BCC Minutes 05/09/2023May 9, 2023
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TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, May 9, 2023
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 Board members present:
Chairman: Rick LoCastro
Chris Hall
Dan Kowal
William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Burt L. Saunders
ALSO PRESENT:
Amy Patterson, County Manager
Daniel Rodriguez, Deputy County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Crystal K. Kinzel, Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller
Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations
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May 9, 2023
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Community Redevelopment Agency Board (CRAB)
Airport Authority
AGENDA
Board of County Commission Chambers
Collier County Government Center
3299 Tamiami Trail East, 3rd Floor
Naples, FL 34112
May 09, 2023
9:00 AM
Commissioner Rick LoCastro, District 1; – Chair
Commissioner Chris Hall, District 2; – Vice Chair
Commissioner Burt Saunders, District 3
Commissioner Dan Kowal, District 4; – CRAB Co-Chair
Commissioner William L. McDaniel, Jr., District 5; – CRAB Co-Chair
NOTICE: ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON AGENDA ITEMS MUST
REGISTER PRIOR TO PRESENTATION OF THE AGENDA ITEM TO BE
ADDRESSED. ALL REGISTERED SPEAKERS WILL RECEIVE UP TO
THREE MINUTES UNLESS THE TIME IS ADJUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN.
ADDITIONAL MINUTES MAY BE CEDED TO AN IN-PERSON SPEAKER
BY OTHER REGISTERED SPEAKERS WHO MUST BE PRESENT AT THE
TIME THE SPEAKER IS HEARD. NO PUBLIC SPEAKERS WILL BE
HEARD FOR PROCLAMATIONS, PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLIC
PETITIONS. SPEAKERS ON PRESENTATIONS ARE LIMITED TO 10
MINUTES, UNLESS EXTENDED BY THE CHAIRMAN. ALL PERSONS
WISHING TO SPEAK ON A CONSENT ITEM MUST REGISTER PRIOR TO
THE BOARD’S APPROVAL OF THE DAY’S CONSENT AGENDA, WHICH IS
HEARD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MEETING FOLLOWING THE
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.
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May 9, 2023
ANYONE WISHING TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON PUBLIC PETITION
MUST SUBMIT THE REQUEST IN WRITING TO THE COUNTY MANAGER
AT LEAST 13 DAYS PRIOR TO THE DATE OF THE MEETING. THE
REQUEST SHALL PROVIDE DETAILED INFORMATION AS TO THE
NATURE OF THE PETITION. THE PUBLIC PETITION MAY NOT
INVOLVE A MATTER ON A FUTURE BOARD AGENDA AND MUST
CONCERN A MATTER IN WHICH THE BOARD CAN TAKE ACTION.
PUBLIC PETITIONS ARE LIMITED TO A SINGLE PRESENTER, WITH A
MAXIMUM TIME OF TEN MINUTES, UNLESS EXTENDED BY THE
CHAIRMAN. SHOULD THE PETITION BE GRANTED, THE ITEM WILL BE
PLACED ON A FUTURE AGENDA FOR A PUBLIC HEARING.
ANYONE WISHING TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON GENERAL TOPICS
NOT ON THIS AGENDA OR A FUTURE AGENDA MUST REGISTER TO
SPEAK PRIOR TO THE PUBLIC COMMENT PORTION OF THE AGENDA
BEING CALLED BY THE CHAIRMAN. SPEAKERS WILL BE LIMITED TO
THREE MINUTES, AND NO ADDITIONAL MINUTES MAY BE CEDED TO
THE SPEAKER. AT THE CHAIRMAN’S DISCRETION, THE NUMBER OF
PUBLIC SPEAKERS MAY BE LIMITED TO 5 FOR THAT MEETING.
ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD
WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDING PERTAINING THERETO,
AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBATIM RECORD
OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES THE
TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL IS TO BE
BASED. COLLIER COUNTY ORDINANCE NO. 2003-53 AS AMENDED BY
ORDINANCE 2004-05 AND 2007-24, REQUIRES THAT ALL LOBBYISTS
SHALL, BEFORE ENGAGING IN ANY LOBBYING ACTIVITIES
(INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ADDRESSING THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS), REGISTER WITH THE CLERK TO THE
BOARD AT THE BOARD MINUTES AND RECORDS DEPARTMENT.
IF YOU ARE A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY WHO NEEDS ANY
ACCOMMODATION IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCEEDING,
YOU ARE ENTITLED, AT NO COST TO YOU, THE PROVISION OF
CERTAIN ASSISTANCE. PLEASE CONTACT THE COLLIER COUNTY
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIVISION LOCATED AT 3335 EAST
TAMIAMI TRAIL, SUITE 1, NAPLES, FLORIDA, 34112-5356, (239) 252-8380;
ASSISTED LISTENING DEVICES FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED ARE
AVAILABLE IN THE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DIVISION.
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May 9, 2023
LUNCH RECESS SCHEDULED FOR 12:00 NOON TO 1:00 P.M
1. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
A. Invocation by Reverend Kirt Anderson, Naples Community Church
2. AGENDA AND MINUTES
A. Approval of today's regular, consent and summary agenda as amended (Ex
Parte disclosure provided by commission members for consent agenda.)
B. April 11, 2023, BCC Meeting Minutes
3. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
A. EMPLOYEE
B. ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
C. RETIREES
D. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH
4. PROCLAMATIONS
A. Celebrating the Collier County Centennial.
B. Centennial recognition of the Collier County business and tourism
community.
C. Centennial recognition of County Commissioners and County Managers
who have served Collier County.
5. PRESENTATIONS
A. Celebrating 100 Years of Collier County and Its Many Communities.
6. PUBLIC PETITIONS
7. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE CURRENT
OR FUTURE AGENDA
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May 9, 2023
8. BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
9. ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARINGS
10. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A. Recommendation to adopt a Resolution updating the policies relating to
code enforcement liens, direct staff to revisit its procedures for prosecuting
code enforcement cases, and direct staff to discuss and reinforce with the
Code Enforcement Board and Special Magistrate the parameters for the
imposition of fines for code violations. (Sponsored by Commissioner
LoCastro)
11. COUNTY MANAGER'S REPORT
A. This item to be heard immediately following 5A. Recommendation to
approve the County Manager’s implementation of one additional personal
leave day for all County employees under the direction of the Board
including the County Manager’s Agency, County Attorney’s Office, and
BCC Office staff to be used May 10, 2023, through May 9, 2024, in honor of
Collier County’s Centennial Celebration. (Amy Patterson, County Manager)
B. This item to be heard at 1 PM. Recommendation to accept the after-action
report for the 2023 Florida legislative session and provide guidance as
preliminary planning begins for the next legislative cycle. (John Mullins,
Communications, Government & Public Affairs Director)
12. COUNTY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
13. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
A. This item to be heard at 11 AM. Presentation of the Annual
Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ended September 30,
2022 and authorization to file the related State of Florida Annual Local
Government Financial Report with the Department of Financial Services.
(Derek Johnssen, Clerk's Office Director of Finance and Accounting)
14. AIRPORT AUTHORITY AND/OR COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AGENCY
A. AIRPORT
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May 9, 2023
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
15. STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
A. Public comments on general topics not on the current or future agenda by
individuals not already heard during previous public comments in this
meeting
B. STAFF PROJECT UPDATES
C. STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
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16. CONSENT AGENDA - All matters listed under this item are considered to be
routine and action will be taken by one motion without separate discussion of
each item. If discussion is desired by a member of the board, that item(s) will
be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately.
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A. GROWTH MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water and
sewer utility facilities and accept the conveyance of a portion of the
potable water and sewer utility facilities and appurtenant utility
easement for Stor-All at Tree Farm, PL20220005737.
2) Recommendation to approve final acceptance of the potable water
utility facilities and accept the conveyance of a portion of the potable
water utility facilities and appurtenant utility easement for The
Willough at Naples – Fire Line, PL20220000571.
3) This item requires that ex parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the final plat of Esplanade by the Islands -
Phase 3 (Application Number PL20220005192) approval of the
standard form Construction and Maintenance Agreement and approval
of the performance security in the amount of $5,341,619.06.
4) This item requires that Ex Parte disclosure be provided by
Commission members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all
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May 9, 2023
participants are required to be sworn in. Recommendation to
approve for recording the minor final plat Dorado at Fiddler’s Creek -
Replat, Application Number PL20210003318.
5) Recommendation to approve Amendment No. 1 to the Interlocal
Agreement with the School District of Collier County, related to
Agreement No. 20-7708, Design-Build Veterans Memorial Boulevard
Extension, Phase I (County Project #60198), for $17,752.35.
6) Recommendation to award Invitation to Bid (“ITB”) No. 22-8045
“Fiber Optics Installation, Repair, and Maintenance”, to Intelligent
Infrastructure Solutions, LLC, as the Primary vendor, and Aztek
Communications of South Florida, Inc., as the Secondary vendor, and
authorize the Chairman to sign the attached agreements.
7) Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a Letter
of Credit in the amount of $24,580 which was posted as a guarantee
for work associated with the construction of a small section of the
driveway to the adjacent property located to the east of Marquesa
Plaza at Baldrige PUD, PL20120001665, and PL20180002247.
8) Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a
Performance Bond in the amount of $539,200 which was posted as a
guarantee for Excavation Permit Number PL20200000810 for work
associated with Tamarindo.
9) Recommendation to authorize the Clerk of Courts to release a
Performance Bond in the amount of $29,600 which was posted as a
development guarantee for an Early Work Authorization (EWA) for
work associated with Winchester PPL, PL20220001541.
10) Recommendation to waive liquidated damages in the amount of
$508,690.00 against Pavement Maintenance, LLC, for contract No.
21-7887, Randall Boulevard at Everglades Boulevard Intersection
Improvements, arising from the delayed acquisition of traffic signal
equipment, and approve/ratify the after-the-fact payment of the final
payment application in the amount of $258,592.43, subject to the
contractor providing all required backup documentation prerequisite
to processing payment. (Project #60242).
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11) Recommendation to approve a work order with APTIM
Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc. to provide professional
engineering services for 2024-2025 Local Government Funding
Request under Contract No. 18-7432-CZ for time and material not to
exceed $26,052.00, authorize the Chairman to execute the work order,
and make a finding that this item promotes tourism (Fund 195, Project
#90065).
12) Recommendation to authorize the necessary budget amendments to
reallocate funds from Stormwater Bond Fund 327 reserves to Golden
Gate and Gordon River Stormwater Improvements projects in the total
amount of $4,000,000
13) Recommendation to approve the payment of $1,650 to the River Oaks
Homeowners’ Association (“HOA”) for five years of unpaid
assessments for Lot 44, Block A of Palm River Estates, Unit No. 7,
according to the Plat thereof recorded in Plat Book 12, pages 28
through 30, Public Records of Collier County, Florida
14) Recommendation to adopt a resolution authorizing the acquisition by
gift or purchase of drainage easements necessary for the construction
of stormwater management improvements required for the West
Goodlette-Frank Road Area Stormwater Improvement Project (Phase
2), Project #60142; and authorize the necessary budget amendment.
(Estimated fiscal impact: $930,000. The source of funding is the
stormwater fund 325.)
15) Recommendation to approve and execute a Local Agency Program
(LAP) Construction Agreement with the Florida Department of
Transportation (FDOT) reimbursing the County up to $1,407,595
($607,595 - FDOT Safe Routes to School) and ($800,000 - Collier
County MPO Urbanized Area (SU Funds)) for the construction of a 6-
foot sidewalk at Eden Park on the south side of Carson Road from
Westclox Drive to Carson Lakes Circle; execute a Resolution
memorializing the Board’s action; and authorize the necessary budget
amendment (Project #33622), FPN 441480-1-58-01.
16) Recommendation to approve a Florida Department of Transportation
(FDOT) Beautification Grant for $100,000 for median irrigation and
landscaping improvements on Davis Boulevard (State Road 84) from
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Santa Barbara Boulevard to Firano Drive; approve a Joint
Participation Agreement between the FDOT and Collier County in the
amount of $865,000 for median irrigation and landscaping
improvements on Davis Boulevard (State Road 84) from Santa
Barbara Boulevard to Collier Boulevard; authorize the Chairman to
execute the Agreements; authorize the Chairman to execute the
Resolutions memorializing the Board’s action; and authorize the
necessary budget amendments. (Companion to item #16.A.17)
17) Recommendation to approve and execute a Landscape Maintenance
and Installation Agreement between the State of Florida Department
of Transportation (FDOT) and Collier County for median irrigation
and landscaping improvements on Davis Boulevard (State Road 84)
from Santa Barbara Boulevard to Collier Boulevard, authorize the
Chairman to sign a Resolution memorializing the Board's action and
allow project activity. (Companion to item #16.A.16)
18) Recommendation to approve an Economic Development Agreement
with PFPI OZ, LLC, (Pikus) for the proposed project “CENTRO” for
reimbursement of up to $788,878.56 in actual expenditures for
sanitary sewer, drainage, impact fees, and building permits for
constructing a mixed-use development headquarters in the Golden
Gate City Economic Development Zone (GGEDZ) finding that this
applicant is a target business qualifying for the incentives set forth in
the GGEDZ Ordinance.
19) Recommendation to approve an agreement for the purchase of
permanent and temporary easements (composite Parcels 177DE and
177DAE, Parcel 177TCE1, Parcel 177TCE2, and Parcel 177ROE)
required for the construction of stormwater management
improvements for the Big Cypress Golf and Country Club
Estates/Country Club of Naples Areas Project, the Upper Gordon
River Channel Improvements Project, and the Solana Road
Stormwater Improvements Project, and authorize the Board to
delegate authority to the County Manager to approve and execute a
Work Order in an amount not to exceed $850,000 to expedite
construction activity, subject to being ratified by the Board at its next
regular meeting. Estimated Fiscal Impact: $878,500. (Project #60102)
B. COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY
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1) Recommendation to approve Change Order No. 1 to Agreement No.
21-7845, Bayshore Drive Redevelopment Project, with Stantec
Consulting Services, Inc., to add an additional 90 days to the
agreement. (P.O #4500218097)
C. PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT
1) Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners, as ex-
officio the Governing Board of the Collier County Water-Sewer
District, approve a Work Order under a Request for Quotation
(“RFQ”) for Agreement No. 20-7800 for “Modifications to NRO Well
#11” to Douglas N. Higgins, Inc., in the amount of $588,380, approve
staff opening a Purchase Order to commence services, and authorize
the Chairman to sign the attached Work Order. (Project #70085).
2) Recommendation to ratify and approve Change Order No. 1,
providing for a 150-day time extension and $9,887.37 draw on
owner’s allowance under Request for Quotation No. 19-7622-302.25
with US Water Services Corporation under agreement 19-7622, for
the Pump Station 302.25 Rehabilitation project, and authorize the
Chairman to sign the attached Change Order. (Project #70145)
3) Recommendation to approve Change Order No. 3, allocating a portion
of the Owner’s Allowance to cover the costs for Work Directives Nos.
1 and 2 in the amount of $9,226.49 under Agreement No. 20-7800, for
the “Orange Tree Wastewater Treatment Plant Driveway Relocation
project,” with Quality Enterprises, USA, Inc., ratify the work
completed under Work Directives No. 1 and 2, and authorize the
Chairman to sign the attached change order.
4) Recommendation to approve the selection committee’s ranking and
authorize staff to begin contract negotiations with Harvard Jolly, Inc.,
related to Request for Professional Services No. 22-8033 for “Design
Services for Hardening and Expansion of the Collier Senior Center
Building," so staff can bring a proposed agreement back for the
Board’s consideration at a future meeting. (Project #50219)
5) Recommendation to authorize a budget amendment for the Water
Division in the amount of $279,500 to redistribute existing Division
funds to cover the costs associated with the increased purchase of bulk
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water to fund continued operations in the Water Division Budget
through the end of Fiscal Year 2023.
D. PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT
1) This Item continued from the April 25, 2023, BCC Meeting.
Recommendation to authorize a Budget Amendment in the amount of
$100,000 to transfer funding within the County-Wide Capital Fund
(301) to continue funding eBook collections to meet patron demand
for digital resources and materials for Collier County Public Libraries.
2) Recommendation to adopt the attached Resolution superseding
Resolution Nos. 2021-263, 2018-135, 2018-44, 2016-245, and 2008-
26, and all other resolutions establishing license and fee policies, to
approve the sale and proposed rate schedule for fuel at County-owned
Marinas and authorize the necessary Budget Amendments.
3) Recommendation to accept the State Housing Initiative Partnership
Hurricane Housing Recovery Program award in the amount of
$957,820 to assist eligible Collier County households whose primary
residence sustained damage as a result of Hurricane Ian, authorize the
necessary Budget Amendment, and authorize two (2) Full-Time
Equivalent grant-funded positions to support program administration.
(SHIP Grant Fund 791)
4) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to execute a
Landlord Payment Agreement allowing the Community and Human
Services (CHS) Division to administer the Rapid Re-Housing and
Homelessness Prevention Program through the Emergency Solutions
and Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing Grants Program.
5) Recommendation to approve an “After-the-Fact” amendment with the
Area Agency on Aging for Southwest Florida, Inc., regarding
American Rescue Plan Act funding under the Home-Based
Community Services-Enhanced Home Care for the Elderly grant
program for the Collier County Services for Seniors Program to
amend the term of the contract, update Table 2 Delivery Schedule and
3 Payment Schedule and assign the CSFA Number. (Human Service
Grant Fund 707)
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E. CORPORATE BUSINESS OPERATIONS
1) Recommendation to approve and authorize an Access and
Confidentiality Agreement between Collier County and NCH
Healthcare System, Inc., to allow EMS to obtain access to patient
outcomes from Naples Community Hospital utilizing the EpicCare
Link Software System.
2) Recommendation to approve the administrative report prepared by the
Procurement Services Division for disposal of property that is no
longer viable, was traded in, or damaged beyond repair during
Hurricane Ian, and the removal of the property from the County’s
capital asset records.
3) Recommendation to authorize expenditures under a sole-source
waiver for a period of five years, in an amount not to exceed $100,000
per Fiscal Year, to obtain Original Equipment Manufacturer (“OEM”)
parts and services from Menzi USA Sales, Inc., necessary to maintain
County-owned Menzi Muck Walking Excavators.
F. COUNTY MANAGER OPERATIONS
1) Recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign a
Mutual Release providing for final payment to Sports Fields, Inc., in
the amount of $28,465.12 for actual substantiated services it rendered
under Agreement No. 18-7404 concerning Collier County Sports
Complex Marketing and Support for the Paradise Coast Sports
Complex.
2) Recommendation to approve a Second Amendment to Vacant Land
Contract between Collier County and David Lawrence Mental Health
Center, Inc., that extends the approval period one year - due to an
unexpected delay in finalizing the rezoning of the underlying property
- the time to obtain the necessary site development plans.
3) Recommendation to approve administrative Change Order No. 8
providing for a 99-day time extension with zero financial impact
under Agreement No. 16-6622 with Q Grady Minor and Associates,
P.A., for the engineering and design services associated with the
construction of Big Corkscrew Island Regional Park due to delays
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May 9, 2023
experienced by the general contractor’s material availability and
manpower shortages, and authorize the Chairman to sign the attached
change order. (Project #80039)
4) Recommendation to approve Change Order No. 4 in the amount of
$48,317.76, under Construction Agreement No. 21-7899 with
Haskins, Inc., for the Hamilton Avenue Improvements project that
memorializes additional repair work initiated during the Hurricane
Ian state of emergency, which the Board previously authorized
payment for at its March 28, 2023, meeting. (Project #50171.1.3)
5) Recommendation to approve a First Amendment for Sale and
Purchase Agreement with: (1) Henrietta Arnay, (2) Charles E. Bailey,
(3) Lois Behnke, (4) D & J Investors, (5) David Joyce for properties
on the Cycle 10 Approved Acquisition list for the Conservation
Collier Land Acquisition Program.
6) Recommendation to adopt a Resolution approving amendments
(appropriating grants, donations, contributions, or insurance proceeds)
to the Fiscal Year 2022-23 Adopted Budget. (The budget amendments
in the attached Resolution have been reviewed and approved by the
Board of County Commissioners via separate Executive Summaries.)
G. AIRPORT AUTHORITY
H. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
I. MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
1) May 9, 2023, Miscellaneous Correspondence
J. OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS
1) Report to the Board regarding the investment of County funds as of
the quarter ended March 31, 2023.
2) To record in the minutes of the Board of County Commissioners, the
check number (or other payment method), amount, payee, and
purpose for which the referenced disbursements were drawn for the
periods between April 13, 2023, and April 26, 2023, pursuant to
Florida Statute 136.06.
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May 9, 2023
3) Request that the Board approve and determine valid public purpose
for invoices payable and purchasing card transactions as of May 03,
2023.
4) Recommendation to approve First Amendment for Professional
Services Agreement No. 21-7936, “Professional Services for SAP S/4
HANA Implementation” with Phoenix Business, Inc., d/b/a Phoenix
Business Consulting for tasks related to SAP Success Factors
Employee Central and Workforce Time Management in the amount of
$1,768,251.00 (Project #50017).
K. COUNTY ATTORNEY
1) Recommendation to approve a Stipulated Final Judgment in the total
amount of $125,000 plus $15,048 in statutory attorney fees for the
taking of Parcels 274RDUEand 274TDRE required for the Vanderbilt
Beach Road Extension Project #60168.
2) Recommendation to approve the litigation settlement between Collier
County and Kendall Perrine LLC and recommendation to approve the
acceptance of $12,000 from Kendall Perrine LLC in exchange for a
release of lien with a value of $97,309.70, in the code enforcement
action entitled Board of County Commissioners v. Kendall Perrine
LLC of Collier County, Case No. CES20210012676.
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17. Summary Agenda - This section is for advertised public hearings and must
meet the following criteria: 1) a recommendation for approval from staff; 2)
unanimous recommendation for approval by the collier county planning
commission or other authorizing agencies of all members present and voting;
3) no written or oral objections to the item received by staff, the collier county
planning commission, other authorizing agencies or the board, prior to the
commencement of the bcc meeting on which the items are scheduled to be
heard; and 4) no individuals are registered to speak in opposition to the item.
For those items which are quasi-judicial in nature, all participants must be
sworn in.
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A. This item requires Ex Parte disclosure to be provided by the
Commission members. Recommendation to approve an ordinance rezoning
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May 9, 2023
a Residential Single-Family-3 (RSF-3) lot to Residential Multi-Family-6
(RMF-6) in Golden Gate City to allow up to 2 multifamily dwelling units on
0.29± acres of property located at 5196 23rd Ct SW, Naples, Florida, on Lot
1, Block 198, Golden Gate Unit 6, in Section 21, Township 49 South, Range
26 East, Collier County, Florida. [PL20210001906]
B. This item requires that Ex Parte disclosure be provided by Commission
members. Should a hearing be held on this item, all participants are
required to be sworn in. Recommendation to approve Petition VAC-
PL20220003566, to disclaim, renounce, and vacate the County and the
public interest in the10-foot public utility easement located along the border
between Lots 1 & 2 and Lots 3, 4, & 5, Block 11, of Bonita Shores, Unit No.
2, as recorded in Plat Book 3, Page 43, of the Public Records of Collier
County, Florida, located in the southwest quadrant of 6th Street and
Vanderbilt Drive, in Section 5, Township 48 South, Range 25 East, Collier
County, Florida.
18. ADJOURN
INQUIRIES CONCERNING CHANGES TO THE BOARD’S AGENDA
SHOULD BE MADE TO THE COUNTY MANAGER’S OFFICE AT 252-
8383.
May 9, 2023
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MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Good morning, everyone. Good
morning. Good morning, everyone.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Good morning.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Welcome to Class Reunion Day.
Right? Right?
You only do this once every hundred years, so we're going to
make the best of it. It's also Take Your Former Elected Official to
Work Day. So, Commissioner Solis, Commissioner Fiala, come up
here. We're going to do a swap. It looks easier from those seats,
right?
Listen, this is -- we are so thrilled to have everybody in here. I
mean, as you look across this room, this really is a who's who of
Collier County but, more importantly, you're here representing so
many people. And I don't want to pick, you know, specific people
out of the audience but, obviously, look around. You've got, you
know, every former commissioner that goes back -- not 100 years,
not 100 years, except for Commissioner McDaniel. He's
about -- he's about 98.
But, you know, you've got Mike Wynn here, who's representing
so many incredible employees who stepped forward during the
hurricane. You've got the Chamber represented by Michael Dalby.
I mean, you know, I could just go on and on.
Stock Development's here in the house with, you know, all their
leadership team sitting there, Claudine and -- I mean, you know,
as -- we normally don't get this kind of crowd.
So we've got a lot of great things to read, and we want to
celebrate Collier County. There's incredible artwork in the back that
talks about our history.
So having said that, like we always do -- first of all, please shut
off your cell phones. We don't need to hear the Rocky theme, you
May 9, 2023
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know, if your grandma calls or something like that, you know, which
we often do.
But is our -- is our pastor here? Yes. Okay. So let's start with
the prayer. And then the Pledge of Allegiance today -- you hardly
ever hear her voice. Terri Lewis, who is the most dedicated
employee, she -- we speak too fast. She types even faster. She is
going to lead us in the Pledge right after the prayer.
Item #1
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE BY
REVEREND KIRT ANDERSON FROM NAPLES COMMUNITY
CHURCH – INVOCATION GIVEN
REVEREND ANDERSON: It's an exciting day. So happy to
be here. Let's pray together.
Our Father, just a century ago, chickens wandered the free
streets of this little fishing village, and hard-working, humble people
did what they could to carve out a niche in this often hostile
environment. They labored long toward a vision of community
where people could be free, prosperous, and glad.
A hundred years later, we acknowledged their faithfulness as
every endeavor to build upon their legacy. We celebrate what they
have done knowing that we have a tough act to follow.
Like those who've gone before us, we want to build community
where our citizens can wander free without fear for themselves or
their children, where there's room for the prosperous and the poor to
pursue happiness, and where ancient values of mutual respect and
cooperation will persist to proliferate freedom.
We resolve to continue fashioning this community as a beacon
of hope and freedom to a nation where the lamp of liberty may have
May 9, 2023
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flickered or gone out. We join this effort together continuing in your
strength as we pray in the name of your incarnate love, amen.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Ms. Lewis.
(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: That sounded good. That sounded
robust. Did you feel it? Are you feeling it?
