduating from the Harry Wendelstedt -- that's a school of
umpires. I should have read this in advance -- Wendelstedt School
of Umpires in the top 10 of his class in 1994; and,
Whereas, Steven umpired for over 22 years in Little League,
high school, college, semiprofessional, and professional baseball
games during these years visiting more than 20 Major League
Baseball stadiums;
Whereas, Sergeant Dodson, as he was known in his professional
life, served for over 20 years with the Collier County Sheriff, nearly
all of which in the Immokalee patrol district, where being fluent in
Spanish, he called bilingual balls and strikes when off duty in the
January 25, 2022
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evenings and on weekends;
Whereas, on August 7th, 2017, shortly after completing a shift
in which he conducted multiple traffic stops and responded to several
community calls for service, Sergeant Dodson suffered a fatal heart
attack, was -- which was determined by the U.S. Department of
Justice to be in the line of duty;
Whereas, in 2019, Sergeant Dodson's name was added to the
memorial wall for the Collier County Sheriff's Office in 2021, the
law enforcement memorial walls in Tallahassee and Washington,
D.C., and the Greater Naples official association -- officials
association now has an annual Steven Dodson's Excellence in
Umpiring Award.
It is fitting and proper that a baseball field bear his name in the
patrol district where he served -- and I'm editorializing -- and loved
and protected his community.
Therefore, now be it resolved by the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County in the honor of Sergeant Dodson's
sacrifice to Collier County, his commitment to the Immokalee
community, and his dedication to the game he loved to name the
baseball field in Immokalee Community Park the Steven J. Dodson
Memorial Baseball Field and, as directed to staff, to install the
appropriate signage. Therefore, be it resolved on this day,
January 25th, 2022. How about that?
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ms. Dodson, if you would please
honor us.
MS. DODSON: Someone just said that I didn't look 79, almost
80.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: My goodness.
MS. DODSON: But I'm from West Virginia. Steven was born
when I was 10. And for those of you who knew my son, humor and
January 25, 2022
Page 113
contagious smile were two things he was known for.
A lot of families, when their parents pass away the children
are -- they receive a lot of things; they inherit a lot of things. As a
mother, I got 103 baseball caps, 10,000 baseball -- more than 10,000,
probably 20,000 baseball cards, and 38 baseball jerseys.
So how many -- what more would you want? Yes, he loved
baseball. We planned all of our -- Steve's father passed away in '99,
but before that, when he was growing up, all of our vacations, we
made sure we hit two or three Major League stadiums. He loved
baseball.
And when they made him head of the umpires when he was 17,
18 years old in Palm Beach Gardens, he was very organized, and he
loved it. And he loved people. He just -- he was easy. He was a
good kid. Yes, I miss him a lot, but he left a lot of things, and
people still call and remind me of something good he did.
And for Larry, I remember the night at the hotel. He was
stranded in some airport, and everyone was trying to help him get
that last flight to make it to Naples. And the month before Steve
passed away, he would leave me different textbook sayings and texts
he would write. And one thing he said, your life is an inspiration to
the world. When I leave this world, I want to know that I inspired
someone to be a better person. How many mothers can read that and
not keep trying to do what their son wanted them?
So thank you to everyone here, those of you I know that have
done a lot of work and helped make this happen. Steve's brother,
when the placard name or billboard or something is done, he will be
here. He's just recovering from COVID. And he's a detective, head
of the detectives Riveria Beach, Florida. But thank you very much
to all of you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Ms. Dodson, it's kind of out of
January 25, 2022
Page 114
Hoyle here -- you folks can have a seat if you wish, but I wanted to
give you -- this is the actual resolution that's here, and it's also come
to my attention that you like this (indicating).
MS. DODSON: I do.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So with my colleagues' indulgence,
I'm going to bequeath that to you as well today. If you would,
please.
MS. DODSON: Thank you. It is such an honor to be the
mother of two law enforcement officers.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: My mother is listening, and if you
don't speak into the microphone...
MS. DODSON: Oh. It is an honor to be a mother of two law
enforcement officers. I don't want to forget Steve's brother, Michael.
He's a great cop also, and he loves life just like his brother did.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So with that, I believe that I need
to -- well, we're going to do a picture. Let's do -- we'll do a
photograph moment, and then we have a little bit of business to
maintain, so...
And just as -- for housekeeping purposes, I'm going to make a
motion that we accept and adopt the resolution on behalf of
Mr. Dodson.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Second.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded. Is
there any further discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
January 25, 2022
Page 115
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
Thank you, Ms. Dodson. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: May I say something?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You certainly may. I didn't even
call upon you folks to speak. If you would like to, just say so.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I just wanted to add, you
know, what a privilege it was to meet you, ma'am, and, sir, you, and,
Larry, your kind words.
I did want to add that, you know, we've had too many fallen
officers not only across the country but just here locally, that placard
that so many people walked by this morning, it was really touching,
those of you that were here, when we invited people that were here
for totally different reasons not to just do a mass exodus, how many
people went by and actually said a prayer, touched your son's placard.
That placard there provided by the Fallen Officers Foundation, and
one of their founders is in the back there, Mr. Mike Randall. I'll ask
him to stand up, because he's going to make sure that --
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: His job and that of his
fiancée, Rosemary Zore, their job, their total, you know, passion in
life is to make sure that our officers and our first responders and even
veterans who they honor, that they don't pass in vain, that they
don't -- they don't -- you know, they're not forgotten; they're always
remembered.
And something that's going to be coming before these County
Commissions very soon is a memorial to possibly be built in one of
January 25, 2022
Page 116
our parks, possibly Sugden Park, and it will have your son's name on
it, if we all approve unanimously, and I have no doubt that we will.
So there's things that are continuing, and your son's memory is
not going to be forgotten here in Collier County. And we have great
organizations here, you know. And like I said, I wanted to highlight
the Fallen Officers Foundation, because Mike and Rosemary do so
much to make sure that your son's legacy will always be remembered
and that of all of our officers that happen to, you know, fall on tragic
times and leave families behind.
So thanks, Mike, for being here and for all that you continue to
do for our officers in uniform.
Thank you, ma'am.
MS. DODSON: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you. Commissioner
Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just real quickly.
Commissioner McDaniel, thank you for bringing this forward. It's
certainly a pleasure for me to be participating in honoring a fallen law
enforcement officer, and I want to thank his family for their
sacrifices.
And, Larry, I see your stuff on Facebook. I didn't realize how
tall you were. You're always about this big on Facebook.
MR. WILCOXSON: Yeah, I make it look that way.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you for your
comments.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you very much. You're
more than welcome to that.
I'm bequeathing that, Michael. Got it? Okay.
All right. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: A hundred and twenty-five
dollars is what that costs.
January 25, 2022
Page 117
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's fine. I'm good for that.
County Manager.
Item #9A
ORDINANCE 2022-05: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2004-41, AS AMENDED, THE COLLIER
COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, WHICH
ESTABLISHED THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING
REGULATIONS FOR THE UNINCORPORATED AREA OF
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, BY AMENDING THE
APPROPRIATE ZONING ATLAS MAP OR MAPS BY
CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION OF THE HEREIN
DESCRIBED REAL PROPERTY FROM THE DEVOE PONTIAC
PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (PUD) AND THE GENERAL
COMMERCIAL DISTRICT WITHIN THE MIXED USE
SUBDISTRICT OF THE GATEWAY TRIANGLE MIXED USE
OVERLAY DISTRICT, (C-4-GTMUD-MXD) ZONING DISTRICT
TO THE COMMERCIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT
WITHIN THE MIXED USE SUBDISTRICT OF THE GATEWAY
TRIANGLE MIXED USE OVERLAY (CPUD-GTMUD-MXD)
ZONING DISTRICT FOR A PROJECT TO BE KNOWN AS THE
ST. MATTHEW’S HOUSE CPUD, TO ALLOW A 150 BED
HOMELESS SHELTER AND UP TO 130,000 SQUARE FEET OF
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT ON PROPERTY LOCATED AT
THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF AIRPORT ROAD AND
GLADES BOULEVARD IN SECTION 12, TOWNSHIP 50
SOUTH, RANGE 25 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA
CONSISTING OF 11.89+/- ACRES; AND PROVIDING FOR
REPEAL OF ORDINANCE NO. 97-14, AS AMENDED, THE
DEVOE PONTIAC PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT AND
January 25, 2022
Page 118
RESOLUTION NO. 99-87 RELATING TO A CONDITIONAL USE
FOR A HOMELESS SHELTER; AND BY PROVIDING AN
EFFECTIVE DATE – ADOPTED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, that brings us to your
advertised public hearings. It's 9A. It's a zoning petition, St.
Matthew's House CPUD. The item requires that all participants be
sworn in and ex parte disclosure be provided by commission
members.
It's a recommendation to approve an ordinance Amending
Ordinance No. 2004-41 as amended, the Collier County Land
Development Code, which established the comprehensive zoning
regulations for the unincorporated area of Collier County, Florida, by
amending the appropriate zoning atlas maps or maps by changing the
zoning classification of the herein described real property from the
DeVoe Pontiac Planned Unit Development and the General
Commercial District within the Mixed-Use Subdistrict the Gateway
Triangle Mixed-Use Overlay District to the Commercial Planned
Unit Development within the Mixed-Use Subdistrict of the Gateway
Triangle Mixed-Use Overlay Zoning District for a project to be
known as the St. Matthew's House CPUD to allow a 150-bed
homeless shelter and up to 130,000 square feet of commercial
development on property located at the southeast corner of Airport
Road and Glades Boulevard, Section 12, Township 50 south, Range
25 east, Collier County, Florida, consisting of 11.89 plus-or-minus
acres, and providing for repeal of Ordinance 97-14 as amended.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Still wanted the camera time,
didn't you?
MR. ISACKSON: You know, I'll do it on the change sheet;
how about that? I've got to graduate into this.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes, that's true. Let's go in with
January 25, 2022
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our ex parte. Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I did have conversations with
representatives of the adjoining property, West Shore Point Naples,
Mr. Pires and Mr. Tilbrook; I had a meeting with Mr. Brooder;
Mr. Fumo; Mr. Trachtenberg representing St. Matthew's House; and
a telephone call, very brief, with Mr. Yovanovich.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, I've had a multitude of
meetings with parties on both sides, emails as well, and phone calls.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I've had -- I met with the St.
Matthew's House board, including Steve Brooder, Rick Fumo, and
Joe Trachtenberg; I also met with Tony Pires, Addary Alfonso, and
Steven Tilbrook; and I also met again with Rich Yovanovich. I've
had a phone call and met with him; and I also attended the CCPC
meeting, the second one. And then, of course, we have many emails
from constituents on this issue. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I had meetings with the
petitioner and the surrounding property owner, also correspondence
and emails.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And I, as well, meetings,
correspondence, emails, and phone calls on the subject.
Do you want to swear them in?
(The speakers were duly sworn and indicated in the affirmative.)
MR. YOVANOVICH: Good afternoon. For the record, Rich
Yovanovich on behalf of St. Matthew's House.
I want to introduce the people that are here that are part of the
team that may speak, and that is -- you've met Rick Fumo. He's the
chairman; Steve Brooder's the chief executive officer; myself; Wayne
Arnold -- it's not on, Troy. You got it. Thank you -- Wayne
January 25, 2022
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Arnold; Frank Feeney's our engineer; and Jim Banks, our traffic
consultant.
You've had a chance to meet with all of us about what we're
proposing to do, which is basically create a unified campus for
St. Matthew's House and, essentially, increase the number of beds
from 104 to 150. We've had a long -- two-day hearings with the
Planning Commission. We've had long discussions with the owner
of -- the representatives of the owner of the apartment complex.
Probably at 11:00 this morning we reached consensus on the
remaining items. And I'm going to put on the visualizer the two
commitments that we've agreed to put in the PUD. I'm going to ask
Mr. Tilbrook to come up and say if these are included in the PUD,
that their opposition is withdrawn, and then I can continue and do the
presentation, or we can just answer questions if you have them.
We, essentially, agreed to provide security cameras in the rear of
the property to provide additional assurance to our neighbors that the
property is well managed and safe. And if an incident happens, the
tapes will be available to law enforcement and our neighbors if they
need them. And we agreed to -- both sides agreed to have better
communication with each other and identify to each other who are
the right people to call if discussions need to happen with regard to
not only vagrancy and trespassing but any other issues on both sides.
So we're going to exchange contact information and keep that
updated and have regular meetings to make sure everything is in
order.
With that, my understanding is, as you all were aware at the
Planning Commission, there was a request that we somehow fund the
maintenance of their gate. That's been withdrawn. And these two
conditions would be added to the PUD that's in your -- in your
backup information.
We're okay with these commitments, and I believe
January 25, 2022
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Mr. Tilbrook's client has agreed with those -- is okay with these
commitments. And I'm just going to ask him to come to the podium
and state on the record that so I don't have to go into a long
presentation, if that's okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. And I just have a quick
question, because I know one of the concerns of the complainant was
the fact that these were verbal and they're not put into the actual
documents. These will be put into the actual documents?
