Loading...
Agenda 07/08/2025 Item # 2B (BCC Workshop Minutes 06/19/2025)June 19, 2025 Page 1 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida June 19, 2025 FY 2026 BUDGET WORKSHOP 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 SPECIAL SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following Board members present: Chairman: Burt L. Saunders Dan Kowal (appearing remotely) Chris Hall Rick LoCastro William L. McDaniel, Jr. (Absent) ALSO PRESENT: Amy Patterson, County Manager Ed Finn, Deputy County Manager Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations Page 196 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 2 MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning. This budget workshop will please come to order. I want to welcome everybody here this morning. It's going to be a very lengthy budget workshop, but I think we'll get through it today. We have -- before we begin with the business of the meeting, I'd like to ask Commissioner Hall if he would give us a brief invocation, then I'll ask Commissioner LoCastro if he would lead us in the Pledge. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir. COMMISSIONER HALL: I said, "The last one talking says the prayer." I guess I was the last one talking. Bow your heads with me, please. Thank you, Father, for today. We thank you for the -- your presence. We thank you for your wisdom. We thank you, Lord, that everything that we lay our hand to in this county is blessed by you. We thank you for being with every presenter; may they have everything come to their remembrance. And we thank you, Father, for unity, and we most of all thank you for loving us, and I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Please join me. (The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.) CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have Commissioner Kowal on the phone, so we'll need a motion to permit Commissioner Kowal to participate. COMMISSIONER HALL: So moved. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We have a motion and second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Aye. Page 197 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 3 COMMISSIONER HALL: Aye. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That passes unanimously. Commissioner Kowal, can you hear us okay? (No response.) MR. MILLER: That may be on me. Let me check something. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I just want to confirm he's with us. COMMISSIONER HALL: I want to know if he voted for himself. MR. MILLER: Yes, he's there now. Sorry. That was on my end. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. All right. Good morning again. GENERAL OVERVIEW MS. PATTERSON: Good morning. Welcome to your budget workshop, June 19th, 2025. With that, we're going to straight into the presentation, and Mr. Johnson, your director of Corporate -- MR. JOHNSON: Financial. MS. PATTERSON: -- Financial -- okay. Never mind. He's going to say his title. It just left my brain. Mr. Johnson, welcome. MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Ms. Patterson. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. For the record, Christopher Johnson, your director of Corporate Financial and Management Services, and I do have to write that down as well, so... I'm excited to be here today for your FY 2026 budget workshop. Before I start, I just want to look around the room to the people watching and just give a big thanks to all the departments, the constitutionals, and the court and court-related offices' staff for all their efforts getting us to this point right now. I know it's a heavy lift. Page 198 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 4 All right. Moving on. What are we doing today? Today I'm going to give you a general overview of the FY '26 recommended budget. We'll go into individual section discussions starting with the court-related agencies, followed by the constitutional officers, then the County Manager's agency, the County Attorney, and the Board of County Commissioners. At the end of the presentations, we will have a recap and a summary discussion. We have Chris Fabian here from ResourceX to give a presentation on Phase 2 of our ResourceX process that will -- that will happen in the summary section of the discussion. All right. And I know everyone's excited, so I'm going to pull the current back on this. And we'll -- and we're going to start with our FY '25/'26 Collier County budget timeline. So I'm going to start with where we've been, and we'll show you where we're going. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Did that special graphic cost us any extra money? Because we're on a tight budget. MR. JOHNSON: It did not. It was a -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: That came out of your own pocket? MR. JOHNSON: It was a free download included with what we have. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you. Thank you for the donation. MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Commissioner. As you-all remember, in February we started with our FY '26 budget policy discussion. From there, we had our strategic plan priority-based budgeting workshop in March. From there, the Board adopted the FY '26 budget policy also in March, on March 11th. Last Friday, the Board received the FY '26 budget document. Today we're having our FY '26 priority-based budgeting workshop. On July 8th, the Board will adopt the proposed maximum Page 199 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 5 millage rates as the maximum property rates to be levied in FY '26. The items you'll see in yellow are the dates where we will be meeting in this room. So there's a few of them on here. July 15th, the tentative FY '26 budget by fund, we'll be to the Board with a change log with any changes made from today's meeting to that point. On or about August 4th, we provide the Property Appraiser with millage rates and rolled-back rates for the first public hearing and the first public hearing date. On or before 8/24, the Property Appraiser will mail out the TRIM notices to all property owners within the county. On September 4th, that's the scheduled date for our first public hearing to adopt the proposed millage rates and tentative FY '26 budget. That will be held in this room at 5:05 p.m. This is for property owners. The Value Adjustment Board petition filing deadline is usually the second Friday of September. And then finally, on September 18th, our second and final public hearing is scheduled to adopt the millage rates and the FY '26 budget. And again, that will be held in this room starting at 5:05 p.m. And finally, we're required to submit our TRIM compliance package to the Department of Revenue by the 6th of October. All right. With that, I'll jump into the budget characteristic for your FY '26 recommended budget. The budget process conforms with Chapter 129 of the Florida Statute, annual county budget. The budget, as presented, is balanced and was prioritized in conjunction with ResourceX. The budget provides the county with a flexible planning tool. This budget provides sufficient budget required to conduct the business of government. The document reflects the best effort of your staff and constitutional officers to maintain and, where appropriate, enhance services for the benefit of our residents and visitors, and the budget provides the financial approach for execution Page 200 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 6 of the county's strategic plan. On that note, the budget includes funding for strategic priorities including but not limited to the following: There's stormwater maintenance funding; hurricane and multi-hazard preparedness funding; beach renourishment funding; cybersecurity; CCSO forensic building, including -- specifically for the furniture, fixtures, and equipment; road transportation money, including County Road 951 from Golden Gate to Green Boulevard; roadway resurfacing; and employee recruitment and retention. Moving on to the FY '26 tax policy. The tax policy -- the tax rate is based on budget requirements. This budget is currently built around a millage-neutral rate in the General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund. The budget was developed utilizing a priority-based budgeting approach. Further program adjustments or funding realignment may result in changes to the millage rate, and I'd just like to note that currently we're working off of the June preliminary rates. We will receive the final taxable value from the Property Appraiser in July, on July 1st. And then the MSTUs were limited to a millage rate sufficient to cover current budget year operations and planned annual capital program allocations. Preliminary taxable value, this chart here shows you the prior year final gross taxable value, the current year adjusted taxable value, the current year taxable value. In the General Fund, actually countywide in all three of our taxing districts that are countywide, the increase was $12.4 billion. 4.1 billion of that was associated with net new growth or new construction. That's about a 2.7 percent increase related to net new; and 8.17 percent increase overall. In the unincorporated area, the taxable value rose from 96.4 billion to 104.6 billion. About $8.1 billion of that 3 billion was Page 201 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 7 related to net new taxable value, or about 3.1 percent. And just for a note, the state ad valorem estimating conference has projected a continued tax base increase. They're projecting 7.8 and 6.5 for '26 and '27 respectively. If you recall from our earlier meetings, they did predict around 11 or 12 percent this year, and currently we're at about eight. Any questions on this slide at all? (No response.) MR. JOHNSON: All right. Moving on, this is just putting those numbers in a -- in chart format. So this is a five-year taxable value history for the General Fund and Unincorporated General Fund. In the last five years, the General Fund has property values -- or taxable value has gone up 57 percent, and 59 percent in the unincorporated area. So significant increases. All right. Our preliminary tax scenarios. This chart here shows you our prior year adopted tax dollars, the current year rolled-back tax dollars based on the preliminary taxable value. In green there you'll see the variance between the rolled-back and the prior year. In the General Fund, it's about $12 million. In the Unincorporated Area General Fund it's $2 million. That tax -- that tax revenue increase is attributable to the net new taxable value I discussed a couple slides earlier. Then you have your millage-neutral tax dollars, and in blue there you'll see the variance between last year and this year. The General Fund is $36.7 million increase, and unincorporated area is $5.5 million. And then finally in yellow there you'll see the difference between the rolled-back and millage-neutral rates. Moving on to our preliminary tax scenarios versus policy. So what I did here was I put the policy planning numbers there in yellow. If you recall, the Board's policy approved a 5 percent -- or Page 202 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 8 was built around -- the planning scenario was built around a 5 percent increase in taxable value. Based on the taxable value we received in June, you can see in green there that's the difference between our policy number and our roll-back number. So it's about an $11 million difference for the General Fund. About 1.2 million for the Unincorporated Area General Fund. Then moving over to the far right, you'll see the blue column. That's the variance between millage neutral and policy. That is 13.8 million in the General Fund and 2.2 in the Unincorporated Area General Fund. Any questions on that before I move on? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: No, sir. MR. JOHNSON: All right. Thank you. This slide here illustrates the contributions to the TIF districts; our CRAs, the City of Naples CRA, and our innovation zones. The total this year is about $19.1 million. That is an increase of about 2.2 million from last year in total for the General Fund and the Unincorporated Area General Fund combined. I put this slide up again. I know you all have seen this. This is our General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund taxpayer savings. Moving to rolled-back in tax year '23 and '24 has resulted in $152.6 million savings over the historical millage rate, and the recommended budget presented to you today, based on millage neutral, would create another $103.9 million in savings as compared to that -- I'm sorry -- that tax year 2022 rate. Any questions on that? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: No. MR. JOHNSON: All right. So your FY '26 net budget totals $2.215 billion. That's an increase of 19.5 million over the FY '25 budget. The FY '26 General Fund budget totals 728.9 million. That's an increase of 30.7 million over FY '25. And finally, your FY '26 Page 203 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 9 Unincorporated Area General Fund budget totals 91.3 million, an increase of 6.5 over the FY '25. Overall budget guidance of 3 percent for operating and 5 percent for capital was met for County Manager agency General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund budgeted operations and capital. Again, this is calculated based upon net cost impact. That formula is your program expense minus your program revenue equals your net cost impact. Expanded service requests, this budget includes $19.5 million in expanded service requests. The expanded services -- the budgeted County Manager operating expanded services total 4.9 million and include 12 FTEs plus 12 vehicles, and operating increases for EMS, Code Enforcement, Domestic Animal Services, CHS, Facilities, Parks, PUD, and the Ochopee Fire district. Budgeted expanded capital projects total $6.8 million and include funding for the Sheriff, Stormwater, and the Museum. Expanded countywide capital reserves total 7.8 million. So in that countywide capital reserve fund, we have an expanded line with 7.8 million in additional funding going into that above and beyond the policy number of five, and I'll go over that in a little more detail in a second here. This chart just depicts the expanded requests by fund. Again, the total is 19.5 million, 12 FTEs, and 12 vehicles. Any questions on any of the expanded before I move on? (No response.) MR. JOHNSON: All right. The recommended budget includes an investment in the work -- in the workforce. Per budget policy for FY '26, the recommended budget includes a 2.5 percent wage increase to all classifications, plus we set aside a half a percent for pay plan maintenance to strengthen targeted classifications. The employee healthcare, per budget policy, the recommended Page 204 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 10 budget includes the 9 percent increase to the existing rate structure required to keep that -- that fund at the 99 percentile. Reserves, General Fund reserves increased to 79.6 million from 77.6. It's -- the reserves equal about 12.3 percent of General Fund expenses. In the unincorporated area, their reserves increased to 8 million, or 9.6 percent of unincorporated area expenses. Those reserves are important to maintain cash flow at the beginning of the year before property taxes come in and also are looked at by our rating agencies. COMMISSIONER HALL: I have a question right there, Chris. MR. JOHNSON: Yeah, go ahead. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: Are you saying in 2025 we had 77.6 million in reserves, and now we're only going to 79.6, so we increasing that -- are we increasing it 79 million -- MR. JOHNSON: No, sir. That's -- COMMISSIONER HALL: -- or we're only increasing it the 2 million? MR. JOHNSON: That's the total reserve. So it's a 2 million -- it's a $2 million increase. COMMISSIONER HALL: That's what I was thinking. Okay. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Could you kind of explain just briefly where those reserves are and why they are on hold? I mean, what those -- what makes up those reserves? MR. JOHNSON: Certainly. So these are your -- specifically your General Fund and your Unincorporated Area General Fund reserves. The General Fund reserves consist of a reserve for cash flow. There's also restricted reserves from previous board action in there. And we also have to hold reserves for all the constitutional officers. In the unincorporated area, it's a mix between reserve for cash Page 205 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 11 flow, and there's also a capital reserve that we keep in that. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: This would not include reserves for bond issues that have been -- for different projects and things like that where you have to have -- MR. JOHNSON: No. Those are in -- those are in their own funds. And this also doesn't include the next slide, which is your countywide capital reserves. These are just -- this is just specifically your General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund reserves. And on that note, so here is the history of your countywide capital reserve from FY '20 to recommended FY '26. In '23, we had -- we hit the high of 35.8 million. After the multiple hurricanes that we've had, those reserves have been reduced. Currently this year, they sit at 7.6 million. This FY '26 recommended budget plan plans to increase those reserves next year to $20.4 million. And again, that 20.4 consists of the 7.6 existing, 5 million from policy, and 7.8 in that expanded reserve request. Any questions on that? (No response.) MR. JOHNSON: All right. I'll move on to capital. This table here represents our General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund supported capital transfers. So what you're seeing here is transfers to these specific capital funds. The total this year is 101.5 million towards capital initiatives. That is up about $16 million from '25. Any questions on this one? (No response.) MR. JOHNSON: All right. And then -- and then these are your General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Fund supported capital budgets. These are the -- these are the budgets that receive the transfers from the aforementioned slide. And the total for the county is $127.4 million for General Fund and Unincorporated Area General Page 206 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 12 Fund supported budgets, and they're all listed there. This chart depicts the allocation of the 127.4 million. 90.7 million of that is going to renewal and replacement projects, 25.5 is going to named projects or new initiatives, and 11.1 million or 11.2 million is going to other projects, software and things of the sort. Any questions on that? (No response.) MR. JOHNSON: All right. And then here is your overall countywide capital budget, $776.9 million. The largest portion of this is with the Public Utilities department, 239.8 million; followed by countywide capital projects at 191.2 million. Just for reference, that's a new section we put in your book, the countywide capital projects. You'll find it under the Facilities tab. That consists of our Countywide Capital 3001 Fund; our Hurricane Disaster Recovery Fund, 1813; and our Surtax Fund, 3018. And then Transportation comes in third there with $178.4 million in capital. Any questions on that? (No response.) MR. JOHNSON: All right. Well, that concludes my initial overview. Happy to take any questions from you now; otherwise, we'll start with our courts staff. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let's see if Commissioner Kowal has any questions. MR. MILLER: No, he has not -- if he raises his hand, I'll alert you on pad there, on the iPad. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't see any questions. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: I have no questions. Thank you. COURTS AND RELATED AGENCIES (STATE ATTORNEY AND PUBLIC DEFENDER) Page 207 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 13 MR. JOHNSON: All right. Well, with that, we'll move on to our courts. Thank you, gentlemen. MS. SMITH: Good morning. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning. MR. MONTECALVO: Good morning, Commissioners. JUDGE FOSTER: Hi, guys. I'm happy to sit back there. MR. RICE: Good morning, Commissioners. For the record, my name's Chuck Rice. I'm your court administrator here in Collier County, and I put these three dignitaries on the hot seat, so any questions can be directed at them. I'll introduce to the -- to your right, Rich Montecalvo from the State Attorney's Office. MR. MONTECALVO: Good morning. MR. RICE: Kathy Smith, our Public Defender. MS. SMITH: Good morning. MR. RICE: And our administrative judge here in Collier County, Joe Foster. JUDGE FOSTER: (Waves hand.) MR. RICE: Also, I'd like to recognize two of our staff, Debbie Mravic in the front row. She's our civil division director that oversees the family and civil side of the courts, and she's prepared to answer any questions on that, and Jeff Nichols to her left. He's our criminal division director, and he's prepared to answer any questions about the criminal side of the courts. I'd like to start off first by thanking Chris and his staff. They've been a pleasure to work with through this process. Also, I'd like to thank the Board for your continued support. We couldn't do it without the County Manager and the Board's support. We're here submitting -- and we will be brief today, and we'll take any questions at the end. But we are submitting a $7.5 million budget that does have some uncontrollable costs such as our utilities Page 208 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 14 and payroll. We have a $5.7 million budget that's pretty much self-sufficient from funds that we raise. As we put this budget together, we put a priority on efficient business practices, as we always do. Even though we're a small portion of the county's budget, we take it very seriously. And with those business practices, we're looking at priorities on public safety, restorative justice, and fair and timely resolution of all court cases. As you know, cybersecurity's a big concern, that might even be a theme today, but that's one of the reasons our costs are increasing. We're always combating those threats that we're all dealing with in this age. Two items I would like to bring to your attention and address that probably came up as you reviewed the budget, as far as our general operating, we're a little over compliance; however, we've identified $184,000. Last year we were able to get -- our Public Guardianship Fund, we were able to identify state money that took over that. So we have money sitting over there in $184,000 that we're working with the clerks currently to move that into another fund that we can spend, and that will offset the general -- General Fund transfer. And with that reduction of 184,000, we'll be under the 3 percent compliance for general operating. The other item I'd like to address, obviously, is the general transfer fund. We're obviously above that; however, that's because we're eating through a lot of our carryforwards over the years, and also our revenue streams have not increased in probably 15 or 20 years. They're all set by Florida Statute, so we can't increase those. However, Chris was nice enough to put a slide together for your review just to show you where we're at. Even though we're over the General Fund transfer this year, if you look from 2023 until currently, we are -- on a five-year average, we are under compliance by the Page 209 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 15 amount of roughly $862,000. So I think after this year -- and, Chris, correct me if I'm wrong, but after we get through this shortage of carryforward, we'll be back to kind of zero based and be able to be in compliance year to year, hopefully. And with that, you know, the courts -- the courts have been very healthy and productive. A lot of our programs are on the forefront statewide. And we'd just like to thank -- we couldn't do it without the cooperation and commitment from the Clerk of Court, the Sheriff's department, State Attorney's Office, Public Defender's Office, and the County Manager's Office. So thank you to all those people there, and we'll take any questions at this time. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't see any questions from the Commission. Again, Commissioner Kowal is not -- thank you for the presentation. We appear to have no questions for you. MR. RICE: I like that. Thank you again. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We do everything in the dark, so if after you leave we'll -- COMMISSIONER HALL: We'll bring out the hatchet. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Could I make a statement, Mr. Chairman? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I just wanted to make a short statement. So you have a lot of people that are in the audience here and probably a lot of people watching on, you know, closed-circuit TV or what have you, and some people might be saying, "God, how can the commissioners -- they're talking millions of dollars here. How can they have no questions?" Yesterday, and for several weeks, Chris has spent so much time Page 210 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 16 with us one on one. So this is a review for us. And I know -- I can only speak for me, but I'm sure I'm speaking for the other commissioners, we've already bombarded Chris with all the questions and Ms. Patterson and gotten answers back. So this is getting stuff on the public record, or if there's something you say that one of us says, "Oh, you know, Chris didn't mention that," or "Wow, I didn't catch that," that's what this is for. But I don't want anybody in the audience to think, "God, these commissioners, how can they just gloss over everything and then rubber-stamp it?" There is so much that has gone into this. And, Chris, you and your team have just done an incredible job giving us gigantic binders to take home every night but, most importantly, answering our preliminary, you know, questions leading up to this. And so, you know, on behalf of all the commissioners -- I know I'm speaking for all of them -- thank you for all your hard work getting us ready for this meeting. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you. MS. SMITH: Thank you very much. MR. MONTECALVO: Thank you, Commissioners. SHERIFF’S OFFICE MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Commissioner. All right. Commissioners, we'll move on to the Sheriff's department. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Sheriff's Office, as Sheriff Rambosk educated me when I was a candidate. Right, sir? SHERIFF RAMBOSK: That's correct. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yes. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning. Page 211 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 17 SHERIFF RAMBOSK: Good morning, Commissioners. Kevin Rambosk, Collier County Sheriff, for the record. Thank you for allowing us to be here with you this morning. And, you know, when we were thinking about our update to you, as we like to do each year, we can tell you -- because we're out in the street all the time, and I know you are as well -- the quality of life in Collier County remains very, very high. We continue to be family friendly, healthy, good schools, strong community, and, you know, that all leads into the best place to live, the best place to retire, and the best place of everything. So we're very happy to be a part of that. And, oh yeah, I forgot, low crime rates as a part of the quality of life. So today I would like to give you a little bit of our budget process. Obviously, some crime and safety, traffic updates, some recognitions because we know we don't get there by ourselves. We need help, and the community gives us a huge amount of support for professional law enforcement. All of our members appreciate that. The second thing, you as the Board of County Commission have always assured that this community is safe and provided what has been needed for us to do our job, and we appreciate that. Along with your staff, your County Manager, we have a great working relationship, always working together for a common goal, common good for Collier County, along with all of our other partners, many of whom are here in the room today. With me today is Colonel Bloom, Director Driscoll, and Chief Smith. But I'd also like to thank the remainder of our executive team who is not here today who all participated in this process, our leadership and supervisory group who participated in the process, but, you know, most important, the men and women of the Collier County Sheriff's Office who are out there 24/7/365 who are dedicated and committed to making this community a safer place, and they Page 212 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 18 make a difference each and every day. They do an incredible job. So, you know, when we think about the budget, we think about it more as a strategic plan for our organization, not just a budget. It's to preserve community safety, to enhance our readiness, to protect against threats, both known and unknown, because there's a lot going on out there today. But, you know, one of the bottom lines is ensuring that we can recruit, retain, equip, and train the best law enforcement men and women in this country, and that is always our goal. As we look around the nation, as we look around the world, things are becoming very unsettled. And, you know, you might think, "Well, that doesn't really have anything to do with Collier County." And I think it's important to let you know that they do affect Collier County. Everything that goes on outside of Collier County in one way or another I wouldn't say compounds things, but it certainly impacts our role and responsibility with regard to keeping the entire community safe. So if we think about what we have accomplished over the last year, 500,000 -- or just under 500,000 calls for service; 67 demonstrations, rallies, and protests; placed 988 287(g) detainers. We continue to be the most productive 287(g) program in the country. That, I believe, is very, very important. And we do it in a highly professional manner. We're addressing individuals that have committed crimes in our community against our residents, our businesses, and their own peers. That's what our focus is on. In our aviation department, they provide a huge amount of service, but one of the things with regard to where we are right now in wildfire season, they have dropped 554 attacks on small fires. So that's buckets of water, 136,000 gallons of water, working with our fire rescue service who does an absolutely fabulous job to knock down the potential for increasing wildfires. And altogether, our fire Page 213 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 19 service, along with air, has done a great job for this year. But, you know, probably in the most important thing in my mind to talk with you about with regard to a recognition is the 76 lives that were saved by your deputies by use of Narcan, AEDs, going into overturned cars in canals, bringing people up, that -- working with fire rescue and EMS who all do a fabulous job, that is a significant number and a significant important element of what we do each and every day. Your deputies are out there saving lives. And, you know, one of the things that is unique about this year is that we trained for tactical medical response. And you might not think that that's a law enforcement responsibility, but, you know, a lot of times we're at an event first, and when you think about airway, bleeding, and now some of the high-trauma gunshot wounds, for example, your deputies have learned to pack gunshot wounds which we have never done before. And you know what, within the first three months of learning how to do that, they saved a life. So we always look forward as to what we can do. We are very, very responsive and very committed to keeping this community safe. So crime. Where are we? In using our unified policing statistics, which is our newest program, we are down, last year, 8.9 percent. And that -- I'll talk a little bit more about how that all works. Year to date, we are now down 22 percent in crime. But remember, we're only halfway through the year. We've got another halfway to go. It's not going to wind up there, but just to show you the trend in where we're headed that I think is really important. Traffic accidents and statistics, in 2024 we were slightly over the year before in traffic accidents. But remember, most of our traffic accidents are distracted driving, slow-speed accidents. So we've got a lot of concerns, a lot of requests for traffic enforcement. We put that in place. Page 214 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 20 So if you look at since the first of the year, year to date right now, our accident statistics are down about 7 percent, and our traffic fatalities are down about 40 percent since the first of the year. So we have committed to the community to continue that enforcement effort, and we've got a couple of different programs that I'll explain to you with regard to how we're going to do that. Another unique area that we started just a few years ago was our Animal Cruelty Investigative Unit. We did 19 arrests this past year for that. Those are horrific acts, and they are doing a fabulous job along with each and every one of our deputies and detectives throughout the organization. We've been recognized in a number of cases. One, this year, with the Defender Award. It was a commitment to -- for keeping law and order and protecting our citizens. So we're pretty proud of that. We were recognized for a lifetime achievement in drug prevention for children through LEAD. We are the first in the nation to do a multistate emergency 911 backup system. We're doing that with Charleston, South Carolina. So if our systems all go down and our backups surrounding us go down, then we can get out of state, and we can get back up, particularly during hurricanes. And if you think about it, Charleston has a lot of experience just like we do in those type of events. So we're very proud of doing that. We continue with our accreditation processes. As you know, we have seven of them. That's more than we have ever had in this organization. We do about two reaccreditations a year. We did one for communications this year, and we were cited with an award of excellence for that process, and we also did pretrial accreditation. So that's our newest accreditation process. And I think that's really important for the community to know. I know you already know it, but accreditations mean that we're Page 215 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 21 adopting best standards and practices, policies and procedures. We're not only implementing, but when we come and get inspected, we have to prove that we are operating in line with those. So very, very important. One thing, you know, when we talk about accreditations and looking at, you know, being evaluated by different organizations -- and we have a ton of federal inspections and other things that we do. All come out very well. But this year we had an opportunity to invite in William Bratton. He's regarded as the law enforcement professional in the United States. He's been the chief of police of -- or the commissioner in NYPD, in Boston, in LA. He created the CompStat process, which is a crime evaluation, crime fighting system process which we've used, had in place for about 30 years. We made some changes to that program and reinvented it, re-envisioned it because we were getting to the point where we had to expand what we were looking at. So we invited him in. We provided him an overview of our operation, of what our new unified policing process included, which was an enhancement to what he had created, because he created the CompStat process. And to tell you the truth, it's a little nerve-racking when you have the professional that created something, and you're coming in to tell him, "Well, gee, we love your program, but we wanted to make some enhancements to it." We overviewed that for them, he and his team. And at the end of it, he came back and he told us, "Excellent process. Please keep it moving forward." So when that comes from the guy that created it, then we think, amongst everything else, every other recognition, that's a good standard for us to think about and thank. We had a couple of good legislative acts that we created here and submitted to the state for approval. One was illicit massage parlors. That passed, and that gives law enforcement the ability to Page 216 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 22 fight human trafficking better at a line level. We had a fentanyl enhancement penalty package for the exposure of first responders to fentanyl, knowingly or unknowingly, and it enhances penalties. So we thought that that was really important. And not only does it help us here, but obviously, it enhances the entire state of Florida. So we had some significant things there. We had the largest ASHER training in our history. It was a countywide system to test active shooter and assailant training. We just had that. We had all our fire partners, EMS, all our law enforcement agencies, and we continue to push forward. We not only did an address to the tactical side, which is most of what you see when you talk about active shooter, we rebuilt and re-envisioned the reunification side. We were told by a lot of people, "Well, reunification, that's just go over to that location. That's reunification." We're going to tell you that that's not it at all, because one of the largest breakdowns in an active shooter situation is the reunification with family members, friends, parents; that's where things break down. And we have re-envisioned all of that and put in place a new system. So we want to thank everybody there and including the school system that helped us with that. Your SWAT team, number one regionally, which is almost always the case, but they competed internationally with 51 of the best-ranked SWAT teams in the nation and beyond, and they finished in the top 10. So we are ready for any eventuality, I can tell you that. We continue to look at being proactive. We use technology. We have incident management planning. We equip and train properly. We're -- we have a philosophy of becoming more resilient and self-reliant. That came from a lot of our community that said, "Look, if we have to take care of ourselves, can we do it?" We absolutely are doing it. We've expanded a newly created community emergency response team from last year, and we've trained 100 Page 217 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 23 community volunteers this year to participate in that process. And we thank all of them for being a part of that. We also created an emergency law enforcement response cadre where we have trained retired law enforcement officers that I can call upon and swear in should we need additional law enforcement capability and we're unable to get it from anybody else around the state of Florida. So that was a pretty big element in what we do. We have an ERT Team. It's been in place for quite a while, Emergency Response Team. I will tell you that they are one of a few in the state of Florida. They're called upon because of their skill, their equipment, and their training, and we are very proud of that. Our Telecommunications Response Team for emergencies, regularly called out, and not only throughout the state of Florida and the United States, we did two or three call-outs last year. And we've also created a redundant communications system for Collier County, multifaceted so that we never lose communications during an emergency. So when we think about budget, you know, we focus every day on allocating assets in the most effective way we can. Unified policing looks daily, weekly, monthly and moves assets around as needed. You know, historically, we used to have three shifts throughout a day, maybe a power shift or something, and that was it. And, you know, that is probably the most unefficient -- inefficient way to direct resources. So we use a lot of data and analytics. We provide that to our district lieutenants. They look at what's occurring in the county, and they flex or focus those resources that need to handle a specific kind of a problem. And, you know, we have what we call liaisons or focus teams. We have them to enhance the traffic unit, for example. We have specially trained people that will -- while they're not working their normal assignment or the resources needed somewhere else, Page 218 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 24 we'll move them over. The gang unit we have done the same thing with. So a lot of these specialty units, rather than recreating them and building them, we use our resources for routine operations until we need to flex them out. And, you know for us, the use of our resources is one way that we look at becoming much more efficient. We don't have a lot of opportunity to raise dollars, raise funds. You don't want us to be raising money in what we do. It's just the way it goes, but we do that. We've looked at civil positions instead of sworn positions which have much less cost to them. So I tell you that really just to show that we put a lot of effort into looking at how we operate and how we are being the most effective and the most efficient. But we still had challenges that we looked at this year, and a couple of them are how do we remain competitive in the law enforcement world? Well, we did an evergreen study, much like you did last year, to find out where we were and to make sure that we are competitive. That was an impact. We had state retirement requirements which have increased significantly for high hazard duties. That was an impact. We had inflationary and now forthcoming tariff concerns with regard to our contracts. Two examples of that, we rebid a medical contract this year in 2024 for the jail. We are rebidding a food contract. We're in the process right now, and we're looking at a quarter-of-a-million-dollar increase right off the bat with those contracts, and that was the lowest bid. So we are going through all of those processes, and, you know, we want to make sure that we're doing what's necessary. We always use a zero-based budgeting process. We always look at aligning our goals and objectives with of the budget. We look at aligning our mission statement, which is protecting and preserving the lives, Page 219 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 25 property, and constitutional guarantees of all persons. We do that routinely, and we think that's important, because in my certification letter to you this year, I made a request of $277,361,900. Now, I know that's slightly higher than your budget guidance, because it's about 4.09 percent, but when we looked at our budget and we looked at what it would take to implement the evergreen recommendations to keep our agency competitive, we said, "Look, we need to find a way to build this in." Had we just taken budget guidance and implemented the evergreen study, we would be asking for well over 6 percent increase to budget. We are not doing that. We found ways to incorporate a lot of those dollars and reallocate to make that happen. One of the other things that was not included in my certificate letter was looking at how we continually monitor our budget daily, weekly, monthly through finance, through departments, looking at overtime. You know, if you look at particularly overtime and operations and in corrections, you'll see that they're down. We have active supervisors looking at how we reduce those costs. And I'm here to tell you that we have a savings and will be returning to you over $2 million out of this year's budget from all of that work that has been put together by this group of people right here, particularly, and those supervisors that are out in the field each and every day making sure that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing. We renegotiated our holding contract with ICE, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. As you know, we had had a contract in place for about 20 years and it was a 20-year-old number for reimbursement. We have taken that from $72 a day per inmate from federal hold to $186 a day. So that's almost three times where we were before. That's going to be very, very important. So we also want to thank the County Manager and her staff for Page 220 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 26 helping us with some of those very expensive capital replacements that take many, many years, body cameras, in-car cameras, going to the 301 fund. So we appreciate all their help there. So overall, we have committed to this community to keep it safe, do it as reasonably and effectively as we possibly can. And we're not perfect. We make mistakes. But the bottom line is, this quality of life in this community, because of all of us, is beyond most others. We're here to answer any questions if you've got them. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Any questions? Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: I do. Sheriff, first of all, thank you for everything you do. I'm sitting here listening, and I'm thinking, "Golly, they've got their hands full." But I do have a question when it comes to the phone. You mentioned in the certification letter you were submitting a $277 million budget, but I'm looking here at the budget. It's 289 million. So am I missing something? SHERIFF RAMBOSK: No. I think that's paid by the Board and additional expenses -- or maybe Chris wants to -- MR. JOHNSON: Commissioner, the amount in the letter from the Sheriff is the transfer from the General Fund. When you're looking at his budget, on the budget pages, that includes additional funds that have money rolling through them and also, as the Sheriff said, the portion that the Board is required to pay. COMMISSIONER HALL: Okay. So I'm looking at all of them? MR. JOHNSON: You're looking at everything -- everything altogether. (Simultaneous crosstalk.) MR. JOHNSON: Exactly. Page 221 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 27 COMMISSIONER HALL: Thanks. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Sheriff, I just want to make a couple statements. And a lot of -- a lot of counties defund the police. You know, a lot of counties back the blue. I think it goes without saying that we're the second -- second version. But you make it so easy. And I've said this before, but I always think it's important to put it on the record. You don't spend money. You invest it. When I look through your budget -- and I always commend your staff for what they put together. This is the best package that we get that really answers all the questions. It's obvious that you -- you're saving money where it can be saved. And it might not be the tip of the spear, and then the stuff that really does make us the safest county in the country is where you're steering, you know, your investment, not your spending. It's so obvious. And, you know, we all have a little bit of depth and different backgrounds, but I compare this to, you know, what I've done in the past in my previous life. And, man, I'd kill to have this when I was working for the Department of Defense, having this kind of sharp pencils. I wrote down a quote you said. You said, "We put a lot of effort into how we spend our money." And I would just say it shows. You know, that would be, you know, my closing comment. I did want to thank you for two things. Without getting into any detail, you know, we had an incident with animal cruelty on Marco, and your team was phenomenal in how they partnered. You know, Colonel Bloom called me immediately. You partnered with Marco. Jamie French was in the back on the phone, and so it was a great -- it was a sad case, but it was obvious that you-all were on it quickly. Page 222 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 28 And sometimes when people think it's not quick enough, Colonel Bloom's the first person to call me -- and Jamie French: "We got it. You're not hearing anything for a reason, but we can't say anything right now." So it shows the connectivity and the precision of your team. Lastly, I'll say something. It's a little bit of -- in a different lane, but I just want to make sure you hear it. I attended the Collier County Medical Society Annual Dinner at Arthrex last Saturday, I believe it was, and although you weren't able to attend, several speakers gave you extremely positive shout-outs, to include Dr. Tober at the end when he received his Lifetime Achievement Award. So I just wanted you to know that. It was obviously well deserved. And that group of medical professionals thinks so highly of you and your team. They talked about Narcan and the team work and all the things that you've done to elevate things. And it's obvious that not every county's doing that, and so several of the senior leader medical professionals in our community were quick to point that out. So that doesn't go unnoticed. And, you know, I just wanted to add that and say, you know, invest every dollar wisely, as you always do, and that's how we get to stay the safest county in the country. Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. Commissioner Kowal. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman. Yes, I'd like to also echo the same respect. Sheriff, I thank you for the great job you and the men and women in the Collier County Sheriff's Office do on a day-to-day basis. I know what it's like to be out there and working alongside these comrades at the times -- when times are good and times are bad. It's hard to budget. You know, this is probably one of those kind of budgets that you don't know what the future brings you, so you're Page 223 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 29 always budgeting for an unknown or preparing for an unknown. So it's kind of tough. It's not like just numbers crunching on projects, you know, that lie out before you. And that's probably one of the hardest things I think as the Sheriff and as your staff to keep in align, you know, with what the citizens want from us and from you and to be able to have the ability to be ready when the times come. So I commend you guys. You know, that's not an easy task because, you know, you budget for something that's unknown in the future. So that's so important that we understand that. Thank you. SHERIFF RAMBOSK: Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And, Sheriff, I want to just add a couple things. I personally believe, and I think the entire Commission believes, that the most important function of government is to keep us safe from violence. When somebody dials 911, they want to make sure that a good, highly trained individual responds to that. That's what makes this quality of life in Collier County as good as it is. If we didn't feel safe in our homes or on the beaches or in the streets, then we wouldn't have much of a quality of life. So I think the entire commission, for many, many years has felt that the most important function of government, again, is keeping us safe. And the men and women in the Sheriff's department -- or Sheriff's Office do an incredibly great job at doing that, so I just want to thank you. Obviously, things are unsettled around the country. That does have an impact on Collier County, obviously. And as we go through the next fiscal year, if there are unanticipated events that require our consideration in terms of funding, I want you to know that, just like last year, if there's a need that comes up, this board's going to be willing to fill that need, again, because what you do is the most Page 224 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 30 important thing that government can do. So thank you, and thank you to the men and women in your -- in the Sheriff's Office. SHERIFF RAMBOSK: Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. SHERIFF RAMBOSK: We're done? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We're done. SHERIFF RAMBOSK: All right. Thank you. SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS MR. JOHNSON: All right. Mr. Chairman, that brings us on to the Supervisor of Elections. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Good morning. Welcome. MS. BLAZIER: Good morning. Commissioners, for the record, Melissa Blazier, your Supervisor of Elections. I have with me my chief deputy, Kevin Turner, and Madelyn Minton is our administrative services manager. Our Fiscal Year 2026 budget is coming in at about $5.2 million, which is a 6 percent decrease from this current year, about $315,000, and that, as I think I've mentioned to all of you, is directly based on how many countywide elections I'm required to hold in addition to the difference of a primary election and a general election. So this budget will be funding the 2026 primary election, which is clearly different from funding a 2024 presidential general election. And with that, I am here to answer any questions. COMMISSIONER HALL: You did good. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: I just said, "You did good." MS. BLAZIER: Thank you. Page 225 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 31 CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Troy, if anybody registers to speak or anything or if -- always let me know if there's a -- MR. MILLER: Yeah. We had registration for public comment at the end of the entire session, and so far I've only got one personal online, and I don't think they're appropriate to anything we've talked about so far. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman. Where's -- oh, there you are. I want to give you a chance, just on the record -- because I think even though you and I might agree to disagree on a bunch of things, I think we're paddling in a similar direction on this one particular topic -- and for you to educate constituents when this comes to the voting machines, okay. So we've all gotten -- or maybe they're right. That's where I want to get clarification. We've all gotten emails from people that say -- they take -- they take the premise that in the budget you've got quite a -- quite a bit of a heavy ask in there because, on your own -- and I'm summarizing the many emails we've gotten, and you've probably gotten a ton, too. They sort of imply that on your own you're out shopping for whatever voting machines you would like, and you're funding them, and you're putting them in. You know, my executive assistant worked in the Supervisor of Elections office. I worked very closely with other SOEs and even Jennifer Edwards. My opinion with my knowledge is it actually doesn't work that way; that you get a lot of direction from the state, and just on your own you don't get to shop on Amazon and pick out voting machines that you think are going to work or not going to work and all that. And even though the nuances of that we might have some disagreement, the county comes first. And I think to really give you the mic -- because, you know, it's not like you're in these BCC Page 226 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 32 meetings every week, and at least to maybe give us the short version when it comes to that, because it is part of the budget. If people are thinking you're spending a large part of your budget to overhaul a big part of your operation and doing it in such a way that they disagree with or they want us to put a big halt and do a big study or investigation, that may or may not be the right thing to do. I don't know until I hear what you're going to say now. But I really wanted to give you an opportunity in this forum to address some of that, like I said, with the short version. But separate rumor from fact, because some of the fact that I know, it is a little bit different than some of the things that are getting thrown at us saying, you know, SOE is doing this, doing that, doing this. And so, you know, I wanted to give you the floor. MS. BLAZIER: Sure. Yeah, so purchasing voting equipment is, like you said, not as simple as going on Amazon. So there are, I think, about four or five voting system vendors that are actually certified in the United States right now. Voting systems are certified initially by the United States Elections Assistance Commission, so the EAC, and the State of Florida then has an additional layer that not all states do, and we have our -- it's our Florida Department of State, Division of Elections Bureau of Voting Systems Certification. And so at the state level, our state department actually certifies voting systems. Now, these vendors have to apply for this system certification. Not all vendors have applied in the state of Florida. So what that has done is that has limited all 67 supervisors in the state of Florida to two voting system vendors. So we only have two voting systems that are certified for use in the state of Florida. We have Dominion voting systems, which about 18 counties use, and then we have Election Systems & Software, and we call them ES&S, and that's who Collier County uses. Page 227 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 33 We have used ES&S in Collier County since 2002. And back then -- we all remember 2000, we had punch card voting -- voting equipment in Collier County. That was decertified in the state of Florida. 2002, the county opted to go with Election Systems & Software. And at that time, we used iVotronics. So we actually used more of an electronic voting system, so a touch screen voting system. And then in 2006, that voting system was actually decertified for use after the general election. We had some issues in the middle of the state with ballot programming, and our governor at the time was Charlie Crist, and he decided that he no longer wanted the state of Florida to use that touchscreen equipment, which at that point, going into 2007, took the entire state of Florida to paper ballots. So that's one of the common misconceptions with voting in Florida. We are 100 percent paper, not just in Collier County but the entire state of Florida. So again, I'm limited to two voting system vendors. To change voting system vendors would cost the county, you know, upwards of 8 to $10 million. We're certainly not going to do that. But over the years, from 2007 when we needed to implement optical scanners to our paper ballot voting system, yes, we don't have to make system upgrades over the years. Our DS200s, the optical scanners, again, they are 17 years old. They are going through a replacement right now as we speak, and that's just normal, you know, wear and tear on voting equipment. It's typically said to last about 10 years. We do an excellent job in this county of preventative maintenance on our voting equipment, so we've gotten it to last for this long. But, you know, like everything, like any piece of technology, it has to be replaced over -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So the one statement that I'm hearing here and that the public is hearing it is time to upgrade, Page 228 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 34 change, replace a lot of equipment. It's hit its life expectancy. But number two, you only get two choices because that's what the state directs. MS. BLAZIER: Correct. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I guess, for lack of a better term, do you feel like we're picking the more controversial of the two systems in some way, shape, or form? MS. BLAZIER: Absolutely not. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So we're going more with the standard that the vast majority of counties go with -- MS. BLAZIER: Yes. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- that's proven and approved. And you don't have the authority or the ability to go outside the box and do something and pick a different -- like you said, you've already answered that. So, you know, I just wanted to give you the chance to say that. You know, I think that most of us sort of, you know, knew that answer. But, you know, if citizens think that they have some sort of major concern -- I've even seen some of the things in your newsletter where you're like, "Hey, you know, come talk to me." And that's what I would tell citizen. We have an elected Supervisor of Elections. So sometimes when they're blowing up our phone -- I'm not an expert on elections. I say, "You know, you need to talk to the Supervisor of Elections." So you have a complaint or a concern, maybe I should say, that has merit, and we have a person and an office that, you know, has the responsibility to make sure your concerns and your comments are answered, and they also separate rumor from fact. So is there anything else to add, or have you -- have you been, you know, hearing from the public that they have concerns, and Page 229 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 35 you've been spending a lot of time sort of separating rumor from fact or -- MS. BLAZIER: Well, for about the past five years, yes, yes. So, yeah, yeah, a lot of rumor from fact. But, you know, we -- we're an open book in the elections office. We conduct transparency tours at least every two weeks. So I really, really strongly recommend folks that if they want to know what's going on in the Supervisor of Elections office, come on in. I'll walk you around and show you the equipment that we use. And at least, you know, let me walk through the -- really the pre and the post audit processes that we go through to ensure that our voting equipment is tabulating all of the ballots that are cast properly. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Like you said, you don't have the choice. The State tells you, these are the ones. You know, pick one. They're both approved. And as you've reiterated here, the option you've gone with is what the majority of the SOE offices in the state of Florida are using, and you're confident -- MS. BLAZIER: Very -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- of its accuracy. MS. BLAZIER: -- very confident, yes. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Kowal. COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman. Good morning, Supervisor Blazier. We had a conversation, I believe, last week, and I just want to piggyback on what Commissioner LoCastro's already expressed and what you've already answered. I was going to add a little -- another layer to it because I know our conversation, I had brought up the fact that this administration right now, President Trump, he was having his cabinet and that organization you mentioned to look into the ones that are already Page 230 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 36 approved and maybe take a deeper dive, and you reassured to me that you are already aware that some of these things were going on in Washington, that it may trickle down to the state and that, you know, you were going to keep a close eye on that. Because I know -- I surely don't want to purchase something that it falls on that last or something that's removed from that list, that we're not spending money on it. So I appreciate your conversation that day and reassuring that you're also aware of that process. MS. BLAZIER: Thank you, Commissioner. I think that the one thing he's pointing out is that our president has issued an executive order that's specific to election integrity. And one of the asks in that executive order is because we have states that are not using paper ballots. You know, we still have states that are using touchscreen voting equipment, and they're really asking that all communities, all states across the United States go to a paper-based voting system, which Florida has already checked that box a long time ago. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I don't see anybody else lit up. I want to thank you for the job you do and your staff as well. I know we have fair and secure elections in Collier County. I know we always have had that. And I feel very confident that your office, the folks that work with you and yourself, make sure that every ballot is counted. Every voter is given the opportunity, if they make a mistake, to correct that during the elections. MS. BLAZIER: Yes. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I've sat with the board the reviews the elections. I forget what that board is called. MS. BLAZIER: Canvassing Board. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: The Canvassing Board. And your Page 231 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 37 staff always does a wonderful job during those sessions. Even when elections are contested and it's -- there's some close calls, you've always done a great job. So I just want to thank you for that. MS. BLAZIER: Thank you. MR. JOHNSON: All right. Thank you. CLERK OF COURTS With that, we'll move on to the Clerk of Courts. MS. KINZEL: Good morning, Commissioners. I have with me today -- and some familiar faces. You know Derek Johnssen, our finance director, and Don Holder, who is actually the preparer of much of the budget for the Clerk's Office, so that -- he's included here for detail. But first I want to start out, as everyone else has, thanking you for your support over the years. Been very fortunate. Our budget is coming to you within all policies, 3 percent. We don't have any increases in staffing or other elements. So it's pretty much a routine. We understand things are going on with the legislature. That may set other tones across the state, so we're keeping a good eye on that on your behalf and for us as comptroller role. But I want to thank the staff, too. Chris Johnson communicates with us regularly on all of these issues, anything we see in the whole economics. Not just the budget preparation, but also the County Manager, County Manager's staff, County Attorney staff. And I also want to thank our citizens because I've been very, very fortunate to have a great support from the citizens of Collier County. Part of that, I know that they've mentioned the -- they've mentioned strategic plans, and I'll give you just a quick summary of ours. Number one is outreach. I still find pockets that have no clue Page 232 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 38 what the Clerk does, no idea what the services are, and no connectivity. We connect and touch almost every other element of county government. All of the other constitutionals, we prepare the financials for the entirety of the county government. We are also award winning in both our individual clerk budget presentation, the popular Annual Financial Report that we prepare for the county, and also the financial statement consolidation. Derek's in charge of the latter two, and Don puts together the budget book, all under Finance. So we think that -- we try to do a great job to communicate with the citizens of Collier County and let them know what's going on. We have -- as I said, within budget, we're asking for a $15.6 million budget transfer to subsidize. We do earn a great portion of our revenues from recording fees and also the court fees that we are allowed to keep for courts. I'm still fighting the struggle with the State on my court budget, and it may even get rougher this year. Obviously, they have awarded numerous judges across the state, and they've given no additional funding for clerks to fund the support elements for all of those across the state. So we will still be in a very tight budget year from that perspective. But with that, I submitted our budget book to you timely on May 1, timely to the state on June 1. And if you have any questions, I'll be here today, now, or all summer. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I don't see anybody lit up for questions. Anybody have any questions? (No response.) CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Seeing none, I'm going to make just a couple comments. The relationship between the Clerk and the County Commission has not always been positive going back -- I'm talking about going back eight, nine years ago when there was a lot of litigation between Page 233 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 39 the Clerk's Office and the -- before you became the Clerk. And we resolved all of that eight years ago when the new board was sworn in. I really appreciate the oversight function of the Clerk's Office for a couple of reasons. One, it keeps us honest here for sure. Secondly, if something goes wrong, we have somebody else to blame. MS. KINZEL: Blame. Thank you. Big shoulders. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I always appreciate having another layer of responsibility. But you do a phenomenal job as Clerk. MS. KINZEL: Well, thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: And I know you're not always appreciated, you know, in a lot of ways, but I always appreciate what you do because I know how hard you work, and so I just want to congratulate you and thank you for that and thank your staff. MS. KINZEL: Can I just say, though, thank God I have the staff that I have -- CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Exactly. MS. KINZEL: -- because they are the yeoman's work. I try to tell them I'm just the pretty face. They really do a lot of the work, but... CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Well, you guys do a great job, so it's much appreciated. Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman. Okay. So I won't sound like Grinch, but I'll just make a statement. I 100 percent agree with Commissioner Saunders. And, you know, the times you and I have talked, your job, especially if you feel there's another side of the coin, is to not be silent and to say, "Hey, here's something that you might being missing." But the one thing that I will say -- and I'm not saying you're not Page 234 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 40 doing. This is a statement, not something directive. And it even applies to the commissioners up here. Once something is voted on, then it's one decision, one voice. So, you know, I'm really proud of the five commissioners here because in the time that I've served -- in the shorter time compared to Commissioner Saunders -- it always wasn't the same. Sometimes it was 3-2, and then, you know, sometimes you'd hear a little mumbling from the two. And realistic, it's, hey, majority wins. And I really liked what Commissioner McDaniel -- and I told him so -- what he had to say when we voted on the central receiving facility. He voted against it, but then I loved how he said at the end, "You know what, it passed, and now I'm going to do everything in my power to make it as successful as possible," You know, I've said the same thing about Great Wolf Lodge. Everyone knows where I stood on, you know, giving them a little incentive money. But now that came and went, even though I sort of needle Commissioner McDaniel a couple times about it. But, you know, we all want them to be successful. So, you know, I do appreciate that we get another side of the coin or a deeper dive, because, certainly, you know, you do sharpen your pencil, you know, that's no question about it, and that's the role. But then in the end what I would say is then we all want to be as supportive as possible or, if there are loose ends that really are keeping us awake at night -- and I just put this in my newsletter. I know, like, when it comes to certain things we voted on, I knew they weren't perfect, but we all -- the majority voted to move forward, but then that doesn't mean we just fall asleep. You know, then we say, "Hey, there's four things that I didn't love. It wasn't enough to keep me from not voting for it, but those have to be tightened," you know, and Ms. Patterson knows what I'm saying because we've had this conversation before. We still have some homework to do. Page 235 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 41 So, you know, I thank you for the hard work that your office does and then especially when we still have a project on the books and, you know, we -- you know the ones that I'm talking about that -- we have several. We still need your expertise. And I always -- I'll conclude by saying, when I first got this job, I always refer to the deep dive you did on FGCU. Love the college. My son went there, but business is business. And if somebody's not doing what they're supposed to do, they're not turning in the reports they're supposed to turn in, and then we're giving them money, you know, that's your job to wave the red flag. And, you know, we appreciate your office, you know, for doing that, because certainly a lot of things come to your attention that we might have missed or we just don't have the visibility, you know, to it, but then we move forward and, you know, we continue to make it successful. So, you know, there again, thanks for all that you do. MS. KINZEL: Well -- and thank you, Commissioners, for mentioning that because, you know, we do take our role personally because we want to do a good job. But our role is really just to advise you. You're the decision-makers. And once those decisions are made, then it's our job to follow that direction. We -- I met with Scott Burgess after the meeting. We're going to get to together on what -- the audit course, get the right forms, get what documents, get how this will all work out. So we will continue to work with them. I've worked with David Lawrence for 30-some years in Collier County, so it's never personal on that level with the people that we have to work with day-to-day. So we serve our vendors, we serve our customers, and we serve anyone that you're doing business with. We try to meet with complicated project vendors to make sure we don't go down a bad path so that we can pay them incredibly quickly, keep the money flowing in Collier County. Page 236 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 42 So I appreciate that, and we work very hard to do that, keep those relationships whether or not we agree with everything. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'm glad to hear you say that -- MS. KINZEL: Thank you. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- about connecting with Scott Burgess because we still, maybe now more than ever, continue to need your expertise as we move forward and we tighten these projects to the best of our ability. Thank you. MS. KINZEL: We do. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you, ma'am. MS. KINZEL: Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let's if we can get through the other constitutional officers -- MS. KINZEL: Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- before we take a break, because I think that will be -- I think they'll be fairly quick; is that all right? THE COURT REPORTER: (Nods head.) MR. JOHNSON: Commissioner, that's going to conclude our constitutional officers for today. The Property Appraiser and the Tax Collector submit their budgets through the State, and -- CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Oh, okay. MR. JOHNSON: -- they will be to us by August. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I had assumed that they would be here with some presentation. All right. Then why don't we take a break -- MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, I know the County Manager wanted to take public speakers after that, and I only have one person on Zoom, and he was just mentioned. It's Scott Burgess. Do you want to hear from him now? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Sure. Let's go ahead and hear Page 237 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 43 the -- MR. MILLER: Okay. Scott, you're being prompted to unmute yourself, if you'll do so at this time. And you have been unmuted. You have three minutes, Scott. MR. BURGESS: Oh, thank you very much. No, I just -- I was just on here in the event that there were any questions that would, you know, come from the human services line. So I'm just here listening in. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. And I'm just available in the event that there's any questions that the commissioners have. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. MR. MILLER: There you go. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Seeing none, thank you. Why don't we take a break until 25 minutes to 11. Will that be sufficient? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It sounds great. MR. JOHNSON: Sounds good. (A recess was had from 10:18 a.m. to 10:35 a.m.) TRANSPORTATION MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Welcome back. MR. JOHNSON: Commissioners, that brings us to Transportation Management Services. There you go, Trinity. MS. SCOTT: Good morning. For the record, Trinity Scott, department head for Transportation Management Services. I'm joined here today by many of my directors sitting right behind me. The important part of the budget presentation is all of our divisions have met the budget guidance. We will talk about our unfunded need as well. Page 238 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 44 Transportation Management Services, we do a lot for the community. We have initiated over 80,000 tasks for Road, Bridge, and Stormwater as well as Traffic Operations, implemented a new leadership pipeline program really trying to grow our own leaders up through our group, placed over 350,000 -- 350,000 tons of sand on the beach. So a lot of forward-facing activities happen out of Transportation Management Services. We are continuing to utilize the ResourceX information that's been provided to us to enhance our decision-making with updating our fee schedules which have been in front of you over this past year as well as continuing forward with grant applications, trying to stretch our county dollars just that much further, and making data-driven decision-making. We are 325 full-time employees with 37 key staff employees. We do have 28 vacancies; 16 of those right now are either in the interview process or offers have been made, and we have start dates. We do have 12 that are posted at this time. We have four that have been posted for more than 60 days -- they are our Equipment Operator 1s. They do require a CDL license. Those are difficult to find -- as well as our Project Manager III license so those are our professional engineering positions. So we are continuing to work with Human Resources to be strategic about how we are recruiting those individuals as well as with our CDL drivers, bringing our own folks up through the ranks. If we have a maintenance worker who's interested in obtaining a CDL, we will send them for the necessary training for them to be able to get that and then bring them along and allow them to apply for that higher position. I'll talk a little bit about costs. Driver availability really impacts our cost for our contracts. All of the projects that we do require heavy machinery, so that's CDLs. So our contractors are Page 239 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 45 experiencing those exact same issues as well as high demand and economic uncertainty that's causing continued price increases for things that are necessary for all of our projects: Asphalt, concrete, structural steel. These are some of the same slides that we talked about at the AUIR workshop where, for our Road and Bridge capacity and Operational Improvements programs five-year funding, we are showing a shortfall needed for our capital program for '26, '27, '28, and '29. For the FY '26 budget, we are showing an unfunded need of $49.485 million, and that includes projects Collier Boulevard within the Golden Gate City area for construction, Everglades Boulevard right-of-way, and our Vanderbilt Beach Road Phase 2 construction. We do have a shortfall solution for FY '26. We will expand projects that are eligible for existing roadway commercial paper, which is Vanderbilt Beach Road extension. When we awarded Vanderbilt Beach Road extension, we took on some commercial paper for that. We are currently working with the Sales Surtax Committee to reallocate some additional sales surtax funding toward the Vanderbilt Beach Road extension project, which would free up what we had allocated in that commercial paper. So we'll work with the Finance Committee over this summer for final numbers and to bring that back. So for the FY '26 budget, we feel that we have a plan in place to be able to address that shortfall. For proposed FY '27 through '30, our shortfall solution, our gas tax Revenue Series 2014, they matured on June 1st of 2025, so those bonds are now complete. We will be reimposing bringing forth a proposal to reimpose our local option fuel taxes upon their termination the end of year, and then we'll work with the Finance Committee on financing flexibility to cover a large portion of that remaining shortfall. So that will consist of bonding those gas taxes to Page 240 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 46 be able to get a large portion of money to be able to cover that shortfall. So we're going to continue to work on that over the summer, and that will provide a large portion of this funding that we anticipate needing over the next five years. But let's talk about stormwater. So the road situation, because we have impact fees and gas tax revenues that, you know, go towards our road system, it makes it a little bit easier of a solution. But for Stormwater, we do not have a dedicated funding source other than what comes to us through our -- through this budget process. So once again, as we talked about in the AUIR presentation, we talked about that Stormwater also had over a $300 million deficit over the five years; and for FY '26, that's $64.25 million, and FY '27, that's $75.7 million. In FY '26, these are the projects that make up that $64.25 million need, which is automation, stormwater pipe replacement, a new weir out at the Big Corkscrew Island Park, Golden Gate City outfall replacements, Palm River, Poinciana Village, Naples Manor, also Vanderbilt Drive, Naples Park, Lake Park flowway, and Goodlette-Frank ditch. Many of these projects are projects that we will be undertaking with our partnership utilities, so whether that's the City of Naples, it could be our water and sewer district. So they're going in because they need to replace their necessary infrastructure as well, and the stormwater system was put in at the same time, so it's certainly met its useful life as well. So coordinating those projects is necessary. So for Fiscal Year '26 and '27 shortfall solution, we're going to need to consider solutions such as commercial paper for this large amount of money, and we're going to work with our Finance Committee. We are continuing forward with our procurement for those projects that are needed in FY '26 because it's imperative that these projects go through our bidding process, which takes some time Page 241 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 47 to be able to do, but we need to be able to award these projects as soon as possible after October 1st because with stormwater projects, we like to build them during the dry season. So it's really important that we have this solution in place ready for the fall. For our longer-term solution, we need to identify a consistent and sustainable funding source for stormwaters. This could be a stormwater utility, which an example is a flat fee based on land use type, single-family, multifamily, commercial -- and by the way, when I was preparing for this presentation, I went back and I probably just could have pulled the same presentation that Ms. Patterson did back in 2018 for the stormwater utility about the need for a dedicated funding source for -- and it's printed out on my desk. So other options could be Municipal Service Taxing Units, additional ad valorem that's directed to the program, or some combination of these. But it's imperative that for a long-term solution, we need to really have a dedicated funding source. This is the first year that I'm coming to you with a large unfunded need for stormwater. The stormwater team has kind of evolved through the years, and we have put together an amazing team that can implement. If we put the funding to them, they will implement. We recently did some reorganization within Transportation Management Services where we brought our entire capital team together under one division director, and that's Jay Ahmad. And we know Jay has a proven record of being able to implement roadway projects, and he has assembled that stormwater team and directing them to do that exact same thing. So coming to you today, I'm confident once we solve this problem with the commercial paper and get a sustainable funding source, that we can implement those projects. So our stormwater priorities are we need to identify and Page 242 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 48 implement a funding solution. That's going to take about 18 to 24 months depending on what we -- what the Board direction is, and that's about a half a million dollars that's shown in the expanded budget that Mr. Johnson talked about. If the Board winds up with the stormwater utility, they're a very prescribed process that we need to go through to be able to initiate that. The same for a Municipal Services Taxing Unit. All of those have processes that we need to put in place. My next priority -- and I shouldn't say these are not necessarily -- and this is the order -- is we need to address the FY '26 and '27 funding gaps so that we can keep up with those partnership projects and address the stormwater issues that we have in these neighbors. These are the people who are calling each of these commissioners on a regular basis saying, "I'm experiencing afternoon thunderstorm flooding. Can you help us?" And these are -- going in with these neighborhood projects with our utility providers are important. We need to continue developing our proactive maintenance plans, such as our clean, view, and repair program and our swale maintenance program. Those are really returning dividends on us. That clean, view, and repair program, we're identifying issues before they -- before we have a road that's undermined. So these are really important that we continue with those and continue building out those programs. We need automation of our system. I'll tell you, one of the things that Mr. DeLony has that we don't have is he can look at a computer and know when he's having a flow issue someplace. His folks can do that. They can make adjustments. For us to make an adjustment for a weir, I'm sending people out to make adjustments. That's a cost, time. When we have a storm and we need to make immediate adjustments, I'm sending people out in some of the worst Page 243 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 49 conditions that we have. So automation is key for our system, and that's building a backbone for it and then implementing that on all of our new structures and going back and retrofitting our existing structures. And we need to continue budgeting for operations, maintenance, and capital -- capital replacement for all of our new assets. It's something that Marshal and I have been talking a lot of we need to be more forthcoming with the Board when we're putting together executive summaries of what's the operations, maintenance, and our long-term capital replacement costs going to be, and we need to be budgeting, and that's something that this board's been talking about a lot. So with that, I thank you. And if you have any questions... CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chairman. Trinity, this is kind of on the smaller level, but, you know, you're standing right in front of us. You've done a great job, you and your team, upgrading the CAT system. You know, citizens that have sent me notes and were upset that they weren't getting picked up or whatever, you know, you've solved all those. And some of those had merit, and it was like, thanks for bringing it to our attention. One of the things you've done in several areas -- and my district has benefited from it, and maybe the other ones have -- are the bus shelters. You know, we have places now that we're really trying to steer hotel employees to use mass transit. You know the bus shelter that we put in front of the JW Marriott on Marco? I mean, heck, you know, the JW Marriott CEO was out there to cut the ribbon, she was so happy. We have a couple of other places that have come to our attention that are seeing more use of mass transit, but the people are standing out in the weather. I only this bring this up because it's not a small Page 244 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 50 purchase. I remember you telling me, "Hey, I'd love to put one at every stop, but do you know what these things cost?" Is part of your budget for next year, the other years, embedded in here? And I know, like I said, this is a macro level. This is, hey, big, huge, you know, transportation issues. But that's part of a customer service to our citizens. And like you said, those things don't grow on trees. We don't have a thousand of them in a warehouse. Do you have a plan over the next, you know, 12 months to continue to upgrade and add in certain key areas where we're seeing, you know, a lot of use and get these people out of the weather? MS. SCOTT: Absolutely. So we continuously monitor. That's some of the great data that we do have on our buses of we know how many people are getting on at individual bus stops, and we know during different times of the day. So do we have 100 people getting on at one time, or do you have 10 people who are spread out along the day? And so we try to get those investments where certainly we're going to get the most bang for our buck. And the other beauty about bus shelters are that they are 100 percent -- we can get 100 percent of the capital funding from the Federal Transit Administration. So that is what we do on an annual basis when we're looking at how to allocate those capital dollars for our Federal Transit Administration is certainly we're going to bus replacement first, you know, so that we continue to keep the useful life of our -- of our buses. But then we're also looking at how we can enhance that passenger experience as well through those capital dollars. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Do we have to fund the bus shelters first, and then we get reimbursed? MS. SCOTT: That is how all grants are. That -- and we come in and we recognize the funding, and then -- and we do that through Page 245 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 51 our grant applications. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Are they pretty good about reimbursing us for that, or it's kind of a hit or miss, you know? MS. SCOTT: Absolutely. We do quarterly draws on all of our Federal Transit Administration grants, and the funding comes back rather quickly. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: And lastly, I'll just say this -- because I want citizens to hear it, those that might be watching -- we have a lot of construction of residential units, apartments, condos, houses along 951 and in a lot of other areas that once those ribbons are cut, my hope is that a lot of those residents will be, you know, taking advantage of the bus service. So there's going to be, obviously, a couple of new stops along the way, and I just want people to hear that I expect that's part of your plan as well to know where sort of the new nodes are going to be where there's an influx of apartment dwellers and blue collar workforce that probably will be hoping that there's a bus stop. But in some cases we already know that's going to be a new bus stop in front of the building, and the shelters are a nice thing, especially when that stop is, like, out in the middle of, you know, the street and whatnot, so... MS. SCOTT: So absolutely. When those developments are coming forward through the Planned Unit Development process -- it's probably not something we talk about a lot when we're -- when we're up here talking about the PUD itself, but a lot of times you'll see where that developer is providing an easement for the bus shelter, or sometimes they're building the bus shelter. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Bus shelter, yeah. MS. SCOTT: And so we work with them on those commitments, particularly the easement, because when they're putting in their right-turn lane, that's where we like the bus to stop. Page 246 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 52 But having that easement, that way we're not having to go back as we did with JW Marriott and acquire that easement from someone; that we're able to be able to get that bus shelter in when it's necessary. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, ma'am. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Chairman. Trinity, I think, you know, we talked a little bit about this yesterday. I had asked you, "In a perfect world, what would it look like to get all of your stormwater stuff done, you know, one year, three year, five years?" And if we were to entertain a -- you know, some kind of funding source for it, whether it be go to the voters for surtax or a flat fee or one giant MSTU or something, you know, that could definitely be sunsetted -- I guess it might be a question also for the County Attorney -- what would be the path of least resistance to have something come forward with that, number one? And, number two, do you have any grid at all, or have you done any calculations for what that flat fee might be monthly for the constituents? And I'll let -- Jeff, you can answer first. MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. There are a couple approaches to this. One is through assessments. In Miami, they have a flat assessment for all residential. In nonresidential, they do impervious. The other way to do it is a countywide MSTU, and the Board would set the millage for that. COMMISSIONER HALL: Okay. Thanks. And then, you know, one of my -- one of my things that I like about the surtax -- everyone benefits from stormwater. I mean, everyone that comes here. Tourists, every time you spend money. So if we could get -- and we raised a tremendous amount of money in the last surtax in a short period of time, and then if we could use that, that would be my preference because everybody pays and everybody benefits, instead of putting it on the property owners. So what are Page 247 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 53 your thoughts? MS. PATTERSON: So the -- MS. SCOTT: I see the County Manager. COMMISSIONER HALL: I can see her. MS. PATTERSON: The surtax, when we -- when we were working on the surtax the last time, the initial plan was to include some stormwater projects; however, because at the same time we were also working on the stormwater utility, it created confusion for our residents whether we were double dipping, which wasn't the intent. There were some projects that were allocated to the surtax and other that were going to be part of the utility. So all of the stormwater projects were eliminated from the surtax. It is, obviously, one of the best funding sources that we can use to diversify the funds that we're putting into the program. The benefit, of course, is that you can have targets on the money that you want to raise, and then similar to this surtax, limits on how long you have the surtax in place. So of the choices, it may be the one that the voters would see as the most beneficial provided that they understand that the list of projects is fixed and it's not us collecting money to go do whatever we want. It's for a list of projects. It could also include other things besides stormwater, but transportation-wise, or whatever the Board's pleasure. It just requires -- it's going to require work to develop that project list, and that's that -- but any of these choices would require that same work. It's a different path for each one. COMMISSIONER HALL: You know, as I thought about this, we're never going to make up $350 million in just day-to-day business. And I am not in favor of raising taxes on the people to get this done, but if we let them choose, we could suck it up for three or four years, whatever it is, raise the money to get this. Because I don't Page 248 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 54 think that there's a voter out there that would disagree that stormwater is a great need in Collier County and to have it done correctly and to have it done right and to have it done long-term. Because I do get those -- I get frequent emails about, "Commissioner, I've lived here for 15 years, and I've never had flooding until the last two years." And, "What's going on? What can you do?" You know, I mean, it's like I wish I could wiggle my nose and make it all great, but -- so, you know, I'm on the phone with Trinity, I'm on the phone with Marshal, and I'm, like, "What are we going to do?" And, you know, it's like -- it's like the big dam that's leaking, and you've got little fingers holding the leaks. And so I would welcome the conversation to have -- and see what we can do to get that done, because I think it's a -- it's one of the greatest needs, I think, that we have here. The Sheriff might disagree, but I think stormwater's important. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: That's an interesting conversation in terms of the sales tax. And just for a little bit of the history there -- because I think it's important if we're going to consider that going forward. This, I think, popped up, I think, in 2017. It was on the ballot in 2018. And the way this sales tax initiative really came to the Commission, it wasn't generated by the county staff. It wasn't generated by the County Commission. It was really generated by the Chamber of Commerce and some of the business organizations. They came to us and said, "We are interested in having the Commission put this on the ballot. We have a significant amount of money to run a public information campaign. We have hired" -- they had hired a very capable campaign consulting firm from the East Coast. They funded, really, a campaign, and it was a very professionally done campaign. The County Commission vote 3-2 to put it on the ballot. And so Page 249 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 55 it was even difficult getting the Commission to agree to put it on the ballot even with this push by the business community to make this a reality, because they recognized that we needed some additional funding for transportation and for some very critical projects. Even with all of that, it barely passed. I mean, I don't know if it was 50.1 percent or something. It was a very close election. I was on the Canvassing Board that night and was very pleasantly surprised when it passed. So that's kind of part of the conversation is if we simply vote to put this on the ballot, we can't spend money to promote it. There would have to be some community interest. And I think even with that, with the current environment it may difficult to sell a sales tax. Again, but it certainly is something to talk about, but I thought it was important to -- COMMISSIONER HALL: That changes things. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. I just thought it was important to hear a little bit of the history of that. MS. PATTERSON: Commissioners, if it's the will of the Board, I have been having fairly regular conversations with Chamber and business leaders about the needs. It's not a secret about the depth of the need that we have for infrastructure both below ground and vertical. We can certainly open up a dialogue with them, again, about the sales tax and these other funding sources to see where -- where they may sit as far as helping us with articulating this need and any potential funding sources moving forward. At the risk of you being really irritated with me, another -- another funding source that we have talked about in the past is a franchise fee. That's electric franchise. So it's tack onto a utility bill. So the Board, in the past, has considered this multiple times and have never implemented it. It is a regularly used funding source in the Page 250 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 56 State of Florida. Many of our surrounding neighbors have an electric franchise fee, so that's another -- another funding source that is used throughout the state of Florida to diversify away from property taxes. We can come forward back to you-all with the pros and cons of each of these funding sources, if that's something that you-all would feel would be beneficial, using the MSTU, the stormwater utility, the franchise fee, and the surtax, the pluses and minuses of them, and the path forward for getting something like that implemented so that the Board can give us whatever direction you may have before we embark on spending $500,000 on a study for a fee that you're not particularly interested in implementing. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Let me just add a couple more thoughts in terms of ballot initiatives. A few weeks ago I brought before the Board the issue of potentially putting on a ballot a sixth-penny tourist tax, and I felt, and continue to feel, that that's a little bit different than a sales tax because it's pretty easy to educate the public that this is a tax on tourists, that those are the only people that pay it. And by doing that, we could finish some very major projects for the county, the paradise sports park in particular, but the City of Naples has some major tourist-related projects that are very expensive that they're going to be asking the county to allocate tourist taxes for. And so -- and I felt that even though this is, you know, midway through 2015 [sic], and this would be on the ballot in 2016 [sic], that that would give us time to deal with that because it's, again, a tax on the tourists. I think if we -- I think we'd have to be -- we can't obviously put two different things on the ballot. That would be a disaster for both of them. So that's part of the consideration. But I think it would be very difficult to -- in this very short period of time between now and November of 2026, to educate the public on a sales tax thing, because then they're paying for it. And I Page 251 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 57 can tell you there was a lot of opposition to that. And -- so anyway, I am going to continue to talk about -- COMMISSIONER HALL: Sure. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: -- the tourist tax increase because I think that that solves a lot of problems, and I think that's one that can get done. All right. No further questions for Transportation. GROWTH MANAGEMENT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MR. JOHNSON: All right, Commissioners. That brings us to Growth Management and Community Development. Mr. French. MR. FRENCH: Good morning, Commissioners. For the record, my name is Jamie French. I'm your department head for Growth Management and Community Development. First I'd like to thank the Collier County Sheriff, Kevin Rambosk, and his staff. They really have been a wonderful partner to us as we look towards the community need with regards to at least many of our code enforcement efforts. Without them, I will tell you is that we work in unison, and they've taught us everything from protecting evidence as well as improving our case files to actually taking both a civil and criminal approach to some of these code enforcement issues that have been around but are starting to certainly show face in front of this board and in our community even more. Very quickly, if you don't mind, I'd like to just focus more so on the budget that did not -- that fell out of your guidance. That is going to be in the areas of Code Enforcement, Domestic Animal Services, Building division, Parks and Recreation. And with me today is Ms. Meredith McLean, our DAS director; Evelyn Trimino who really is kind of our chief financial officer for everything we do at Growth Management and Community Page 252 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 58 Development, to include Parks, to include Paradise Sports Complex, to include DAS, to include all the Enterprise Funds. We take a much centralized approach, as I've done in the past, with -- so if Evelyn doesn't sign the check, it doesn't get paid, so to speak. And we're very proud to have Evelyn. She's a long-term employee that's worked in many of the fields from Code Enforcement all the way up to her current role. Mr. James Hanrahan is also here, your interim Parks and Recreation director, to talk about some of the expanded areas that we're looking at. Also joining us is Tim Crotts. Tim is the assistant Code Enforcement director for Code Enforcement, and he oversees -- primarily oversees not just Code but also your animal control officers as well as many of your case files that go in front of your Special Magistrate or Code Enforcement Board, along with Tom Iandimarino. And, of course, our chief operations officer, Mike Stark, is here as well. So with that, our Code Enforcement areas of concern that we have right now is from the FY '06 to FY '09 you were running about 53 code enforcement officers at a population of your community at about 325,000 people. Fast forward to 2010 through 2016, we averaged somewhere between 50 and 51 code enforcement officers, with your population growing significantly from 325- to just north of 360,000 year-round residents. Currently, from 2016 to 2025, what we saw in the administration is Code Enforcement was an area that they shifted a number of employees. I never would want to say that that movement of combining Community Development and Environmental Services and Transportation, Code Enforcement was a bit of a loser, in staffing, that was. We saw the administration move from 51 Page 253 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 59 positions to 42, and that's where we are today. And your population, as you know, ranged -- from 360,000, it grew to north of 420,000 year-round residents. Your code enforcement officers, as well as your ACOs and park rangers, are driving somewhere between, I would say, 60 to 120 miles a day. So what we're asking for is five additional positions. And what we've done is we've taken an approach that we've learned, much like the Sheriff's Office, where we've actually branched out from the North Horseshoe office. You have a substation for Code Enforcement at Heritage Bay. And, Commissioner Saunders, in your district, we have one at the North -- North County Regional Park up there in North Naples. East Naples, Commissioner LoCastro, we're still manning out of the North Horseshoe office because it's centrally located, very close to the administrative areas and a very good training area. And then in Immokalee, we do have an office that we've had for many years off of Alachua. We currently do not have a management staff, and we have -- we've not taken enough of an expanded approach for the Immokalee community, so that's where we're focused on five additional staff members. And what that does, that puts in a manager, and then what we're also doing is that we're focusing more so on an investigative approach to where we're looking at everything from follow-up and unlicensed contractors to hobby breeders to commercial breeders to working that back casework that we inherited for fines, for liens. And you've seen that in your budget where you've taken a much harder approach at collecting those fines and having a baseline negotiation at 10 percent of that improved property value, or we go to foreclosure. So thank you for your support there. That's actually paid good dividends, and we'll continue to work that. And in our DAS section what we're asking for is five additional Page 254 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 60 FTEs. Currently, the way Ms. McLean has her structure set up and what she's adopted is that many of your animal care specialists are working that front counter. They're actually answering the phone. And unfortunately, the care, the feeding, the tending to those animals, getting them out of the shelter, doing those health checks, working with your veterinarian staff, and working directly with Ms. McLean, they're answering the phones. They're tending to customers. So this is more so of that expansion of that front-end service to be able to answer those community questions, to be able to greet that customer, to provide a great experience for them when they come in. We recognize we are not in competition with pet stores. We're not in competition with our partners at Humane Society or any other foundation that really does have those private-wealth dollars coming into them, but our client and those animals, we believe -- we feel like we could provide a better service to the community, better information, and certainly better education when you're talking about spay/neutering, licensing and really just good vet care practices that all animals owners -- responsible animal owners should be practicing. The next area is our Building division, and that will be coming back to you. This is -- the first two, those are either your General Fund or your 001 funds. This one is the Building division, and they are 100 percent enterprise funded. Currently, just focusing on the reserves, previous boards had taken the position that whenever the industry had asked or your clients had asked that we add staff, the Board was reducing fees, and that went on for nearly 12 years. So as a result of that -- and we're -- we are highly regulated in this funding source under Chapter 189.553 for how much reserve fund balance we can maintain. So your reserve fund balance, according to your budget in FY '22, started at about 9.2 million, and then the next year it grew to a little over 12. Currently, that funding source is going down to 1.6. Page 255 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 61 We've been burning reserves to keep that building afloat. Currently, you have about enough money to get through next year. What we're seeing is that, like the City of Naples, these trades are very, very hard to get, and we are losing employees. These are licensed, skilled engineers, architects who are licensed by the State of Florida to both work in the private sector as well in the regulatory practice. This is not a job that we could actually go out and hire somebody and train them in any -- it would take many years, relevant experience and education, to be able to qualify for that license to serve in that role. Your -- we're -- we're in a bit of dilemma there just simply because staffing is hard to retain. And it's not -- it's -- it's just simply -- it's about cost between private contractors, and it represents better than 20 percent of your workforce. We lose many of our employees there to the private sector as well to other governments. And then finally, the Parks and Recreation group. We've asked for some expanded positions. Our programming there, not a position, focused prominently on the maintenance needs of these facilities that came under my purview back in October of last year. So we've identified many things like Sun-N-Fun, like the sports complex, like the Immokalee field, like Tigertail, Caxambas, and we have put a very valiant effort towards doing all the bare minimum maintenance, everything from bathroom repairs to lighting to making sure it's clean, making sure that the client that comes there has a really great experience or at least an improved experience from years past. We're assessing all those buildings. We're working with our partners and Mr. Dunnuck and Mr. DeLony's office to identify targeted areas that really need to be prioritized because we're nearing critical failure, or an investment needs to be made in the maintenance of that facility which sometimes can lead to a capital project. Currently, our expanded areas that we're focused on is Page 256 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 62 increasing our adaptive needs for those special-needs population, and that could be your therapeutic activities for handicap or even those that may be of autism needs that we're finding. So that is an additional $350,000, and what that would do, that would expand both your programs there. And by the way, your adaptive sailing and skiing programs, Mr. Hanrahan doesn't even advertise it. We don't do a public service announcement, and it fills up in how long, James? MR. HANRAHAN: Less than 10 minutes. MR. FRENCH: For the entire summer. So that is a demand that certainly we see. Currently, you've got one newer boat that you purchased about two or three years ago, and you've got one staff member. So what we're doing is we're looking at more towards a contract staff/key staff based on the need and then, of course, a replacement vessel, and then some additional program dollars to be able to support those adaptive or therapeutic programs that we currently offer. Now, this is not to replace what the school district currently does. This is just to extend or add value to that population, and that's both adult and children. I'm happy to answer any questions. Our staff is here. I went five minutes too long, according to my stopwatch. So I'm horrible. COMMISSIONER HALL: Imagine that. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Jamie, just really quick on the FTEs. You know, I'm all for if we're understaffed, and especially, you know, as you pointed out, when the population grows and the staff shrinks and the need grows, that's not, you know, a great algorithm. But, you know, I'm reminded of the time when -- and I won't say what the department was, but somebody was in here making the case Page 257 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 63 for an additional large amount of FTEs. We voted unanimously on it, and then we found out a year later, yeah, they had the FTEs, but the positions were mostly still vacant. And there's a lot that goes into. Hey, we're doing all we can to recruit, and we're just not getting the people. But then sometimes it also could be, you know, thanks for the FTEs, and now we'll sort of like drag our feet and move slow. In your particular case, when you were making that comparison, a population goes up, need goes up but our team has stayed about the same or gone down, we need a few more FTEs, are all of your positions fully staffed and so the additional FTEs you need is what would make the difference, or are you about 80 percent staffed, could use the five, and great, it gives you more slots, but you still have a big challenge in filling the FTEs that you currently have on the books, and that's why you're shy? It's not that -- you know, sometimes the impression is, we don't have enough -- we don't have a big enough staff, and then the reality is, well, you have enough -- and I'm talking in generalities, not pointing a finger at you. But sometimes the answer actually is, they have enough FTEs, but they're only 70 percent staffed. They have a lot of empty slots, and now they're raising their hand saying we want to -- we want more FTEs. So in the end, in a perfect world, we have, you know, a full staff, but the real challenge is, you know, are you filling the FTE slots that you have now? What is your vacancy right now on the FTEs that you do own? MR. FRENCH: So this is just an example on our enforcement side, because I -- and, Commissioner, you and I did not speak about this -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No. MR. FRENCH: -- but I know we spoke about it in the past. But I would tell you is that it is a struggle. And I'm not asking for -- I Page 258 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 64 would not ask for additional staff members just to increase my vacancy rate. No way. But if you look at this chart, this tells you exactly what we've been approved for and what our vacancies are. And the number-one area of need where we have vacancies where we have the highest turnover is in just your Animal Control Officer I. So we have encouraged strongly our partners with Human Resources -- and this is not to say anything discouraging or degrading of them. But unfortunately, it's hard to empathize when you can't walk in someone's shoes. I've done this. And I don't -- I only take pride because I don't want to ever ask someone to do something I'm not willing to do myself. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: But do you feel if you've got the additional FTEs that you-all are going to do something different, more aggressive, pay more or whatever it is to actually fill them? Because an FTE isn't a person. It's an empty chair that you're trying to fill. And if you already have, you know, 10 empty chairs and you're asking for five more, we really haven't helped you. We've given you the potential to grow your team, but if the big challenge is, you know, we've had 10 empty chairs for the last year and a half and haven't been able to fill them, I could give you five, I could give you 50 more. It really wouldn't matter. It would show that you have the slots, but you're -- you don't have the people or the manpower or the -- and the ability to address the need out in the community. So is there -- is there something that -- is there a two-fold type of thing that you're going to -- you're trying to attack to fill the empty slots that you've had for a while, and then you're asking for additional ones and you have confidence that, you know, you can catch up and fill all of those? I know it's a -- I know the challenge. But, you know, just giving you FTEs doesn't solve the problem. MR. FRENCH: And I apologize if I didn't fully answer your question. These are targeted positions that we believe we could fill. Page 259 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 65 The positions -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. MR. FRENCH: -- that I'm showing you on this chart, these are positions that are very hard to fill. We are revisiting their pay. We're revisiting the structure. This is something under the guidance of the County Manager and Deputy County Manager that the HR Department or your -- or that group has been told this is a priority, much like with building inspectors and things like this, because we have to remain competitive in the market. I would tell you is that -- you'll notice here we're not asking for additional code enforcement officers -- I'm sorry, animal control officers. They are very, very difficult to fill at that entry level. They require a certain amount of certification, and so we have to better understand what it is that's going to attract perhaps a retired deputy, retired law enforcement, or someone from a -- from an ACO in Lee County or from Charlotte County or wherever that wants to come to Collier. And we need to be measured about it. And certainly, we will follow best practices on how we do this. We do need to attack that, and we are. But the positions that we're asking for are positions that we know we could fill. It doesn't mean we still don't need these. It just simply means is that we recognize the struggles that we're finding, especially when you're dealing with your cost of living. And some of these positions are demanded by your community. But we've just not -- we could have done -- I think we could do a better job at recruiting and revisiting these jobs to ensure that we're paying the right amount of money for these types of positions. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Thank you, sir. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Anything else? Jamie, do you have anything else? MR. FRENCH: No, sir. Thank you so much. Page 260 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 66 CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I think the only comment I would add is that probably the largest number of complaints I get are code enforcement complaints. A lot of DAS issues as well, animal issues. So I fully support expanding your code enforcement operation as well as dealing with the issues of animals and more enforcement there, so... MR. FRENCH: And again, I am so appreciative. If you -- if we could only share the number of hours that Mr. Crotts -- he has -- we have regular debriefs. I attended the one this week on Wednesday -- I believe it was Wednesday, Tim -- for an hour and a half, and we're talking with high-level commanders and decision-makers with the Sheriff's Office that report directly or up through Colonel Bloom, and they're -- we couldn't ask for better partnerships. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Great. Thank you. PUBLIC UTILITIES MR. JOHNSON: All right. Commissioners, Public Utilities. MR. DeLONY: Commissioners, good morning. My name is Jim DeLony. I'm your department head for Public Utilities Department, and I'm here to present our budget. Let me start with the bottom line up front that our budget presented to you today is fully in compliance with your budget guidance and aligns perfectly -- and I mean that -- with your strategic goals and objectives and, of course, the ever-important annual utilization and inventory report. With me today, I have all our department division directors with me to include our state administrator for Collier County Public Health, Ms. Kossler, and Ryan from director -- what is it? You're the director of the University Extension Services. I'll make sure I get that right, because we usually just say IFAS. So we're here, and we're Page 261 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 67 ready to answer your questions as you -- as we can. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'll just make a statement. Much like Commissioner Hall said, you know, when it came to -- what were we talking about? Water, sewage, and you were saying, like, Hey, Commissioner -- or the Sheriff might disagree with you about water. What was the -- I'll give you a chance to chime in here and correct exactly what you said, because I liked it. COMMISSIONER HALL: I said he might disagree with the importance of stormwater. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Stormwater, yeah. I couldn't agree more with that, and I'll also piggyback on that and say we've really got to keep a close eye on Public Utilities. I mean, you know, we've done some things here to make sure that we're spending our money wisely, and, you know, staying millage neutral and all the conversations that we've had for a while before this meeting. But there's some big things on here that aren't getting any newer. You know, we've talked a little bit, and I've talked a bit with Ms. Patterson and her team that. I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but I think just, you know, getting on the public record that there's a lot in Public Utilities that you even identified as you've come back to the team saying, "Wow, you know, we've got some serious, you know, concerns that some of the things that maybe you don't see, you know, with the naked eye aren't getting any newer, and the need is greater," and when something like that breaks, bursts, fails, it's not cheap. It's not cheap. So I really applaud you for the deep dive that you and your team have done. You know, you've brought some things to the surface that could be some big bills for us to pay if we have something catastrophic or just regular maintenance that we need to stay on top Page 262 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 68 of. You know, I've said before, "Repair costs this much. Replacement costs this much." And if you skip over the repair and you don't stay on top of things, eventually someone's going to have to pay the piper. And it's a difficult pill to swallow. So I'll just say that the dive I did on here, I'm glad that you stayed within the parameters, you know, of the budget, but I know that you're still operating on a pretty lien checkbook here, and also, you don't have a crystal ball to know how our utilities are going to be affected due to age or failure or whatnot, and then all of a sudden all bets are off, and we're sitting here hoping we have enough money in the General Fund. And so those are real-world type things. It's not lost on any of us, but, you know, I echo what Commissioner Hall says about stormwater. That's another one we've got to keep a close eye on. But, you know, this goes hand in hand as well. And there's some pretty important things on your list here that we've got to really keep an eye on it. And I would just say -- and I know you won't, Jim, but don't be shy about, you know, coming to us if we need to move some money around because you see some definite deficiencies or you think we're kicking the can on something that's going to bite our replacements -- MR. DeLONY: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- down the road saying, you know, "Who were the idiots in the seats in 2025 that kicked the can?" We don't want to be those guys. And if we need to invest in repair or replacement, we need to do it -- MR. DeLONY: Yes, sir. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: -- and figure out a way to do it because this is -- these are deal-breakers when it comes to, you know, our citizens and a community. MR. DeLONY: Yes, sir. We've got your -- we have your guidance, and we appreciate fully the support that you've Page 263 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 69 demonstrated in your presentation -- your discussion today. I'll be back here on Tuesday to talk to you about the Northeast, which is not a part of this presentation today. That's going to be a standalone in terms of the expansion of services into the northeast, the first step, and then I'll be back subsequently in the meeting in July that will lay out the full resourcing plan of all the steps we'll need to take to bring that to light -- or excuse me -- bring that to service, about '30, '31, '32, somewhere in that area, to include the manpower requirements for that. So I think we have a good vision of where we need to be and where we're going in terms of our expansion. So I feel -- I feel challenged, but we're there in terms of understanding. Now, what you had said about ongoing operations, that is -- that is in the hands of these more-than-capable people here on a day-to-day basis with the 500-plus team members that they lead. We have good technology. We are enabled with good tools, and the good Lord has blessed us with wonderful people. But I will share with you that they don't come to us trained. We have to take $54,000 in a year to get our utility technician from training to number one. And what you've heard from the other department directors today about the tightness of our labor market is no surprise -- should be no surprise to anyone here today. So we face those same challenges, and we will continue to address them appropriately, sir. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Well, just as we're proud to fund the blue, this is -- this is a critical piece as well. MR. DeLONY: Thank you, sir. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: So don't be bashful about coming to us. And if it's something that we hadn't planned on, then we're going to sit down and sharpen our pencils and figure out how we're going to fund it and pay for it, especially if it's something catastrophic which, in your world, you know, that can pop up any day Page 264 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 70 and blindside us all, so... MR. DeLONY: We appreciate your trust and confidence in our ability to deliver you the options for your decisions, sir. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, sir. MR. DeLONY: Sir, anything else? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't see anybody else lit up, so thank you very much. MR. DeLONY: Thank you, sir. DEBT SERVICES MR. JOHNSON: All right. Commissioners, that brings us to Debt Service, and you're stuck with me for this one. All right. Let me just get my notes here and pull up one set of slides. All right. So I'll start here with our -- the County Manager's recommended budget provides the ability for payment of all Debt Service requirements and covenants. The total payments for FY '26 are $54.4 million; 31.4 of that is for General Governmental debt, and 23 million is for Public Utilities or Enterprise-related debt. This slide you see here is the general Governmental Debt service compliant chart, and our self-imposed debt policy gives us a 13 percent cap on Debt Service related to revenues that qualify for debt payments. As you can see, we've been slowly paying down our debt since '11. There's been a lot of refinancings in that time. And as Trinity stated earlier, we just -- our gas tax bonds just matured in June, so that's why you see the dip from about the 5.4 percent there in FY '25 forecast to the '26 recommended of 3.8 percent. And moving on here, this chart shows our total outstanding principal debt. As you can see for FY -- year ending FY '24, we're at Page 265 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 71 about $607 million in outstanding debt service. And just to kind of piggyback off of what Trinity was talking about earlier, we're looking in Transportation, potentially next year, for potential commercial paper lines of credit for both Transportation and Stormwater, potentially. Additionally, PUD will be in front of you related to their plans in the northeast. We'll be working through the Finance Committee this summer on options with that. And, Commissioner Saunders, I know you brought up the potential for the additional penny, so we'll be discussing options as well for potential sports complex moving forward. Any questions on Debt Service at all? (No response.) MR. JOHNSON: All right. With that, we will move on to the Management Office. And in this one, gentlemen, we've put a few of these groups together under the management offices, including the CBO, Public Safety, and Strategic Initiatives. All right. Troy, do we have anyone online to speak to this? MR. MILLER: We still just have Scott Burgess, and he's just here if needed. MR. JOHNSON: Okay. Let me just get my book to the -- we'll start with the Management Offices then, and we'll move to the other three. Bear with me a second here. So your Management Offices include your Office of the County Manager, your corporate and financial -- your Corporate Financial Management Services, Communications, Pelican Bay, and Corporate Compliance and continuous improvement, and your Tourism division. Overall budget for the Management Offices, the current budget is 30.5 million in -- on the operating net side. The total budget, including reserves and transfers, is $73 million. There are expanded requests in the Management Offices of 45 Page 266 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 72 point -- sorry -- 45,400. That is for testing in the Clam Pass area, and that is directly tied to an increase in fees with our Pollution Control Department. The Management Offices are compliant. They actually came in slightly under the 3 percent increase in the General Fund and are right on target in the Unincorporated Area General Fund. With that, we can -- we can go to Pelican Bay for a quick overview, which is what we typically do. Chad. MR. COLEMAN: Good morning, Commissioners. Chad Coleman, Pelican Bay Services Division. The residents of Pelican Bay and your commercial partners fund our total operation. We have two parts of our budget. We have the operating part, and we have the capital part. This is all done through an assessment to the residents of Pelican Bay and the commercial entrances. The operations part is under the 3 percent threshold that the County Manager has assigned to us. We do have a slight increase to the assessment because we need to replace back some funding for reserves that we used last storm season during Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Debby and all the other hurricanes. They're all kind of running together at this point. But our operating assessment is going to be about $768.12, and then the capital side's going to be $781.30, and this is going to be a total of $1,550 for an assessment to the residents of Pelican Bay. This was unanimously approved by the Pelican Bay Services Advisory Board in the April meeting. And I can answer any questions you may have. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't see any. MR. JOHNSON: All right, Commissioners. With that, we're going to -- I'm going to bring Mr. Mullins up Page 267 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 73 here to briefly go through an efficiency we're looking at in Tourism. John, I'll pull your slides up here. MR. MULLINS: All right. Thank you. For the record, John Mullins, your director of Communications, Government, and Public Affairs. And as Chris mentioned, we are looking at a potential optimization and potential privatization of tourism. So the study for the potential of optimization of tourism, marketing, and promotion was commissioned by the County Manager, and former long-time Tourism Director Jack Wert was the retained to lead the effort, which includes evaluation of hybrid agency models and the potential for a full transition to the private sector as a destination marketing organization. Now, currently 65 percent of Florida's DMOs and 84 percent nationally operate as a non-profit. Twenty years ago, that national statistic was about 75 percent. So as the decades go by, we appear to be more and more of an outlier having it as a division of local government. Now, the goals align with the value propositions -- pardon me. I haven't been able to clear my throat since 2016. The goals align with the value propositions with the ResourceX ROI report that kicked off the priority-based budgeting process. Greater efficiency and market responsiveness, particularly after storm events, enhanced participation by the various tourism industry partners, access to additional funding streams -- that could be P3s, membership dues, et cetera -- all while ensuring continued transparency and accountability for TDT expenditures. Now, Mr. Wert has been engaging community stakeholders, consulting with firms that specialize in tourism organizational funding, operations, and compliance, and we plan to have Mr. Fabian's team review and provide additional input on any future Page 268 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 74 optimization and transition proposal presented to the Board, and we hope to have a draft of these study findings by late summer or early fall. And with that, I'm happy to take any questions at this early stage. COMMISSIONER HALL: Mr. Mullins, can you just give us a brief overview of how that would -- what it would look like if we did a hybrid? MR. MULLINS: If you did a hybrid? Well, that's something we're having to ferret out, what works and what doesn't. And Mr. Wert is looking at all the different DMOs currently in the state of Florida and beyond to see which hybrids models would work best. There may be many options. He's been tasked with providing as many options for the board to select from as part of this study. So we have -- hope to have a full menu for you to look at. COMMISSIONER HALL: And I did like the part where we phase ourself out. MR. MULLINS: Uh-huh. COMMISSIONER HALL: I think that there are others that could do it. I would like to see that happen. So how would that -- what's the time frame on that, and how would that look? MR. MULLINS: Well, once again, that's also part of the study that Mr. Wert is looking at is all the transitional steps, what they would be, the appropriate timeline for it, how the budget divvying would occur, the oversight by the TDC, and other aspects of privatization and public oversight. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Thank you. COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I don't see any other questions. Thank you. MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, John. Page 269 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 75 All right. Are there any other questions on the Management Offices before I move on to the CBO as a part of this section? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't see any other questions. MR. JOHNSON: All right. I will go to those pages there. Your Corporate Business Operations department consists of your Human Resource division, your Information Technology division, your Procurement Services division, and your Fleet Management division. Essentially, all of our internal services. The budget for -- the operating budget for the Corporate Business department is $123.1 million; including all reserves and transfers, 165.2. The Corporate Business Operations division was in compliance at the 3 percent for operating. Overall, just of note, the Corporate Business Operations department is where we also keep our WPP, our workforce prioritization pool. And I know we've talked to you all individually. There were requests that are not included in this budget for FTEs that we're doing further analysis on and taking an inventory of our WPP to ensure, to your point, Commissioner -- Commissioner LoCastro, are there positions we can use where we can fill? Where there's some that we can't fill, maybe we should utilize these instead of asking for additional FTEs. And with that, I'll -- we have staff here to take any questions if you have any on any of these; otherwise, I can move on to Strategic Initiatives. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: It looks like you can move on. I don't see any other questions. MR. JOHNSON: All right. Strategic Initiatives. Our Strategic Initiatives department consists of our Libraries, Museums, and the Strategic Initiatives subdivision. The total budget -- operating budget for Strategic Initiatives is $13.1 million; with transfers and reserves it's 13.5. Again, they were in compliance at the 3 percent, and we Page 270 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 76 have staff available to answer any questions on that if you would like. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't see any questions. MANAGEMENT OFFICES (PELICAN BAY) MR. JOHNSON: Moving on? All right. Public Safety, and that will wrap up this section. Public Safety department consists of our Emergency Management division, our Emergency Medical Services division, our Community and Human Services division, and our fire districts. The overall budget for the Public Safety department operating-wise is $79.9 million. There's 2 million in expanded requests and 80 -- so the total is about $82 million. Overall, with transfers and reserves, it's $105.5 million. The Public Services -- I'm sorry. The Public Safety department was also in compliance, coming in at about 2.4 percent. There are expanded requests in this department, as I had stated. Those relate to EMS, the Ochopee Fire District, David Lawrence Center, LIPP, and Medicaid. Any questions on any of this? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I do have one question concerning our EMS helicopter pilots. I've received some communication, spoke to a few people, a few of the pilots. They're not part of the high-risk classification for retirement purposes even though they're up front in a helicopter along with a whole bunch of other people in the helicopter that are higher risk. And I understand from talking to the Manager that that's really purely a state issue; is that correct? MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. It's a state FRS issue. It's one that we've run up the flagpole a number of times because of this difference, but because the statute is very specific and the FRS rules are specific on who receives high risk or special risk and who doesn't, Page 271 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 77 they're stuck there, wedged between those. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: We're going to be dealing with the upcoming legislative session here pretty quickly. I'm sure we'll have a meeting with our lobbyist probably in the fall. And so I'd like some consideration. Perhaps that could be added to a County Commission agenda at some point just for purposes of putting that as part of our legislative package. I think it would be appropriate for the pilots to be covered. MS. PATTERSON: Yes, sir. Not a problem. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I don't see any other lights lit up, so we can move on. FACILITIES CRA MR. JOHNSON: All right. Thank you, Commissioners. Thank you, everyone. Moving on, we're going to Facilities and the CRA. Mr. Dunnuck. MR. DUNNUCK: Good morning, Commissioners. First I'll start off with some of the -- some of the little good-news things that we're working on. I'll start with the CRAs. This coming Board meeting you're going to see next Tuesday, which is the official collapsing of two advisory boards into one out in Immokalee. We HAVE combined the Immokalee MSTU and the Immokalee CRA into one overall board. So we've kind of been looking at efficiencies from that perspective. Moving over to Bayshore and the capital projects on both sides of the CRAs, I'll just be blunt, is we have taken every extra dollar that we have generated and we're putting them into infrastructure projects. So from our standpoint of roads, stormwater, every extra dollar that we're receiving we're moving into those kind of projects working Page 272 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 78 closely with Trinity's team. Secondarily, with Bayshore, Haldeman Creek, we are doing a bathymetric study right now, so we are gearing up for a potential dredging project. It's been about 10 years in the making, so we're actually doing that review as well, and we've been putting away the dollars to be prepared to pay for that, you know, from that perspective. And so from an overall CRA perspective, I think we've done what you've asked us through ResourceX and everything, which is look at the efficiencies, look at our highest priorities, which is infrastructure, and keep shredding -- you know, shrinking down the operating side of the budget. Moving over to Facilities, the overall budget meets your guidance. I will tell you some of our bigger increases in the day-to-day operating budget of Facilities had to do with contract renewals. When you do a solicitation and you get the new pricing in, we've had some increases that were above some of the 3 percent guidance. Chris and I have talked about, longer term, how we make sure that when we actually adopt the contracts, that we communicate that as part of the actual budget before the budget so that you understand that that's part of the process, that it's not just a new budget increase above, but it's also a contractual obligation to keep the same levels of service up. And so overall, we're appreciative of the money you've set aside there. Pushing back to the presentation I did approximately a month ago, we did ask for master planning dollars to move forward with Steps 2 and 3 of what I presented as a plan. Just if you recall, I had kind of a three-step plan in working forward. One was identify the condition of the facilities, the second one was space utilization, and the third part was actually master planning. We have funded the position of doing the identification of that, Page 273 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 79 and we're moving forward with that. The Board has previously given us about $1.7 million to move forward, but the balance of those other two projects are on hold. They're on the expanded list but didn't make the cut, which is understandable. But we'll be back here next year to ask for that money, if not sooner, you know, from our end, because we're under the marching orders. Similar to what Trinity mentioned is we have aging facilities, and we've got to handle the vertical structures of these things moving forward. So we've got that in the planning mix. Another issue that we've brought up a few -- in the last month was about safety issues. We talked about the aging infrastructure of some of our access control and some of our fire suppression systems. Those are also not on the -- they're on the cut list right now, expanded, but as we continue to move forward and do our condition assessments, we're hopeful that that will be something that the Board will consider. I will tell you, we were on fire watch for approximately two months on this building alone, which has a cost. And so it has a cost when you have to have a person here watching the building instead of investing in the long-term infrastructure. But with that, we'll answer any questions that you have. We continue to work with what we -- what basis you've provided us. Commissioner LoCastro responded to an issue with a roof, you know, down in the Marco Historical Society, which kind of speaks to the fact that we do regular condition assessments of our roofs. And so we try to get out in front and do maintenance ahead of time so that we don't have the bigger project coming. And with that, Brian and I are here to answer any questions. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. I don't see any. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'll just add on that Marco -- I didn't respond to your email, but since you're standing right here, Pat Page 274 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 80 Rutledge, who runs that museum, she said during the last few heavy rains they had some leaks, but then your note said "Hey, we're going to go down there and take a look at it." So just marry up with her. She's not expecting a roof replacement tomorrow. And I saw your note -- but she did say that -- you know, that the patchwork that we had done might need a little extra care, but -- MR. DUNN: I believe we've accelerated that. I got a note this morning that I think we're going to have somebody out from Advanced Roofing out there tomorrow. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay, perfect. Thank you, sir. COMMISSIONER HALL: I'd like to make a comment. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: You know, John, I appreciate the thought that you're bringing to this process with you and Brian. And I've always taught my -- when I was raising my boys, I said -- "You know, Dad, why aren't you doing this?" And I said, "Because somebody's got to do the thinking," and I appreciate that you're doing the thinking. And I know it's going to be kind of challenging for us to come -- to meet the needs that you're going to bring for us, but, you know what, they're real needs. And I think that when that comes forward, we'll figure something out. So I just want you to know you've got our support, and I appreciate the planning. I appreciate all the hard work, Brian. I know you've done -- you've had the challenges at Sun-N-Fun. I was out there Monday right after they poured, and -- I mean, bless God. Let's get that thing over for July the 4th. But you're doing good. You're doing good even with the challenges that we've had, and I appreciate both of you. MR. DUNNUCK: Thank you. MR. BRIAN DeLONY: Thank you. Page 275 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 81 COUNTY ATTORNEY CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Ms. Patterson, what's next? MS. PATTERSON: I believe that's going to bring us to the County Attorney, but I'm going to look at Chris. MR. JOHNSON: You are correct. MR. KLATZKOW: Well, my budget's pretty easy. We came in under budget guidance. And 90 percent of my budget are my people, so there's just not much else to do with it. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. MR. JOHNSON: Any questions? COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Could we outsource the County Attorney and save some money possibly? Is that -- is that for another meeting? Okay. MR. JOHNSON: I don't know. I've seen -- COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: ResourceX, is there -- that's a separate -- take a look at that. Take a close look at that. MR. JOHNSON: I've seen the outside rates. I don't know if that would -- COMMISSIONER HALL: That presentation was actually three seconds shorter than what I was anticipating. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MR. JOHNSON: All right. Commissioners, that brings us to your budget, the Board of County Commissioners. Overall, this -- your section rolls up with the County Attorney and with our general administrative function. You were up 4 percent, just a tad bit over the compliance, but in an overall department, you guys are actually -- actually under, at 2.1. Page 276 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 82 We marry your budget to what we've been spending year after year. And as I'm sure you're aware, you guys are doing a lot of outreach and things like that that we want to make sure we have the proper budget for. So any questions on your own budget at all? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Nope. I don't see any. MR. JOHNSON: All right. Well, that will bring us to our summary. We have Mr. Fabian here to go over what we're doing with Phase 2 of ResourceX, and he has a short presentation for you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Let me just check with our recorder. Do we need to take a short break. Are you okay? THE COURT REPORTER: (Nods head.) CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. MR. JOHNSON: All right. Chris, I'll get this up for you. Version 2, right? MR. FABIAN: Yes. MR. JOHNSON: I think this is it. MR. FABIAN: Thanks, Chris. All right. Thank you, County Commissioners. Thank you, Amy and Chris and all the departments, everybody who has been participating in Phase 2. I'm very happy to be here to give a status update on the second phase. On the fly, we might have some County Attorney opportunities, but we can hold that for the next update, Commissioner LoCastro. MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. My people don't make $400 an hour, but okay. MR. FABIAN: All right. As we begin, I just have a very short recap of what Phase 1 was about, because core to Phase 1 in priority-based budgeting was establishing a key data set, and it's that same date set that we're applying in Phase 2 as we start to study program efficiencies from a cost perspective. Page 277 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 83 So as a recap last year, you went through the process of identifying each and every program that is offered across the county, the costs of those programs, revenue recovery models, as well as key basic program attributes. Is the program mandated? Does it recover the cost of providing the service? Population served and alignment with key goals overall with the county. And we used that first effort to work on the program insights, which was last year, and that is one of the first applications of the priority-based budgeting data is looking for how other local governments have been able to either fund a program differently, use an alternative revenue source, use a new revenue source for the first time to ease dependence on General Fund subsidization or ad valorem resources overall, and ultimately, look at cost efficiencies and cost optimization. So that methodology, that core dataset consists of what is it that we do, what are those programs, how much does it cost, and why do we offer these programs by way of a program score? So that -- that dataset is imperative as we get into the discussion of Phase 2, and I should say that even though last year was our work in the program insights, that very first 4A in the ROI optimization report following this priority-based budgeting blueprint, if you recall, those program insights are still on the table, many of them, as we work into efficiencies. So, again, just as a reminder, we portrayed all of the county's programs across an alignment versus a cost perspective in order to identify or pattern match from our database where other jurisdictions from our research offer a similar program perhaps with a similar cost structure to yours and point us in the direction of alternatives to the way that you are funding your programs today. So that optimization report, that insight report, I will cite as we get into the program efficiencies, again because some of these Page 278 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 84 opportunities exist and are still on the table today. But as we move into Phase 2 and the program efficiency review, how we went about this work since last time we met had three basic steps to it. That's what I want to walk you through and show you some examples. So the very first is a program costing benchmark analysis, and that's what we've been working on since last time we spoke, March and April, and that consists of taking every program that we identified in your inventory, taking a look at its cost, and attempting to normalize the cost to Collier County compared to other implementers of program budgeting and priority-based budgeting. So in other words, as we start to try to discern, "Hey, how is your program being offered? Are you above the costs that we typically see per capita? Are you right in line with the costs that we see, or are you perhaps below the cost profile?" It gives us a first glimpse of areas that we might want to take a look at, but it's not the only glimpse overall. So as we saw programs across the entire county that might be on the higher side, it doesn't come with the conclusion immediately. It just gives us a place to start to look. So there might be a very good reason that you have a program that has a higher cost profile than another organization, but we still want to look at it. I'll give you an example. Maintaining the parks within Collier County shows up as a higher cost for that particular service compared to other county governments who have gone through program-based budgeting and priority-based budgeting. But as we know, here you, number one, have more parks, the level of service, and parks maintenance is a higher level of service given your climate compared to what you might see in Minnesota or California or North Carolina, across the country. So, again, the point being the cost profile gives us a place to Page 279 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 85 start to take a look, but it's not immediately conclusive, but it's interesting. So it's very important data that we'll bring to bear in some of our analysis. Second, for each and every program the second component is we have a library of program process steps, so a process inventory for every single program that is provided across the county. So if we have a program that we want to take a look at much more closely, we then want to graduate towards what does it usually take to evaluate the process steps that take place for this program, and is there anything that we can learn as we approach stakeholder interviews. And that's what led us to the third step, which was approximately May through very recently. Here in June was the stakeholder interviews to take the program costing benchmark data on top of the program process review data and then bring it to real life and get some perspective from your subject-matter experts and leadership in the organization. So we kicked things off in mid-May. We had a first round of interviews and stakeholder reviews of the initial data. That led us even further towards some specific areas we wanted to take a deeper dive into, ultimately, today, to report on the status and where we're headed with this analysis. COMMISSIONER HALL: Mr. Fabian? MR. FRENCH: Oh, yes. COMMISSIONER HALL: So stakeholders, that's our division directors and all the internal process? MR. FABIAN: That's true, yes. And we still have follow-up interviews that are currently being scheduled and taking place including, for example, one in IT where one of the areas that we were really interested in is the spend on applications, including priority-based budgeting, across the organization. So total IT application spend, looking for any Page 280 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 86 efficiencies and redundancies because it is a higher-spend area. So that's a stakeholder interview, just by way of example, that's coming up. I want to give you a few examples of what our findings begin to look like so you can see the process at work, you can see it combined and intertwined with the program insights from last year's work, and you get a sense for where we are going as we begin to put together our findings and report. So probably unsurprising to you, we come in as outsiders, but the procurement process was one of the main areas of interest from some of the discussions with your stakeholders and certainly from the data. So as we began our Step 1 and you look at the data, this is one of the snapshots where you're seeing, specific to Procurement, those bubbles are representing costs. The larger the bubble, the larger your investment into any particular program area. And in this case, that blue color is demonstrating that compared at least to our benchmark data, these are areas within Procurement that have a higher cost profile, and maybe just to be interested in the program. So you see over on the table on the right, the takeaways for solicitation sourcing, for example, say, "Hey, we want to take a look at this"; whereas, for surplus, P-Card management, and even Fleet Procurement, you are in line, on average, or maybe even slightly more efficient compared to our benchmark data. Not to say we wouldn't take a look at it, but we're trying to divide and concur in some of our work for some of the more interesting areas overall. So that's -- my headings are not coming through totally here. I apologize for the formatting in the translation. But this is -- if that was Step 1, taking a look at the program costing data, then Step 2 is taking a look at the procurement processes that we could inventory from requisition initiation, Page 281 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 87 solicitation, contract drafting, PO issuance, all the way through to vendor onboarding, performance evaluation. These are the types of steps that we would see overall in the process. As far as -- the heading here would read "Data Availability." This is the type of data that you are collecting, so we're actually inventorying where you have datasets, where you have data that needs to be put together. I think we just heard from Facilities, and one of their major areas of interest, obviously, is asset inventory. This is the type of data that we have in Procurement, which ultimately led us to the stakeholder interviews. That's what the heading of this slide would say is "Stakeholder Interviews." And these discussions -- and this was a consistent thread across the stakeholders who we had had a chance to talk with. We're looking at approval and spending thresholds that, hey, they're in need of review. Regulations, substantial