All right. Okay. Ms. Patterson, I know we've got some
official business, and then we get to the good stuff, the fun stuff.
Item #2A
APPROVE OF TODAY’S REGULAR, CONSENT AND
SUMMARY AGENDA AS AMENDED (EX PARTE
DISCLOSURE PROVIDED BY COMMISSION MEMBERS FOR
CONSENT AGENDA.) – MOTION TO APPROVE BY
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED AND/OR
ADOPTED W/CHANGES
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. We're going to start with the
approval of today's regular, consent, and summary agenda as
amended. I'm going to read the changes into the record.
First, move Item 16A18 to 11C. This a recommendation to
approve an economic development agreement with PFPI OZ, LLC,
Pikus, for the proposed project "CENTRO" for the reimbursement of
up to $788,878.56 in actual expenditures for sanitary sewer, drainage,
impact fees, and building permits for constructing a mixed-use
development headquarters in the Golden Gate City Economic
Development Zone finding that this applicant is a target business
qualifying for the incentives set forth in the GGEDZ ordinance.
This is being moved to the regular agenda at Commissioner Saunders'
May 9, 2023
Page 5
request.
Move Item 16A13 to 11D, to be heard no sooner than 1:00 p.m.
This is a recommendation to approve the payment of $1,650 to the
River Oaks Homeowners Association for five years of unpaid
assessments for Lot 44, Block A of Palm River Estates, Unit No. 7,
according to the plat thereof recorded in Plat Book 12, Pages 28
through 30, public records of Collier County, Florida. This is being
moved at Commissioner McDaniel's request.
Move Item 16F2 to 11E. This is a recommendation to approve
a second amendment to Vacant Land Contract between Collier
County and David Lawrence Mental Health Center, Inc., that extends
the approval period one year -- due to an unexpected delay in
finalizing the rezoning of the underlying property -- the time to
obtain the necessary Site Development Plans. This is being moved
at Commissioner McDaniel's request.
We have several time-certain items. Item 11A to be heard
immediately following 5A. This is a recommendation to approve the
County Manager's implementation of one additional personal leave
day for all county employees.
Item 13A to be heard at 11:00 a.m. This is a presentation of the
Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ended
September 30th, 2022.
Item 11B to be heard no sooner than 1:00 p.m. This is a
recommendation to accept the after-action report for the 2023 Florida
legislative session and provide guidance as preliminary planning
begins for the next legislative cycle, and as formerly -- as previously
stated, Item 11D, formerly 16A13, to be heard no sooner than 1:00
p.m. This is a recommendation to approve the payment of $1,650 to
the River Oaks Homeowners Association.
And we will have court reporter breaks scheduled for 10:30 and
2:50.
May 9, 2023
Page 6
With that, County Attorney?
MR. KLATZKOW: Thank you, County Manager. Nothing.
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Do I have any changes to
the agenda or any ex parte on the summary or consent?
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: No, sir, no changes and no ex
partes on the summary.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman, I have no
changes and no disclosure as well.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Commissioner Hall?
COMMISSIONER HALL: No disclosures at all.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No changes or disclosures.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Same for me; no changes,
no disclosures.
So motion to accept --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So moved.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: -- as stated.
Okay. So moved. Second. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Next.
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, before we move on to our
proclamations, we do have singers here for the National Anthem.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Oh.
MR. MILLER: Amy, if I might. This information didn't get to
you. Here to sing our National Anthem, Jillian Lorlano and
Marcella Brown from Avow Hospice.
May 9, 2023
Page 7
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Excellent.
(The National Anthem was sung.)
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you, ladies. Thank you for
what you do at Avow Hospice.
MS. LORLANO: Thank you.
MS. BROWN: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Very, very much appreciate and
respected.
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, at your pleasure, let's go to the
proclamations, and we'll approve the minutes when we're done with
our Centennial celebration.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I'm going to get off script a
little bit because you've got so many, you know, honorable and
respected people in the audience here.
So I'm going to read a proclamation as the Chair, and it's on
behalf of everybody up here, but I would say even more importantly
it's also on behalf of those commissioners and those senior leaders
that have served, so -- and I think we almost have 100 percent
attendance here.
So before I read this proclamation honoring the 100th
Centennial of Collier County, let's recognize people that sat up here.
They know how tough this job can be. It's not always a bed of roses,
and they served with honor and distinction. And I'm going to start
right at the top with Commissioner Donna Fiala. Please stand,
ma'am.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Ma'am, you have three minutes at
the podium. No, I'm just kidding.
We have -- also Commissioner Patricia Goodnight is here.
Please stand.
May 9, 2023
Page 8
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: If at any time you would like to
switch places and take -- we've got a pretty tough agenda, so you
might not want to pick it. You might [sic] want to pick it.
Commissioner Penny Taylor, please stand.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Andy Solis.
Where's Andy?
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Fred Coyle.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: You know, Fred, I really respect
that -- you and Donna, front row, first seat, you know, right there,
right in the front, you know. Awesome.
Commissioner Tom Henning.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I don't know if Commissioner
Georgia Hiller made it, if she snuck in on the back but, you know, we
honor her service as well, if she wasn't able to be here.
We also have former County Manager Leo Ochs.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I know Leo doesn't want to switch
places with Amy. He's enjoying retirement, right?
MR. OACHS: I'm fine here, sir.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Tell us, what's retirement like,
huh?
MR. OCHS: Fantastic.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It's awesome, isn't it?
Neil Dorrill is here.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Right there in the back.
May 9, 2023
Page 9
And I know we have so many business leaders, and we're going
to get to all that. So let's start. I'll read the proclamation. And as I
said, I'm reading this on behalf of all of us and all of those who stood
as well.
SEE REVERSE SIDE
Proposed Agenda Changes
Board of County Commissioners Meeting
May 9, 2023
Move Item 16A18 to 11C: Recommendation to approve an Economic Development Agreement with PFPI OZ,
LLC, (Pikus) for the proposed project “CENTRO” for reimbursement of up to $788,878.56 in actual expenditures
for sanitary sewer, drainage, impact fees, and building permits for constructing a mixed‐use development
headquarters in the Golden Gate City Economic Development Zone (GGEDZ) finding that this applicant is a target
business qualifying for the incentives set forth in the GGEDZ Ordinance. (Commissioner Saunders’ Requests)
Move Item 16A13 to 11D to be heard no sooner than 1:00 PM: Recommendation to approve the payment of
$1,650 to the River Oaks Homeowners’ Association (“HOA”) for five years of unpaid assessments for Lot 44, Block
A of Palm River Estates, Unit No. 7, according to the Plat thereof recorded in Plat Book 12, pages 28 through 30,
Public Records of Collier County, Florida (Commissioner McDaniel’s Requests)
Move Item 16F2 to 11E: Recommendation to approve a Second Amendment to Vacant Land Contract between
Collier County and David Lawrence Mental Health Center, Inc., that extends the approval period one year ‐ due to
an unexpected delay in finalizing the rezoning of the underlying property ‐ the time to obtain the necessary site
development plans. (Commissioner McDaniel’s Requests)
Notes:
TIME CERTAIN ITEMS:
Item 11A to be heard immediately following 5A: Recommendation to approve the County Manager’s
implementation of one additional personal leave day for all County employees.
Item 13A to be heard at 11:00 AM: Presentation of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal
year ended September 30, 2022.
Item 11B to be heard no sooner than 1:00 PM: Recommendation to accept the after-action report for the 2023
Florida legislative session and provide guidance as preliminary planning begins for the next legislative cycle.
Item 11D formerly 16A13 to be heard no sooner than 1:00 PM: Recommendation to approve the payment of
$1,650 to the River Oaks Homeowners’ Association.
5/24/2023 1:53 PM
May 9, 2023
Page 10
Item #4A
PROCLAMATIONS CELEBRATING THE COLLIER COUNTY
CENTENNIAL – MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER
SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL –
ADOPTED
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: The proclamation says: Whereas,
100 years ago yesterday Florida Governor Cary Hardee created
Collier County by signing a bill establishing it as the 62nd county in
the State of Florida; and,
Whereas, as Collier County celebrates its Centennial and reflects
on the importance of this milestone, we honor our founding families
for their vision, entrepreneurship, and pioneering spirit; and,
Whereas, since 1923, Collier County has built a strong and
stable foundation where individuals, families, and businesses can
thrive, managed progress and economic development responsibly and
created and maintained "best in class" programs and services for
residents and visitors; and,
Whereas, over the past century, Collier County has evolved into
a world-class destination known for its stunning coastal scenery,
white sandy beaches, the Everglades, and a sought-after quality of
life often called "paradise" by its almost 400,000 permanent
residents; and,
Whereas, the collaborative efforts of the Collier County
constitutional officers, Sheriff, Supervisor of Elections, Clerk of the
Circuit Court and Comptroller, Property Appraiser, and Tax
Collector, have been instrumental in the successful development of
our county through their dedication and professional expertise; and,
Whereas, throughout this Centennial year we celebrate
remarkable achievements from the past century, including the
May 9, 2023
Page 11
completion of the Tamiami Trail, responsible management of our
natural resources, a sound economy, and our collective ability to
overcome challenges, including the Great Depression, recessions,
hurricanes, and pandemics with demonstrated resiliency and strength.
Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, that, as we celebrate our
Centennial, we declare the first 100 years of Collier County to be an
exceptional success and express confidence and continued excellence
in the century ahead.
Done and ordered this day, May 9th, 2023, on behalf of all of us
and all of you. There we go.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Now, all of you that are retired but
you suffered up here or over there (indicating), please come forward
and fill in. Donna, Andy, Penny, Leo, get up here. And if I missed
a name out there, I apologize, but we'd like to get a picture with all of
the --
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, we're going to -- you and I are
going to come unveil that really quickly. We're also going to invite
up the constitutional officers and members of the historical societies.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: While they're standing here, Maria,
just grab a shot here, too. You can't have too many pictures, right?
You can't, right? There you go. We'll get to that. There you go.
Come on up. Come on up. Right up here. Let's get the elected
officials. We're going to do the constitutionals afterwards.
Thank you. All right.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Plenty more pictures coming.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: Now if we could have the constitutional
officers please come up, and the historians, and all the representatives
May 9, 2023
Page 12
from the historically societies and others, come on forward, and we'll
get a picture.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Rob, get on Abe's shoulders, okay.
Item #4B
CENTENNIAL RECOGNITION OF THE COLLIER COUNTY
BUSINESS AND TOURISM COMMUNITY - MOTION TO
ADOPT BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER HALL – ADOPTED
MS. PATTERSON: Item 4B is the Centennial recognition of
the Collier County business and tourism community.
Whereas, on May 8th, 1923, the Florida State Legislature
portioned Lee County to create Collier County, Florida's 62nd
county; and,
Whereas, it was the vision of a local businessman, Barron Gift
Collier, that introduced paved roads, electric powers, telegraphs, and
new businesses to the area and, with the completion of the Tamiami
Trail in 1928, unlocked the county potential as a significant
agricultural producer, real estate market, and tourist destination; and,
Whereas, as businesses and the tourism industry have
established in our area and grown over the last century, they have
fueled our economic health and have helped to provide the county the
ability to facilitate programs and services that reach all communities
in our region; and,
Whereas, Collier County welcomed 1.63 million visitors,
generating over $2.8 billion of economic impact for Collier County in
2022, creating economic prosperity and enhanced quality of life for
the residents and guests of Collier County; and,
Whereas, jobs created by small and large businesses, both
May 9, 2023
Page 13
for-profit and non-profit, positively impact the quality of life for our
residents and visitors; and,
Whereas, during the celebration of our Centennial, it is the
pleasure of the Board of County Commissioners to recognize the
accomplishments of our business community, our hospitality
industry, our entrepreneurs, our minority- and women-owned
businesses, our non-profits, and our major employers;
Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, that, as we celebrate our
Centennial, great appreciation is conveyed to the business and
tourism community of Collier County whose economic contributions
and generous community support make this a prosperous paradise for
all of our residents and guests.
Done and ordered this 9th day of May 2023.
Let's have our business community and our tourism industry
representatives please come up for a picture. Thank you.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, while they're all moving to their
seats, we do have a representative from the business community and
from the tourism community to speak after your -- after your
comments.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I was going to recognize Garrett,
but he's leaving, so that's all right.
Sir, the floor is yours.
MR. BEIRNES: Good morning. For the record, Paul Beirnes,
tourism director for Collier County.
And I want to say thank you extremely much for this
proclamation and the acknowledgment of the importance of tourism
commerce here in Collier County.
It definitely is very, very fitting this particular week because
May 7th through 13th is also designated as National Travel and
May 9, 2023
Page 14
Tourism Week, designated in 1983, celebrating travels' essential role
in stimulating economic growth, cultivating vibrant communities,
creating quality job opportunities, and inspiring new businesses and
elevating the quality of life for all communities.
None of this could have been done without the incredible talent
within the tourism industry; definitely within the CVB; our Tourist
Development Council, many members are here; without the support
of our esteemed leaders here on the bench and over the last 100 years
within the Board of County Commissioners; and especially the
35,000 people who rely on tourism for their careers here in Collier
County.
Thank you very much. I appreciate this.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you, Paul.
MS. SCHMELZLE: Hello. Good morning. My name Julie
Schmelzle, and, wow, 100 years.
The significance of that I wasn't quite prepared for as I was
driving here. It's both daunting and exhilarating for me.
I represent -- I am the volunteer chair of the Greater Naples
Chamber board of directors. And this group, many of whom were
here today, represents about the last 25 years of the Chamber's
leadership. These individuals represent our team, presidents and
CEOs of businesses, board members, and board chairmen, spanning
the most recent years of our 75-year existence. The word "greater"
in our name denotes that we cover all of Collier County, and the
Greater Naples Chamber has been a key partner with the Board of
County Commissioners over those many years from working to find
solutions for affordable and attainable housing needs to economic
recovery in the name of Opportunity Naples, a strategic plan joined
between the Board of County Commissioners and the Greater Naples
Chamber; rolls in funding for I-75 and other transportation
May 9, 2023
Page 15
improvements; to providing community leadership in training; and,
most recently, successful advocating for voter approval of the penny
infrastructure sales surtax.
The Chamber and its members are committing to building a
great economy for our county and sustaining our county's outstanding
quality of place as we're known.
Thank you, Commissioners, and all before us for working with
us as we look forward to continuing to work with you in the next 100
years.
Thank you. Congratulations, everybody.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: You know, as I said at the start,
this is not only a who's who of elected officials but also of our
business and community tourism leaders.
I wanted to recognize somebody else, but -- this is a superstar
and an icon and a community leader not only in Tallahassee but here
locally, but -- Senator Garrett Richter, but he's smart enough to do the
photo op and then immediately sneak out the door. But if you
caught him in the back, you know, he knows how to do it; he knows
how to do it. But I think everybody knows just what an amazing
icon he was up in Tallahassee, and he continues to perform here
locally in the community.
So, Senator Richter, sorry you snuck out -- unless he's out there
smoking a cigarette or something. Can somebody check? No. But
we wanted to recognize his attendance here today as well. So thank
you, sir.
Ms. Patterson, over to you.
Item #4C
CENTENNIAL RECOGNITION OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
May 9, 2023
Page 16
AND COUNTY MANAGERS WHO HAVE SERVED COLLIER
COUNTY - MOTION TO ADOPT BY COMMISSIONER
SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL –
ADOPTED
MS. PATTERSON: Okay. Commissioners, we're moving on
to Item 4C. It's a Centennial recognition of county commissioners
and county managers who have served Collier County.
Whereas, on May 8th, 1923, the Florida Legislature portioned
Lee County to create Collier County Florida's 62nd county; and,
Whereas, counties represent the oldest form of local government
and serve the individual needs of regions within a state by solving
local problems with local solutions; and,
Whereas, since their first meeting on July 7th, 1923, at the Rod
& Gun Club in the Town of Everglades, the Board of County
Commissioners has served as the governing body of the county and is
responsible for setting policies that protect the health, safety, welfare,
and quality of life of our residents and visitors; and,
Whereas, one of the most important decisions the Board of
County Commissioners makes is the selection of a county manager to
implement board policies and to oversee the county's daily
operations; and,
Whereas, as of the Collier County Centennial, since 70 citizens
have served as a county commissioner in Collier County; and,
Whereas, including our first female county manager currently
serving, the Board as of the Collier County Centennial, 11 county
managers have served as the chief administrator for the Board of
County Commissioners; and,
Whereas, via their collective service to our community, county
managers have helped to make Collier County one of the most
desirable places to live, work, and play in the United States.
May 9, 2023
Page 17
Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Board of County
Commissioners of Collier County, Florida, that, as we celebrate our
Centennial, great appreciation is conveyed to the county
commissioners and county managers that have served our community
in creating and implementing policies of the Board of County
Commissioners who have dutifully executed their responsibilities and
have helped to provide programs and services over the last century
that have made our county a destination for all who wish to visit or
reside in paradise.
Done and ordered this 9th day of May 2023.
We'd like to invite the county commissioners and county
managers that are still here up for another photo and a copy of the
proclamation.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Everybody get their copy? All
right. Thank you.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: We're actually going to receive, ourselves,
two proclamations. One that I'm going to read first from the chief
financial officer and then the second that you're going to read.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay.
MS. PATTERSON: And then after that, before we move on to
our presentation, we are going to have Mr. Mullins or his staff just
tell the audience about the Centennial seal.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Great.
MS. PATTERSON: Okay. Are you going to go now? Go
ahead. It's good. Let's go now.
MR. MULLINS: For the record, John Mullins, your Director of
Communications, Government, and Public Affairs.
And some questions were asked about the county seal and how
it came to be for the Centennial. Luckily, I have the pleasure of
leading a very talented and creative staff. And one of those staff
May 9, 2023
Page 18
members is right behind me, Santiago Arenas, who actually designed
the Centennial emblem that you have before you today, which was
affixed to City Hall in Everglades City yesterday and will be affixed
to Building F today out front. And I want Santiago to come up and
explain his design to you so he can get what credit is due for his
talent and creativity.
Santiago.
MR. ARENAS: Thank you, sir. Good morning.
Well, the Centennial seal came about because on the 50th year
of the Collier County Jubilee, a seal was created. The
Communications Department met with the museums -- with the
Collier County museums, and we set to create an emblem that pretty
much mirrored the jubilee, adding some new designs and taking some
from the past.
Collier County on the top, the three stars that pretty much
represent the municipalities here in Collier County. Then we have
the icons that represent the first seat over at Everglades City. Our
fishermen's villages are pretty much the root of Collier County. We
have -- in conjunction with the Seminal tribe, we recreated a canoe
with two people on it. That was on the jubilee seal as well. And the
one -- the one part of the county commissioner seal that represents
everyone, which is the wild turkey, along with the word "Centennial"
and one of -- and Collier County pier, which is known by many,
along with 1923 -- or 1923 to 2023 to represent the 100 years that
Collier County has been established.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Excellent. Great job.
(Applause.)
MS. PATTERSON: We're in receipt of a proclamation from
Chief Financial Officer Jim Patronis of the State of Florida. I'm
going to read this in, and they've also provided us this really nice
May 9, 2023
Page 19
proclamation.
Whereas, on May 8th, 1923, in Tallahassee, Florida, the Florida
State Legislature portioned Lee County to create Collier County,
Florida's 62nd county; and,
Whereas, the earliest residents were Paleoindians -- oh, of
course -- who occupied modern-day Collier County over some
10,000 years ago living amongst Ice Age fauna, such as the
mammoths and saber-tooth tigers; and,
Whereas, the Seminoles of North Florida migrated their way to
modern-day Collier County in the early 1800s, hunting and living in
the cypress swamps of the south; and,
Whereas, the first permanent settlement began in the 1870s in
towns and communities that would later become Everglades City,
Marco Island, Immokalee, and Naples; and,
Whereas, Collier County gets its name from Barron Gift Collier,
an advertising magnet from Tennessee, who became captivated by
the land's beauty, resources, and tourism potential; and,
Whereas, today Collier County encompasses 2,305 square miles
of land, making it the second largest county by size in the State of
Florida as well as bigger than both the states of Rhode Island and
Delaware.
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the chief financial officer and
state fire marshal of the State of Florida does hereby recognize
Collier County's 100th Anniversary and celebrates the rich history
and accomplishments of this noteworthy Florida landmark that is
Collier County in testimony whereof the chief financial officer of the
State of Florida has hereunto subscribed his name on the 8th day of
May 2023.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Excellent. All right.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman, I thought it
May 9, 2023
Page 20
was interesting that the legislature took the best part of Lee County
and created Collier County. So I just thought that was an interesting
fact.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Boy, that's going to be in the paper
tomorrow. That's Saunders, S-a-u-n-d-e -- District 3.
And last, but certainly not least, you know, Senator Passidomo
is just a huge fan of ours here in the county. We all got to meet with
her a couple months ago, all five of us, and, you know, we just
couldn't be more proud to -- all of us, to serve with her and to watch
her really ensure that, you know, Collier County is a priority, as well
as every other county in the state. But it's nice that we have a
personal relationship with her, and -- so very fortunate.
And, you know, I guess when you're senator, a little fancier
frame, a little nicer. You know, although ours aren't bad either. But
I'm going to read a proclamation.
A Florida senator's proclamation, a tribute recognizing the
Centennial anniversary of the founding of Collier County.
Whereas, the area that would become Collier County was settled
for thousands of years before the creation of first towns in the middle
1800s; and,
Whereas, Barron Collier first visited Southwest Florida in 1911
and began to purchase property in the area throughout the 1910s, and
1920s; and,
Whereas, Barron Collier offered to assist with the funding of the
construction of Tamiami Trail in exchange for the formation of a new
county in Southwest Florida; and,
Whereas, by an act of the Florida Legislature, Chapter 9362,
Laws of Florida, in 1923, as signed by Governor Cary A. Hardee on
May 8th, 1923, Collier County was created in Florida.
Now, therefore, I, Kathleen C. Passidomo, President of the
Senate of the State of Florida, do hereby proclaim that May 8th,
May 9, 2023
Page 21
2023, be recognized as the Centennial anniversary of the creation and
founding of Collier County in the State of Florida.
Signed, Kathleen Passidomo, President of the Florida Senate,
Florida State Senator, District 28.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Take a group shot and send it to
her.
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, would you like to, while you're all
standing, take a picture with CFO Patronis' proclamation as well, the
one that is with the ribbons on it?
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes.
MS. PATTERSON: And before you sit down, you should have
two framed copies behind you. One for the representatives of the
tourism and one for representatives of the business community, and
they will be coming up to receive those from you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. These are identical or --
MS. PATTERSON: Yes.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Right, these are identical?
Okay. Thanks very much.
Okay. We're done for the day. See you in two weeks.
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, if we could get a motion
to accept the proclamations.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Motion to accept.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Second.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So moved.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Moved, seconded. All in
favor?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
May 9, 2023
Page 22
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes unanimously.
Item #5A
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF COLLIER COUNTY AND ITS
MANY COMMUNITIES – PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: Thank you. That moves us to Item 5A,
presentations.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We still have a -- I'm not
sure, did we approve the consent agenda and --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah, we did.
MS. PATTERSON: Did we get a motion?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I didn't know we had a
motion to do that.
MS. PATTERSON: We'll double-check and make sure we
don't have to swing back on that. Did we not?
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I think we did.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We did.
MS. PATTERSON: Okay. I've lost track with all the
festivities.
Okay. Item 5A is celebrating 100 years of Collier County and
its many communities, and Ms. Amanda Townsend, your museum
director, is here to present. If you direct your attention to the back of
the room.
MS. TOWNSEND: Good morning, Commissioners. Amanda
Townsend, director of the Collier County Museums.
It's kind of interesting to be presenting to you from the back of
May 9, 2023
Page 23
the room, but I wanted to take a moment on the -- at the time of our
Centennial to recognize what an excellent job Collier County has
done in recognizing and preserving our history.
It's 100 years of this county. And our pre-Columbian history is
really kind of short, right? If you're from New England or if you're
from Europe, then you sort of look at Collier County and go, 100
years, that's nothing. But if you think about what an amazing job
we've done at preserving our history so far, then you can imagine
what, in several more hundred or a thousand years, that's going to be
like.
And it's -- you saw all those people standing up before you this
morning. And our commitment to our history is truly amazing.
And we have five free county museums that recognize the
history in our many communities, and none of those came from any
of those commissioners or any previous museum director or even any
commissioner. Every one of our museums came to the Board of
County Commissioners as a citizen initiative because the people of
Collier County value their history and want to see it preserved, and in
each time the Board stepped up and made the commitment to that
preservation. And we absolutely thank the citizens for their faith in
us and the Board for their support in us. It's absolutely an honor.
I also want to take just a moment to recognize the 19 members
of the Collier County Museum division staff. They can't all be here
because they're sitting at our greeting desks, you know, welcoming
other people and sharing that history. But they do a great job every
single day.
We were really honored to be able to put together an exhibit for
the chambers, and I'll walk you real quickly through a little bit. We
often think of Naples as the -- as synonymous with Collier County,
but the fact of the matter is is that there are many communities.
We're 2,305 square miles, as has been mentioned before, the second
May 9, 2023
Page 24
largest county in Florida, and so there are these small communities
that it's important that we remember.
Copeland was created as -- really as a logging town.
Chokoloskee is an island south of Everglades City, has a great history
starting as a -- really as a truck-farming community but more like a
boat-farming community, right?
And one of my favorite little tidbits about Chokoloskee is that
the postal service rejected that name originally, and so the first town
name of Chokoloskee was "Comfort." And in 1891, there may not
have been a whole lot of comfort on the edge of the swamp, but it's a
nice little tongue-and-cheek reminder of what some of our pioneers
have been through.
Ochopee started as a tomato farming community, famous now
for the smallest post office in the United States, which was once, in
fact, an irrigation shed.
And Everglades City, of course, is the birthday -- birthplace of
Collier County. I really appreciate those of you who were able to
take the time and celebrate that with us yesterday for our Centennial
commemoration there. Beautiful, rich history, as many have spoken
today and yesterday about the vision of Barron Collier and how that
was expressed in Everglades City, and we certainly appreciate their
support and partnership in celebrating our history.
I should mention, of course, that if you'd like to learn more
about Everglades City history, you should visit our museum of the
Everglades, which is the former commercial laundry building there in
town.