MR. YOVANOVICH: These will be added to the developer
commitments section of the PUD.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you very much.
MR. TILBROOK: Thank you, Rich.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the County Commission.
My name is Steve Tilbrook. I'm an attorney with Akerman
Law Firm in Fort Lauderdale, and we represent West Shore Point
Naples, which is the owner of the apartment complex that is directly
adjacent to the St. Matthew's House campus and the subject of this
rezoning.
It's been a long, hard road of working together. I want to thank
Rich for his consideration and the members of the St. Matthew's
House for working hard with us. It's not easy for a property owner
to accept the conditions associated with a rezoning to expand a
homeless campus next to their apartment complex.
So we've worked hard. We reached a resolution this morning.
We're thereby withdrawing our opposition. And we wish St.
Matthew's House well with its expansion and consolidation of its
campus, and we look forward to a productive neighboring
relationship.
And thank you to the mayor [sic] and commissioners for taking
the time to meet with us, to listen to our concerns, and helping us to
reach this resolution.
January 25, 2022
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We're here to answer any questions.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: What a refreshing display of
cooperative work together between two sides. We've all met with
you previously. And I wouldn't say you were at opposite ends, but I
certainly -- I think I speak for all of us in saying, you know, thank
you so much. Homelessness in this area -- we have so many people
come to the podium and talk about, you know, what are we doing.
You know, what's -- what's -- why aren't we addressing
homelessness? And it's organizations like St. Matthew's House.
We could also talk about Wounded Warriors of Collier County that
are addressing things.
You know, the first thing that weighed on me is you're not
looking to expand any of your buildings. You're just adding more
beds that's already under your preexisting roof. But all of the
conversation that we would have here is really for naught now
because, you know, you all have worked it out. So I just say, you
know, my hat's off to you-all. I know that my colleagues probably
want to say something.
But I work very closely with St. Matthew's House. I wouldn't
rubber stamp anything that they brought forward because I think, you
know, we have to weigh all the options. But, you know, it would be
proud for me to make a motion that we approve this based on what
you're saying, you know, right now.
So I make a motion that we approve the rezoning and allow the
increase in beds.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I just thank you. Thank you
for this wonderful display of working together and making it the best
January 25, 2022
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possible project for both sides. Thank you so much.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Do we have any public comment,
sir, Troy?
MR. MILLER: We do have several registered public speakers
on this. I will remind the speakers that you can waive your time if
you no longer want to comment.
Mr. Tilbrook, did you want to speak again?
MR. TILBROOK: No, thank you.
MR. MILLER: Anthony Pires?
MR. PIRES: We'll waive.
MR. MILLER: Donna Fiala?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Since she missed her last --
MR. MILLER: Well, actually, it was supposed to be for this
item. There was confusion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, okay. Good.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Ma'am, I remind you you
have three minutes.
MS. FIALA: Thank you for the reminder.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Three plus.
MS. FIALA: It takes me that long to get up there.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: She knows I'm kidding.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Fiala, I'm going to
remind my colleague that I'm the chair and you take as long as --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: As long as she wants.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You hear me? You have as much
time as you wish, my dear.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Absolutely.
MS. FIALA: Oh, thank you, kind sir. It was very nice of you.
Well, as many you know, I live right around here. And also,
I've lived in this development for 20 years, this government center.
So I saw what happened before they ever came here, which was in
January 25, 2022
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the '90s. Because when we lived here before, there wasn't a
problem, we didn't have everybody all congregated into one area.
They were spread all over. And there were a lot of woods around
here and everything.
When they built St. Matt's, that changed the composition. Well,
we pretty well got along, and we tried. Things kept getting worse.
Let me tell you the things you don't hear about from anybody. I
haven't heard what anybody else has to say, but we in the county here
have had a lot of problems because, you know, we're on public
property here. So we used to have picnic tables here for our staffs to
go out and eat lunch in the front yard -- and you-all remember
that -- and sit at the picnic tables. Well, then the homeless wouldn't
let us on there because they were sleeping out there and -- or
lounging or whatever. That was a problem, so they had to take all
the picnic tables out. Then -- and they did.
And then, of course, we built a parking garage, and they felt a
new place that they could sleep. You see, if they are drinking, if
they're using drugs, they're not allowed in St. Matt's to sleep, but they
feed them every day, they give them money every day, and so
there's -- and they give them telephones.
What they do was -- the things that they're not allowed to do
there, they do over here. And, like, in the parking garage, they'll
say, this is public property, we have every right to be here. And they
do. They do. We have to -- some of the people -- I know in some
of the departments where they start a little bit early, like 7:00 in the
morning -- lots of our employees are really good about getting up in
the morning. I, however, never was.
But anyway -- but there's homeless already all around. Our
security has to get there earlier, and they use the stairs up to the
building for a bathroom, let me just say it that way. So everything
has to be hosed down.
January 25, 2022
Page 125
They always use our -- they plug their phones in that they get
from St. Matt's. They plug them into the electric things, so they had
to change those outside. We've just had so many problems, but
you'll never hear county complaining about it.
I used to say to our County Manager, well, tell them -- call St.
Matt's. Tell them. They'll clean it up. Well, they never would.
They didn't want to make any trouble.
Same with the Sheriff's Office. Plenty of crime, but they will
never tell you about it. They'll take care of it, but they won't bother
the people. They don't want to frighten people into moving to this
area.
Now, the people that are very much in favor of this, they don't
live here. They're happy to keep it here because then it's not in their
neighborhoods, and I understand that. But it's very difficult for us.
Just like, what was it, two weeks ago, and you probably read it in the
newspaper where some 74-year-old guy was coming back to his car
in the garage just picking something up from the government center,
hit on the head terribly, had to be rushed to the hospital because the
guy wanted money.
They've gone to a few employers -- and I've talked to a few
department heads who people -- whose women going out to their car
have been accosted.
This -- this is not a friendly place. I know that they want to do
better but, you know, they already get lots of money. You know,
Bruce Holecek bought them this property, this property, this
restaurant, this whole community. I mean, they have money pouring
in there. But the more money you pour in, the more people you
draw to it. All the -- all the churches are going to say, oh, isn't that
wonderful, but they don't realize what doesn't happen or what
happens on the outside of St. Matthew's.
St. Matt's has a good objective. They want to do this, but they
January 25, 2022
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can't let people in that are heavily on drugs or heavily on alcohol
because they just don't want that infecting their area.
So they give them food, they give them money, they give them
phones, and they say, but just, you know, behave yourself.
Anyway, we've had a lot of problems with them. And if you
think that we haven't, the people in East Naples, we're used to just
taking it on the chin anymore because that's all we do. Everybody
that doesn't want them in their area devotes money to make sure that
it stays in our area. And it would be nice if, for instance, there was
an end to it. But anyway, I just --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MS. FIALA: -- wanted to tell you how we feel.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Commissioner Fiala.
MR. MILLER: Our next speaker was Kelsey Couture; am I
reading that right?
MS. COUTURE: I'm going to waive.
MR. MILLER: Okay. And Michael Nojonas.
MR. NOJANAS: I'm going to waive.
MR. MILLER: Ray Steadman.
MR. STEADMAN: Waive.
MR. MILLER: And Brittany Hargrove.
MS. HARGROVE: Waive.
MR. MILLER: And that was all of our speakers, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, there you have it.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Can I make -- Mr. Tilbrook wanted me
to make sure that the motion included the two additional
commitments to be within the PUD. I assured him it was, but I
thought I'd make sure that's --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: The motion maker and
seconder -- second -- person who seconded it okay with that?
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yes.
January 25, 2022
Page 127
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes. It's been moved and
seconded. Any additional discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
MR. YOVANOVICH: Thank you. We appreciate it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yep.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
Item #11B
LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFICATION MASTER PLAN UPDATE -
APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: That moves us back to County Manager's
report. Item 11B, which is a recommendation to accept a Landscape
Beautification Master Plan update, and Ms. Trinity Scott, your deputy
department head for Construction and Maintenance, will present.
MS. SCOTT: Sorry, there's traffic.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's right. Too much traffic.
Too much traffic.
MS. SCOTT: Good afternoon. I thought I would be
presenting this morning, but other items took longer, and Rich
January 25, 2022
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Yovanovich, for the record, held me up.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That will cost you.
MS. SCOTT: Exactly. He knows it.
For the record, Trinity Scott, deputy department head.
Today I am joined with our newly appointed permanent road
maintenance director, Jerry Kurtz, who oversees our landscaping
operations, as well as our landscape manager, Pamela Lulich.
They'll be assisting me with any questions that you have about the
material that I'll be presenting.
Today we're going to discuss the arterial roadways that are
currently landscaped. What we have experienced in recent years
with design and installation costs, maintenance costs per mile, as well
as some cost-saving measures that we have been instituting
internally, as well as a discussion about what we anticipate costs are
going to do in the near future as well as providing some information
with regard to our deferred landscape areas. By the way, that's a
lively group out there.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We can hear you just fine. I don't
think it's seeping through.
MS. SCOTT: Thanks.
So this map shows our current existing arterial roadway network
that has existing landscape beautification. It is approximately
122 miles. We have -- we contract a majority of our maintenance
out, but we do have in-house crews as well. So we are responsible
for 122 miles of maintenance.
In 2016, the Board had reinstated the Landscape Beautification
Master Plan, and so between 2017 and 2018, we did install 18.2 new
miles of landscape and irrigation that brought us to the 122 miles.
We do have approximately two miles of additional landscaping
that we have in the works right now, which is Davis Boulevard from
Santa Barbara Boulevard out to Collier Boulevard, which was
January 25, 2022
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approved by this board last year. And for that project, we are
receiving funding from the Florida Department of Transportation for
the design and installation.
So the last time we installed landscaping was between Fiscal
Year '17 through '19. And as you see from this slide, in Fiscal Year
'19 we were experiencing about $413,000 per mile for design and
installation.
Due to the high demand and low supply of materials, we
anticipate that design and installation costs will continue to escalate.
Our landscape maintenance costs per mile have also escalated
over the past few years; however, in the last fiscal year, we did see
approximately a 10 percent decrease from the prior year. The cost
per year per mile is higher in Fiscal Year '20 and '21 because we were
addressing some deferred maintenance such as irrigation pump
replacements, tree trimming and removal, and comprehensive plant
replacements.
When I tell you that this staff is frugal, I mean it. They try to
address as many means as they can to be able to reduce costs. One
of the cost reduction items that they have implemented is looking at
the fertilization of our plant material. And in lieu of fertilizing four
times per year, they were able to adjust and be able to fertilize two
times per year, which saves us not only in materials, but also for the
labor costs associated.
They're also implementing setbacks for our plant material to
where the plant material is four feet back from the curb for not only
crew safety, it decreases our lane closures, which is a hindrance to
our traveling public, but also reduces the number of plant materials
that are necessary. In addition, they aggressively pursue Florida
Department of Transportation grants to be able to offset any costs
that we can.
And another sidenote, when we are doing turn-lane projects that
January 25, 2022
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will alter the existing landscaping, Ms. Lulich does a cost analysis to
see if we can replant that tree cheaper in an area that we need a new
tree. So we are trying to reuse our existing materials as much as
possible to save those costs in the long term.
Now, as much as we're very aggressive with trying to keep our
costs down, we also know the market right now. Fuel costs have
increased per AAA, $2.31 a gallon one year ago to approximately
$3.30 a gallon in January. Our fertilizer costs in increased $3 per
bag in a 30-day period of time.
We have our maintenance costs -- our maintenance contracts,
which are on renewals. We are not -- we are just renewing the
contract this year. We are not going out to bid in anticipation that
we would receive higher maintenance costs.
Our mulch production and installation lead times have increased
by two-and-a-half months, and our brick pavers now have a 21-week
lead time.
So these are all things that we are experiencing with the existing
market that we are evaluating so that we make sure, as we come up to
you in our upcoming budget cycle, that we are budgeting
appropriately for the continuing landscaping maintenance.
As you are aware, you hear me usually up here talking about
transportation and widening roadways. We have a very aggressive
road widening schedule over the next 10 years that is going to
require -- or it shouldn't require. Actually, what it's going to have is
we will have many medians without landscaping, and so that's what
this map represents. These are the roadways that are either in
progress of being widened or added right now or anticipated in the
next few years where we will not have landscaped medians.
So just a recap, currently we have 122 miles that we are
maintaining with approximately two miles additional that we
anticipate constructing shortly. We anticipate that the landscape
January 25, 2022
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design and installation costs will escalate as well as the maintenance
costs, but we're going to continue to evaluate and determine if there
are any additional ways for us to reduce costs. We will continue to
aggressively pursue grants for plant replacement and irrigation
upgrades, and at this time we're not recommending reinstating the
Landscaping Beautification Master Plan.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And so we're being called upon
today to accept this Landscape Beautification Master Plan update and
not approve anything. So with that, I'll call for a motion or -- well,
Commissioner Taylor, you're lit up.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, I was going to say that I
accept it, but -- and I don't know -- and I would like to make a motion
to that effect.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. It's been moved that we
accept the plan.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I just had a question.
