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Agenda 08/22/2023 Item # 2B (Regular BCC Minutes from 7/25/2023)08/22/2023 COLLIER COUNTY Board of County Commissioners Item Number: 2.B Doc ID: 26318 Item Summary: July 25, 2023, Board Meeting Minutes Meeting Date: 08/22/2023 Prepared by: Title: Management Analyst II – County Manager's Office Name: Geoffrey Willig 08/09/2023 11:52 AM Submitted by: Title: Assistant Finance Director – Clerk of the Circuit Court Name: Derek Johnssen 08/09/2023 11:52 AM Approved By: Review: County Manager's Office Geoffrey Willig County Manager Review Completed 08/09/2023 11:52 AM Board of County Commissioners Geoffrey Willig Meeting Pending 08/22/2023 9:00 AM 2.B Packet Pg. 10 July 25, 2023 Page 1 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, July 25, 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 (Absent) 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 Robert Eble, Communications & Customer Relations July 25, 2023 Page 2 CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Good morning, everybody. MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Good morning. The first order of business is going to be we're going to volunteer Commissioner Saunders for everything. Do I have a second? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll second that. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I've got a motion and second. All in favor? COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. He is now the primary for every committee that exists in Collier County, okay? It's official. County Attorney, any problems with that? MR. KLATZKOW: No. That's a valid vote. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. County Manager? MS. PATTERSON: No. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: You know what? You've got to be here, right? You know, you've got to be present to win. That's how it works. No, we -- Commissioner Saunders is obviously excused. Before we start the meeting, one thing I'll just remind everyone -- because I missed a meeting due to a family emergency. We've all reviewed the agenda, but I'll just remind all commissioners, if there's anything that comes to discussion today that changes or shifts and you feel having Commissioner Saunders here or his testimony or his vote is something that you feel would be required or anything at all, anybody can say anything at any time. And we all know that. But just as a reminder for everyone, we're not flying one July 25, 2023 Page 3 commissioner short or whatnot. It happens at times. I think at any time we're all going to be absent. But at any time anybody can say anything, and we can always have something continued, you know, to the next agenda which is, you know, part of our process. But I think, much like the order of the business for the summer, where we're going to just -- we've got a lot of bills to pay and keep things moving. We're going to do that. So without further ado, we'll start with the invocation and have a good friend of mine whose church I've attended many times, and then we're going to recognize another one of our superstars here, unsung heroes, Aimee Trochessett, who works right here in our front office. She's going to lead us in the Pledge. Item #1A INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE BY REVEREND GLEB MCFATTER, ST. DEMETRIUS ORTHODOX CHURCH - INVOCATION GIVEN COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, nice. Outstanding. REVEREND McFATTER: Heavenly Father, we come to you today asking for your guidance, wisdom, and support as we begin this meeting. Help us to engage in meaningful discussion. Allow us to grow closer as a group and nurture the bonds of community. Fill with us your grace, Lord God, as we make decisions that might affect the residents and visitors in this county and continue to remind us that all we do here today, all that we accomplish is for the pursuit of truth for the greater glory of you and for the service of humanity. We ask these things in your name. Amen. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Amen. July 25, 2023 Page 4 Aimee. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Excellent. Thank you, both. Okay. County Manager, let's roll. Item #2A APPROVAL 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 MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL - APPROVED AND/OR ADOPTED W/CHANGES – (COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS ABSENT) MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, first, the change sheet. First, we have a change to our change sheet. Today is actually July 25th, 2023, not July 11th. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. MS. PATTERSON: I know. Well, that's okay. I didn't even -- I wondered. I was still stuck on a July 11th. First item is to continue Item 16D4 to the August 8th, 2023, BCC meeting. This is a recommendation to approve and authorize the Chairman to sign the first amendment to the subrecipient agreement between Collier County and Housing Development Corporation of Southwest Florida, Inc., doing business as HELP to amend the quarterly performance outcomes. This item is being moved at Commissioner McDaniel's request. I have a clarification for Item 10A. This item is being brought to the agenda due to new information provided by the City of Marco July 25, 2023 Page 5 Island related to the purchase of the subject property. We have one time-certain item, that is 11A, to be heard at 9:30 a.m. It's a mediated settlement agreement with Manhattan Construction (Florida), Inc., pertaining to the construction of the Paradise Coast Sports Complex. And just a reminder, court reporter breaks are set for 10:30 and 2:50. With that, County Attorney. MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing, thank you. MS. PATTERSON: We also will be having Tom shadowing Troy today, just so -- if you see him sitting over there. That's just -- just FYI. Commissioners, to you for any changes to the agenda or any ex parte on summary or consent. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Commissioner Kowal, do you have any ex parte on summary or consent agenda? COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I have no changes and no ex parte on either. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Commissioner Hall, changes, ex parte? COMMISSIONER HALL: No changes, no ex parte. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Commissioner McDaniel? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Same. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. And I have the same, no changes, no ex parte. MS. PATTERSON: Very good. So that moves us to 2A. It's approval of today's regular, consent, and summary agenda as amended. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll make a motion. COMMISSIONER HALL: Second. July 25, 2023 Page 6 COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Second. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I've got a motion from Commissioner McDaniel. I've got a second from Commissioner Hall. All in favor? COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes unanimously. Item #2B 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 MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER KOWAL – APPROVED – 4/0 (COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS ABSENT) MS. PATTERSON: Item 2B is approval of the minutes from June 27th, 2023. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Make a motion for approval. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Second. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I've got a motion from Commissioner McDaniel and a second from Commissioner Kowal. All in favor? COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. July 25, 2023 Page 7 CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes unanimously. MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to our awards and recognitions. Item #3A1 AWARD AND RECOGNITION - 20 YEAR ATTENDEES - PATRICIA MACNICOL, UTILITIES FINANCE OPERATIONS - PRESENTED Item 3A1a, 20 years, is Patricia MacNicol, Utilities Finance Operations. Congratulations. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Hey. She's like, already? Already? Yes, yes. This is the moment. (Applause.) MS. PATTERSON: Congratulations. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Do you want to say anything? (Applause.) MS. MacNICOL: No. Just enjoyed my years. Item#3A2 AWARD AND RECOGNITION - 25 YEAR ATTENDEES - ROBERT VON HOLLE, WASTEWATER – PRESENTED July 25, 2023 Page 8 MS. PATTERSON: Item 3A2a, 25 years, Robert VonHolle, Wastewater. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Hey. COMMISSIONER HALL: Here he comes. (Applause.) MS. PATTERSON: Congratulations. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thanks for your service. Item #3A4 AWARD AND RECOGNITION - 35 YEAR ATTENDEES - TANIA DELGADO, TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING – AWARD WILL BE RECEIVED LATER MS. PATTERSON: Our 35-year attendee will not be here today. She'll receive her award at the breakfast. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. I can sit down. Item #5A PRESENTATION TO HEAR FROM ROBERT LUCIUS, PH.D., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CREW LAND & WATER TRUST. (SPONSORED BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL) - PRESENTED & DISCUSSED MS. PATTERSON: Well, Commissioners, that brings us to Item 5, presentations. We got here really quickly. Item 5A is a recommendation to hear a presentation from Robert Lucius, Ph.D., executive director of the CREW Land & Water Trust. This item is brought to the agenda by Commissioner McDaniel. July 25, 2023 Page 9 CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Hello, sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And thank you, Robert. I really appreciate you being here today. There's a lot of things that go on in Collier County but not everybody knows about them. And one of the best kept secrets is the CREW, Corkscrew Regional Eco Watershed. I served on that board of trustees and the executive board now for what, two or three years, since Commissioner Fiala went on her way. And I asked Bob to come and give a presentation today to -- just to edify the community about the wonders of the wilderness that we have in Eastern Collier County. MR. LUCIUS: I appreciate that. Thank you, Commissioner McDaniel. I love this opportunity because, as you know, I am constantly complaining that folks don't know who CREW is, CREW Land & Water Trust, and often get us confused with some of the other conservation-like organizations in our community. So this is a great opportunity. And I hope -- just a brief introduction -- and I get an opportunity to get the commissioners out there in the trails at some future date. Maybe when it's a little bitter cooler. So, again, I'm with the CREW Land & Water Trust. And for those of you that don't know what the CREW Land & Water Trust is, it's important to maybe step back and take a big-picture look at this big, green swath that we see straddling both Lee and Collier Counties. About 35 years ago, when the idea first started to germinate about preserving this land, it was a much smaller area that was envisioned. In fact, it was 25,000 acres. Currently, it sits at 70,249 thousand [sic] acres. About 60,000 of those acres are under some July 25, 2023 Page 10 form of conservation regime. Might be state-owned, might be county-owned, might be private conservation easements. The important thing to take away from this is that when you look at that green space, you often -- you know, you might think, well, this is a great place to go hiking or biking, or maybe some folks look at it and think, wow, this would be a great place to develop. What most folks don't look at this -- when they're looking at Google Earth or Google Maps, what they don't necessarily think is, wow, those are some great ecosystem services. And, in fact, one of the reasons that -- in fact, the principal reasons why this area has been set aside for so many years and continues to be added to through work of Conservation Collier and Lee County's Conservation 20/20 and other partner organizations is that this area provides a lot of services that are essential not only to our quality of life here in Southwest Florida, but to our economic vitality in this region. Whether it's biodiversity conservation -- and there are dozens and dozens of endangered and threatened species that make their homes here, whether it's microclimate regulation, which is, of course, extremely important right now as it gets hotter in our area, whether it's water storage or water-quality regulation or aquifer recharge, all these things are vital to our neighbors, to our communities, to our businesses, and our efforts over the last 30-plus years to conserve and preserve this area have been focused on ensuring that we have this watershed that will be preserved for future generations to ensure that we have a sustainable ecosystem services for future generations. So about -- as I said, back in 1989, a little over three decades ago, a group of stakeholders got together and, of course, some of those stakeholders were your predecessors here on the County Commission, the County Commission up in Lee County as well, state stakeholders, local stakeholders, even some federal stakeholders got July 25, 2023 Page 11 together and decided that something had to be done in light of some of the issues around droughts and flooding that were occurring in some of our coastal communities to preserve this land. Initially, the mission of CREW Land & Water Trust was for land acquisition. It was to bring land within this CREW watershed, what is now 70,000 acres, into some sort of conservation regime and then to establish appropriate land management plans in order to protect that land for future generations. Over the course of the last three decades, that mission has expanded somewhat to include public use, and now we have a very large public-use mission as well as a watershed education mission, which I'll talk about subsequently. We are very, very closely partnered with the South Florida Water Management District as well as the Florida Fish and Wildlife commission. Those are our two principal partners, and we actually work out of the CREW field station off Corkscrew Road up north, and we work very closely to ensure that the land management plans for -- not just the CREW management area, which is the state-owned land, but for the CREW project at large are executed appropriately. And we also work with our Fish and Wildlife commission colleagues to ensure that research and initiatives are carried out as well as their appropriate public-use opportunities, particularly around hunting and fishing. But we also have partners here in Collier County as well. And so I do want to draw attention to our land acquisition partnership. We work very closely and have for many years with Collier County's Conservation Collier program. Back in 2007, we contributed 300,000 towards Conservation Collier's acquisition of the 367-acre Starnes property, which subsequently became Caracara Prairie Preserve. In fact, the only way to access Caracara Prairie Preserve is July 25, 2023 Page 12 through one of our trail systems, CREW Cypress Dome Trails. We have continued over the years to contribute small-dollar commitments to the acquisition of additional properties for Conservation Collier properties, such as the Pepper Ranch Preserve, and we have some additional commitments in the pipeline right now pending approval of -- in acquisition Cycle 11A and 11B. So over the years, we have -- largely because of the generosity of our members who have contributed funds to continue to bring land into acquisition, we continue to work with our partners both in Lee and Collier County to ensure that -- now we're about 60,000 of those 70,000 acres, but we're continuing to bring small bits and pieces, little parcels into acquisition to ensure that they're protected for the use of future generations. It's a very, very small organization. Commissioner McDaniel has sat on our board of trustees for several years. We have about 30 members that crosscut across a number of different stakeholder organizations. Again, local, state, non-profit. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is on our board; Conservancy of Southwest Florida is on our Board. We have educators. We have developers. We have land acquisition planners. We have all sorts of people that come together in order to develop plans and appropriate vision that brings all the stakeholders together because, again, this is a big piece of land that we all depend upon in many, many different ways. It's a small staff. I have three full-time staff, including myself as the executive director. I have an education coordinator and a volunteer coordinator and then two part-time staff as well. We bring in two to three environmental education interns every year, typically from FGCU or FSW. We have 60-plus volunteers contributing about 4,600 volunteer hours every year. We're hoping to bust that this year. July 25, 2023 Page 13 And then we have a fairly large membership base as well; currently about 375, though, I expect that to hit 400 by the end of this year. As I said, we have a lot of volunteers, and they do a lot of different work for us. Because we have such a small staff, we are very dependent upon our volunteers and have been for many, many years. They do all sorts of things from trail maintenance to education programs to outreach programs, going out and being ambassadors in our community. So if anybody's interested in volunteering, we would certainly love to have you. There is a role for you. One of the key things that we do in our partnership with the South Florida Water Management District is provide that trail upkeep and maintenance. We've got about 40-plus miles of trails that need to be maintained every year across four different trail systems. We upkeep our kiosk with all of our information and trail maps. We monitor and maintain the primitive campsites that are free for use for our residents. We conduct the minor infrastructure repair. There's lot of different things that need to get done behind the scenes every day to ensure that these trails are safe and available 365 days a year from sunup to sundown. Completely free for all of our Collier County and Lee County residents. And, again, it's a big project. It's a lot to take on. It's 40-plus miles of trails. Our first trail system opened in 1994 at CREW Marsh Trails off of Corkscrew Road up in -- up in the northeastern part of the county. We've added CREW Cypress Dome Trails in 2009; Bird Rookery Swamp in 2011; Flint Pen Strand was our most current trail system. It opened in 2018, and we are continuing to add additional trails, marked and unmarked, at our trail system as well. Now, that's 13 different trail systems, 35 miles of biking trails, July 25, 2023 Page 14 nine miles of equestrian trails. We've got picnic pavilions at three of those trail systems and observation decks, elevated boardwalks, primitive campsites. There's a lot to enjoy for folks who want to get out there and get outside, but maybe they don't want to necessarily have to pay for that, right? They just want to show up, park their car, go out and have a great time outside with their feet on the earth, and CREW trail systems provides all those for lots and lots of people every year. In fact, we get about 60,000 visitors every year to our trail system. Bird Rookery Swamp, which is right down here off Immokalee Road, off Shady Hollow road, gets about two-thirds of our visitation every year. So we offer 80-plus scheduled guided hikes for visitors every year, and these include wet walks. We just launched our schedule of wet walks. So if you're interested doing a wet walk, we'd love to take you out on one of those experiences where you get your -- you get feet -- well, your knees, maybe your hips, a little wet out there, crawl around out in the swamps looking for flora and fauna. We also have self-guided trail tours available for anybody who wants to go out there and take it on their own. We have, by request, guided hikes. So this is one of the things that I think maybe differentiates us from a lot of different organizations. If your group, your community association, your club, your business, you want to come out and you want to do a team hike, just give us a call. We'll take you out. We won't charge you for that. That's not what we're about. We're about getting you out there and learning about the watershed and everything that it does for our communities and businesses. So if you want to come out, we will take you out and take you on a hike at no charge. And, again, we have two primitive campsites. We're adding, July 25, 2023 Page 15 hopefully, a third this upcoming fiscal year at CREW Flint Pen Strand, and we do have scheduled hiking -- hunting opportunities and fishing year-round at the four trail systems. One of the big things that we do -- of course, it would be -- if you looked at our programs, it would be very easy to think that we are an organization that focuses largely on biodiversity conservation, and we do focus on that. It is important to