Immokalee is our agricultural community. It's our biggest
non-coastal community. It really started with traders and fur
trappers and grew to be our agricultural hub for cowmen and then, of
course, later -- later farming, and has grown into what I think is the
most dynamic multicultural and harmonious community with the
May 9, 2023
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most amazing hometown pride that I have ever seen. And if you
haven't spent any time in Immokalee, I recommend you do, and one
of the places you can spend that time, of course, is at our Immokalee
Pioneer Museum at Robert's Ranch.
And I said earlier that Naples is somewhat simultaneous -- or
synonymous, excuse me, with Collier County, and there's a reason for
that. It truly is a gem. It was really conceived as a vacation
destination from day one, from 1887, and struggled to grow until the
Orange Blossom Special arrived in 1927.
And then with the coming of the army airfield in Mid-Century,
of course, the word was out, and the population has been exploding,
and that -- and Naples has been really glittering as one of our jewels
ever since.
Our Naples Depot Museum is closed right now for hurricane
recovery, but also another wonderful place to learn a little bit more
about Naples' history is the Naples Historical Society's Palm Cottage,
which is on 12th Street.
And then we have Marco Island. I mentioned earlier that we
don't have a terribly long history since Spanish contact, but, boy, we
have an amazing, amazing history when you take pre-Columbian
peoples into consideration. And there is nowhere better to learn
about that than Marco Island, particularly at the Marco Island
Historical Museum, which currently has on display the world famous
pre-Columbian -- or excuse me -- Key Marco Cat, which is
considered one of the most finest pre-Columbian artifacts ever
discovered in North American. That will be on display through
2026.
Isle of Capri and Goodland are sort of sister communities to
Marco, and they each have their own unique feel and flair. Isles of
Capri was developed by Doc Loach, and I loved reading some stories
about how hard he had to fight for his community to get a road there
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Page 26
and including, at one point, suing the school district to assure bus
service for the children of the Isles of Capri. And that community
still fights hard for their little fishing village feel.
As does Goodland. Really charming place and really is kind of
quirky and is carved out of history for itself, kind of cropped up
overnight when families from Caxambas were relocated there in
1949. And, again, they have their own mullet festival, Spammy
Jammy, they even have their own unique dance call the Buzzard
Lope. Really fun community.
And then moving on to some of -- some of our newer
communities. Golden Gate was once called a land scam, and now it
is an absolute haven for people who want to get away from the urban
life, who want a little more independence and want to be able to
enjoy everything that Collier County has to offer in a more rural
atmosphere.
And then, of course, our newest community, Ave Maria, isn't
even 20 years young yet but is showing what we can do with our new
sort of advanced ways of developing land and, as well, just a
beautiful Catholic church there and growing place for families, and as
well as the university.
So appreciate you taking just a moment to walk through a little
bit of our history. It can only really scratch the surface here. We
hope that you will join us at some of our museums and take a little
deeper dive. This exhibit will be on display here through June, so
hope you get the opportunity to take some time with it. And, again,
it was an honor to be able to provide it.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you, ma'am.
Item #2B
May 9, 2023
Page 27
APRIL 11, 2023, BCC MEETING MINUTES MOTION TO
APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER KOWAL - APPROVED AS PRESENTED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, we're going to jump back
to Item 2B, which is approval of the meeting minutes from
April 11th, 2023.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Move for approval.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I've got a motion to approve. Do I
have a second?
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Second.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Motion and a second. All
in favor?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes unanimously.
That's what we forgot was to approve the minutes, not the
consent.
Okay. Good. We're on track now?
MS. PATTERSON: You're all set.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Too many proclamations.
MS. PATTERSON: We just didn't want to approve those
minutes in the middle of the flow with the National Anthem and the
proclamations. So we've got it all taken care of.
Item #7
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
May 9, 2023
Page 28
CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA
MS. PATTERSON: Item 7 is public comments on general
topics not on the current or future agenda.
MR. MILLER: We have one registered public comment, Dan
Cook.
MR. COOK: Good morning, Commissioners. That was
a -- it's funny, when I first started coming to these meetings, I would
maybe complain about all the proclamations and the stuff that goes
on before the agenda items, and now I have much more of an
appreciation for it. You know, I learned a lot of from the
presentation here. I get to learn a little bit more about the county.
And, just speaking from the heart, I really appreciate this
county. I appreciate the work that you guys do. I appreciate being
able to live in a community and a county that stands up for freedom,
protects our liberties, protects this community.
And I come to the podium today because, just as important as
protecting our liberties and our local community, is I think the
situation going on at our southern border right now warrants a
conversation about protecting our country and protecting the actual
border.
You may or you may not see in the news right now that Title 42
is going to be expiring on Thursday and that there are tens and tens of
thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of immigrants waiting to
come into the southern border right now. And the way that I read
the Constitution, it's the President's job to secure our borders and to
protect the states from invasion. I think the President is derelict in
his duty right now. I don't think he's securing the border, as I would
like him to do that. So then that begs the question, who's going to
secure the border? Who's going to stand up for American
sovereignty?
May 9, 2023
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I don't necessarily have the answer to that, so I'm here just to
express my concern and maybe ask the commissioners and ask you
guys to possibly maybe write a letter to the Governor or lean on the
Governor. I read in the paper last night that Governor Abbott of
Texas has committed 10,000 National Guard troops to go down to the
southern border to help the Border Patrol. I don't know if it's within
Florida's purview to contribute to that, but if it is and if this is
something that's of concern to you, I just wanted to express my
request to possibly lean on the Governor to consider sending the
Florida National Guard to contribute to that, because I think
defending our southern border -- defending all of our border is
something that affects all Americans, and I think it's worthwhile to
reach out to the Governor, and especially if it came from you guys,
because he's not answering my letters or emails.
But in all seriousness, we all -- everybody here has sworn an
oath to our constitution, sworn an oath to protect our liberty, so if you
can do what you're able to in that regard, I would greatly appreciate
it.
Thank you, guys.
MR. MILLER: And that was our only registered speaker for
public comment.
Item #11A
THE COUNTY MANAGER’S IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE
ADDITIONAL PERSONAL LEAVE DAY FOR ALL COUNTY
EMPLOYEES UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE BOARD
INCLUDING THE COUNTY MANAGER’S AGENCY, COUNTY
ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, AND BCC OFFICE STAFF TO BE USED
MAY 10, 2023, THROUGH MAY 9, 2024, IN HONOR OF
COLLIER COUNTY’S CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION –
May 9, 2023
Page 30
MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL;
SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, the last of our Centennial
items is Item 11A. It's a recommendation to approve the County
Manager's implementation of one additional personal leave day for
all county employees under the direction of the Board, including
County Manager's agency, County Attorney's Office, and BCC office
staff to be used May 10th, 2023, through May 9th, 2024, in honor of
Collier County's Centennial celebration.
This item is being brought to the agenda by the County
Manager's Office. We spent some time thinking about an
appropriate way to recognize the efforts of our staff during the
Centennial year. I think everybody has enough T-shirts, and, you
know, a picnic is something we're still considering as an ongoing
staff recognition.
But the idea rose up about an additional personal day, similar to
what we grant for various service milestones, and so we thought this
would be a good idea to bring to you-all for your consideration.
The day will be good for one year, as indicated, starting, if
approved by you, tomorrow, and good through the Centennial year.
It's a "use it or lose it," similar to our other service awards and our
personal days, and it just is a nice way to thank the staff for their
service and all of those things that they do.
We did extend this out to the constitutional officers should they
want to implement the same within their organizations.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Well, I know all of us have been
briefed separately on it. Do I have any commissioners that have a
comment or an objection or anything they wanted to say before we
have a motion to approve?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Move to approve.
May 9, 2023
Page 31
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Second. So we've got a motion
and a second. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes unanimously.
MS. PATTERSON: Thank you, Commissioners.
Item #10A
RESOLUTION 2023-90: A RESOLUTION UPDATING THE
POLICIES RELATING TO CODE ENFORCEMENT LIENS,
DIRECT STAFF TO REVISIT ITS PROCEDURES FOR
PROSECUTING CODE ENFORCEMENT CASES, AND DIRECT
STAFF TO DISCUSS AND REINFORCE WITH THE CODE
ENFORCEMENT BOARD AND SPECIAL MAGISTRATE THE
PARAMETERS FOR THE IMPOSITION OF FINES FOR CODE
VIOLATIONS - MOTION TO ADOPT W/CHANGES BY
COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER HALL – ADOPTED
MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to Item 10A. This is a
recommendation to adopt a resolution updating the policies relating
to code enforcement liens, direct staff to revisit its procedures for
prosecuting code enforcement cases, and direct staff to discuss and
reinforce with the Code Enforcement Board and Special Magistrate
the parameters for the imposition of fines for code violations.
May 9, 2023
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This item is brought to the agenda by Commissioner LoCastro
and the Board's direction and the County Attorney's Office, as well as
the Growth Management Department Community Development are
here to present and/or answer questions.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sure. Let me just set the table a
little bit. This is what we've talked about. I wanted to first see if
you had an appetite for us, not changing the code, but just putting a
little bit more structure, a little bit more detail as we've learned a lot
of lessons over the years, and it sounded like everybody, when I first
brought this up a couple meetings ago, did think that was a good idea.
I've been working closely with Mr. Klatzkow on putting
together a -- not only an executive summary but a resolution that was
not too complicated. You know, we're not trying to, like, overhaul
the process. We're just trying to restress a few things when it comes
to liens and how the county implements them and enforces them.
And then when it comes to just basic fines, the less government,
the less things that we sort of -- less ordinances, sometimes the less
resolutions the better, and what -- and I'm going to turn it over to
Mr. Klatzkow to sort of just give us a good executive summary.
But in that particular case, I believe we've already sent the signal
to the Code Enforcement Board, hey, we're really looking for you to
do your due diligence. And there's always special cases, but in the
case of somebody that has a huge fine, it doesn't just go to zero
because they finally mowed the grass, you know, and those kind of
examples.
But having said that, let me turn it over to Mr. Klatzkow. He's
going to give us sort of what I'm asking for us to vote on to include in
the ordinance that will help better define a few things and then,
verbally, he and his staff are going to do several things to make sure
that the Code Enforcement Board, our staff, and folks that are
involved all the way in between just get the message of what our
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stance is on liens and fines and things of that nature.
So, Mr. Klatzkow.
MR. KLATZKOW: Over the past few months, the Chair and I
have had a number of conversations on this issue. And what I did
was I asked the assistant county attorney, Colleen Kerins, to work
with Jamie, look at what other counties are doing, and let's try to put
together something that's sort of like right in the middle of it, sort of
like best business practice, move us more towards a firm-but-fair type
of process. And I leave it to Jamie and Colleen to discuss what
they've come up with.
MS. KERINS: Colleen Kerins, Assistant County Attorney.
Our prior process for the relief of liens after they've been
imposed by the Code Enforcement Board and by the Special
Magistrate was a more informal process where they would write a
letter to the Code Enforcement Director and tell their story.
What we're really trying to accomplish with this is a more
formal process requiring people to show more documentation, pay an
application fee, and it gives staff the opportunity to make sure that
they're in compliance with not only our code enforcement rules, but
also with our zoning rules, making sure their taxes and all the special
assessments are up to date before we bring it to the Board for our
recommendation for settlement.
One of the other things it will be doing as well is it puts a cap on
the amounts of fines that will be liened on the part of what will be
forgiven. It's based on the market value.
Different areas of the state do different things. Some have a
straight "it's reduced to $1,000 regardless as to what's been accrued."
Other places are it's tied to a percentage of the accrued value.
In our case we're trying to really stress that it's a fair imposition.
For example, if you have a $35,000 property, it would be 10 percent
or 20 percent depending on whether or not it was a repeat violation.
May 9, 2023
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So it really is fitting the property value as opposed to someone who's
had 10 years of accruing fines.
So hopefully we'll avoid the situations where we have $800,000
worth of accrued fines coming to the Board for forgiveness.
Also within the resolution we do have a part for Code
Enforcement annually to bring back a report to the Board to go over
what the accrued fines are on different properties whether or not there
is a homestead on the property, which will allow us to determine
whether or not we can foreclose on those properties, which is not
something we've typically done in the past years.
There is also a recommendation, when we were going through
this process, to have our office go back to the Code Enforcement
Board and the Special Magistrate for evaluations as to the factors
delineated under Florida Statute 162.09 where they have to consider
certain things before they impose that fine, which then becomes the
lien that is owned by the Board of County Commissioners.
We want to make sure that the people are given an opportunity
to present their mitigating factors and that the Board and the Special
Magistrate are being given a full picture as to what the situation is
going forward.
One of the things we're working on doing is revamping our rules
and regulations for Code Enforcement Board and Special Magistrate
to have a more formal process there as well with requirements that
their arguments for continuances, extensions of time, and mitigating
factors for imposition be put into writing.
So hopefully this will avoid some of the issues we've been
uncovering over the last two years as to having these large liens that
are having to be reduced.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Do you have anything else to add,
Mr. Klatzkow?
MR. KLATZKOW: No. We're going to be more proactive on
May 9, 2023
Page 35
this. I mean, one of the problems I think the Board's had, we'll have
somebody purchase a home with a code lien on it, and they did their
title report, they know about it, but then they come to the Board
anyway asking for forgiveness, and we've tightened that loophole out.
I mean, if you're buying your property at a reduced value because of
a code lien, then you're going to pay that code lien.
We're -- again, the concept is to be fair but firm on code
enforcement. The idea behind tying it to the percentage of the
homestead is if you've got a million-dollar property, you know,
$50,000 is one thing. If you have a $35,000 property, $50,000 is
above that. So that's why we tied it into the fair market value of it.
And, again, this is an evolving process. The County Manager
will be coming back a year from now with a report on this. Jamie
will be working on that along with the new Code Enforcement
director, and we'll see how it's working, whether or not we need to
make changes to it or to leave it as it is. But you'll get a report a
year from now as to how this is actually working in the field.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. Before I go to the
commissioners that are lit up, just to finish, I guess, setting the table
is, you know, when these $800,000 fines come to us, and we all sort
of know it's like, oh, yeah, that's not -- you know, that's not real, this
doesn't seem like a very good process here. I mean, we've checked
with other counties. There's other people that are doing it a bit
tighter.
What I like that you said -- and then I'm going to turn it over to
my colleagues -- this provides more information. I like how you
said "a more full picture," you know, for the Board and the people
involved, more involvement by our staff. So, you know, there again,
it sort of dovetails on more information before decisions are made.
More due diligence and oversight so that we're not necessarily going
from, you know, a big fine to zero with minimal information,
May 9, 2023
Page 36
minimal discussion.
And there's -- and in the end there's always extenuating
circumstances. So there is always an out if there is something that,
you know, the county's not of, that lane of, you know, conversation
has not evaporated, in fact, but it will be something that can be
considered now with a lot more information, which is -- which is
what I like.
So I know -- I appreciate you-all working on this really hard
and, also, not making it too -- too verbose. We really -- we've really
summarized it down. And some things that I think don't change the
process per se, it improves it. It adds some things to it and specifies
in words some things that were -- as you said, were sort of loosely
handled where now it has more specificity.
But having said that, let me go to my colleagues.
Commissioner Daniel [sic] and then, Commissioner Hall, you're on
deck, sir.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. I thought you said
Daniel.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No, Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Good morning,
Mr. Chair.
I've got a couple of comments. Specifically No. 9 showed up
today, and it was not in the original -- it was not in the original
agenda package that I downloaded. Number 8, in the executive
summary that talks about the reduced percentages. I'd like -- my
initial -- my initial thought was to eliminate that because it provided
for too much subjectivity at a staff level.
And so if we're going to go forward with No. 8, I'd like to
change the language or suggest a change in the language that we
move it over to the assessed value of the current year that the -- that
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Page 37
the lien was actually imposed. It provides for a place for staff to go
to actually pick a number that was already a matter of record, and
we're not dealing with this nebulous market value, which shifts all of
the time.
I, personally -- again, going back to the -- having that done at
the -- having that done at an administrative level allows for potential
subjectivity decision-making that I would prefer not, in fact,
transpire.
I like the -- I like the other issues or the other suggestions that
were brought in, because what we're actually looking to do is have a
property owner who has a complaint or a lien filed take steps prior to
the disposition of the asset to actually bring it forward and cure it. I
like that aspect of what, in fact, we're doing.
So I do have a couple of comments on the processes over and
above this particular item, but that's my number-one comment with
regard to No. 8, so...
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I'll -- I'd really like Mr. Klatzkow
to answer. He's really been the champion and the author of this
working with me and trying to package it.
I will say, I'm not falling on my sword on any of these. I
wanted to just at least present something that we are all comfortable
with. So I really value the opinion here. We want to try to -- I don't
want to say we want to try to. We want a document that is going to
complement and improve the process that we already have.
So this is -- this is great conversation, and if there are some
things in here that we need to go back to -- I don't want to say the
drawing board, but we need to edit some things, you know, there's no
rush to judgment here. We want to -- you know, I always say
measure twice and cut once.
But let's take yours one at time, Commissioner. So No. 8, your
concerns on No. 8, and then I'd like Mr. Klatzkow to comment as
May 9, 2023
Page 38
to -- would Commissioner McDaniel's suggestions improve it, change
it, not? You know, I know you've done the deep dive with so many
other counties and all the legalese, so -- and, like I said, I'm not
married to any one of these with actual specific verbiage, but I think
this is healthy conversation.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. I think the idea of tying it to an
assessed valuation is an outstanding idea because it gives certainty to
it.
COMMISSIONER HALL: It's established.
MR. KLATZKOW: It's right on the website.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: To the year that the lien was
effectuated.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If you provide for that
specificity, I can leave -- I can leave No. 8 alone. It just takes away
the --
MR. KLATZKOW: I think --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- discretion of the market
value.
MR. KLATZKOW: -- it's an outstanding idea.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: And then what was 9? You had
something on 9?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, 9 was new. It wasn't
included in the Board package that went public last week, and I didn't
find any -- necessarily, I didn't find any fault.
So, now, let's take care of this, and then I have a discussion with
regard to processes at all.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Let me go to
Commissioner Hall. Sir.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Regarding No. 7, title policy is really not required to purchase
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Page 39
property in Florida. It's common practice if you have a lien or if you
borrow money, but if you pay cash, it's not required. And so there's
investors that purchase with cash, and they're adding values to the
property. There's foreclosures that are bought at the courthouse that
you don't have time to do any title work. And owner financing, you
could -- I could have a lien on a property, and I want to get out of it,
so I owner finance it to somebody that doesn't know it. I take
$20,000 of their money down, and I finance it, and then all of a
sudden, this lien passes to them.
So all of the other criteria would have to be met anyway. You
know, it would have to be abated, all the taxes paid up and so forth.
So I just -- I was just bringing that up. Closing documents will show
if there's a lien on the property anyway, your HUD-1 statement or
whatever, or it will show if you paid cash for it.
So I could be comfortable with it. I mean, I'd be all right with it
the way it says, but I would prefer the title policy not to be an indice.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Is there a way to better write it, or
you think there's some things on there that just need to be, you know,
redlined because it's confusing? And then, Mr. Klatzkow, give us
your comments. Because we want the best document possible, so
that's a great point.
COMMISSIONER HALL: I mean, I totally understand, you
know, somebody that is aware of the lien, and they're just using that
as -- you know, as an escape. But if -- I don't want to -- I don't want
to punish the many based on -- you know, on the few.
MR. KLATZKOW: Well, I guess I'm trying to ascertain the
intent of the Board here, because this comes out of a couple
conversations people have had coming to the Board saying, look, I
purchased this property, and I didn't know about this lien. And, like,
I find that astounding myself --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Right.
May 9, 2023
Page 40
MR. KLATZKOW: -- that you would spend that kind of
money and not do a title search, but -- for the $150 it costs, but that's
just me.
We tied it to this because it's an easy document to look at. If
you just want to -- if you just want to say that when you buy your
property with an outstanding lien, you know, it's caveat emptor. I
mean, buyer beware, and that's the end of it. We won't tie it to a title
insurance policy.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Sure. I mean, I understand -- I
understand the rationale.
Yes, Mr. French.
MR. FRENCH: Just wondering, what if we just inserted some
terminology? Because this really was in response to that gentleman
that had bought properties from that property owner before and said,
on this one I just didn't have title insurance, and I just didn't -- I didn't
do my background, and, goodness, the Board -- the Board gave him a
gift.
But that's the reason why this is in here, as Colleen and I have
discussed. But what if we use something "and/or" or "if applicable"
so that if there is a need for having title insurance --
COMMISSIONER HALL: Sure. I mean, if you look at the
closing document and there's a loan documented on there as the first
lien, then you know that there's a title policy involved.
MS. KERINS: All this language would do is require the people
to include those documents, if applicable, in their application as an
attachment so that we have full understanding as to what the situation
is moving forward.
And the way it's phrased as well is for the purchase of the
property. I didn't want to have things hindering if it's a property
going through probate where there really is no purchase but there is a
title change.
May 9, 2023
Page 41
So I tried to do it as discretionary as we could to kind of allow
the people who have situations like probate go forward and have
it -- which is why it says it may be considered as a reason for
rejection.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Sure. I'm fine.
MS. KERINS: We can clean up the language and make it more
clear if it's the Board's prerogative.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Personally --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes, sir. Go ahead.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: As a comment --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Then I'll go to Commissioner
Saunders.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I mean, our goal here, or at
least I think our goal here is to -- there may not be -- there may be
future boards that aren't as aware as we are with regard to real estate
transactions, and so the goal here is to get as much information -- the
way I was reading these things is the proposed resolution creates that
final written document for the property owner to come through the
process and supply this necessary information.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And then when another board
has to hear of a property owner's issue who made an error, didn't do
their due diligence, bought a piece of property, didn't do a title
search, they get to be held accountable for that and not go, oh, I'm
sorry.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Right.
So are there -- just to summarize here before I go to
Commissioner Saunders. I like what you said, Mr. French. I think
there's a couple little words -- you know, not to wordsmith it to
death -- that would give No. 7 more clarity.
So, Commissioner Saunders, what do you have, sir?
May 9, 2023
Page 42
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, I want to thank you for really taking the lead on this
issue.
One of the biggest complaints we get from constituents is
problems with their neighbors making too much noise or doing -- not
taking care of their property, and Code Enforcement is very, very
important especially if you take a look at Golden Gate City, as an
example, where there are numerous code violations that just go on
and on forever, even though Code Enforcement may not be able to
take any particular action. So I just want to thank you for really
taking the lead on this and beefing up our process here.
My biggest concern was with No. 8 because we just don't know
what the fair market value is, and I didn't want to have the county
have to get appraisals to determine that value, but that's taken care of.
And it sounds like No. 7 is taken care of as well.
So the issues that I had made notes on have been addressed.
So, again, just to thank you for taking the lead on this.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Anybody else?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: The other thing, too, that's a -- you
know, I don't want to be too repetitive, but the homework assignment
for Mr. Klatzkow -- and he guarantees me this -- is that when -- we'll
make the changes here -- and I think we can -- I hope we can vote on
it based on the changes, and then the new document would go out,
but also, too, it is imperative -- and our legal team is going to take the
lead on this -- is that when this is presented to Code Enforcement and
other staff, as I said before, not only will this, you know, be
explained -- although, I think it's self-exploratory, but also finishing
the conversation when it comes to fines and what -- because we
already have the right things in print, so I don't think we need to
rewrite everything.
May 9, 2023
Page 43
But the conversation that we had, it's just a reconfirmation that
they do their ready due diligence, if there's not an extenuating
circumstance, we don't go from 100,000 to zero in 10 seconds, and
then the person walks out the door, and that they also get guidance
and input from the county staff.
I mean, I had a conversation with Mr. French where he said,
wow, if something's going to Code Enforcement and we have a lot of
background information that they don't have, we will make sure we're
at that Code Enforcement meeting, not to beat up the person who's at
the other podium, but to make sure that the Board has all of the
information possible before they rule on something so that, you
know, we're not giving away taxpayer dollars or we're not overly, you
know, penalizing somebody. So I think that will definitely make the
process much better.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll make a motion for
approval as amended with those language changes to No. 8, and I
think, if I heard you correctly, you're going to change it, "closing
documents or title insurance"?
MS. KERINS: Correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And change the "and" to an
"or." I'll make that -- I'll make that motion.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Second.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I've got a motion and a
second. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed?
May 9, 2023
Page 44
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes unanimously.
Thank you, gentlemen.
MR. KLATZKOW: Thank you.
MR. FRENCH: Commissioners?
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes, sir.
MR. FRENCH: Just one moment. Again, Jamie French, for
the record, your department head for Growth Management. I wanted
to take the opportunity to introduce Tom Iandimarino, our new Code
Enforcement Director. Not often do you get to pick your successor,
but Mr. Ossorio, our current Code Director -- or former Code
Director, sat on our interview panel, and Tom was his number one.
Tom has spent the last 32 years of his career as a first responder
with the National Park Service, actually lives right here in Collier
County, has for nearly 20 years, and he's worked as a wildlife officer,
boater safety, firefighter, law enforcement, and he's already got an
established working relationship, I know, with the Sheriff's Office
and the City of Everglades. So we're very pleased to introduce Tom.
And I know I've made him around -- I've made the rounds to be
able to introduce you to some of them [sic], but we're awfully
grateful that he chose to stay here in Collier County and come aboard
with us.
So we're looking forward to advancing our organization and,
again, and sending Mike off. Mike's been a -- he's going to still be
with our organization, but Mike did a great job as Code Enforcement
director and certainly set the bar pretty high.
So any questions or comments for Tom? He's -- I think he's
standing right binned me.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Bring him up.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Well, thank you very much for having
me. I think I've met everybody except for Mr. Saunders, sir.
May 9, 2023
Page 45
MR. FRENCH: Commissioner Saunders, sir.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Commissioner Saunders; sorry, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Either way works.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Thank you.
Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. This is an
interesting document that got thrown in my lap when I got here a
month ago, and I've been reading it and trying to understand it and
learn it myself. So it's a lot of work in progress, and I will do my
best to implement it as it comes across.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I have a comment for him.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes, sir. Commissioner
McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And this has to do with my
previous statement with regard to how we're doing what we're doing.
Commissioner Saunders brought up a good point earlier with
regard to ongoing code issues. And, you know, government
intrusion is an issue of mine but, on the same token, the four bounds
of a property owner should not be negatively impacted by another,
the quiet enjoyment of those -- of those four bounds of a property
owner.