You know, Trinity, we spoke in my office, but I think I'm
mishearing you, and maybe even others are. So you have a five-year
plan, so it's not like we're not going to continue beautifying. You
sort of said at the end, the last sentence that, you know, we don't
renew it, but we still have things in the works, correct?
MS. SCOTT: We will continue to maintain what is
existing -- what is --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
MS. SCOTT: -- what is existing landscaping. We have two
miles that we anticipate adding for Davis Boulevard.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Right, but that's FDOT.
MS. SCOTT: But beyond that -- right, that's within FDOT.
But beyond that, any of the new roadway miles that we're adding,
Veterans Memorial --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Right. I gotcha.
January 25, 2022
Page 132
MS. SCOTT: -- we are not planning on landscaping those
materials -- landscaping those medians. They will have sod installed
as part of the road project.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But the two miles will
because it's funded by FDOT.
And then I just wanted to add, and this was part of our
conversation, you know, there's quite a few medians that maybe
when money was more available, there was some pretty robust
landscape designs in some medians that maybe looked great during
installation, but now as those plants have gotten large and huge, I
mean, you have a palm tree and then right next to it you have a
Bougainvillea, and then right next to it you have a fern. And, I
mean, there's some medians that are pretty crowded. And we even
get complaints from citizens who say they're kind of overgrown and
it blocks visibility and whatnot. So, you know, I would just add on
the record, you know, the design, even though we're not really doing
anything right now, but the design is really important.
MS. SCOTT: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And so even if we're out
there for maintenance, if we see that maybe the design was too
robust, like you said, even moving some plants around, if we think
there's too much there and we're maintaining. There's several
medians where I think some extraction of some -- I mean, I'll leave
that to you. But you've clarified what I said. I wanted to just triple
check that that two miles isn't suspended; you know, it's in the works.
Thank you, ma'am.
MS. SCOTT: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders. And
there's been a motion made, if somebody wants to second the motion,
and then I'll move to discussion.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'll second the motion.
January 25, 2022
Page 133
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And then we'll have a -- because I
have some comments as well.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. The new roads
that are being built without median beautification, are they being
designed and built with median beautification in the future so that
there's no problems digging up stuff that's already in there, irrigation
areas and that sort of thing?
MS. SCOTT: Yes. We routinely put sleeving, and we make
sure -- Pam Lulich reviews all of our -- all of the plans that go
through Tecum to make sure that they have prepared the medians
appropriately.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, think about it, that
includes -- not traffic lights, but roadway lighting and that sort of
thing. It's all kind of designed to have that added?
MS. SCOTT: It depends on the roadway. Some roadways we
do not, at least for streetlighting, based on the area and based on our
planning studies.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And then silly question, but I
just thought of it when you were talking about fertilizer. Do you
calculate in the fertilizer needs the fact that it's reuse water that has
nutrients that -- which would impact the amount of fertilizer needed?
Is that --
MS. SCOTT: I'm going to defer to Pam Lulich on that because
she's probably our fertilizer expert, or Jerry. Sorry.
MS. LULICH: We've been using an 8-0-12 with no
phosphorus. Do I calculate the amount of reuse in the existing
water? No. We follow the University of Florida's standards for the
application. So we're applying to palm trees and doing an all-over
fertilization.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Maybe that's something to
look at. The only reason I ask that is I read somewhere there was a
January 25, 2022
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failure to consider the nutrients from reuse water which really
impacted the amount of fertilizer that was needed. So I'll just throw
that out there for your consideration.
MS. LULICH: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Is that it?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I wanted to add that I support
this going now and going forward, but I really want us to be
cognizant as we go forward about the arterial roads where MSTUs
have been established, and people are paying into it to keep their
roadway and their entrance to their neighborhoods beautiful. And I
don't think we should -- we should always include opportunity for
folks to landscape if they agree to an MSTU.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just for clarification, I don't think
this plan -- excuse me. Does this plan have anything to do with the
already existent agreements and MSTUs that are participating in the
upkeep of their landscaping?
MS. SCOTT: This is a map of the MSTUs. Currently none of
these roadways are anticipated to be widened, so we would not be
altering any of those areas at this time.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
MS. SCOTT: And certainly if we were going to, we would
work directly with the MSTU or CRA. This also covers the CRA
areas as well.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Sure. And before I call for the
vote, there are -- there is at least one pilot program that was in design
down on 951, I believe, or Collier Boulevard, and then another one
being constructed in Ave Maria on the design concept of inverting
the median as opposed to the hump, and I want to know, one, how the
progress of that is going and then, number two, I want the strict
January 25, 2022
Page 135
comparisons for a comparative -- on a comparative basis with regard
to the costs associated with that new design as opposed to how we've
always done it.
MS. SCOTT: I will look into that, sir.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. No other comments?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we accept the plan as presented. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
MS. SCOTT: Thank you.
Item #11C
RESOLUTION 2022-23: A RESOLUTION APPROVING
REVISIONS TO THE FY2022 PAY AND CLASSIFICATION
PLANS FOR THE COUNTY MANAGER’S AGENCY, COUNTY
ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, AND NON-UNION EMS EFFECTIVE
JANUARY 1, 2022; TO CONSOLIDATE CERTAIN PAY
GRADES AND ADJUST THE CURRENT PAY RANGES IN THE
COUNTY MANAGER’S AGENCY AND NON-UNION EMS
PLANS BY 10%; TO ADJUST THE CURRENT PAY RANGES IN
THE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE BY 10%; TO PROVIDE
ADJUSTMENT TO MINIMUM AND RANGE PENETRATION
INCREASES TO ADDRESS MARKET CONDITIONS AND
January 25, 2022
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INTERNAL EQUITY FOR THE COUNTY MANAGER’S
AGENCY, COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, AND NON-UNION
EMS EMPLOYEES; AND TO PROVIDE CONTINUED
AUTHORIZATION FOR THE CREATION OF NEW
CLASSIFICATIONS, MODIFICATION AND/OR DELETION OF
CLASSIFICATIONS AND ASSIGNMENT OF PAY RANGES
FROM THE PROPOSED PAY AND CLASSIFICATION PLANS,
USING THE EXISTING POINT-FACTOR JOB EVALUATION
SYSTEM, AND AUTHORIZE ALL NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENTS – ADOPTED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, Item 11C is a
recommendation to adopt a resolution approving revisions to the
Fiscal Year 2022 pay and classification plans for the County
Manager's agency, County Attorney's Office, and nonunion
Emergency Medical Services effective January 1, 2022, to
consolidate certain pay grades and adjust current pay ranges in the
County Manager's Office and nonunion EMS plans by 10 percent, to
adjust the current pay ranges in the County Attorney's Office by
10 percent, and provide adjustment to minimum and range
penetration increases to address market conditions and internal equity
for the County Manager's agency, County Attorney's Office, and
nonunion EMS employees, and to provide continued authorization
for the creation of new clarifications, modifications, and/or deletions
of classifications and assignment of pay ranges from the proposed
pay and classification plans, utilizing the existing point factor job
evaluation system, and authorize all necessary budget amendments.
Ms. Amy Lyberg, your Human Resources director, will present.
MS. LYBERG: Good afternoon, Commissioners. For the
record, Amy Lyberg, Human Resources.
The item before you today, Commissioners, is a result of a
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process that began in the summer of 2021. At that time the county
engaged with Evergreen Solutions, a consulting firm with expertise in
conducting classification assessments for city, county, and state
government organizations. There are still several phases before the
study is fully completed, and we anticipate wrapping that up with
some recommendations for the start of Fiscal Year 2023.
The consultants have recommended actions to address employee
compensation, which is what's before you today, which we'll review
with you, along with the update on the study and conditions
impacting our hiring and retention in the county.
On an annual basis, the county has conducted a review of
compensation to the external market, and we benchmark positions
against other public agencies. In February 2018, the agency's pay
plan was less than 5 percent different from the -- you know, from
what we're seeing in the market; 5 percent difference in that -- in that
market difference for the pay plan.
With a survey that was a year ago, in January 2021, we were
experiencing now greater than 10 percent difference in the market of
the salaries for the county to the external market. Evergreen
completed a market analysis this past fall, and the current conditions
indicate the salary starting pay is now nearly 13 percent less than our
peers in the survey.
Additionally, and it's important to note that the salaries of
75 percent of the County Manager Agency employees fall below the
pay range midpoint. So why is this important? For the purposes of
this study, the midpoints, typically the pay range -- and actually in the
market generally, the midpoint is the pay range an individual could
expect to earn if they are fully trained and effectively performing all
the functions of the job.
So there's also a number of factors that are existing in our
current talent pipeline and our ability to attract and retain employees.
January 25, 2022
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Collier County has, as you know, for years been near or at the top of
the cost-of-living index for the state of Florida. We were listed
second in 2021 at 6.45 percent above the statewide average. It will
also come as no surprise that housing availability and affordability is
of great concern. While our agency has been continuing to recruit
for open positions across the United States when we have vacancies,
many applicants outside of the tri-county area have declined job
offers due to the cost of rentals or inability to purchase a home in this
area.
Review of the data as well shows that over 17 percent of our
current staff members in the agency live outside of -- have an address
outside of Collier County. With the potential for long commute
times to their Collier job, we've observed in some areas of the agency
that we have lost staff when these employees located comparable and
at times higher paying jobs closer to home.
Locally, private industry has already adjusted to these market
changes offering pay rates from 15 to $20 or greater per hour to fill
their staffing needs. Local government agencies are also making
adjustments to attract new staff and address earnings and equities to
the external market.
Talk a little bit about the turnover as well in our county
vacancies. We've been trending up the last few years. Our turnover
in FY '20 was 11.4 percent. For Fiscal Year 2021, that increased to
13.5 percent. So far since October 1st, we've had 92 employees
leave the organization with a growing number of separations. This
slide actually says 29, but since we've actually prepared this, I think
we've probably -- or we have another 10 or so that have already
announced that they'll be leaving.
If we continue this pace, we could see nearly 370 staff leave
before the end of the fiscal year, which would push turnover to over
17 percent in the organization.
January 25, 2022
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If we looked at the cost of this turnover -- a number is one thing,
but what does it cost the organization when we're looking at that
turnover? If we look at even a conservative estimate of 50 percent
of an employee's burdened salary, cost of turnover for Fiscal Year '20
was approximately $9.36 million; for 2021, that would have been
$11.124 million; and even the turnover so far this year is nearly
$4.166 million.
We also have nearly 200 open positions in the organization, but
applications from interested candidates are down 37.6 percent
between 2020 and 2021. We've had 4,000 fewer applicants for open
positions.
To put the organization in a better position, the
recommendations that are before you today will hope to address these
pressures in some respects, at least in an interim capacity, and align
with the County Manager's compensation strategy of having the
agency's pay plan meet the market.
So we're proposing that the following intermediate steps be
taken retroactive to January 1st of 2022. The first would be to move
all positions under the County Manager's agency entry level pay
grades, which are Grades 102 through 108, into Pay Grade 109.
This pay range has a minimum starting salary of 15.58 per hour.
That gets us in a position in a couple of ways. We are then more
competitive with our market. We're also ahead of minimum wage
considerations for the minimum wage law that was passed and
preparing us for -- to be ahead of that before the 2026 deadline.
The second request is to increase the pay ranges for the County
Manager Agency and County Attorney's Office pay plans by
10 percent.
The third would be to provide a range penetration pay increase.
For the County Attorney's Office staff, they're going to receive
increases between 3 and 6 percent to their base salary, which is an
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average adjustment of 4.73 percent, or roughly $4,385 per employee.
For the County Manager Agency staff, employees would receive
increases between 4 and 10 percent of their base salary amount as a
range penetration adjustment. And the range -- and the range for
those increases, between 8.27 and 8.98 percent increase. And that
really is dependent on the range in which their pay grade -- the pay
grade in which they fall. That average increase comes out to $5,780
per employee on average.
And you note from these slides that there are differences in the
increased amounts between the County Attorney and the County
Manager's Office pay plans. The reason for the difference is the
County Attorney independently, in 2020, did conduct a market
survey and did make some implemented adjustments at that time to
more closely align pay ranges and salaries to the then market rates.
And I'd like to note during the pay study process we've
continued to communicate with our partners in the county
constitutional officer agencies. HR and Finance staff in the agencies
have received a copy of the consultant's draft report, which is also
part of the backup for this item today, and where questions have
come up, we are having conversations about the intermediate findings
and how their organizations might consider applying the market data
to their applicable positions.
So over the next few months, what are we going to be doing?
We are going to be receiving the consultant's final report for the last
few phases of the pay study. The proposed interim adjustments
should provide the county with some time necessary to successfully
work through the remaining sections of the Classification and
Compensation Study which will focus on revising the pay structure
and establishing sound pay practices.