talk about plants and animals and particularly the endangered and threatened varieties that we have, but what we really focus on is water because water is key to life. And it's not just, of course, the drinking water that we have. It's water-quality regulation. It's the water that ends up into our estuaries and bays. It is flood regulation, right? It is preventing too much water from entering our communities, particularly after large rain events like Hurricane Ian. And so our programs always come back around to water and the importance of water in our community and what the watershed does for our community. So our environmental education programs always focus on water, and our keystone programs are our walk through a watershed program and our soil rocks programs, which we offer free of charge to the Collier County public school district. So every year we got about 600 students that come through for walk through a watershed where the third graders learn about what a watershed is and what it does and how to protect it and the services it provides to our communities. And then the second graders come through in the spring. And, again, about almost -- almost 500 students will come through, and they'll learn about the various soil compositions and, again, how that impacts the flow of water, both surface and groundwater. And then we have lots of other K through 12 programs that come in and sort of fill in the gaps around them, and those might be July 25, 2023 Page 16 homeschool programs, they might be charter schools, they might be private schools, or they just might be associations of students that want to come out and do some specialized project. And, again, we offer all these programs at no charge. If any homeschool program, any charter school, any public school, any private school want to come out and spend some time out at CREW, we will welcome out there, put together a program for them, and it won't cost them a thing. We also have university education programs. We have 54 university programs in fiscal year '22, 847 students. We've already had 36 classes this year, 780 -- about 780 students to date this year through June. We expect, of course, to have several more in the next few months. We have service learning/community service opportunities for students. As I said, we offer education internships since 1999. We're offering a communications internship this year, and, of course, for students, membership is always free to CREW. But wait, there's more, right? Because it's not just about the kids. We've got to get the adults out there. We want to get folks like you out there to enjoy everything that's available in CREW. So we offer a number of different types of programs. We offer specialty topic treks. So, for example, in the last year or so, and in the upcoming year, we've offered programs like CREW wetland ecology, carnivorous botany, we have seasonal birding programs, we've had programs that have gone through in the wake of wildfires to explore how the land regenerates itself after fire. We have these high-level Strolling Science Seminars that include things like wetlands and water quality, nature's theater, soil ecology, biodiversity monitoring, and then we have special events that are a little bit more fun, a little bit more lighthearted. We have full moon hikes. We have sunrise and sunset hikes where you get to go out there and see July 25, 2023 Page 17 that land in a little bit different way than you might otherwise get to see it. And we recently have had some stargazing over the Corkscrew Marsh opportunities where you get to go out at night and battle the bugs, but you get to see an amazing sky over that 5,000-acre marsh at Corkscrew Swamp. And then, finally, we have in-town lectures, which is something we've launched this summer. We've had two so far. We're having a third coming up in the next couple weeks where folks who may not want to go out and -- you know, it's a little hot out there, a little buggy, but maybe they want to sit in a different sort of environment and learn a little bit about CREW. There's opportunities for these in-town lectures that we've offered, and they've proven to be very, very popular, but they're also a very, very low cost. We want to make these programs as affordable as possible to everyone. And we've launched some new initiatives this year that we're really proud about. The Strolling Science Seminar has been around since 2013. It's always been geared toward adults and, quite frankly, it's always been geared toward older adults, retirees and seasonal visitors. We wanted to do something a little bit different and make those programs more geared toward younger kids, 8 through 13, and so we launched the Strolling Science Seminars for Kids program this year. These programs are $5. They're $5 to get a three-hour program with a subject-matter expert that's going to come out and talk to your kids, hands-on science experiments about hydrology, entomology, herpetology, mycology, all these wonderful things. Learning about birding, which is a great skill set to improve your cognitive functioning and your ability to focus, which a lot of kids need these days. We've also, in the past, had this program called Nature's Peace July 25, 2023 Page 18 where we bring out early Alzheimer's patients and sight-challenged patients to come out and spend time at that 1,400-foot boardwalk at Bird Rookery Swamp where they get to experience nature, and we found that to be very beneficial, and this has been an award-winning program in the past. I am hoping to be able to expand this program this year to the Wounded Warrior Foundation here in Collier County and open that up to at-risk and other local volunteer -- veterans populations as well. And then we are building toward, next summer, to launch a youth watershed academy, which will be a top-tier summer academy to teach kids about all the things that the watershed does. Opening up vistas for them, potential job opportunities, ambitions to get into STEM around hydrology, hydrogeology, all those sorts of things that we need expertise in if we're going to maintain our water capabilities here in Southwest Florida. So that brings me to my final slide. And I've rushed through this, and I apologize for that, but I just want to give you a broad overview because I want you to come out and spend some time out at CREW, and I hope I can lure you out here in the near future. But I do want to point out that our most popular trail system is the CREW Bird Rookery Swamp trail system, which is off Shady Hollow road off Immokalee. As I said, it gets about two-thirds of our visitor traffic every year. And, again, we get about 60- to 65,000 people a year every year at our CREW trail systems. Bird Rookery Swamp gets about 66 percent of that traffic. It opened in 2011. It's got 12 miles of a hiking loop on an old tram system. It's got a 1,400-foot boardwalk. It's a wonderful place, but it is -- it is inadequate right now for the demand for that -- for that amenity. We have a parking lot that's got 25-car capacity. We routinely July 25, 2023 Page 19 get upwards of 60, perhaps 70 cars on a weekend during season. There is no shade there. All of our other trail systems have a shade picnic pavilion. There is none there. And there are no restroom facilities there other than port-o-johns. And so I'd like to challenge the Commission to think about -- because, again, this land where the parking lot sits -- and, in fact, that entire shell path that leads up to the north there, that is on county land. The trail system itself is South Florida Water Management District land, but the parking lot and that shell path are county land, and we could use your help to expand that parking lot, add that picnic pavilion, provide some shade for those visitors, and maybe upgrade our restroom facility as well, because I think this is one of the best-kept secrets -- except it's not really a secret if you look at the visitor numbers -- in Collier County, and it certainly is a tourist draw and deserves the love and respect of all of us. So if you don't have any questions, I look forward to seeing you out on the trails. Thank you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I do have a question. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: First of all, I want to thank you for coming here. I mean, I have to believe that there are a lot of people that don't even know that CREW exists, and for us, as commissioners and leaders in the community, it's important that we carry the message. And 40 miles of trails to go stomp the swamps is imperative. It's different from the sanctuary where you're up on a boardwalk and there's a plaque and all those sort of things. This is -- this is a shell path or dirt, as the case may be -- shell paths and such, and it's a wonderful experience. So if you haven't yet, please come visit the CREW; join the CREW. It's an amazing adventure for you and your family to -- for July 25, 2023 Page 20 folks to actually experience in a semi-civilized manner, relatively speaking, the wilds of our community. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah, I was going to just make a couple comments, Bob. First, like Commissioner McDaniel's saying, maybe a lot of people don't know about it, but then you also you have some bullets up there that show hundreds do, right? So the word's getting out. Anything we can do at the County -- you know, I mean, I'll just direct this to Ms. Patterson -- to help advertise what you do. You know, we advertise what Rookery Bay does all the time, what the Botanical Garden does all the time, you know, and things like that. So, you know, maybe -- and then we all have newsletters of some sort. We all do town hall meetings. So, you know, this was a good reminder. I've heard of your organization but not in this depth, with this depth. One of the questions I have is trail maintenance, do you guys do that on autopilot and you go where needed, or the Southwest Florida Water Management District, you know, calls you up and goes, hey, here's four trails where we need 50 volunteers. How is that coordinated? MR. LUCIUS: Yeah, generally -- I mean, we work in the same office as the field station so generally we take the lead on the vast majority of trail stewardship. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. MR. LUCIUS: So if there are certain things that rise to the level of it's well beyond our capabilities -- so, for example, major mowing contracts -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Right. MR. LUCIUS: -- or herbicide applications, then the District takes care of that. But other than that, it falls upon us to conduct the July 25, 2023 Page 21 appropriate level of trail surveys to identify the needs and then -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So you know where the needs are because -- MR. LUCIUS: We know where the needs are. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: -- you have daily oversight. Nice job on the last slide for slipping in the need for, you know -- hey, you know, that's how to do it, you know. Lead us down the primrose path and then take a left turn. Lastly, I would just say -- and I'll take a line from Jaws. So pythons are in the water, right? People waist-deep go into the water. Pythons are in the water. Okay. Let me know when the bus -- air-conditioned bus is going to go down the trail so I can kind of -- that what would -- I'd be very -- I think I could get all I need from that tour. I'm just kidding. Really, really great shout-out to your volunteers. You've got some impressive numbers up there, so, you know, it's a whole lot of people maybe doing things that not everybody knows about, but they're obviously doing a lot. So this was very informative. So, Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: Great presentation, and you had me at carnivorous botany. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I don't know that I want to see that. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I have to say this, the group that serves on the trustees, as was mentioned, is a -- it's a widespread organization with many, many interests that are involved in the maintenance and upkeep for this watershed for our community, and it's imperative, as Bob mentioned, for water quality, water quantity, flood control, so ons and so forth. So I highly -- they're all public meetings. I highly recommend, if you haven't, come to the trustee's meeting. They're extremely informative. And certainly July 25, 2023 Page 22 please, please come and visit. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir. MR. LUCIUS: Thank you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you, Bob. Item #11A A MEDIATED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WITH MANHATTAN CONSTRUCTION (FLORIDA), INC., CONCERNING AGREEMENT NO. 17-7108, AS AMENDED, PERTAINING TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PARADISE COAST SPORTS PARK, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED MEDIATED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT - MOTION TO APPROVE BY COMMISSIONER MCDANIEL; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER HALL - APPROVED (COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS ABSENT) MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to our 9:30 time-certain. This is Item 11A. This is a recommendation to approve a mediated settlement agreement with Manhattan Construction (Florida), Inc., concerning Agreement No. 17-7108, as amended, pertaining to the construction of the Paradise Coast Sports Park and to authorize the Chairman to sign the attached mediated settlement agreement. Mr. Ed Finn, your Deputy County Manager, will begin this presentation or take questions. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Mr. Miller, do you have something? COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, I have something for him. July 25, 2023 Page 23 CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Go ahead, sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just -- I got a note that the sound's not -- MR. MILLER: It's been taken care of it. It was back at the beginning of the meeting when I was running around like crazy. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So it wasn't Tom's fault? MR. MILLER: No, no. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: The other thing you'll hear me doing is when we have a motion and a second, I'm going to say who it is, you know, because we have people sort of behind the scenes that are, you know, writing all this stuff down and we move sometimes a little quickly up here, and they're not sure who it was. So that will just be a little clarification, you know, that I'll make sure I do from now on. But having said that, Mr. Finn, it's all yours. MR. FINN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Patterson, good morning. Good morning, Chairman and Commissioners. Staff is seeking Board approval today of a mediated settlement agreement with Manhattan Construction concerning Agreement No. 17-7108 pertaining to the construction of the Paradise Coast Sports Complex. Simply said, staff recommends approval of the attached mediated settlement -- and I just have a small add-on from the floor -- and the approval of any administrative or budget actions that may be necessary to carry out the will of the Board. With that, I'll take any questions or otherwise respond. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I think we all got a very, you know, extensive deep dive yesterday and over the, you know, past week. So this isn't something that's lost on us. I mean, I'll just make a comment, which is similar to what I made in my office July 25, 2023 Page 24 yesterday. I understand the need to sort of sometimes -- you know, large construction projects start off great, and they don't go well, and then you've got to cut your losses and make a settlement so we can move forward. I often get beat up at times when I look back at ancient history in Collier County and say, would have, could have, should have, and sometimes people just say, just look ahead. The responsibility's on you. It doesn't matter what the people before you did. And I couldn't disagree more because I think you always have to look at history and make sure you don't repeat poor history so that you can do things better in the future and learn from mistakes or, you know, things that maybe came up and bit us. You know, this is an example of probably not, you know, the best contract we've ever had or the best negotiation, the best result. But in the end these things, you know, they do happen. It's sort of the cost of doing business, but it's unfortunate. But I know from the deep dive that I had, and we all had, with the County Attorney, County Manager -- I mean, I don't have any specific questions myself. I would just say I hope this is an anomaly and, you know, we don't have too many more of these sort of, quote, settlements coming up before us for any of these big projects because, in the end, this is taxpayer dollars that could have gone elsewhere. But I'm -- it's satisfactory in my mind. I think the term I used in my office yesterday is, after getting a deep dive from you, Mr. Finn, I hate this a lot less, but I don't love it. But I realize it's a necessary evil when we have something like this happen. And, you know, to preserve tax dollars, it's -- this is a strong recommendation from the whole staff rather than dragging out a big legal, you know, fight that in the end would probably cost us way more money and time. July 25, 2023 Page 25 So I don't know -- I've got all the commissioners lit up that are going to make comments but, you know, those are mine. Commissioner McDaniel and then Commissioner Kowal. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I just would like to say as well, I agree with you. What it does to me is it screams the systematic adjustments that we need to be focused on going forward so that there's better management, better oversight. You adeptly said this is taxpayer money. This park was built -- this facility was built for our community. I was one of the commissioners very much in favor of swapping away from the Atlanta Braves ball stadium, specifically, and building a facility for the youth and for the residents of Collier County. It ballooned into something significantly larger than what was actually perceived from an expense standpoint. And you can throw all kinds of darts at why, when, where, and how; nonetheless to coin your phrase, Mr. Chair, I don't hate it as much as what I used to. So I would like to -- I would like to make a motion to go ahead and approve this settlement. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I've still got a couple commissioners that want to -- Commissioner Kowal, and then we do have some public comment and then we'll take action on the motion. Commissioner Kowal. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I was going to make a motion myself just to -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sorry about that. I didn't mean to jump. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: You beat me to it. COMMISSIONER HALL: Second it. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. We have public comment, Mr. Miller. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, we have one registered speaker, July 25, 2023 Page 26 Daniel Zegarac. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Go ahead, sir. MR. ZEGARAC: Good morning. My name's Daniel Zegarac. I live in Collier County. Three of you did not vote for the sports complex; only one of you did, and the absent commissioner voted for it also, I believe. I sit here and I want to think that you're learning from these bad contracts and, you know, lack of supervision and people following through on what they say they're going to do. Rarely does a project of this type make any money. It loses money around the country, okay. I don't know if you've talked to Great Wolf. They might want to buy you up. I really don't know. The other three of you knew about the sports complex when you ran for the office. You knew you were marrying it, okay. So, you know, instead of approving whoopses every six months or, you know, listening to people that blame contractors, you know, with hurricanes, I think you need a plan. I think you need -- you know, at a real business senior management meeting of expenses, people come up with a plan, and I'll look forward to seeing that in the future instead of, well, there were 300 people there at the Friday-night event. It was great, you know. I don't know if your Economic Development people are giving you any advice or if you even talk to each other about it. I've been to -- I've been to economic meetings within the county that you guys don't go to, you know. I just -- I don't get it. I really, really, really don't get it. So I just want to look forward to you guys doing a better job and the staff doing a better job as well so -- or we can sit here and just wait till we run out of money, and woe is us, with stormwater and otherwise, and the otherwise. And the gulf can get dirtier. July 25, 2023 Page 27 So that's all I have. Thank you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Appreciate it. You know, the one thing I'll add to that is -- I don't disagree with anything you said. We also need to learn from contractors who don't do a great job. You know, one of the things that has disappointed me at times is we sit in here and settle with a contractor, and then it comes to my attention that, you know, a year later the contractor just wanted to bid for something else. You know, people always sort of joke that I'm always talking about my prior military time. Well, that's 99 percent of my life. So if I was a doctor, I'd be talking about, you know, my time as a physician. But, you know, in the military when somebody lays a sidewalk and three weeks later it cracks, you know, for the next five miles, that contract -- that sidewalk contractor never gets another bid from the Department of Defense. I mean, they're put on a blacklist instantly, if it's done right. You know, we have some contractors here, some that have a lot of seniority here in the community, have made a lot money off the County but, to me, you know, if they drop the ball or -- you know, there's enough blame to go around, you know. I just hope that we do a good job making sure that we make these contracts competitive. And there's plenty of people out there that want the business that maybe we wouldn't end up in court with. So I'm not saying that's the case here, but, you know, there's a lot of blame to go around on this one. And, you know, you're right, but whether we voted for it or not, you know, I can't unbuild it, so I want it to be totally successful, and I want to move forward. But I agree with you wholeheartedly, I want to make sure we learn from these, you know, anomalies. But as you said, sometimes it seems like every six months we're amending a contract, or a July 25, 2023 Page 28 contractor's taken us to court. And I know that at times that is part of doing business. I mean, there's very successful companies that settle and have this happen. I mean, I'm sure Microsoft, Arthrex, and NCH ends up in court at times. So we're not alone here. But on the flip side, we need to be doing it better, faster, and cheaper than others because we're using taxpayer dollars. And I don't think anybody up here disagrees with that. Commissioner McDaniel, sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. And, you know, when I made the motion for approval, I talked about the systemic adjustments that are requisite. And I hope that as we go forward that we do utilize these as learning experiences, as painful, necessarily, as it is. On a 10,000-foot view, the settlement, it's all part of the agenda, but, you know, our staff can recognize 10 and a half million of legitimate expenses, and the difference between this settlement and that is about a million, and that's significantly less than the litigation expense. I also -- there was a time -- and this is for the County Manager as much as anything. I mean, I welcome you, Dan, to come to the TDC meetings, the Tourist Development Council meetings. We get a rather in-depth report from the management company that oversees that facility with population estimates and revenue estimates. I actually literally, at the last meeting, found our senior staff midstream -- and Ed and I have had multiple conversations. One of my degrees in school was accounting, and I hate midstream adjustments to the budget. And our senior staff adjusted, in midstream, their projections for the revenue and population and so on and so forth, and I asked that they stop doing that. It's difficult to measure -- their rationale for that adjustment was we didn't want to seem braggart. We're doing so well. Let's talk July 25, 2023 Page 29 about how well we're actually doing and whether it's real or not, as the case may be. So to not belabor the point any longer, it's -- this entire adventure screams with regard to the systematic adjustments that are requisite. We've had multiple circumstances come forward, and I think we will. I think -- I truly believe that this board will, in fact, grab onto the requisite of the oversight that is necessary to ensure that we are expending the taxpayers' money in an efficient manner. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: Dan, thanks for your comments. I think everyone up here will concur that we want to do it better. And we did inherit this. It's not something -- but, you know, we can move on from it. And I think you'll see discussions coming in the near future that -- how we can improve our processes in the County the way we do business. And with that, I'll second the motion. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: We used to have a saying in the Department of Defense, on time and on budget or better. And if you didn't meet that criteria -- and there were no anomalies -- a lot of people got fired. So I realize that this is a little different, but it's still government. It's still taxpayer dollars, so I think that needs to continue to be, you know, our benchmark. And when we -- when we exceed that in a negative way, there's got to be consequences. And, you know, I think we're all -- we're all pledged up here to not just rubber stamp amendments to contracts and then move on. So having said that, I got a -- I have a motion from Commissioner McDaniel; I have a second from Commissioner Hall. All in favor? COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye. July 25, 2023 Page 30 CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Aye. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: It passes unanimously. MR. FINN: Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: We go to -- is public comment next? Item #7 PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. Item 7, public comments on general topics not on the current or future agenda. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: What do we have, Mr. Miller? MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, we have six registered speakers for this item. Your first speaker is Robert Thurston. He will be followed by Jackie Keay. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. MR. THURSTON: Okay. Hello. My name is Robert Thurston. I have a brief quote from writer Upton Sinclair who once said, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." Hello. My name is Robert Thurston. My topic today is about something called the targeted individual program. You can Google it or look it up if you have questions. Again, it's targeted individual or the targeted individual program. A little background on me, I was born in the United States, and July 25, 2023 Page 31 I'm a college English professor by trade, having taught in 11 different countries around the world. I've lived in Naples, Florida, since 1971 and in my current home here since 1989. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'm going to speak very generally about our topic today and provide this link. I had actually brought a sign that would have made it easier to see, but I was not allowed to bring it in. The link is thorsnorsehammer@gmail.com. I apologize for the unprofessional sounding name of the link. It's the only one that I have, and it is what it is, but it's a very important link that contains several documents that details the civil rights violations that I have been going through here in Naples for the past 13 years. Here's some directions on how to access those files. Put this email address in your browser, your search engine, and click enter. This will open up the page. On that page, there will be two names. Click on those links and read about my ordeal, totaling about 120 pages. Read about my civil rights, how they were violated here in Naples if you care to; I hope you will. I've already sent these documents to many reporters, law enforcement types, politicians, and attorneys. This link today is for the people of Naples watching today on TV. This is a cautionary tale. What happened to me can happen to you. Recently, in 2023, the federal courts in Houston, Texas, heard Case 4:23-cv-01013 versus Merrick Garland, et al. You can look this case up on a federal government website called Pacer, P-a-c-e-r, Pacer, that gives the relevant details about federally filed court cases. This particular case brought something called the targeted individual program to national attention and gave a voice to the thousands of people who have been complaining about what basically amounts to U.S. government-sponsored torture. The 2023 federal July 25, 2023 Page 32 targeted individual court case in Houston gave hope to thousands of people across the USA that our government might finally step in and do the right thing, that being stopping conducting the program and enacting legislation that addresses stopping the targeted individual program. But I feel I'm here today as a whistleblower against government corruption. I want to inform the Naples community about a dangerous U.S. led governmental program that secretly targets often law-abiding American citizens. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Just sum up, sir. Go ahead. MR. THURSTON: Okay. I actually had quite a bit more. But just to sum up -- I keep coming back to these last closing points: Is this really happening? Is the targeted individual program really real? The answer to that is yes. I've seen it for years firsthand. Number two, are American people being harmed physically and mentally, who are not committing crimes, by the targeted individual program? The answer to that is yes. Three, are these real civil rights violations? The answer to that is yes. And, four, does the Naples Community understand what is going on here with the targeted individual program? The answer to that is no. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: If you want to leave any of your comments with Terri, our reporter, she can give us copies or she can put it in the record. I just have a short question for you. Is what you're talking about at the county, state, or federal level? Because, I mean, we only have so much jurisdiction here, and I'm getting the vibe off of you that it's something that's above our level. Is it -- I mean, just give me a short answer. You're already out of time. But I just want July 25, 2023 Page 33 clarification. MR. THURSTON: Well, I've lived in Naples and other countries. I've taught in other countries. I've been here about five of the last 10 years, so this is happening here in Naples, but it's also happened as I've traveled in other places. They follow you. Overseas I have had people that are harassing me from this program. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Thank you. MR. THURSTON: Thank you very much. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, your next speaker is Jackie Keay. She'll be followed by Thereasa Miller. MS. KEAY: Good morning. My name is Jackie Keay. I'm a veteran, veteran advocate, as well as someone who's very passionate about supporting veterans in our community. I have had an opportunity as the director for our veteran outreach team to spend more time with veterans, especially those falling through the cracks and realizing that there are many gaps in services. I'm in contact with a veteran who is having a situation, and I would like to present that here as well as ask for help to deal with this. The Parker House Property Management. It is an apartment complex in Cape Coral, and this veteran has been exposed to black mold poisoning, and I have the photos of the mold from the apartment. When I contacted them to ask for, you know, help in this situation and advocate for the veteran couple, the first thing they said was there was no presence of black mold and this couple was lying. This gentleman, he is a Marine veteran. He was actually hospitalized because of the black mold poisoning, and they were formerly homeless. And because of the black mold poisoning and not being able to get an alternative housing situation, they ended up homeless again. July 25, 2023 Page 34 And right now he is needing surgery. He's in the VA system, but because he has nowhere to live, they cannot perform the surgery, and he's disabled because of that, too, as well. So I would need help with this. I've been told that other people are living in dwellings in this apartment also dealing with black mold poisoning. So if there's a way to either contact this apartment complex, get, you know, the Health Department involved and have them do a proper screening for black mold, that would be appreciated. One of the things I want to say, here is a brochure. I don't know if you can see this well, and I will turn it to the background here, but it shows a bridge. An important part of what I'm doing in the community is building a bridge between the veterans and the community. One of the things we must understand is, instinctively, veterans are not only feeling disconnected, not trusting people in the community, but they need a safe way of connecting to that community, and that's one of the systems that I'm developing as well as community partnership. I have my counterpart with me, Thereasa Miller. She's from Indiana, and she runs the -- our transitional facility, and that's one of the issues that I see that we -- or one of the gaps in services that I see in Collier County. Veterans who are facing crises are often Baker Acted, which causes more trauma, as well as they are put in jail. One of the things that I ask any organization and to you, too, as well, any organization that wants to work with veterans, please, VA offers various trainings, especially when related to -- I'm going to go over my time -- but especially when related to PTSD and mental health crises. One of the things we have to understand is a lot of veterans are dealing with PTSD. They're in fight or flight mode, and we need July 25, 2023 Page 35 proper training so when you encounter them, you know how to address them, how to treat them with kindness and respect. So thank you all very much, and any help from staff or the Commission -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Ms. Keay, I've got a question for you. MS. KEAY: Yes. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So if this couple's in Lee County, when you addressed the Lee County commissioners, what did they have to say? MS. KEAY: Well, I haven't done that yet, but they're in the system here in Collier County because they're trying to get housing in Collier or Lee County, but they're in the system here in Collier County. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Some they've left Cape Coral; they're no longer in Cape Coral? MS. KEAY: They're still in Cape Coral. They're trying to get -- it's a very complicated situation. They're trying to get their money back from the apartment complex which said they would not give them the money back because they broke the lease. They did not break the lease, because non-profit paid for the lease until the end of July, which was the end of their lease period. So now -- I spoke to them yesterday. They are somewhat willing to go pay, but I would have to write a letter requesting that. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So, Mr. Rodriguez, is it possible that our Collier County Veteran Services Office could reach out to whatever the Lee County Veterans Services Office counterpart is? Because, I mean, you know, we don't want to step into another jurisdiction and do their homework for them, but, you know, we've got a great veteran services office here, especially that -- I'll give July 25, 2023 Page 36 kudos to you. You really pumped up in the last year, and very impressive. That was just my only thought sitting here as a veteran and thinking, you know, trying to get the right people involved. And I'm not sure it's one of us jumping into this, but, you know, I -- there's a lot of merit here of a serious problem. Would that be something that we could explore? MR. RODRIGUEZ: Yes, we can, and we do, as you've stated. And thank you for the compliments for the veteran group. We have a very good robust program here, and they look at all veterans equally, so -- and we do have the bandwidth that we can support. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Because I've reached out to that office for veterans that weren't Collier County at all and actually weren't going to be. It was somebody in St. Petersburg, actually, Pinellas County, and the superstars we have in our office here actually reached out to Bay Pines Veterans Hospital this last year and solved the problem in, like, 30 seconds, which was very impressive. So let's see if we can maybe at least, you know, see if there's something that we can do. MR. RODRIGUEZ: We certainly can. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Appreciate it. Thank you. MS. KEAY: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Thereasa Miller. She'll be followed by Kate Tardif. MS. MILLER: Hi. Good morning. I've not had to do this ever before, so bear with me here. I'm Thereasa -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I've never done this either. You know, I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job, you know. July 25, 2023 Page 37 MS. MILLER: Absolutely fantastic. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You're the only one that feels that way. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I do, I know. Don't ruin it for me. Don't ruin it. You take your time. Go ahead, ma'am. MS. MILLER: I gotcha. I think you're doing great. I am from Indiana. I am with The Journey Home. I have been with them for about seven years working with all veterans and homeless and at risk of being homeless where our facility actually assists them in getting them into housing, affordable housing, and then breaking down those barriers and helping them after they get into their own house. We do a lot of outreach. And we came down here to Florida with the same intention of outreaching, making sure that they're connected to the community, gaining partnership, and making sure that they have that purpose. You know, one of the things with our veterans are that the trust isn't there and the resources, they don't tend to go looking for them or they're far-fetched. You know, you've got one over here, then they're over here. There's -- you know. And The Journey Home is here mostly to pull those resources together so they're basically in one place. You know, Jackie does a fantastic job at doing that, and instead of sending this veteran to three or four different places, it's all right here. She can help that with the VSOs, trustee, any others. So I'm here just to let you know that we're here, that we want to help, we want to be a partner in this. We want you to take us as a partner in this and support us. And we have -- in Indiana we have served -- I looked this up this morning because I can never remember numbers very well. We have served over 450 veterans. Out of those 450, 323 are unique. So some of the guys have come back into July 25, 2023 Page 38 the house when they've gotten out of treatment or whatever, and they'll come back to the house. But we have served -- those 350 veterans that have served uniquely have been successful, and it's all because of my team back home and individuals like Jackie here who have that passion to help and continue to build that community bridge. So I'm asking you guys to support Jackie in what she does and The Journey Home because I think it's vital to our veterans. We are very passionate, and we love our veterans very much. So that's it. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you. MS. MILLER: Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Kate Tardif. She'll be followed by Douglas Fee. MS. TARDIF: Let's see. There are two things to which I'll comment beginning with something that I don't think you guys hear an awful lot, especially in these meetings, and I genuinely mean this when I say thank you and I appreciate this board for all the work and dedication and intelligence that you bring to all of the issues that you're considering. It's a tough job, but I've been impressed by your individual and collective professionalism. Thank you. I do believe you're guided by honorable principles and I especially appreciated Chris Hall, Rick LoCastro, and William McDaniel for responding to emails that I sent after the last hearing. It was a pleasure to have a laugh with Mr. Hall and Mr. LoCastro. I do believe you when you, all caps, comment, "Always here for you." I believe that. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I wasn't screaming at you. I do all caps because I'm Italian. That just means passion. It means passion. MS. TARDIF: One of the reasons that I wanted to comment July 25, 2023 Page 39 today has to do with a comment a friend made to me a couple days ago that shocked me because she normally doesn't get this passionate. But she lost her permit to carry for reasons dating back many years, two or three -- between two and three decades, and she uncharacteristically described her enthusiasm for an issue that's coming up soon because she believes she's going to get to carry again even though she cannot get a permit now, and the reason she believes that is because she thinks law enforcement is going to have the right to interpret state and federal laws on the street, and she thinks that that's going to finally give her back something she enjoyed many moons ago. And so I'm very, very concerned about that, and I want to put that before you as a possible consequence should that issue pass. Thank you very much. MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Douglas Fee. He'll be followed by Chris Carpenter. MR. FEE: Good morning, Commissioners. For the record, my name is Doug Fee. I appreciate the time you have given me today to speak. I came here about a month ago, and I had requested or asked for some kind of an agenda item on Veterans Memorial. In front of you on the screen is a map of Collier County appraiser, and in the center of the map is a 60-acre high school that's being built. It's going to open next month. You have half of the road built, Veterans Memorial, over to the high school. And the reason why I came a month ago was to ask for some update on what I called Phase 2. Phase 2 is to go from the high school over to 41. Now, this road is a network road approved many years ago on your network map. But in 2009 the school district announced that they were going to put this high school, July 25, 2023 Page 40 brand-new high school, and now it's 2023. It's opening next month. But as I said a month ago, I've been told that the road -- the other part of the road will not open till 2028. That is nine years. This road is called Veterans Memorial. The government helps out veterans. This is in honor of them. So please try to speed up this road. This is a very important road for a lot of reasons. You have a school there. The students who are bussed will have to go 20 miles round trip one way or 16 miles the other way. You're going to have emergency management, fire stations. They will not be able to use this one-and-a-quarter-mile section. So, basically, I'd like to request some kind of an agenda item so there's an update on it and to let the citizens know what can be done to speed up this road. I was told in an email that none of the commissioners from when I spoke the last time asked for it to be put on the agenda. And so I'm asking -- requesting again. The other thing that I can do is I've been told there's a 10-minute presentation. I'd prefer not to do that as a citizen. This is an important roadway. It's in the middle of Immokalee Road and Bonita Beach Road, and it is worthy of some time in front of the Board so that we can have an update. And there is a lot of big issues here. Should this roadway be expanded? Should it go over I-75? Should it go to Logan? Should it go over to Vanderbilt Drive? Anyways, those are my comments. Thank you very much. MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, your last speaker under public comment is Chris Carpenter. MS. CARPENTER: Okay. Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Chris Carpenter. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Good morning. MS. CARPENTER: This is in regard to the planned sidewalk July 25, 2023 Page 41 on the east side of Vanderbilt Drive. I sent you-all an email last night, and I know that some of you got it. Thank you for your response. At the June 2022 Collier County MPO Board meeting, Councilman Paul Perry asked me what Naples Park residents and property owners thought of the proposed sidewalk for the east side of Vanderbilt Drive, and I told him I didn't know, but I'd find out for him. After some unexpected delays, I started a survey. Normally I would do this just by knocking on doors, but the heat got to be too much for me, so I did the survey mostly by U.S. Mail. An advantage of doing it by U.S. Mail, in addition to keeping me cooler, is that there's a paper trail. There's all of those U.S. Postal Service postmarks, so I thought that that might offer some reassurance to anyone who needs reassurance that this survey is real. There are 69 homes on the east side of Vanderbilt Drive from Vanderbilt Beach Road to 109th Avenue North. That's where the sidewalk is planned. Let's just cut to the results, okay. Target, already mentioned that. So far, I have received 23 responses representing 22 households. That's a 32 percent response rate. There are 16 opposed to this sidewalk and six in favor of this sidewalk, and that's 73 percent opposed, 27 in favor. There are still 47 outstanding surveys. Four of them were returned by the post office as undeliverable. So the results of this could change but it's -- I don't think that it's likely. Oh, I need to wrap this up, don't I? Okay. Just two quick points. You might wonder why I'm doing this. I mean, who am I? I'm trying to give my neighbors a voice, and I don't think it's right when the County does something without July 25, 2023 Page 42 consulting the residents. I ask that you put this issue on your next Board agenda for discussion in light of this new information. You may decide to shelve the project, you may not, but at least please talk about it. Thank you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: You know, ma'am, what I would just tell you, for something that specific, you want to work directly with the commissioner whose district that's in. I'm going to assume it's District 2. So you won't get comment from any of us, because if it was a sidewalk in my district, I wouldn't want Commissioner McDaniel commenting to you on what he's going to do about the sidewalk. So you're doing all the right things, but Commissioner Chris Hall -- I'm getting a head nod from him -- that's who you want to talk to. We would have less knowledge because it's not our particular district. But we have concern, you know. I mean, if you have concern, we share it, but we look to Commissioner Hall to, you know, take the lead in his district to talk to his constituents, and if he wants to put something on the agenda, he'd be the one to sponsor it. Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And the MPO. You were at the MPO last year. That's the other place to come and express your concerns first before it comes to this board, just so you know. MS. CARPENTER: Okay. Thank you. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, ma'am. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you, ma'am. COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you. MS. CARPENTER: I'll email you. Thank you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Usually I've got people beating me up that they want sidewalks, right? No, I know that this is different. July 25, 2023 Page 43 What else do we have, Mr. Miller? Anything -- MR. MILLER: That was all public comment, sir. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Can we -- are we going to roll into 10A? Item #10A WAIVE THE RECONSIDERATION REQUIREMENTS FOR ITEM#11E, FROM THE APRIL 25, 2023, MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AND CONSIDER APPROVING AN AGREEMENT FOR SALE AND PURCHASE WITH WISC INVESTMENT COMPANY, LLC, FOR 0.39 ACRES UNDER THE CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION PROGRAM, AT A COST NOT TO EXCEED $432,600, BASED ON THE COMMITMENT BY THE CITY OF MARCO ISLAND TO FUND $10,000 OF THE ACQUISITION. (SPONSORED BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO) (ALL DISTRICTS) - MOTION TO APPROVE STAFF’S RECOMMENDATIONS USING ONLY CONSERVATION COLLIER FUNDS BY COMMISSIONER LOCASTRO; - MOTION FAILED DUE TO LACK OF A SECOND (COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS ABSENT) MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. Item 10A is a recommendation to waive the reconsideration requirements for Item 11E from the April 25th, 2023, meeting of the Board of County Commissioners and consider approving an agreement for sale and purchase with WISC Investment Company, LLC, for .39 acres under the Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Program at a cost not to exceed $432,600 based on the commitment by the City of Marco Island to fund $10,000 of the acquisition. July 25, 2023 Page 44 This item is brought to the agenda by Commissioner LoCastro. I do have a statement to be read into the record by Commissioner Saunders. It was sent as a one-way to the commissioners. But for item -- this item, 10A, Commissioner Saunders asked that the record reflect that, one, he supports the purchase of the subject property and, two, he supports the acquisition by Collier County without the $10,000 from Marco Island. Secondly, you-all received a one-way communication yesterday with the agreement and the rider, should we reach that point. We do have those for the record. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I just to want to set the table before Ms. Cook speaks. I'm not bringing this back because we voted on it and it didn't pass. There's very specific stipulations that cause you to have to wait a certain amount of time and all of that, and so even though -- and when I talked with Mr. Klatzkow yesterday, technically, we would sit here and say, oh, I'm asking for a waiver to bring it back sooner where the reality -- and, actually, the correction was made in the agenda changes -- there's new information that has come to light on funds that are available to purchase this highly environmentally sensitive lot. So that's -- when that came to light to me, that, to me, made this a whole brand-new thing even though it's the same lot that we voted against purchasing previously, but now with new information from Marco wanting to, you know, continue to keep this on our radar and even augment the revenue -- or the funds that are available to buy the lot, I think that sort of shined a new light on it. So that's why I went through the proper channels to see if, under a new presentation -- because there's new information. And so regardless of how we look at it, it's not that I'm trying to break any rules and bring something back that initially didn't get July 25, 2023 Page 45 passed, but there is some new information and some new funds available that we could take into consideration. But, Ms. Cook, why don't you give us the latest on this particular lot. And I will also add, I think all of us have said before, we really want to put a lot of attention on these Conservation Collier lots and either buy them, don't buy them, cross them off the list, move on, buy them, cross them off the list, great, but not have this revolving list of we're waiting for appraisals and what happened and then, you know, the appraisal took too long and the person sold out. Whether you believe in the Conservation Collier project or not, over 70 percent of the citizens did when they voted for it. So our job is to spend that $25 million wisely on lots that have a significant environmental preservation goal, and this is certainly one in my district, and we all have lots in various districts. So, Ms. Cook, the floor is yours. MS. COOK: Thank you. Jaime Cook, your director of Development Review at Growth Management. Since you last heard this part -- since you last heard this item, Conservation Collier has actually moved over to Growth Management and is under my purview, which is why you're hearing from me today. Just as a reminder, the WISC parcel is located on Marco Island. It's approximately 0.39 acres. It's on Southern Marco Island. And this is a close-up aerial of the shot. You can see that there is vegetation, but it is partially cleared and does contain habitat for gopher tortoises and potentially burrowing owls. In January 2022, you -- the Board had approved this parcel as part of the Cycle 10 Active Acquisition List, and you directed staff to move forward with obtaining appraisals. In July 2022, that appraisal July 25, 2023 Page 46 was obtained, and a purchase agreement was prepared for the December Board meeting. At that Board meeting, you had elected to continue the item due to some concerns, and an updated appraisal was obtained in February of 2023. Just for clarification, both appraisals did account for the gopher tortoises on the property, but the difference between the two appraisals is the earlier one was valued at 419,000, the updated one was valued at 429,000, and the owner did not want to sell for less than the 429-. At your April Board meeting, you did hear this item, and you voted 3-2 to deny the acquisition of the property. Some of the concerns that you had mentioned were some of the environmental considerations questioning whether the gopher tortoises had been taken into account as well as if there were previous listings on the property. I was able, in a five-minute search of Zillow -- it was actually listed for sale in 2016 for about a year for 485-, but the listing was removed in February of 2017, and it has not been listed since then. So the new information that we're bringing forward to you today is that at the May 8th, 2023, City of Marco Island City Council meeting, City Councilman Rich Blonna had discussed this parcel with the Council, and they had agreed to pay the $10,000 difference between the two appraisals in order for Conservation Collier to acquire this property. Both Councilman Blonna and City Manager Mike McNees are here if you would like to discuss with them. But staff would recommend that if you are electing to move forward with the acquisition of this parcel, the total cost would be not to exceed $433,000 just to account for any minor differences in closing costs. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. July 25, 2023 Page 47 MS. COOK: Any questions for me? CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I would like to hear from Councilman Blonna and from Mr. McNees, if he so desires. I mean, the reason -- and the offer of $10,000, basically, at least in my -- as the County Commissioner for this part of my district, reemphasized the importance that Marco puts on this lot for its environmental sensitivity, and so it allowed us to sort of take another look at it. I share Commissioner Saunders' view that although we appreciate the writing of the check -- and the program's not set up that way. The program is set up that Conservation Collier buys these lots. And so I don't want it to -- I don't want to give the impression that, you know, we sat up here and, you know, the delta was 10,000, and we weren't smart enough or thought this lot was important enough to kick in the extra 10,000 but you guys had a bake sale and brought us a $10,000 check. I say that sort of tongue-in-cheek. But it's the Marco Island citizens' money, and I feel like we're sort of double-taxing them. They're already paying into Conservation Collier. So, you know, we owe it to them that if -- you know, the importance I see with you coming here today and saying we'll make up the 10,000 isn't so much the money, but it's the importance you're reminding us of the environmental value. And I will say that the Clerk of Courts has done a great job sending us information on real estate and lots and value, but where we agree to disagree is this isn't buying real estate. This is investing in an environmentally sensitive piece of property, which is different than just buying empty lots to build a house. That's not what we're trying to do. So the value of this lot varies depending on its environmental July 25, 2023 Page 48 value, in my mind. So I understand comparing lots but sometimes, as we said yesterday, when we maybe agreed to disagree in my office, to me it's not always apples to apples. You know, a smaller lot loaded with bald eagles would be more valuable to me than a gigantic lot with two lizards on it, you know. And so -- you know, I say that to sort of make a point. I live on Marco. I work very closely with Councilman Blonna and, you know, you've got Brad Cornell in the audience. This is a very fragile piece of property that is already loaded with environmentally sensitive wildlife. And as I said at the meeting when this got voted down, regardless of the owner holding out for an extra 10,000 or whatnot, we may love that or hate it. In my mind, that's immaterial because if they're greedy or they just want the fully appraised value or whatever it is, our job is to support the Conservation Collier, you know, project -- Program and make sure that the money is maximized for the lots that have the most environmental value, and I know this one is pretty high on the list. We made it high on the list. So regardless of what the owner is sort of doing or not doing -- but the lesson here is real estate changes quickly, so if something gets, you know, appraised at 419- and then we sit here and continue it and talk about it and kick it -- kick the can, the appraised values change very quickly, especially in Collier County. But, you know, having said that, I would like to hear from, you know, Councilman Blonna. And less about the money but more about you've done such a deep dive, sir, with -- explain to us why this lot is something we should make sure that we really take a close look at, and if we're not going to buy it, realize that we are going to lose it immediately forever to some sort of construction and why -- the people that you're here representing, why you think that would be a July 25, 2023 Page 49 mistake or a tragedy or not. So if you could give us sort of the short version and just reeducate us on the value of this lot environmentally. Appreciate it. COUNCILMAN BLONNA: Hard act to follow. First of all, I'd like to thank the commissioners for your efforts to make Collier County a sanctuary county for the Constitution and the laws of the land. Thank you for that. Second, I'd like to thank Commissioner LoCastro for your efforts to bring this item back to this commission for further consideration. I'm here today to not only to speak in favor of the acquisition of the WISC property but also to ask you to trust the recommendations of the Conservation Collier Land Acquisitions Committee. I've been working with them now for two-and-a-half years since getting elected to the Marco Island City Council, and the level of rigor that they apply when deciding upon whether to buy a property or to not buy a property is beyond being impressive. In order to even be considered for acquisition, let alone making the A list, which this lot did, a parcel has to score high on the following criteria. First, it has to score high on ecological value, which means there has to be unique plant and wildlife communities and water resources on the lot. This lot meets that criteria. There has to be high human value to the property, which means that there has to be opportunities for passive and active recreation, there has to be accessibility, and there also has to be cultural, historical, and archeological significance to the lot. This lot has all three of those. And as far as restoration and management, there has to be minimal remediation needed to the lot, and there has to be ease of management, which also this lot meets. July 25, 2023 Page 50 And then, lastly, vulnerability. You know, is the lot subject to development and, for sure, it will be built upon if we don't preserve it. Now, in the past two-and-a-half years working with the folks at Audubon of Western Everglades, we identified 25 parcels of land on Marco Island that we said had high value and were worth preserving, but because of the high standards set by the Conservation Collier Acquisitions Committee, only eight of those made the A list, okay, and that's the highest ranking. So in other words, we had originally identified 25, and your folks pared it down using their high standards to just eight, and the WISC lot is one of those eight. Now, believe me when I say that I was disappointed several times over the last two years when I went to the CCLAC meetings and argued for our other parcels. So it's a very rigorous progress. To make the A list, that property has to be special and worth preserving, and the WISC property is such a parcel. Now, I want to talk a little bit about the land, and that's why I have this map that I copied from the Conservation Collier website. This property sits at the end. It's actually the northern end of a one-mile stretch of land that we recently completed an eight-foot-wide multiuse path, and this path follows the contour of this ridge of highlands that extends all the way down to the Otter Mound, which is the first preserve of Conservation Collier. So this is a one-mile trail that goes from the northern to the southern end of this ridge. Now, these highlands were first settled by the Calusa Indians followed by our earliest settlers on Marco. And guess who their neighbors were on this land for the thousand years that it's been settled? They're the gopher tortoises, an endangered species that calls this highlands home. July 25, 2023 Page 51 Now, the uniqueness, rather, of this upland habitat is recognized by every major environmental group in the County and in the state. They all agree that this is a special place. It's unique to all of Florida, and it's what saved the Marco Island gopher tortoises from being flooded out during Hurricane Ian. So when I came to the City Manager and explained to him that this prize property was at risk for being lost over a mere $10,000, he agreed to meet with our finance director and just find a way that the City of Marco Island could step in, make up the difference in price, and join forces with you-all to preserve this parcel of land. The City Council unanimously agreed with this, and I'm here today to ask you to vote yes on this partnership to preserve the WISC parcel but also to honor the work of your Conservation Collier acquisition staff. And this lot -- I just wanted to point to a couple of things. It shows the one-mile stretch. I don't know -- how do I actually point with this? MR. MILLER: Just touch. MS. PATTERSON: On the visualizer, if you just point. COUNCILMAN BLONNA: Right here. So this is the WISC property. Can you hear me? CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. COUNCILMAN BLONNA: Okay. The northern end of this one-mile stretch is the WISC property. At the bottom is Otter Mound. And the reason I mention this property in the middle -- I can't point and talk -- 1830 Watson, that's actually the corner of Watson Road and Inlet, and it's one of the highest properties on the island, and it's actually the most beautiful place on Marco Island to build a house. Well, that was one of the first properties I identified as worth July 25, 2023 Page 52 saving, and it's owned by a trust. And I can't go into the details because the man that owns the trust wants to keep it private, but it took me about three weeks of searching to finally go through a maze of trusts to find out who actually owned this property. And we went through Audubon. One of the people in Audubon knew this gentleman who's a billionaire who actually has started three international environmental and wildlife foundations by himself. And he said, I don't want to put this up for acquisition by Conservation Collier, but my trust will guarantee that this property will be preserved in perpetuity. And I know you-all are interested in that and you want us to try and go beyond just using public money for this. So not only do we have this wonderful WISC property and Otter Mound, but sitting smack dab in the middle, right on this multiuse path that we just built is this property, which is just chock-full of gopher tortoises, burrowing owls, and other habitat. So it's going to be kind of a major tourist attraction, and I'd love to promote it as such. It's -- you can park a car at Otter Mound and walk this mile one way and walk it back on some of the most beautiful property on Marco Island. You can bicycle it. It's safe. You'll be off the main road. So it's a really special place. And I thank you for the extra time. If you have any questions for me while I'm here, I'd be glad to answer them. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Mr. Miller, do we have other public comment? MR. MILLER: Yes, we do, sir. Would you like them now? CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes. COUNCILMAN BLONNA: Thanks so much. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir. MR. MILLER: Your first speaker is Brad Cornell, and he'll be July 25, 2023 Page 53 followed by Daniel Zegarac. MR. CORNELL: Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Brad Cornell, and I'm here on behalf of Audubon Western Everglades and Audubon Florida. Appreciate the opportunity to address you on this. The Conservation Collier Program is something that Audubon has supported for 20 years. It's a fundamental piece of policy that Collier County has control over. This is a locally mandated, locally controlled program to identify what we, Collier County citizens, want to protect. So that's unique. It's not federal. It's not state. It's ours. So just saying that to start off. You know, Councilor Blonna has basically given you the full story of this. I just want to give a couple of details. There are some 28 threatened gopher tortoises that are estimated to be on this parcel because it has about 56 burrows. Our biologist, Brittany Piersma, has surveyed this parcel with support from the City of Marco Island, who asked us to survey all the gopher tortoise habitat on the island. There are probably, you know, well over a thousand gopher tortoises, maybe approaching 2,000. She's not done with that survey. It's obviously a very significant place. The elevation, as Councilor Blonna pointed out, was the gopher tortoises' population's salvation from Ian, because while we lost gopher tortoises, like at Delnor-Wiggins State Park and Hideaway, we did not lose them -- 1,300 of them, as far as we know, were saved from inundation and drowning by the elevation, and that elevation comes from, you know, ancient indigenous people and our modern human communities that are there. So this is -- to protect these gopher tortoises, this highland, that archaeological value and other charismatic species of wildlife, including burrowing owls, bald eagles, and shorebirds and seabirds, that's one of the most fundamental purposes of the Conservation July 25, 2023 Page 54 Collier Program, and it's why over three-quarters of Collier County voters asked you in 2020 to restart buying conservation land. So with that said, Audubon strongly urges you to approve the purchase of this parcel. It's -- while it's small, it really describes one of the most -- biggest accomplishments that we can all achieve together. Thank you. MR. MILLER: Your final registered speaker on this item is Daniel Zegarac. MR. ZEGARAC: Good morning, Commissioners, again. If we don't purchase this lot, is somebody going to build on it right away? Is there another interested party in this lot? I haven't heard any of that. I heard of appraisals being in the 200,000 range, and I've heard of appraisals being in the $419,000 range. Why are we involved in this? Why is Collier County going to dictate what this lot is worth? I think you're -- you're overreached, you know. I have lots of respect for Conservation Collier. I think there's definitely a place for Conservation Collier but, again, they need to be managed by people. When they need to get back in their lane, you know, they should probably get there. And, again, I think it -- there's definitely a place for Conservation Collier, no question about it. And most of what they buy is probably fantastic, and I appreciate it. It's amazing that this -- you know, this purchase -- you know, it's less than a half a million, so it's not really that much. You know, if we had to remove the turtles or the tortoises, you know, the price would grow. But, you know, this comes today when buried in the bowels of today's consent agenda is a recommendation to reduce our Collier County EMS public sector workforce by a million dollars. Really? We're going to do that? We're going to get rid of a million July 25, 2023 Page 55 dollars' worth of EMS workforce, because our population's going up? The seniors don't need that? Again, I'm sure none of you read it. If you had, you might be concerned about it. And you know what? I understand you're going to come to me and say, well, it's a grant -- a grant was taking care of that. We can't -- we can't replace that grant with another source of funds? I don't want to hear the grant story. That's why we got rid of, you know, a million dollars in EMS personnel. So figure it out, guys. That's why you're up here. COMMISSIONER HALL: We have figured it out. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I'll make some comments on that. First of all, I appreciate your comments, sir, as always, but here's why it's not apples to apples. Your comments are apples to chairs. I can't take the -- MR. ZEGARAC: I don't agree with you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Let me finish, okay. You had the podium. Please sit down. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: One second. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No, wait. No, no. No, no. I'm talking. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We're not here to debate. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I know, but I'm choosing to do that. MR. ZEGARAC: My physical situation -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sir, your comments -- your public comments are complete. MR. ZEGARAC: I'm not going to sit down and listen to you take shots. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Okay. Thank you. We're done here. July 25, 2023 Page 56 Next? MR. MILLER: That was the final speaker on that item, sir. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir. Appreciate your comments. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Can I please have a question? CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No, sir. Next on the agenda. Do we have any public comments? MR. MILLER: We have no comments on this item, sir. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. MS. PATTERSON: Did you want to hear from City Manager McNees? CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah, if he's here. Thank you, sir. MR. McNEES: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners. I just want to answer the gentleman's question. I think I would say it this way: The only thing that's more threatened on Marco Island than a gopher tortoise is a parcel of undeveloped land. They're disappearing very, very quickly. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sir, sir, sir. MR. McNEES: Whether or not there is development pressure on this land, yes, there is, absolutely. The lots that have sat vacant for 40 years are being snapped up. They're going away very quickly. And so there is a legitimate urgency to this, and we very much appreciate your consideration. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir. Okay. Commissioner McDaniel, sir, the floor is yours. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. I have a question for staff, please, if you can. And I just would like you to reiterate the archaeological value with regard to this piece of property. MS. COOK: I don't know that off the top of my head, sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. Well, because as has July 25, 2023 Page 57 been mentioned regularly, I mean, a lot of these higher elevation properties are not natural. And is this piece of property developable because of its archaeological value? That's my question. MS. COOK: I'd be happy to take a minute to look it up if you would like to pause this for a minute, or if you have any other questions. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's my only question. Well, for now, for you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Mr. Blonna, do you have anything to add? Because I know you've done a lot of homework on this particular parcel. COUNCILMAN BLONNA: I know the other parcels that are currently under review that are further down on Inlet have been actually surveyed, and digs have started. This particular lot I don't have that information. I was under the assumption that the entire ridge was settled by the Calusa and settled by the earliest white settlors on Marco Island and that under all of these lands are remnants. But, again, this one, how far down, what's down there, I can't speak to that. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: I mean, one thing I will say is a lot of research is done to put something on the A list. So, you know, I have to trust that's something that is made a priority. Saving $433,000 on this project, if we decided not to buy it, we can't send that to Chief Tabatha Butcher to fund EMS, so that's where your comments don't actually hold water. MR. ZEGARAC: Don't take shots at me, LoCastro. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sir, I'm correcting the record, okay? MR. ZEGARAC: You're weak. You're weak. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sir? Sir, you're done, okay. You July 25, 2023 Page 58 had your comments, so let's please respect mine. We can -- MR. ZEGARAC: You have the microphone. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sir -- and you had it. MR. ZEGARAC: Don't talk to me in that tone. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sir, if I need to have somebody dismiss you, I'll do that. You had your comment, and now I have my comment. I respected your comments, and now respect my rebuttal, okay. MR. ZEGARAC: You don't respect them when you make comments like that. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sir? Sir, please be professional in here. MR. ZEGARAC: You did not respect my comments. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Be professional in here or else -- MR. ZEGARAC: I am professional. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Okay. So what I will say is, when something's on the A list, a bunch -- a lot of exploratory research and things have been done, so it's not on the A list arbitrarily. What I would ask is, if Ms. Cook wants to take some time, we can take a look back at this. But there's a reason it's on the A list. You know, you've got subject-matter experts here. We actually don't sit here and debate if a lot is under contract for building and then we chase it. If you understand how the Conservation Collier Program works, that over 70 percent of the people voted for, it gives us the $25 million budget to buy environmentally sensitive lots just like this one. And these come to us with recommendations, and we agree or disagree. So, you know, I'm asking my colleagues to support the purchase of this one. And much like Commissioner Saunders said, not July 25, 2023 Page 59 to -- not to utilize the 10,000 from the Marco City Council, although we appreciate it. That reminds us how valuable they feel the lot is that it connects a one-mile stretch of environmentally sensitive land. And your offer of $10,000 is what brought this back to the table, that -- you know, for our reconsideration. So I have no qualms about the program. I understand how Conservation Collier works, and it's not an arbitrary fund that can be moved to the library, EMS, you know, the Sheriff's Office, or anywhere else. It's for these exact specific things, and to identify the most fragile and environmentally valuable lots, and that's what the A list is for, and this one's, you know, one of the highest ones on the A list, and we've got the people who are from Marco that know the lots. We're not going to buy 28 different lots, but the handful that we do buy I hope all look like this. That's what the money's for. So, you know, that's my particular stance on it. But if my colleagues want to wait until, you know, Ms. Cook maybe gets a deeper dive or circles back with our colleagues. But all that, I feel, has been done, and that's why this is being brought to us as an A list lot that we are being asked to consider to utilize the pot of money that already exists that the voters voted that they wanted to have to buy lots that are environmentally sensitive. That money can't be used for anything else. We can't shuttle it to any other needs, so that's not apples to apples. And so either use it for this or we use it for, you know, some of the other lots on the list, so... COUNCILMAN BLONNA: Could I just make a quick response to that? CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes, sir. COUNCILMAN BLONNA: Because that was my whole point in developing my little talk about trusting in the Conservation Collier July 25, 2023 Page 60 Acquisitions Committee's work. You know, I did a summary of the general things that they look for, but, you know, they have a very detailed -- you know, they assign a numerical score to each of those items that I mentioned and rate all of the lots. And the fact that several of the lots we wanted to preserve never made it to the A list and this one did, most of the A-List properties they cut across the entire county, and I support all of the A-List properties, not only those on Marco. But the fact is that's why you hired these folks, and the level of detail they put into evaluating these properties is impressive. I mean, you know, starting with initial screening and then going out and putting their boots on and walking the properties and really, really doing a deep dive. So all I'm saying is respect their work. Like you said, Rick, the money is allotted. It can't be spent anywhere else. We made the A list. Go -- you know, go with what they're recommending. Thank you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Now we've got all the commissioners lit up, so I'm going to start with Commissioner Kowal and then Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman. You can stay there, too, and you can stay there. I'm really curious to hear back also from staff in reference to that. And I just want to put on the record that I don't feel comfortable taking the $10,000 from Marco Island Council. I feel that the citizens of Marco have already been taxed the .25 mills that we collect from them every year towards this program, and the program does work. It's an important program, and I believe in it. But I don't feel -- you know, it's not my district, but personally how I feel about it is I don't believe they should be taxed twice for July 25, 2023 Page 61 something that everybody has the privilege to have the County run this program for them as other citizens of Collier County and the citizens in the City of Naples and Everglades and the other places. So I just don't feel comfortable with that. I mean, if it does come down to the point where we do purchase this, I think we'll purchase it through the system we already have in place and the way it works and it has been working for several, several years. And we purchase a lot of problems. I've got a whole list sitting on my desk. And the other thing, I've got a question. I'd like to pull up that picture again, if you can, of the actual lot that was in our staff presentation. It was like the Google Map. Quick question. I know we saw that it was listed back in 2016, pulled off in 2017, for $485,000. So there was attempts of this LLC or family trust, whoever owns this property. I just want to make it clear that -- because a lot of things are being clouded in a lot of conversation up here. We tried to buy this lot the last time it came up. We gave an offer of $419,000. It was unaccepted. And, you know, at that point, we moved on. MS. COOK: Correct. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: You know, we can't break somebody's arm. We can't force somebody to accept the money we give them. We felt it was that important to buy it, so I don't want people to understand [sic] that this is not important. We don't -- we understand the importance of it, but you also have to understand we all made a decision up here to be shepherds and arbitrators of the taxpayers' dollars that participate in this program, and we all decided that we were going to negotiate prices as we move forward, and that was a price we felt was fair at the time. And it's not like we weren't going to spend $419,000 on this lot at that meeting. They chose not July 25, 2023 Page 62 to accept it, okay. For whatever reason they felt $10,000 was the price, an additional 10,000. The other thing is, what would happen to these animals on this lot if they did sell it to a private investor and a home was built there? MS. COOK: If private development were to occur on the site, they would need to go through the state Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission to obtain permits to relocate any of the gopher tortoises on the site and/or any burrowing owls before construction could commence. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So that would be on the developer or whoever purchased the property? MS. COOK: Correct. Right now gopher tortoise relocation is about 7,000 per tortoise. So with 28, I think you're looking at close to $200,000 just to relocate the tortoises. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So they basically relocated them to somewhere that that would be a standard of everybody that oversees these tortoises or a piece of property they could call home for the rest of their lives? MS. COOK: Correct. And, typically, it's in Hendry County is where they're relocated to. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Okay. So I know a lot of things have been said up here. I'm looking at this lot, and I'm trying to see the connectivity where -- this walking path through this neighborhood to link all lots. And if we did purchase it, would people have the right to visit this lot to see what's on this lot? MS. COOK: It is a County-owned parcel, so while there may not be access, walking trails, or parking, yes, it's a County lot, so people could go to it. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So people could just drive in this neighborhood and park their cars in front of homes and hang out on July 25, 2023 Page 63 the lot? MS. COOK: They could. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Okay. All right. Well, I'm going to wait. I want to hear back from what your research is on that archaeological position. Thank you. MS. COOK: If you-all want to take a break, at your break, I'm happy to -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. After the break, we'll come back. Commissioner Hall, and then I've got Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER HALL: You know, the $10,000 from Marco does not move the needle for me. I voted to deny this purchase the last time. And I see it as a sole benefit for the seller; like the County is an exit strategy. I get -- I get the tortoises. I get the burrowing owls. I get the A List. I get all of the work that's gone into it. But I maintain -- I still maintain that the property is conservation because it's not marketable. Yeah, you could say, well, Chris, somebody could come along and purchase that lot for 429,000, even 485-, whatever they wanted to sell it for, and a billionaire, the $200,000 is not going to touch their -- you know, they'll relocate, and they'll still build a home. I get that. I guess as a former real estate investor, my risk tolerance is higher than most. I would risk that the property is not going to sell because it's not marketable. The billionaire that's there, they could deed the property to the County or a billionaire could come along and purchase the property and move the tortoises. So it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. Taxpayers, I guess, you know, voted to get taxed to buy property like this, and so I don't have the heartburn that I had before. It stuck July 25, 2023 Page 64 in my craw that the seller wouldn't negotiate or, you know, kind of wanted to just to stick it to the County or stick it to this program as an exit strategy, and that still sticks in my craw, but it's not in my district. It's Commissioner LoCastro's. So I haven't decided which way I'm going, but those are my -- those are my comments. I mean, that's my true feelings on it. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, you know, I'd be happy to go ahead and take a break and see if there's any new information with regard to the archaeological value. I have a suspicion that there isn't a prohibition with regard to the development -- you could look at the picture. There's houses all around it. What's going to be on the lot next door, to the -- to the left of this picture? I don't know whether it's north, south, or what, but there's a vacant lot right there on the corner as well. So, I'd like to -- I'd like to -- I know that there is -- you know, it's been mentioned multiple times about the archaeological value of these properties down through there on the ridge, but I'd like to hear -- I'd like to hear a little more specificity on that before I pull the trigger. MS. COOK: Okay. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. We'll take a break till 11:00. (A brief recess was had from 10:46 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: All right. Ms. Cook, any -- Ma'am, we're starting. No, we're starting. Ms. Cook. MS. COOK: Again -- July 25, 2023 Page 65 CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Anything additional to share with us? MS. COOK: I have a fantastic team working with me. Conservation Collier staff was able to actually pull this and send it to me really quick. It is a map of the known archaeological sites on Marco Island, and the WISC parcel is not near any of those sites. But just as a point for all of your consideration, it wouldn't be -- have been required even if a single-family home were to be developed unless during the construction process a contractor were to find something, and then they would have to stop. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Mr. Blonna. COUNCILMAN BLONNA: Could I just make a point of information real quickly? CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes, sir. COUNCILMAN BLONNA: Yes. I just wanted to address something that Commissioner Hall said. I think I added a level of confusion by bringing up the Watson lot. That is the lot that's owned by the billionaire trust. This WISC property is not. It's -- the trust that owns this WISC property, the owners are very modest individuals, and they're counting on this sale, actually, to help with their retirement. So I don't want to get those two owners confused. COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you for that. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Anybody else have anything to add? I don't have anybody lit up here. I mean, I've done a much deeper dive into this just because it's -- and I'm not sitting here pushing it because it's in my district. I'm really here supporting Conservation Collier, which is a program that we are charged with managing. More than 70 percent of the citizens believed in it, and that's why they voted on it, and the money July 25, 2023 Page 66 is for this or for nothing. And so I know that we've purchased lots that were a lot less environmentally fragile than this lot, but I think every lot has to stand on its own. We don't purchase lots that are under contract for a build and then try to get in there and stop, you know, the condo or the house from being built. That's actually not how the project works. We're trying to -- this is -- is a preventative step to preserve this lot so it doesn't -- we don't get into some sort of bidding war with a contractor who wants to build something. But, you know, I'm not sitting here as an environmental expert, but I trust the staff. I've done a lot of -- gotten a lot of feedback from the staff, the people who actually run this project, and realize that this money can't be shuffled around to, you know, buy library books. It's -- this is what the program's for. Councilman Blonna and Mr. McNees have done an awful lot of work. And I agree with Commissioner Saunders who wrote -- you know, he's not here to vote, but he at least expressed his interest. Commissioner Kowal, you know, seconded that, you know, that this is the program that -- as it is. So either we buy it for the price that is being recommended to us for the staff -- from the staff or we don't. I do appreciate the City of Marco coming forward and basically reminding us that they think this lot is so valuable that they didn't want to see it lost for a $10,000, you know, difference, and whether that's, you know, for lack of a better term, the greed of the property owner or what have you. In my opinion, I'm actually not burning as many brain cells on that. I'm looking for the lot what it's worth, its environmental value, and the mission of the Conservation Collier Program, which we actually all do understand, and we actually have read everything, if anybody's curious at the homework that we've done. July 25, 2023 Page 67 So having said that, if there's nothing else, you know, to add, I mean, I'd like my colleagues to support the purchase of this lot. Obviously, we all have all our individual votes, but my recommendation would be to make a motion to purchase this lot for no more than what the staff is recommending, which would be $433,000 or less, with the plus or minus, and using strictly 100 percent Conservation Collier environmental protection dollars which are set aside for purchases such as this. So I'll make that motion. Do I have a second? (No response.) CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. So I made a motion, and I don't have a second, so I guess I'll say all in favor? Aye. Opposed? (No response.) CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I don't know. I haven't heard anything. MR. KLATZKOW: Your motion failed for lack of a second. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Got it. Okay. So the motion fails. The lot is not purchased, okay. Did I miss anything? MR. KLATZKOW: No, sir. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay, great. Next? Item #11B A PRESENTATION REGARDING FY 2024 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT COMPLIANCE. (CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON, DIRECTOR - CORPORATE FINANCIAL AND MANAGEMENT SERVICES) (ALL DISTRICTS) – PRESENTED July 25, 2023 Page 68 MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 11B. This is a recommendation to hear a presentation regarding the FY 2024 budget development compliance. Mr. Chris Johnson, your director of Corporate Finance and Management Services, is here to present. And just a reminder, this is the first of several conversations that we'll be having leading up to the September budget hearings. You had a specific question about compliance, and that is what we're here to talk about today. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Thank you. MR. JOHNSON: Good morning, Commissioners. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: All right, sir. MR. JOHNSON: Sorry. I'm just trying to pop this up on the screen here. Thank you, Troy. Thank you, Ms. Patterson. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. For the record, Christopher Johnson, your director of Corporate, Financial, and Management Services. As Ms. Patterson stated, we're here today as requested to further discuss the FY 2024 development compliance. Today's discussion will include a quick recap of budget policy, an overview of the budget compliance calculation, a look at the rolled-up department budget compliance within the General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund and, finally, an example of departmental compliance. So we'll get started here with a little history on your budget policy. On March 14th, 2023, Item 11E, the Board approved the FY '24 budget policy. This policy was inclusive of a component increase of 4.25 percent to operations at the department level for divisions and programs supported by the General or Unincorporated July 25, 2023 Page 69 General Fund. What this means is department operations for FY '24 which rely on those funds were restricted to a four-and-a-quarter percent increase for their current program services and their operating transfers. Moving on, here we're going to discuss the budget compliance calculation. As stated before, the budget compliance applies to divisions and programs supported by the General Fund and the Unincorporated General Fund. In order to calculate compliance, we first need to determine the adjusted compliance base. This base starts with last year's net costs to the General Fund or Unincorporated General Fund plus any transfer from those funds and add any additional adjustments. These adjustments can include, but are not limited to, Board-related adjustments, state mandate adjustments, revenue adjustments, and organizational change adjustments. As we move to the department fund and program budget compliance roll-up, we'll outline the specific adjustments that we made for the FY '24 calculations. Once we determine the adjusted compliance base, we can calculate the target compliance base increase by multiplying the adjusted compliance base by your compliance of 4.25 percent. Next, we need to determine the FY '24 or current year amount, which includes the net cost to either the General Fund or Unincorporated General Fund and the related transfers for this year less any expanded requests that we may have. With the FY '24 amount, we can then calculate the variance by subtracting the adjusted compliance base and, finally, we can subtract the target compliant amount to determine the compliance. In this case, a positive number would indicate that we are over compliance. A negative number would indicate that we are under compliance. July 25, 2023 Page 70 Did you get all that? We'll show it in a -- you'll see it here as we go -- as we go on to the next slide. All right. Next, we'll look at the budget compliance by fund. What you see here on this slide is the budget compliance roll-up by the department for the General Fund. Overall target compliance is calculated in the right-hand corner along with the overall variance. And as you can see, this fund is materially compliant, though slightly over the target of the 7.5 million by about seven one-hundredths of a percent, or $120,000. If we look into these departments, kind of individually, you can see the courts department was under compliance, actually almost 5 percent under compliance. This is largely due to a reduction of a transfer resulting from additional expected carryforward in FY '24. Under Growth Management, you can see the compliance -- they were under compliance as well at 4.21 percent. The adjustment you see in the second column there for Growth Management is related to the creation of the community planning and resiliency program along with the enhancement of the housing program, which were moved -- which was moved to GMD, which required multiple FTE transfers. So those programs, basically, had no basis in the FY '23 budget. That's why you see an adjustment there within Growth Management. Moving on to public services, they were also slightly under compliance at 4.21 percent. The adjustment for PSD is broken down into two separate components. One being a $675,000 adjustment for unanticipated increases to the state Medicaid payments, which represents an increase this year of over 20 percent. Typically, those increases were in the 1 to 2 percent range, just for your knowledge. The second component is the inclusion of the $2 million of museum TDT revenue in the base calculation. This allows for a 4.25 July 25, 2023 Page 71 percent increase for the museums. Without -- with the TDT cap at $2 million, we can't increase what we put into there -- into the museums from the TDT; therefore, the General Fund is essentially picking up the slack on that with the compliance. Moving on to Public Utilities, this -- this department represents the Facilities Management budget, which is in General Fund 001, and they were compliant with no adjustments to the compliant base. Transportation Management Services, they came in slightly under compliance at 4.16 percent. You can see the adjustment to the compliance base there. It was due to a -- the sunset of a contract with the Water Management District. We were receiving a revenue for many years in the amount of a million dollars, and it sunsets at the end of this year. On to the office of the County Manager, this office was under compliance by 3.22 percent. The adjustment here is for the additional funding required to fund the Board-approved contract for the -- with Greater Naples for the Ochopee Fire District. And, finally, when we look at the BCC, County Attorney, and admin section, you can see that this section is over compliance by 9.68 percent. The adjustment in this section represents a year-over-year increase required for the TIF payment to the City of Naples. The main driver in the overage here is property insurance, which increased 66 percent for us this year. This was not included as an adjustment, as it was not an anticipated expense. Obviously, we knew it was going to go up. We didn't know by how much. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: That was significantly more than years past? I mean, I'm not asking for -- but, I mean, that's a big jump. MR. JOHNSON: Correct, correct. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: What do we equate to that? I July 25, 2023 Page 72 know it's going to be the obvious things, but just for the record. MR. JOHNSON: I'm not the risk guy, but I can -- I'm going to guess it was the hurricane. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Hurricane. MR. JOHNSON: Hurricane Ian. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Wow. MR. JOHNSON: And just so you know, that increase year over year was $1.2 million for the General Fund alone, so -- and it may be insurers as well. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. MR. JOHNSON: We all know what's going on there. With that, does anyone have any questions here on this General Fund compliance slide at all? I can move on to the Unincorporated General Fund. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just as a quick -- just as a -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes, sir. No, go ahead, sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just the -- give me the definition of the net cost. MR. JOHNSON: Certainly. It would be -- to make it simple, it's your expenses minus your departmental generated revenues, if you will, or other funding sources. So it's what the General Fund actually pays for you, the net cost to the General Fund. So we have expenses of 100,000. We make 50,000 in our own revenue. Our net cost to the General Fund is $50,000. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. MR. JOHNSON: Does that make sense? And when we -- when you go through the budget book, if you page through it, on every department summary section, you'll actually see that called out on the book in each program or divisional section. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. July 25, 2023 Page 73 MR. JOHNSON: All right. Moving on to the Unincorporated General Fund. The overall target compliance is again calculated in the right-hand corner here. Along with the overall variance, you'll see the fund is slightly over target of 1.8 million by seven-tenths of a percent or $275,000. Again, this is attributable to the property insurance for the properties within Fund 111. If we kind of just go through these, I can -- I'll go through the adjustments for you as well. Growth Management was on target at 4.25 percent. Adjustments to the compliance base included expenses for inner department charges that were historically being handled as transfers between funds; therefore, they were not included in compliance in the past. This change in policy will result in a one-time increase to the compliance base. Basically, what we're doing here is we're trying to put all the costs associated with the cost centers into the cost centers where they belong. This -- this adjustment here for Growth Management was offset by the transfer of an employee over to the resiliency department in 001; therefore, the net adjustment, if you will, is the $406,000. Public services, under 111, is compliant at the 4.25 percent. There were no adjustments made there. Transportation as well, compliant at the 4.25 percent with no adjustments. The office of the County Manager was under target at .45 percent. The adjustment here that you see is also related to the Board-approved contract for the Ochopee Fire District with Greater Naples. And, finally, the BCC, County Attorney, and admin section is over compliance at 16.59 percent. Again, as I stated earlier, this is attributable to the unanticipated property insurance increases. Any questions on this slide at all? (No response.) July 25, 2023 Page 74 MR. JOHNSON: Good to go. All right. Well, the next slide we'll see here is a department budget compliance by division program. There's just an example here. We're going to show you -- just kind of sum up how we get to that number that was on the other page. And the example we're going to use here is PSD, Public Services Department, in Fund 0017. So in the second-to-last column here, you'll see the over/under compliance calculation, and at the end you'll see the -- you'll see the percent adjustment. It's important to note when you're looking at this, this chart only reflects the cost to the General Fund. So any other funding sources utilized for these areas are not represented on this slide. For example, when you look at the reduction in community mental health and LIP, it is a result of available grant funding being utilized for these programs. This reduction required General Fund dollars, has allowed for increases in the above areas of DAS, Parks, Libraries by reducing the dollars that were utilized for the community health as well as public services admin. Any questions on this slide at all? (No response.) MR. JOHNSON: As you can see, there's ups and downs. Overall, the compliance within the department was at the 4.21 percent. All right. Just a heads-up for the Board, for the Board's awareness. As you can see, a few of these areas, like Domestic Animal Services and Parks, have those increases. They have been historically underfunded in the past. To address this this year, obviously, as we talked about, those increases were made moving into '24. We do have, coming forward next meeting, I believe, a few budget amendments this year to kind of rightsize what we're doing July 25, 2023 Page 75 there to make sure we're able to provide the level of service requested through the end of the year. And with that, I'll take any questions. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: Chris, overall, are we in -- are we hitting the target, or are you saying we're going to be a smidge over? MR. JOHNSON: We're a smidge over, not materially over. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's a hundred thousand or so. MR. JOHNSON: Hundred thousand in the General Fund, and you're looking at a General Fund compliance budget of about 183 million. So it's a smidge, but not substantial. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Any other questions? (No response.) CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Thank you. MR. JOHNSON: Thank you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: County Manager, what's next? MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Item 15, staff and commission general communications. Item #15A PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA BY INDIVIDUALS NOT ALREADY HEARD DURING PREVIOUS PUBLIC COMMENTS IN THIS MEETING. Item 15A, public comments on general topics not on the current or future agenda by individuals not already heard during previous public comments in this meeting. MR. MILLER: We have no one. July 25, 2023 Page 76 CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Item #15B STAFF PROJECT UPDATES - ROCK CRUSHING UPDATE – 150,00 CUBIC YARDS TO DATE, THEY ARE LOOKING AT END OF AUGUST FOR PROJECT COMPLETION MS. PATTERSON: Item 15B, staff project updates. While we have nothing on here officially, I understand that you may want an update on the rock crushing just as we stand. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sure. MS. PATTERSON: All right. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No, I actually asked Ms. Cook yesterday, I just thought, you know -- I don't want anybody sending us emails after these meetings saying, why didn't you talk about rock crushing? And Ms. Cook and her staff have actually done a lot of work monitoring several different locations that have become a bit of an eyesore or that we've worked really hard to aggressively move in a positive direction, so I asked her to give us sort of the short version. Were you able to get hold of the contractor yesterday? I mean, that was one of the homework assignments I know you were trying. MS. COOK: I was. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. MS. COOK: Jaime Cook, your director of Development Review. He was going out to the site himself to do a visit to check. I haven't heard back from him yet, so -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. So tell us what you know. I mean, you shared a lot in my office. But for the Board here, you July 25, 2023 Page 77 know, we haven't forgotten about the lot, and we continue to make progress. MS. COOK: Neither have I. As of Friday, they had completed about -- crushing about 150,000 cubic yards of material. They are still working very diligently. They've had a couple issues with mechanical breakdowns. But with this new equipment that they were able to bring in, I think March, April, they're actually able to do the repairs on site now, so it's been a lot quicker. The last three months they've been averaging over 20,000 cubic yards a month. So they are still working very diligently. They're still trying to figure out a time frame for when they will actually finish, but they're hoping to be done with everything by the end of August. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. MS. COOK: So staff has continued to visit the site daily, check to make sure that they're working, the water truck is still operating, so we have not had any concerns from the staff. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So the two things you and I spoke about yesterday, just to, you know, cut to the chase about where -- things we really want to accelerate when you hear back from the property owner is, number one, the spreading of the piles. You said -- MS. COOK: Yes. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: -- those are -- that's getting close. And then you did say they've discovered some things that were sort of buried a little bit deeper. And then I said, okay, that happens, but then my response back to them -- and I hope you deliver that message -- is if they've discovered a little bit more material that they didn't anticipate, then July 25, 2023 Page 78 are they bringing in more machinery, more people? Are they going to, you know, make a recommendation to us to maybe work longer hours and not just go, oh, we found more stuff. It's going to take longer. You know, we want to make sure that that lot has the maximum amount of workers, equipment, repair people, hoses, water, all those things so that, you know, we're marching towards finality. And so when I heard that yesterday that's -- you know, I'll feel encouraged if they say, yeah, we discovered some things we didn't know. That's not adding four weeks to the project. We're working hard to, you know, bring in that special piece of equipment from Switzerland, you know, like it seemed like had to happen. So keep us posted. MS. COOK: Absolutely. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: You know, the way you were sending us -- you know, you've sent us regular emails. I mean, you know, appreciate the update here. There's a couple things hanging loose but, you know, we're getting closer. I went out there last week, and although I'd like to see those piles leveled, I realize they can't level them onto areas where they're still working. So I was hopeful that they were getting closer to that. But I think, you know, they're paddling in the right direction. I've had zero complaints from people from Firano, and that's not to say they're not unhappy, but they've been very patient. And I think they see, you know, activity out there. We're not sitting on our hands. And so, you know, anything that you can tell us in the future that you hear from the property owner would be appreciated. Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Just one comment, and it's a caution about leveling of the piles that are, in fact, there. Those July 25, 2023 Page 79 actually work as sight and sound barriers for the work that's being accomplished inside. And every time I go by that site, every time I'm coming here, I see them moving closer and closer to Davis Boulevard, and those piles that are there do act as sight and sound barriers -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yeah. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- which help keep the residents that are in proximity from being impacted by the work that's being accomplished. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. MS. COOK: Thank you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Thank you. Do we have any other staff updates? MS. PATTERSON: No, sir, not on this agenda. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. What's next? Item #15C STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS MS. PATTERSON: That brings us to 15C. This is staff and commission general communications. We do have a couple of items. First, to clarify the comments about the defunding of EMS, that actually is not the intent of that item. The item in reference was the items on the consent agenda relative to the art federal funds. Every year we go through a process dealing with over $74 million in funds that were provided by the federal government and the various uses. So those funds, from time to time, are reallocated. There's been money that was allocated to EMS to buy ambulances, to offset July 25, 2023 Page 80 staffing costs. This is simply just a shifting of -- an internal funding shift of that money. It is not a defunding of EMS. Their budgets remain intact. In fact, if you'll recall that we -- this board gave EMS 24 positions last year to try to bolster the staffing situation over there with the intent that we'll continue to provide staffing to rightsize that organization as well as funding equipment, whatever is needed, in EMS. We're simply waiting for those positions to be filled, and we can see how the system reacts to the infusion of those people to then be able to make the next ask. So that item was not any -- any defunding of EMS in any way. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So the 433,000 that we saved by not buying that lot on Marco, you're sending that to Chief Butcher immediately to fund EMS or to buy more library books? MS. PATTERSON: No, sir. Again, that's back in our buckets. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: You know, it's a correction of the record, you know. I mean, it's -- you know, I hope that, you know, citizens who are -- who have concern and passion but also, you know, just as they demand we do our homework and, you know, they remind us that they think we haven't read anything, the reality is, the responsibility works on both sides. So, I mean, I say that, you know, sarcastically but to really correct the record that dollars don't work that way. So I appreciate, you know, that clarification, and I think we all understood it up here, but we're just trying to move along. MS. PATTERSON: For the viewing public, there's nothing more important to this board than public safety. So any suggestion that we are not putting our full effort behind public safety, I believe we need to make that clarification. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: And, you know, I will say July 25, 2023 Page 81 something that's probably premature, but our County Manager's really behind the scenes doing a lot of work with our fire leadership to take a look at all fire stations. You know, one of the things that's been on my short list is I've got a couple of fire stations that took major hits during Hurricane Irma and Ian. They're significantly undersized, significantly underwhelming. I wouldn't want to bring the Governor through a couple of our fire stations. On the flip side, due to the heroics of first responders that we have in Collier County, you know, you can give them a pup tent and a camping stove, and they'll put 50 people in that tent, and they'll fight fires all day along, you know. So they always make it work. But I really appreciate how aggressively, you know, you've tackled that issue. And then, you know, we look forward that when you have something that you think is presentation ready for us to educate us on -- you know, that we're not going to be kicking the can anymore on these fire stations and together, you know, we know that the fire leadership is a complicated group in Collier County, but I appreciate all the efforts and your leadership pulling that group together and, you know, we look forward to your guidance to us as to, you know, where we're going to make a significant impact or where we're going to start, regardless of whose district it is, you know, where the priorities are and how we're going to help improve safety in that area. MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: So thank you. MS. PATTERSON: Thank you. We look forward to reporting back soon. Second is Citizens -- I just need to put this notice on for the public again, is Citizens Property Insurance Corporation will be holding office hours on Tuesday, August 15th, from 10:00 a.m. to July 25, 2023 Page 82 1:00 p.m. in President Passidomo's office on the second floor of the building that we're in. This is Building F down here on the main campus on the corner of Airport and 41. The meetings will be by appointment only. Constituents can schedule an appointment by contacting President Passidomo's office at (239)417-6205. We'll also put this out on our various information platforms. But just with the evolving situation with property insurance, we want to make sure that we're getting this information out. For people that are having difficulties, there will be this availability. And I'll announce this next meeting as well just to be sure it's getting out there. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. MS. PATTERSON: With that, I have nothing else. County Attorney? MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing, thank you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. Troy, do you have anything you wanted to add? MR. MILLER: I'm good. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I'll start with Commissioner Kowal. Do you have anything to add, sir? COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Yes, Chairman. I'd just like to say, I know I keep revisiting this Conservation Collier thing, but I just want to make sure that people out there understand that, you know, I think the system works. I think it's a great program. And, you know, what we did back in, I want to say, January, probably the first meeting in January, or maybe it was in December, you know, we voted 5-0 as a Board up here to move forward and make offers on these properties and not just blanketly give appraised values because we want to make sure we have more money in the July 25, 2023 Page 83 pot. And we have other properties that are just as valuable to the ecosystem or the animals, you know, the endangered creatures on the lots, that we have more money to purchase more property. And, you know, we've been moving forward. And just -- I've got a short list in front of me. There's five parcels right here on this list. All five of them, we offered less than what the appraised value was, and everybody accepted it. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yep. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So it's not uncommon that we're doing this now, and it's working. And I don't want people to take this the wrong way, but I don't -- I don't appreciate Marco City Council, in a way, kind of undermining our authority in what we all decided to do at the initial meeting 5-0, to offer, you know, a legitimate price for these properties that we feel is fair and to make the program work, you know, because it just -- it almost gives them an idea that, well, somebody can just come in behind us and say, all right, we'll make up the difference. These guys don't know what they're doing, you know. And I kind of took it personal. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yep. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: You know, so I just want to make sure everybody knows that, and that -- you know, and I was unsure who was representing the property owner here today. I mean, was it Marco Island? Even if we voted to give the $432,000, you know, from the program, Conservation Collier, were they willing to -- who was going to accept it, or where was it going to go? I mean, I don't even know if they would have even accepted the offer that we were -- that possibly we could have reached today. You know, they could have -- July 25, 2023 Page 84 CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No, they had already negotiated that, so Conservation Collier would have presented it, but they -- you know, they came here saying we have an offer that's been accepted, but you have to approve it. So that's what would have happened. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Who did that communication? Was it the City of Marco that went to them and said, hey, we're going to give an additional $10,000 -- CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: -- let's revisit this? CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: No. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So that's what my confusion in this whole process was. And I want it just to be clean moving forward. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Absolutely. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: And, you know, in what we believe in as a body up here, and it showed with our 5-0 vote back then. So I just want to clear the record on that. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Yes, sir. Thank you. Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: Yes. I just wanted just to clarify something that went on the consent agenda to the public. We approved some reallocation of some COVID funds that we weren't going to use, and there was about 4.4 million of that that was going towards affordable housing. So I asked, what is that specifically being used for in affordable housing? And the answer was, we are going to reduce impact fees for the Golden Gate Golf Course affordable housing project and also for the Harmony project down on Santa Barbara. And those are going to be -- those funds from the federal government will be used for Collier July 25, 2023 Page 85 County to reduce the impact fees so that we can give incentive to the developers to get these units built where people can afford to live in them. Just wanted to clarify that for you. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No comment. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I've got a few things. First of all, I really want to thank my colleagues on the Conservation Collier discussion. My goal wasn't to ramrod something through, but some new information came to light. I couldn't agree with Commissioner Kowal more or Commissioner Saunders' comment that we want to stay true to the Conservation Collier project. So, you know, I had a real problem. I don't think there was a negative intent by the City of Marco. They felt very passionate that this piece of property did link some other properties. But I agree with you wholeheartedly that the Conservation Collier project needs to sit on its own, and outside entities, that's a bad precedent to set. And so, you know, what I appreciate from all of you isn't so much -- I'm not here thinking sour grapes with the vote. I'm more impressed with the discussion, the ability to take another reattack at something. And we have so many properties that are coming to us, and they all stand on their own. There's going to be some properties that come and we think we're getting a steal because they accepted it, you know, below price, but it may or may not be as environmentally valuable, but we'll take those one at a time, I mean -- and so I think we are doing our due diligence. You know, I was one of the people that really did say, if you remember, hey, I think we should run this like a business and negotiate a bit more, right? I mean, if somebody owns a house next to a piece of property, maybe they're the ones that are going to get the July 25, 2023 Page 86 best deal. If they don't want to accept it, you know, then so be it. But thank you, you know, so much, and I think, you know, folks that maybe are disappointed that we didn't buy that piece of property certainly can't be disappointed in the process. A couple of things I just wrote down here that are just more of reminders to the group, although, Ms. Patterson and I spoke about it yesterday, none of us have forgotten about the unfunded list, so we've got a lot of hot things, but work's being done by our staff on that. We had a good conversation about the sports complex that at some point -- and as Commissioner McDaniel said, he's got some good information that he hears at the TDC. So it's just a matter of sort of combining all of that, either hearing from Commissioner McDaniel or, you know -- I never want anybody to feel like we're stifling them from the podium. Whether it's the AHAC, you know, leadership or it's our sports complex people, there's ways to funnel information in here. But, you know, there's been a lot of activity, a lot of big events at the sports complex. I just want to make sure that we separate rumor from fact so that when we have town hall meetings and sometimes somebody raises their hand and says, oh, you had a big football thing out there, but I heard it cost the taxpayers $50 million, you know, to fund that or whatever. You know, we want to make sure that we go on the record saying, well, that actually wasn't the case or it was. But I feel we're headed in a -- in a good direction out in the sports complex. I'd just like to put a little meat on the bone as to how good of a direction. The marina contracts, you know, that's another one. I just want to make sure that one's on a -- has a sense of urgency. You know, we're sort of getting that one back on track, but it shouldn't take July 25, 2023 Page 87 months. And then, you know, I don't want to sound super controversial here, but there was an editorial written in the local Marco newspaper this past week about the Eagle Lake Park and all the things the County hasn't done and all the -- all the -- you know, there were some accusations made against our hardworking County staff that there were some projects that were all, you know, ready to go, ribbons ready to be cut, and then at the end, you know, we canceled everything. And so there was quite a few things mentioned in that editorial that really concerned me because I know how hard our Parks staff is working, and there were quite a few things in that editorial that actually were flat untrue. Maybe the author thought they were true, but the reality is they weren't. So Ms. Patterson and our Parks and Recreation staff are -- we're going to answer that mail, you know, because just like you saw here when somebody throws out something, at least me, particularly, I feel like we don't just say, yes, sir, and then, you know, if we have comment -- and we have quite a bit of comment. There's been a lot of good done out at that park, and a lot of the things that were stated in the editorial that we haven't done on purpose actually were totally untrue. So we'll look for your, you know, correction to that, and then we will respond back to that person, and also, you know, I want to make sure that I respond back to my constituents who probably read that editorial and took it as fact when, actually, it was -- it couldn't be further from the truth. Commissioner McDaniel. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Thank you, Chair. I did want to -- you know, you brought up two points I wanted to July 25, 2023 Page 88 make. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Sir. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I apologize. I had made -- I had made a statement that I would be more diligent and bring it forward what's going on at Paradise Coast and have it at our meetings. We will have a report at our next meeting, I promise. I neglected to do that for this particular meeting. I did share that there was some new information that came at the TDC meeting. But I didn't bring that forward today, so that one's on me. The other is on the unfunded request list that was close to 10-and-a-half-million dollars; eight and a half of that were septic-to-sewer conversion. And I'd like to have some very in-depth -- when that comes forward -- not today -- but I'd like to have some very in-depth conversations with regard to that. We are obliged to pay for the capital expenses associated with the septic-to-sewer conversion for another utility. And no -- my understanding is that that other utility is the City of Naples. And so -- but, typically, when we're doing our own water and sewer conversions, there's an appropriation at least of a portion. And Amy's sitting down there wanting to interrupt me so -- MS. PATTERSON: Nope. COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: But I just want to make sure that we have an in-depth discussion because typically we have, at least in the recent past, been appropriating a portion of the revenue stream associated with the ongoing operations to a capital fund for ultimate replacement of those assets, because they are our assets. And in this particular case, I don't think -- I don't believe that that appropriation is, in fact, in place. And so I'd like to have that discussion when we do talk about the July 25, 2023 Page 89 unfunded -- the UFR, as we call it, the unfunded request list. MS. PATTERSON: If I may, the project we're talking about is a joint project between the City of Naples and Collier County, but the only portion that we're looking at -- or are financially responsible for is the stormwater portion of that project. So it's actually a three-part -- this is the second phase of an ongoing project in three parts: Water and wastewater, which is handled by the City of Naples, and stormwater, which is Collier County. It's actually a really interesting situation, because they are unincorporated Collier County residents who happen to be served by the City utility. So it's a little bit tricky. We are responsible for their stormwater, and the project absolutely has to go together, because -- COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: There's no argument about the validity of the project being a stretch. I had forgotten that our portion of it was for -- predominantly for stormwater, so... MS. PATTERSON: We have planned to talk about the UFR on the next board meeting specifically because there's a meeting this week relative to that project that's going to give us updated time frames as well as hopefully some updated costs so that we can bring you the best information on that project, and then we can talk about all the ins and outs of it. How the assessment will be handled, because whether it's the city utility, they're still county residents, and that assessment for the utility portion of that project will be the subject of some conversation going forward. Now, they have received some money from the State of Florida to offset, but we'll be talking about a funding strategy for that as well. So expect that exciting conversation forthcoming on the UFR. CHAIRMAN LoCASTRO: Okay. I had just a couple small July 25, 2023 Page 90 closing comments, but I wanted to give anybody else a chance to say anything. So two quick things. I want to give a positive shout-out to Mosquito Control. I've had some issues in my district, and I just want to say they've been so responsive, so professional, and, you know, quick to spray where they needed to spray, quick to respond to citizens and explain why they could or couldn't, but the customer service out of Mosquito Control, at least for the needs that I had in my district, have been stellar. And second, I want to -- and I know that I'm going to give a shout-out to one particular person, but he represents a much larger group who have worked hard, and that's Mr. John Mullins. We've had so many centennial events all over Collier County from opening time capsules -- and correct me if I'm wrong. I heard they opened up a time capsule and Leo Ochs was in it. I don't know. That was a little weird. But, no, I just say that, John, you know, your -- the work that your staff and you have done behind the scenes -- and, you know, we can throw a shout-out to the Clerk of Courts, you know. She led a great event, and there's been things all over the county. They haven't been, like, overdone where they're sort of running out of steam. They've really been timed really well. They've gotten really, really great, you know, publicity and branding, marketing, what you will. And I say that because I remember before we even sort of turned the corner, I think, on January -- maybe it was last full -- you were updating all of us and showing us sort of a sneak peak of the symbols and the banners and all that you, and to see it all, like, actually hanging from light posts, whether you're in Everglades City or here or wherever, seeing these events -- and I know there's many more things, you know, to come. July 25, 2023 Page 91 So, you know, great work. It is a huge milestone for our county, and I'm really proud of the way that we're celebrating it. I'll say again, I'm really proud of how the County pivoted with the fireworks, you know. That's also part of our big celebration. So, you know, there is a lot of good going on, and it's being led by, you know, a lot of folks that maybe we don't see at these meetings but that work really hard, and we see the results of their efforts. So, you know, one of the things I always say is, you know, their hardworking efforts don't go unnoticed and are certainly appreciated by all of us and the citizens as well. So thanks, John, and please relay that to, you know, the staff that I know has worked so hard behind the scenes to make these events possible. Thank you very much. Okay. Having said that, I guess we're adjourned for the day. ***** ****Commissioner McDaniel moved, seconded by Commissioner Hall and carried that the following items under the consent and summary agendas be approved and/or adopted**** Item #16A1 DIRECTED STAFF TO ADVERTISE AN ORDINANCE ADDING A NON-VOTING MEMBER OF THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE (AHAC) TO THE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE (DSAC). Item #16A2 July 25, 2023 Page 92 APPROVED FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES FOR ESPLANADE AT HACIENDA LAKES PHASE 3, PL20190000415, AND AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $4,000 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT. Item #16A3 APPROVED FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER UTILITY FACILITIES FOR GALLERIA SHOPPES AT VANDERBILT BUILDING 900 (PHASE 2B), PL20230008573. Item #16A4 APPROVED FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES AND ACCEPT THE CONVEYANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER FACILITIES FOR TERRENO AT VALENCIA GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB PHASE 1B-1 AND 1B-2, PL20230005122. Item #16A5 AUTHORIZED THE CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $205,800 WHICH WAS POSTED AS A DEVELOPMENT GUARANTY FOR AN EARLY WORK AUTHORIZATION (EWA) FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH ESPLANADE BY THE ISLANDS – PHASE July 25, 2023 Page 93 3, PL20220007192. Item #16A6 AUTHORIZED THE CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND IN THE AMOUNT OF $25,000 WHICH WAS POSTED AS A GUARANTEE FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER PL20220004553 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH NAPLES GRANDE COUNTRY CLUB 18-HOLE GOLF COURSE - LAKE #4 MODIFICATIONS. Item #16A7 APPROVED AN AGREEMENT FOR THE PURCHASE OF TWO (2) PARCELS TOTALING 6.95 ACRES FROM SILVIA M. ARIAS, UNDER THE CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION PROGRAM, AT A COST NOT TO EXCEED $118,600. Item #16A8 APPROVED AN AGREEMENT FOR PURCHASE WITH 1) MAURICE J. VAZ AND ALINDA VAZ; 2) ANDREA REPOLA BRAFFMAN AND MARY HAYES-MACALUSO; AND 3) RICHARD FRANKLIN BERMAN, TRUSTEE OF THE RICHARD FRANKLIN BERMAN REVOCABLE TRUST OF 2012, UNDER THE CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION PROGRAM, AT A COST NOT TO EXCEED $131,542. Item #16A9 July 25, 2023 Page 94 THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AUTHORIZED A BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $91,437.50 WITHIN THE CONSERVATION COLLIER MAINTENANCE FUND (1062) FOR THE RAILHEAD SCRUB PRESERVE GOPHER TORTOISE HABITAT ENHANCEMENT PROJECT. Item #16B1 APPROVED A ONE-TIME ACQUISITION OF PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE AND UPGRADED COMPONENTS FOR THE ACTIVU VIDEO WALL SITUATED IN THE COLLIER COUNTY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CENTER IN THE AMOUNT OF $78,830.01 FROM ACTIVU CORPORATION, AS AN EXEMPTION FROM THE COMPETITIVE PROCESS, AND TO AUTHORIZE STAFF TO OPEN A STANDARD BOARD APPROVED PURCHASE ORDER IN THAT AMOUNT. PROJECT 60172). Item #16B2 AUTHORIZED THE AFTER-THE-FACT PAYMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $10,355.50 TO VULCAN, INC., FOR REPLACEMENT OF EMERGENCY LOCATION IDENTIFICATION R-MONUMENT MARKERS WHICH WERE DAMAGED OR LOST DURING HURRICANE IAN AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS EXPENDITURE PROMOTES TOURISM (FUND 1105, PROJECT NO. 50280). Item #16B3 July 25, 2023 Page 95 APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO AGREEMENT NO. 20CO1 WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BUREAU OF BEACHES AND COASTAL SYSTEMS BEACH MANAGEMENT FUNDING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM AND MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM. Item #16B4 APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE SUBMITTAL OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING REQUEST (LGFR) BEACH PROJECT APPLICATIONS TO THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (FDEP) FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024/2025. Item #16B5 RATIFY ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVED CHANGE ORDER NO. 1 ADDING 105 DAYS FOR INSPECTION SERVICES TASK 1-2 AND 72 DAYS FOR INSPECTION SERVICES TASK 3-5 UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 21-7880, “CEI SERVICES FOR GOLDEN GATE PARKWAY OVER SANTA BARBARA CANAL BRIDGE REPLACEMENT,” WITH HARDESTY & HANOVER CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, LLC, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER. (PROJECT NUMBER 66066.16) Item #16B6 July 25, 2023 Page 96 APPROVED ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVED CHANGE ORDER NO. 1 UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 21-7900, “DESIGN SERVICES FOR STORMWATER IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE BCG & CC/CCN AREAS,” WITH HOLE MONTES, INC., AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER, AND APPROVE THE AFTER-THE-FACT PAYMENT OF INVOICES TOTALING $13,015. Item #16B7 AWARDED WORK ORDER FOR A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (“RFQ”) UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 20-7800, “GOODLAND DRIVE CULVERT REPLACEMENT,” TO QUALITY ENTERPRISES USA, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $842,418.35, AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED WORK ORDER, AND AUTHORIZE THE NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS. (PROJECT NUMBER 50238) Item #16C1 APPROVED A SECOND AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT NO. 18-7424, “HAZARDOUS MATERIALS MANAGEMENT,” WITH US ECOLOGY TAMPA, INC., TO EXERCISE THE FINAL RENEWAL TERM, INCORPORATE A REVISED FEE SCHEDULE, AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AMENDMENT. Item #16C2 July 25, 2023 Page 97 APPROVED THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO AGREEMENT NO. 22-8000, “QUICKLIME SUPPLY FOR COLLIER COUNTY,” WITH LHOIST NORTH AMERICA OF ALABAMA, LLC, (“LHOIST”) TO INCREASE THE FEE SCHEDULE PRICES (EXHIBIT B OF AGREEMENT). Item #16C3 AUTHORIZED A BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $881,250 TO MAINTAIN COMPLIANCE AND CONTINUE FUNDING DAILY OPERATIONS WITHIN THE WATER/SEWER OPERATING BUDGET (FUND 4008). Item #16D1 APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED A BUDGET AMENDMENT TO RECOGNIZE INTEREST EARNED, IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,093.91, FOR THE PERIOD OF OCTOBER 2022 THROUGH DECEMBER 2022 ON ADVANCED LIBRARY FUNDING RECEIVED FROM THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE TO SUPPORT LIBRARY SERVICES FOR THE USE OF COLLIER COUNTY RESIDENTS. (PUBLIC SERVICE MATCH FUND 1840) Item #16D2 AUTHORIZED A BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $56,694.47 NEEDED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY & HUMAN SERVICES CLIENT ASSISTANCE MEDICAID BILLING TO PROVIDE FOR COLLIER COUNTY’S INCREASED MEDICAID July 25, 2023 Page 98 COST SHARE BILLING REQUIRED OBLIGATION DUE FOR JULY, AUGUST, AND SEPTEMBER 2023 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, PURSUANT TO F.S. SECTION 409.915 (0001) Item #16D3 APPROVED AN AFTER-THE-FACT CONTRACT AMENDMENT BETWEEN THE AREA AGENCY ON AGING FOR SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, INC., AND COLLIER COUNTY SERVICES FOR SENIORS TO DECREASE THE EMERGENCY HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FY22 CONTRACT AMOUNT BY $81,823.89. APPROVE THE FY23 FUNDS AWARD AMOUNT OF $100,000, CHANGE THE CONTRACT END DATE TO JUNE 30, 2024, ALLOW FOR REVISIONS TO THE BUDGET SUMMARY AND AUTHORIZE THE SUPPORTING BUDGET AMENDMENT FOR $100,000. (HUMAN SERVICES GRANT FUND 1837) Item #16D4 APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE SUBRECIPIENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND HOUSING DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF SW FLORIDA, INC., D/B/A HELP TO AMEND THE QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES. (HOUSING GRANT FUND 1835) Item #16D5 July 25, 2023 Page 99 THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS APPROVED AMENDMENT EIGHT TO THE STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL RECOVERY FUND PLAN, APPROVE A REALLOCATION OF FUNDS AMONG PROJECTS AND REVISE KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, AND AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER OR DESIGNEE TO SUBMIT THE ANNUAL PERFORMANCE PLAN AND TO EXECUTE ANY SUB-AWARD AGREEMENTS AND PAYMENT REQUESTS NECESSARY TO DISTRIBUTE REIMBURSEMENT FOR EXPENSES TO ELIGIBLE PARTIES. Item #16D6 APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE THIRD AMENDMENT BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND COLLIER HEALTH SERVICES, INC., D/B/A HEALTHCARE NETWORK FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT - CV PROGRAM WITH AN INCREASE OF FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF $125,625 TO SUPPORT STAFF SALARIES OF COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS. (GRANT FUND 1835) Item #16D7 APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN A LANDLORD PAYMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND WILD PINES OWNER LLC, WILD PINES TIC II OWNER LLC AND WILD PINES TIC III OWNER LLC, ALLOWING THE COMMUNITY AND HUMAN SERVICES DIVISION (CHS) TO ADMINISTER THE RAPID RE-HOUSING July 25, 2023 Page 100 AND HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION PROGRAM THROUGH THE EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS AND RAPID UNSHELTERED SURVIVOR HOUSING GRANTS PROGRAM (ESG AND ESG RUSH). (HOUSING GRANT FUND 1835 AND HOUSING MATCH FUND 1836) Item #16F1 RATIFY THE ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVED CHANGE ORDER NO. 9, ADDING NINETY (90) DAYS UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 18-7469, “CEI FOR BIG CORKSCREW ISLAND REGIONAL PARK” PROJECT, WITH WSP USA ENVIRONMENT & INFRASTRUCTURE INC., AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER. (PROJECT NO. 80039.1.3) (THIS ITEM A COMPANION TO 16F2) Item #16F2 RATIFY ADMINISTRATIVELY APPROVED CHANGE ORDER NO. 9, PROVIDING FOR A 90 DAY EXTENSION UNDER AGREEMENT NO. 16-6622, “BIG CORKSCREW ISLAND REGIONAL PARK,” WITH Q. GRADY MINOR & ASSOCIATES, P.A., AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED CHANGE ORDER. (PROJECT NO. 80039) (THIS ITEM A COMPANION TO 16F1) Item #16F3 EXTENDED THE IMMOKALEE IMPACT FEE INSTALLMENT July 25, 2023 Page 101 PAYMENT PILOT PROGRAM, WHICH PROVIDES FOR INSTALLMENT PAYMENTS OF IMPACT FEES FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION LOCATED WITHIN THE IMMOKALEE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AREA, FOR FIVE YEARS AND MODIFY THE PAYMENT TERMS TO DETERMINE IF SUCH CHANGES IMPROVE PROGRAM PARTICIPATION. Item #16F4 DIRECTED THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO ADVERTISE AND BRING BACK FOR A PUBLIC HEARING AN AMENDMENT TO THE "REGULATION OF OUTDOOR BURNING AND INCENDIARY DEVICES DURING DROUGHT CONDITIONS ORDINANCE" (ORD. 2009-23, AS AMENDED) IN ORDER TO AUTHORIZE THE CHAIR OR, IN HIS OR HER ABSENCE, THE VICE-CHAIR TO REVOKE AN EXISTING BURN BAN BY RESOLUTION, TO BE BROUGHT TO THE BOARD AT ITS NEXT REGULAR MEETING. Item #16F5 RESOLUTION 2023-137: RESOLUTION AND TO APPROVE A LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION STORAGE FOR HASKINS, INC., FOR THE PALM RIVER PUBLIC UTILITIES RENEWAL PROJECT, AREAS 1 & 2, TO UTILIZE COUNTY- OWNED PROPERTY. Item #16F6 AUTHORIZED THE AFTER-THE-FACT PAYMENT OF July 25, 2023 Page 102 WORK/PURCHASE ORDER NO. 4500223154 TO EARTH TECH ENVIRONMENTAL, LLC, IN THE AMOUNT OF $6,642.50 IN CONNECTION WITH A PROTECTED SPECIES SURVEY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITTING SERVICES PROVIDED UNDER CONTRACT NO. 18-7432-EV, WHICH WERE NECESSARY IN CONNECTION WITH THE ONGOING PROJECT AT THE FORMER GOLDEN GATE GOLF COURSE, AND TO RATIFY/APPROVE AND ACCEPT STAFF’S JANUARY 30, 2023, EMAIL TO EARTH TECH TO SERVE AS THE OFFICIAL NOTICE TO PROCEED INITIATING SERVICES FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES IN THE NOT TO EXCEED QUOTED AMOUNT OF $23,520.00 UNDER THAT WORK/PURCHASE ORDER. Item #16F7 RESOLUTION 2023-138: 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 #16J1 APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT AUTHORIZING THE COLLIER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE TO HAVE TRAFFIC CONTROL July 25, 2023 Page 103 JURISDICTION OVER PRIVATE ROADS WITHIN THE RANCH AT ORANGE BLOSSOM SUBDIVISION. Item #16J2 RECORDED 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 JUNE 29, 2023, AND JULY 12, 2023, PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06. Item #16J3 APPROVED AND DETERMINED VALID PUBLIC PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND PURCHASING CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF JULY 19, 2023. Item #16K1 RESOLUTION 2023-139: APPOINTTED TWO MEMBERS TO THE BLACK AFFAIRS ADVISORY BOARD. Item #16K2 APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE A SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT WHICH WILL DISMISS WITH PREJUDICE AT NO FURTHER COST TO EITHER PARTY ALL CLAIMS BROUGHT BY THE CONSERVANCY OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, INC. AGAINST July 25, 2023 Page 104 COLLIER COUNTY CONCERNING THE BOARD’S APPROVAL OF THE RIVERGRASS VILLAGE SRA. Item #16K3 THE BOARD 1) ACCEPT A QUIT CLAIM DEED FROM PELICAN MARSH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT (PMCDD) ASSUMING OWNERSHIP AND MAINTENANCE OF TWO BRIDGES CARRYING GOODLETTE FRANK ROAD OVER THE PELICAN MARSH COMMUNITY; 2) GRANT AN EASEMENT TO PMCDD AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE EASEMENT INSTRUMENT, ALLOWING CONTINUED ACCESS AND MAINTENANCE UNDERNEATH THE GOODLETTE-FRANK ROAD BRIDGE ALONG PELICAN MARSH BLVD.; AND 3) APPROVE AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN A COLLIER COUNTY LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN COLLIER COUNTY AND PMCDD, FOR LANDSCAPE AND IRRIGATION IMPROVEMENTS WITHIN GOODLETTE FRANK RIGHT-OF- WAY AT PELICAN MARSH. Item #16L1 AWARD INVITATION TO BID (“ITB”) NO. 23-8084, “IMMOKALEE MUNICIPAL SERVICE TAXING UNIT (MSTU) LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE” TO A&M PROPERTY MAINTENANCE LLC, AS THE PRIMARY VENDOR, AND SUPERIOR LANDSCAPING & LAWN SERVICE INC., AS THE SECONDARY VENDOR AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENTS. July 25, 2023 Page 105 Item #17A ORDINANCE 2023-37: ORDINANCE ALLOWING FOR PUBLICATION OF CERTAIN STATUTORILY REQUIRED LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS, PUBLICATIONS, AND NOTICES ON THE CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT’S PUBLIC NOTICE WEBSITE IN LIEU OF NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION. Item #17B RESOLUTION 2023-140: RESOLUTION APPROVING AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING CARRY FORWARD, TRANSFERS, AND SUPPLEMENTAL REVENUE) TO THE FY22-23 ADOPTED BUDGET. (THE BUDGET AMENDMENTS IN THE ATTACHED RESOLUTION HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS VIA SEPARATE EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES.) ***** July 25, 2023 Page 106 There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 11:40 a.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL __________________________________ RICK LoCASTRO, CHAIRMAN ATTEST CRYSTAL K. KINZEL, CLERK ___________________________ These minutes approved by the Board on ____________, as presented ______________ or as corrected _____________. TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS COURT REPORTING BY TERRI L. LEWIS, REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL COURT REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY PUBLIC.