I would like for us to make some adjustments in how we're
doing what we're doing. Code Enforcement -- and if it needs to be a
Board directive and we need to have a discussion about this in a more
formal format, I can actually bring an agenda item forward. But it's
become commonplace for a property owner who has visible
violations to deny Code Enforcement access to that property. It's
commonplace. And then we're stopped. We're stopped at the front
gate. We're not allowed to come through.
So I would like to -- we can go on if a warrant is secured, so I'm
led to believe. That needs to be commonplace for our Code
Enforcement when we're denied access to a property where a known
May 9, 2023
Page 46
violation is, in fact, transpiring.
MR. IANDIMARINO: Understood. Of course, you know, we
try to get other ways of getting there through the neighbor's property.
If we can't get that direction and we still can't get what we are
looking for, sometimes we are stopped, and if we do have enough
probable cause to get a warrant, hopefully we can do that.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Can you fly a drone?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No.
MR. IANDIMARINO: We cannot fly a drone, no, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You cannot fly a drone, and
that's -- there again, that comes into government intrusion. And
remind me to tell you the story about the drone I saw.
So the -- what I would -- and if you need us to -- or us to -- me
to bring an agenda item forward and us review the procedures and
policies so that Code has a little more direction as to what we would
like to see transpire, I think -- we pull a couple of warrants to go onto
someone's property who's denied us access, the word will spread out
that that's, in fact, what we're going to do.
I mean, you can't hardly overcome the fence fighting, I call it,
when one neighbor's mad at the other because this dog's coming over
and doing their business on somebody else's piece of property. But
you -- on the same token, we have -- we have a duty to protect the
quiet enjoyment of a particular property owner's --
MR. IANDIMARINO: And finding that fine line between that
and invasion of somebody else's property, understood. It's a
challenge.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well -- and it becomes
abusive, especially -- I mean, Golden Gate City, we have an
enormous amount of violations that are going on. Golden Gate
Estates, it's turning back into the Wild East as far as --
MR. IANDIMARINO: In my first month here, I've reviewed
May 9, 2023
Page 47
some SOPs. I'm reviewing more SOPs as we're going through them
for our own internal standard procedures, and I'm going over those
with staff as they come up. And I'm trying to review as many as I
can to hopefully mitigate some of the concerns that you may have.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I won't belabor the point any
longer. If you need some direction from this board, let me know.
MR. KLATZKOW: Three nods -- three nods, and we'll do it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sir?
MR. KLATZKOW: If we have three nods, we'll do it, or I can
come back on executive summary. It's whatever you guys want.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Three nods?
MR. KLATZKOW: Three nods, and we can implement, or we
can come back on executive summary.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Is that one person nodding
three times?
MR. KLATZKOW: Well, that would be Commissioner
McDaniel's idea. But, no, I need three separate nods.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm -- I really -- you know,
there again, if -- whichever you folks prefer. I want our staff to be
comfortable. And I actually want to know the process that -- you
know, you were talking about review of SOPs. I'd like -- I think we
ought to probably do an executive summary on it --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- just to have an agenda
item.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Make it clear; you can see it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll bring an item. I'll bring
an item second meeting -- in our next meeting in May.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
I never really understood Code anyways. I mean, I come from
May 9, 2023
Page 48
a criminal law enforcement background and, you know, Code
Enforcement operates kind of in a different environment. And from
my understanding, a lot of -- like Commissioner Saunders was
saying, you know, a lot of times these complaints are just simply a
neighbor doesn't enjoy another neighbor's music or something like
that, and it brings -- it's brought to the attention of Code Enforcement
and, because it's a complaint, Code Enforcement has to investigate,
you know.
And then -- but, you know, you look at our constitution, our
Sixth Amendment, you know, you're required -- you have the right to
face your accuser. That's in our constitution, and I think Code works
a little differently like that. You could be anonymous, and the Code
Enforcement is the accuser. You know, I'm not sure if that's true or
not, but I think at some point if the accusers are actually -- a face is
on the accuser, this may cut down a lot of the frivolous complaints,
you know, because, constitutionally, in the Sixth Amendment, you
know -- I'm not going to read verbatim or remember it verbatim, but
you do have the right to face your accuser in anything where you're
acting under the color of law in fining or charging a crime against
another citizen.
So I don't know if it's as simple as that that -- you know, that
you can get rid of this anonymous complaint. I don't know. You
know, that might just cut down on a lot of the frivolous complaints,
too.
MR. FRENCH: So, Commissioner, thank you. Great point.
Again, Jamie French.
Under -- Florida Statute 162 is what we operate Code
Enforcement under. And, actually, the House and Senate, two years
ago in session, they used Collier County as a model, and so 162 does
not allow for anonymous complaints.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Okay.
May 9, 2023
Page 49
MR. FRENCH: And so -- unless it is considered of imminent
health, life, or safety. So -- and your life-safety code predominantly
is your Florida Building Code. So if we've got illegal structures that
weren't properly permitted under that state statute, they could,
perhaps, be unsafe. Those are the type of things that we can act on.
Tall grass that could cause fires. And we would represent ourselves
to say, driving by, this is something we saw.
RVs -- not saying that an RV stored in your Golden Gate Estates
lot isn't something that we see every day. It's an RV where you've
got 12 of them, and you're on a glamping site, and you're renting
them for $65 a night, those are of concern for both the community as
well as for the Florida Building Code, because what the Building
Code says is that if it exists and it's occupied for more than six
months and it's not road-ready, it is now a structure that requires,
under state statute, a permit.
So we would address those, and all of those will require some
investigation from those people who are actually licensed and
professional in that field.
So Code is going to have to work with our Building
Department -- or building division more under that -- and Mr. Bosi
more and Ms. Cook more and my office more and perhaps DAS,
because they really -- and the Sheriff's Office, because they really are
the subject-matter experts in certain fields so that Code is coming
forward and opening that investigation, working on that code case
determination check sheet, and we would bring that back -- with
Commissioner McDaniel's pleasure, we'll bring that back and explain
that. But you're absolutely right, 162 does not allow for anonymous
complaints. We don't take them unless it's a life-safety issue.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Okay. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well -- and, you know,
May 9, 2023
Page 50
therein lies part of the -- part of the circumstance on the process.
Retribution for an actual -- for an actual complaint oftentimes
comes from the -- to the complainant. And so our answer to not
having anonymous complaints is to file -- the commissioner to file
the complaint on behalf of the complainant. So I end up -- we end
up being the person who files to hold a neighbor anonymous who's
fearful of retribution. There's some not nice people out there that are
doing some not nice things that -- and intimidating neighbors into
fear of retribution.
So that's part of that discussion that we'll have in the latter part
of May as to how we get there from here.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just a quick comment and a
question. There have been workarounds in terms of the anonymity
of complaints. I think in Golden Gate City, I'll use that as an
example, if someone has a complaint, they can get the Golden Gate
Civic Association to file the complaint. So they have ways to kind
of work around that. It helps a little bit, but not a whole lot.
But the question I have is if you are on one of your
patrols -- let's say you're on a canal and you're patrolling an area,
there's been a violation and you're going to check it out and you see
another violation, whether it's, you know, tall grass or just some
violation that you know is a violation, the question is, can you take
action as a Code Enforcement officer when you see a violation that's
not been reported?
MR. IANDIMARINO: Yes. Tom Iandimarino, again, for
Code Enforcement. Yes, we can do that. There's a point where
there's self-initiated code activity for all the staff. They can get out
there and see things and act on things, but there are certain things that
we do act on and certain things that we just don't have the time to act
on because there's just so much going on sometimes. So it's judging
May 9, 2023
Page 51
what's the life, safety, and health that we need to take actions on.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So when this comes
back -- and we're in our budget process now, and we all recognize
how important code enforcement is and that your hands are
somewhat tied in terms of receiving complaints, but if we had more
Code Enforcement officers available so you would have more time, I
think that would help solve some problems as well.
So during the budget process I'd like for the Board to consider
beefing up Code Enforcement because, as the Chairman has certainly
acknowledged with what he's brought forward here, this is really
important for a lot of people. And I hear the complaints -- I'm sure
we all do every day -- of neighbors not wanting to file a complaint
because they're afraid they're going to be shot at or something of that
nature.
And so I would like to see us consider -- and part of the
staff's -- my request to staff would be let us know what you need,
because it's an important issue.
MR. FRENCH: Thank you, Commissioner. Again, for the
record, Jamie French.
We are working directly with the County Manager's Office and
Mr. Finn, the budget office, on these exact things. We're looking at
everything from more of a unified force multiplier on how we can
work best across all of the departments for the county and still be
able to provide a level of service that the county can count on
but -- not just that, but also to ensure that we do honor 162, that the
Sixth Amendment of the Constitution is recognized, and that these
are truly life-safety issues that we would be bringing forward as
self-initiated, and we'd be able to properly respond to the community.
So thank you for that, and we appreciate your support, and we
will -- we'll look at that through the budget process as well as
continuing to work with the manager's office.
May 9, 2023
Page 52
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: You've got one more here.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just to -- and this is just a
point for my colleagues. I had a -- I have a complaint that I have -- I
don't know if I filed it yet or not, but it's coming, but I drove out to
look at it myself. In a drive-by on one street in Golden Gate Estates,
I counted five violations that I could see from the road just driving
by. I mean, on the main corner there was a guy who had -- literally,
he had five tractor trailers -- semis with tractor trailers parked in
behind his house on the way into the one.
And so that's, in fact, what I was talking about how we can gear
this up to not be an intrusion, not be government overreach, but yet,
at the same time, protect the quiet enjoyment of the property owner
who is in existence next to a violation that's, in fact, transpiring. So
that's just an example of one street that I drove up in looking at an
ongoing code issue.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We'll deal with it more at
length --
MR. FRENCH: I'll move the trucks out of the yard, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, was that your house?
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So, in summary, let's make those
small changes, get the latest copy with the new date on it out to all
the commissioners and, of course, the staff and the Code
Enforcement Board. Let's restress when it comes to our enforcement
of fines as well.
And you know what I hope this is is also a deterrent, because I
do think there's people out there that sort of, you know, outside of
this room and in town say, you know, you've got a $30,000 fine, you
go in, you tell a little story, they make it zero, and then everything's
fine. And I think we need to turn the corner on that.
May 9, 2023
Page 53
Certainly, like I always say, there's extenuating circumstances,
and that's what we're not trying to beat up. But in the end, this is
also real taxpayer money. And, you know, if you break the law, if
you blow us off, if you, you know, say, hey, I'll get to it when I get to
it and then once I'm in compliance, the county's policy is to make it
go to zero, I don't think we want to do that anymore.
So, you know, lastly, I'd just like to thank Mr. Klatzkow and his
team and Mr. French and all of his folks who have worked with me
over the weeks to put something that wasn't government overreach
but was clarification on details -- who you pointing to?
MR. FRENCH: Colleen is -- she is --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Oh, so did everything?
MR. FRENCH: She is an amazing partner. I will tell you
Jeff's -- between Sally Ashkar and Derek Perry and Heidi and
Colleen, your County Attorney's Office has really been able to
promote and support us in that way. And, you know, if I need to,
Jeff and I, you know, we certainly will work together as well. But
his assistant county attorneys have been great to work with and,
really, it's -- Colleen is kind of the glue that sticks us all together and
keeps us out of the guardrail, so...
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: There you go. Well -- and I think
the important thing, too, isn't just the document itself, but it's the
process, the engagement that -- you know, the more hands-on
approach that we're going to have to be a little bit more hands on,
more transparent, and gather more information so that our Code
Enforcement Board and others can make better decisions and enforce
these policies much more stringently in the cases where they should
be.
Okay. I think we're ready for a break. So let's take a break.
And what do you-all think, we come back here at -- what do you
think? What are we saying? Come back in about 10 minutes. So
May 9, 2023
Page 54
we'll say 10:50.
(A brief recess was had from 10:40 a.m. to 10:50 a.m.)
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Where are we going next?
MS. PATTERSON: Well, at your pleasure, we do have our
team here for the 11:00 time-certain. We could take them a couple
of minutes early rather than --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. If you've got everybody
here, less roll right into that.
MS. PATTERSON: Yep. They're all ready to go.
Item #13A
PRESENTATION OF THE ANNUAL COMPREHENSIVE
FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED
SEPTEMBER 30, 2022, AND AUTHORIZATION TO FILE THE
RELATED STATE OF FLORIDA ANNUAL LOCAL
GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL REPORT WITH THE
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES. - MOTION TO
ACCEPT THE REPORT AS PRESENTED BY COMMISSIONER
SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO –
APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: This is a presentation of the annual -- Item
13A, presentation of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for
the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2022, and authorization to file
the related State of Florida Annual Local Government Financial
Report with the Department of Financial Services.
Mr. Derek Johnssen, Clerk's Office director of Finance and
Accounting, will start the presentation.
MR. JOHNSSEN: Thank you, County Manager.
May 9, 2023
Page 55
Good morning, Commissioners. Derek Johnssen, finance
director for the Clerk and Comptroller's Office.
You see me about every time this year to do the very same thing,
create this large tome, which I expect you-all to read every page.
This audit covers the consolidated county. It's a product of
many hours of effort on the part of staff across the county agencies.
We truly appreciate the support we get from administration, the
budget office, County Attorney's Office, and Public Utilities.
I would like to add my sincere gratitude for the time and
dedication that my staff put into creating this document.
For fiscal year 2022, the county received an unmodified audit
opinion, which is the best that I can bring to you. We have a brief
presentation of the results for the audit today.
With that, I would like to introduce Chris Kessler, the partner in
charge with Clifton, Larson, Allen, the county's auditor. We'll, of
course, be available afterwards for questions.
Thank you.
MR. KESSLER: Good morning, Commissioners. Good to see
everyone.
So as Derek said, we are here to discuss the 2022 financial
statement and compliance audit for the county. And, generally,
we're going to keep it fairly brief, but I'd love for questions or
comments throughout, so, you know, please feel free to chime in as I
move through.
But as we talk through the 2022 results, you know, generally
speaking, as Derek said, you know, unmodified opinion on the
financial statement, so I'm bringing good news to everyone here
today.
So the services that we've performed, they are no different than
years past. I'm not going to read all these in detail, but there's three
main pieces that we look at in performing your audit. And the first
May 9, 2023
Page 56
is the audit of your financial statements; the audit of the federal
compliance, so all of those federal grants that the county receives.
We take a sample of those transactions and make sure the dollars are
spent in accordance with the grant programs. Reporting is done as
required, procurement is followed as required, things along those
lines, as well as from a state compliance standpoint both with the
grants and certain state statutes that the county has to follow. We
take a look at those transactions and make sure those are in line.
The reports that we issue as a result, these are no different from
prior years. So, again, these are the deliverables that get inserted
into that very large document, your Annual Comprehensive -- Annual
Comprehensive Financial Report, the ACFR. And so if you look at
these reports from prior years, the actual reports themselves have not
changed, but I do want to bring to your attention they will look
different from prior years. Every once in a while the standard setters
that govern our profession change some of the rules, and they
changed some of the layout of these reports to make them a little
easier for the users of the financial statements to understand. So
they don't look directly like last year, but the content is still the same,
and the opinions are in these reports in the same manner.
So the results of the procedures, as was previously mentioned,
the independent auditor's report was an unmodified opinion. This is
a clean opinion. This is the highest level of opinion on your
financial statements that you can receive. Your independent
auditor's report and internal control had no reported findings. Your
single audit report, both on the federal programs and on state projects
was unmodified opinion on compliance with no reported findings.
So, again, clean opinion; highest level you-all can receive.
The management letter that we have to issue under Florida
Statutes had no reported comments, but we do, as we do every year,
we make certain suggestions for best practices and areas of
May 9, 2023
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improvement based off what we see elsewhere or based off what we
see when we're in performing audit procedures to management,
verbally, throughout the audit process.
And then our independent accountant's report, which is on some
of the state compliance that we have to look at, that was an
unmodified attestation opinion on compliance as well. So, again,
highest level, clean opinion.
So there are certain communications that I am required to make
to you-all, and they are included in the governance communication
letter that is provided to you-all as well. But some of the key ones
that I want to highlight here today, the scope and timing of the audit
proceeded as planned. That means what we planned to do, we
executed upon, and there were no changes to that.
Significant accounting policies were in accordance with industry
standards and what we call GAAP, generally accepted accounting
principles. There were no difficulties encountered in performing the
audit.
Significant risks that we identify in our planning were addressed
as planned. And then management was very cooperative, helpful,
and professional during the audit. So, as always, it's always a
pleasure working with your teams throughout both the county and the
Clerk's Office in performing this audit. We spend a lot of time, and
we ask a lot of questions and request a lot of information to issue
these opinions, and it is always, always a pleasure to work with
everyone here that provides us what we need efficiently, effectively,
and focuses on quality financial information so we can get in and do
our job well. So we're always appreciative of that.
I do want to highlight a little bit of what these financial
statements contain and what the 2022 audit really had to deal with
this year. So, you know, usually read through your financial
statements. There is a lot of information in there and, for a county of
May 9, 2023
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this size, there is a lot of audit work that has to be done.
But as you look at 2022, similar to some of the things we've
talked about in previous years, particularly the last couple years, there
are some significant changes in operations that we have to deal with
from an audit perspective, and the first is is the required testing of the
county's grant programs that relate to some of the pandemic funding
that has come through the last couple years.
Now, we always have to select the large grant programs that
you-all administer on any given year, but with some of these
pandemic-related funds, the federal government has required a higher
level of risk until those funds are spent, and so we have the four listed
here: The Emergency Rental Assistance Program, the Coronavirus
State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, the Federal Transit Cluster,
and the Airport Improvement Program.
Now, those last two, the Federal Transit Cluster and the Airport
Improvement Program, those are programs you typically have in any
given year. So those are not new programs as it relates to the
COVID-19 pandemic and the funding sources that came through, but
there were certain allocations of additional funding that the federal
government put out there as a result of the pandemic through some of
the various federal legislation that came out through the two
administrations during the pandemic that increased funding for the
county.
So, as a result, we have to spend additional time testing those
every single year because some of those funds came through those
various legislative acts that the federal government passed. So a lot
of time and effort went into those. That will continue until those
funds are spent, probably through 2025 or so.
These grants have complex and unique rules as well. So your
management team has to be on top of all of these unique and complex
rules in order to have the clean opinion like you-all have received.
May 9, 2023
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So the fact that you-all were able to administer these funds in the way
that you did is a big -- you know, a big pat on the back is owed to
your folks within all the departments that administer these dollars.
We have a lot of clients that did not do their due diligence in
administering some of these funds. I mean, you can see the
headlines. You can read the news around the country with some of
the after-the-fact issues that have come about with some of these
funds, or you can read their audit reports and see some of the findings
that come out there.
Your personnel did an excellent job of making sure that all the
Ts were crossed, all the Is were dotted, and even when there were
questions on some of these rules, they did an excellent job of
contacting us to ask those questions and put together memos and
positions papers for us to read through before making certain
decisions on if they were in line with the compliance and the
requirements.
So, you know, that is a big testament to the work that went into
these programs, into these funds by your management team here.
And then the second bullet we have here -- and, obviously, this
is no surprise to anyone -- the Hurricane Ian's impact on the county's
financial statements and the audit. A hurricane is always, you know,
a challenge to get through, but especially for us accountants and
auditors with a September 30th yearend. And when the hurricane
hits in September right before that yearend, that adds a whole other
complexity to things and adds a little bit of wrinkle into the process.
So there were two main factors of that besides just kind of the
normal impact that the hurricane had on the county. But from an
accounting standpoint, your team has to look at all of the capital
assets owned by the county to determine if they were impaired. And
I'm not going to get into the accounting rules of impairment but,
essentially, if those assets were damaged in a way that could impact
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their service capacity going forward, they would need to be written
down in the financial statements whether they were repairable or not.
So a full-scale review had to be performed not only for
insurance purposes and FEMA purposes, like you-all were doing to
just respond and react to the hurricane but, from an accounting
standpoint, it had to be looked at from that lens as well to determine
if the financial statements needed to be adjusted at yearend. So that
was a big effort by management to do that, and then we had to audit
that information and make sure that it was done appropriately.
So big, big effort and lift from that standpoint on the county's
side, but then just the impact of the storm in general on county
operations and within all of the personnel that have a part in this
audit, at the departments, within the finance team, within the Clerk's
Office just to pull together yearend numbers and to then respond to
our audit requests while dealing with, you know, county operations
and responding and recovering from the hurricane as well as what
was going on in their personal lives.
The fact that we're sitting here today in early May delivering this
report, it's, again, a testament to your team here for the effort that
they put in to get us to this point. There are a lot of peer
governments around the state and around the country that have
natural disasters that aren't able to get their reports out as quickly as
you-all did after that has happened.
So, again, I want to stress that, that that is a testament to the
effort and to the folks that you have working for you here within your
teams to get us to the point that we are today.
So I can tell you we appreciate it, because it helps us do our job
as well. So, you know, a big thank you again to all the team
members here.
But with that said, that is really what I wanted to cover here.
And, you know, I -- I apologize. I forgot to introduce Alex Mitchell,
May 9, 2023
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who's also with me. She was the manager on the engagement. So I
know some of you met Alex or have seen Alex throughout the
process, and, you know, she's the one who's answering -- excuse
me -- asking a lot of those questions and dealing with a lot of the
requests, so she's doing a lot of the hard word, so she deserves a
thank you as well, as well as the Clerk's Office.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah, we know. We got that.
Yeah, we all heard that. No, I'm just kidding.
Thanks, Alex.
I have a comment and a question, and then I'm going to go
to -- if anybody's lit up.
My first comment is, I really appreciate how you've said that our
county staff really did their due diligence in managing federal funds
properly and that, you know, a lot of counties maybe sort of were a
little sloppy, because I can tell you, it was a little while ago we were
sitting in this very room, and a lot of those staff members from the
county were getting beat up by citizens saying, wow, if you're down
in County X, you know, they're handing out money like candy, and
you guys have such a difficult -- you know, you have this -- you've
invented your own process, you know, to make it more difficult to
gain access to those funds.
And our reply over and over is, no, we're using the process that
the federal government gave us. Some other counties are
streamlining some things with their own homemade applications, but
that's going to come back to bite them. What I'm hearing from you
is, it came back to bite them.
So, you know, that will get lost in the headlines in the
newspapers. But way back when, there was a lot of stuff in social
media and even in print media here in the county saying, you know,
Collier County isn't handing out money fast enough. I mean, that
was an actual article. I don't think I'm overexaggerating. And, you
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know, to hear, you know, all this time later an audit say, "good onya,"
you know, to your staff. It wasn't a matter of not handing out money
quick enough. It was a matter of doing it properly.
And then, lastly, it's a question for you. And you might not
have the answer. I don't mean to put you on the spot. It was there
one best practice that just jumps out so you can throw an "attaboy" to,
you know, our staff that maybe it's buried in the report? And we'll
all eventually read it. But is there something that you're walking
away here going, wow, you know, we're taking that as a best practice
to every other county we go to because it was -- you know, whether
there were one or two or just something that you could give us a short
version that was actually very impressive?
MR. KESSLER: I will say the one thing that we always have
and one of our takeaways that we always have working with Collier
County is the level of due diligence and effort that goes into your
disbursements and your review of those invoices and transactions and
the cleanliness of those files by the time we get them. You know, a
lot of times from an audit perspective, we'll ask for support, and it's
maybe half completed or it's, yeah, go find it in this 30-page PDF, if
you will, and we have to go search for it.
You-all never have that challenge provided to us or -- you know,
everything is very clean. Everything is always signed off, approved,
very diligently reviewed in what we look at. And it allows us not
only to do our work quicker, but it makes it more enjoyable to do
what we're doing as well on a day-to-day basis when we know
everything's going to look good when we receive it.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Clerk of Courts, your staff and lots
of other people, too, but, thank you. I appreciate that.
Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Obviously, this type of report doesn't just come out of thin air.
May 9, 2023
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It's due to the leadership of the Clerk's Office, Crystal Kinzel, and, of
course, Derek Johnssen, in terms of their leadership and the other
staff there. So congratulations to the Clerk and to her staff for this
report.
I will also say the relationship between the county and the Clerk
has not always been positive. Now, the relationship between the
county and the current clerk has always been positive; certainly for
the last seven, eight years. And I say that because all of us up here,
all the five commissioners and our county manager and her staff
understand how important the role of the Clerk is in doing the post
and preaudit function and making sure that these reports are clean
reports.
So I just want to say to the Clerk, thank you. Congratulations
on this type of report. It says a lot about your operation. It's
positive for us as county commissioners to have this report as well.
So just thank you as well and congratulations on that. And thank
you, sir, for the work that you've done for the Clerk's Office and for
the county.
MR. KESSLER: My pleasure.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Great.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I'll make a motion to
accept the report. I know that we don't have to formally adopt it, but
I think we can go ahead, on a voice vote, to accept the report as
presented.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I've got a motion. I'll
second. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
May 9, 2023
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CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes unanimously.
Thank you.
MS. KINZEL: And if I could, just one -- thank you so much
for the accolades. I do have a fantastic staff, but all the difference in
the world comes from the relationship with county staff. We're able
to pick up the phone; they pick up the phone. We're going to keep
these to the caliber that you appreciate.
I also can't let it go that we now have, from the accounting and
finance side, a trifecta, so to speak, the ACFR, the PAFR -- a lot of
acronyms -- and the budget. We have won the national award from
the Government Finance Officers Association for consecutive years.
This was our very first publication of the Popular Annual Financial
Report, and it was also recognized.
So we've added that third leg. That's the best you can do with
the national association, and that's all due to the great staff on both
sides. So appreciate the recognition.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Great. Thank you.
MS. KINZEL: And we do have good auditors, I have to admit.
They do have a lot of questions. So thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. County Manager, where
are we going next?