Based on the outcome of the study, we'll be working with
county senior management and division directors to ensure proposed
January 25, 2022
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changes meet organizational objectives, and then we'll make
recommendations for Fiscal Year '23 for consideration and further
direction.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You didn't ring the bell. Are you
done?
MS. LYBERG: I didn't ring the bell. I am done, yes, sir.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Does any of my colleagues have
any questions before I go?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, just a quick question.
MS. LYBERG: Yes.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Does this line us up as an
organization to give consideration to merit pay advantages sometime
in the future?
MS. LYBERG: It certainly does. One of the things that our
consultants have encouraged us to look at is to make sure that we
are -- if we are -- if we want to be aligned with the market, our first
steps really need to be that we bring salaries up to where the market
it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
MS. LYBERG: But if we continue to move in this direction
both now and at the beginning of Fiscal Year '23, they would
recommend that a merit component could be considered for the
beginning of Fiscal Year '24.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Outstanding, good, because that's
been something that I've longed to see in this organization since I
became a commissioner, so...
With that, I'll entertain a motion.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Move approval.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Second.
January 25, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we approve the item as been presented. Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed, same sign, same sound.
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So moved.
Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
Item #11D
RECOMMENDATION TO DISCUSS, EVALUATE, AND
PROVIDE GUIDANCE ON THE DESIRED TRANSITION
APPROACH AHEAD OF THE COUNTY MANAGER’S
PLANNED RETIREMENT ON JULY 1, 2022 - MOTION FOR
COUNTY MANAGER TO EVALUATE VARIOUS RECRUITING
FIRMS, QUALIFICATIONS, COSTS AND INQUIRE FIRM
RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING INCLUDING INTERNAL
CANDIDATES AND STAFF TO BRING BACK INFORMATION
AT THE NEXT MEETING – APPROVED
MR. ISACKSON: Commissioners, Item 11D I guess you can
blame me for. It's a recommendation to discuss, evaluate, and
provide guidance on the desired transition approach ahead of the
County Manager's planned retirement on July 1, 2022.
January 25, 2022
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CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: You know, it never dawned on me
that we could just deny your request for retirement and not have this
discussion until somebody brought it up today.
MR. ISACKSON: I suppose you could do that, sir, but...
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm not sure it would be
effective.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah. True.
MR. ISACKSON: Let me just throw on the visualizer -- hello.
Testing. Let me just throw on the visualizer the executive summary
text and talk to the Board a little bit about essentially what we did a
year ago before I was -- before I was hired.
The various options you see on 1, 2, and 3, essentially, is to
conduct an external search utilizing our standard process to hire a
County Manager through the agency staff through personnel -- our
Human Resources area. That's, essentially, what we did -- the
process that we went through before the Board opted to select me as
the next County Manager.
Also provided was an external search through a recruitment
firm, and then I've added one, personally, to essentially close the
recruitment process to interested senior leadership, department heads,
and other interested high-level directors following our standard
human resources process. So those were the three that I think
probably have some merit for the Board to consider.
The next part of the executive summary talks about what exactly
took place between December of 2020 and March of 2021. And
you'll see that the external/internal search was coordinated through
our Human Resources Division. We released the County Manager's
position announcement on the county's website as well as other
recruitment services, and we developed a position profile,
establishment of a recruitment and selection schedule, we compiled
all candidates for Board consideration, the Board members evaluated
January 25, 2022
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the candidates, and a short list was presented for further Board
consideration.
The final short-list candidates were ranked by the Board, and
then we scheduled presentations before the -- before the Board of
County Commissioners and, finally, the selection of the County
Manager candidate, and contract negotiations ensued.
If we can just isolate right now conversation connected with
how the Board chooses to proceed at this point with the process.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. I'll endeavor to keep notes.
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'll just kick it off with a
couple comments. First of all, I hate to lose you, but thank you for
your service, and I know you're not walking out the door yet, Mark.
We sure kicked this around a lot previously when, you know,
Mr. Ochs departed. So my position, unless -- but I really want to
hear, obviously, from my colleagues -- but just to get the
conversation going is I liked what we decided last time. It brought
some cream to the crop that was internal, it brought some external
people in that maybe we wouldn't have expected, and in the end I
compared you, Mark, to the internal and external candidates, and it
made me feel that much better about even hiring you, you know,
looking at the competition.
So I also thought it was great -- a great job by our HR
Department. I thought they just did an unbelievable job led by Amy
and her team. And we had a lot quicker turnaround, I think. Maybe
I'm doing the math wrong. It just seemed like we were under the
gun. You were under the gun, but we were getting binders and
books and interviews and presentations.
So I'll just throw it out there. I like what we did last time. We
have until July. I also think this time what would be a little bit
different is, Mark, you have led with such authority and polish and
January 25, 2022
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professionalism and, you know, you've, I think, even empowered and
have found some folks on our staff that, you know, you have really
mentored in the time that you've been in the seat that I think will even
get candidates internally that maybe hadn't thought about fulfilling
the position. And also, it's not just your position. We look like we
also have a deputy position and whatnot, so there's a little -- you
know, there's a few more moving parts.
But, you know, in conclusion, I like what we all decided last
time, worked very well, and I think it made it -- it gave the
impression or confirmation to the public that we didn't have nepotism
going on here, and we just didn't hire, like, the person we liked the
best; that we gave everybody a fair chance, and we picked the best
candidate, so that's my thoughts.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: The last time I was
promoting going out with an outside recruiting firm to see what was
available in terms of other managers around the state and perhaps
even other parts of the country. I still think that that's the process to
go through.
We did very well with the last process. Mark's done a great
job, but Mark's leaving. And I think we need some more talent
brought into Collier County. I know we've got a great staff. I think
Mark has moved a lot of people around and moved them up, and
that's a great thing. But I think we need to go outside with a
recruiting firm. And, quite frankly, I like the concept of not having
county employees applying; having this really an outside search.
So that's my belief is that we need to do something on the
outside. That was my concern last time, and that hasn't changed.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And I agree with everything that
Commissioner Saunders just said. I think what we could have open
January 25, 2022
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to discussion is to whether or not we allow internal candidates to
apply. I mean, I think there is some value in institutional
knowledge, obviously, so -- but I agree that I think -- I think opening
up the pool and creating a bigger list of folks that can be evaluated by
a third party would be the way to go.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman, can I make
just -- jump out of line here and just make one quick comment as to
why I had said closing the issue just for board members to consider.
If you're a manager in Jacksonville, just picking an example, and
you're looking at Collier County, and you're looking at county
employees that are applying for the job, you want to be assured that
this is not a fixed process, that it's -- and so that may result -- if we're
not careful, we may result in not getting the quality pool of
candidates. That's the only reason I suggested it. If that's a
problem, then I can certainly change my view in terms of opening it
up, but that's why I suggested that.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah. And I understand that
that -- you know, it's -- it's kind of a chicken and the egg problem.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: That's a tough one. And that's
obviously not the question I want to ask our staff for a
recommendation on.
But, yeah, I mean, how does everyone else feel? I'm curious
about that because, I mean, I see it both ways.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We're going to get there.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, I mean, this is difficult,
but having been through this three times on another board and now
once here, one of the -- we always went outside, and we never -- it
was never open to internal candidates because it has a chilling effect
January 25, 2022
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to those you're going to solicit their interest in it, because you can't sit
there and tell somebody -- you can. You know, the recruiter can say,
oh, no, this isn't -- this is -- there's no -- there's no chosen candidate
but, unfortunately, the presence of local candidates, when you go out
for a national search, can really taint the picture. Not intentionally,
but it just does. It's human nature.
And this is tough. This is tough because -- but, you know, life
is like that right now, and it's something where I would support
Commissioner Saunders' idea to go out. I think -- I think it's what
we need to do right now.
When I weighed it in my mind, I said, you know, we all know
the world seems to be coming here, right, the Northeast and the
Midwest and California and everywhere, to live here. And I'm
thinking, well, maybe -- maybe that is an advantage for us at this
point to go out for this position, and maybe that person, or whoever
that person is, might even bring people to this county. So I think it's
an opportunity that we need to take. I think we need to go forward.
The first time we did it was wonderful. I was very pleased. I
was very -- a strong advocate for this. I'm very pleased that Mark
became our County Manager. But as I say, life happens, and now
we're here at a new chapter, and I'm very -- I'm delighted you're
bringing it up now.
You've handled -- what you've handled in the last few months is
just incredible. Your professionalism and your concern for this
organization is outstanding.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you. I agree but don't
agree. I really think we need to go through the process of an
external search. I don't think we need to hire a head hunter or a
consultant to actually go solicit membership.
I would prefer that we do what we did before for a limited
period of time with some adjustments. I don't think that appointing
January 25, 2022
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two members of the Board to oversee HR was necessary at all. I
didn't find that a fruitful use of my time. Our HR Department did an
amazing job during that process.
I have also hired executives, CEOs, both in the public and
private sector before, some with recruitment firms and some without.
I would think, if I were a current county employee -- because a
typical employee wants an opportunity to advance, and if we chose to
close this to our existing employees and staff, we lose that
opportunity for institutional knowledge and also kind of sort of
disincentivize our existing staff and employees from a potential of
maybe some day being the County Manager.
So my personal preference is we do do the external search, we
open it up on the -- similar to what we did before with our HR
Department advertising the position, and we have similar discussions
with regard to the position and the parameters that we offered when
we opened it up. But, minimally for a brief period of time, I
mean -- and I don't -- you know, I'm just throwing this out as an
opportunity to get to a compromise to see if we have candidates that
give us the wow factor, if you will.
We open it up internally, maybe review it at our second meeting
in February with regard to our efforts, how many candidates we have
received -- applicants we have received, forgive me, and then at that
meeting make a decision.
Because the recruitment firms, they have a stable. They have a
group of people that they're instantly in communication with as to
who potentially might be interested. I don't think we would disavow
an applicant that came through a recruitment firm. I certainly would
entertain an offer from a recruitment firm that wanted to offer up a
position -- or person and/or a candidate.
So my thoughts are, do the outside search for a limited period of
time then reevaluate, similar to what we did before with a couple of
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adjustments.
Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. I stick by what I said
initially. I, too, have used search firms before. I've never excluded
internal candidates. Here's why I have a concern doing that. First
off, if we did decide to use an outside firm, we paid them a lot of
money to be impartial. And I think by -- if we did bring in an
outside firm but we told them they couldn't entertain any internal
candidates, then we have prematurely decided amongst ourselves that
there are no internal candidates that we think are even possible. And
imagine if we would have done that, then we wouldn't have gotten
Mark, so.
I'm not -- I'm open to a search firm, but I agree with
Commissioner McDaniel. It's January 25th. When I look at
how -- what a great job our HR Department did to advertise internally
and externally and give us some candidates, certainly, you know, in
30 days, or whatever the magic number is, we could take a look.
And if we felt like we didn't have at least a good cadre of initial
candidates, there's still time.
But I also echo what Commissioner McDaniel is saying, is
people want an opportunity to advance, and I just think that we'd be
doing a disservice to our employees and also not sending a great
signal saying we're bringing in an outside firm, and if you think you
could compete to be the County Manager, we've decided you can't.
And then also, too, by allowing internal candidates to compete,
maybe we interview some people that maybe aren't ready to be the
County Manager, but we also have some deputy seats, or at least one,
that's available. So it allows us to sort of get a closer look at the
senior leadership that we have internally.
So I would stick by the decision that we made last time and have
HR lead the charge, see what comes of that, and then regroup after
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we took a look at who internally and externally applied through our
HR Department.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mark, when is your last day?
Is it the 1st of June or --
MR. ISACKSON: July 1st is a Friday.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So we have --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: What year, July 1st, what?
2024?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We have five full months.
MR. ISACKSON: Go ahead, sir. I'm sorry.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It sounds like a lot of time,
but it's not. And we're in a market that is so competitive. City of
Naples is looking for a manager. I'm sure there are other
jurisdictions throughout Florida. It really is a competitive market.
I think we need to jump on this right away. I do believe we
need to have a search firm. I don't think a search firm costs a lot of
money, quite frankly. I think the last time it was going to be about
$26,000. That's about a third of a lane mile in our median
beautification program. So it's -- you know, you put it in some
perspective. It's not a tremendous amount of money, but I think it
can certainly put us into a position of getting some good candidates.
As I said, I think it should be closed to county employees, but
I'm a team player, and if it takes open -- keeping it open to county
employees to get three votes to do that, I'm okay with that. But I
don't think our Human Resources Department really is the right place
to start soliciting resumés. I don't think you do that on Facebook and
some of the other platforms. So I'm going to stick with I think we
need to go outside.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: County Manager, you were
wanting to say something there. If you --
January 25, 2022
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MR. ISACKSON: Yeah. I just wanted to point to the -- this is
the schedule that we had a year ago when we went through the
recruitment process.