regulations and reviews, lengthening the process time that it takes to get through Procurement. We've got an SAP-based system that we've had some corrections, some fixes along the way. Maybe those could be improved, and we can look at friction points. So all the way through -- this is illustrative but specific to your procurement review: Data collection, process, and ultimately, stakeholder interviews. Now, what we typically see -- this is where we bring our data from other benchmark organizations to bear. These are the steps that we just referenced in a typical procurement process. And as we see over on the right-hand side, typical time. Time is money. So these are the most -- the more clocks is the more expensive for a process. So reconciling this with your initial costing data, we're really interested in those time-intensive, cost-intensive steps in the process that also correlate to high-cost programs. So if I'm connecting the Page 282 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 88 dots in your mind, those first three on the table, requisition initiation, approval, routing, solicitation, contract drafting, these are very specific areas that we would be most interested in seeing where we can achieve an efficiency. And strategy considerations to take into account for what we've seen that works well in these areas, as we move through the diagnosis, is to take a look at different authority bands and approval amounts for pre-set dollar limits with exceptions; templates, one-click templates; auto escalation; SLAs. We look at risk-tiered sourcing approaches, standard contracts and contract templates. These are tactics and considerations that we see that can be applied in your situation to the best of our knowledge to achieve an efficiency. Well, in the midst of these interviews as well, we came to understand that Raftelis had been down this path, one of your other consulting organizations, and also had some findings along these lines for Procurement. So we took a compare-and-contrast approach to see, from our perspective and our benchmark data in comparison with some of the recommendations with Raftelis, what are the things that are jumping off the page to us? Obviously, first on the list, threshold recalibration, unanimous priority. When it says, "Both documents," we're talking about Raftelis' report as well as some of our findings from the evaluation. Duplicate approvals are the second largest drag. Taking a look at technology, of course. And so in our recommendations what you're going to see is very specifically where we come to the table and say, "Hey, we've seen micro-purchasing up to a threshold of 15,000; informal quotes higher; competitive bids up to 250,000." Raftelis had it to 10,000. That's going to be a policy choice. But we're saying we're both on the same page. It's going to lead to a streamlined efficiency approach overall. We can cut duplicate Board approvals where policy aligns. We Page 283 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 89 can look at simplifying change orders, eliminating redundant reviews, and so on and so forth. So we have from high-level clues to where the programs are high cost and we have an efficiency opportunity down to something that's very specific and tactical with direction, and that is what becomes of each and every one of our initiatives here as an example. Now, we include as well, "Don't forget the program insights." So as we're looking for different ways to streamline and make the process more efficient, we also have, for each and every one of those programs, the Phase 1 program insight opportunities. And as we move towards a 90-day and out strategic guidance and, ultimately -- last one for this example -- realizing that you have a draft ordinance that is underway with some revisions and a proposal that will be in front of you in near -- in short order. We're very much looking forward to seeing those recommendations come before you but also to have on the remaining next steps ahead. All right. So that's the example. Was there a question? CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall. COMMISSIONER HALL: I just want to make a comment. I could get into the weeds in this so easy and so fast. I mean, I love it, but I need -- I need to keep myself up here. So I guess the question is, you know, Procurement -- and I'm not speaking bad about Procurement. There's hardworking people down there. But they're maddening to me as a business guy. You know, to get something done, "Well, we can't, Commissioner, because of Procurement." Well, we can't -- "Well, Procurement's got this, and Procurement" -- you know, that's something that I just get sick of hearing, and I've just had to swallow that pill for three years now. So I guess my question is -- and maybe to the County Manager -- as we -- let's see if I can put it like this: As we shrink our government role and shrink our process to make it better, to -- even Page 284 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 90 shrinking it and, in doing so, even providing a better service, what are the timelines that we're looking at with implementing these changes? And are we going to see budgetary benefit from those changes? I put that pretty well together. MS. PATTERSON: So I'll start, and then maybe you want to fill in. So we expect to have the Procurement ordinance back in front of the Board. We had briefed you in the spring. And we've been working through some of the internal controls to back those changes to the Procurement ordinance to provide assurances that we're not just raising limits and then just doing business as usual; that we're actually teaching people and changing their behavior. So we intend to have that back August or September time period. So that is going to create some efficiency with the way we do business. We have thresholds for our Procurement that are pretty aged and, therefore, hamstring us, especially in this high-cost environmental, from being able to do anything very easily, let alone, you know, our day-to-day business. So that's the first place where we're going to really gain efficiency and be able to be more nimble and move more particularly quickly. As far as overall looking at our Procurement within the confines of the law -- because there's a lot of statutes and things that govern that -- we're continuing to look for those efficiencies and potential additional changes that would allow us to ease some of the Procurement woes that we're experiencing. I don't envy the Procurement folks for all of the things that they have to navigate and, you know, being blamed, rightfully or not, for why we can't get things done. This is where also the outside eyes of ResourceX will be able to provide us challenges and suggestions on these things that perhaps we as government just sort of accept and Page 285 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 91 take for granted. And I'll turn to you and see what you might have to add. MR. FABIAN: Thank you, County Administrator [sic], and your point's well made. So Procurement across all of local government, so many local governments who we work with right now, is a particular process in need of tremendous reform. So there are -- some of our partners are at the cutting edge of trying to work on this very complicated process. And as we start to piece taking best practices in local governments who are making this transformation, that is, in part, where we're coming up with some of our recommendations as well. So we -- we are very much looking forward to seeing the draft ordinance and then continuing to be that third-party objective perspective to keep pushing, keep putting these recommendations on the table for full transformation where possible. MS. PATTERSON: So it looks like we have short-term and longer-term. So you'll be able to realize some short-term effectiveness and change as well as some longer-term as we work with ResourceX on some of these bigger-picture changes that we're seeing throughout the state and the country. MR. FABIAN: True. And last comment, to that point, we had a -- within 90 days and a 90 days and beyond were our two time frames. COMMISSIONER HALL: Perfect. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. MR. FABIAN: Great. I've got, time permitting, one more -- just a couple of other quick examples just to continue to give you a sense for where this heads, and then where we're going next. So another example was the continued robust discussion around museums and libraries. So again, following that same path. First step, let's look at the costs. Where do we see, for example, library Page 286 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 92 spaces? Costs, perhaps, are on the higher side. Museum and historic site administration, where can we start to take a look at this? We looked at adult, teen, and early-literacy offerings plus administration around specific programs and services that look to be at least comparatively high, which, again, could mean that's intentional. They might be exactly where you want it to be, but it's pointing us in a direction. Coupled with program process review. Once again, there's your inventory for every single program. This example demonstrating circulation and reference services, getting into what does it take to run this process. We bring that data together for the stakeholder interviews, that third step, to arrive at what are some of the options that we should be considering. So we looked across all of your library branches, locations, five museum sites. We look at service levels across the board, and we're recognizing -- we just heard from Facilities, aging infrastructure, aging facilities, and we know that, because replacement is on everyone's minds, we should also be looking at optimization of space wherever possible. So here, what came out of some of the interviews, potential duplication of meeting rooms, could be -- exhibit spaces and computer head labs, overhead and capital renewal liabilities could be some of the reasons why those space costs are high. And then coupled with, you know, at least from our stakeholders who we had interviewed, hearing Board direction or policy or sentiment that, yes, we want to uncover cost savings or revenue offsets without reducing community access to literacy, culture, or heritage. So it drives us towards exploring opportunity areas like this. The trend -- some of the trend that we see from libraries and museums are joint culture hubs. Leasing surplus space to nonprofits Page 287 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 93 or higher education, looking at program surface-level review to right-size adult, teen, and early-literacy offerings, where the population is going to be most in need, taking a look at right-sizing technology mix, realigning hours, computer availability, makerspace demand, expanding self-checkout, taking a harder look at reviewing digital collections for your expansive digital collection that you actually have compared to other organizations, and then, ultimately, just a handful of others, some cross-government partnerships, taking a look at what the other local governments are doing, what they might be interested in. There are surely revenue and cost-recovery paths. And again, focusing on that centralized plan for preventative maintenance on the buildings that you want to preserve and maintain. So next steps, again, Commissioner, on a 90-day plus 90-day, can we map the portfolio? Can we quantify square footage, operating costs, utilization to drive that optimization of space, identify some of the collocation candidates, reduce overhead while preserving access? Servicing some of the quick wins on multiple IT apps in the library. So we had three that looked to have some overlap. We'll see. And then also looking at some of those revenue options where they might exist as well. So here again, as you will see, for every recommendation we have, resurfacing those program insights from both library and museums in order to get to what is the direction and all things on the table. I won't go through all of the rest of -- I've got 93 slides -- 99 slides. I sent a Version 2 in the middle of it -- because as we went through the discussion, we had stormwater that came up, so we brought back, "Hey, we have some specific guidance and recommendations on franchise fee, on what we've seen for MTSUs [sic] and different approaches from other jurisdictions." So we have Page 288 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 94 it. That was in the data from last year, coupled with you -- what apparently the County Administrator [sic] had already put together in 2018. The question on the animal control/code enforcement staff and the seven vacancies and the 10 filled positions, we quickly went to the efficiency data to see -- it's really interesting. The DAS -- I'm sorry. Department of Animal Services code enforcement program falls into the higher cost category right now. That could very well be because you are offering a higher level of service. You might have more investigations going on than anybody else in our database, and that could be very good reason. At the same time, we want to cross-reference it so you always have the data in front of you to ask the next follow-up question where you could take advantage of an opportunity to streamline operations, where it is appropriate, where it's not appropriate. Tourism, I know we have the report that's coming here, I think, in August, if I had the notes. And we had -- and we're certainly taking a look at three of those specific models as well, so we -- as we were getting prepared to see the report and offer our perspective, Option 1 was the county-led and optimized retaining CVB type agency inside government, tightening KPIs and ROI reporting, leverage bed tax reserves for targeted digital campaigns, off-peak events. We had hybrid public/private partnership. We had an independent DMO. So we're approaching this with the same mindset that those, at a big-picture level, appear to be your options from an efficiency perspective. It's not necessarily about process efficiency. It's more about what is the right strategic role for this county, which is the question that is on the table. And then not to say last but not least, but HR and the hiring process and some of the challenges, those were cited by -- Page 289 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 95 unanimously, almost every one of the stakeholder interviews, so that's a key component of our analysis which is the process from requisition and approval, job-posting strategy, application -- screening and eligibility verification. Where is the bottleneck? What can be solved? And we know that HR also just went through filling some of its own vacancies. So those are going to be key areas for the report as well as IT application evaluation, which I mentioned earlier, among a number of others. But this is where we're headed. And I think it's pretty powerful, and we definitely wanted you to be well aware of the type of data that is coming together for this phase of the PBB review. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Okay. We'll see if there are any questions from the Commission. (No response.) CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I don't see any. So thank you very much. MR. FABIAN: Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Look forward to your return. MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Chris. PUBLIC COMMENTS Mr. Chairman, that -- just a few things before we finish up here. I just wanted to remind you-all we do receive the taxable value on July 1st, and I'll be back in front of on July 8th to set the maximum millage rates. And with that, that's all I have. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Ms. Patterson, anything else from you? MS. PATTERSON: No, sir, thank you. Page 290 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 96 CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Let's see if the commissioners have anything for the good of the order. Commissioner Kowal, do you have any closing comments? COMMISSIONER KOWAL: No, I'm fine. Thank you. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: All right. Thank you. Commissioner LoCastro. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you, Chair. I was just going to say, in summary, the things that really resonated with me today -- first of all, how a lot of people have stayed within the budget. But the four areas that we've really got to keep a spotlight on -- and I'm not saying anything anybody doesn't know, but just to get it out there -- is Stormwater, Public Utilities, Facilities, and Transportation is what I wrote down here, "It's difficult to anticipate those needs." We get blindsided by those things a lot, and "We can fall behind very quickly," especially -- you know, we've all done a deep dive with the staff on Facilities, and although we just touched on the numbers here today, there's some real concerns there. And those buildings aren't going to get any newer. HVAC doesn't get any newer. Roofs don't get any newer. And so, you know, it's great when we try to sharpen our pencils and stay millage neutral and all that, but you know, I see a growing list of things that we're keeping our eye on that, you know, sometimes I think we're going to have to bite the bullet. And then, of course, the big unknown, you have a Hurricane Irma or Katrina, even, that comes through here, and then all of a sudden, you know, our crystal ball is -- has really failed us. So I know this board, we're committed to -- when -- if something needs to be funded, then we're going to come back to the table here, and we've got -- you know, we talked about it today. There's all kinds of unique things that could be done to, you know -- you know, create money. Page 291 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 97 But just as we've said, you know, let's finish the sports complex, and that's something that we've talked about. There's some stuff buried on those Facilities slides that need to be finished as well or redone. And they might not be as visible as, you know, baseball fields and all that -- and those are important as well. I'm not taking anything away from that. But, you know -- and I say this, too, so ResourceX hears it. These are big priorities that cannot get lost in the shuffle. And if we need to do something unique to find the revenue or to come up with some sort of unique way to gain the revenue, we really have to do it, because there's some concerning things on the second set of slides, especially in Facilities and in those other areas I mentioned that we've got to keep our hands around for sure. But great overview today. And, Chris, as always, you and your whole team -- I know it's not just you. But you spent a lot of time with us, and I know that this stuff doesn't produce itself, you know, with pixie dust and a magic wand. So thank you very much. There's a lot of work that went into it, but it's very helpful, and great work by all. MR. JOHNSON: Appreciate it, and the credit goes to the folks behind me. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No, we know that. Yeah, we know. Yeah, we got it. Yeah. COMMISSIONER HALL: We definitely know that. COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah, yeah. While you were talking, they were all back there going (indicating), you know. You can't see what they're doing behind you, can you? MR. JOHNSON: I can't see. I've got to get one of those mirrors. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Commissioner Hall, anything for the good of the order? Page 292 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 98 COMMISSIONER HALL: Thank you, Chairman. I just want to reemphasize the need. You know, I'm being patient, and it's so hard. It's -- we're here in the third -- this is the third budget process, and we're still working on things. And I know that it takes time. I'm sticking with the process. I believe in it. I believe when the data comes forth, that ResourceX and Mr. Fabian will really give us some hard things to look at. I think we all committed as a Board to look at those hard things and make the harder decisions. I'm not looking forward to that, but I'm looking forward to that. I want to get this operation running superefficient and be an example for every county in America to look at the way things go in Collier County, Florida. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: I think the -- I'll make a few comments. First of all, thank you to you and your staff for a really well-done budget presentation. To the County Manager, thank you, Mr. Finn, everyone that's been involved in this. This was really -- as always, has been a really great presentation and great materials. One of the things that kind of struck me as being very interesting this morning is that we're looking for new revenue sources, and I'm going to mention this for a specific reason. There's been talk about a stormwater utility because we -- we're $300 million behind in our stormwater system. We've talked about an MSTU for that purpose. Commissioner Hall mentioned the possibility of a sales tax on the ballot. COMMISSIONER HALL: Before I knew the history. CHAIRMAN SAUNDERS: Yeah. No, I understand. I'm just saying that we're looking for some new revenue sources. I've been talking about the tourist tax issue because, again, I think there's some significant things we can do for this community creating a new revenue source that doesn't really affect our ad Page 293 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 99 valorem taxpayers. So I think that there's a recognition that we have tremendous needs, we have limitations on our revenues, and we're looking for new sources. And I only say this because in a few weeks we're going to be setting a millage rate, and there's going to be a lot of pressure on this board to go to a rolled-back millage rate for a third time, and that will be -- that will be disastrous for the county if we continue to do that. And so I just want to plant the seed that millage neutral is kind of where I want to be. I don't expect the Board to even consider raising a millage rate, but I would ask the Board to give some serious consideration to millage neutral this coming budget session as opposed to doing the rolled-back millage rate. With that, unless there's something else for the good of the order, we are adjourned. ***** Page 294 of 4096 June 19, 2025 Page 100 There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 12:22 p.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL ___________________________________ BURT SAUNDERS, 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. Page 295 of 4096