Item #11C – Moved from Item #16A18 (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH PFPI
OZ, LLC, (PIKUS) FOR THE PROPOSED PROJECT “CENTRO”
FOR REIMBURSEMENT OF UP TO $788,878.56 IN ACTUAL
EXPENDITURES FOR SANITARY SEWER, DRAINAGE,
IMPACT FEES, AND BUILDING PERMITS FOR
May 9, 2023
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CONSTRUCTING A MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT
HEADQUARTERS IN THE GOLDEN GATE CITY ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT ZONE (GGEDZ) FINDING THAT THIS
APPLICANT IS A TARGET BUSINESS QUALIFYING FOR THE
INCENTIVES SET FORTH IN THE GGEDZ ORDINANCE -
MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS;
SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL - APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, we're going to go to
Item 11C, formerly 16A18. This is a recommendation to approve an
economic development agreement with PFPI OZ, LLC, for the
proposed project "CENTRO" for reimbursement of up to
$788,878.56 in actual expenditures for sanitary sewer, drainage,
impact fees, and building permits for constructing a mixed-use
development headquarters in the Golden Gate City Economic
Development Zone finding that this applicant is a target business
qualifying for the incentives set forth in the GGEDZ ordinance.
This item was moved from Item 16A18 to the regular agenda by
Commissioner Saunders' request.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you. There's no
issues with this. I wanted this off the consent agenda so we could
talk a little bit about it, especially for the new commissioners that we
have that were not part of the initial process to create that Economic
Development Zone and some of the projects and things that we've
been working on for a number of years.
This particular project is the first new project pursuant to the
overlay, the zoning overlay that this board approved. And it's a
beautiful building. The renderings in the package are really nice.
It's going to be probably one of the nicest, if not the nicest building in
that Economic Development Zone.
May 9, 2023
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And my goal was, in creating -- in asking the Board to create
this Economic Development Zone and to do this overlay was to start
the process of improving the commercial district along Golden Gate
Parkway. And so this project certainly fits the category of projects
that I think can help jump start more development along these lines.
This will be a first-class office building with a first-class restaurant
on the first floor.
The -- I can tell you from a meeting that I've -- a couple
meetings I've had in Golden Gate City, the folks that are active
civically there are very excited about this type of project, doing
things that will help improve that overall area.
In addition, one of our goals is to get as many people off of
septic systems as possible. This particular project will be providing
a sewer line to this project, so this project will not be on a septic
system, but there will also be seven other commercial properties that
will hook into that sewer line, and other residential -- multifamily
residential areas out there that will be able to hook into this.
I've talked to Dr. Yilmaz about making sure that these lines,
when they're put in, the service lines are sufficient to hook up any
other developers and development that would be going into this area.
Again, with the goal of eliminating septic systems.
This project is right on a canal. I think they call it the Santa
Barbara Canal, if I'm not mistaken. The restaurant will have seating
that is on a deck that will actually be over part of the canal. It will
be very nice but, more importantly, it will help eliminate runoff and
seepage from septic systems that are polluting that canal. It will
help -- it won't solve the problem there, but it will certainly help.
So I just wanted the Board to understand that this was -- this is
part of a long-term project. Hopefully it will be a springboard for
others coming hopefully more quickly. This has been a couple years
in the making, but at least we got the first one ready to go.
May 9, 2023
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So I make a motion to approve this project and the funding for
this project.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I've got a motion to
approve. Do I have a second?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Motion to approve and a second.
All in favor?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Wait.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Oh, sorry. Commissioner
McDaniel, I didn't see you light up there, sir. Go ahead.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I did. I had a question, and
it had to do with the rate of return on the term of this reimbursement.
How long -- and I think I asked this question on Friday during my
one on one. So we have an estimated time for the -- for the
reimbursement to come back?
MS. PATTERSON: So when we calculate these rate of returns,
there's a couple of different things that we're looking at. So if we
simply look at the investment of just under $800,000, then divided by
the increase to the tax base -- and it is a substantial increase. They're
proposing an investment, absent the infrastructure and the other fees,
of about 4.5 or $4.6 million. And that, you know, may be shy of
what it actually costs to construct this.
Now, the payback on something like that, just considering the
increase in taxes if you look at the county portion, would be over a
longer term. But the interesting part about this project is the
accessory benefit, and that is the extension of those sewer lines
allows different types of commercial to be able to be constructed as
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well as the benefit to any of the residential properties -- multifamily
is what they are -- to be used in different ways.
So when we were considering that -- I've done dozens of these
types of tax runouts and TIF runouts looking to try to recapture
within 15 to 20 years. It can be exceptionally difficult when we're
only considering the portion of the millage that we have control over.
However, in this case, I think when we really get our arms around the
benefits to the surrounding properties, we are within a reasonable
window of that recapture.
And the second part of this is is the catalyst effect of a business
actually taking part in the Economic Development Zone and then that
encouragement that will occur as it starts to hopefully ripple down
the corridor.
So I'm sorry that we don't have an exact time, because it's really
going to -- this one being the first to go, is really going to set the
stage for those things to come.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. Well, going forward,
then, I would like to have the recapture on that that we do have
control over. We're all aware, as Commissioner Saunders, stated
that there's a lot of ancillary benefits to providing this, but I also -- I
also -- from a term standpoint, I'd like to have that data.
MS. PATTERSON: Understood.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We don't have to have it
today. You can just tell me sometime.
MS. PATTERSON: Understood. And as we get our arms
around this particular project, we can most certainly report back on
that. But we understand, and it will -- the picture will become
clearer as we work in this zone more.
Jamie?
MR. FRENCH: Commissioners, again, for the record, Jamie
French with -- your Growth Management and Community
May 9, 2023
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Development department head.
I appreciate what you're saying, Commissioner McDaniel.
You're absolutely right, there is a large ancillary return that is -- that
is typically not considered. This is -- this will impact 15 properties,
so there's eight residential properties that this will affect as well.
So what we'll see is we'll see improved, beyond the -- beyond
the environmental consideration, we'll also see more value of the
property for redevelopment. And this really does grasp the spirit of
what the Board had adopted with the Golden Gate City overlay, to
promote this type of regeneration of dollars, of interest. And we're
continuing to get lots of calls -- and this is the first Class A facility
that we've seen of many to come is what we expect.
So we will bring that back forward going forward in our
calculations -- we'll bring that back going forward with our
calculations for any further considerations that you would -- you
would have in front of you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sure. I wasn't nit-picking.
I just -- when I was reviewing the Board package, I had a note here as
to what the actual payback is with the control -- or with the dollars
that were coming back to the county with the enhancement of the
value of the property that is being developed, so that was -- that was
where I was going.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Just real quickly. I certainly
understand the issue in terms of rate of return. That's really not the
issue in terms of what we're trying to accomplish there in terms of a
rate of return on that actual dollar investment. And we do that a lot.
I think, if I'm not mistaken, we waived impact fees in certain types of
development in the Immokalee area. I believe that's an ongoing
project. I'm not sure how many people have taken advantage of that.
But I don't know that we've tried to calculate a rate of return on those
May 9, 2023
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dollars that are there to help assist some redevelopment in the
Immokalee area.
I only mention that I don't know that we really focus too much
on rate of return on this type of an issue. So as this goes forward, I
know you're going to be coming back with a calculated rate of return,
and it may show that it's going to take 50 years to get a return of
investment. That's not really the controlling factor. If you just look
at those dollars going to that specific project, what's the rate of return
from that specific project is not the whole picture, and I think we do
that a lot. So I just want to make sure the Board, at least from my
perspective, understands that, you know, that rate of return is not the
sole issue that we're concerned about here. It's the impact on the
overall community that we're trying to improve.
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, we understand. And to
your point, absolutely. So in the past in our more in-depth economic
development programs, rate of return on a straight line is only one
factor that's looked at because you have all of the spin-off business as
well as the impact of those visitors and those employees. So it is
a -- it is a complicated thing to analyze, starting, of course, easily,
with how much we're giving and how many we're getting back. But
there is -- there are at least 10 other factors that would have to be
considered in any of this analysis.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. We did have a motion and
a second to approve the recommendation of the economic
development agreement. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed?
May 9, 2023
Page 71
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes unanimously.
Where we going next? Is it 11E?
Item #11E – Moved from Item #16F2 (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
A SECOND AMENDMENT TO VACANT LAND CONTRACT
BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND DAVID LAWRENCE
MENTAL HEALTH CENTER, INC., THAT EXTENDS THE
APPROVAL PERIOD ONE YEAR - DUE TO AN UNEXPECTED
DELAY IN FINALIZING THE REZONING OF THE
UNDERLYING PROPERTY - THE TIME TO OBTAIN THE
NECESSARY SITE DEVELOPMENT PLANS - MOTION TO
APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, Commissioners. This -- next up will
be Item 11E, which was formerly 16F2. This is a recommendation
to approve a second amendment to Vacant Land Contract between
Collier County and David Lawrence Mental Health Center, Inc., that
extends the approval period one year -- due to unexpected delay in
finalizing the rezoning of the underlying property -- the time to
obtain the necessary Site Development Plans.
This item is being moved at Commissioner McDaniel's request.
And we have Mr. Ed Finn, Deputy County Manager, here to answer
questions.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I --
MR. FINN: Thank you, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Do you want to go first or do
you want me to say what I'm looking at here?
May 9, 2023
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I just -- I wanted -- I wanted this item to come up for a
discussion because I'm hearing other things that are going on other
than just this rezone of this piece of property. I'm hearing of excess
expense associated with the construction of this facility. I'm hearing
about an adjustment to the available beds that were diagnosed to be
part of this central receiving area in order to fit the budget constraints
that were established for the construction of this facility, and I'm
concerned that we're heading down a path where we're just -- we're
extending this out. And the construction costs are not going to go
down, and we're still not going to necessarily meet the need, and
we're going to be further down a rabbit hole.
MR. FINN: Yes, sir. Edward Finn, Deputy County Manager.
This project is moving forward and, as we would expect, with
the recent addition of our construction manager, they've provided a
resource for us to look at the budgets being developed by the
architect, which has allowed us to look at those very hard, take out
some of the -- and I'll refer to it as "nice to haves" or gingerbread at
this point, and allow us to focus on the programming of the facility so
that we can best achieve the overall goals. The bed issue is one that
needs to be worked through with the delivery team.
There certainly is pressure from David Lawrence, our partner in
this, to add additional Medicare or hospital-type beds, and that does
have a significant impact on the ultimate cost of this facility. I think
the Board has been told that right along. It has been a matter of
some debate just what that number should be, and that continues to
be discussed and evaluated particularly now that we have that
construction manager expertise on the actual costing of the project.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Are your concerns such that you
want to delay this and have David Lawrence Center here, or you just
wanted to highlight some of the things that you, you know, feel we've
got to make sure we continue to discuss and not fall through the
May 9, 2023
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crack? What are your thoughts?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, my thoughts are we
still haven't seen -- I still haven't seen an actual construction cost for
the facility. I still haven't seen an O&M, operations and
maintenance, budget that's coming from this facility at all, and we're
extending the zoning process, which -- which it's going to continue
on with -- with the development of this project and not having all of
the data.
I just -- I just see us -- I see us getting to a point where we've
invested so much we can't -- we can't reverse the circumstances.
MR. FINN: Well, if I may, this project, as you know, is a
surtax project. The surtax list of projects was developed in 2017. It
was developed in such a way as to establish the community priorities.
And I think I've told this board before, I have no way of knowing
how much effort went into developing the individual estimates at that
point in time.
So when I look at that particular budget, the budget is
$25 million in the surtax program. Like many of the projects there,
is it going to cost more because it was developed five, six years ago.
We've had unprecedented inflation, supply chain, COVID. The
answer is, yes, we don't need to look any further than the Vanderbilt
Beach Road extension. It wasn't so long ago that project was seen as
a $70 million project. That project was let with the benefit of
commercial paper to plug the paper hole in the budget at in excess of
$150 million.
The fact that that has a larger price tag in no way diminishes the
requirement to build that road. And while I certainly hope that this
project does not have that substantial an increase, I expect at a
minimum a 30 or a 40 percent margin on the original estimate
developed in 2017, and that is likely to be compounded by the
community needs as they're envisioned presently and as this board
May 9, 2023
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approves when they ultimately see the project.
So that's my way of saying, sir, I acknowledge your concerns. I
have confidence that with our partner, we'll work through these, and
we'll have an opportunity to present it to the County Manager and
ultimately to the Board who will have alternatives presented to them
when they see this budget.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you.
I certainly don't want to delay this item. But I will say a couple
things, because I think it's going to become apparent that this project
probably will cost more than the 25 million that was allocated. And
as Mr. Finn has pointed out, probably most the projects in our sales
tax project list are going to cost more than what was anticipated at the
time. That's the bad news.
The good news is that our sales tax collections, when we cease
collecting, when we reach that $490 million number -- and I think
70 million of that went to the cities. So when we reach that
$420 million number and that 490 number, we continue to collect that
sales tax for the remainder of the year in which that number is arrived
at. And that might -- I'm not sure if that's this year or if it's going to
be in 2014.
So our sales tax collections will be in excess of the numbers that
we had estimated. I don't know how much, but that's something
that -- and Mr. Finn may have a little bit of a handle on.
In addition, there are some projects in there where there will be
some savings. I'll give you one example. We have $15 million set
aside for the vocational education facility. Well, it turns out that a
gentleman that I know donated property to the county, donated a
building and land for -- to the county to use as we see fit. That
happens to be in Golden Gate City. It's that white building that's
empty there. Staff has evaluated that building. The building is
May 9, 2023
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structurally fine. It needs to be remodeled. There's plenty of
parking there because there's an agreement to have that -- that
whoever owns that building can use 200 parking spaces there.
The school district has been contacted. They like that location.
They like that building. And so instead of costing $15 million to
build a building for a vocational education facility, it's probably
going to be more like 5 million, maybe a little less, to renovate and
provide what's needed for that facility.
So there's going to be an opportunity to move some money
around is the point that I'm making. This $25 million for this
project -- this project is very, very important for this community, and
I'd hate to see us stumbling along because there's going to be an
increase in cost. None of us want to spend more money than we
have to, but there are some projects where -- as pointed out by
Mr. Finn on Vanderbilt Beach Road, there's some projects where they
cost more, but that doesn't diminish the need to go and proceed with
them.
So I think we may have some flexibility. If there's a few
million dollars in sales tax needed for that, I think we can sharpen our
pencils and find it, quite frankly.
So I don't know if there's been a motion to move this forward.
If there hasn't, I'll make a motion to move this item forward.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Hall's lit up.
Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: I just want to make a comment.
You know, to kick this down the road or to allow it to go down
the road another year, it kind of frustrates me. I mean, we're the
county. We're the ones that are applying for the SDP approval.
And then I'm reading, due to an unexpected delay. And in all these
things, we hear, due to supply-chain issues, due to inflationary costs,
due to -- it always seems like it costs the county money because of
May 9, 2023
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these things that happen.
I would like to see our posture and our intensity become more
purposeful in getting these things done so that it doesn't cost us
money down the road so that in a year from now we're not reading,
oh, due to this and due to that, we're exceeding the $25 million, and
now we want the taxpayers to pay this.
And I just want to go forward with a more business-like -- you
know, or an urgency to get this thing done. Commissioner Saunders
said this project is important to the community. It was obvious.
And so I would like to see our intensity and our purpose increase and
become more purposeful and more driven to get these things done so
that we don't -- we don't have these kind of conversations later.
MR. FINN: And if I may, sir. And I appreciate your
comments, and they're right on.
One of my pet peeves is, frankly, when we look at government
bureaucracies and every change that all of us can see as plain as the
nose on our face they call unexpected or unplanned. In this case, I
will say to you that there were substantial delays in achieving our
zoning on the property. The zoning is a critical milestone and be
able to achieve our SDP. So the zoning was necessary to complete
the design. The design is necessary to complete the SDP.
And if I may just add a bit more. The contract as it deals with
this particular time specification was a little bit inartful in that it
basically siamesed the zoning date with the SDP date. Reasonably
speaking, it should have been zoning, then 12 months from zoning to
get the SDP. And, effectively, that's what we're doing here after the
fact.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: You know what I would have just
liked to see, in these agendas when we have unexpected delays or
they're asking for the fifth extension -- and I've said this before -- a
little bit more detail, like an extra sentence that defines it not only to
May 9, 2023
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us when we go over this agenda, but this agenda's released to the
public.
If I was, you know, Joe Schmitt, you know, Joe Johnson,
whatever, you know, out in the community and I wasn't following
this as closely as we follow it, and I was just sort of perusing this, my
takeaway would be exactly what Commissioner Hall is basically
implying is, geez, this one county, man, they kick the can everything
on. They have an unexpected delay for this. If it said unexpected
delay due to, you know, bats and arsenic like we said on the golf
course, all right, okay -- you know, let's not hear bats and arsenic too
many more times. That was a one-time deal.
But there are some, you know, extenuating circumstances. But
also, too, I'd like us to take the responsibility of saying, if it was the
county, you know, dropping the ball, I mean, it's not -- we're not
trying to throw people under the bus, but if we say, you know, we
missed a deadline or, you know, we didn't do something, let's be
transparent to the public and also to all of us up here.
You know, this one I know has a bunch of extenuating
circumstances. And I agree with Commissioner Saunders, I don't
want to delay this one any more artificially. But a lot of good points
have been, you know, brought up here that this one really needs to be
monitored extremely closely.
But I would second the motion, you know, to pass the -- to
approve this second amendment, unless anybody has any objection.
So I have a motion and a second. I think we've all brought up
great points that we're looking for, you know, homework assignments
from the county to keep us fully informed. But I have a motion and
second. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
May 9, 2023
Page 78
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. It passes 4-1.
MR. FINN: Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Where can we go next?
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, the remaining items are
both to be heard no sooner than 1:00 p.m. We can go to staff
communications if you feel like that's appropriate now, or we could
take an early lunch or a little bit extra time for lunch and come back
at 1:00, take care of those items, and move through the
communications section of the agenda.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Let's do staff.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. I think we can go to staff.
You know, let's make use of the time.
MS. PATTERSON: Sure, absolutely.
So that brings us to Item 15, staff/commission general
communications. We can ask now about public comment on general
topics not on the current or future agenda and, Troy, we can ask again
at the end in case anyone's planning on coming.
MR. MILLER: Sounds good.
MS. PATTERSON: So nobody now?
MR. MILLER: No.
Item #15C
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MS. PATTERSON: We don't have any staff project updates, so
that brings us to Item 15C. That's staff and commission general
communications.
May 9, 2023
Page 79
I do have one item relative to our trip to the veterans -- state
veterans nursing home. We have had a little change in plans, and
we're now requesting a workshop on the state veterans nursing home
the same day that you've all reserved on your calendars. That's for
Thursday, May 25th, in the afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 here in the
boardroom. This is instead of all of us going on the road trip. This
allows participation by the state veterans nursing home
representatives, allows for participation for the public and anybody
that may want to that would not have been able or prudent to do
taking them to a nursing home. So with your --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: What time would we start that?
I'm just looking at my calendar here.
MS. PATTERSON: Three o'clock. We had planned that
whole day to be blocked. We do have another -- Code Enforcement
Board is in this room that day, so the earliest time we could be in here
is at 3:00.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay.
MS. PATTERSON: And I don't know if Mr. Mullins has
anything to add to that, but he's sitting back there.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Have you sent out a memo to
our aides to make sure that that's all made our calendar?
MS. PATTERSON: So your calendars were all reserved from,
basically, 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night for us to all drive
together over to the other coast and then come back. So we will
reverify with your -- oh, here comes John. We'll reverify with your
aides. But as of my last check, nothing had changed with that.
Hi, John.
MR. MULLINS: The short answer is, correct, yes, we did send
out a notice to your aides for the calendar purpose to let you know of
the start time at 3:00 p.m. on that date and what the potential agenda
May 9, 2023
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would be. And as the County Manager stated, this will allow the
additional participation of representatives from the Department of
Management Services, who will be the project managers, it will allow
Easter Seals, who operates adult day healthcare facilities for FDVA,
to also participate, including Orcutt/Winslow, the architects that have
designed many state veterans nursing homes across the country,
they'll be on there as well, as will FDVA to talk about funding and
timeline next steps.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Can you send that out as a calendar
invite? I think the email that you sent out was more of a, like,
informative, and it was giving us a heads-up, but it wasn't an
"accept," "accept," "accept." So that sort of just makes sure it
doesn't fall through the crack, you know, in our calendars, if
everybody's in agreement.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's on my calendar.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah, it's on mine, but it's on there
sort of -- I don't think it says -- I don't think it's like --
MR. MULLINS: I think I sent it out both ways, but I'll
double-check to make sure.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Sounds good.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll be here.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: All right. Any questions on that?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. What else?
MS. PATTERSON: Okay. Thank you.
We do have the committees that have been advertised, and I'll
look at Mr. Klatzkow to fill in the blanks here, but we've had some
inquiries about our citizen group for the Army Corps. We've
received -- and I'll look to the back of the room if Mr. French has
anything to add, but I know that we have received many applications.
They're being reviewed now and prioritized, that way they can come
May 9, 2023
Page 81
to you for your review. But I know you wanted an update on that; is
it moving forward? And we continue to it get -- I have been
receiving emails, and you probably have, too, about people that have
submitted their names.
Mr. French, come up here.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So the makeup of that group would
be at least one person from every district, right? So we'd have
representation -- I'm sorry?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Total of seven.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Five and --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: And then two alternates --
MS. PATTERSON: Two at-large.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: -- and then, you know, okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Could you make sure that
there's a representative from the City of Naples on that? I know
there are two at-large, but --
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I know they asked.
COMMISSIONER HALL: We do have an application coming
from the City of Naples that I know of.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. I mean, I think we all got
that email.
MS. PATTERSON: We do, and they'll -- yeah, I think there
was maybe a little confusion surrounding that email. But I believe
that's what it was in reference to. And all of you are going to have
the opportunity to look at those candidates and decide the makeup.
So not only Commissioner Kowal's, which is partially in the City of
Naples, but there are also the opportunity for the two at-large. I
would assume the same for Commissioner LoCastro, as he represents
Everglades -- or Marco, and Commissioner McDaniel, who
represents Everglades.
May 9, 2023
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Now, we do a lot of legwork for Everglades just because of their
size. We try to provide that technical assistance to them. But want
to make this an inclusive process.
I'm looking to Mr. French to see what type of visibility he has
on those applications.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: One of the things -- I just want to
make a comment, and it's just -- you know, we haven't seen any
applications yet. But, you know, when you put a committee like that
together, you want some cohesion and some, you know, different
experience levels, but we also -- this is just me talking -- you've got
to make sure that you don't put, sort of, you know, a General Norman
Schwarzkopf on the committee and then a bunch of citizens so that
you have two or three that are -- have very big roles in the county,
and they can tend to sort of overshadow the discussion because they
have some sort of, you know, personal interest, so that person
sending a representative of a particular group or district or what have
you, but that's what I'm going to be looking for.
It's like, you know, folks that have the background, the depth so
they could have good discussion but you don't have two or three
people that stand out as extremely senior, you know, higher-level
folks that could tend to maybe dominate that conversation.
And that's hypothetical. You would hope everybody would be
professionals. But like you said, I think we're getting a lot of
applications, so we have great choice here. In the end, I don't think
it's a matter of picking, you know, individual folks that we think
would be good but looking at the entire team and say, are we really
putting an all-star team together that represents, you know, a great
cross-section of not only the county, but, you know, also would work
well together, and there's not sort of two or three standouts that might
be sort of, you know -- maybe, you know, one of these things is not
like the others, you know, type of thing. Just a thought.
May 9, 2023
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MS. PATTERSON: Understood. And the other thing is, these
will be public meetings. So while you're only choosing seven, it
doesn't eliminate the ability for any interested party to participate.
They also are going to have an opportunity to continue to interact
with the Board, with the Corps, with our CAC, and with our TDC.
So there are multiple places where the public can engage,
including this committee. So I just want to keep getting that
message out there that this is meant to be an inclusive process. This
is not meant to leave anybody out no matter what their stance is on
any part of these projects or not. There's space for everybody to
participate.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: They don't have to be part of the
committee --
MS. PATTERSON: No, they do not.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: -- to speak.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well -- and that goes right in
line with when are we going to close the portal for applicants?
MR. KLATZKOW: We're still waiting for an application from
District 1, but we can close it --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: We have no applicants from
District 1?
MR. KLATZKOW: No.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I'll take care of that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And so I would like a term to
be put on the portal so that we close it, and if we don't have anybody
from any one particular district, I don't want to hold it waiting for
someone.
It's imperative -- the rationale behind the creation of this group
was to disseminate the truth when we're already being bombarded
with nontruths and misnomers and fearmongering that's going on
May 9, 2023
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throughout the community. And I want that to be quelled as much
as is physically possible, and the creation of this committee as an
oversight to disseminate the truth is imperative.
MR. KLATZKOW: And when would you like us to bring it to
the Board? Because then I'll backdate the portal deadline.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I would like us to pick at our
next meeting.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Yeah.
MR. KLATZKOW: Okay.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. And even though you're
saying, like, you haven't gotten anything -- so I'll work with you on
District 1 and make sure that we do have some applicants --
MR. KLATZKOW: If you have an applicant, just have her call
my aide.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Got it.
MR. KLATZKOW: We've done that before, and we'll walk
them through it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And the same goes -- you
mentioned two committees, and that's the other --
MS. PATTERSON: East of 951.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: 2.0.
MS. PATTERSON: 2.0.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: East of 951, 2.0. And I'd
like that to come to the Board as well so that Commissioner Saunders
and I -- I think we should be the lead on that organization as far as
picking the folks that are going to serve on that with ratification from
the Board, so...
MS. PATTERSON: And I'll look to the County Attorney on
that one. He may have to update you on where we are with
applications for that and when it closes. I'm less up to date on that
than I am on the Corps.
May 9, 2023
Page 85
MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. I don't know that we have that
many applications, sir. I can get you the number.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: All right.
MR. FRENCH: Commissioners, if I might, for the record,
Jamie French with Growth Management and Community
Development, your department head.
Currently we have 13 applications. And we are doing exactly
that, as this -- as we've --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thirteen applications for --
MR. FRENCH: For the Army Corps.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: For the Army Corps.
MR. FRENCH: And so currently we have active. We'll
wait -- so that will be 14. And then what we are prepared to do next
week, Chris Mason and I as well as Howard Critchfield, who's
leading this project, we're actually going to go through, and we're
going to point out the benefits for each candidate on what they might
offer.
And I do know that we did have a couple that may interest
Commissioner Hall, at least, for Pelican Bay, because we don't know
that they've got a great deal of coastline and, of course, they're going
to be vitally important to this process, their input, as well as they're
going to have a heavy level of interest.