Brittany tells me that there's going to have to be a little bit of a
period of time if you decide to go out and hire a search firm. So we
might want to add the -- it says candidate. We've got the position to
be -- is advertised to interested candidates. There was a period
between the 15th of January 2021 and the 18th of February 2021. I
suspect that if we interject a search firm into the process, you know,
we're talking about, essentially, the month of February and probably
into that first meeting in March for --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Procurement, just to get through
the procurement process.
MR. ISACKSON: Yeah, no. I think we have some leeway in
terms of -- because I'm not so sure that the search firm's going to cost
us in excess of $50,000, so -- but the --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: But doesn't the Board have to
select a search firm?
MR. ISACKSON: Yeah, that's right. And I was just chatting
with Brittany about -- apparently the last time we were looking at
this, we didn't have much luck in terms of the interest from search
firms. So maybe we'll have to take another shot at that time around
if the Board goes down in that direction at this point.
All I'm saying is that you might want to extend that 30-day
period by another, let's say, two weeks, three weeks. You may be
into toward the end of March before we have a search firm on board,
have candidates to look at, things of that nature.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Would it -- you know, I'm torn on
this issue because there are -- you know, I agree that, you know, I
think there's folks internally that, you know, have proven themselves,
January 25, 2022
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and I'd hate to just exclude them. I mean, if we got into a situation
where including internal candidates had a chilling effect that we
really saw was an issue, I mean, could -- could we have an interim
manager and then revisit it? I'm just trying to figure out how
we -- how do we make sure that we looked at as many possibilities
and made it as competitive as we can? Is that -- is there some
process there as a fallback that if we couldn't -- if we really thought
that we didn't get the candidates, the kind of candidates that we
wanted, that we would somehow be able to limp forward?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Well, let's just talk about that.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I mean, we're not broke now.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: No.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We have an organization that if, he
left today, we'd be okay. It wouldn't be all that fun, but we as an
organization would be okay.
That's my personal opinion. We have an amazing staff. We
have amazing department heads. We have an amazing deputy.
Yes, she's smiling at me right now, so I was correct in that
assumption. So we're not broken.
I think if we go through this process, whether we choose to hire
an outside firm to do the solicitation or not, I would -- again, I'm
certainly -- I think we ought to just go ahead and open the position up
like we did before on the Internet with those search engines that we
have.
We're coming back in two weeks at our first meeting in
February. By then we'll be able to ascertain whether or not we
have -- what kind of candidates we've been receiving so far,
applicants we've been receiving so far. Whether or not then we have
an adequate offer from a search company recruitment firm to do that.
We're not belaboring.
January 25, 2022
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Because I have concerns, Commissioner Saunders, on dictating
that we hire a recruitment firm just simply because of the -- not solely
because of the expense, but because of the time associated and the
reluctance that our staff is sharing with us with regard to even having
one the last time. So I don't see any reason to not open the position
up right now without a search firm, and then if in our first meeting in
February we haven't received applicants like we thought and/or staff
comes to us, then we can talk about engaging a search firm then.
MR. ISACKSON: If I can just maybe interject a couple
observations based on the conversation at the dais. It looks like we
want to conduct an external search. The concept of whether we hire
a search firm has been talked about, and there's obviously different
opinions on that.
What we can do at HR's level is, number one, let's find out the
level of interest from search firms between now and your meeting
of -- your next meeting, come back with another report to the board at
that point in time, what level of interest do we have from search
firms? And then give you a little bit of a schedule with or
without -- if there's any interest from search firms. If there's not, we
can give you that report and give you a breakdown of a schedule.
And you could still probably be on schedule for some type of a
candidate evaluation during the last -- later part of March.
I'm looking to Brittany to see if -- whether that's even doable or
not. But I suspect that we might be able to give the Board some
more concrete information on search firm or no search firm
depending on level of interest or not.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I was just -- I was -- as I was
trying to find some middle ground, I was observing Commissioner
Saunders, and I was just wondering -- based upon his expression, I'm
just wondering what's your -- what are your thoughts about that? I
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mean, you know, I'm not against just going outside. I just, you
know --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And Commissioner Taylor as well.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: He addressed you personally. Do
you mind sitting tight a second while these two talk this out?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Go ahead.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, he wants to hear from me,
too.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Well, I want to hear from both of
you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, yeah. We all want to hear
from you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think what I would suggest,
based on the conversations, and certainly your comment,
Commissioner Solis, in terms of not excluding county employees,
that we -- my proposal would be to direct the County Manager to
immediately source search firms, come back with a recommendation
of a search firm or two at our next meeting with the pricing, and at
our next meeting select a search firm, keep it open for county
employees to apply through the search firm so that their applications
can be evaluated just as well as -- along with everybody else's.
We have -- I know we have five months, and that sounds like a
lot of time --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It's not.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- but it will be over in a
heartbeat.
And so I really, really feel we need to solicit outside applicants
and keep it open to the employees. If they want to apply through our
consultant, so be it.
January 25, 2022
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COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Just hypothetically, if he
came back --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner Taylor's lit up, and
then I'll come to you.
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I was wondering if the reason
that we didn't have much response initially to the headhunters -- I'm
going to call them headhunters or the search firm -- is because they
knew we were including local.
MR. ISACKSON: HR's telling me that the search firms that we
had contacted and that were contained in the memo from former
County Manager Ochs were at capacity based on their staffing. So
the suggestion would be, again, based on Commissioner Saunders, is
let's see where they're at now, and we'll bring back a status on that at
your next meeting so that we at least know what we're dealing with in
terms of the market.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And then, Commissioner
Saunders -- are you done?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm not finished.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Are you done?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Nope. I am going to call to our
County Attorney who actually spent a great deal of his early work life
doing this. And I'm interested in, have you ever encountered a time
when these firms were at a capacity they couldn't -- they couldn't find
candidates when you were doing it?
MR. KLATZKOW: When I was doing this, half this room
wasn't born yet, I don't think. So it was a while ago. It was a
different market time. I worked as a headhunter on Wall Street
before I went to law school so -- you know. But at that point in
time, no, the agencies never turned down business. It's a
commission-based business in a lot of ways, so, you know, you
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would just always say yes to a client.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I found that interesting that they
were at capacity and not -- especially with a commission-based
business. So, Commissioner -- are you done yet?
MR. KLATZKOW: But I will tell you this, okay, because I
have been recruited over the years. This is a -- we live in a
public-records environment, and we live in an age of Google. And
when you put your name in a hat for a position, sooner or later
everybody that you're currently working with knows it, all right.
That's the -- that's the chill of it. If there's any scintilla of a thought
that there might be a strong internal candidate, you are not going to
do that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I don't understand what you
said.
MR. KLATZKOW: You are not going to potentially wreck
your current career to apply for another job if that other job has a
strong internal candidate.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So how are we going to -- how
do you tell if there -- if we open it for applying, you're assuming that
there's somebody that might be a strong internal candidate.
MR. KLATZKOW: If you're going to open this up and you
want strong candidates, you're going to have to say no internal
candidate. Now, that does not preclude you at the end of the process
from saying, you know what, George is better than these guys or Dan
is better than these guys and go that way anyway. But if you're
going to go outside, you don't do it with the internal guys applying.
You know these people. You just went through the process less than
a year ago, all right. So you already know that. You know what
they can do. You've been working with these people, all right. If
you want to go outside and bring somebody in that might be better in
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your estimation, then you're going to have to do that to get somebody
better as saying that there are no internal candidates, because people
won't apply.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But we have the ultimate
decision at the end.
MR. KLATZKOW: You always have the ultimate decision on
who to hire. So you can go through the entire process. You can go
through the interview process. You can say, you know what, none
of the people we talked to were better than George or none of the
people we talked to were better than Dan, or any other internal person
you might like, and go with that person. So you're not precluded.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
Commissioner LoCastro and then Solis.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'm not opposed to having
you come back in two weeks and let us know what search firms are
interested, but I still want to reserve the right to not be forced to pick
one. I still want to know that we could hear everything and say, no,
I don't -- I don't want any search firms. So I want to make it clear
that when we make a motion here, that there's clarity there. I'm not
opposed to having -- getting more details on a search firm.
I will tell you I'm going to be shocked if it comes in at 20,000.
And not that the money -- it's not a million dollars, but I think Marco
Island spent $80,000, and they did it twice because if you remember,
you know, after this unbelievably great search firm shook the trees,
then the person that got selected then was arrested, and then they paid
the search firm another 80,000. So let's make sure we don't pick that
company.
But having said that, I just want to specify that if we vote here to
have you come back in two weeks with search firm options, that it's
not, okay, here's three options. Pick one. I want to have the option
to just say, I still stick by what I think we initially did. I think it's a
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waste of money and, you know, whatnot.
So I didn't know that I heard that clarity. It almost sounded like
we were voting on a search firm and then coming back in two weeks
with the options for those firms, and I want to make sure that if that's
the case, that it's clear to me so I know how I want to vote.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: No motion's been made yet, just so
you know.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay.
MR. ISACKSON: It's more for -- it's more for availability, and
here's what the costs are.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Right.
Commissioner Solis.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It seems like a fundamental
question in the HR industry. I mean, I'm just wondering,
Ms. Lyberg, if -- I mean, is this a thing in the recruiting world? And
is this a question that we could just ask recruiting firms if -- does it
taint the process somehow and -- or does it have a chilling effect on
getting the most candidates to apply?
MS. LYBERG: Commissioner, we certainly, as part of our
outreach, could ask for -- if they have a -- if there's an industry
standard or recommendation that they would have for us as part of
this ask before we come back, if that's what the desire is.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: It seems like a fundamental
question in any recruiting situation for a local government or for any
government, yeah. I mean, it's just -- so...
MS. LYBERG: I mean, the answer may be that they say, is it
the desire of the hiring organizations, and we will certainly work with
you whichever way you want to go. But, you know, they may be
able to tell us we've done X percent of excluding internals and Y
percent of including. And we can -- if they have that available and
we can provide that, we will -- certainly can ask that question.
January 25, 2022
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COMMISSIONER SOLIS: So, Commissioner Taylor, I'm
just -- so where -- I'm trying to figure out where you're at.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Me?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Right.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I feel that we need to go
outside. I think that we will be able to find a firm that's willing to
work with us. I hope that when you're asking the firm or firms about
their policies, you might ask the simple question, which has been
more successful in terms of -- for your results that you're trying to do
for your client, or phrase it in such a way that they understand that
this is more of an esoteric question rather than a very specific, and
then we can take that information.
So, again, I'm fairly -- I have always learned from people
smarter than me and, frankly, I think that it's outside, and it's without
internal candidates. But I love the option at the end if we don't get
what we want -- and I've been through that -- we can -- we know
who's here.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And so -- and I'm just going to
say -- I mean, Commissioner Saunders is ready to make a motion,
and before he does, I'd just like to offer up the idea. I don't concur
with the County Attorney's opinion about the deferral of potential
candidates coming. When we opened it up before, we opened it up
to everyone, did a world search through the Internet. We had
internal candidates; we had external candidates.
I concur wholeheartedly with Commissioner Saunders that
though five months seems like a long time, I really don't think
deliberating for two weeks and do nothing over whether or not -- and
who we hire as a consultant or recruiting firm is prudent by any
stretch of the imagination. And I'm wondering why we can't do
both. Why we can't go ahead and open it up as we did, deliberate in
two weeks as to whether or not -- once we have a real cost associated
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with a recruiting firm, as to whether or not we choose to do that at
our first meeting in February -- and we're not burning two weeks of
time.
I think we're mistaken that the hiring of a recruiting firm is
magnanimously going to produce this body that we're all just going to
go okay with. And I think that delaying that -- delaying this
process -- it's well known already, and not opening up the position is
not the most effective path for us to travel.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I see it in reverse.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I don't disagree that you do.
So, Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. I'm going to make a
motion that I think summarizes what I think the majority is saying,
that is the Manager will source various recruiting firms, see which
ones are available, what the general pricing is, get their
qualifications, and maybe even be prepared to make a
recommendation if we go that route, but evaluate what's out there and
what's available.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Before you make your motion, one
second, not that we're going to be swayed all that much, but, we
do -- I think we do have public comment, if I --
MR. MILLER: We have one registered speaker, Daija
Hinojosa.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, we may be swayed.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And just so you know, we've
already started the process to do some rent control. No, just kidding.
MS. HINOJOSA: That would be amazing. You moved faster
than Agenda 21. I'm just kidding.
For the record, my name is Daija Hinojosa, and I just wanted to
make a comment. I've been in business management for over 10
years. That's pretty much what I've spent my career doing. And the
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one thing that I've learned being in business is that leadership is about
succession. And, you know, for the County Manager to be leaving, I
think it would be fair that internal candidates have the opportunity to
grow and promote and look for that next big thing.