So we will bring that back to you at the next meeting for your
consideration with a staff update. And, again, we've got both a
professional engineer long term with Chris Mason as your resiliency
and community planning director. Myself and Mr. Bosi and
Ms. Cook will all be very much involved with this process on how
there's added value for different candidates from both the technical
aspects, community aspects, but also the environmental aspects.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, just to -- and if you
May 9, 2023
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would, give me an update on the East of 951 2.0. I'll announce it
tomorrow night at the "Evening with the Commissioners."
And then, Commissioner Saunders, if you would also as well let
out to your folks. We'll see if we can't get that wrapped up as well.
MR. KLATZKOW: And my aide tells me there are eight
applications.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Eight, okay.
MR. FRENCH: And with that, Commissioners, we've named
Parker Klopf, who is a senior -- I'm sorry. He's a principal planner, a
Planner III with us. Good news about Parker, Parker grew up here.
Boy, I've known -- I've been here a long time. I've known Parker
since he was a little kid because his mom, Wendy, works over with
our Human Services Department. But he's a fine young planner.
He works for Mr. Bosi, and he'll be working along with Ms. Cook,
myself, and Cormac and Sarah, so we'll be there as his backstop.
But we think you're going to be awfully pleased with Parker going
forward as the liaison for your 2.0 East of 951.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Very good.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay.
MS. PATTERSON: That's all we have from County Manager's
Office.
County Attorney.
MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing, thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: I was just going to say, is the 16th,
next Tuesday, too soon to close the portal so that we have it for when
the agenda comes out?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: For the --
COMMISSIONER HALL: For the Army Corps of Engineers.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: For the Army Corps ?
MR. KLATZKOW: We're going to bring -- my understanding
May 9, 2023
Page 87
is we're bringing the executive summary for the Board appointments
at the next meeting, correct? Yeah.
We'll close the portal -- we'll keep the portal open till the last
possible moment for that so you get all the applications you can get.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Good.
MR. FRENCH: And we can review these pretty quickly.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay.
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, to you and the fellow
commissioners.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Do you want to break for
lunch, or what else?
MS. PATTERSON: It's up to you if you wanted to go through
the commissioners' correspondence first and then we'll break for
bunch, or if you want to save that. We're kind of -- we're halfway
through.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No. You're saying the closing
comments from the commissioners? Save that for the end, because
there might be some other things that happen or whatnot. So why
don't we break for lunch and come back here at 12:45. Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We can't do anything till
1:00.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I'm sorry?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We can't do anything till
1:00.
MS. PATTERSON: Yeah. We don't have anything till 1:00.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I thought it was -- okay. So we'll
come back at 1:00.
MS. PATTERSON: Sorry, Chair.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I was giving you a few minutes to,
like, you know, get organized before the 1:00 starts.
(A luncheon recess was had from 11:43 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.)
May 9, 2023
Page 88
MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: All right. We've got two "no
sooner than one o'clocks." Do you want to start with 11B or 11D?
I'll leave it up to you.
Item #11D – Moved from Item #16A13 (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
THE PAYMENT OF $1,650 TO THE RIVER OAKS
HOMEOWNERS’ ASSOCIATION (“HOA”) FOR FIVE YEARS
OF UNPAID ASSESSMENTS FOR LOT 44, BLOCK A OF PALM
RIVER ESTATES, UNIT NO. 7, ACCORDING TO THE PLAT
THEREOF RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 12, PAGES 28
THROUGH 30, PUBLIC RECORDS OF COLLIER COUNTY,
FLORIDA - MOTION TO APPROVE W/CHANGES BY
COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO – APPROVED
MS. PATTERSON: We are going to start with 11D, please,
and that is formally 16A13. It's a recommendation to approve the
payment of $1,650 to the River Oaks Homeowners Association for
five years of unpaid assessments for Lot 44, Block A of Palm River
Estates, Unit No. 7, according to the plat thereof recorded in Plat
Book 12, Pages 28 through 30, public records of Collier County,
Florida.
This item was moved at Commissioner McDaniel's request, and
Ms. Trinity Scott is here to answer questions as needed.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And what was the agenda
item on the consent agenda?
MS. PATTERSON: 16A13.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MS. SCOTT: I'm here to answer any questions that you may
May 9, 2023
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have regarding the agenda item. We are recommending approval of
a payment of $1,650 of homeowners association dues for a lot that is
owned in the River Oaks subdivision. The lot is utilized for access
to a weir location.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. Can -- will you give
me a little bit of history as to what's, in fact, transpired and how
we've come to be in somewhat of a disagreement? I think there's
some people that are interested in speaking on this item as well, so...
MS. SCOTT: Sure. I have a brief presentation that I can go
through, if you'd like. So the background is the county purchased
this lot in 2004 for the purposes of accessing the Palm River weir
structure for ease of operation and maintenance. The lot is a
single-family residential lot. We do not have any improvements on
the lot at the location, but we will utilize it for, as I said, the access to
the weir location.
At the time when we purchased the property -- I guess I should
say, we were unaware that the property was encumbered by a
property owners association, and in 2022 the county received a
demand letter for payment of assessments back to 2004, inclusive of
late fees and interest, totaling $27,000, give or take.
We reached out to the homeowners association because, as I
advised, the staff was unaware that we were encumbered by an HOA.
The HOA has a collection policy that's shown on their website -- it
was adopted in 2018 -- that dictates that delinquent accounts are
noticed on a 15- and 30-day interval, none of which the county's
received.
In December 2022, the county received an intent to record a
lien -- a claim of lien against the property unless the amount was paid
in full, and the amount of $27,776.53.
This is a breakdown of the amount. The total principal is
$4,100. The late fees, interest, and certified mail charges make up
May 9, 2023
Page 90
the remaining portion of 27,776.
We've had multiple conversations with the homeowners
association representatives trying to come up with an agreement for
an amount. We have coordinated with our County Attorney's Office
to determine the county's legal obligation to pay the past assessments,
including late fees and interest. Based upon that guidance, it was
determined that the county would be obligated to pay the previous
five years of assessments, which is $330 per year, equaling is $1,650.
And we have contacted the -- discussed verbally with the
homeowners association. They have refused to accept that amount.
They did provide the -- we worked with a homeowners association
representative. We did get a bill for our 2023 assessment, and we
have paid that. So -- and I will tell you that I have this on my own
personal calendar at the office so it doesn't fall through the cracks, as
well as multiple other people in our financial group to where we stay
up on this, because we don't want to be in this situation in the future.
A few weeks ago we received via email a delinquent assessment
notice requesting $10,000, but there wasn't an explanation for the
change from the previous invoice.
So this brings us to where we are here today, which is seeking a
recommendation to authorize us to make a payment of $1,650 to the
River Oaks association for our past five years of unpaid assessments.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I think we have public comment,
don't we, Mr. Miller?
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir. We have two registered public
speakers on this item. You want them at this time?
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Let's hear from them.
MR. MILLER: Terry Wayland will be followed by Jim
Capwill.
MR. WAYLAND: Good afternoon. I'm representing -- the
president of the River Oaks Homeowners Association, and the
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invoice that she just referenced was one that was sent in error by the
current property management company, but we still stand by what
our original notification was to the county that's owed on the lot.
And the reason we're in disagreement over the five years is your
warranty deed states that you're in an HOA, which means it was
stated from the time you bought the lot through today that you had an
obligation to pay the HOA. And so to come back now and say that
you're only responsible for five years when you were negligent for all
of the other years is unacceptable to us as an association. That's how
we pay our bills. That's how we maintain our community. And if
you are going to be a part of the community, you need to be a part of
the solution, not a part of problem.
And Jim Capwill is on our Finance Committee and has also
spearheaded this project and has done a lot of work on it regarding it
and some of the other deficiencies as it relates to the water and lot
association -- or the lot within the association, so I'm going to let him
speak on the balance of that.
MR. CAPWILL: Thank you. On behalf of River Oaks
Homeowners Association, I thank you for allowing us to speak up on
this financial dispute.
The county is in no different position as any other lot owner.
We are all governed by the same covenants, restrictions, and dues
assessments, and I believe we all should be treated equally.
In 2017, I was in a similar situation when I moved in. I didn't
know about dues. They told me, as a volunteer, $330 I should have
paid. I was six months late, and I got $1,800 I had to pay, and that's
just the way it works.
As Terry pointed out, on your warranty deed -- and I filed one
with the court reporter here -- the property was purchased not in '04
and '03, May 6th, and it clearly states in your warranty deed that this
property's subject to all easements, restrictions, and reservations of
May 9, 2023
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record.
If you go to the declaration of covenants, the developer declares
that any lot in River Oaks subdivision are subject to the following
easements: Restrictions, covenants, and restriction [sic]. Is this not
an option? These restrictions run with the land, and the benefit and
burden of them shall be binding on all parties, including all
successors and assigns.
Article II of our declaration of covenants says no building or
structure shall be constructed, erected, altered, placed, or permitted to
remain on any lot other than one detached single-family dwelling.
Article XV, each owner of a lot in Palm River -- automatically a
recording of a deed conveying title to such owner -- becomes a
member of River Oaks Homeowners Association subject to all
powers, duties, dues, liens, and assessments.
Okay. In the event of a violation of any of these restrictive
covenants, the association shall have the right to proceed at law or in
equity to complete compliance with the terms hereof or to prevent the
violation of breach of any of them. The failure to enforce any rights,
reservations, restrictions, conditions, or limitations herein contain,
however long contained, shall not be deemed a waiver of the right to
do so thereafter. Any delinquent owner agrees to pay a reasonable
attorney's fee for the enforcement of these use restrictions.
If we go to Florida Statutes, okay, all parcel owners, by
definition, are members, okay. All members, under
Chapter 720.303, have the right to attend all meetings of the Board.
Under 720.303(C)1, notices of all board meetings must be
posted in a conspicuous place in the community at least 48 hours in
advance of a meeting.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Keep going, sir.
MR. CAPWILL: Okay. Under 720.3085, Number 3,
assessments and installments on assessments that are not paid when
May 9, 2023
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due bear interest from the due date until paid at the rate provided in
the declaration of covenants or by the bylaws of the association,
which rate may not exceed the rate allowed by allow. If no rate is
provided in the declaration or bylaws, interest accrues at 18 percent.
Any payment received by an association and accepted shall be
applied first to any interest accrued, then to any administrative late
fee, then to any costs and reasonable attorney's fees incurred in
collection, and then to the delinquent assessment. Those documents
are the same ones that I have to abide by and the county should abide
by.
Now, I understand much more intelligent attorneys than me have
taken this up. They want to drop on us statute of limitations is only
five years. I believe it would be forced -- or enforced in a court of
law that you have a warranty deed that states that you're required to
pay these assessments. You've had proper notice. You had the
ability to attend board meetings.
Now, in all fairness, no one's driving through the community. I
understand that. But as a homeowners association, we complied
with Florida Statutes, okay. The minute we found out that there was
a delinquency, which I believe would have been in, like, late July of
'22, we started corresponding with the county to ask how do we
handle this and so forth.
We have had to foreclose on members; we've had to sue
members for collection based on the same rules. So I believe, if you
go back to River Oaks versus Brunt, they raised the issue of statute of
limitations, and a judge summarily dismissed it, stating you had
notice on your warranty deed when you bought the property. You
needed to follow those rules.
My only question to the attorneys would be, what rule is there,
what code provision, that says the county is not subject to our
covenants, our bylaws, our articles of incorporation? Because,
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technically, I think we're in good standing on this, and I'm even
questioning why they haven't even approved the weir structure on
that property when our covenants clearly state owning a single-family
home.
Now, we're not here to raise that issue, but we do feel that we're
owed this money, and we should receive it. Now, back in January of
this year, I sat down with Amy Patterson and Trinity Scott, and we
came up with a compromise that I thought was going to be binding
until the lawyer came back and said no.
So we're here to appeal to you -- as fellow citizens, as our
government leaders, and as businessmen, we're asking you to do the
right thing.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Let me go to
Commissioner Saunders. Sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you. I've got a
couple questions for our staff -- and I may have a question for you,
too, but I've got a question for Ms. Scott and a question or two for
Mr. Klatzkow.
This piece of property, we're only using it for access to the weir?
MS. SCOTT: Correct.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Do we still need it --
MS. SCOTT: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- for access to the weir?
And so we're -- I guess we're in violation of their rules because
we don't have a house on there? Is that --
MR. CAPWILL: Yes.
MS. SCOTT: We have nothing on the property at this moment,
correct.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But we still need the
property?
MS. SCOTT: We need the property for access.
May 9, 2023
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COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. Then, Mr. Klatzkow,
in terms of the statute of limitations and all of those issues, I'm not
really persuaded that that should be something that we should try to
live or die on a technicality. I think we need to play by the same
rules as everybody else in their association.
I'm sort of disappointed that we still need the property, because
that would sort of get us out of this association. But I think we
should -- if we -- if we did not make the payments, and they have
specific rules dealing with interest and late charges, then I don't see
why we should try to avoid paying those full amounts.
I guess another question is, are we -- I assume we're doing -- I
don't know if we're doing any work in the neighborhood or anything
that would offset any of those costs. I'm assuming that that's not the
case. My view would be, let's pay the whole thing. I mean, it's a
tough pill to swallow, but we shouldn't be trying to live by different
rules than we expect other people to live by.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: There was some discussion
on that note with regard to in-kind work that we had done that was,
theoretically, the responsibility of the homeowners association. Do
you know what that number was?
MS. SCOTT: Yes. It's actually in the executive summary.
We completed, in December of last year -- this is actually a before
and after picture of a stormwater outfall where Road
Maintenance -- under the prior Road Maintenance director's
direction, our Road Maintenance staff went in and cleaned out this
area and did install some riprap along the privately maintained
stormwater outfall. And the total labor, equipment usage, and
material, based on our production report, was $9,049.42.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I have a question for you
gentlemen. So how many HOA members are there?
May 9, 2023
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MR. CAPWILL: One hundred sixty-nine thought, until we did
our research and found out the county's 170. So we have 170.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. So every 12 months, do
those 169 people get a bill for their HOA fee, or they just have to
remember on their own?
MR. CAPWILL: Typically they do. And we are going to
make sure that we have everyone's email going forward. But there's
nothing in the statute that requires us, on an annual assessment, to
invoice. There is on a special assessment.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No. But I'm -- and I get that.
But my question was, did 169 people every 12 months get a bill or
somewhere in that -- I realize No. 170 didn't or we wouldn't be here.
But did the vast majority of people who you had a correct email
address for? I mean, I'm sitting here going, our email address would
be the easiest one to get in the universe compared to the 169
strangers. So I mean, I'm sitting here trying to figure out where the
responsibility is. I mean, I don't disagree with Commissioner
Saunders, but did the majority of 169 every 12 months get a bill?
MR. CAPWILL: I can't support what the
management -- property management companies have done in the
past. I can't support what the boards have done in the past. I can
only tell you that we've made sure everybody's gotten some kind of a
written notice or a knock on the door in past years.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So you recently, then, took -- is
that what I'm --
MR. CAPWILL: Yes.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. When was that that you
took over?
MR. WAYLAND: A year ago, a little over a year ago?
MR. CAPWILL: I'll tell you it was July, because that's when
we discovered Lot No. 170.
May 9, 2023
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CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So did you discover in the other
169 that there were plenty of people that were past due that didn't pay
for a long period of time, or it was just us?
MR. CAPWILL: It was just you. Everybody else we had had
to file suit against in the past and so forth. And it should be noted,
some of them went back a lot longer than just the five-year statute
that the County Attorney is proposing.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay.
MR. CAPWILL: We've got lawsuits in Brunt. That's eight
years.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. So what would be the total,
just for the record. What would it be if we --
MR. CAPWILL: The current demand was just delivered today
for the corrected. It's about -- I gave it to the Clerk -- I mean, the
court reporter. It's, like, 29,950.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Ms. Patterson, I guess the next
question I have for you is if you were in conversations with them,
what can you tell us?
MS. PATTERSON: So we did -- as the gentleman said, we did
sit down with him due to the value of this lot to stormwater as well as
the fact that he had presented that same information of other cases
where they had treated other property owners the same way as us.
Went back in time, attempted to assess them, actually took them to
court.
I can only speak for myself, but I did -- Ms. Scott was there, too.
We felt that the value of that lot far outweighed the risk of
proceeding to try to litigate this. But I'm not the attorney, hence the
reason why we had to confer with the County Attorney. There's
legal -- there's legal matters at hand here.
Our primary concern was, number one, of course, being fair.
We're not asking for special treatment. We're not saying we're
May 9, 2023
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special because we're the county, but secondly was protecting our
asset.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Let me go to
Commissioner McDaniel, and then I want to hear from
Mr. Klatzkow. Go ahead.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I wanted to ask, did I
hear you say you have litigated and/or brought charges against other
properties in the homeowners association?
MR. CAPWILL: Yes. I have brought a copy of one.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. So that is -- that is, in
fact, the case. And I'm just going to say out loud I agree with
Commissioner Saunders in part. I think that maybe we ought to -- I
mean, we need to stand responsible for our obligations. The county
needs to do that.
And there certainly is a limited amount of responsibility for
building purposes, arguably, one way or the other. But I don't want
to be in a position where a homeowners association has to litigate
with the county because we're the owner of a piece of property in
their subdivision. I don't find that to be acceptable, even though
there may be legal precedent. Our county attorney may say
something different with regard to what our actual exposure is. I
don't want to litigate with a homeowners association inside of our
community. I would rather reach a settlement and come to an
agreement of some sort and go on.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Mr. Klatzkow, what can you add?
And then I'll go to Commissioner Hall. I mean, if you want to add
something. I know, just --
MR. KLATZKOW: No. There are legal obligations, and there
are what I'll call moral obligations. If you feel like you have a moral
obligation to pay, that's fine.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Commissioner Hall.
May 9, 2023
Page 99
COMMISSIONER HALL: I look past moral obligation. I
would want to be treated -- I want to treat others like I would like to
be treated. To not even be aware of this, oh, sir, it's in your deed.
How many times have you ever read your deed and looked at the fine
print and realized that you had an obligation? You don't.
You know you have an obligation when someone sends you a
bill. Hey, you're part of the HOA. And when that happened, we
paid it immediately. So just because we've gone for 20 years, or
however long it was, and we've got this 27,000 -- $29,000 worth of
charges now, that's not how I would want to be treated. It's not how
you would want to be treated.
You were lucky enough to be aware of it the first year. Sir, you
owe $330. Oh, okay. Now you're late. It cost me 1,800. That's
the first year.
You know, you have a home on that property, a house that you
live in. We don't. We access it to provide floodplain maintenance
for the county in that area.
So, you know, as far as a moral obligation, I'm willing to pay the
$4,100 worth of principal that we owe and let the -- let the interest,
let the late fees and all the hogwash -- all of the greediness or all of
the grab go, because it's just what's right.
We're aware of it now. We were sent a bill; we paid it. We're
always going to pay the bill. The Clerk does an amazing job.
So I don't -- you know, I feel like it's a greed thing against the
taxpayers to try to grab this money because you think you can. And
you may can. I would just be a proponent of the moral obligation.
We'll pay the $4,100, the principal amount that we owe. You take it.
Let it go. We'll all live happily ever after. We'll access the weir,
maintain the floodplain. You send us a bill; we'll pay it every year,
because Trinity's even got it in her own personal email [sic]. So
that's where I'm at on this thing.
May 9, 2023
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I think -- I personally think the 1,650 should suffice for the
statute of limitations, but on the moral side of it, I think we need to
do what we need to do. And I'm willing to do the 4,100.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
If I was hard-lining, I'd be aligning myself with Commissioner
Hall right now, but I do feel in some way with the other commissions
here that, you know, we do have an obligation as the property owner
and to the association, just like any other person would be in there.
But, also, I'd like to draw attention to the fact that we did use
public money to maintain something or fix something that was your
responsibility, and we didn't charge you for it. And, you know, that
comes to about $9,000. So if we do come to a conclusion today, I
think that possibly could be a possible negotiation point to where we
get -- that we already used public money on something that, you
know. You -- it was your responsibility to use the money that you've
already gotten from everybody else over the past 20 years. So I
would be more comfortable maybe moving forward with something
of that nature.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Let me hear from the
commissioners. You'll get a chance.
Commissioner McDaniel, and then Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, that's exactly what I
was going to propose. The plus/minus is $29,000. You have
27,000 here. And there must be another bill or something out there.
MS. SCOTT: So -- and what Mr. Capwill is speaking of, this
was interest based -- this is the latest bill that we had received in our
office. This is interest through December 31st of 2022. I'm sure
that Mr. Capwill probably recalculates that interest through, perhaps,
today or some other date, so that's probably the difference.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So the round numbers that I
May 9, 2023
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had in my mind is 20,000, is --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Twenty-nine minus 9-.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Correct. Is the -- and that
alleviates the association of the taxpayer expended funds for the
drainage -- for the drainage -- I'm sorry. Terri was looking at me
crooked. That alleviates the taxpayers for the money that we've
already expended for something that was technically the homeowners
associations' responsibility and picks up the majority of the deficits
that are out there for the outstanding -- for the outstanding interest
and penalties.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you. I agree
wholeheartedly with Commissioner Hall in terms of how we'd like to
be treated. I agree with you that that this seems to be a little bit
greedy, but I'm trying to look at it from their perspective as well. If
they start making exceptions to how they enforce their rules, then
those exceptions become the rule.
And so, you know, I -- obviously, I represent the county and the
county taxpayers, but at the same time I kind of see where you're
maybe coming from in terms of, you know, you start making
exceptions to any property owner as to how much the fines are and
that sort of thing, other property owners may very well try to raise
that as -- you know, you let one property owner off, you have to let
all of us off. So that's why I was saying I don't think we should
attempt to be treated specially.
Now, the work that was done, if this is work that we would do in
other neighborhoods at no charge, then that's one thing. If it's not, if
this was something special, then that should be an offset. I agree
with you, Commissioner McDaniel and Commissioner Kowal,
assuming that this is not ordinary stuff that we do anyway. If it's
not, then that's a whole different situation, and we should get the
May 9, 2023
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credit for that.
MS. SCOTT: Commissioner Saunders, for this specific area, it
is the maintenance responsibility of the homeowners association.
Our prior director at Road Maintenance -- and we're -- we're working
through some other issues that are county responsibility within the
neighborhood, and Mr. Capwill and I have had lots of great
conversations and are continuing to work through those items. But
in this particular instance, it was the homeowners associations'
maintenance responsibility, but it was so bad that our prior director
did send our staff in for a few days to get the work done.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: When did we do that work?
MS. SCOTT: In December of 2022.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Did we bill them immediately?
MS. SCOTT: We did not.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Now he's trying to say
something, so maybe he agrees.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Let me just get to Commissioner
Hall, and then you'll have heard from all of us, and then you can
summarize. No one's getting stifled here; don't worry.
Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: So when it comes to dual
responsibility, you know, we wouldn't be -- I don't think we would be
being treated special, because the HOA has a responsibility or a
burden on them as well about just dropping this on us after all of this
time with penalties and with interest.
So I don't think that anybody that was in the -- if 169 others are
getting a bill every month and they're -- or every year and they're
understanding that they're under that obligation, nobody's going to be
treated different because it's the exception and not the rule.
I just -- standing on what's right because it's right, I wouldn't
want to be treated that way. That's why it sticks in my craw, you
May 9, 2023
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know. And however we vote, we vote.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: The question I had -- and then I'm
going to turn it over to you. So the other people who were
delinquent and, like you said, you either took them to court or they
caught up or all or both, the ones that caught up, did they pay interest
willingly, or they just caught up on the actual charge?
MR. CAPWILL: There's never been a forgiveness of debt
because of the legal ramifications. What you do for one you must do
for all, and -- can I carry on with --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes. So you charged them the
same --
MR. CAPWILL: Yes.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: -- the same percentage of interest?
MR. CAPWILL: According to Florida Statute, 18 percent
interest, $25 a year late fee.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. The floor is yours. I have
nobody lit up here. So hearing all the comments here...
MR. CAPWILL: Back in January, around January 15th, I had a
very welcoming meeting with Amy Patterson and Trinity. And from
that meeting, I thought they were very fair. We put everything on
the table. We came to a decision: $20,000 cash plus about four
noncash things. It was I who asked for the four noncash things.
Even though some of those were not our responsibility, I wanted it to
be an all-encompassing agreement so I can use that to go back to the
other homeowners who are saying they don't get a break. I didn't get
a break. So that really was presentation-wise.
You want to argue about the 9,000 in kind, I offered to jump in
there with a chainsaw and clean it. Jerry Kurtz said, no, this is not
your responsibility. You only control the lakes, you control the
weir, but this is the overflow in the river, and you're not allowed to
touch anything in the river. That's county responsibility.
May 9, 2023
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So whether we're being charged against this or not, it's going
back to the original agreement I had with Amy Patterson and Trinity
of 20,000. We know we made some mistakes. You feel you guys
made some mistakes. We want to work together with you. I would
accept -- because I already have the board president behind me. He's
got the authorization to accept the 20,000 and move forward.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm going to make a motion,
then, that we offer 20,000 as a settlement for this dispute.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Second. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed?
(No response.)
COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes 4-1.
MR. CAPWILL: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Don't forget to bill us.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: More, importantly, don't
forget to pay even if you don't get a bill.
MS. SCOTT: It's on my calendar, sir.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: What's next?
Item #11B
AFTER-ACTION REPORT FOR THE 2023 FLORIDA
LEGISLATIVE SESSION AND PROVIDE GUIDANCE AS
PRELIMINARY PLANNING BEGINS FOR THE NEXT
LEGISLATIVE CYCLE – PRESENTED
May 9, 2023
Page 105
MS. PATTERSON: Item 11B is a recommendation to accept
the after-action report for the 2023 Florida legislative session and
provide guidance as a preliminary planning -- as preliminary
planning begins for the next legislative session.
Mr. John Mullins, your director of Communications and
Government Affairs and the rest of his title, will present.
MR. MULLINS: For the record, John Mullins, your director of
Communications, Government, and Public Affairs. Happy to be
here.
Joined today, as always at the end of the legislative session, by
Lisa Hurley, who covers more ground for this county than probably
any lobbyist does for any county in the State of Florida, and I am not
joking in that regard. She does a lot of work for this county, and she
is greatly appreciated.
She'll be coming up to talk to you in just a few minutes to have a
substantive conversation to talk about a little bit of inside baseball
right after I get through the monotonous slide-slow presentation,
which I will get through just as quickly as Terri will allow me.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I don't think she's a lobbyist. We
like to say what, action -- what do we say, action-oriented official or
something, right? Lobbyist has got a bad --
MR. MULLINS: Starting off with some quick statistics.