You know, being able to pass the baton is kind of like what we
should all be living for when we work in leadership positions. So,
you know, if I was the County Manager, I would be looking to see
which internal candidates do exercise great leadership, which ones
have really excelled in their role, who is ready for that next step,
because, you know, as we just heard from the last presentation was
that we have a lot of turnover in the county. And in any business, I
think when you start shutting down the ability for people to grow and
promote, they start looking elsewhere.
And so I just think that it would be wonderful to at least allow
your internal candidates to at least apply so that they can see that
when they work for Collier County, they have an opportunity to
grow.
Also, the downside to just going and only making it available to
external candidates is those people don't even live here. They don't
know our culture. They don't know about our county. They don't
know the people. They don't know the other employees. You're
bringing a stranger to now be the leader of everybody.
So I just wanted to say I think it would be great for you guys to
open it up to everybody. That's it. Thanks.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
All right. Commissioner Saunders, you want to proceed with
your motion?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. Let me start all over
again. Direct the County Manager to evaluate various headhunting
firms that are in the business of finding County Managers for local
governments, evaluate their qualifications, their cost, and be prepared
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to even make some recommendations if we move in that direction.
On the issue of whether it's open to our employees to apply,
inquire from those firms what their recommendation would be just so
we have that information, and then we can make that decision in two
weeks when they come back.
And in the interim, I don't suggest that we go on Indeed or the
Internet or anything like that to apply -- to ask for people to apply;
that we go down this process first and see where it leads.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'll second that motion.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's been moved and seconded that
we do what Commissioner Saunders suggested. Any other
discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm going to vote for it, but I don't
like it, just so you know.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: All in favor?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Opposed --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: -- same sign, same sound. 4-1.
MR. ISACKSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
Item #15
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MR. ISACKSON: That moves us to Item 15, staff and
January 25, 2022
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commission general communications.
A couple of things on my end, if I can, Commissioners. We're
approaching the dry season, and I wanted to alert the Board that I'm
likely going to be consulting with Summers and our related fire
chiefs to institute a --
MR. MILLER: On mic, sir.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: A ban.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: This early?
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's not too early, Commissioner
Taylor.
MR. ISACKSON: If I may.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no, I know.
MR. ISACKSON: I'm going to be consulting with the EM
Director Summers and our five chiefs, and we'll be following our
protocol to, at some point in time, probably sooner than later,
instituting a burn ban in the community. So I just wanted to let the
Board know that that's on my radar screen, so.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you.
MR. ISACKSON: The second item is our workshop schedule.
And, obviously, on Monday we had our joint TDC/BCC workshop.
And I wanted to let the Board know that we are proceeding with our
mental health workshop in June on June 7th and with our CRA
workshop on May 3rd at this point. Our CRA Director Forester has
been aware and will be prepared for that date on May 3rd for the joint
BCC/CRA workshop. And there are topics that we're bringing back
as separate executive summaries and reports to the Board; those in
the area of affordable housing, our Growth Management Plan, and
stormwater management.
So just to let the Board know that, again, this item is on my
radar screen, and our staff is moving ahead with those workshop and
January 25, 2022
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separate executive summary topics.
Finally, Commissioners, the saga of the monoclonal site is on
everybody's radar screen. The EM Director Summers had sent an
email out. I pushed that forward to the Board.
We're holding the lease right now at the Beach Club pending
any further directives from the FDA at a federal level. Apparently
all the six or seven sites in the state of Florida have been closed. I
don't know how many nationwide, or if it even applies nationwide. I
assume it does, given it's an FDA directive. So just be aware that
we'll be prepared to open it up if clearance dictates that we open it up.
So that's all I have.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: County Attorney? Nothing?
Commissioner Solis?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Nothing from me. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Commissioner LoCastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, I want to bring up just
three quick things.
We get a lot of email from citizens who notice a lot more trash
along the roadways, and I think we're all working with our county
staff. But to separate rumor from fact from anybody who might be
listening or when we reply to our constituents. You know, as we
know, some roads are controlled by FDOT, some roads are controlled
by the county. And an awful lot of the trash that gets picked up in
Collier County is residents.
So anything we can do to help advertise.
KeepCollierBeautiful.com, it's a website you can go to. So, you
know, I've been pushing that out there to different communities who,
you know, will send 10 emails about the aluminum can that's on their
front lawn instead of going out and just picking it up themselves.
FDOT has made it clear to us that they're really shorthanded
right now, and hats off to our county staff who have said, you know,
January 25, 2022
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at this point, hey, we don't care whose job it is. We're all going to
pitch in and do what we can and not leave trash on the road and say
it's somebody else's problem.
But to citizens that are out there, even my peers here, help us
advertise the Keep Collier Beautiful, because there's a lot of people
who can take responsibility for their own neighborhoods and even,
you know, sort of adopt a highway as well.
Secondly, at our last meeting we passed a public safety
ordinance that has been sort of known on the outside as panhandlers,
you know, ordinance, although we know that had to do a lot with
public safety. As I've told a lot of my constituents -- I've had a lot of
town hall meetings in the last two weeks -- it's going to take some
time. So panhandlers aren't going to ever disappear, because it's not
illegal to ask for money, but just as we approved in the ordinance,
there's a time and place to do it. Public safety is a big piece but,
also, too, give our sheriff a chance to get their staff informed and
trained.
You know, the day that we passed it, I got an email from a
citizen, and it probably represented other citizens who said, yeah, we
heard you passed the ordinance, and then we saw a panhandler, and
we called 911, and the officer on the other end said he didn't know
anything about the ordinance, and they couldn't do anything. So
people need to be patient. You know, we're trying to do the right
thing and ensure public safety.
And then, lastly, to address affordable housing, to Ms. Hinojosa
and also other people. I'm the commissioner chair of the Affordable
Housing Committee, and I'm here to tell you we're not sitting on our
hands. We're actually, you know, doing quite a bit. And at our last
meeting, we invited some citizens to come, and we're looking at
forming a citizen action committee to make sure we're getting as
much input from people who are truly out there, because one thing
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that was answered for us is that if you all remember that spreadsheet I
provided you all of all the housing in Collier County, and, you know,
which housing has affordable housing units, the average price -- the
benefit of having the citizens come to our last meeting is there were
several there who looked at where they actually live and said, the
data isn't correct. And the reason it's not correct is because our
county calls some of these housing units randomly. But even as our
own county -- and I won't say who the person was, but it's a member
of our own staff. They said, well, we called from our office, so we
feel pretty confident that the caller ID says "Collier County," and
then we say, "Do you have affordable housing units?" And they say,
"yes." And then we say, "How much are you charging for them?"
And they say, "$800 a month."
And the reality is that number is not correct, or they have one
unit left at a reduced price, but our spreadsheet shows that they have
23 units. So we're trying to get our handle on that.
But, lastly, I will just say that our County Attorney here sent us
all some information on an email at the last break that is very
valuable to separate rumor from fact, and there's a lot of citizens out
there that would like us to subsidize rents with basically taxpayer
money or do something magical and, actually, what our County
Attorney sent us -- and I'm not going to summarize it, because I think
we all need to digest it. But the short version is there's a lot of things
we actually can't do that the state has the lead on. So some things
that people are suggesting to us -- and even I will tell you there was a
citizen at the Affordable Housing Committee that said, oh, Tampa
has already passed something, and they're already doing it, they're
light-years ahead of us.
And as you'll see in the email that Mr. Klatzkow's office sent,
that's actually not true. He actually specifically addressed Tampa.
So more to follow, but we are doing as many aggressive things
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as we can, but it's not as easy as just writing every citizen a $1,000
check to offset their housing costs.
And then I will remind everybody that we've had developers that
have come to this podium how many times with a development, and
we've said, we're -- we don't hate it, but we like it a lot more, and
we'll approve it if you add 10 percent affordable housing, or I think
even last time, you know, Commissioner Saunders squeezed
20 percent out of one of our last developers.
And that's -- I'm not saying that solves the problem, but it is part
of the solution. There's not one answer. So we're trying to create
more inventory out there that is affordable. But this is still Naples.
So even some of the affordable prices still aren't dirt cheap, but we
are doing some things. And I invite anybody to come to the
Affordable Housing Committee meetings. They're advertised. We
have them once a month. We have one coming up next week, and
they're open to the public. We had every member of the press at the
last meeting because I personally invited them. And they came and
they interviewed quite a few of us afterwards and ran a really great
story on what we are doing.
So I just wanted to talk about those three things and, you know,
more to follow on affordable housing and the progress we make on
panhandlers, and Keep Collier Beautiful. Take responsibility for
your neighborhood.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Thank you, Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, thank you.
The Central Library on Central Avenue in the City of Naples has
a large parking lot that in nighttime is not being used, so this is really
a policy question. Because the Naples Players have come to me and
said, you know, do you think it would be possible to be -- to use it?
Now, they could use it right now. They could go park there right
now. They don't want to do that. They don't want -- they don't
January 25, 2022
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want reserved, you know, parking places. They don't want it fenced
off. They want none of that. They just want to have the permission
of the county to be able to utilize this parking lot in the evenings.
They have 60 to 90 volunteers. And the parking garage downtown,
that's Duwanie's (phonetic) plan, right? On 5th it was always
business in the daytime, fun at night. Everybody can use the same
parking lot.
So they just want to expand it to see if the county would be
willing to do this, and I wanted to bring it up to see if there were any
nods and then maybe have staff --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: What do they want to do?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- research it. Park.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Park.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: There's 60 to 90 volunteers
with -- and their performances are generally in the evening most of
the time.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. And they want to
use -- they want to use the parking -- the library's parking lot as
overflow parking?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Overflow is probably not
the -- as parking --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Just parking?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- as well as using other areas.
But they would like to be able to use it but not rope it off. No big,
you know, this is ours and it's from this -- none of that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's not going to inhibit the existing
patrons of the library or anything?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no, because the library
closes at 7:00.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. I'm just asking.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But, again, this is -- if there's an
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interest in this, I'd like --
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: The parking lot's open, isn't it? I
mean, they could --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, it's wide open.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: -- park there. I think it's a great
idea.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: It's -- I'm curious as to why they're
asking permission and not just doing it.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Because they're the type of
organization that aren't just going to say, oh, there's some parking
places, go do it. They want to make sure that -- they're good
neighbors. They want to make sure that we --
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: A dollar a car.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: We could get a little bit of --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I would remind them they are a
501(c)3.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Could you make sure
whatever arrangements you discuss with them that their parking is
available when the library is closed?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: If the library has a program
at 8:00 at night -- just make sure that the library's closed when they
want to use the lot.
MR. ISACKSON: I'd feel a lot more comfortable if we can get
something from them through -- either through your office or sent
directly to me indicating their intentions.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
MR. ISACKSON: That would be appreciated.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Get it all memorialized in
writing.
January 25, 2022
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MR. ISACKSON: Yes, please.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: All right. I'm happy to do that.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's a very prudent move.
Again, I -- because I feel like commission -- I mean, in pretense, it
sounds all just fine, but it moves from this to this, and then it ends up
inhibiting our normal operations and it's a "who gave them the
authority," so...
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, exactly. Okay. Thank
you. That's it.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: That's all?
Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't have anything.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I'm going to be very brief, contrary
to popular belief.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Except I did want to say one
thing. I'm sorry. I just wanted to congratulate -- give my kudos to
Georgia in their national championship game.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: We're the better team?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: They --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We almost bought Georgia hats
and then decided second -- to second guess ourselves with that.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Go dogs.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: And on that note, this seems rather
minuscule.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Mr. Chair.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: What?
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: Since I know what you're going to
say is really, really important.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: And you should be the hammer at
the end of the meeting.
January 25, 2022
Page 171
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: I will be here in a minute if you
keep it up.
COMMISSIONER SOLIS: I just wanted to do a feel-good
thing and congratulate Dr. George and Heather on being a new dad.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Congratulations, Dr. George.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Okay. We have an issue with
infrastructure in our community.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: Yeah, surprising. And one of the
issues we have is cell service. Even with the existing cell towers
that we, in fact, have available, our influx of winter visitors is
consuming bandwidth. And all of us, I know myself even in the
urbanized area, is having difficult times getting cut off. And so one
of the -- one of the thoughts that I had -- I asked staff to produce a list
of county-owned properties.
Dr. George is coming to me with our Utility's own properties,
and giving this list to our Zoning and Planning Department to go
through and analyze these sites as to what can be elevated up highest
to provide an offer up to cell tower companies to assist with the
infrastructure and the zoning requisites on these county-owned lands
as to what we need to do. It's something that really needs to happen.
It's not just in the east. It's actually in the urban area as well.
I had a meeting with one of the cell providers a month or so ago.
And when you -- it's scary, as you all sit there and look on your cell
phones. It's scary the amount of bandwidth --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'm trying to see if I can get
service.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm not having trouble.
CHAIRMAN McDANIEL: So if it meets with your approval,
January 25, 2022
Page 172
I'd like to move this forward. We aren't going to do anything until
we come back and talk to you about the potential pieces of property,
and there is -- and we already have experience with it. I spoke with
Dr. George. I think we have two cell towers on our north
wastewater water facility up on Goodlette Road now. There are
boosters -- when I was wandering Veterans Park over the weekend,
there are boosters on the lights poles that are in there. And so I think
we need to provide that very needed infrastructure for our residents,
so with your permission I'm going to move it forward, and then we'll
come back and talk about specific sites as we go.
Other than that, we are adjourned.
*****
****Commissioner LoCastro moved, seconded by Commissioner
Taylor and carried that the following items under the Consent
and Summary Agendas be approved and/or adopted****
Item #16A1 – Moved to Item #11E (During Agenda Changes)
Item #16A2
ADVERTISE AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO.
2019-01, AS AMENDED, THE FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT
ORDINANCE, TO SPECIFY ELEVATION OF
MANUFACTURED HOMES IN FLOOD HAZARD AREAS; TO
PROVIDE CRITERIA FOR ACCESSORY AND AGRICULTURAL
STRUCTURES IN FLOOD HAZARD AREAS; AND OTHER
CHANGES
Item #16A3
January 25, 2022
Page 173
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN A COLLIER COUNTY LANDSCAPE
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT (“AGREEMENT”) BETWEEN
COLLIER COUNTY AND BRE DDR CARILLON PLACE LLC,
FOR LANDSCAPE AND IRRIGATION IMPROVEMENTS
WITHIN THE AIRPORT PULLING PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY -
FOLIO #25500000750
Item #16A4
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN A COLLIER COUNTY LANDSCAPE
MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT (“AGREEMENT”) BETWEEN
COLLIER COUNTY AND 6376 NAPLES PROPERTIES, LCC,
FOR LANDSCAPE AND IRRIGATION IMPROVEMENTS
WITHIN THE NAPA BOULEVARD AND NAPA WOODS WAY
PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY - FOLIO #38332360008
Item #16A5
RELEASE OF A CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN WITH AN
ACCRUED VALUE OF $117,588.50 FOR PAYMENT OF $2,000
IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTION TITLED BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS V. ELIAS VALENCIA, RELATING
TO PROPERTY LOCATED AT 2930 70TH ST SW, COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA - FOR CODE VIOLATIONS BROUGHT
INTO COMPLIANCE ON APRIL 26, 2020
Item #16A6
RELEASE OF THREE (3) CODE ENFORCEMENT LIENS WITH
AN ACCRUED VALUE OF $400,027.62, FOR PAYMENT OF
January 25, 2022
Page 174
$4,426.71, IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS TITLED
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS V. DORIS LEE
STATON ROSO AND SHEILA JAMESON, CASE NOS.
CEPM20130005552, CEPM20130011727, AND
CEPM20130013841, RELATING TO PROPERTY KNOWN AS
696 PINE VALE DRIVE, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA -
WITH A SETTLEMENT PAYMENT OF $4,426.71 FOR
VARIOUS CODE VIOLATIONS
Item #16A7
A REPORT REGARDING THE FEASIBILITY OF A TRAFFIC
SIGNAL AT THE INTERSECTION OF BELLAIRE BAY DRIVE
AND IMMOKALEE ROAD AS REQUESTED IN ITEM #15 AT
THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING ON
JUNE 8, 2021
Item #16A8
WILSON BOULEVARD WIDENING CORRIDOR STUDY FROM
IMMOKALEE ROAD TO GOLDEN GATE BOULEVARD AND
CONTINUE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AS THE PROJECT
PROGRESSES THROUGH SUBSEQUENT PHASES
Item #16A9
AN EXTENSION OF THE INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE CITY OF NAPLES AND COLLIER COUNTY
FOR CONTRACTOR LICENSING BY COLLIER COUNTY
THROUGH FEBRUARY 6, 2023 AND PROVIDE FOR
January 25, 2022
Page 175
AUTOMATIC RENEWALS THEREAFTER - DUE TO
TERMINATE ON FEBRUARY 6, 2022
Item #16A10
AGREEMENT #22-008-NS FOR MAINTENANCE, WARRANTY
AND SUPPORT FOR COLLIER AREA TRANSIT’S EXISTING
FIXED ROUTE AND PARATRANSIT SOFTWARE SYSTEM
WITH AVAIL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. TO ALLOW FOR
CONTINUED VENDOR SUPPORT WHILE STAFF COMPLETES
A SOLICITATION FOR A NEW SYSTEM AND AUTHORIZE
EXPENDITURES MADE UNDER THE AGREEMENT
THROUGH APPROVED FY22 EXEMPTION REQUEST #073
Item #16A11
THE CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE
BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $29,660 WHICH WAS POSTED AS
A GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER
PL20190002216 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH WHITAKER
WOODS
Item #16A12
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR FIDDLER’S CREEK, MARSH COVE - PHASE 2A,
PL20160001213, ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF THE
COUNTY UTILITY EASEMENT, AS RECORDED IN O.R. BOOK
5251, PAGES 1671-1672, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, AND AUTHORIZE THE
January 25, 2022
Page 176
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 AND FOUND THE FACILITIES
SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE ON DECEMBER 9, 2021
Item #16A13
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR FIDDLER’S CREEK, MARSH COVE - PHASE 2 REPLAT,
PL20160001215 AND 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 AND FOUND THE
FACILITIES SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE ON
DECEMBER 9, 2021
Item #16A14
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR ENBROOK PHASE 1, PL20210000222 AND 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 AND FOUND THE FACILITIES
SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE ON MARCH 16, 2021
January 25, 2022
Page 177
Item #16A15
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER FACILITIES FOR
ENBROOK PHASE 2, PL20210001544 - FINAL INSPECTION
WAS CONDUCTED AND FOUND THE FACILITIES
SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE SEPTEMBER 20, 2021
Item #16A16
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR ISLES OF COLLIER PRESERVE PHASE 9B,
PL20200001939 AND 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 AND FOUND THE
FACILITIES SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE ON
DECEMBER 6, 2021
Item #16A17
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF
THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER FACILITIES FOR
WHITAKER WOODS, PL20210002607 - FINAL INSPECTION
WAS CONDUCTED AND FOUND THE FACILITIES
SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE NOVEMBER 23, 2021
January 25, 2022
Page 178
Item #1618
RESOLUTION 2022-11: A RESOLUTION FOR FINAL
ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRIVATE ROADWAY AND
DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE FINAL PLAT OF
ISLES OF COLLIER PRESERVE PHASE 7, APPLICATION
NUMBER PL20150001904, AND AUTHORIZE THE RELEASE
OF THE MAINTENANCE SECURITY IN THE AMOUNT OF
$179,349.96
Item #16A19
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR BENTLEY VILLAGE – BENTLEY CARE CENTER PHASE
1, PL20210002854 - FINAL INSPECTION WAS CONDUCTED
AND FOUND THE FACILITIES SATISFACTORY AND
ACCEPTABLE ON NOVEMBER 17, 2021
Item #16A20
RESOLUTION 2022-12: A RESOLUTION FOR FINAL
ACCEPTANCE OF THE PRIVATE ROADWAY AND
DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE FINAL PLAT OF
RANCH AT ORANGE BLOSSOM, PHASE 2A, APPLICATION
NUMBER PL20150002151, ACCEPTANCE OF COUNTY
MAINTENANCE RESPONSIBILITIES FOR TRACT “R-2” OF
RANCH AT ORANGE BLOSSOM, PHASE 2A, AND
AUTHORIZING THE RELEASE OF THE MAINTENANCE
SECURITY IN THE AMOUNT OF $943,064.74
January 25, 2022
Page 179
Item #16A21
RECORDING THE FINAL PLAT OF SONOMA OAKS
(APPLICATION NUMBER PL20190002811) APPROVAL OF THE
STANDARD FORM CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE
AGREEMENT AND APPROVAL OF THE PERFORMANCE
SECURITY IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,472,821.49 -
W/STIPULATIONS
Item #16A22
RESOLUTION 2022-13 (5311): AN FY21/22 FEDERAL
TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION SECTION 5311 PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION GRANT AGREEMENT FOR FORMULA
GRANTS FOR RURAL AREAS IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,314,864
TO PROVIDE TRANSIT SERVICE TO THE RURAL AREA OF
COLLIER COUNTY; APPROVE A RESOLUTION
AUTHORIZING THE CHAIR TO SIGN THE AGREEMENT AND
CERTIFICATIONS AND ALL NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENTS. (COLLIER AREA TRANSIT GRANT FUND 424
AND COLLIER AREA TRANSIT MATCH FUND 425)
Item #16A23
THE ELECTRONIC SUBMITTAL OF AN FY21 FEDERAL
TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION SECTION 5307 AMERICA
RESCUE PLAN GRANT APPLICATION THROUGH THE
TRANSIT AWARD MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN THE
AMOUNT OF $1,595,333 TO SUPPORT TRANSIT SYSTEM
CAPITAL AND OPERATING COSTS AND ACCEPT THE
AWARD AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET
January 25, 2022
Page 180
AMENDMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,595,333. (COLLIER
AREA TRANSIT GRANT FUND 424)
Item #16A24
RESOLUTION 2022-14: A RESOLUTION AND EXECUTE THE
FY22-23 PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION GRANT AGREEMENT
(PTGA) WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION (FDOT) IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,116,412
PROVIDING FOR STATE FUNDING FOR ELIGIBLE COLLIER
COUNTY FIXED-ROUTE TRANSIT ADMINISTRATIVE,
MANAGEMENT, AND OPERATIONAL EXPENSES, AND
AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENT
(COLLIER AREA TRANSIT GRANT FUND 424)
Item #16A25
RESOLUTION 2022-15: THE ELECTRONIC SUBMITTAL OF A
FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION SECTION 5310
GRANT APPLICATION IN THE AMOUNT OF $299,621 TO THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND
APPROVE THE ASSOCIATED RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT
TRANSIT SYSTEM CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.