There were about 1,800 bills proposed this year during the 2023
legislative cycle, which was down quite a bit from last year, but there
were a lot more amendments to those bills this time as opposed to last
year.
The number of bills passed increased by about 70 bills over last
year, and the Governor now has 15 days because the legislature has
adjourned sine die to act on any bill that's before him: Sign, veto, or
allowed to become law without signature.
May 9, 2023
Page 106
And at this time there were 443 bills on the county track list,
which is down a little bit this year, and this is greatly appreciated. It
was, overall, a more kind and gentler session as it pertains to county
government, and that's what the president promised us, and I think
she's delivered.
Now we'll start off with some fiscal features of the regular
session. And keep in mind, the Governor still has line-item veto
authority, so some of this could change.
Starting off with the overall budget; it caps out at about
$117 billion this year. The days of double-digit billion-dollar
budgets are over. And as Florida continues to grow, so does the
need to facilitate it.
Starting off with some hurricane relief; the Division of
Emergency Management's new program for Ian and Nicole recovery
received 350 -- $350 million, I'm sorry. And this is a new program
to help mitigate local government revenue losses and operating
deficits to make infrastructure repairs and conduct beach nourishment
and to complete debris removal. The only catch is, you have to
certify that you have insufficient federal, state, and insurance funds in
order to qualify for that money. And if for some reason you get
some of those funds later, you have to return what you received from
this particular program.
Beach renourishment also received $106 million, and this is a
program that would provide 50 percent for beach renourishment
projects and 75 percent match on inlet projects.
The last item down there, the Emergency Preparedness and
Response Fund is receiving $1.4 billion, and this is the Governor's
fund that he has in responding to or mitigating emergency situations
during a declared disaster.
The Governor's Job Growth program also received $75 million
this year, and he controls that in its entirety. Visit Florida, which is
May 9, 2023
Page 107
usually in jeopardy of being extinct at the end of every legislative
session, with the Governor's backing, survived yet again and received
$80 million for this next year.
And the BEAD program, which is the Broadband Equity Access
and Deployment program, it's a federal program for broadband
deployment, mapping, and equity, and it's administered through
DEO. They're getting $112 million this year, and Housing and
Community Development projects are getting 118-, and she's already
giving me the death stare.
Moving into housing, and we'll start with the Sadowski Trust,
which is funded at a pretty high level. They receive funding from
the documentary stamp tax proceeds. The State Apartment Incentive
Loan received $259 million this year. We're going to talk about that
a little bit more here shortly, as they're going to get a little bit more of
a supplement to that.
Also, the Florida Hometown Hero Housing program received
$100 million as well, but they also got another plus-up that we'll
discuss here shortly.
Moving to the environment, the Everglades got about half a
billion dollars in the budget this year, and water-quality
improvements, including water projects, of which we are a
beneficiary, and we'll get to that when we get to our project requests
here in a little bit.
There are also more funds for trying to combat the blue-green
algae epidemic that we've been having, particularly up to the north,
with more money going towards the task force and innovative
technologies to try to combat the algal blooms.
Moving over to transportation. The work program is about
$13.8 billion this year, and of note to those programs typically
funded, the Local Transportation Initiatives Road Fund projects, we
are also a beneficiary this year, and we will get to those shortly.
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And the Transportation Disadvantaged program also received
8 million.
But the big-ticket item was the Governor's Moving Florida
Forward initiative. It was announced in Fort Myers back in January,
and Commissioner Kowal and I were on hand for that announcement,
and this program has four projects of benefit to Collier County.
There's the I-75/Pine Ridge Road widening and diverging
diamond construction; I-75 additional lanes from Golden Gate
Parkway to Corkscrew Road. And on behalf of all commuters, that
can't happen soon enough; and two projects along Route 29,
including the four-lane divided highway loop around downtown
Immokalee.
Now, the Governor was looking for $4 billion to leverage in
generating an additional $3 billion over four years. And what the
legislature did was they opted to provide him $2-and-a-half billion
via a budget amendment from the Joint Legislative Budget
Commission, and that will be occurring shortly. And then later on
this year, as the plans progress, they can go back before the budget
commission to get the additional $1.5 billion.
The tax package is always very popular with constituents, and
this year some of these things have grown. There is now a two-week
back-to-school sales tax holiday that will occur twice in the next
fiscal year, in July and again next January, as will the Disaster
Preparedness Holiday in late May and again in August.
Freedom Week is now Freeman Summer, from May to
September. And last year's Tool Time Holiday continues without
change this year. The energy-efficient appliances will also enjoy a
tax holiday for one year, including the now very popular gas stoves.
There's some permanent tax relief on things like baby and
toddler items. Also adult diapers and incontinence products, for
people like me, and oral hygiene products will also get a permanent
May 9, 2023
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sales tax break.
Agricultural fencing to keep your cows where they're supposed
to be, you can get a tax break for that, and transportation and
production equipment for natural gas will also get a permanent sales
tax break. Firearm devices such as gun safes and trigger locks will
also qualify.
Now moving on to our project requests for this year. And, once
again, the Governor still has line-item veto authority. So this could
potentially change, though keep in mind all of these projects are in
President Passidomo's district, and vetoing them would probably not
be a very good look.
Starting with Golden Gate City, $2.8 million has been obtained
to match money already in hand specifically for the design and
construction of 15 outfall pipes and associated structures to reduce
flooding in the Golden Gate City area.
Palm River, specifically Area 4 that's shown in the purple area
and abutting the Cocohatchee River, is going to get $3 million to also
match money in hand to do septic and sewer conversion for 24
residential properties, along with the replacement of outdated water
mains and other improvements.
Two one-mile sections of Oil Well Road will see lane and
shoulder improvements and drainage improvements with the over
$2 million secured for both items, along with the local match that
pertains to them.
The four-point roundabout will realign Camp Keais Road and
install a roundabout where it interconnects with Immokalee Road and
South First Street to provide a safer and more efficient traffic flow
with the $1 million also received from the legislature.
Fifty athletic courts, under the Parks and Recreation Division,
will get resurfaced through $450,000 being providing to match the
$350,000 already on hand, and this will take everything from design
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all the way through final inspection.
And, why not, let's buy a boat. But in this case it's not a
pleasure boat. It's a workboat. We're going to get $110,000 this
year for a Weedoo Truxor workboat that will allow for the
mechanical harvesting of vegetation in some of our waterways in lieu
of chemical spraying. And as you may recall last year,
Representative Melo had legislation that was trying to advance this
process a little bit more, and she was instrumental in helping us get
this across the finish line.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: John, who owns that one once we
get it?
MR. MULLINS: You do, sir.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No, but I mean what department
does it fall under?
MR. MULLINS: This will be under stormwater; Trinity.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay.
MR. MULLINS: All right. And also, this is not new money
this year. This is money from last year.
The Golden Gate Senior Center expansion, because of Hurricane
Ian and some issues getting architects and contractors online after
Ian, we weren't able to make the timelines in securing those services
for this actual project. So Lisa was diligent enough to get this added
back to the budget as a revert and reappropriate. And with Senator
Passidomo's help, we now have another year to spend that $250,000
for this process.
And last, but not least in the funding requests, the $500,000, as
promised by the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs, is included
in the back of the bill, and we will have the money now necessary to
do the preliminary design and engineering for the facility.
And, of course, it goes without saying that we want to thank
President Passidomo, and we want to thank our representatives in the
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House; Adam Botana, Lauren Melo, and Bob Rommel altogether
made for a pretty powerful team this year and got a lot accomplished
for Collier County, and it is greatly appreciated.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention at the federal
level that we also have $3.6 million currently earmarked in the
Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development appropriations bill.
And though this has a ways to go, because markups don't start on this
bill until probably another couple weeks and will go for about a
month, we're hoping that with the stewardship of Representative
Mario Diaz-Balart and our crew at Becker Law we'll be able to keep
this protected in the appropriations bill through final passage
hopefully in time for the October 1 start of the federal fiscal year.
All right. On to general legislation of interest for the 2023
regular session -- and many of these bills are awaiting the Governor,
though he is signing bills at a pretty quick clip already this year, as if
he has somewhere else he needs to be.
First we'll start with "see you next year." These are bills that
had the interest of one or more members of the Board, and we'll start
with a few that didn't make it across the finish line, starting with
sovereign immunity. There's always strong interest in that bill.
And while there's still a strong bipartisan desire to raise the caps and
lower the number of claims bills that go before the legislature, this
bill ran out of gas early on in the session, not really because of the
merits of the bill, but because the sponsor was in the doghouse with
House leadership over an unrelated matter. But we're sure it will be
back next year probably for its fourth or fifth appearance in a row.
County commissioner term limits were of some interest.
Initially, the House had a bill that addressed term limits for district
school board members only. That bill passed the House and went to
the Senate. The Senate companion bill had that and also included
eight-year term limits for Board of County Commissioner members.
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The Senate opted to -- when both bills ended up in the same rules
committee to take up the House version instead and pass it, so now
this only applies to school board members and does not apply to this
board.
And, of course, I thought -- I really, really thought that this bill
was going to make it this time. It made it up literally till the last
morning of session. Vacation rentals didn't -- didn't get across the
finish line, particularly after the House, at the last minute, made
amendments that changed some of the local responsible-party
information that was in the bill, which really mirrors what we already
have here in Collier County. And, rightfully, the Senate decided not
to agree with that position and let the bill die, but it will be back
again next year.
All right. Ian response. This is some notable legislation that
was a product of the select committee on resiliency that was created
by the president to address Hurricanes Ian and Nicole, and I think it
was right before session started both Jamie French and Chris Mason
testified before this committee on Collier's experience during Ian, and
we greatly appreciate them going to share their expertise in
Tallahassee.
Now, at first it requires the Department of Emergency
Management to provide a model debris removal contract for counties
that have a hard time coming up with their own. It allows residents
to place temporary living quarters on their property for up to three
years after an event, and it encourages the creation of specialized
building inspection teams. It calls for expedited permits retroactive
to last September. It provides for building permit extensions
following a declared emergency. And it prohibits raising building
fees for counties like us until October of next year.
The bill also provides that if you're within a 100-mile radius of
Ian or Nicole landfall, you cannot adopt a moratorium on
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construction or redevelopment of any property damaged by Ian or
Nicole before October of next year, and you cannot adopt more
restrictive or burdensome amendments to a comp plan or land
development regulations or procedures involving review, approval, or
issuance of a site plan, development plan, or development order until
October of next year. All these are retroactive back to September of
last year.
And, lastly, you have 45 days to get your boat squared away
after an event takes place and leaves it trashed, and we'll keep that in
mind with our Weedoo boat.
All right. Moving on to housing, and this was also a key
component of President Passidomo's package this year. The Live
Local Act adds $1.5 billion to SAIL over the next 10 years to be
directed towards mixed use, urban infill, or developments near
military installation. It also adds an additional $100 million to
hometown heroes and expands the eligibility to all of Florida's
hometown workforce. It encourages business donations toward
housing for low-income residents by raising the tax credits by over
$10 million this time. It also creates a corporate tax donation
program to benefit SAIL. It provides a $5,000-per-unit sales tax
refund on building materials for developments financed through the
FHFC, and it provides gap financing through a competitive
application process for current construction projects experiencing an
economic pinch.
The bill provides a property tax exemption for developments
that set aside at least 70 units as affordable housing for the moderate
and low-income brackets, and this is a 100 percent or 75 percent
exemption depending upon the area median income unit being
proposed. And rent at these units has to be at least 10 percent below
market rate.
The bill also provides the county the option off offering a
May 9, 2023
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property tax exemption for owners who provide units at the very-low
or extremely-low-income levels, and it applies a similar
100 percent/75 percent exemption methodology based on the number
of units dedicated toward affordable housing.
The bill promotes affordable housing development in
commercial, industrial, and mixed-use areas where at least 40 percent
of the units are reserved for households earning up to 120 percent
AMI for at least 30 years, and this may not require a zoning change.
And, okay, I promise I'm bringing this bill in for a landing. The
bill forbids rent control in its entirety. It will require us to publish
online our inventory of county-owned property that may be suitable
for affordable housing development, and it requires us to maintain a
public written policy for expediting permits and development orders
for affordable housing.
And, yes, the one-mile radius height provisions that we
discussed earlier in the session still remain in the bill.
All right. We're nearing the end here, I promise. I'm covering
this bill simply because it's supposed to end all future preemptions.
Okay. No one's laughing.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yay.
MR. MULLINS: Believe it when you see it.
But under Senate Bill 170, the county can be sued for what
someone may feel is an arbitrary or unreasonable ordinance. Now,
you can avoid the suit if you withdraw the proposed ordinance or
repeal it within 30 days of written notice.
Also, before enacting a proposed ordinance, you must publicly
post a business impact estimate, and you can produce that in-house.
You don't have to hire an outside accountant or financial planner to
help you with that.
Now, before anybody panics, there are a host of exemptions,
including compliance with state and federal law, ordinances that deal
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with the issuance or refinancing of debt, budget and budget
amendment adoption, implementing a contract or agreement,
including grants, emergency ordinances, procurement ordinances,
and nearly everything that GMD currently does.
However, should you adopt an ordinance that does not qualify
under these exemptions and should the challenger meet the three
criteria listed on this slide, the county would have to suspend
enforcement and, in that circumstance, the bill creates a rocket docket
to get us to the front of the line in court.
All right. The pain's about to end. Just two more quick bills.
Senate Bill 540 now provides that the prevailing party can recover
attorney's fees and costs in comp plan and plan amendment
challenges. So it's not just the plaintiff anymore. And House Bill
1383 does a few things, but the primary thing it does is that it extends
the expiration date of specialty contractor licenses at the local level
for one more year.
And, of course, these and many, many more exciting bills will
be in the bills of potential impact report that will be produced here in
the next couple weeks and provided to your offices and the
department heads probably by June 1st.
And, of course, it goes without saying we want to thank Lisa
Hurley, our lead in Tallahassee, and her team at Smith, Bryan &
Myers. We want to thank our federal team at Becker & Poliakoff,
Amanda Wood and Omar Franco and, of course, our internal staff,
Ian, Diane, Josh, and Lee, who helped facilitate the quick flow of
information to our frontline staff and then back to me to our lobbying
team.
And with that, I'm going to bring up Lisa Hurley to give you a
good conversation and some inside baseball, and then after that we
will attempt to take on any questions you may have.
MS. HURLEY: Thanks, John.
May 9, 2023
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Good afternoon. Lisa Hurley from Smith, Bryan & Myers.
Let me just first start by saying congratulations on your
Centennial celebration. I don't know if you're aware or not, but
when you came up to Tallahassee this session, John Mullins brought
a huge bag of Centennial pins that Senator Passidomo's handed out
throughout the entire session, so I think we've pinned half the State of
Florida. So I heard that everything went well yesterday.
But thank you, Commissioners, for coming up to Tallahassee. I
want to start by saying that, because it really does make a difference
when you come to Tallahassee and you meet with all the
stakeholders, from the officials at DVA down to our budget chairs
that were responsible for providing us funding for your appropriation
projects requests. They do like to hear from you, so thank you for
taking the time to come up to Tallahassee.
I also want to say thank you again to Jamie and to Chris for
coming up, because they provided some very valuable testimony in
the -- both hurricane select committees in the House and the Senate,
and some of their suggestions absolutely made it into the bill. So
thank you so much.
So, you know, this session was -- it was a really odd one. I'll
tell you, we got -- we got off to a very slow start in my opinion. You
know, as you know, everyone came in -- in the Legislature, everyone
was up for reelection. So we had a new president. We have a new
speaker. So there were committee assignments to put out.
I think both -- both presiding officers gave their electives more
autonomy on what bills to file in session. So at least over in the
House, when there's a limit on how many bills a representative can
sponsor, that led to a little bit more analysis on deciding, you know,
what bills were going to be put out there. So we kind of got off on a
slow start there. The first part of session was definitely devoted for
passing a lot of the Governor's priority items.
May 9, 2023
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To John's comment earlier, as of today, I think he signed
upwards of 25, 26 bills already for this session. They were -- that's
a -- when a bill is actually sent over to the Governor, that's a
coordinated response between the presiding officers and the
Governor's office. But having said that, although there were fewer
bills filed this session, there were more bills passed this session than
the prior -- the previous few years.
So he still has about 330 bills that need to be sent to him. And,
of course, one of those is the budget. So the budget landed at just
under $117 billion. A little more than -- almost $3 billion more than
what the Governor's recommended -- budget recommendations were.
And, you know, the Governor's recommendations don't have to
be a balanced budget unlike, you know, the Legislature's. So the
Governor has not been shy, historically, on vetoes. Last year he
vetoed over 3 billion, with a b, from the budget, so I expect that there
will be a sizable veto list this year.
So on that note, although sitting here today we're nine of nine on
our appropriations project requests, we are working right now
diligently to protect those from the veto. Your staff's working really
hard. The Governor's office on some projects is proactively reaching
out to me and to local governments directly asking for backup
information on some of the projects. We did have that request on
Friday, and your staff turned it around and got everything that the
Governor's office requested yesterday afternoon. So thank you for
that.
But my job is -- going back up to Tallahassee this week is
continue meeting with the Governor's office, his staff, to make sure
they have everything that they need to make the final decisions on
our projects.
So I have to say that this was probably the most collaborative,
coordinated session that I have ever witnessed. Again, it started off
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kind of slow, but when we started session after we got past our
committee weeks, the bills started moving very fast. I think
President Passidomo got most every single one of her priority items
passed in on the other side of the chamber, so did Speaker Renner,
You know, you're always waiting in session where, you know, that
big issue is going to pop and things, you know, run off rails, and that
didn't happen this year. In fact, we sine died on Friday at
11:00 a.m., yes. Unheard of. The prior two or three years, we
actually had to go into overtime into the weekend, right, to get the
budget done.
So very smooth landing. And, you know, budget's obviously
good for the county, you know, not a -- preemptions were passed, of
course, not as many as we've seen in previous years, and, you know,
hopefully with the passage of Senator Passidomo's bill on local
ordinances, we'll see even fewer in the future.
So we can celebrate our victories right now, but I would like to
remind you that we start session early next year. We actually start in
January, so committee weeks will begin in September. Calendar's
not out yet. It's the expectation, though, that that's when we'll start
back up. So we don't have a lot of downtime to get geared up and to
start getting our priorities for next session in order.
So I will pause there and take any questions.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I've got Commissioner McDaniel,
and then Commissioner Saunders on deck.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, I lit up. That was
from before.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: But I do have a question, if I
may.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sure.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And it -- you may be able to
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answer it. When John was flipping through the Moving Florida
Forward initiative, there was only 24 million appropriated for Pine
Ridge and 75, and my brain had a memory of 90 million for that
diverging diamond.
MS. HURLEY: So that may have been for just this next fiscal
year. Ooh, John's still behind me.
MR. MULLINS: Actually, that information came directly from
the Governor's website for the program, so that's what he was
planning all along. Now, whether or not that $90 million was a
longer-range projection, to Lisa's point, that could be the case. But
for right now, that's what it is billing it as.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You know what, we'll be able
to verify it on Friday. On our MPO meeting this Friday, I'll be able
to verify that. Okay. Thank you.
And from me to you, thank you. You have been an enormous
boost to our community for what your efforts have provided for our
county in Tallahassee. And from me to you, thank you.
MS. HURLEY: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you.
I also want to thank you for all of your efforts. I've spent a lot
of time in Tallahassee, and I've worked with a lot of lobbyists when I
was in the legislature and when I got out of the legislature, and you
guys do a wonderful job. It's noted, and it's appreciated.
Mr. Mullins, you do a fabulous job as well in coordinating all
this, and that hasn't gone unnoticed, and it's appreciated. I know you
have staff that work with you, and everyone does a really great job.
I do have a couple things. There's going to be an OPPAGA
report coming out in the next couple of weeks, I believe, or maybe
sometime in June, dealing with the issue of noise pollution in Florida.
Are you familiar with that?
May 9, 2023
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MS. HURLEY: I am.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'd like to --
MS. HURLEY: I'm familiar with the local issues.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay.
MS. HURLEY: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'd like to make sure that we
get all of that information when it comes out.
MS. HURLEY: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't know if we have any
opportunity at this point to be involved in the final report. I assume
probably not at this point. But there have been several phone
calls/conference calls in reference to that. And so I'm very interested
in that. And we may have -- in terms of our next legislative agenda
going into 2024, we may have some Quiet Florida type of issues.
I think that was really the only thing I wanted to bring up in
terms of the potential for a future agenda for you, so thank you again
for all of this --
MS. HURLEY: Yep.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- material.
MS. HURLEY: And I'll certainly keep my eyes out for the
report, and I'm happy to touch base with them even when I get back
up to Tallahassee to kind of see where they are in the process and to
make sure, you know, any of our positions or information that we can
share with them, that we've done so.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That would be great. I
appreciate that.
MS. HURLEY: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Any other questions?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I think we're good to go.
May 9, 2023
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Thank you.
MS. HURLEY: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: All right. I think we're hitting the
end here, right?
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir.
Item #15C
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MS. PATTERSON: Commissioner, that brings us back to
Item 15, and we had left off at the commissioner communications.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. So just --
MS. PATTERSON: Oh, if we want to check one last time
for --
MR. MILLER: We have none.
MS. PATTERSON: No public comment.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I'm actually just going to start off
just by, on behalf of all of us here, thanking everybody for this
morning. You know, it's great to have a packed house in here and
former officials, former county managers, a lot of business and tourist
people. So great event. I can't wait to see all the photos posted, you
know, by the county, and all of us as well.
To Mr. Mullins, thank you, yesterday, for Everglades City.
You know, we were out there. It was a great event. I know you had
a whole team of people as well that pulled it off. That was great to
be out there in such a historic spot with Barron Collier, III. I want
that guy to adopt me, right?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, he wasn't --
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah, he was the third. Yeah, we
didn't get -- there was a fifth? What, is he seven or something or
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what? How old is that kid?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: He's not a kid.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It was kind of funny that he said, "I
never met my grandpa. I'm not really responsible for any of this,
and I'm a horrible public speaker," right? But he actually really
spoke off-the-cuff, and it was great. But thanks so much.
And same to our county manager. You know, I know
Ms. Patterson, her team was very involved in making yesterday and
especially today, you know, happen. So, you know, thanks very
much for that.
Having said that, let me go to my colleagues. I'll start with
Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
Yeah, I'd just like to echo that. I really appreciated everything
the staff did and what you-all did yesterday down in Everglades City.
I was quite impressed, and -- to partake in something like that and to
be part of this 100 years of Collier County.
And I'll just kind of preference -- kind of roll off into what
statements -- I know we had the curator from our county museums
here, and she was walking around the room and talking about our rich
history. And one thing that kind of touched on me, she had made the
comment -- and we're talking, like, in the early 1940s that, you know,
we wouldn't realize that Naples wouldn't have had the attention it had
if it wasn't for the actual airport. She touched on it.
And I started thinking about it, and, you know, the men and
women that were stationed here from the Army Air Corps back in the
1940s were from all over the country. You know, they were the eyes
and ears who sent back this beautiful paradise back to the other states
that they came from.
And, you know, by being stationed here in that early time, it
kind of brought the attention to -- and probably made Naples what it
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is today, you know, because it got spread around. You know, you've
got young 19-, 20-year-olds, never been away from home, and, you
know, they're plopped down here next to white-sand beaches, and,
you know, making $10 a month from the Army Air Corps in 1940.
But -- so I think the airport -- we have to look at that, too, as a
very, very important part of our history that made our history here. I
don't know if it is or what, but I know the airport now falls under
the -- it was annexed by the city at some point. And I know there's
some things going on with the city and the airport to the point that the
city's actually hired an attorney at $1,000 an hour to try to shut the
airport down, basically, is where we're going.
So I think it is a part of our history, and I think we probably
have a duty in some way to make sure that's preserved. And, you
know, that being said, I just wanted to make sure -- I wanted to make
a statement on that and bring that awareness to our board and
everybody else who might be listening out there.
And another thing, you guys might already know the answer to
this, and maybe I just overlooked it, but I know we passed the
affordable housing agenda a few months back, and it was sent up to
Tallahassee. Is there some sort of report, or is there
something -- information that comes back to us when that's filed and
authorized or -- I mean, I'm not sure exactly the process on that.
MS. PATTERSON: I'll get Mr. French up here to answer that,
for the four affordable housing initiatives that were transmitted to the
state, those last four.
MR. FRENCH: Yes, ma'am.
Thank you, Commissioner. Again, for the record, Jamie
French.
So, Commissioners, those were in transmittal. Those will be
coming back to you for adoption.
The legislation recently passed would not impact those because
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this is -- this is certainly not more restrictive. This provides
additional allowances for developers to move forward.
With regards to the surtax bill, that needs to go to your surtax
committee, which is this upcoming meeting, and then once that has
been passed, then we would then start to solicit and bring items
forward for Board consideration.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Thank you. I've got a
couple items.
I think we may have all received a letter from Mayor Teresa
Heitmann concerning the Collier County Citizens Corps. I had no
idea what that was. I read all about it. I still don't really know what
it does.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I think she's referring to the
Army Corps.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. That's what we were
talking about today. She wants to be one of the 15, or whatever the
number is, seven.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. Then I
misunderstood, because she did refer to the Collier County Citizens
Corps.
MS. PATTERSON: She did, which is also a thing.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Which is a thing. And so --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And not our thing.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: No. This is --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's why we have a thing.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So maybe we need to --
MS. PATTERSON: We'll get clarification from the mayor on
what specifically she's requesting. If it's the Corps -- the Army
Corps of Engineer's Coastal Resilience Study and that group, the
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committee, or if it's the actual CCC.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We're going to make those
appointments in a couple weeks.
MS. PATTERSON: Yes, correct.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But on the Collier County
Citizens Corps, maybe it's something we should repeal if it's not
something that's active just -- I'll throw that out there.
MS. PATTERSON: Understood.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It's very interesting, but I'm
not sure if it's ever met or --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It hasn't.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It hasn't convened in,
certainly, the last 10, 12 years.
Then another item, I was told that there's some problems at the
Santa Barbara Canal in terms of cleaning it up, so I would just pass
that on, that -- I was told that basically the entire length of the Santa
Barbara Canal. It's near where the bridge repair is -- replacement is
going in, and I've been told that it's in real need of attention.
MS. PATTERSON: Okay. And no problem. We'll talk to
Stormwater about that.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. And then we had a
Productivity Committee meeting a few weeks ago, and one of the
issues was the implementation of their recommendations concerning
our park and recreation operations, signage and things of that nature.
And I'd like to get -- I think it would be important for the Board to
get a little bit of a report back at some point as to what those
recommendations were and which ones have been able to be
implemented and that sort of thing. Signage was a big issue.
Friends of the Collier County Parks was a big issue.
And then, finally, at our second meeting in June I'm going to be
placing on the agenda an issue dealing with Quiet Florida -- that's one
May 9, 2023
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of the reasons why I brought up the OPPAGA issue just a few
minutes ago -- dealing with state legislation. That OPPAGA report
will probably be out by then. And so I'm going to place on the
agenda an item to discuss that.
The group -- the Quiet Florida group will be asking us to
consider being a sponsor of or placing our logo on and/or putting this
information on our web page dealing with what the law is as it relates
to people altering their mufflers and doing things that are, quite
frankly, illegal. And so that will be part of the discussion. And you
may -- staff may need to kind of provide us a little bit of a
background as to what we can put on our web page. I know we
shouldn't put anything on there unless it's approved by the
Commission, but what that process would be for consideration when
that comes up in a few -- in about a month.
And that is it. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Just to piggyback. I
actually -- when I saw that letter from the mayor of Naples, I thought
she was referring to the Army Corps, so that's why I was a little
ambiguous with my comments here. I didn't want to call her out, but
we're talking about it. But that's where I sit here -- and this is just
my own personal comment. I think if we're trying to have a group of
people that are sort of, you know, equal in peers, you know, if we
nominate a few citizens, then all of a sudden, the mayor of Naples
has got one of those seven spots, you know, it's just something to
think about.
But I guess we'll see the applicants that come in. But you might
be right. She might be talking about somebody that's quite a bit
dated. But I think she means the army group. But it was like -- and
my -- you know, off the top of my head, I would say to the mayor,
nominate somebody maybe from your staff. I don't know that it
needs to be the mayor, but that's just me. And I know we're not
May 9, 2023
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voting right now, so...
MS. PATTERSON: Yep.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I just want to echo my
gratitude and thanks again for the Centennial celebration in
Everglades City yesterday. It went flawless, in my personal opinion,
and thank you again to our lobbyist. Thank you. Thank you, I just
can't say thank you enough. The things -- again, the things that you
have done for our community are off the chart.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Hall.
COMMISSIONER HALL: Just echoing the Centennial. One
thing I thought was really cool in reading the history, when Barron G.
Collier gave the land for our county, his whole name is Barron Gift
Collier. And I just thought that was neat. That, you know, you
name a man, and he fulfills his destiny. So I just appreciate him
from that. So if you hear me, Barron, just know that we give you the
love for that.
There is a friend of the mayor's that will -- that -- we talked to
her at lunch. She will be applying for the Army Corps of Engineers
thing. So I don't know that that's what the mayor was -- so her good
friend will be applying, so she said, I'll get right on that, and that's all.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Tell me if you think you
were thinking this, but during all of this historical conversations
about the Centennial, every time they talked about Barron Collier
way back when, like, bought up a bunch of land, tell me if in your
mind you weren't thinking, dang, if -- I wish I would have been back
there, right? I would have bought up every single bit I could have,
right? I mean, you think he was buying it for pennies on the dollar,
and nobody could have imagined, except maybe him, the Mackle
brothers and all that, what could have been.
But every time I hear those stories, I just think, gosh, how much
May 9, 2023
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was that acreage? It could have been, you know, a dollar an acre,
and people probably thought, that's crazy. Who's going to live here,
right?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think it was in the pennies
per acre, in that range.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Was it? People always tell me on
Marco that lots used to -- when they were, like, $5,000 waterfront,
people thought, that is nuts. That's crazy talk. Anyway.
I did neglect to say one thing. I spent Saturday from 9:00 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m. in Tampa attending basically a state-run MPO meeting
where they talked about transportation at more of a state level. So
I'm going to go through my notes. I'll send out a one-way
communication. There were some really good slides in there that I
asked for that might be worth just sort of taking a look at that talk
about how things happen at the state level when it comes to
transportation-type things.
There was -- and it was attended by county commissioners, there
were mayors there, there were city council members. It was a good
group. It was at the Marriott at the airport in one of their conference
rooms.
But I grabbed everything I could slide-wise, and I thought I took
good notes. So I'll put something together over the next few days
and send it out. And then at our next MPO meeting maybe I'll give,
like, a little presentation.
But it was really great, and it was great to connect with, you
know, other peers who have a lot of similar challenges across, you
know, their different areas.
But having said that, any follow-ups? We forget anything?
Troy, have you got somebody on the line that wants to speak?
MR. MILLER: Actually, no one on Zoom at all today, sir.
CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. We're adjourned. Thank
May 9, 2023
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you.
*******
****Commissioner Saunders moved, seconded by Commissioner
LoCastro, and carried that the following items under the consent and
summary agendas be approved and/or adopted****
Item #16A1
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE
CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION OF THE POTABLE WATER
AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES AND APPURTENANT
UTILITY EASEMENT FOR STOR-ALL AT TREE FARM,
PL20220005737
Item #16A2
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER UTILITY
FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF A
PORTION OF THE POTABLE WATER UTILITY FACILITIES
AND APPURTENANT UTILITY EASEMENT FOR THE
WILLOUGH AT NAPLES – FIRE LINE, PL20220000571
Item #16A3
RECORDING THE FINAL PLAT OF ESPLANADE BY THE
ISLANDS - PHASE 3 (APPLICATION NUMBER PL20220005192)
APPROVAL OF THE STANDARD FORM CONSTRUCTION
AND MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT AND APPROVAL OF THE
PERFORMANCE SECURITY IN THE AMOUNT OF
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$5,341,619.06
Item #16A4
RECORDING THE MINOR FINAL PLAT DORADO AT
FIDDLER’S CREEK - REPLAT, APPLICATION NUMBER
PL20210003318
Item #16A5
AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO THE INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT
WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF COLLIER COUNTY,
RELATED TO AGREEMENT NO. 20-7708, DESIGN-BUILD
VETERANS MEMORIAL BOULEVARD EXTENSION, PHASE I
(COUNTY PROJECT NUMBER 60198), FOR $17,752.35
Item #16A6
AWARD INVITATION TO BID (“ITB”) NO. 22-8045 “FIBER
OPTICS INSTALLATION, REPAIR, AND MAINTENANCE”, TO
INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS, LLC, AS THE
PRIMARY VENDOR, AND AZTEK COMMUNICATIONS OF
SOUTH FLORIDA, INC., AS THE SECONDARY VENDOR, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENTS
Item #16A7
THE CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A LETTER OF CREDIT
IN THE AMOUNT OF $24,580 WHICH WAS POSTED AS A
GUARANTEE FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH THE
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CONSTRUCTION OF A SMALL SECTION OF THE DRIVEWAY
TO THE ADJACENT PROPERTY LOCATED TO THE EAST OF
MARQUESA PLAZA AT BALDRIGE PUD, PL20120001665,
AND PL20180002247
Item #16A8
THE CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE
BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $539,200 WHICH WAS POSTED
AS A GUARANTEE FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER
PL20200000810 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH
TAMARINDO
Item #16A9
THE CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE
BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $29,600 WHICH WAS POSTED AS
A DEVELOPMENT GUARANTEE FOR AN EARLY WORK
AUTHORIZATION (EWA) FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH
WINCHESTER PPL, PL20220001541
Item #16A10
WAIVE LIQUIDATED DAMAGES IN THE AMOUNT OF
$508,690.00 AGAINST PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE, LLC, FOR
CONTRACT NO. 21-7887, RANDALL BOULEVARD AT
EVERGLADES BOULEVARD INTERSECTION
IMPROVEMENTS, ARISING FROM THE DELAYED
ACQUISITION OF TRAFFIC SIGNAL EQUIPMENT, AND
APPROVE/RATIFY THE AFTER-THE-FACT PAYMENT OF
THE FINAL PAYMENT APPLICATION IN THE AMOUNT OF
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$258,592.43, SUBJECT TO THE CONTRACTOR PROVIDING
ALL REQUIRED BACKUP DOCUMENTATION PREREQUISITE
TO PROCESSING PAYMENT (PROJECT NUMBER 60242)
Item #16A11
A WORK ORDER WITH APTIM ENVIRONMENTAL &
INFRASTRUCTURE, INC. TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL
ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR 2024-2025 LOCAL
GOVERNMENT FUNDING REQUEST UNDER CONTRACT NO.
18-7432-CZ FOR TIME AND MATERIAL NOT TO EXCEED
$26,052.00, AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE
WORK ORDER, AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS ITEM
PROMOTES TOURISM (FUND 195, PROJECT NO. 90065)
Item #16A12
BUDGET AMENDMENTS TO REALLOCATE FUNDS FROM
STORMWATER BOND FUND 327 RESERVES TO GOLDEN
GATE AND GORDON RIVER STORMWATER
IMPROVEMENTS PROJECTS IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF
$4,000,000
Item #16A13 - Moved to Item #11D (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #16A14
RESOLUTION 2023-82: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE
ACQUISITION BY GIFT OR PURCHASE OF DRAINAGE
EASEMENTS NECESSARY FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS REQUIRED
May 9, 2023
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FOR THE WEST GOODLETTE-FRANK ROAD AREA
STORMWATER IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (PHASE 2),
PROJECT NO. 60142; AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY
BUDGET AMENDMENT. (ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT:
$930,000. THE SOURCE OF FUNDING IS THE STORMWATER
FUND 325.)
Item #16A15
RESOLUTION 2023-83: EXECUTE A LOCAL AGENCY
PROGRAM (LAP) CONSTRUCTION AGREEMENT WITH THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (FDOT)
REIMBURSING THE COUNTY UP TO $1,407,595 ($607,595 –
FDOT SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL) AND ($800,000 - COLLIER
COUNTY MPO URBANIZED AREA (SU FUNDS)) FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF A 6-FOOT SIDEWALK AT EDEN PARK
ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CARSON ROAD FROM WESTCLOX
DRIVE TO CARSON LAKES CIRCLE; EXECUTE A
RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE BOARD’S ACTION.
AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENT
(PROJECT 33622), FPN 441480-1-58-01
Item #16A16
RESOLUTION 2023-84 AND RESOLUTION 2023-85: A
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (FDOT)
BEAUTIFICATION GRANT FOR $100,000 FOR MEDIAN
IRRIGATION AND LANDSCAPING IMPROVEMENTS ON
DAVIS BOULEVARD (STATE ROAD 84) FROM SANTA
BARBARA BOULEVARD TO FIRANO DRIVE; APPROVE A
JOINT PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE FDOT
May 9, 2023
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AND COLLIER COUNTY IN THE AMOUNT OF $865,000 FOR
MEDIAN IRRIGATION AND LANDSCAPING IMPROVEMENTS
ON DAVIS BOULEVARD (STATE ROAD 84) FROM SANTA
BARBARA BOULEVARD TO COLLIER BOULEVARD;
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE
AGREEMENTS; AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE
THE RESOLUTIONS MEMORIALIZING THE BOARD’S
ACTION; AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET
AMENDMENTS (COMPANION TO ITEM 16A17)
Item #16A17
RESOLUTION 2023-86: A LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE AND
INSTALLATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE STATE OF
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (FDOT) AND
COLLIER COUNTY FOR MEDIAN IRRIGATION AND
LANDSCAPING IMPROVEMENTS ON DAVIS BOULEVARD
(STATE ROAD 84) FROM SANTA BARBARA BOULEVARD TO
COLLIER BOULEVARD, AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO
SIGN A RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE BOARD'S
ACTION AND ALLOW PROJECT ACTIVITY (COMPANION TO
ITEM 16A16)
Item #16A18 - Moved to Item #11C (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #16A19
AN AGREEMENT FOR THE PURCHASE OF PERMANENT
AND TEMPORARY EASEMENTS (COMPOSITE PARCELS
177DE AND 177DAE, PARCEL 177TCE1, PARCEL 177TCE2,
AND PARCEL 177ROE) REQUIRED FOR THE
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CONSTRUCTION OF STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE BIG CYPRESS GOLF AND
COUNTRY CLUB ESTATES/COUNTRY CLUB OF NAPLES
AREAS PROJECT, THE UPPER GORDON RIVER CHANNEL
IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, AND THE SOLANA ROAD
STORMWATER IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, AND
AUTHORIZE THE BOARD TO DELEGATE AUTHORITY TO
THE COUNTY MANAGER TO APPROVE AND EXECUTE A
WORK ORDER IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $850,000 TO
EXPEDITE CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY, SUBJECT TO BEING
RATIFIED BY THE BOARD AT ITS NEXT REGULAR
MEETING. ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT: $878,500
(PROJECT NO. 60102)
Item #16B1
CHANGE ORDER NO. 1 TO AGREEMENT NO. 21-7845,
BAYSHORE DRIVE REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT, WITH
STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES, INC., TO ADD AN
ADDITIONAL 90 DAYS TO THE AGREEMENT (P.O NO.
4500218097)
Item #16C1
THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AS EX-OFFICIO
THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE COLLIER COUNTY
WATER-SEWER DISTRICT, APPROVE A WORK ORDER
UNDER A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (“RFQ”) FOR
AGREEMENT NO. 20-7800 FOR “MODIFICATIONS TO NRO
WELL #11” TO DOUGLAS N. HIGGINS, INC., IN THE
AMOUNT OF $588,380, APPROVE STAFF OPENING A
May 9, 2023
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PURCHASE ORDER TO COMMENCE SERVICES, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
WORK ORDER. (PROJECT NO. 70085)
Item #16C2
RATIFY AND APPROVE CHANGE ORDER NO. 1, PROVIDING
FOR A 150-DAY TIME EXTENSION AND $9,887.37 DRAW ON
OWNER’S ALLOWANCE UNDER REQUEST FOR QUOTATION
NO. 19-7622-302.25 WITH US WATER SERVICES
CORPORATION UNDER AGREEMENT 19-7622, FOR THE
PUMP STATION 302.25 REHABILITATION PROJECT, AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED
CHANGE ORDER (PROJECT NO. 70145)
Item #16C3
CHANGE ORDER NO. 3, ALLOCATING A PORTION OF THE
OWNER’S ALLOWANCE TO COVER THE COSTS FOR WORK
DIRECTIVES NOS. 1 AND 2 IN THE AMOUNT OF $9,226.49
UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 20-7800, FOR THE “ORANGE TREE
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT DRIVEWAY
RELOCATION PROJECT,” WITH QUALITY ENTERPRISES,
USA, INC., RATIFY THE WORK COMPLETED UNDER WORK
DIRECTIVES NO. 1 AND 2, AND AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER
Item #16C4
THE SELECTION COMMITTEE’S RANKING AND AUTHORIZE
STAFF TO BEGIN CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS WITH
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Page 137
HARVARD JOLLY, INC., RELATED TO REQUEST FOR
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NO. 22-8033 FOR “DESIGN
SERVICES FOR HARDENING AND EXPANSION OF THE
COLLIER SENIOR CENTER BUILDING," SO STAFF CAN
BRING A PROPOSED AGREEMENT BACK FOR THE BOARD’S
CONSIDERATION AT A FUTURE MEETING (PROJECT 50219)
Item #16C5
A BUDGET AMENDMENT FOR THE WATER DIVISION IN
THE AMOUNT OF $279,500 TO REDISTRIBUTE EXISTING
DIVISION FUNDS TO COVER THE COSTS ASSOCIATED
WITH THE INCREASED PURCHASE OF BULK WATER TO
FUND CONTINUED OPERATIONS IN THE WATER DIVISION
BUDGET THROUGH THE END OF FISCAL YEAR 2023
Item #16D1 - (Continued from the April 25, 2023, BCC Meeting)
A BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $100,000 TO
TRANSFER FUNDING WITHIN THE COUNTY-WIDE CAPITAL
FUND (301) TO CONTINUE FUNDING EBOOK COLLECTIONS
TO MEET PATRON DEMAND FOR DIGITAL RESOURCES
AND MATERIALS FOR COLLIER COUNTY PUBLIC
LIBRARIES
Item #16D2
RESOLUTION 2023-87: A RESOLUTION SUPERSEDING
RESOLUTION NOS. 2021-263, 2018-135, 2018-44, 2016-245,
AND 2008-26, AND ALL OTHER RESOLUTIONS
ESTABLISHING LICENSE AND FEE POLICIES, TO APPROVE
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Page 138
THE SALE AND PROPOSED RATE SCHEDULE FOR FUEL AT
COUNTY-OWNED MARINAS AND AUTHORIZE THE
NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS
Item #16D3
THE STATE HOUSING INITIATIVE PARTNERSHIP
HURRICANE HOUSING RECOVERY PROGRAM AWARD IN
THE AMOUNT OF $957,820 TO ASSIST ELIGIBLE COLLIER
COUNTY HOUSEHOLDS WHOSE PRIMARY RESIDENCE
SUSTAINED DAMAGE AS A RESULT OF HURRICANE IAN,
AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENT, AND
AUTHORIZE TWO (2) FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT GRANT-
FUNDED POSITIONS TO SUPPORT PROGRAM
ADMINISTRATION (SHIP GRANT FUND 791)
Item #16D4
THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE A LANDLORD PAYMENT
AGREEMENT ALLOWING THE COMMUNITY AND HUMAN
SERVICES (CHS) DIVISION TO ADMINISTER THE RAPID RE-
HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION PROGRAM
THROUGH THE EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS AND RAPID
UNSHELTERED SURVIVOR HOUSING GRANTS
PROGRAM
Item #16D5
AN “AFTER-THE-FACT” AMENDMENT WITH THE
AREA AGENCY ON AGING FOR SOUTHWEST FLORIDA,
INC., REGARDING AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT FUNDING
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UNDER THE HOME-BASED COMMUNITY SERVICES-
ENHANCED HOME CARE FOR THE ELDERLY GRANT
PROGRAM FOR THE COLLIER COUNTY SERVICES FOR
SENIORS PROGRAM TO AMEND THE TERM OF THE
CONTRACT, UPDATE TABLE 2 DELIVERY SCHEDULE AND 3
PAYMENT SCHEDULE AND ASSIGN THE CSFA NUMBER.
(HUMAN SERVICE GRANT FUND 707)
Item #16E1
AN ACCESS AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND NCH HEALTHCARE
SYSTEM, INC., TO ALLOW EMS TO OBTAIN ACCESS TO
PATIENT OUTCOMES FROM NAPLES COMMUNITY
HOSPITAL UTILIZING THE EPICCARE LINK SOFTWARE
SYSTEM
Item #16E2
THE ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR DISPOSAL OF
PROPERTY THAT IS NO LONGER VIABLE, WAS TRADED IN,
OR DAMAGED BEYOND REPAIR DURING HURRICANE IAN,
AND THE REMOVAL OF THE PROPERTY FROM THE
COUNTY’S CAPITAL ASSET RECORDS
Item #16E3
EXPENDITURES UNDER A SOLE-SOURCE WAIVER FOR A
PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED
$100,000 PER FISCAL YEAR, TO OBTAIN ORIGINAL
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Page 140
EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER (“OEM”) PARTS AND
SERVICES FROM MENZI USA SALES, INC., NECESSARY TO
MAINTAIN COUNTY-OWNED MENZI MUCK WALKING
EXCAVATORS
Item #16F1
THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN A MUTUAL RELEASE PROVIDING
FOR FINAL PAYMENT TO SPORTS FIELDS, INC., IN THE
AMOUNT OF $28,465.12 FOR ACTUAL SUBSTANTIATED
SERVICES IT RENDERED UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 18-7404
CONCERNING COLLIER COUNTY SPORTS COMPLEX
MARKETING AND SUPPORT FOR THE PARADISE COAST
SPORTS COMPLEX.
Item #16F2- Moved to Item #11E (Per Agenda Change Sheet)
Item #16F3
CHANGE ORDER NO. 8 PROVIDING FOR A 99-DAY TIME
EXTENSION WITH ZERO FINANCIAL IMPACT UNDER
AGREEMENT NO. 16-6622 WITH Q GRADY MINOR AND
ASSOCIATES, P.A., FOR THE ENGINEERING AND DESIGN
SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF BIG
CORKSCREW ISLAND REGIONAL PARK DUE TO DELAYS
EXPERIENCED BY THE GENERAL CONTRACTOR’S
MATERIAL AVAILABILITY AND MANPOWER SHORTAGES
AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE
ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER (PROJECT NO. 80039)
Item #16F4
May 9, 2023
Page 141
CHANGE ORDER NO. 4 IN THE AMOUNT OF $48,317.76,
UNDER CONSTRUCTION AGREEMENT NO. 21-7899 WITH
HASKINS, INC., FOR THE HAMILTON AVENUE
IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT THAT MEMORIALIZES
ADDITIONAL REPAIR WORK INITIATED DURING THE
HURRICANE IAN STATE OF EMERGENCY, WHICH THE
BOARD PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED PAYMENT FOR AT ITS
MARCH 28, 2023, MEETING (PROJECT NO. 50171.1.3)
Item #16F5
A FIRST AMENDMENT FOR SALE AND PURCHASE
AGREEMENT WITH: (1) HENRIETTA ARNAY, (2) CHARLES E.
BAILEY, (3) LOIS BEHNKE, (4) D & J INVESTORS, (5) DAVID
JOYCE FOR PROPERTIES ON THE CYCLE 10 APPROVED
ACQUISITION LIST FOR THE CONSERVATION COLLIER
LAND ACQUISITION PROGRAM
Item #16F6
RESOLUTION 2023-88: A RESOLUTION APPROVING
AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING GRANTS, DONATIONS,
CONTRIBUTIONS, OR INSURANCE PROCEEDS) TO THE
FISCAL YEAR 2022-23 ADOPTED BUDGET. (THE BUDGET
AMENDMENTS IN THE ATTACHED RESOLUTION HAVE
BEEN REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VIA SEPARATE EXECUTIVE
SUMMARIES)
Item #16I1
May 9, 2023
Page 142
MAY 9, 2023, MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE
MAY 9, 2023
1. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS TO FILE FOR RECORD WITH ACTION AS
DIRECTED:
A. DISTRICTS:
1) Quarry Community Development District:
04/18/2023 Agency Letter; 12/12/2022 Advertising Affidavit, Agenda,
12/12/2022 Agency Minutes Signed; 04/19/2023 Agency Letter;
01/09/2023 Agenda, Advertising Affidavit, Agency Resolution 2023-01;
01/09/2023 Agency Minutes Signed
B. OTHER:
1)
May 9, 2023
Page 143
Item #16J1
REPORT TO THE BOARD REGARDING THE INVESTMENT OF
COUNTY FUNDS AS OF THE QUARTER ENDED MARCH 31,
2023
Item #16J2
RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER
PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR
WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS WERE DRAWN
FOR THE PERIODS BETWEEN APRIL 13, 2023, AND APRIL 26,
2023, PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06)
Item #16J3
THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE VALID PUBLIC
PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND PURCHASING
CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF MAY 03, 2023
Item #16J4
FIRST AMENDMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES AGREEMENT NO. 21-7936, “PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES FOR SAP S/4 HANA IMPLEMENTATION” WITH
PHOENIX BUSINESS, INC., D/B/A PHOENIX BUSINESS
CONSULTING FOR TASKS RELATED TO SAP SUCCESS
FACTORS EMPLOYEE CENTRAL AND WORKFORCE TIME
MANAGEMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,768,251.00 (PROJECT
NUMBER 50017)
May 9, 2023
Page 144
Item #16K1
A STIPULATED FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT
OF $125,000 PLUS $15,048 IN STATUTORY ATTORNEY FEES
FOR THE TAKING OF PARCELS 274RDUEAND 274TDRE
REQUIRED FOR THE VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
EXTENSION PROJECT NO. 60168
Item #16K2
THE LITIGATION SETTLEMENT BETWEEN COLLIER
COUNTY AND KENDALL PERRINE LLC AND APPROVE THE
ACCEPTANCE OF $12,000 FROM KENDALL PERRINE LLC IN
EXCHANGE FOR A RELEASE OF LIEN WITH A VALUE OF
$97,309.70, IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTION ENTITLED
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS V. KENDALL
PERRINE LLC OF COLLIER COUNTY, CASE NO.
CES20210012676
Item #17A
ORDINANCE 2023-22: AN ORDINANCE REZONING A
RESIDENTIAL SINGLE-FAMILY-3 (RSF-3) LOT TO
RESIDENTIAL MULTI-FAMILY-6 (RMF-6) IN GOLDEN GATE
CITY TO ALLOW UP TO 2 MULTIFAMILY DWELLING UNITS
ON 0.29± ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED AT 5196 23RD CT
SW, NAPLES, FLORIDA, ON LOT 1, BLOCK 198, GOLDEN
GATE UNIT 6, IN SECTION 21, TOWNSHIP 49 SOUTH, RANGE
26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA [PL20210001906]
May 9, 2023
Page 145
Item #17B
RESOLUTION 2023-89: PETITION VAC-PL20220003566, TO
DISCLAIM, RENOUNCE, AND VACATE THE COUNTY AND
THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN THE 10-FOOT PUBLIC UTILITY
EASEMENT LOCATED ALONG THE BORDER BETWEEN
LOTS 1 & 2 AND LOTS 3, 4, & 5, BLOCK 11, OF BONITA
SHORES, UNIT NO. 2, AS RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK 3, PAGE
43, OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF COLLIER COUNTY,
FLORIDA, LOCATED IN THE SOUTHWEST QUADRANT OF
6TH STREET AND VANDERBILT DRIVE, IN SECTION 5,
TOWNSHIP 48 SOUTH, RANGE 25 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY,
FLORIDA
May 9, 2023
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 2: 14 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL
(7-24 ..._,,
RICK LoCASTRO, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST
CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK
Ort li-1 '
oc''Attest as to Chairman's
..: signature only
These minutes approved by the Board on (p -13- 2,3 , as
presented ✓ or as corrected .
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS
COURT REPORTING BY TERRI L. LEWIS, REGISTERED
PROFESSIONAL COURT REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY
PUBLIC.
Page 146