(TRANSPORTATION DISADVANTAGED GRANT FUND 428
AND TRANSPORTATION DISADVANTAGED MATCH FUND
429)
Item #16A26
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (FDOT)
BEAUTIFICATION GRANT FOR MEDIAN IRRIGATION AND
January 25, 2022
Page 181
LANDSCAPING IMPROVEMENTS ADDRESSING PLANT
REPLACEMENTS, IRRIGATION RENOVATIONS AND
HURRICANE IRMA REPLACEMENTS ON THE EXISTING
LANDSCAPED SEGMENT, STATE ROAD 951, COLLIER
BOULEVARD FROM JUDGE S. S. JOLLEY BRIDGE TO CAPRI
BOULEVARD FOR REIMBURSEMENT UP TO $100,000
Item #16A27
EXECUTE A FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION (FDOT) BEAUTIFICATION GRANT FOR
MEDIAN IRRIGATION AND LANDSCAPING IMPROVEMENTS
ADDRESSING PLANT REPLACEMENTS AND IRRIGATION
RENOVATIONS ON AN EXISTING LANDSCAPED SEGMENT,
STATE ROAD 951, COLLIER BOULEVARD FROM CAPRI
BOULEVARD TO SHELL ISLAND ROAD FOR
REIMBURSEMENT UP TO $100,000
Item #16A28
EXECUTE A FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
(FDOT) BEAUTIFICATION GRANT FOR MEDIAN
IRRIGATION AND LANDSCAPING IMPROVEMENTS TO
ADDRESS PLANT REPLACEMENTS AND IRRIGATION
RENOVATIONS ON AN EXISTING LANDSCAPED SEGMENT,
STATE ROAD 84, DAVIS BOULEVARD FROM US-41
(TAMIAMI TRAIL) TO AIRPORT-PULLING ROAD FOR
REIMBURSEMENT UP TO $100,000
Item #16A29
January 25, 2022
Page 182
EXECUTE A FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
(FDOT) BEAUTIFICATION GRANT FOR MEDIAN
IRRIGATION AND LANDSCAPING IMPROVEMENTS TO
ADDRESS PLANT REPLACEMENTS AND IRRIGATION
RENOVATIONS ON AN EXISTING LANDSCAPED SEGMENT,
STATE ROAD 84, DAVIS BOULEVARD FROM AIRPORT-
PULLING ROAD TO COUNTY BARN ROAD FOR
REIMBURSEMENT UP TO $100,000
Item #16A30
A BUDGET AMENDMENT REDUCING BUDGETED GRANT
REVENUES IN THE AMOUNT OF $112,500.00 AND
REALLOCATING FUNDS TO FUND CURRENT CONTRACTS
DUE TO THE TERMINATION OF FEDERAL EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT AGENCY HAZARD MITIGATION GRANT
PROGRAM SUB-RECIPIENT AGREEMENT #H0469 (PINE
RIDGE ESTATES) WITH THE FLORIDA DIVISION OF
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT. (PROJECT NO. 60126) - FEMA
NOTIFIED STAFF THAT THE GRANT HAS BEEN CLOSED
OUT BY FDEM AND FEMA
Item #16C1
RESOLUTION 2022-16: A RESOLUTION AND
SATISFACTIONS OF LIEN FOR THE 1996 SOLID WASTE
COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL SERVICES SPECIAL
ASSESSMENTS WHERE THE COUNTY HAS RECEIVED
PAYMENT IN FULL SATISFACTION OF THE LIENS. FISCAL
IMPACT IS $28.50 TO RECORD THE SATISFACTION OF LIEN
(MANDATORY COLLECTIONS FUND 473)
January 25, 2022
Page 183
Item #16C2
A DONATION AGREEMENT THAT ALLOWS VANDERBILT
NAPLES HOLDINGS, LLC, A FLORIDA LIMITED LIABILITY
COMPANY TO DONATE A 1.14-ACRE PARCEL ALONG WITH
A MANAGEMENT ENDOWMENT OF $166,440, TO THE
CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION PROGRAM
UNDER THE OFFSITE VEGETATION RETENTION PROVISION
OF THE LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE LDC SEC 3.05.07
H.1.F.VI.(B), AT NO COST TO THE COUNTY, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE DONATION
AGREEMENT AND STAFF TO TAKE ALL NECESSARY
ACTIONS TO CLOSE
Item #16C3
BUDGET AMENDMENTS IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF
$13,216,656.57 TO REALLOCATE FUNDING WITHIN WATER
USER FEE CAPITAL PROJECT FUND (412), WASTEWATER
USER FEE CAPITAL PROJECT FUND (414), CWS BOND #2
PROCEEDS FUND (419) AND TO REALLOCATE DEBT
SERVICE FUNDING BETWEEN THE CWS OPERATING FUND
(408) AND WASTEWATER IMPACT FEE CAPITAL FUND (413)
Item #16C4
CHANGE ORDER NO. 3 TO AGREEMENT NO. 18-7370,
"PUBLIC UTILITIES WATER-SEWER DISTRICT MASTER
PLAN," PROJECT NO. 70031, ENCOMPASSING ALL COLLIER
COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT CAPITAL FUNDS
January 25, 2022
Page 184
Item #16C5
AWARD REQUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (“RPS”)
NO. 21-7884, “DESIGN SERVICES FOR NEW CHILLER PLANT
BUILDING K, JAIL GENERATOR AND PLATFORM,” TO
MATERN PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING, INC., IN THE
AMOUNT OF $1,406,974, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR TO
SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT (INFRASTRUCTURE
SURTAX PROJECT NO. 50214)
Item #16D1
ITEM WAS CONTINUED FROM THE DECEMBER 14, 2021 BCC
MEETING. FOURTH AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT #19-
7537, “AFFORDABLE HOUSING MARKETING OUTREACH
CAMPAIGN,” WITH QUEST CORPORATION OF AMERICA,
INC., ADDING $171,528 TO SUPPORT ADDITIONAL SERVICE
AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE
ATTACHED AMENDMENT. (ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT
$171,528, HOUSING GRANT FUND 705)
Item #16D2
AWARD FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF ELDER AFFAIRS IN
THE AMOUNT OF $250,000 FOR THE GOLDEN GATE SENIOR
CENTER EXPANSION AND HARDENING PROJECT AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRPERSON TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENT AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENTS (HOUSING GRANT FUND 705)
January 25, 2022
Page 185
Item #16D3
THE CHAIRPERSON TO SIGN TWO (2) MORTGAGE
SATISFACTIONS FOR THE STATE HOUSING INITIATIVES
PARTNERSHIP LOAN PROGRAM IN THE AMOUNT OF
$23,960 AND APPROVE THE ASSOCIATED BUDGET
AMENDMENT TO APPROPRIATE REPAYMENT AMOUNTS
TOTALING $23,960 (SHIP GRANT FUND 791)
Item #16D4
THE CHAIRPERSON TO SIGN THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO
THE STREET LIGHTING AGREEMENT BETWEEN COLLIER
COUNTY AND THE CITY OF NAPLES ALLOCATING AN
ADDITIONAL $500,000 (HOUSING GRANT FUND 705)
Item #16D5
THE CHAIRPERSON TO SIGN THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO
THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND THE
COLLIER COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITY TO REDUCE THE
AMOUNT OF THE AGREEMENT FROM $579,000 TO $425,000
FOR A NET CHANGE OF $154,000, MODIFY THE
AGREEMENT’S SCOPE TO CLARIFY CLOSING LANGUAGE
AND PAYMENT DELIVERABLE REQUIREMENTS, AND
UPDATE COLLIER COUNTY CONTACT INFORMATION
(GRANT FUND 705)
Item #16D6
COLLABORATE WITH THE NAACP COLLIER CHAPTER,
January 25, 2022
Page 186
SOUTHWEST HERITAGE, INC., AND THE FRIENDS OF THE
COLLIER COUNTY MUSEUMS TO CREATE A “BLACK
HISTORY OF COLLIER COUNTY” EXHIBIT SPACE IN THE
BAGGAGE CAR AT THE NAPLES DEPOT MUSEUM; AND
ACKNOWLEDGE THE FRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM APPLIED
FOR A FLORIDA DIVISION OF HISTORIC RESOURCES
AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL
GRANT, AND THAT THE PROJECT WILL BE FUNDED BY A
VARIETY OF NON-COUNTY GRANT AND OTHER SOURCES
Item #16D7
WAIVE THE AVERAGE READMISSION PERFORMANCE
MEASURE REQUIREMENT FOR DAVID LAWRENCE
MENTAL HEALTH CENTER, INC., AND ALLOW FULL FINAL
QUARTERLY PAYMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $581,972.25
UNDER GF2021-003 STATE MANDATED SERVICES
(GENERAL FUND 001- MENTAL HEALTH COST CENTER
156010)
Item #16E1
DONATION OF 13 SENSORY KITS FROM ADDITIONAL
NEEDS, INC. TO THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
DIVISION FOR THE PURPOSE TO HELP CALM SPECIAL
NEEDS PATIENTS BEING TRANSPORTED BY AMBULANCE
OR IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS HANDLED BY STAFF -
HELPING PATIENTS ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM
Item #16E2
January 25, 2022
Page 187
THE ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR CHANGE ORDERS
AND OTHER CONTRACTUAL MODIFICATIONS REQUIRING
BOARD APPROVAL
Item #16F1
RESOLUTION 2022-17: A RESOLUTION APPROVING
AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING GRANTS, DONATIONS,
CONTRIBUTIONS OR INSURANCE PROCEEDS) TO THE
FY21-22 ADOPTED BUDGET
Item #16F2
FOURTH AMENDMENT TO THE LONG-TERM LEASE AND
OPERATING AGREEMENT FOR THE GOLF AND
ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX (THE “LEASE”) WITH CC BSG
NAPLES, LLC (“BIGSHOTS”) TO EXTEND THE FINANCING
CONTINGENCY PERIOD
Item #16F3
PARADISE COAST SPORTS COMPLEX OPERATING MANUAL
GOVERNING SPORTS FACILITIES MANAGEMENT, LLC’S
(“SFM”) MANAGEMENT POLICIES AT THE SPORTS
COMPLEX
Item #16J1
TO RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER
January 25, 2022
Page 188
PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR
WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS WERE DRAWN
FOR THE PERIODS BETWEEN DECEMBER 30, 2021 AND
JANUARY 12, 2022 PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06
Item #16J2
REQUEST THAT THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE
VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND
PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF JANUARY 19,
2022
Item #16K1
RESOLUTION 2022-18: APPOINTING JACOB DAMOUNI,
REPRESENTING COMMERCIAL/BUSINESS, AND
REAPPOINTING RICHARD SWIDER AND PETER GRIFFITH
REPRESENTING RESIDENTIAL INTERESTS, TO THE
PELICAN BAY SERVICES DIVISION BOARD
Item #16K2
RESOLUTION 2022-19: APPOINTING ANA PATRICIA
ESTRELLA REPRESENTING THE NON-PROFIT
TO THE IMMOKALEE BEAUTIFICATION ADVISORY
COMMITTEE
Item #17A
ORDINANCE 2022-03: AMENDING ORDINANCE NUMBER
2004-41, AS AMENDED, THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND
January 25, 2022
Page 189
DEVELOPMENT CODE, WHICH ESTABLISHED THE
COMPREHENSIVE ZONING REGULATIONS FOR THE
UNINCORPORATED AREA OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA,
BY AMENDING THE APPROPRIATE ZONING ATLAS MAP OR
MAPS BY CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION OF
THE HEREIN DESCRIBED REAL PROPERTY FROM AN
ESTATES (E) ZONING DISTRICT TO A RESIDENTIAL
PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (RPUD) ZONING DISTRICT
FOR THE PROJECT TO BE KNOWN AS CREWS ROAD RPUD,
TO ALLOW CONSTRUCTION OF UP TO 60 TOWNHOMES OR
MULTI-FAMILY DWELLING UNITS ON PROPERTY
LOCATED NORTHEAST OF THE INTERSECTION OF COUNTY
BARN AND WHITAKER ROADS, IN SECTION 8, TOWNSHIP
50 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, CONSISTING OF 9.96± ACRES;
AND BY PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE [PL20210000101]
Item #17B – Moved to Item #9B (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #17C – Moved to Item #9C (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #17D
RESOLUTION 2022-20: PETITION VAC-PL20210001150, TO
DISCLAIM, RENOUNCE AND VACATE THE COUNTY AND
THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN A PORTION OF THE 15-FOOT
DRAINAGE EASEMENT LOCATED ALONG THE BORDER
BETWEEN LOTS 46 AND 47, WHITE LAKE CORPORATE
PARK PHASE FOUR, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 42, PAGE
42 OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF COLLIER COUNTY,
FLORIDA, IN SECTION 35, TOWNSHIP 49 SOUTH, RANGE 26
EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA AND TO ACCEPT
January 25, 2022
Page 190
PETITIONER’S GRANT OF A 15-FOOT DRAINAGE
EASEMENT TO REPLACE THE VACATED DRAINAGE
EASEMENT
Item #17E
ORDINANCE 2022-04: AN ORDINANCE OF THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF COLLIER COUNTY,
FLORIDA, 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 CORRECT SCRIVENER’S
ERRORS AND UPDATE CROSS REFERENCES RELATED TO
VARIOUS LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE (LDC) SECTIONS,
INCLUDING THE FLORIDA BUILDING CODE (FBC), THE
FLORIDA FIRE PREVENTION CODE (FPC), THE FLORIDA
STATUTES (F.S.), AND FLORIDA ADMINISTRATIVE CODE
(F.A.C.) CHAPTER AND RULE CITATIONS, AND TO UPDATE
THE GOODLAND ZONING OVERLAY MAP WITH NO
BOUNDARY CHANGE; 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 ONE GENERAL PROVISIONS,
INCLUDING SECTIONS 1.07.00 LAWS ADOPTED BY
REFERENCE AND 1.08.02 DEFINITIONS; CHAPTER TWO
ZONING DISTRICTS AND USES, INCLUDING SECTION
2.03.07 OVERLAY ZONING DISTRICTS; CHAPTER FOUR SITE
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS, INCLUDING
SECTION 4.02.03 SPECIFIC STANDARDS FOR LOCATION OF
January 25, 2022
Page 191
ACCESSORY BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES AND SECTION
4.02.22 DESIGN STANDARDS FOR THE GOODLAND
OVERLAY ZONING DISTRICT; CHAPTER FIVE
SUPPLEMENTAL STANDARDS FOR SPECIFIC USES,
INCLUDING SECTION 5.05.04 GROUP HOUSING; CHAPTER
SIX INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS AND ADEQUATE
PUBLIC FACILITIES REQUIREMENTS, INCLUDING SECTION
6.06.01 STREET SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS; AND CHAPTER
TEN APPLICATION, REVIEW, AND DECISION-MAKING
PROCEDURES, INCLUDING SECTIONS 10.01.02
DEVELOPMENT ORDERS REQUIRED AND 10.02.03
REQUIREMENTS FOR SITE DEVELOPMENT, SITE
IMPROVEMENT PLANS AND AMENDMENTS THEREOF;
SECTION FOUR, CONFLICT AND SEVERABILITY; SECTION
FIVE, INCLUSION IN THE COLLIER COUNTY LAND
DEVELOPMENT CODE; AND SECTION SIX, EFFECTIVE
DATE [PL20210002604]
Item #17F
RESOLUTION 2022-21: RECOMMENDATION TO ADOPT A
RESOLUTION APPROVING AMENDMENTS
(APPROPRIATING CARRY FORWARD, TRANSFERS AND
SUPPLEMENTAL REVENUE) TO THE FY21-22 ADOPTED
BUDGET
****
January 25, 2022
Page 192
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 3:36 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL
________________________________________
WILLIAM McDANIEL, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST
CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK
___________________________
These minutes approved by the Board on ______________________,
as presented ______________ or as corrected _____________.
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS
COURT REPORTING BY TERRI L. LEWIS, RPR, FPR-C,
COURT REPORTER AND NOTARY PUBLIC.